Getting My PLAN On!

Happy Sunday!

I am leaving for a family vacay here in a few days and am determined NOT to plan while on vacation. So that means I have been PLANNING all this week.

So how do I plan? It's totally a step process. I start big and work from there with end goals in mind... Backwards Planning... WHHHAAATTT!!! I guess all those college classes sunk in lol!

This is where I begin.

I build this yearly plan based off of what I want to cover in each month. Somethings NEVER change (like our district adopted program, Treasures), but everything else I move around to fit what will work for the year! And since I teach science, music, art and PE for my own class, I get to choose those units and their order as well!

Once my yearly plan is complete, or complet-ish, I build my daily schedule. This year our daily schedule will look like this:

This schedule goes through MANY changes before I settle on one I think will work for the year. In fact I made one last change just yesterday... can you spot the arrow switch? I'm swapping Wednesday's PE to Thursday! Now, I think I've got it, fingers crossed.

SO NOW WHAT?

I break out my planner!

I'm mostly a paper and pencil gal. In the past I used a stock Lakeshore or CTP planner, but I HATED writing in the times every week! So now, I like to make a customized page that fits my personal classroom schedule and then I make TONS of copies, hole punch them and add them to my teacher binder.

However, this year I have put the first few weeks together on the computer. I'll will probably switch back to pencil and paper when I have access to the school copier! Here is what it looks like :)

 

So clean and neat! Maybe I will keep with the computer...

You can get an editable blank version HERE! But you will need to have the font: TheBasicApple and PowerPoint!

In order to get this all filled in with activities I have to have the table look like this! AAAHHH!

There's even a TM on the floor... it's no too bad, right? I look through all my activities, align activities with content from our programs, scour Pinterest for inspiration and check back through TPT purchases I have made. Combine those things with my tried and true favorites and BOOM! I've planned ;)

So, that's how I get my PLAN on! How do you plan? Anyone using Planbook.com?

Until next time!

Melissa

It's a SCAVANGER HUNT!!!!

Happy Sunday!

Oh how I wish I was traveling to Vegas today... but, I'm not... tears!... Next year! Next Year!

So what am I doing instead? Scavenger hunting of course...

If you haven't gotten involved, you should! The Mr. and I have been bouncing all around town looking for the items...I even made a trip to school!!!

Here are a couple of the items I've already found...

my empty classroom... I really want to get in there and work! But we are off limits for the next couple weeks... I had to "break" in on a Sunday to snap this pic!

My FAVORITE, FAVORITE children's book! Seriously, hands down... no contest.

Me posing with a statue outside the Charles Schultz Museum. Yay, Charlie Brown!

the Mr. sniffing Scentos markers at Staples

Seriously fun... and cheap! Something I totally love during these summer months! Want to see my other pics? Follow me on instagram... @todayinfirstgrade

Until next time...

Melissa

What worked... what didn't!

Long time, no see... blog... read... anything (whomp, whomp..)!

Well, it was quite the year. And honestly, I just had NO energy to blog. Common Core,  (yes, I'm in Cali so we are just getting on board), a CRAZY class, and the desire to just come home and VEG!

I wanted to blog, trust me. I tried to get them in, but life took over.

But, I am back and making a commitment to BLOG!

So, I am re-starting with a look back on the school year. What worked and what didn't ( yep, some things didn't work... does that ever happen to you? :P)

What Worked:

1. Math Journals

I don't really know where to begin. I LOVE MATH JOURNALS! Well, my version at least. I decided to do a daily journal prompt for my students in a spiral review format based on the skills we were learning throughout the month and past months. The week went through: Make It Monday, Talk About It Tuesday, Word Problem Wednesday, and Think About It Thursday. I tailored each of the journal prompts to fit the day of the week. Within 15 min, my students worked on a math problem, used critical thinking skills, explained their thinking, and conveyed agreement or disagreement. It was the 1st thing we did EVERY morning and it was a wonderful way to begin the day. I will post more about math journals soon... so check back!

A Make It Monday prompt and student entry from early in the year

2. Morning Runs

I mentioned that I had a CRAZY class this year?! They were wonderful, smart, thoughtful, and ACTIVE! Many wiggly bodies roamed my room and a long morning of language arts was just too much for them to handle, especially since many did not arrive early enough to enjoy before-school-play-time. So I took matters into my own hands and started morning runs!

Our school is lucky enough to have a 1/8 of a mile track. So each morning we hit the track for a run. Yep, WE! I donned my favorite running sneakers and ran right along with them. It was tough at first because half of my class was SUPER into it and the other half whined and complained, but we trudged onward. At the beginning they could run 1 and 1/2 laps without walking. And by the end of their year, kids were requesting running shoes for birthday presents,  signing up to run local fun runs with their families and completing 8-10 laps without walking. They learned that sweating is OK (even their teacher does it, lol) because it just means we are working HARD! And it boosted their minds for a long day of thinking. It provided challenge, with only self-satisfaction as a reward. This was one of my favorite things this year and I will do it again next year!

