What we've been up to!

So to start with, I have forgotten to take my camera to school for the first 9 days! I wanted to share some of the awesome ideas and activities I've gotten from other blogs that we have done in our class. I have 3 other teachers on my team and 2 of them are blog addicts like me. I think we are converting the 4th one too :)

Today we did these:

Our wonderful Name from First Grade Fever . It's a really cute idea, but my kiddos are having a hard time. We will hopefully finish them tomorrow. We've been working on vowels and consonants during morning meeting, but it still is a foreign concept to a lot of them.

Tomorrow we are doing a variation of this:

Peacemakers shared by The First Grade Parade.



I love blogs!

Shhhh!

Shh! Quiet! Turn your voices off!

We've been back to school for three days and this is all I've gotten done saying. Now granted it's only been 3 days, but I'm at my wits end. They talk constantly, and get so loud when I give them independent work. This group also seems to have absolutely no idea what NO TALKING means.

What strategies do you use? Please help?

One thing I've thought about doing is having a contest between the tables and having them earn marbles as a table when they are quiet and doing work. I'm not sure of a prize for the winners though.

Teacher Week Day #3: Where it all Happens

I didn't do Tuesday's post because this is only my second year of teaching and I don't feel like I'm the best one to give advice. However, I'm excited about today's post because I haven't posted any classroom pics this year! So be prepared, there are quite a few.




My listening center and that pocket chart will be used for my center chart.

A dark view of my library center (the battery in my camera was dieing)

A better view of my library center.

Self explanatory: I found those flowers on a blog, but I can't seem to find it now.

We use responsive classroom for behavior at our school. This is my timeout area/card system/feelings poster.

View from the front of my room

View from the side of the room

Word Wall/Cabinets....those are penguins with letters that I bought on tpt.

Penguin curtains and cubbies

View of the front and middle of the room. I'm blessed with a large room.

Tomorrow is our first day with the kiddos. I now have 20 kiddos on my roster and I've met 18 of them. Wish me luck!

Meet the Teacher Monday!

I'm participating in Meet the Teacher week at Blog Hoppin'

Tell us a little something about you:

I'm Jenna, I'm twenty something (a little closer to the 30 side), and I teach first grade! I graduated from Marshall University (Go Herd!) in 2007. I'm married to the love of my life! We have 2 furbabies (Noel and Valentina) and we are starting classes next month to be foster parents. I can't wait to be a mom!

How long have you been teaching:

Finding a teaching job was not easy! I started out teaching preschool (I have a minor in Pk-K). Finally in February of 2010 I got my first job in an elementary school teaching fourth grade. Last year I switched to first and I love it!

You might not know:

*I married my husband after knowing him for just 8 months.

*We have been battling infertility for almost 2 years.

*I can't whistle.

*I'm afraid of the dark.

What teaching supply can you not live without:

I love sharpies! I also love my timer. I also really like my brightlink board (similar to a smart board). The number one thing I can't live without would be the laminator. I don't have my own though, I just use the one at school .:(

Now head on over to blog hoppin' to join in on Meet the Teacher Week!

#Tired

I have a facebook friend that puts a hash tag on all her facebook posts....it's contagious haha..hence the title!

Today was our second workday. I've gotten a ton done, but I am exhausted. I guess my body is still on summer time. I only took a couple pictures today because I forgot my camera. I'll try to remember it tomorrow.

This is the bulletin board in the hallway outside of my room. I ordered a penguin bulletin board set from Bender-Burkot at the end of last year, but it hasn't come in yet, and I'm not confident it will be here by open house on Tuesday. I have some backup penguins I can use that I bought at my favorite teacher supply store! I plan to put each of my 19 kiddos names on them.

These are my math tubs. Inspired by The First Grade Parade . I plan on doing more math centers during my math time this year. I found penguins with each letter of the alphabet on teachers pay teachers. They came with some blank penguins, so I used those for my math tubs.

I brought home a huge pile of things I laminated that I need to cut out. I'm not looking forward to it, but here I go.........

I found it!

It's always in the last place you look. The beginning of the year assessment I was looking for is on Roschell's blog: Building Blocks. Check it out, it's really cute!

Tomorrow is our first work day :( We were suppose to go to OBX with my parents from Sunday until today, but there was a slight change of plans. So today I'm printing all the awesome blog ideas I've been saving in google documents. I can't wait to share them with my first grade team.

My plan for this year is to keep as positive an attitude as I can. I find that a lot of teachers at my school (sometimes me included) can be very pessimistic. I want to stay away from that. Last year was really hard because it was my first full year teaching, and my first year teaching first grade. This year I feel like I kind of know what I'm doing. We got a new principal this year and she is so sweet. I loved our old principal too though :) I'm very excited and apprehensive (I have 3 retainees this year). Classroom management is not my strong suit, but I'm hoping I can do a good job!

