So Far, So Good!

I've been a third grade teacher now for two days... and, I'm still alive! It's honestly been a pretty smooth first few days and I don't think it could have gone much better. I officially have about the sweetest class ever. They're seriously adorable.

We've been doing a lot of procedures and a lot of explaining how third grade runs. But, we've also been doing a lot of team building and making friends. Like I said in my last post, I used some activities from Babbling Abby's Back to School for Big Kids unit. You can find it right here. The kids loved all the "Find a Friend" activities. We had a serious discussion today about who could moonwalk (answer: no one) and who thought they could moonwalk (answer: everyone). 

Another activity we did from the unit were Third Grade Backpacks. Instead of just writing about tools for success in third grade, though, we did a few other little pieces of writing, too. We wrote our goals for the year, a list of new friends and what we were excited about in third grade. I think they turned out pretty cute and they're perfect for our Open House next week :)

Here they are hanging out in the hallway. I tried to make sure they matched the pennants that are (shhhhh!) hot-glued to the bulletin board.

Here's a close-up.

How awesome are this cute kiddo's goals for this year?

We made a class promise on Wednesday. It turned out great because the kids wrote it and came up with it themselves. They signed their name on a handprint and decorated it and I stapled them around the promise as signatures. We recited the promise this morning in our Morning Meeting and will do so every day.

We also made an anchor chart today about what we expect from each other: what I expect from my students and what they expect from me. This was a good activity to talk about respect and expectations.

Okay, so have I mentioned my hatred of pocket charts on here? Because, seriously, I hate them. They're big and bulky and ugly and I hate the stands that they hang from for all the same reasons. Other than my calendar, I'm trying to be pocket chart free. So, I made this for my centers this year. It's just like the one I made for my guided reading groups. I saw the idea somewhere on Pinterest. Instead of using those silver clips that I would have had to go buy, I just slipped zip ties in the holes and

wha-la! A center chart!

I'll probably post about my centers again once school gets going and I get it all worked out. It's kind of Daily 5... but, with Book Clubs added in. I'm going to try it. It may BLOW UP in my face (and probably will) but, I want my kids to be REALLY excited about reading and I think Book Clubs are a good way to do that. So, basically, one or two groups of four will be doing book clubs at one time while the rest of the class are doing literacy centers. Then, as each group finishes the Book Clubs, I'll switch them with four other students and they will go into the literacy centers. The clips will be for students to make choices. They can put their clip on any center that has a sticker still available, but they have to go to each center each week. Like I said, there are some Daily 5 elements... but, it's not the whole system.

I made another clip chart this week. (I love me some clips... in case you couldn't tell.) This one is for behavior. I know everybody in blog-land has been using this for years. But, I've always just had a stop-light. Green, yellow and red. No nonsense, ha. I think third graders are maybe a little more mature, though. And, I think you can reason with them a little more and they can reflect on their behavior more than first graders can. So, I'm going all in. We're moving up and down and all around! It's madness.

Don't look too closely! I stuck this baby together at the VERY LAST MINUTE Tuesday night before the kids came on Wednesday. In fact, it's on the back of my previous behvior chart because I didn't even want to leave school to get some more poster board. I didn't want it to be polka dots and stripes and stuff but that was all the paper I had!

Okay, you can look closely... and laugh at me! Because, I'm laughing pretty hard right now at how terribly put-together it is. It's all kinds of crooked and the sides are HORRENDOUS. Oh well!

I did let the kids decorate their clips this year to help give them some ownership. They were pretty darn excited. It doesn't take much :)

Last BIG CHANGE I made to the room this week was I put the kiddos in groups instead of rows.

I know, I know. Everybody puts their kids in tables and I'm a horrible teacher for liking rows better. It's just that:

-tables make your room feel more crowded

-it's harder to get around the room when they're in tables

-tables encourage talking and I don't want them to talk all the time

-I don't like it when kids aren't facing me

-it's easier for me to see what they're working on in rows

-they are directly facing their friends in groups while I am trying to teach

Obviously, I've thought about this a lot. Ha. And, every year, I say I'm going to just put them in tables and just deal with it. But, usually by about the 5th week of school I can't stand it anymore and back to rows we go!

I'm actually liking the tables right now. It helps that the kids are older and more mature. And, third grade is really geared towards group work so I'm trying my *very best* to keep them in tables for as long as I can. (We did a TON of group work in first grade, too. We just did it all on the floor. If I have to put them in rows, the group work won't stop. They'll just do it on the floor. Just wanted to clarify...)

So, tables it is!

(For now.)