3. Science

I have always liked doing science with my students. But I don't particularly find the 1st grade science curriculum riveting...  But thanks to some AMAZING ideas on Pinterest. I was able to transform all of my Science Units into learning exploration. Here are a few of my favorite ideas that will be sticking around next year too!

All of these are from Pinterest Pins. Some were real links and others I had to do some Google research on the "how to's".



What Didn't:

1. Math Centers, Tubs...

I tried fitting in hands on math learning SO many ways this year. And none of them worked. Well, not to the extent I wanted.

Centers- This works in many classes for Language Arts, so why not math? It was OK. It did not give me the opportunity to meet with students. It required a TON of prep work to change the centers each day. I couldn't quite get it to align with our current math program (Saxon- a spiraled program... no units of study). I abandoned it after two months.

Math Tubs- I read up on this. A LOT of classrooms do math tubs, too. Maybe this would be IT. Well, there was less prep. I got many things from TPT and created some of my own things. I only changed the tubs each week instead of each day. But, clean up was a mess. The kids had a hard time completing meaningful work in the amount of time we had for each tub. Still needed too much time to explain all of the various tubs each week. Copies were excessive (we are on a copy # limit...). This one lasted the rest of the year, but we were only doing it one to two days a week by the end.

In both math centers and tubs, there just wasn't enough time. I need at least 30 min for the normal lesson and GP that comes with our current program. I have a pacing guide to keep up with (so the other 6 teachers and I are somewhat on the same ground in math) and fitting in time for math centers/tubs in addition was a strain on our day- often causing us to miss out on science, social studies or PE; something I'm not willing to do.

So what's a girl to do? Try again! Next year's plan is going to be Math Workshop. I am VERY excited about this. I have been out of school for three weeks and am full on into planning Math Workshop. I think it will be a great mash-up of traditional lessons, centers and tubs. As soon as I have it up and running I will post on it. I hope that this will be the one, fingers crossed!

2. Workshop Next Do's

Now when I say this didn't work I am partially lying. Sorry. It works. It works well. It has been working for the last three years. A few tweaks each year has actually made it more and more successful. So why did I put it here? I need something new. A new way to explore language arts workshop. A way to give my students opportunities of self guided learning and more accountability.

After learning about the Daily Five (which I think is fabulous) I also know that it is not exactly what I want in my room. So next year my students will do an adaptation of the Daily Five system for their workshop next do's. I think it will provide them with more independence and choice. They will be able to be in charge of their learning in a "distantly guided" way. More to come of course...

So there you have it. This was a long one. But it to SO good to reflect and look for ways to improve! What are your big plans for next year? How do you think you'll improve upon this past year?

Fall Color Theory

I love art! I am always so sad that we usually only DO art and hardly ever get to LEARN art. So this year I made a point to start the year with color theory.

We began very simple with primary colors and secondary colors. We read some great books that tell about the different kinds of colors.

We also watched a couple of YouTube clips as well.

This next one is my personal favorite. We watch and sing along  to it about three times a week :)

But, I admit I have a soft spot for OK GO... I mean, have you seen their treadmill music video for Here It Goes Again? Look it up. It's awesome!

Anyway...

We just finished learning about color mixing this last week and with some inspiration from here and here, I came up with our Color Mixing Fall Basket.

The students were given plates with the three primary colors. They also had fruit patterns (two apples and a pumpkin) and two paintbrushes!

First we washed the pumpkin in yellow paint. Then we dipped, just the tip of our paint brushes into the red and did a second wash over the pumpkin! And like MAGIC it became orange!

You should have heard all of the OOHHS and AAHHS! First graders are amazing :)

After we painted our apples, we switched brushes and began work on our leaves. We started with another wash of yellow and then dipped our brush into the blue and did a wash over, one last time.

Color mixing by doing a wash is MUCH, MUCH easier than having them mix the colors on their plate.

When all of the paint was dry, we cut out our pieces,  assembled them into our baskets and added some detail with a black crayon (basket lines, leaf detail, pumpkin lines). I also had them curl a green pipe cleaner for the pumpkin vine and tie a bow of twine, that were hot glued on during lunch!

Our finished baskets! Boo... cell phone pic :( But you get the idea!

I can't wait till next week when we learn about warm /cool colors and monochromatic colors!

Teacher Week: Now Teach!

How do I keep it organized? I'm still asking myself that! LOL

Here are some of the ways that I manage all of the craziness that comes with teaching multiple subjects.