HELP!

I know I saw a back to school assessment packet on someones blog, and I can't find it now. I thought I had saved it. Who can help me find it? It had a spot to fill in a hundreds chart, a spot to color the box (labeled with a color word), and more.... Where is it?

Thanks in advance!

A little bit of this....A little bit of that!

This post is exactly what the title says. Just a couple things I wanted to share with blogland. I go back to work on Wednesday :( Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for the new school year, but I love sleeping in and staying up late.

I wanted to share this volunteer form with you. My friend Tuyetnga (that I met at the NCCAT this summer) shared a variation of this form with me. I changed it a bit to meet the needs of our classroom and I someone else might be able to use it. Parent involvement is something our school struggles with. I'm hoping I'll have some volunteers this year! I had two parents last year that helped with everything and that was it.

Parent Volunteer Form

Also, I had a couple people ask me how I got my donors choose projects funded. The first one I entered last year was largely funded by family. I posted a link to the project on facebook and got donations through that. Build a Bear workshop also donated some. I know certain companies/organizations do donations at times, but I'm not sure how they choose recipients.

The second project I entered was funded at the end of 2010. The end of the year is a great time to get projects funded because it's a tax write off. The people that funded mine funded a few others, and when I looked at their history it seems they do that every year. I would highly advise you to post a project in time for tax season.

Donor's Choose

A couple weeks ago I put up my first donor's choose project of the school year. I was able to get 2 projects funded last year. I got a super cute bilingual rug for my room, and some center activity kits. This project is for plastic book boxes. If you or anyone you know might want to contribute click the link below.

Donor's Choose

A couple projects

Today I've been working on a couple of projects at home. I was online looking up privacy shields, but they run like $8.00 for one. I don't have that kind of cash...I'm a teacher! I'm pretty sure I remember seeing these on a blog, but I'm not sure where. I also think another teacher at school mentioned making these. I just took two manilla folders and glued them together. I also added some tape for reinforcement. I'm going to laminate them when I get back to school. I'm still debating whether to decorate them (maybe with some penguins!). I'm not sure if that will be overly distracting. What do you think?

I'm also redoing my word wall words. Last year I wrote my words on notecards with different colors and put them on the word wall. This year I typed them up and glued them to construction paper. I'm also going to laminate these before cutting them again. I wish I had a laminator at home! The cabinets in my room have cork board all down the front so I use that as my word wall. I'm so glad to have that! What do you store your word wall words in while not using them?

A Few Classroom Pictures

The other day when I was working in my room I snapped a few pictures. I've done some more work since then, but I don't intend to go back until our workdays start next Wednesday. There are only a handful of teachers that have even gone in to work this summer.



View of the penguin curtains I hung up...those things thrown in the cubbies below are put away now.


View from the library center...that's my bff Blake in the background helping me.

View from the front of my room...I have all my tables where I want them. That blue cabinet is in my office now though.

View from my office door. I've since hung my alphabet strip above the board, and hung the clock up on the wall.

AND................the winner of the $10 Target giftcard is:

#24 Cindy who said "I'm a new follower of your blog!:o)

Cindy e-mail me your address at jennatwigg@gmail.com and I'll get your giftcard in the mail!

Congrats!

A Giveaway

I know I'm only suppose to blog once per day, but I just found an awesome giveaway. The blog formerly known as Adventures in Teaching has a new name and location, it's now Fabulous Firsties! She's hosting an AWESOME giveaway. She's giving away scentsy bars! Scentsy candles are my fave! Click the link above and check out her giveaway!

Help!!

I made some listening center sheets that I'd love to share with y'all, but I can figure out how. I tried uploading them to google documents, but they are too big. Then I uploaded them to scribd, but they have a font that isn't recognized and it changed the formatting and put dots across the page. Who can help me with this??

I did start a Teacher's Notebook Store and you can get the basic listening center sheet inspired by First Grade to the Core.

Click HERE to visit my store and get it for free.

Top 10 Reasons You Know It's Back To School Time

Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits is hosting a linky party. I love linky parties!

Without furthur ado:

The 10 ways I know it's back to school time

10. It's tax-free weekend here in NC.

9. My BFF asked me if I wanted to hang out Monday or Tuesdays because she's off and I asked her if she'd meet me at my school and help in my room :) I lurve her!

