Backpack Full of Puppies!

What an amazing first week it has been.  I'm really LOVING my first graders.  They are so sweet and very entertaining.  I just have to share one of the funny stories from this week. 

On Friday, a quiet, sweet, shy little girl came up to me not too long after school started.  This was our conversation:

Girl: "Mrs. Gruenberg, I have two little puppies.  They are so small.... and cute.... and the can fit in my hand."

Me: "How cute, you should bring a picture sometime to share with the class."

Girl: "My family doesn't have cameras."

Me: "Well why don't you draw a picture of them".

Girl: "Well actually....... my parents TOLD me to bring them to school today.  They said I needed to leave them in my backpack and keep it unzipped a little bit.  When we go to recess, they will need to come outside too and go to the bathroom.

Me: (My mind begins to race thinking why haven't we heard them? Are they still alive? Did the jump out?)  "Ummmm..... can you please bring me your backpack!?!?!?!?"

Girl:  Brings me her backpack pack and says, "Do you see these two little bumps right here, those are the puppies."

Me: "Open it up please!"

Girl:  As she slowly opens it, she shows me the inside and says with confidence, "When they see light, they disappear.....the don't like 100% pressure."

Needless to say, this girl has quite the imagination!  She also had the entire class believing that she brought her puppies to school!

First Week of School

I'm officially back in school!  

I may not have felt prepared for school to start, but at least I looked prepared with my Cat in the Hat fingernails. :)

Day 1:  

The morning is always rough when parents linger around the back of the classroom watching you.  It's difficult to get the attention of little firsties when they are excited about their first day of school as their supplies come flying out of their backpacks in no particular order.  However, it makes it much more difficult for the kids to focus only on me, when there are tons of other adults in the classroom!  I forgot how long it takes to do the simplest things with the younger kids.

After settling in and going over a few procedures, such as the bathrooms.... I read the story "David Goes to School" by David Shannon.

Thanks to Angie at Fall Into First for her FREE activity to go along with this story.  It's a great way discuss school and classroom rules. I wasn't sure what to expect with their following directions and cutting skills.  They did a pretty good job.  Here is an example of one.

I was hoping to hand them up, but they wanted to take them home SO badly.  I figured it might be a good idea for them to take home and share with their parents and discuss the rules they learned. 

Day 2:

Today went much more smoothly.  The kids came in (minus the parents, YAY) and followed the routine from yesterday.  They were much more quiet and calm.  After going over some more routines and procedures, I read aloud "You're Finally Here" by Melanie Watt.  

Another thanks to Swimming Into Second for her "Back to School with Books" pack at TpT, for creating this activity.  These also turned out cute and the kids really enjoyed creating them as much as they loved the story.  They couldn't stop giggling while I read it.  

Day 3:

Today the kids were a bit more loud at the beginning of the day.  We had to do a lot of review of our behavior clip chart.  I used to have a card system for behavior where they start out with a green card for excellent behavior.  The kids would have to change their cards for not following directions.  They weren't alloud to change their card back to green on the same day they change it.  My new clip chart has been working AWESOME.  Kids are able to move back up the chart now!  For example, one boy in my class does NOT want to lose recess and really does NOT want his parents called.  He had to move down the chart today and immediately asked, "how do I move back up?"  I wish I would have found this chart much sooner!  The same boy immediately corrected his behavior because he had an opportunity to move back up.

A very special thanks to 3rd Grade's A Hoot for the FREE download of this chart.  Also, to First Grade Glitter and Giggles for the FREE Clip Hall of Fame picture.

 

 

I'm feeling pretty excited about this year.  So far, I LOVE my new school and my kids.

Information overload!

Stay calm.... Breath..... Those are the words I repeated over and over again in my head this morning as I had to walk into a professional development training that had already been in session for two hours.  To make it worse, this was an ongoing training that had been meeting throughout the summer. I found out Friday night that I have to attend this training Monday and Tuesday, and at least once a month for the remainder of the year.  

I'm only two hours late, and I had a good excuse.  When I checked in at the front office to ask which room the training was taking place, (I wasn't sent the agenda) I was told room C101 and C102.  

Hmmm.... Which one should I walk into first. Naturally, I choose the room with the least amount of people.  

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt but am I in the right room?" (Me).  "Which room are you looking for?" "Ummmm....I really don't know.....what training is this?" (Me). "Blah, blah, blah, for administrators." "Definitely not the room I'm looking for!"

Stay calm.....breath....breath......

I walked into the next room and sat down.  

I was feeling so lost at first, but caught up pretty quickly.  Information overload!!!  Not only am I supposed to remember and retain all this information, but its also my responsibility to train the entire staff at my school everything we learned.  

What I learned:

Information, no matter how important, MUST be reflected on in order for it to be meaningful!

In order to teach others what I learn, I need to offer opportunity to apply it, make it meaningful and allow for collaboration or reflection.  I've always thought it was a waste of my time when I attended professional developments in which we spent what feels like forever playing jeopardy, or making posters with the information we were given.  I get it now!  I totally understand now how important it is.  I can guarantee if I just copied the handouts and made notes for each staff to read and learn on their own might get briefly skimmed, buried under a pile of papers that need graded, or immediately recycled.

Would you rather...

Would you rather...move into a classroom with supplies cluttered or empty classroom? Since I've started teaching, the 3 classrooms I've been in before this one was for the most part EMPTY.  After each move, I've wished for a classroom that actually has some teaching materials in it.  Well..... I take it back!

My classroom this year has more furniture than floor space! And you think I'm joking? As you can see from the pictures below, there is hardly any storage space built into the room.  Instead, there are:

•  4 book carts
• 4 awkwardly huge shelving units
• 3 file cabinets
• 1 HUGE bulky storage cabinet
•  and the list goes on....

 Look at the clutter...

 I spent nearly 4 hours in here today, and I've hardly made a dent.  So, would you rather move into an empty or cluttered classroom?

I finally did it!

Wow, I can't believe I'm finally doing it.  I've been wanting to create a blog for quite some time now.  This is the first summer of my teaching career that I haven't been really busy with professional development, moving, writing papers (for my masters) etc.  This is the perfect summer for blogging.  However, instead of actually sitting down to do it, I've spend my summer doing this...

Hiking to Aneroid Lake, Oregon!

Today is the first day that I can start unpacking and setting up my new classroom.  I spent all night laying awake trying to decide how I want to arrange it.  This morning my car wouldn't start.  It turns out that when you leave your car door open too long, it kills the battery. Lesson learned!

I decided this will still be a productive day.  And here it is.... my first blog post!

I've learned so much from other teachers who share their creativity through blogging, and often wonder how my classroom would survive without them.  In order for me to be creative, I need inspiration from others.  I am forever thankful for those who dedicate their time for sharing their ideas, lessons, activities and products.  

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!