Poetry Project DONE!... Almost.

Summer is flying by! It's crazy that next week is 4th of July. Looking forward to spending time with friends and family though. I made a huge to do list for summer to get ready for my first year teaching next year. I'm lucky because I have been meeting with my teaching partner and another second grade teacher once a week to collaborate and prepare for next year. Plus meeting with teachers at Lee for a "make and take" once a week. All of these ideas are thanks to Jill Rich. An AMAZING teacher I've been able to work with at Lee. We create something that can be used in any grade and for any subject. Pretty lucky! Today we used a white shower curtain and drew a keyboard on it; it can be used with a fly swatter for spelling words, letter sounds, etc.

A simple graphic organizer.

This is made out of juice container. You can create cards that will be age appropriate for any grade and can use the same container over and over again. A great center idea. This one is for Kindergarten. The students can see the upper case letter and when they look in the hole; they'll see the lower case letter.

This is made out of a juice container also. You can create cards that have the question on one side and the answer on the back. (flipped upside down) When the students place the question in; the card slides down and flips to show the answer when it comes out at the bottom. A lot of modeling will be needed!!

Graphic organizer to use for a science experience, sequencing, etc.

Summer school has been going really well. The time flies since it's only in the mornings. In the afternoons and basically every night I have been working on getting poetry ready for next year. I got this idea from Mrs. Rich also. She is the best teacher I have ever been able to observe and collaborate with. I observed in her room at the end of the year and noticed all of the poetry posters hanging up around the room. (I wish I would have taken a picture.) They were so cute, simple, and fun.
She later explained to me that she has a different theme each week. Each theme has a poem, song, graphic organizer, book, table cloth, games, etc. (Awesome, right?) She recently told me she has created 63 tubs. Connecting everything in the week to a theme isn't something I want to take on my first year BUT I decided the poetry was. I have already been thinking about and begun organizing my things in tubs by month so this will go right along with it.
I have been creating the posters that will hang around the room plus organizing the students' copies. Each student will have a poetry book where they will paste each poem and visual aid to go along with the poem. At the end of the year; the students will have a whole book of poems to add to their home library!

Starting to organize the students' copies of the poems and visual aids. To the left is my poetry binder. :)

I copied Mrs. Rich's poetry binder organization. I have a hard copy of the poem and visual aids that I could use for the students. Plus after creating the posters; I put the picture I used in creating the poster.

I organized the students' copies of the poem and visual aid in baggies. I started out writing the number of copies in the baggie on a sticky note so I can resuse the bags next year without this year's number on them crossed out BUT I got lazy so I wrote them on the bag.

All of the students' copies of the poem and visual aid for the year!

And those all went into here :)

Some of my posters! I've made 32 posters in the last three weeks! So happy the end is in sight.

When I went to the Scholastic Book Fair; I kept in mind the themes of the poems and bought books that go along with some of the themes of the poems. My next part of the project is to create simple graphic organizers to go along with the stories I choose for the theme. This is a way I can connect it to the district curriculum; introduce/review the same story structures we are doing that week. I'm going to color the picture and add some generic things (title, author, literature or informational, etc) but leave space to write them in as I go with a dry erase marker.

SO glad the end of creating this is in sight! It'll be awesome to have organized and ready to go for the whole year. :)

Last Day Of School! Hello Sweet Summertime :)

Today was the last day of school. It's funny because now I realize how much teachers look forward to the summer; maybe even more than the kids :) It was a half day and I got the opportunity to substitute teach in a Kinder classroom. The kids are a great class and were angels. Then I got to spend the end with my third grade class I student taught with.
This was the first time I had ever began and ended the year with a class. It was bittersweet; loving seeing the growth the students have made, sad they're leaving you, excited about their future, ready for summer. Does it ever get easier!? Thanks to my amazing cooperating teacher; I felt welcome in the classroom and stayed involved during my job being a para there.  My kiddos are going to be fourth graders! The toughest ones were the hardest to watch leave.

A second grade teacher is retiring this year and we had her party after school. She is such a fun loving, hysterical teacher. The Lee family will definitely miss her; she touched many lives! She has given me TONS of stuff since she found out I'd be teaching second grade next year too. She told me to have her come spend a day in my future classroom and I'm definitely going to take her up on that!

 

I can owe it all to the assistant principal/clinical instructor; she is an AMAZING woman.

 

I'm so glad summer is here though! Ready to spend time with my friends and family. Play with my soon to be seven nephews and my brother's pup. (50 pounds, 6 months, he's a monster!)
I'm going to teach third grade summer school at Lee the months of June and July then start my first teaching job at Sheridan Elementary School in Junction City in August! It's going to be a busy couple of months.

New Job! Quick Update.