8. I've been spending hours devoting my life to reading teacher blogs again. I also lurve blogs!

7. My trunk is full of supplies I've bought...and a couple awesome steals I got from a retiring teacher on Craigslist.

6. I've gone back to telling my husband to "hush I'm working."

5. I'm practicing for less frequent bathroom breaks.

4.I feel like my to-do list is much too long.

3. I've already picked out an outfit for back to school night.

2. I'm preparing myself for the fact I won't be able to stay up late to watch my guilty pleasure shows.

and the number #1 way I know it's back to school time:

I started blogging again!

A question for my blogging friends

Last year my listening center was strictly that--listening. They listened to the book, and if time allowed they listed again. This year I'd like for there to be a sheet they need to fill out. It would have to be pretty simple at the beginning for the year, but could advance from there. Do any of my blog friends havea sheet like this that they could share?

T minus 14 days

In exactly two weeks I will be officially returning for workdays. We have six workdays before the kiddos start on the 25th. Today I went in again with intentions of hanging my penguin curtains. I soon realized that although I asked for enough fabric to make two curtains, she only cut enough for one. I went to trim it down some and...........cut off too much. I'm on my way to JoAnn's tomorrow for more penguin fabric....good thing I get a 15% discount. :)

I did manage to get 4 boxes emptied. That may not seem like a lot, but since I moved rooms and EVERYTHING is in boxes, that is awesome. I have 4 closets in my room and I have 1 completely done! I also had an insightful conversation with our amazing custodian today. He wants to go to barber school and I'm really hoping that dream pans out for him. Did I mention he is amazing?? He came in my room out of his own free will and ASKED if I needed help...that's dangerous! Haha!

Since it's back to school time...what better time for a giveaway!!!

I've been stocking up at the Target dollar spot (and $2.50) spot. It's my fave! So for my first giveaway (since I'm a small fry blogger) I'm giving away a.........


$10 Target Giftcard.

I will draw a winner for this giveaway on Wednesday, August 10th at 8pm! Then I'll mail the winner their awesome giftcard!


Ways to enter:

1. Become a follower and leave a comment that you are.

2. Leave a comment with something awesome I should put on my walls (because they always feel so boring)...p.s. I am having a penguin theme.

3. Blog about my giveaway and leave a link to your post in the comments!

That's 3 possible entries!!! I love giving gifts so this is very excting for me!

New Design

I'm hoping someday when I hit big time blogger status that someone will make me a rockin' custom layout, however until that day I found a super cute design at www.designerblogs.com. I went cheap for the first layout...just $10! My husband would have a cow if I spent $25+ on a blog layout.

In classroom news, yesterday I went to the awesome teacher supply store. Last year I swear they had tons of penguin stuff...not so much this year. I'm so bummed. I got some penguin decals, some black and silver border, and some penguin pencils and paper. I'm going to try and find some penguin border and name plates online. I did however score big at JoAnn's Fabrics. They had super cute penguin fabric. I'm going to use it to make some little curtains for 2 shelves I have in my room. I was so excited to find it yesterday! Then when the super sweet girl was cutting the fabric for me she asked what I was making. When I said I was a teacher she informed me they have a teacher discount program. In case you didn't know, if you sign up at your local JoAnn's you get 15% off your total purchase! Score! I'm hoping to get this curtains up in my room and post some pics this week!

Day 1 in the classroom

Yesterday I went in for a couple hours to get started. I underestimated how overwhelming it would be. Seeing all the boxes I had packed (plus some that randomly ended up in there that weren't mine), and the furniture all over the place was a little traumatic haha. I did clear out one of the closets and put all my math, reading, and social studies texts and manuals where I want them. I put down the carpet for my library center, fixed my chair in there, and moved 3 of the bookshelves where I want them. I have a pretty good idea of where I want all the furniture, I just need someone to help me move it in place. They waxed the floors and you absolutely aren't allowed to drag anything on them...for that reason I need a buddy haha. I did bring a couple of projects home.

Tomorrow my bff Blake and I are going to do some classroom shopping. I'm going to get some fabric to cover the bulletin boards and to make a couple cute little curtains for some shelves I have. I'm hoping to find some penguin fabric for the curtains :::::fingers crossed:::::: I'm going to go back next week and continue working. I think that once a week until our workdays start will be enough. I also need some help from my hubby. He is great at putting hooks for backpacks in the closet, scraping tape of desks, and moving furniture. I'm hoping when it gets closer to school starting that the building will be open on a Saturday so that we can get in and do that stuff.

Awesome Giveaway

Erica Bohrer and 11 other awesome bloggers have teamed up for an ultimate giveaway! I don't even want to share it because I want to win so bad. I love all the bloggers out there though so I will share it. Go here to check it out! Let me know if you win!

Hello Again!

