Moving In

The day I've anxiously awaiting and dreading at the same time...Move in! We are moving into our brand new building and there is no shortage of work to be done. Of course, there is always a big fat wrench that throws itself into the mix. We do not yet have our occupancy permit so we can only have a handful of teachers in the building at a time. So with all of her creativity, the principal devised a plan to get each grade level ONE day in our rooms unitl we get the permit. We have institute days on the 18th and 19th and school starts on the 22nd. So....we need to get in there!! Not to mention that I am doing home visits with my students and their families so that eats up another portion of my time (well worth it, though!).

So, to maximize my time in the room tomorrow, I plan to focus on simply unpacking all of the boxes stacked in the middle of my room. I am one who tends to get overwhelmed very easily as I try to take on a million and one different tasks at the same time, which never get completed to the level of perfection I desperately desire! I'm not sure if I'll get all of them unpacked, but I will be grinding every minute until the secretaries and custodians tell me it's time to hit the road!

T-2 Days!!

School starts in 2 days and I am a ball of nerves and excitement!! We had a Convocation today, where all of the certified district staff (and many non-certified) gathered for a "Pep Rally" of sorts. I cannot even count how many of my former teachers I have run into over the last couple of weeks. I am still making adjustments to not calling them by their last name, but it is definitely going to take some time to address them as COLLEAGUES...wow!!

My classroom is complete!!!!! In my mind, it is never complete, but it is ready to go for my kiddos on Thursday.

Student Work Display Board: "Steps Toward Success"


Word Wall


Small Group Teaching/Teacher Work Space


Computer Station/SMART Board


Organizers for Guided Reading Groups


Span of the Room



I am laughing to myself now as I look at the class schedule my principal requested from us. The funny part is that she only asked for one, but I made THREE different versions of the schedule, which each one containing more specific details than the last one!! I am so detail oriented that my version must be very explicit in what I would like to be doing every minute of everyday. Even though I know it will almost never turn out that way, at least I have an idea of where we would be in a perfect world.

Today, we gathered as a school to discuss our Personal Learning Plans (PLPs). PLPs are a part of a district initiative to push teacher to set their own PD plan and to collaborate with others who have the same goals to make it more effective and ultimately result in increased levels of student achievement. I have teamed up with my other 2nd grade teachers and the 1st grade team to provide students with authentic literacy experiences to increase student reading achievement by using The Daily Five framework. After our group collab meeting on Sept.10, I will post more details about it. I am excited because I have the book, but have not been able to read it. It sounds like an incredible framework for use during the literacy block and I cannot wait to get the ball rolling with it!

I hope your preparation and/or initial days of teaching are going well!!

Finishing Touches

New Teacher Week is over!! I met my mentor for this year and she just so happens to be one of the other second grade teachers in my school...who knew??! My initial impression of her when we met earlier this week was not one that screamed 'mentor' but after meeting with her today, I'm more optimistic about what our relationship will be like as the year progresses. She is going into her 15th year of teaching and is incredibly knowledgeable about so many facets of teaching. I am excited to be able to collaborate with someone so rich in classroom experience.

I have finished with all major parts of setting up the classroom- pics to come when I put on the finishing touches!! This weekend, I will be working on the following:

- Writing out plans for the first 1 1/2 days of school (community building, etc.)
- Completing my classroom procedures/routines/management plans
- Finishing my classroom newsletter
- Sleeping in at least one day this weekend!!!!

I'm gonna spend the rest of the night adding upcoming meetings, and PD to my calendar. Can you believe I already have two days for which I need to request a sub???! Didn't think I would be making sub plans so soon!

It's A Comin'

I have been working hard in my room lately. I am such a perfectionist so I have found that this whole classroom set-up thing is taking way longer than I would like. I finished two out of 3 bulletin boards today, relocated my classroom library, laminated my labels for my literacy work stations, and set up my Word Wall.

The morning was full of craziness because my AP came into my room and asked if I would like to sit in on some interviews for a Special Ed position. I asked her if she was sure she wanted me and she said she really wanted to have various perspectives on these candidates and the majority of teachers were still on vacation. I felt honored and incredibly nervous all at the same time!!! The interviews were very interesting and resulted in no real front-runners for the position. I absolutely respect all of the administrators of the world who have to make such pressing hiring decisions...yikes!! Well, throughout the 3 interviews, my AP, was complaining of stomach pains. She is pregnant and due at the end of the month (our principal had a baby a couple of months ago and will be returning next week from maternity leave). You could tell she knew something was up but she wouldn't let her mind think it was possible because in her words she "could have a baby yet because there is way too much stuff left to do"! Well, after the interviews, her husband took her to the hospital just to make sure everything was okay and what do you know....HER WATER BROKE when the reached the hospital. So, as of this very second, we have no AP and no Principal in the building!! I'm sure this will prompt an early return for our Principal but what a crazy set of events!!