I probably won't blog again for a few days. I'm completely exausted. I'm doing ZERO school stuff this weekend. I need to just relax. I think teacher's work harder the few days before the kids come than they do all year. I'm planning on visiting my parents this weekend and playing with my poor little puppy. Her world has been ROCKED this week! But, she's awesome and she's going to get lots of lovin' this week. So don't feel too bad for her :)

Have a good weekend!!!

One Day Down

Today was the day. The much-anticipated first day of school. And, my first day of teaching third grade.

Every year, my principal asks me if I feel like I'm going to throw up a litte on the first day of school. And, every year, I say YES! Haha. I get so nervous. But, this was the first year I said NO.

Don't get me wrong. I'm nervous about third grade. I know it will be very different and a lot of hard work. I know I'll have to go outside my comfort zone and I'll probably find out some hard truths about my teaching. But, to be quite honest, I'm so excited about the year!

The first day went great! I LOVE my class. They are the sweetest, cutest third graders I've ever seen. Plus, it doesn't hurt that I knew about 10 of them pretty well from previous years. I even had about 5 of them in my class! After spending a half day with them, I'm optimistic. I think I'm going to really enjoy them.

Not to mention, it was AMAZING to this former first grade teacher that they could make inferences and write paragraphs on the first day of school! We made a class promise together today and they were so into it. They all had lots of ideas about how our class should be run. It warmed my heart when a few of them told me that their first day of third grade was soooo fun :)

One quick funny story: I asked them today what were some things they had heard about third grade. One kid said "I heard we have to take this big test called TCAP that's the hardest thing in America!" Ha!

We get a nice break tomorrow because it's election day and then we'll have the kiddos all day on Friday. I'll try and take some pictures of some of the cute activities we're planning on working on. We're going to do some activities from Babbling Abby's Back to School for Big Kids pack. Such great stuff!

Oh, before I go, I have to mention my OBSESSION with the Olympics. I seriously can't go to bed each night until it's over. Which does not bode well for the first week of school. I was SO EXCITED when the women's gymnastics team won gold last night!

This may not be a popular opinion, though.

 The announcers keep saying that the FAB FIVE are the best US team since the 1996 team and all that. I agree that they're adorable and sweet and realllly good at gymnastics. But, I don't agree that they're better than the 2008 team! Look at the competition. US and China were neck and neck in Beijing and China was absolutely perfect. The only readon they lost was because Alicia Sacramone fell a few times. Shawn Johnson and Nastia Luikin nailed every single routine. This year, Russia was in second place and they fell a TON. China didn't even make the podium. It just seemed like a down year to me. But what do I know? I know Jordyn Weiber is the cutest thing ever and if I had a gold medal, I'd give it to her in a heartbeat.

Seriously, could they be cuter?

Well, my little brother is pitching tonight so I'd better go. It's going to be a tough order to keep up with the game and the Olympics at the same time. It's a hard life! More third grade updates this weekend. As always, thanks for reading!

My New Classroom!

*If  you like this post, you should check out my more recent classroom pictures! Just click on the "my classroom" tab on the side of my blog! Thanks for reading!!!

 Whew! I'm exhausted. I think I've spent at least one day at school the last 4 weeks. And, the last two weeks? I've been up there almost daily. But, I think my room is done. Or at least as done as it's gonna' be before school starts. Would you like a tour? Be sure and put your sunglasses on - it's a little bright!

Here's our door. I'm not a big "theme" person. But, I do love polka dots. So, I guess that's my theme. I made these spots out of some fun scrapbook paper. Easy peasy...

Here's our carpet/Morning Meeting area. I kind of love that blue shelf. My friend was getting rid of it and I snatched it up right quick! I painted it blue, too, to make it more bright.

Here's another view. This shows our objective board, too. I literally just took it off the board in my first grade classroom and transferred it to this classroom.

And, here's the rest of the front board. This is our calendar bulletin board. I'm thinking I'm going to take that Class Promise down and let the kids help me make one the first week of school.

Another view of the front of the room.

Here's the back wall. It's a little bare, but I plan to hang their work on the blue bulletin boards and anchor charts and stuff on the walls.

This back corner is pretty much for small group instruction. Oh, and that green wall is the best thing about this room! I was so excited to get my friend Meghan's room when she moved to second grade because I love that wall :)

This shelf will hold all the stuff I need for Guided Reading and Math Small Groups. It's a little bare right now because I'm coming from first grade! I need to store up some new stuff.

I'm going to try this little chart this year to keep up with Guided Reading groups. I always had to type up new lists every nine weeks before... now, I'll just have to move their clips around!

Isn't that green wall INCREDIBLE?

Here is my desk area.

The area behind my desk.

(By the way, all those pennants everywhere? They come from Target in the party section! They're maybe my favorite Target purchase ever...)

Word Wall and computers, obviously.

And, here's my little reading corner.

And, the other view.

