First Day OOTD

Today is the first day!

No matter how many 'first days' of school that pass, I will always be eager to pick out my first day of school outfit. 

The first day is going to be a hot one with a high of 90 degrees here in Pennsylvania. I'll be bringing a white cardigan with me but I doubt I will be wearing it. 

Good luck and best wishes to all of you on your first day!

Classroom Reveal 2014-2015

I am ecstatic to show off my first classroom. Over 40 hours of work later and I don't even know if I can say the room is 100% where I want it. I came to the realization that it may never be exactly how I want it. My goals were to make it functional and at a state where I could stand to stare at these same four walls for over 8 hours a day for the next 10 months. I think I accomplished both goals. My students have not arrived yet so some boards are blank.

 

The pockets on the cubbies are for students' jobs.

 

 

 This chair is my favorite part of my room. It's an old office chair covered with fabric and secured with about 200 staples.

 

The sign is very blurry but it says "Under Construction Waiting for Student Work".

How To Fund Your Classroom and I GOT A JOB

Great news: I got a teaching job!!!! I will be teaching 4th grade in the same district that I was a building sub and a 1st grade long term sub. I am very excited to really "start" my career.

My dreams of decorating my own classroom will finally start to happen in the next few weeks. I am a nanny for two girls over the summer and they are also looking forward to help me set up my classroom. Luckily, I wont be starting from scratch. The teacher that was previously in my room is leaving me most of her classroom materials. That being said, a lot of new teachers may have to start from scratch. I compiled a list of websites that allows teachers to ask for donations and funding for their classroom supplies. These are great to set up a classroom supply registry and share with  your friends, family, and eventually the parents of your students!

1. Brighten Hall 
http://www.brightenhall.com/

2. Teacher Supply Registry
http://www.teachersupplyregistry.com/

3. Adopt A Classroom
http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/

4. Supply Your Schools
http://www.supplyourschools.org/

5. Digital Wish
http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/home

6. Donors Choose
The last website is probably the most familiar classroom registry website, Donors Choose.

Since I am fortunate to have a lot of major supplies I will need from the previous teacher I wanted to feature a teacher from Donors Choose, Ms. Armentrout. She is a first year teacher starting at a low income, Title I school in North Carolina. She is in need of some of the basics, supply caddies, chart paper, and a Time for Kids subscription.

Click the link to visit her page: Ms. Armentrout's Donors Choose Page

I think it is awesome that these resources are out there to help teachers and students and are often funded by complete strangers inspired to help.

Classroom (P)inspiration

Designing their classroom has got to be a future teacher's dream. I have been collecting pinning classroom decor inspiration and have finally narrowed it down to what I think I would really like in my classroom.

I started by searching for a color scheme. I wanted to stray away from typical classroom primary color schemes. Personally, I find them too harsh especially combined with the harsh lightening found in most classrooms. I chose shades of yellow, grey, and teal. They are soft, calming colors that I wouldn't mind staring at for 8+ hours a day.

Sunny Skies Collection

Chic Classroom Style

Cute and Cozy Classroom Decor

Binder cover sheets in the TPT store

Summers are for rest and relaxation and also for getting ready for September. I have created super adorable binder cover sheets and they are now in my teacherspayteachers store.

Get your binder cover sheets HERE!

New on TPT

Hi everyone! Happy Sunday!! Head on over to my teacherspayteachers' store and get your hands on my new vertical 2014-2015 school year calendar. Perfect for putting into your plan book or having on a cute clipboard on your desk.

Get your calendar here!

Interview Season

For most of us, school has ended and interview season has begun. I wrapped up my school year as a first grade "short" term sub (it was an 8 and a half week assignment). It definitely felt a lot longer than two months. Getting a class towards the end of the year can be a challenge. Procedures and routines are in effect but the kids start to get a bit coo-coo for cocoa puffs as they get closer to summer. Now that it is over it is time to get ready for interviews. I have already started interviewing and have made it to the second round in the district. It was a challenge to get my head into the interviewing game. I have a folder at home that helps me get back into the swing of things and refresh myself with questions and answers that may be asked.

On the left side of the folder I have written out how I would answer common interview questions. You can see those questions here. On the index cards I have written out strengths I have with examples of how I exemplify them on the back.

On the right side of the folder I have information on schools I have prepared to interview for and information on school curricula. It takes some discipline but I also try to go back in after an interview and make a list of the questions that were asked.

After the interview, I take some time to sit down and write out a thank you note to my interviewer. I try to incorporate things we discussed and reiterate why I would be a good fit for the position. I think sending a tangible card is more personal than sending an email.

The most important piece of advice I can give is BE YOURSELF. It is said all the time but really is true. If you say what you THINK your interviewers want to hear you then it wont come across as the genuine you. Plus, you want to be at a school that is the right fit for you.
 

I felt like a genius today

Dilemma: I've run out of clipboards during a math activity.

Solution: Whiteboards + Binder clips 

Preparing for your LTS position

Can you believe that we are already half way through April? My spring break here (or what is left of it because of the snow) was this week. When we return from spring break, I will be leaving my building sub position to be a long term substitute in a first grade classroom for the remainder of the school year! It is very exciting news and reassuring that my hard work is paying off and not going unnoticed.

As someone who likes to be prepared, I began searching for information on how to prepare for a smooth transition into a long term sub position. I found a lot of great resources for teachers preparing to leave their classroom to a long term sub but nothing for someone like me! I have been going through the process of preparing for my assignment and have compiled a sort of "to-do list" to accomplish before your start date.


Get in as much face time
The school I will be starting my assignment is also one of the schools where I am a building sub. I am lucky that I have exposure to that classroom. If you are not as lucky and have to opportunity to, try to come in and visit the classroom as much as you can. It's a good idea to observe the class before your start date. There are of course extreme circumstances where assignments are very last minute but if it's an ideal situation, get in that classroom. It's important to watch the routines and class behavior. From my observations, I was able to see what I liked about how the classroom was run and decide what things I wanted to tweak.

Figure out what you'll need
Computer access? Printing capabilities? Access to student records? 

Meet grade partners
I am very fortunate that I will be working with some fantastic first grade teachers during my assignment. It is a good idea to set up a little meeting with the grade partners if you can. Find out how much the grade team plans and works together. You may find that the like my situation, the grade level team does most or all of their planning together. In that case, you want to be careful not to step on any toes yet come prepared with lesson and activity suggestions. In other cases, grade level teams do their planning separately. Try to get a feel for how that grade level runs.  

How will lesson planning go?
Like I said above, you should figure out if your grade team preps for lessons together or separately. Get a good look at the curriculum. Some lend themselves better than others at easily figuring out the scope of a unit. Ask the teacher you are filling in for how they lesson plan. See if you can take a look at their plan book from the past few weeks.

Will you need to partake in major assessments
With my assignment being in first grade from April until the end of the year, there will be some district wide assessing that needs to be done. Find this out what and who would be best to get you up to speed on procedures and protocols where testing is concerned.

Conferences? 
Depending on your start and stop date you may need to participate in parent-teacher conferences. I will be in my classroom only 3 weeks before having to do conferences. I wont be in the classroom with the students very long before conferences start so I asked the teacher I am replacing if she could help me out and give me some notes on each child so I have more than my 3 weeks of observations to discuss with parents. I think the parents will appreciate that.

Informing Parents?
How will parents be informed that there child's teacher is gone and you are going to be their teacher now? See if there is protocol in your school for this. You should definitely ask your principal if it is acceptable for you to send a letter home introducing yourself and have the principal look it over. It will probably be your first introduction to the parents so you want to start with your best foot forward.

Enjoy it!
This is what you love to do. Take this opportunity to shine!

Valentine's Day Centers

January is coming to a cold and frosty close. Stop by my Teachers Pay Teacher's store to get your own Valentine's Day themed centers for February.

You can purchase each center individually or purchase the bundle! These centers are geared towards first grade but could easily be used in kindergarten and second grade.

Time Stays Long Enough For Those Who Use It

Hi there and happy snow day(s) to you all!

I bring to you an organization and planning tip from a first grade team at one of the schools where I work. They have every day mapped out corresponding with their language arts curriculum. The teacher's manual already gives a scope and outline of what pages are where but typing them out in the order you want to teach it will save you a lot of instructional time in the end. Having the lessons typed out has helped me as the building sub, if I have to come in and cover in the middle of language arts. It is also a great thing to have prepared and on your desk with your materials if you have an unplanned absence. The plans will be very easy for a substitute to follow without any major preparations.

Online Class Organization

I've started going back to school for my masters back in August. This semester I will be taking an online class. There is no face to face interaction and all components are online. There will be a lot of readings and assignments and organization is key. If you are taking an online class now or in the near future keep reading for my tips to stay organized!

1. Get your materials ready!

Even though a class is online and all the documents I need are available online, I still like to have physical copies. I need to bring the classroom to me! This way no matter where I am, school, home, the gym, waiting room at the dentist, I have everything I need to get my tasks done. I like having the papers in my hand to mark up and highlight.

I set up a binder, printed out my syllabus and put each page in plastic page protectors. At the end of most semesters my syllabus is completely torn up and scribbled all over. I put the syllabus in the page protectors so I can write on the protectors with a dry erase marker. I think that will help keep me sane.

Yes, you're eyes are correct, that is a good old fashion pencil case! It holds a highlighter, pen, dry erase marker, and some post it notes.

2. Get your computer ready!


Aside from organizing the binder, I have also gone ahead and organized my computer for this class.

I have a folder in my documents designated to my class for the semester. In that folder are MORE folders. Each folder is labeled by a week in the course. I downloaded and put all of the required readings due for each week in their own folder. This will make it easier through out the course and save time each week searching for what I need to be reading.

3. Refer to your syllabus and portal often!

It can be very easy to forget what you have going on in an online class when you do not need to physically show up anywhere. Stay organized and on top of your online assignments. Time will slip away from you. Check whichever portal your school is using to facilitate your online class often! You may not always get email updates when something has been posted. You do not want to miss any important information!!! I like to make sure to check mine in the morning and in the evenings.

If you are taking 1, 2, or more classes on top of an already hectic teaching schedule, I salute you! It isn't easy but with proper time management and organization it can be done! Good luck to all starting their January classes!

Little Time Savers for Little Students

When working with first grade you need to utilize every second you have to maximize learning and practice time for your little ones. If you have your students complete journal entries daily or weekly you may want to try this little time saver.

Here is what the cover of the journals look like.

 

Apologies for the blurriness! Print out journal prompts on sticky labels, enough for every child to have it placed on their journal page. 

Then stick them at the top of the next clean journal page for each student. 

This will give your students much more time to write their responses. Students wont be looking back up at the board and down at their journal a hundred times and they wont waste time writing out the question on their paper. After all, you want to be assessing what they are creating on the paper, not how well they can copy a question that is written on the board. 

Happy Journaling!