New Teachers Unite

     Yet another day of professional development in the books, almost, and yet another tired teacher! The past two days were just for us first year teachers so it was more tailored for some suggestions about assessment and management and grade level specifics.Yesterday I was in a class with pre-k to 2nd grade teachers so we all shared a love of the little ones :) Today I was only with my fellow first grade teachers so a lot of the things we discussed today were strictly for first grade. It's really helping me reduce some of my stress a little bit because we are going over all the different procedures and things that need to be present in a first grade room, something I have been stressing over! The two teachers that are "presenting" for first grade are extremely helpful in all areas. They are emailing us copies of their procedure books, behavior charts, and pretty much any resource they have. Knowing that there are all of these people that are available to help and give me resources for my first year makes me a tad bit less stressed. Everyone I've met has really emphasized the fact that it is my first year and I will ask a ton of questions but that's ok!
     I've also got to give a shout out to some of the amazing people in my district. I'm not sure who or how many of them did but someone donated a TON of books, organizational things, teacher bags, and furniture for our classrooms, and each school created a gift basket as door prizes (none of which I won :( ). It was pretty much a free for all once we were let out for lunch and I ended up snagging about 10 or so books for my classroom library...all free :) It's the little things like that that my district is doing that really makes me happy about my choice to be in this district. We are a pretty well known district, not only in the state of South Carolina but also nationally. We've won awards for technology use and, if I heard correctly, we are one of the top districts with teachers who are nationally board certified (I think they said we've got about 1,000 or so teachers who are!). I know it sounds like I'm bragging, because frankly I am. It's amazing to be part of such a wonderful, supportive district and I haven't even begun my school year yet! There's so much I've still got to learn and I know that but right now I'm definitely calming down a bit because of all the support I've been given by the district.
     Another awesome thing I've been given the opportunity to do is sit down with my fellow first grade teachers and actually plan out the first few days of school. Today we are getting to talk with some veteran teachers about planning the first few days. Their plan is to give us suggestions and copies of activities they do with their students and actually plan those days with us. That's definitely a weight off my shoulders because that was something I was definitely getting concerned about. I don't really know what to do! I know procedures and things are a big part of the first few weeks but I wasn't quite sure how to go about them. Some people have said to jump right into the content and teach procedures at the same time. Obviously I'm going to do some little review things at the beginning but there's no way I'm going to say, "Ok guys, open your Treasures reading book to page one...we're going to discuss elements of a story." That's just not something I would want to do my first day!
     Sorry for the long post but I've just been so overwhelmed with information that I just had to share some of it! I finally get to go back to my classroom on Monday and actually get to set some things up since summer school is over, YAY! I'll definitely be posting some pictures of my room as things start to get finished...slowly, but surely!
     I would like to pose a question to some of my fellow teachers, and this is centered around behavior management, of course! I've got a clip chart that I'm going to be using in my classroom. It's your standard colored chart the gives students the chance to clip up for excellent behavior and clip down for negative behavior. My question to you is this: What is your procedure for either documenting daily student behavior over time or sending notes home to parents for negative behavior? I've heard multiple things about how teachers do this and I'm curious to know some other opinions! Any suggestions or comments are appreciated :)

Teacher Development Overload

Holy cow I've been so busy the past few weeks I have barely had time to breathe let alone blog about everything going on...I feel that's going to be my excuse a lot! Anyway, there's so much going on between teacher development and summer school ending I need to take some time to relax...unfortunately that won't happen for a few more days. This whole week is pretty much scheduled for me with teacher development. My district uses this week to "train" new teachers to the district and brand new teachers as well. Today and yesterday was strictly for any new hire to the district. A lot of it wasn't new for me since I attended some other development days a few weeks ago. They really just informed us of the new curriculum that hasn't been released yet...and won't be released until August 15 (5 days before school starts might I add). The next two days, however, are just for new teachers! It will be nice to finally just be with my fellow newbies for a few days :)

As if all of this curriculum talk isn't overwhelming enough, I've still got to worry about my classroom! Summer school ended last Thursday, YAY! Now they're waxing the floors on my hallway, BOO! It will be nice to just focus on content for a little bit and take a break from classroom setup but I can't help but continue to be anxious. I'll only have two weeks to really set up my classroom before school starts and it's driving me crazy! Time is ticking away and I can't believe kids will be in my room in 3 weeks. It's crunch time ladies and gents and this newbie has got to get a grip on all these changes!

Day 1 In My Classroom!

     Ahhh, so it's been awhile since I've blogged last but it's been so crazy around here! For starters, being a waitress and working 40 hours a week is completely draining me. I'm also trying to tie up all the loose ends when it comes to my licensure and employment...talk about craziness. Anyway, I finally got a chance to spend some time in my classroom today and I am so excited! Here's a quick peek at what I walked into today. My room is being used for summer school so it's a tad dirty.

 

 



     It's not that big of a room, but it's definitely bigger than I remembered it being. I've got 5 classroom computers in my room which is awesome, but I want to move them against the wall so I can always see what they are doing on them. After I took these pictures I played around with some table arrangements and I think I found one that I like. My mind has been racing with all the possible arrangements I could do so it will just take some playing around to find something I like.
     The one thing about my room that I wasn't so glad about at first is the fact that I don't have a desk. Instead, I have a corner with my kidney table. back where the kidney table is there's a large cabinet, a large bookshelf, and then a smaller bookshelf. At first I was a bit disappointed but after thinking about it, I'm kind of glad I don't have one since it would just be one more thing to try and keep organized. There's also no mailboxes for my students so I'm trying to come up with a cheap arrangement to use for student mailboxes. If you have any ideas I could definitely use them!
     I've got my work cut out for me and I'll be posting lots of pictures as I start to fix up the room. For now, if you have any advice on organization or classroom setup or any first year teaching advice at all, please let me know! I'm always looking for suggestions :)