First Week Fun!

I can't believe this first week of school is already over!

I had a blast (and a good sweat) putting together my room!

Here are some "after" shots of my classroom:

I laminated sentence strips with our schedule and added magnet tape to put on our whiteboard for easy schedule changing each day!  Always a good idea to keep those kiddos in the loop...

Of course, it wasn't totally complete until my students came on Monday  :)

This first week was all about community building and getting to know my new group of students. We started the morning decorating name tags, and then did a version this activity from Pinterest. It was nice to get a sense of how the kids feel about coming to school and how they see themselves as learners (and also get them moving around the classroom). We did a few activities that required the students to move around, like this genre survey:

I wrote the genres individually on pieces of paper and put them around the room. I then gave kids a sheet of stickers. Any book genres that they read over the summer would get a sticker.

After everyone was finished putting on their stickers, the kids broke up into groups of 3-4 to count the number of stickers for a specific genre and color in the number on the bar graph (a sneaky way to assess how much the students remembered about bar graphs!)

Speaking of reading, this is the best read aloud to start the year with! My head teacher read it to the class during my first year as an associate teacher, and I totally fell in love with it. It's funny, clever and has many wonderful lessons. So far, my students have been laughing out loud and cannot wait for read aloud so we can hear more about this crazy group of kids from Aesop Elementary! 

After decorating our heart maps, we reviewed the writing process. The kids did a great job remembering the steps that we added to this super-cute pencil:

 Of course, this post would not be complete without some tips for organization!

I originally intended to use a dish-drying rack to organize my papers/handouts for each day of the week...until I opened up all of my ordering and remembered that I ordered this handy-dandy hanging pocket chart:

 The first five pockets are for Monday-Friday. The bottom two are for items that need to be filed and copies that need to be made. Of course, I realized I have a totally new use for the dish-drying rack I bought! I plan on keeping file folders filled with materials for the writing process (peer/teacher conference sheets, revising strips, spelling "try-it" sheets, etc.)


 Also, there is nothing I hate more than clutter (especially when it comes to student work!) I decided that the only way to avoid things piling up and getting lumped together is to separate each subject into three different bins: homework, finished work, and unfinished work:

 Blue for reading. Red for math. Yellow for writing/word study. Green for Social Studies. Conveniently, the folder that the kids will have for each subject matches the color of the bin!

So far, the kids are really upbeat about being at school. They even complained that they only had reading for homework! I'm sure that won't last long...but a teacher can dream :)

Oh, for the love of BINDERS!

Okay, okay. Even though I didn't love school as a kid, I did (and still do) love BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING!

Now that I am half city/half suburbs (read: I now have a car to drive to mega-stores and fill up instead of schlepping only as much as my two hands can carry on the NYC subway), I rushed to Target to stock up!

Holy moly, does Target have a ton of cute and fun things to help organize!

Here's what I got to keep me afloat and on top of things this year:

TEACHER BINDER: This is what I will take to and from school on a daily basis. I wanted something a little more fun and easily recognizable as my go-to binder, so I picked this adorable navy and pink patterned binder. Notice the fun polka-dotted binder clip to keep my calendar in place? YUP.

The first page will hold my class list and a list of all other classrooms in a clear sheet protector.

Then, I have dividers that separate sections like weekly planning calendars, important contacts (parents/staff), and a section for staff meeting and professional development notes.

SUBJECT BINDERS: Each binder represents a different subject, including Math, Reading, Writing/Word Study, and Social Studies.

Each binder has a clear sheet protector with my (tentative--how quickly plans/schedules can change!) calendar of lessons in that subject for the month. Then, there is a section for lesson plans, a section for worksheets, and a section for homework sheets.

STUDENT INFO BINDER: This one's a biggie! It contains a section for each child in my classroom. This is where I will hold all of the parent questionnaires that were sent out prior to school starting, as well as any other notes I take about students (academic/social/emotional) as the year goes on. This will (hopefully) prove helpful for conferences and report writing! In the back, I have lined notebook paper to jot down any informal notes that I can put into each student's section. I also have copies of a
"Parent Contact Sheet" in the back. I use these to document any communication with a parent regarding an issue in the classroom. This also goes into the student's section...hopefully I won't need TOO many of these :-/

Here's that contact sheet:

  Parent Contact Log

Name:                          Parents:                      

Phone:                         Email:                        

Date:       Who: Type:

Reason/Response:

Date:       Who: Type:

Reason/Response:

Date:       Who: Type:

Reason/Response:

Date:       Who: Type:

Reason/Response:

PORTABLE FILE FOLDER: How cute and stripey is this little guy? Not totally sure how I will use this, but I can see pulling out a student section or two when I need to write reports/do conference notes at home and don't want to lug the entire student info binder home. I could also stick assignments that need to be graded in here if I need to do those at home too (although I am praying I get most things done before I go home each day).

DAILY FOLDERS: I am constantly looking on Pinterest for organization ideas. I saw someone use a dish drying rack as a file folder holder. GENIUS! I picked up a simple white dish drying rack (and realized that the utensil container is perfect for holding pens/pencils/paper clips!)

I bought file folders for each day of the week, plus one folder for copies (6 folders altogether). Whatever worksheets/homework sheets/parent letters are going out that day will live in that day's folder. The copy folder is for anything that needs to be xeroxed.

CLIPBOARD: I wanted a clipboard for writing down anecdotes during student work-times and to take notes during staff meetings. I didn't want just ANY clipboard, though. I found a regular, boring brown clipboard...and then I found PATTERNED PACKING TAPE! What?!?! I immediately snatched up two different patterns (lime green and white chevron and blue and white leaves) and got to work creating a funky, fun clipboard to carry around with me. Viola!

PHEW! Let's hope this makes the school year a little less hectic!

And It Begins...

The last week of summer is here :(

But, I am excited to begin setting up my classroom at the end of this week. Unfortunately, I have to wait until they install my new carpets, but I'm getting in there on Thursday! Yay!

I snuck in today to take some "before" photos of my new classroom. Take a look:

 My classroom isn't very high-tech! I'm actually one of the few teachers who has a white-board instead of a chalkboard!

 I'm hoping to make this loft area a cozy reading nook with pillows.

 Student cubby room. My students are REQUIRED to bring wellies and a change of clothes in the event that they get wet in the creek during recess! LOVE that!

I'm pretty sure this is going to be our meeting corner/read aloud area.

Stay tuned for the "after"! And please, any suggestions for set up ideas are much appreciated :)

Welcome!

Hello there!

My name is Hilary, and I am a 2nd/3rd grade teacher outside of Philadelphia, PA

I recently moved to the area after teaching and living in fabulous (and expensive!) NYC. I am also recently married :)

I wanted a space to keep my thoughts and plans organized in the form of a fun, informative blog!

I hope to provide all of you out there with ideas for classroom set up, organization, and lesson plans (along with extra-curricular posts--cooking/baking, fashion, vacations...life!)  

I call this blog "City Teacher/Country Teacher" because although I love living in cities, the school where I am teaching this year is out among acres of fields and bubbling creeks, which I also enjoy!

Thanks for visiting!