1. Lesson Planner- I am a product of the tech age, but I just can't swing an electronic plan book. I tried a couple of years ago and realized I missed writing things down. For whatever reason- I prefer a pencil and paper. I used to by the pre-made books from school supply stores, but found that making my own works wonders! Getting it all into the plan book keeps me organized for the week and day by day.

2. Pacing Guide- My school has a general pacing guide for our language arts program only. I develop a pacing guide- I use the term pacing guide loosely, as things always come up and I adapt- each year to organize my units cross-curricular. This has been a huge help in keeping my year organized.

3. Daily Tubs- Most teachers have some way that they organize the days work. I keep mine here. I LOVE this thing! I holds whatever it is we will be working on for the day.

4. Bins, buckets and baskets- A place for everything and everything in its place- well sort of... I attempt to keep things, especially books and manipulatives in baskets and sorted. I makes gathering the kiddos manipulatives or guided readers a ton easier.

5. Themes- I tend to consider my year in thematic units based on our area of study at the time. Organizing by theme gives me the greatest opportunity to incorporate all subject areas at one time. I also organize my read aloud books in themes for quick finding.

6. Binders and files- I keep all of my thematic, science, and social studies instructional activities, worksheets, and craftivities organized by month in binders. I love to quickly flip through the binders and see the activity through the plastic sleeve- no need to open a file folder. But, I keep all of my language arts goodies filed by Treasures units in file folders in a filing cabinet- less to examine and easily marked by Treasures week.

These things work best for me.. for right now at least! LOL I am always on the look out for a new or better way to stay organized and ready to teach my kiddos! What do you do?


Don't forget to check out some other organization tips at Blog Hoppin!

Teacher Week: Classroom Digs!

Let's just start with a picture...

Yep. That was a mere 11 days ago.

9 days ago it looked like this!

Oh No! So much worse! But as the saying goes... It always looks worse before it looks better! And it did. It took me 6 full days to get it altogether and it is finally done :...almost ) Woo Hoo! Have a look! P.S. I used my phone to take pics :( Be warned... lol

guided reading area- my read alouds are hidden behind the curtain

behind my guided reading table- thank Abby M. for the cute posters! I'll be putting the kids' pictures on the green board.

My desk area and calendar zone. There will also be a weather graph and number/ word of the day

where I put our spelling and vocabulary

sounds and letters :) DO you have to hang these? They take up SO MUCH SPACE!

listening center- I have three cd players and three different books :) Journals go in the baskets and those are our rhythm sticks!

The library!

math manipulatives- some are here, others are stored in the closet

Toolbox ( our character education program) and small group game storage

our computer center (I'll probably hang some fabric around the front of those tables to hide the cords) and where I hang art work

One of our workstations- that is the 1st set of task cards hanging below- I'll have a post on that next week :)

Our writing center (papers, pens, date stamps etc...)  is just above our independent reading book boxes

Where I hang writing and two other workstations

And their desks- I didn't take a whole class pic, because they are still a mess! I have all their things stacked, waiting to get my kids names so I can label!

Well there you have it! I hope you enjoyed the tour :)

Don't forget to stop by Blog Hoppin' to check out other fab rooms!

Teacher Week: Meet the Teacher!

Hey Hey!

I'm Melissa. I teach 1st grade in California. I began teaching in So Cal, but when district budgets got icky, my husband and I made the big move to Northern Cali. I switched schools last year and this will be my second year at my current school. It is a great place and I am loving it! This year marks my fifth year of teaching, all of them have been in first grade. I LOVE firsties! They are such fun to work with and I get to see SO much growth over the course of the year. I am excited to see what this year has in store!

When I am not "doing school" I love relaxing with my husband and friends, catching movies and shopping. No kids or pets yet, so there is a lot fun for me and my hubby- vacations, camping, mini golf! We are super goofy and I love it! We live pretty far from our families, so anytime we have a chance we head to So Cal to see them and visit Disneyland! I recently took up running and am totally enjoying it... working toward a 10k in October!

Hubby and I at the Wild Animal Park-awesome safari hat right? :)

I started blogging a couple years ago when I came across a bunch of 1st grade blogs. Honestly, I thought, I want to do that... So I did. It turns out blogging is like having this whole other set of colleagues that I get to work with. I appreciate all of the inspiring and inventive teachers out there and am SO thankful that they blog too.

I blog because I love to showcase the different activities that my class does and some of the ways I try to keep it all organized. I try to keep it from being a running advertisement for my TPT and show off the FUN that's going on in my room! I have a whole new set of "things" planned for this year and I am very excited to share my journey with you.

I am glad you came by to visit and I hope you enjoy reading my posts!

And... check out some other awesome teachers through this linky...

See you tomorrow!