First Week Back

I love my new class!  I have a sweet group this year.  This is my first year trying Whole Brain Teaching, and I love it!  I wish I found WBT a long time ago.  It's pretty amazing.  I think my favorite WBT technique so far is "Teach-ok?"  I'm impressed with how long I'm able to keep my students engaged during lessons.  My kids really like the scoreboard too!  I can't wait to try other WBT techniques this year.

Here are some pictures from the first week of school.

We read The Kissing Hand and charted feelings we had before the first day of school.  I got the cute anchor chart idea from Once Upon a First Grade Adventure.  The students then cut out tracings of their hands, and wrote words to describe their feelings on them.

We made a dismissal graph during math on the first day.  We discussed which one had the most, which one had the least, how many more walkers than bus, etc.  I made the interactive graph with SMART Notebook.  2nd graders love using the SMART Board!

In reading this week, we learned about using context clues to help readers with unfamiliar words.  

I introduced the class to context clues by reading Baloney (Henry P.).  

The kids loved it!  It has fun words like "Zimulus" for pencil.

In science we started the What is a Scientist? unit.  Students drew what they thought a scientist looked like and wrote what they thought a scientist would say.   We then read Everyone is a Scientist and wrote down what a scientist does on chart paper.  I tried to copy Cara's anchor chart from First Grade Parade.  I definitely need to work on my charting and artistic skills!  I also implemented some things from 2nd Grade Ponderings' You are a Scientist! lesson.

I introduced my kids to our Super Improver door.  I finally printed the little grids and the students' names on sticky notes.  You can download the Word document I made for the sticky notes here, and you can read more about my Super Improver door on my previous Classroom Setup post.

I also put together my students' Homework/Daily folders this week. 

You can download my behavior calendars at my TPT Store.

That's it for now!  Happy Labor Day !

Classroom Setup - Week Two and Three

I'm almost finished with my classroom!!!  I still have some organizing to do and a few small projects, but all the big things are done.  It's a lot more color than I'm used to, but it's growing on me.  Click here to see before pictures.

 

My desks probably won't stay like this after the first week.  I think I may do a "U" shape with some small rows.  I like being able to walk smoothly to each desk while students are working on independent work.

The cubbies will hold all of our text books, and I have turn in trays for each subject on top of them. 

  

I'm going to have students highlight their name before they turn in their work.

I got this cute printable from Mrs. Williamson's Blog

  

I need to cover the bathroom sign with something.  I share the "bathroom" with a teacher next door.  We decided to make it into a closet.  I don't like the thought of poop germs floating around in my room, and we have school restrooms right next door to us in the hallway.  

I'm doing a Super Improver wall door from Whole Brain Teaching this year.  Every student is going to start with a white sticky note, and they can earn stickers every time they improve in something (anything at all).  Once they earn 10 stickers on their sticky note, they move up to the next color.  If they earn all 10 stickers on the highest level,  they get to put their picture on the door.  The picture will remain turned over until they earn 10 more stickers.  I think it's a great idea to help students improve no matter what academic level they are.  The awesome Super Improver wall printables are from Tara's Blog.

 

I finally got all of my labels put on my library buckets thanks to my friend, Caitlin!  She gave me a ton of wall mounting stickers.  They work wonders for attaching labels!

  

The bulletin board on the left is for student work.  I just used black construction paper to help me space the clothes pins, but I think I like the way it looks.  I'll probably level the construction paper and staple it up there for a background.

The center signs on the board remind students what they're supposed to be working on.  I either write what they're supposed to be doing, or hang up the worksheet their supposed to turn in.

 

The picture on the left shows my language arts centers board.  See an updated picture here.

  

Soon, I'll have my big, clunky cart that holds my elmo and projector in front of my SMART Board.

The picture to the left shows more Whole Brain Teaching strategies.  

I got the cute printables from Christie's blog.

The objective and product idea is from The Fundamental Five.  The school district I work for started implementing Fundamental Five strategies from Lead Your School last year.  It tells the students what we are learning about ("We will") and what they are expected to do at the end of the lesson ("I will").

  

This is my messy desk area.  I still have a loooot of things to organize for my desk.

I'm going to use the Mr. Potato head for teacher compliments.  Every time the class as a whole receives a compliment for good behavior from ANOTHER teacher, I will add a piece to the potato head.  Once Mr. Potato Head is complete, my students will get a pajama day, popcorn snack, dance party, etc.  I used to spell "pajama day" or whatever my class was trying to earn on the board.  I think this idea is way more fun!  I got the idea from Something to Chirp About.

 

I've always LOVED new school supplies!!!  I'm going to start organizing all of my office supplies tomorrow. So exciting! :)  

I'm using Whole Brain Teaching rules next year, and the cute printables are from Christie's blog.  I'm going to have the students recite the rules with gestures multiple times each day.

The Early Act First Knight signs are for a character trait curriculum my district follows.  The students get really into it, and six students from each class are "knighted" each year for having knightly traits.  

This is the hallway outside my classroom.  The picture on the left shows where I display my students' work.  I hot glued little wood figures to clothes pins.  They go along with our knight theme.

Have you guessed what my school's mascot is yet?   

I joined Miss Nelson's Before & After Giveaway/Linky Party!  You should share your before and after pics and join her party too! :)