Let the unpacking begin

So with a dream job, comes packing and moving and the dreaded. . .UNPACKING!!!  My new room was my own second grade classroom, and it is still very surreal that I will be teaching in the fall at my old elementary school!  The room is an ok size, I've taught in smaller, but it could be bigger!  

Lots of nice natural light!

See that ugly awful Rainbow wall????  Its G.O.N.E I ripped that puppy down on day 1 of unpacking!  And yes that is one of the twins with her baby Belle.  (Gotta have something to keep them occupied!)

This is an awesome storage area!  This stuff is also no longer there.  The other teacher moved it out.  

Must have mounted Smart Board complete with speakers!

Now comes all my very important stuff packrat teacher junk!  But you know I may need it all one day, so I keep it all.  

Doesn't this sound like most teachers in America????  

I went into school last Thursday and just stared at my pile for an hour and then left.  I was so overwhelmed by the enormity of it, that I couldn't do a thing.  Went back today (child-less, thank you Mawmaw AKA the girls babysitter) and worked for 3 solid hours and unpacked a whopping 5 boxes. . . .only 50 left.  But progress is progress, right?!?!?!?  Here's hoping more of my Owl-Some (ignore the corniness!) Chevron and Owls design will make an appearance soon!

Math Giveaway

My bloggy friend, Kelley, is celebrating her new position as a Math Instructional Facilitator. To celebrate she is giving away some great math resources to help you start your year off right. To enter just head over to her blog.

Throwback Thursday

I am loving reading all these Throwback Thursday posts!

 I have taught 3rd grade for the past 7 years and am moving down to 1st this year, so I am LOVING all the first grade ideas that I am finding in these posts.   This summer I have been reading Debbie Miller's Reading with Meaning and I am so excited about what the Reading Workshop is going to look like in my first grade classroom.

If your a primary teacher and are doing Reading Workshop, you need to read this book!

Today's post is all about when I first began using Reading Workshop with full implementation.  I still get chills when I think of all my students' accomplished that year!  

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Originally Posted December 3, 2011

This was my first week of teaching without our county adopted reading anthology + workbook = instruction model, and.I.loved.it!!!! When my students came into our classroom on Monday they noticed that there reading book had been removed from their desks. I didn't say a thing about where they went. I called my students over to the carpet for our mini-lesson for reading workshop and that's when I laid it on them that there was going to be no more reading boring stories out of our yellow reading book. Their faces were priceless! Not surprising, the boys in my class were the most excited.

My first task was to get my students to understand that they needed to be reading for longer periods of time.  I am using A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop as my basis for my instruction and they begin with lessons to build reading stamina. My students bought into the idea of being able to read their book for a longer period of time. While we have only been at this one week, it became more and more difficult to get my students to put their books away, even after reading for 40 straight minutes!

After they finished their reading, students were eager to buzz about what they had read and learned that day.  They busied themselves during their reading time writing sticky notes, and completing Independent Directed Reading tasks (IDR). The amount of times I had to redirect my students talking and off task behavior was greatly minimized. This approach to teaching reading is just what I've been looking for!

Several teacher friends of mine in my district have been asking about how to begin the Reading Workshop. I recommend getting the book The Book Whisperer, by Donalyn Miller

This text is a wonderful starting place if you want to learn more about using the workshop model to teach reading. I am currently working on creating yearlong curriculum maps for both the reading and writing workshops. If you are interested in any of my reading workshop materials, let me know!

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It is crazy how much I have learned about Reading Workshop since this post!  I am constantly changing something to make it better!

Make sure you head over and link up your Throwback with Cara!

Great Giveaway Going on!

First Grade Critter Cafe is having a blogiversary giveaway all week!!! I love free stuff and wanted to let all my followers in on this!

Head over to Julie's blog and enter for all the great goodies today!  It is full of primary resources!

I'm off to get ready to move more stuff!!

Packing is for the Owls

If you've been around for a while you know that I got my dream job at my old Elementary School teaching First Grade.  While that is awesome and I can't wait to start, the job of randomly throwing crap in boxes packing is seriously draining!  I worked for a few hours 2 weeks ago, but didn't get a whole lot done.  Today it was time to get serious.  I was super lucky that my friend, Karen, agreed to come help me.  She kept me motivated and we packed ALL MY STUFF!! I can't believe we finished it all in one day....with the twins there too!!

We loaded up the Hot Mom Van and dropped a load in my new classroom.  After that, the twins were super cranky and we all needed a nap.  I plan to hit it hard again tomorrow and hopefully get it all moved.

I am getting so excited about setting up a First Grade Classroom for the first time ever!  They.are.so.small.  I keep telling myself that!  Lakeshore Learning had a sale a few weeks ago and I scored some awesome new library bins.  Reading Workshop is NOT possible without a functionable (is that a word?) library.  I have been going through and deciding which books will be going in the classroom library.

With Chalkboard themes being the rage right now, I naturally went with that!

This set includes 66 different theme labels and a label for all 26 letters to allow you to organize by Guided Reading levels too.  Head over and pick up your copy at my TPT.

My new theme is going to be Owls and Chevron this year.  I am working on supply labels and a welcome pennant.  What other products would you like to see?

Dilly Dabbles Celebration

I am coming to you live from the beach! It is beautiful weather here and the girls are having so much fun.

Melissa over at Dilly Dabbles is celebrating a huge milestone with lots of giveaways planned! You don't want to miss out! 

Head over there now by clicking here http://www.dilly-dabbles.com/2013/07/celebrating-1000-facebook-followers.html?m=1 (I cant get the link to work from my phone!)

Hope your enjoying your time off!

Celebrate the 4th with a Sale!

I hope you have a great time celebrating the 4th of July!  Maybe your heading out to a picnic, barbecuing at home, having fun on the water, or just hanging out at home.  I am relaxing with my family at Myrtle Beach, SC!  It was supposed to rain all day today so we went shopping and guess what decided to show it face....THE SUN!!  We did manage to head out to the ocean around 4, and plan to hit it all day tomorrow.

I am linking up with several other sellers and throwing a 4th of July sale tonight and all day tomorrow  at my TPT.  Enjoy 20% off and make sure you head over to Mrs. Reed's blog Flying into First Grade and check out all the other awesome sellers having sales.