I really wasn't joking when I said I stink at blogging. I got super busy (and unmotivated) at the end of the year and pretty much gave up. This will be my second year teaching 1st grade. Technically my 2nd official year of teaching too because, my first half year didn't count for squat. We got a new principal. I met her yesterday and she seems wonderful. That was great to see, but I still worry about new rules and expectations. I had to move rooms (I'm the lone 1st grade teacher upstairs now). Tomorrow I intend to spend a couple hours in my room. I'm still paranoid that they'll make me move again. Our school is renovating and we have teachers EVERYWHERE. I don't want to get started just to have to start over.

I spent a week training with the North Carolina Teacher Academy and a week at NCCAT (NC center for the advancement of teaching) at Ocracoke Island. I got so many great ideas. Between that and blogland I'm so pumped to start the year next month. I hope I can keep my enthusiasm up when I'm spending 12 hours a day at school.

In other news.....my husband and I officially start training to become foster parents in September. We have struggled with infertility and are excited to move to this next step.

I felt like my classroom as not even half as cute as the ones I see in blogland. My theme this year is penguins. Any clever ideas for me?

So sorry I disappeared

I just haven't had anything to share for awhile.... We got caught up in buying a house and I've been trying to stay afloat at school. I have 16 lovies in my class and I'm proud to say that 11 of them are reading on or above grade level. For my first full year of teaching, and with the dynamic of my school, I'm pretty proud of that.

My kiddos have 4.5 days of school left, and I have 3 work days after that. This summer I'm doing two weeks of teacher training. I'm doing one related to the reading assessments we use, and another one at the NCCAT . I'm hoping to gain a lot of powerful knowledge.

Tomorrow I'll be spending half the day outside for field day. It's expected to be about 90..which is actually a cool down compared to the last week. Last year I got majorly overheated at field day and spent the rest of the day sick. I'm hoping that doesn't repeat this year.

Next school year I promise to be a better blogger (and hopefully more creative).

Yet another bookclub packet

Sorry I haven't been around for awhile. I had spring break and I think I am checked out totally now. 28 days! :) Even though I love my little ones.

Here is the latest bookclub packet I made. This one is for Arthur and the Mystery of the Stolen Bike.


Stay tuned later this week for the cute mothers day activity I'm doing.

Wohoo

:::::runs through blog world screaming::::::::::::: I'm on spring break! Finally! It seems as if everyone on every blog I read was on spring break a few weeks ago. I was mega jealous. In our district, break always coincides with Easter and it's late this year. We had some little visitors to our room this week. LICE! :( Yuck....I treated myself just as a preventative. I know it's one of the occupational hazards of teaching, but ewww. I have nothing else excited to mention this week however.

Week in review

This past week was a long one for sure. My class and I are mega ready for spring break. Five more days! It seems like everyone in blog world has already had spring break, but our coinsides with Easter. It's a long wait, but I know I'll be glad we only have a few weeks left when we get back. I had my final observation of the year on Wednesday. My class was not having one of it's best behavior days....hopefully when I have my post conference it won't be awful :( Our principal is awesome, so I'm confident she'll only have constructive things to say. It's a bummer that she is leaving at the end of the school year. I'm not the most creative teacher, but I did make another book club packet for my high group. Junie B. Jones has a Peep in her Pocket

You know you're a teacher when...

Abby at the inspired apple is having a linky party. I've never been the kind of girl to pass up a good party. You know you're a teacher when: 1. You come home and call your spouse or pet by a student's name. 2. You enjoy doing activities that require coloring. 3. You ask a friend or family member if they are making good first grade decisions. 4. A bag full of school supplies will put a smile on your face all day. 5. You get called mom daily. 6. You don't have any children of your own, but you have 16 little people that tell you they love you all day long.

Book Club Packet

I try and expose all my students to a variety of books. I'm trying to expose my highest group to a variety of chapter books. The last book we did was a Cam Jansen book. Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the UFO. I'm including the link to the google document of the book club packet I made (I don't know if there is a nicer prettier way to do this). https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LB7-qD_LRy8H3zbRhb_cSuH-TMrBlaPmObS6R830D34/edit?hl=en#

Some pictures

Here are some pics from the past couple weeks.....in no certain order since blogger and I aren't friends! P.S. my room was a hot mess when I took these pics




A little leprechaun damage:

Some Classroom Pics---center table

classroom shot from the front of the room

View of my guided reading table

Manipulative store shelf

Back counter/book boxes/sink

We followed the first six weeks of school and made our hopes and dreams

Center chart and behavior card system

Cubbies

Word Wall/Cabinets

Computers

Wanted posters

Field trip writing...took these on my phone and they are blurry