Exhausted.

Totally and completely exhausted.

 

I don't know how people do this teaching thing...

 



Back-To-School!

I survived back-to-school night number one!

I can already tell I have quite the adventure ahead of me, but it was so exciting to put a bunch of littles in that room and see it buzzing with excitement for the up-coming school year!

So many thoughts floating in my head after this day that I wish I could write forever, but my body is literally shutting down in exhaust, so off to bed I go so that tomorrow I can make it though more teacher work-shops and lesson planning!

Classroom Website

I have been working all summer on putting together a website that my students and parents can visit to keep up-to-date on our classroom happenings, and also a spot where I can post photo of my littles where their parents can come check them out. It is finished, and although I know it's not the best website that has ever existed, it will suffice!

Check it out here:
http://amberhenne.wix.com/thirdgradegrovers

Never-Ending List

Each night I go to school with the intent that I will place a check by each of my "to-do" list items, and feel satisfied with the fact that I am ready for school.  Think again. I have come to the conclusion that the more time I spend at school, the more I find to do.  Just when my mind feels somewhat at ease with what I have done and what I have ready for the first day, I stumble upon a whole new realm of teaching that sends my minds into a whirl-wind and makes me feel like I don't have near enough hours until the first day of school to accomplish everything I need to. Certainly, the list will never actually be fulfilled, and for the rest of my days as a teacher I will have that back-of-my-mind feeling that there is something to be done. 

And so I will do my best to spend enough time preparing to feel confident and ready, but little enough time preparing that I can enjoy this last remaining week of my summer.

7 days until kick off....

The reveal!

I'm finally doing it. I went to school last night, and before I left I made sure to take up-to-date, current photos of my classroom for the "before and after" post. I'm now ready to reveal my classroom- in all its glory!

The photos begin in June, when I first stepped into my room, and will continue through last night. There is still more to do, but it has come a long way and I am starting to feel more and more ready!

The next couple pictures are the "first look" at my classroom:

The walls were white, the carpet was maroon, and things were piled throughout the room.

The next few pictures are during the painting process:

And, the room once the painting has been completed:

Then it is decided that my classroom needs new carpet, so everything gets removed and placed in the hallway, below you will see the room when it is completely empty, with the new carpet inside:

And... I get to start moving stuff back in, making it my own and organizing it all to be my classroom. Now you get to see the final product, and what I currently call my classroom:

And the details of my room, walking in the door, turning immediately to the right, and working your way around the room:

The word wall

The homework board

My desk, the students "star slip" pockets, our behavior clip-chart, and our schedule for each day on magnets so I can switch it up.

Behind my desk area to keep my teachers editions

My organizational systems for my lesson plans and copies each day. Each day has 6 color-coded folders with their subject names on them to keep the essential materials and lesson plans for the days given subject.

The bin where I will keep the students important information, papers, tests, etc to be sent home in their "Friday Folders"

A close up of our daily schedule, as well as the hanging shelves I put up!

Our reading nook!

A less closer look at our reading nook, you can see the bookshelves where I will be keeping our classroom library. On the far right you can see our computer table.

The writing center. In the two bins in those desks I will be keeping word work materials. On top is a bucket of journal prompts as well as a "daily five" pocket chart. Students will grab their station card, after all 4 are gone they have to choose a different station. The Sterelite drawers in the background hold my math manipulatives.

Our mailbox, morning station. You can see the homework bins, as well as the buckets which hold our morning meeting and morning greeting activities. Above them is our jobs chart.

A closer look at our homework and morning station. The clipboard is where students check in for hot or cold lunch and indicate if they are going to have milk with their snack.

Our calendar, which hangs next to the homework station.

The front white board. Underneath are the 6+1 Traits of writing signs, along the left side are our learning target  display boards.

A closer look at the learning target boards

A head-on shot of the front display. On the far right side is our "marble jar" and "voices level"

And that's a wrap! I realized that I'm missing the details outside the room- so I'll have to give a hallway tour sometime next week. Maybe I'll do a little bit more thorough tour of how I'm going to organize all my materials and lessons as well!

Thanks for checking out our classroom! I'm excited for what the year is going to bring in this newly transformed space, and excited to share the happenings as they occur!

Get ready, get set...

I spent yet another night at school last night, now that back-to-school night is quickly approaching I've been feeling the pressure and need to really get things in order and ready to go. Although my physical space is coming along really well, I'm starting to feel a little bit of anxiety about the actual teaching side of things. Everything looks good on paper, everything works well in your head, but when you've got 20 little ones sitting in front of you, staring at you, 20 bodies with their own thoughts, actions and ideas- what looks good on paper doesn't necessary compute to what works well in the classroom.

So I'm starting to plan, and pray, and tell myself that I've done this before and that I will be okay. And I know in the end, when that first day comes and goes, I-in fact- will be okay.

Now that I have the names- have labeled the desks, the lockers, the mailboxes with this list of 15 different names, I'm excited to put a face to them. A personality. A story. A life. And to start to build relationships with my little ones.

I know that nothing will be quite like my first year of teaching, and that I will never forget these kiddos, because they were my first. And I'm excited to embark on a monumental year with them!

Current teacher joys:

• Color-coded everything! Nothing is better than organizing with colors, and I have had such a fun time color-coding the smallest of details in my classroom
• Calendars. It seems as though I can't have enough calendars around my room. I have the large calendar that we will be working with as a class, A calendar hanging next to my desk to keep my life in order, and a calendar hanging outside our classroom door to inform parents of important dates. They make me feel like there is some order to the chaos, and I love it.
• Buying new school supplies. I love buying new colored pens, and new markers, and cute notebooks, and post-it notes. It still makes me happy to have a bag full of brand-new school supplies ready to unload into my (now much larger) desk.
• A brand-new planner! Planners are my life, and I love getting a brand-spanking-new blank planner and beginning to process of adding the birthdays, "no school days", special days, teacher workshop days. It's part of my calendar obsession, and must also contribute to me feeling like there is some order in the madness. 

Current teacher frustrations:

• Figuring out how to print double-sided on a printer that doesn't do it automatically, spending 2 hours figuring it out, finally getting it to work, only to have it ruined by the binding machine. I gave up after that.
• Having no school e-mail address to put on all my parent documents I'm making, and not staying in the loop with the pre-school faculty communication. Thank goodness for all my teacher-friends at the school who help me stay informed.
• Laminators that break and take 2.5 hours to fix, while constantly burning and cutting your finger in the process.
• E.x.t.r.e.m.e.l.y. s----l-----o-----w--- computers. They make my nights longer. At least Pandora presses on through the slowness.

Speaking of planners, I'm looking for a new one to buy currently. Any suggestions?

9 days and I will be welcoming those little ones and their families for the reveal of the all-new-fresh-carpet-fresh-paint maddess I call my classroom. Uff-da.

Teaching Blog- Rookie.

Here comes another life adventure. Well, it's a couple adventures, wound into one.

I have finally created a teaching blog that I am satisfied with, have settled on a name (that I will probably feel like changing every other week), and designed the blog to the best of my ability.

I'm excited to share my teaching experiences, the funny moments, the challenging moments, and the thoughts the enter (and exit- via my blog) my mind while I spend my days in the classroom, or at the end of a long night.

Speaking of classroom, mine has been completely transformed from an all-white-walled place of complete disorganization and mayhem to a place that I feel is- almost- emphasis on the word almost ready for children. I'm excited about the transformation it has made, and I look forward to sharing that transformation with YOU.

Watch for the before and after photos of my classroom- coming soon! Thank you for visiting. Make sure to come back often for a little inspiration or laugh of your own.