My mind is fumbling around because I feel like there is way too much to focus my mind on!! I am working on some administrative tasks, classroom procedures/routines. Tomorrow, I'll be planning my literacy block for the next month with the literacy coach and working more in the room. It would be FANTASTIC to be able to be FINISHED with my room by the end of the week!!! Fingers crossed!!

New Teacher Week starts Wednesday!!!!!

Classroom Photos- In the Midst of it All

I am sooooo incredibly tired tonight. I had a great day full of a workshop about Google Apps and an afternoon spent in my classroom. I was able to start attacking the million and one boxes the former teacher left behind. My room is starting to look like a CLASSROOM!!! I'm too sleepy to comment on each picture, but I'm going to upload the ones I took of my classroom- halfway through the clean-up process. I plan to add captions to them tomorrow. Just a note: all of the shelves in the room were TOTALLY stacked with boxes. It may not look like it, but I really am making progress! I'm headed off to bed to gear up for an ELL Workshop all day, and hopefulling dropping by the school after.



All the stuff on top of the shelves is yet to be filtered through



SMART Board and Small Group Teaching Area



Materials Storage and More Boxes!!



Back of the room- I moved the 'teacher's desk' to the awkward corner but it was taking up optimal instructional space where the kidney table is now



The books and shelves will be the classroom library- after filtering through the tons of books that are all in the WRONG bins!!

**As you can see, I decided to comment on the pictures anyway! Hopefully I will have the energy to post about the workshop tomorrow!

Reality Sinking In

Well folks, it's official - I have the keys to my room and the building! I spent 3 hours this morning in my room. I wish I could say I whipped the room into shape during that time but we ALL know that is far from the truth!!! I walked in and it looked so much cleaner and orderly than what it was like when I first saw it. The first thing that caught my attention was how much stuff there was! Boxes, books, files, boxes, and more boxes! I was convinced that most of it probably wasn't mine because many of the boxes had other names/rm #'s on them. Well, I asked the office manager and she said that only one of the boxes belonged to someone else....in other words, all that stuff is mine!

This is both great and not so great at the same time. I have no clue where to even start with going through the tons of boxes, organizing books, creating space for work stations, small group teaching, and of course the list goes on! So after talking to our fabulous Office Manager for about 15 mins and standing in pure awe at the task that was in front of me for another 15 mins, I decided to start 'small'. I went straight for the teacher's desk and file cabinet. There were so many handwriting and math practice packets, I almost couldn't stand it (poor trees!). I didn't want to throw them away because as a newbie, I have NO CLUE what I will end up using or not using. So I filed them away in color-coded file folders (purple-handwriting and manilla- math packets). I organzied the supplies in the teacher's desk. I also organized the storage drawers that housed wall charts (content specific), construction paper, and Language Arts/Math binder resources the previous teacher left behind.

With these minor tasks complete, I have no clue where to go from here!! I took my hero Debbie Diller's advice and drew a map of my classroom in order to plan for instructional space, however I feel like I need to get all the stuff in my room organized and put away before I even think about moving furniture!!

I think I'm going to first- NAP! Then I think I will finish up my planning for the first week of writing. After that, I really have no idea what to tackle next. Time is winding down and I want to be as efficient as possible with my time. Considering what I've done so far- What would your next plan of action be??

Gearing Up

It has been a whirlwind of a week! Taking all of the suggestions I received from my last post, I decided to start full-force with planning. I have planned out the first week of Math and am starting on the first week of Writing. Last night, I wrote several pieces for my Writer’s Folder for Workshop. I will be using the pieces as the foundation of my minilessons for the first week. I also did the overall plan for unit 1 so now I will start working on my daily lesson plans for writing during the first week. I am really hesitant about planning more than 1 week in advance because I have no clue who my students are, let alone where they are academically. All teachers must submit lesson plans the Thursday before the week they are to be taught, so right now I am feeling pretty good.

I also got news that I will be meeting with my principal next Friday as a part of New Teacher Week. Hopefully then, or sometime soon after, I will learn who my students are so I can mail out an introductory letter to them and their families!
Best News of the Day: I get to pick up the keys to my classroom on Friday morning!!! I plan to stick around for a few hours and navigate my way through the tons of stuff in the room. For some reason, I feel like some of it belongs to other teachers, so I’m gonna try and determine to whom it really belongs.