I accepted a second grade position at Sheridan Elementary School in Junction City a few weeks ago. I feel I've found the right place for me to start my teaching career. Everyone has been SO helpful and welcoming. I have already been included in four or five different days/events with the school this year. They have really made me feel like part of a team and family.
Having a strong support system is really what I was looking for in my first year teaching. Sheridan has that plus SO much more; technology, professional development, collaboration, etc.
I'm VERY thankful and happy I got a job. Now it's just nerve wracking to think about having my own classroom and everything that goes into it behind the scenes. My mind is spinning with everything I want to do with my class next year. I've tried to begin too many projects at once so I hope in the next few weeks to finish organizing and check some things of my to do list.
I'm heading to my new school this afternoon to work with the two second grade teachers, can't wait! Hello real life :)

Thankful!

Last week was very stressful! I had two interviews in Junction City and an observation by my principal at Lee. Throughout the week, I constantly reminded myself to take a step back and be thankful for all of the love, support, and hard work that has gotten me to this spot in my life.
On Friday, I accepted a second grade position at Sheridan Elementary School in Junction City. It is a HUGE stress reliever to have a job so early on. I think it will be a great fit for me. I was at this school during my early field experience with a fifth grade teacher that has became the principal. The interview was very relaxed and comfortable. The school has a great sense of community and support. Two things I was looking for when finding my first teaching job. Plus, I'm down the street from my Grandma's house which she is so excited about.
Pinterest has taken over my spare time by all of the GREAT blogs giving me ideas on how to set up my classroom. It's a little overwhelming but I'm so excited!
Pictures of those important things and people in my life that I'm SO thankful for.
Although Jaxon, Jace, and Jaden are technically my second cousins, they feel like my nephews. Counting them, I have six nephews that I love getting to spend time with. Seven if you count my brothers dog, Rambo. :)

Jaden, such a happy little boy!

Jace, wild and crazy but such a sweetheart.

Jaxon, such a good older brother and SO smart.

Carter, such a playful, sweet boy.

My youngest nephew, Miles. I always love to steal him and cuddle him.

Duane's nephew, Derrick. So cute!

Rambo, my brother's American Bulldog.

Love him.

Duane and I have been dating for five years and his family is GREAT! So strong and supportive.

Honestly, I have NO idea what I would do without my girlfriends. I love them all to pieces!

The most important person in my life; my Momma.

My family.

Last but no least, my boyfriend. He's my rock and my best friend.

My DIY Projects for my Future Classroom

February has flown by and the only thing on my mind is interviewing and applying for a job! I'm crossing my fingers to be able to get a job in Manhattan starting in the Fall. I've been trying to get a lot of things done for my future classroom that could work in any grade level. A lot of it is classroom management stuff but I'm pretty happy with how everything has turned out so far!

This idea I got from Pinterest and the third grade team. The third grade teachers use, "What Stuck With You Today?" The students write something they learned that day on a sticky note and put it on the door. On this poster, the students will write something they learned and put it on their paw print number. I also created space to write a specific question or problem.

I tried painting the clothespins but found out spray painting worked a lot better. I plan to have my table groups color coordinated.

I created these during our snow days. I had everything already at home, scrapbook paper, sticker letters, and ribbon. Welcome Sign and "How Do We Get Home?"

I plan to use a lot of Kagan Structures in my future classroom, I created these group number cards and backed it with cardstock colors that will correspond with the group color. Luckily, I had tons of scrapbook letters!

My cooperating teacher used "purple squares" in her classroom. Something so simple to reward individual, small group, or whole class' good behavior. Once you get 10, they are able to make a trip to the treasure box.

Where are we?

I like the idea of a line order but have been in a few classrooms where the line order isn't posted. I plan to hang this by the door.

My finished spray painted clothespins. I plan to use these on the "How Do We Get Home?" and to hang anchor charts we create as a class around the classroom.

I'm going to have the students write their names on a hand and color it. I'll laminate them, cut them out, and put them in alphabetical order to be switched every day.  I find myself wanting to use this scrapbook paper on a lot of my projects. 

I keep visualizing my future classroom and my head spins with the ideas and what I want to do. I'm trying to get a few things done because I know how stressed out I'm going to be my first year teaching!

On a side note, my brother just got a new American Bulldog puppy. His name is Rambo and I love him! He's so cute. He's growing SO fast though and he's going to be a big boy!

My Mom, aunt, their two cousins, and a friend from high school went to Jamaica last Monday and are getting back tonight. Lucky for them to escape from the snow in Kansas! Duane and I stayed at my Mom's house and puppy sat our dogs. It was nice, we kind of thought of it as a vacation! Her house is absolutely beautiful. Too bad it wasn't summer and the pool was full!

While I was there, I found this written from my Grandpa to my Mom and it again made me realize how thankful I am for every one of my family members and friends. I'm blessed to have such a close relationship with my family. It also reminded me what it means to lead a successful, happy life. Words can't begin to explain how much both of my grandparents mean to me and have made me the person I am today. I know they would be proud of every single of their grandchildren because we followed their example and became very hardworking, caring adults. I know they are both smiling down.