I know all my bulletin boards are empty. I like to hang up stuff we make and anchor charts after we've talked about them. They'll all be full in no time, I'm sure.

Here's our math bulletin board and morning check-in area.

Here's a close-up of the curtains my mom made for me. I love them!

And, I made this table more fun with a little fabric from my first grade room.

I used a lot of plates in this room. Weird, I know. But, they're like 99 cents a pack! And they're so bright and fun! Plus, I love me some polka dots. I also used plates to make labels for my bulletin boards. I just put some black letters in the middle. Cheap and easy.

Here's the view from the back corner. Going on year 4 of the chair pouches... woo hoo!

Lastly, this our Number of the Day poster, Class Jobs and Class Rules. I kind of love those bees a little more than I should.

I was not happy to move to the old part of our school building after having a brand new classroom the last 3 years. But, I think I can definitely say that this is my favorite classroom yet! I love the green wall and all the space and there's a ton of storage.

Thanks for peeking at my room!

*Update*

I posted this about three weeks ago before school started. Now that we've gone through a few weeks of school, the room looks a little more "lived in." Those adorable plates on their lockers look like they backed over them with their cars about 30 times. Ha! I also changed their desks into groups and I updated my library to be more appropriate for third graders. 

Our new class promise... which I LOVE!

Our new behavior chart...

New library... now including chapter books!

And, the bulletin boards are starting to fill up!

Well, thanks a million for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the tour!!

Puppy Shenanigans

I thought I ruined my puppy yesterday.

(Bad Hair Day. Don't judge... we all have them.)

I left her in her crate for about 7 hours while I went to school to work on my classroom. I know, that's awful. But, she's going to have to be in there while I'm at work and I figured it'd be better to ease her into it. I've left her alone for 3-5 hours before... but, this was a first.

I realize every picture of her is kind of bad. She's really hard to get a picture of because

she moves ALL THE TIME! So, we take what we can get aroud here.

She did fine. She didn't have a potty accident the whole time! She's oddly good at "holding it." But, when she got out? She. Went. Nuts.

Yes, we've had to cover the couch with a blanket because Finley thinks it's her personal job to claw and scratch the thing to death. She's a tiny two pound terror, but she's terribly cute.

I took her straight outside... but, she was too busy licking my feet and trying to jump up my legs to do her "business." Haha. When we got back inside, she proceeded to walk up and down the length of my leg and lick every square inch she could find. Fun times, fun times. She was honestly fine until bedtime. A little hyper, but when is she not? But, she CRIED when I put her back in her crate to go to bed. It kind of broke my heart.

She loves my feet. And, look, I know it's bad to let her chew my toes. But it kind of feels like a

 foot massage... so, it's a tough call.

Some day, I'll let her sleep in my bed with me because if she's going to be in the crate all day, I don't want her to have to be in there at night. But, ya'll? I'm afraid I'll kill her in my sleep! What if I roll over her or she falls off? I'm pretty sure I look like a ninja in my sleep. We're talking blankets on the floor and pillows at the foot of the bed. Every night. She weighs 2 pounds! I weigh... um, nevermind. Let's just say I way a little more than 2 pounds. It just doesn't seem safe right now.

Eventually, she fell asleep. And, she did fine tonight. No crying. So maybe it was a fluke... maybe she was just trying to make me feel bad for leaving her. It worked, by the way.

She fell asleep on the couch. Believe me, this is rare. This girl is all about her crate.

Well, except for yesterday....

 I kind of wish I could just quit my job and stay at home and play with her every day. Except, I wouldn't be able to feed her. Or myself. And, I eat a lot. So, that plan's no good. She's just gonna' have to get used to it. I guess I have to get used to it, too.

Oh, and by the way? I'm now one of those crazy people who talks about their dog all the time. I think it might be because I've been seeing a lot of people up at school who knew I was getting a dog during the summer. So, they've been asking. I really am trying not to bring her up in EVERY conversation. I don't want to be THAT person. You know, the one who thinks their dog is a real-live human child? I promise I don't think that. My parents, however? They might think she's a child. This is an actual text conversation I had with my dad the other day:

Dad: "How's my girl?"

Me: "I'm good."

Dad: "Not you! Finley!"

Well, excuse me....

But, Finley's lessons in seperation were not for naught. I did get a ton of work on my classroom done. I'm almost finished. Good thing because our inservice starts on Friday! And, we have kids in our classroom next Wednesday...one week from today! It doesn't seem real. It never does. Until I'm looking out at a classroom full of kiddos who are staring at me to tell them something. Then it seems real.

Seriously, if you're still reading this mess, you're a kind soul. Or, you're family. And, if you're my mom? Don't worry. Your "grandchild" is sleeping soundly. In her crate, thankyouverymuch.