Plan of Attack for the Next Week (in no particular order):
• Plan out first week of Writing
• Aug 4- Plan Literacy Block with Literacy Coach
• Get more info about science/social studies curriculum and plan to teach (I would almost think we didn’t teach science/s.s. because since May, I have only heard these subjects referenced maybe twice- compared to 1,000,202 references to Math and Literacy)
• Complete Classroom Newsletter
• Finish and Mail Intro Letter to Parents
• Create Plan/Activities for First Day of School
• ORGANIZE/DECORATE CLASSROOM
Our first day of school is a half day. What does your very first day of school look like?

Debbie Diller Delight

I enjoyed my first day at the Illinois Reading Council Conference. I planned out my day the night before, but I had no clue how intense and exciting the day would be. I attended four different workshops: one on teaching reading as a new teacher (pretty dull; all presenters did was read from the PowerPoint) and one on Guided Reading (which was actually pretty practical). The highlight of my day was the afternoon because it was a DEBBIE DILLER afternoon! I attended another workshop during her first morning session, but I made sure to go to the first one after lunch. The workshop was Spaces and Places, based on her most recent book about organizing the classroom for effective learning. My student teaching program provided me with an opportunity to set up the classroom at the beginning of the year, so it was nice to have some working knowledge of classroom arrangements.

One of the most interesting pieces of advice that I plan to use in my classroom is the importance of setting up specific places in the room in a specific order: whole group, small group, classroom library, writing station, word wall and other stations, classroom math corner, and portable work stations (in that order). The absolutely last things she said teachers should organize are student and teacher desks. Diller believes that desks are not the optimal learning space for students and should be used primarily for independent practice work, not for whole-class, small group teaching experiences. She also said that the “teacher desk” is a magnet for “visual noise” (clutter). The teacher desk should not take the prime position in the classroom.

I always thought it was best to get the students’ desks situated first. However, after hearing Diller speak, I am thinking more about my use of desks and the message that sends to my students about learning. My students do spend the majority of their time at their desks, restricted from natural, fluid interactions with their peers. When I have my own classroom, I want to create an environment of collaborative learning and one that values the knowledge and experiences of each student. I would love to see in my classroom the whole-group learning space on the carpet, where students can be closer, feel more connected and more engaged in the learning experience. This does not happen in the classroom that I am in now, but Debbie Diller has given me a vision and a plan to put it into action.

Desk Arrangement Disaster

Attempting to try something new, we put our students in groups of 4 to give them an opportunity to work more collaboratively with assignments and to motivate some students who have had some behavioral and academic challenges by grouping them with some students who are positive role models in both areas. This was such a challenge because we had more people who needed role models than we had role models to group them with. We have quite a few students who cannot be paired with almost half the class because they are easily distracted by those students. I have come to the conclusion today that our current arrangements WILL NOT WORK!!! There were two of four groups that were off task just about all day. It was only when their groups were broken up and dispersed throughout the room that we saw even a hint of change in behavior. I really don't know if I want go from groups to maybe pairs or just try a new set of 4-person groups...gotta figure something out for Monday!

The beginning of it all!!

I know it's been a while but I have been moving and getting things together for the incredible year ahead of me!! On 8/18 I came into the classroom to set up at 9am and I ran into my CT in the parking lot. I helped her carry some materials into the classroom. We ended up not being able to come in on 8/17 because she had to go out of town for a funeral. I didn't think a day would make a difference but boy was I wrong. The 5th grade class next door has an intern too and their class looked AMAZING!!!! They worked all day on the 17th and got a bunch done. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to come in then too but oh well, there wasn't anything I could have done about it.

The theme with both 5th grade classes is Hollywood. Both CT's came up with it and really went all out with decorations. most of the stuff they said they got from party stores and teacher supply stores. Since we didn't have anything prepared, we brainstormed some ideas for our bulletin boards:
Presenting Coming Attractions: Welcome bulletin board outside of classroom
Hollywords: Word Wall
Lights, Cameras, Read: Reading Corner/Focus Wall
Wall of Fame: Student Work

I'm jumping all over here but I just want to list some of the useful tips I've learned so far!

- Use fabric to cover cork boards instead of paper b/c it's more durable and reusable
- Use borders to cover up gaps in butcher paper/fabric along the edges of the board
- START EARLY!!!!
- Even if custodians say they cleaned the desks, that doesn't mean they did!
- Keep an eye on your belongings b/c some teachers think that when your stuff is not physically in your room, 1st come, 1st serve rules apply!!

This post only scratches the surface of what I have experienced after only 3 days into it all!! More posts to come!!!