Starting the School Year Right!

This summer has been all about getting organized and ready for the beginning of school since I have a whole classroom to set up.  Those days in August when I'd normally be making copies, creating my lessons, making lists, checking them twice, marking whose been naughty or nice…oops! wrong job!  well, those things that we teachers do to be prepped for students, I'll not be doing them first.  I'll be redecorating, dusting off boxed materials, putting books back into AR level, setting up bulletin boards, etc.  All those things I haven't had to do for several years since I hadn't changed schools, I'm going to be busy doing.  Which means all those other things, that have to be done, I'm trying to prep for now, or write on that list spoken of before, not the naughty or nice one…that comes much later ;).

Some of the things foremost on my mind: my very detailed lesson plan for the first day of school.  I always make a VERY detailed plan of the first day of school.  I have many reasons for this.  The main reason is that I'll still be on lazy summer day brain, and school brain will not have kicked in, yet.  I need to have a schedule of everything I'm doing (much like I leave for a substitute-HA!).  I like to put descriptions, games, rules, procedures, practice, and time for first day pictures in this lesson plan.  Since this will be my first year in 2nd grade, it will probably have more stuff than I'll get to.  In 1st grade, you need such a detailed plan because those little guys and gals get lost easy, and you can't be puttering around looking for what you had planned or you may lose a kiddo!  I think 2nd grade won't be so dangerous! :)

After the first day plans, I usually use my regular lesson plans from then on.  After obtaining a calendar, a schedule for next year, and copy of another teacher's plans (thank you, new teammate!), I got a better idea of what next year was going to look like.  I decided to create a new lesson plan book that would also contain my grades.  Grades are new for me!  My first grade years we assessed ability, rather than kept grades.  I've been reading blogs, pinning on Pinterest, and asking questions of teachers to see what the best ideas were for keeping grades.  I know there will be a software to enter grades, but I needed a grade book to keep with my plans.  After some research, I created a new {EDITABLE} lesson plan book that contains the grade book I need, plus a calendar, and other necessary forms.  My hours of work can be obtained from my TpT store, but here's a preview:

I'll be adding to it, and updating the calendar each year!  The price will change accordingly as I add to this file, but you can get it now, and any updates will be free!

What's New Going Back to School?

The big news that I spoke of….I've relocated to Washington State!  This is a huge change from Oklahoma.  One of the most significant changes…rain, but no tornados!  Yay!  Well, no significant tornados (aka, giant, mile-wide ones), and July has been beautiful.  I've really enjoyed the change.  Another change-a new school and a new grade.  I'll be teaching 2nd grade this year, which brings me to the problem of how to change the name of this blog.  I'll still be making products for primary grades, but I will be including things that I'm doing in my class this year.

With the new school, the new grade, and, of course, a new classroom, I've been working on some new projects.  Mostly projects that will include decorations!  I'm very excited about this, but don't want to post any until I have them on my classroom walls to be sure they look as good finished as they appear on my screen. :) Since that will be a little while (my stuff for my classroom is still in storage in Oklahoma and yet to arrive *fingers crossed only one more week*), I've decided to post about a first days rule book that I created last summer.

I used this at the beginning of last year in first grade, but it easily adapts to 2nd and K.  It is a lot of coloring and tracing, as well as a guide to move through the rules.  I love this product, and will be using it again.  I'm discounting it in celebration of my new move!

Get it HERE! 

Big Changes!

It's been a while since I posted, and it's been a crazy year!  Last summer, I taught summer school, which was a lot of fun but kept me from posting some of the great stuff I've been working on.  One of the things I meant to post about was some RTI Fluency Practice that I used in summer school.  The class I had was first graders moving to second, but needed a little boost in reading.  I added this practice, which I could do very quickly, one-on-one, with small groups, to boost fluency:
The great thing about this little gem was that I could teach 5 Dolch words at a time, review them in easy sentences, and the next day add 5 more.  Many of the sentences would repeat previous words that had been taught to create fluency.  I kept my sentences in chart form, but over a full school year, it could be used to cut in strips and have students review words in pairs.  To get this product at a discounted rate, check out my TPT store:

HERE

I have several new items I've created to add, but also exciting news about moving to a new state, a new school, a new grade, and an updated blog to share in upcoming posts.  Until then, here's a hint for the new blog look: