20 things the New Kids learned on their first week of school

1.      Teachers must learn to use the restroom once maybe twice a day. Soo newbies make sure you practice over the summer.

 

2.      Sleep has never been more precious.

 

3.      I haven’t been eating in the teachers’ lounge, not that I don’t like to socialize it’s just by the time I walk there my lunch is over! Short lunch, learn to shovel food yall.

 

4.      Your students will call you pretty much any name under the sun instead of your own on the first week of school. It’s Ms. Cates or Ms. Budd… I don’t think that’s to difficult.

 

5.      Our job is never really done.

 

6.      Leave your work at work pahah whoever wrote that was obviously not an educator.

 

7.      Being on your kids from the get go about rules and procedures is the best way to insure a successful year.

 

8.      Kindergarteners will act like any trip outside of their classroom is a full-fledged field trip… I wonder what they’ll be like when we actually go to the zoo this year. AHHH

 

9.      Having a support system (parents, friends) is critical to help you keep things in perspective.

 

10.  It is very easy to lose a kid. And we’ll leave it at that!

 

11.  Your kids need your ALL not every day, not every hour, but every second of the day.

 

12.  Coffee is a girl’s best friend.

 

13.  Chocolate is a girl’s best friend.

 

14.  Happy Hour is a girl’s best friend.

 

15.   You will miss your kids over the weekend no matter what kind of week you had.

 

16.  Your students become your life.

 

17.  Only other teachers really know what you do all day.

 

18.  The last hour of school…

 

19.  I am thankful my classroom has a door because someone walking by would think I’m a total lunatic. I sing, I dance, I act, the teachers life

 

20.  Teaching is by far the most rewarding and challenging experience of our lives and we wouldn’t trade it for the world!

First Day Of School!

I hope everyone had a great first day of school! My what a crazy day it was! And my feet are about the size of China, standing all day long after a summer off my feet, was quite the feat.
Now coming into Kindergarten, I had been told the kids know nothing. Well I thought that was an exaggeration, but they really don't know anything at least as far as school goes! So it was a day full of procedure after procedure and introducing ourselves to one another! I looked at my clock thinking I still had a few hours of the school day left, and next thing I know it was dismissal time! For the first day I made a frame for my students and we had a photo booth area full of Dr. Seuss props to add to the picture (Dr.Seuss/Storybook is our theme). The kids were so cute! But of course I can't put a picture of their adorable faces on here, so here's a picture of me on my first day back in Kindergarten! (16 years later)

First day of kinder!

Welcome to the Honey Bunch Classroom tour

Can't wait for my kindergarteners to come in tomorrow and start filling those little seats!

 

Welcome to the land of 5 and 6 year olds...

 

My desk area

 

Full view of classroom

 

 

 






Our home living/dramatic play area.  

 





Our small carpet area for small group purposes.  

I use "Honey Drops" like teachers use table points. When I see a table is all focused and on task I will simply put a honey drop (yellow pom pom) into that groups jar. At the end of the week we will add up each tables honey drops and whichever table has the most will get a "class privilege" (Privileges: extended computer time, shoes off in class,  free choice during centers)

 

My library and writing center.

 

Small group table

 

One of the areas that makes my classroom unique is my "Bee in control area". This is an area that I will send students who need to calm down and be removed from a whole group activity. While the student is here, they have a few options. 1. Listen to classical music on an old compact CD player 2. Read a book (all focusing on feelings) 3. Sort feeling cards. I will make sure to establish clear guidelines and steps the student must take when sent there.

 

I'm a little OCD when it comes to organization. All cabinets are labeled, it helps me stay organized!

 

Our What's the Buzz word wall or should I say word board.

 

Calendar Time: focus is on months, days, weather, time and ordering.

 

Lastly I have our Busy Listening station. I loved the stools because they can also be used for storage, yippe!

 

 

Thanks for checking in!

New Kid on the Block

Alera

Back To School Picnic

So last night was our school's back to school picnic- where the families came to meet the teacher, drop off their supplies, fill out information, and ate hot dogs and snow cones!
It was quite a night. EVERY single one of my 20 students and their families showed up! It was amazing, never in my student teaching experience did I meet all of my students' families. The parents were all so kind and very excited that their student was starting kindergarten. I was bombarded with questions, and I was overjoyed to answer them.
Before the families came in my room- it was neat and organized, now it looks like a tornado hit it with all of the supplies and all of my teaching materials spread throughout the room (my students' siblings thought it was ok to throw my books, bang on the musical instruments, etc.). At least it wasn't my students creating havoc! The families were great and I am so looking forward to this coming year. First Meet the Teacher Night= SUCCESS. (Pictures will be added shortly)

Hannah's Classroom- Storybook Character Themed! *Work In Progress*

My calendar/reading area

Reading Area!

I want my students to know about the world around them, so each month I will be doing a "Continent of the Month." They will learn all fun facts and different information about the continent! This month the continent is Australia!

Goes with my storybook character theme- painted the signs and made a banner by cutting book covers.

Word wall, behavior chart, alphabet string, number string, voice level charts and so on.

Will be putting my anchor charts for each section of the Daily 5 under the headings and the colorful baskets will be for their read to self books.

Painted my chair and made some stools for the kids!

The hallway is hollywood themed- still have to decorate the door.

Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses

School starts in less than two weeks for us teachers here in Texas and as a first year teacher I bet we are all feeling the same way... a bit terrified. There is soo much for us to learn and soak in that our brains are constantly hurting. Don't worry your not alone. I mean who  knew principals would speak in txt language throughout our week-long training days, it's exhausting! 

So how do we stay on top of everything we have to do as new teachers and still make time for ourselves?

The answer is simple yet so hard to do: It's about taking those small windows of time you do have to stop and smell the roses. Hannah (aka Ms. Cates) and I recently took a trip to our local Farmers Market to take a little break from all our teaching to do lists. Granted all we did was talk about school and our kiddos the entire time... lol but the change of scenery  and friend time was so worth while. And believe me the work was still all there, untouched when we returned. So let's all vow to make these next 14 days filled with lots of learning AND lots of laughs. "Happy teachers = happy kids" (Or at least that's what we hear!)

Spending a Sunday afternoon at the local farmers marker!

Ms. Cates!

Ms. B!










                                       

 - New Kid on the block Alera



Take your classroom library from 10 to 300 books in no time!

Stocking your classroom library is another one of those daunting task as a new teacher. I mean where do you even begin??? Below are some cheap and easy ways to help make your classroom library grow without breaking the bank.

1. Half Price Books- This is the place that I have gotten the bulk of my books this summer; all you must do is flash that shiny new teacher ID (okay not shiny but as a new teacher, it is like gold) and you can receive boxes upon boxes of gently used books for $5 dollars per box! Some half price books will even give away book boxes for FREE yep you heard me FREE!


My loot thus far! Now the real fun begins... organizing  

2. Garage Sales- CHEAP and EASY. Any time I see a sign while driving that reads the two words "garage sale" I reverse my car and check it out. You never know what you'll find. Maybe 25 cent books? Yep that happened!

3. Ask friends, neighbors, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins...  okay I think you get the point. Don't be shy to ask around, make a facebook status about needing to stock your classroom library and believe me you'll get responses (most people are dying to get of old books that are now taking up space in their house. )

4. Local Library Book sales- Check online and see what kind of sales your local library is having on children's books, it may surprise you!

5. Goodwill- need I say more

6. Scholastic book clubs- I have not done this myself yet but have heard from veteran teachers that this is also a fantastic way to help grow your classroom library.

Veteran teachers let us know if you have an other ways to stock up, we want libraries like YOU!

-New Kid on the Block Alera

Teacher Discounts... need I say more!

I recently found a great article on Brad's Deals full of teacher discounts and let me tell you they're worth looking at! With so much prep going into the upcoming school year I'm not sure what teacher wouldn't enjoy this. Here is a list of over 90 stores that give discounts to us teachers by simply bringing our school ID!

I know what I'll be doing tomorrow... no joke!

http://www.bradsdeals.com/blog/teacher-discounts/

The New Girl In Town

       Moving to a new city is hard, especially for a new teacher. I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM- EVER. At the beginning of the summer I was constantly frantic because I had no idea how I was ever going to get anything done since I had no idea where to go.

       I’m from Nashville, TN. So moving to a HUGE, GIGANTIC city like Dallas has been a challenge. Nashville is like the size of an ant in comparison to Dallas. I have absolutely no idea where anything is. I am constantly trying to find my way around on my GPS, and somehow I always miss my exit or end up at the DFW airport. Seriously, I’ve ended up at the airport a ridiculous amount of times and I am nowhere near the airport. At least I now know where the airport is if I ever actually need to go there. Anyways, Texas interstates are the most confusing things ever and there are way too many signs all over the place its hard to focus. (I love you Texas, I really do, just not your interstates.)

       So when trying to find my away around to teacher stores (aka Mardel’s- the love of my life and my wallet), The Dollar Store, Walmart, and Target… you can count me absent for at least a day because that’s how long it probably took me to get there. Not knowing where to go has been a challenge when school shopping and trying to get my materials together. I even got so frustrated once that I ended up driving to Waco because I know where everything is there (went to Baylor). Luckily I have some friends in Dallas already and they have been kind enough to show me around. Now I know where my stores are and can get to them the first try. Which makes it a whole lot easier to get prepared for school.  Besides friends helping me out, I’ve also been online ordering a good amount of materials. If I can’t find them, I’m going to make them find me. Having things shipped to me was so much easier. And you can get some really great deals online and oftentimes free shipping. I’ve ordered a lot from reallygoodstuff.com and other teacher resource websites. Online shopping is the way to go. There's a lot of great ideas online and some great products that you may not see in stores.

       Even though it was a challenge at first, I now know how to go to places other than the airport and things are really coming together. So if you’re the new girl in town- you’ll be ok. And if you ever get lost and end up at the airport, you can contact me because I’ll know how to get you out of there.

-New Kid On The Block Hannah 

My Classroom Is Better Than The Taj Mahal

       So a few days ago I was able to move into my room. You should have seen my face the day I was able to move in- I looked ridiculous. I was so overjoyed. I think I was more excited to enter my classroom than I have ever been entering Disney World. When I first entered my classroom, I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful… I’m pretty sure my classroom tops the Taj Mahal. No lie.

       Right when I got into my classroom, I started decorating right away. I’ve been working on it for the past three days (with many more days to go)- even though there has been no air conditioning- and it’s been 100+ here in Dallas. But I didn’t really even notice the heat due to the fact that I am so happy to have my own classroom! Here’s my first photo of my classroom and I will be posting more as I finish decorating!

Isn't it beautiful???