Kindergarten Data notebooks!

Being a Leader in Me school encourages our students to make goals and monitor their own progress!

I am starting a student data notebook for the very first time!

This notebook will allow my students to color or highlight a skill when they master it! I'm so excited to have this for my kids to use! I wanted something simple enough for them to understand and simple enough for me to manage!

My Rice Creek student notebook includes

-sounds and vowels

-letter recognition

-number recognition

-district sight word lists (for Richland Two)

-count to 25, 50, 75,100

-count to 100 by 10s

-sight word challenge 

-name writing

I'm VERY exited to try this! To save room I will be using a simple 3 prong folders!

I also made a general one to sell on tpt which has a few more pages if needed!

Check it out here:

Kindergarten Data Notebook

It's going to be a great year of monitoring data!!! 

we survived the first 3 days of school!!!

Well we did it! We survived the first 3 days of school! We had so much fun getting to know each other and learning our procedures!

We did lots of community building activities and lots of music! This group LOVES TO move it! :)

Overall I was very impressed with this new group of students and how much they already know! I actually can't wait to test them so I can figure out exactly where they are!

This coming week we will spend lots of time learning procedures, rules, the 7 Habits, and building community so the following week I can start testing and we can start to begin a routine!

It's going to be a great year!

flash freebie till midnight only!

FLASH FREEBIE!

Tonight only in my store for these signs!

click here for first day of school sign

Shoe Tying

Is your child struggling with learning to tie their shoe?


Here's a video going around Facebook to help with shoe tying! Check it out! Smart thinking!

Click here for shoe tying video

Meet the Teacher Night

Tonight we had our Meet the Teacher Night! It was sooooooo fun to meet all my new students! I was so nervous right before everyone came (yes teachers get nervous too). Every year my stomach gets tangled up in knots at the anticipation of meeting my new students. But once my first family walked through the door all was well and my excited side kicked in as we showcased our room and hopefully made everyone feel invited and welcomed!

They had a great time! Some of my new babies didn't even want to leave my classroom! Parents were excited and eager to find out more information about the school year which was great! I love parents who want to know more and are eager to be involved! I loved watching all my new students explore their new classroom. Some were eager to look around, some were shy, and some were excited to tell me about everything from the stars to the moon. One little girl even had her tablet and wanted to take a selfie with me. My kids were absolutely adorable!

Having a successful Meet the Teacher Night can be stressful. Last year (thanks to Pinterest) I found a lot of Meet the Teacher Night stations online which gave me inspiration to create my own Meet the Teacher Stations (teachers you can find them here). It makes the night go so much more smoothly. I can create them at the door and have them go around the room to all the different stations while I am meeting my new students and answering all their questions. I swear my night goes so much more smoothly with the stations and I feel better knowing I got the information I need to get everyone home safely and important contact information. And plus the kids love searching for the treasure and exploring the room!

NOTE TO MY NEW KIDDOS!

AGENDA 

STATION 1: WELCOME AND SIGN IN

STATION 2: TRANSPORTATION 

STATION 3: SCHOOL FOLDERS PACKED FULLOF SCHOOL INFO TO TAKE HOME AND READ OVER

SCHOOL SUPPLY LIST

STATION 4: SORT SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Station 5 coming soon: somehow I forgot to take a pic~ No worries, pic tomorrow because everything is still sitting on my desks!

STATION 6: CLASSROOM TOUR AND SEARCH FOR TREASURE

YAY THEY FOUND THEIR TREASURE!

Teachers (You are o'fish'ally in grade__ tags found here for FREE)

AND A SWEET BOOK TO TAKE HOME TO READ THE NIGHT BEFORE KINDERGARTEN FILLED WITH A SWEET SURPRISE TO SPRINKLE UNDER THEIR PILLOW THE NIGHT BEFOR KINDERGARTEN

It was a GREAT night! We looped Meet the Teacher and Open House all in one so the parents got to stay and hear a little bit about how our school/classroom works. I LOVED meeting all my new families! It's GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! I love all these sweet children already!

Tomorrow I get to be mommy as I attend my own baby's preschool Meet the Teacher night! :) Glad they weren't on the same night!

Till the next time,
BE BLESSED!

Tomorrow is our official first day back! For teachers!

Tomorrow is our first official day back! We have 5 days of inservice and work days before the students start next week on Wednesday the 20th!

My school bag is all packed, my clothes are set out, my alarm is set, and coffee is ready to brew in the morning!

I always stay up forever the night before we have to report back (and even later the night before my student's report back). I just love the anticipation of  a new school year! It's exciting to go back and see all my coworkers and hear all about their summer and what new things that is happening in their life. I enjoy the planning we get to do together to prepare for our new students and the excitement and joy of starting over each year. 

It's hard for me to believe that tomorrow I will be starting my 7th year in education. I have learned soooooooooo much over the years and look forward to adding to my teacher toolbox every year. I can honestly say I have learned something every single day over the years. I love learning and growing as a teacher! 

This year I will have my very first intern (full time student teacher) from the University of South Carolina (my alma mater). I am so excited to have this opportunity. I will introduce her later on the blog! I get to meet her on Thursday! Eeek! :) She will be great! I still remember my coaching teacher back in 2007, Ms. Jackson. She was an amazing coaching teacher, and we still keep in touch to this day! It's my dream job to help teachers grow in the profession as so many have helped me and continue to help me grow.

I know it's going to be an awesome school year! I can just feel it! I'm looking forward to the next few days of settling back in routine and prepping up for my babies! Thursday night will be Meet the Teacher Night, so in less than 48 hours I get to meet my sweet class! YAY! :) 

I hope to post some final pics tomorrow night (if not Thursday) of my classroom and meet the teacher stations. Stay tuned!

Till the next time,

BE BLESSED! 

1st day: Classroom setup

Our entire school was repainted over the summer. That means everything (that wasn't on a mounted wall shelf) had to be boxed up and pushed to the middle of our classroom before we left for summer break. It was a daunting task.

With summer winding down the kindergarten hall was one of the last halls to be finished. We just got an email last week that we could come work in our rooms starting today! So I jumped on it!

My husband came to help me and we had my happy 2 year old with me as well! I had told Raegan last night that I was going to work in my classroom today. This morning the first words our of her mouth were "mommy it's time to go to your school...ohhhh mommy can I come with you?"! It was sooo cute!

Anyway we get to school (I had planned to arrive around 8:30, but we ended up not getting there till almost 10am) and I'm tied up in the office getting my polo shirt for staff pictures and when I come out Drew is sitting in the big chair reading Raegan a book! It was sweet!

So then we walked the mile to my classroom (okay it wasn't that long, but it feels forever away from the office). When we get to my classroom I open my door and the first thing I see is this...

yep, my fridge, first thing when you walk in the door

I walk in and take a deep breath as I scan the room

And then there is the office...empty...

After I am done scanning the room I look over at Drew and I'm thanking the good Lord my husband is here to help me put my furniture back (btw this is the FIRST time he has EVER helped me in my classroom)! I decided that I was going to put my furniture back exactly the way I had it last year... this made work SOOO much easier! Every year I spend hours relocating furniture and trying different furniture arrangements, but this year, I really loved how my room was set up and wanted to keep it the same...FOR NOW, at least on day one! :)

My husband stayed long enough to help me move all my furniture in place and move some of Katie's (who is pregnant) stuff in place (about an hour) and then off he goes to take Raegan home because Raegan doesn't last long in places where mommy is trying to unpack and she's got a million messes all over the place.

So I work...and I work...and I stop to eat lunch...and I work some more...and I talk to my team members...and I work some more...and then I work some more and more...and finally around 5:30pm I stop....and this is what I ended with on my first day...

room arranged, rug laid out, almost everything in place

Add caption

excuse the mess on my desk, it's my work station

cabinet ribbon up (I use this to display student work) and my reading strategies posted)

added my reading bucket bins and decorated some

unpacked all my manipulatives 

put up my 7 habits on fish nets with clothes pins (just like last year)

hung my curtains and arranged housekeeping 

hung my WELCOME banner

put my ANCHOR WORDS letters up!

pulled out my teacher baskets

added my border and wreath to the door

calendar was left up for the most part, I just unpacked these centers and hung my 100s chart

much better view when you walk in now!

Can't forget a little work in the empty office as well...

WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better! About 7 hours of work later....There is a ton of stuff on my desk that needs sorted and hung up, but it feels good to know the big stuff is in place! My to do list is growing by the minute but it's good to be productive even if it's just checking one thing off my list!

I only have two more part time days in my classroom left before teachers report back. Tomorrow and Wednesday we will  be conducting our kindergarten screening! I am hoping that in between testing I can work some in my room because I really need to!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and seeing my FIRST day transformation! :) Please stop back by in the next week or so to see the finished product!

till the next time,
BE BLESSED

THERE IS A HUGE SALE GOING ON TOMORROW AND TUESDAY AT TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Head over to my tpt store August 4-5th to take advantage of this awesome sale!

MY NEW BLOG DESIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My BLOG IS DONE MY BLOG IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo EXCITED!

Just had Kristy over at Kristy Bear Designs to merge my school blog and my personal teacher blog together and give it a new makeover! She has done an AMAZING job and answered my MILLION of questions and requests! I highly recommend her! HOW DO YOU LIKE MY NEW BLOG DESIGN??????????????????

I am so loving the theme and how everything flows! I also love that I have a parent tab and a teacher tab!

I am loving how all my stuff is linked all in one place! Instead of having two blogs, hopefully having one will make my life easier as I try to do this thing called life!

I am so excited to be starting my blog adventure all OVER again!

I plan to use this blog to update parents and teachers about what is going on in my classroom!

It's going to be a great year! I can't wait for you to see everything!

Please feel free to follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and my Teachers Pay Teachers store (links on the banner at the top of the blog)!

Look for a post coming soon on my classroom environment! I finally get to work in my classroom tomorrow morning! Hoping and praying I get a lot done! Wish me luck!

Till the next time,
BE BLESSED!