Sunday, August 28, 2011

First Week of First Grade!

We made it through the first week together! Here is a little recap of our week {insert some A LOT of routines, expectations & procedures amidst our days too!} :)

Here is our results from our survey of how many boys and girls we have in our class. First, they made "kid pins" taken from the Investigations Math series. The students decorated index cards with their names in the center. They have magnetic tape on the back of them, so we can use them on the whiteboard and on trays during center time.
taken with my ipod! You get the just of it!

During our community building time, we did many name games and we also did a "Find someone who..." sheet! Check it out! The kids loved it & got to know each other too.  Simple. Love.

Here is our first shared reading book: I Went Walking. It is very repetitive and we focused on:
  • concepts of print
  • color words (we did a scavenger hunt before reading!) The kids got into groups and each got a color word. They had to find 2 things around the room that was that color. These were colors that were included in the book
  • Asking sentences vs. telling sentences (question mark vs. period)
 Before reading we made a chart of places we could walk to and made a list of 3 things we could see at those places. I wish I had some nice font-type handwriting like some of those blogging teachers out there! But, I don't... so this will have to do! :)
 The lights were off this week, due to NO AIR in our room! ick!

 That's a little snippet of our first week together as Firsties! It's going to be a great year- I just know it! And last, but not least- here was a great way to end my week! A little gift from one of my First Grade friends!
ahhhh :)
Happy Sunday to all! Have a great week & stop by again real soon!! I better go get organized for a lot of assessing this week. icky icky! We can do it. We can do it!  :)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Heat is on & Questions for Firstie Teachers !

The heat is on in the 1B classroom! It is very warm in our classroom {no air}, but we are surviving our first week. We are enjoying meeting our new friends- 21 smiling faces! Today we did a survey to see how many boys and how many girls we have in our class! How exciting! 11 boys and 10 girls {11 with Miss B}! I haven't gotten pictures yet- I am slacking- I know! I will try and get some up later this week!

WHOA! I just have to say I didn't even know what to do with myself on the first day of school when my friends knew how to sit in a chair, walk to the carpet, sit criss-cross with their hands to themselves, they knew how to use a drinking fountain, YOU GET THE POINT!? :) I think everyone should teach kindergarten at least once to appreciate those first few months! 

 I do have some questions for all you teachers though!
  • Desks- I am not used to these, since I had tables in Kinder! Do you have any tricks about how to keep bodies queit in desks when teacher is giving directions? Mine are constantly putting their hands in their desks and tapping the bottom of it. I know.. minor and I know I need to continue to practice the behavior I want, but thought I would ask if anyone had any tricks! 
  • Brain Break activities?!? Anyone!? :) I have some from kinder but could use some new ones! 
 Have a great Wednesday everyone! :) 

Monday, August 22, 2011

Meet the Teacher & Back to school! EEK!

Well.. tonight was the night! I got to meet my 21 sweet new Firstie friends! The students brought in their supplies and got to see their first grade room and meet their teacher {me!}  I am pretty excited for a new year! I hope they are ready for some fun!

Tomorrow is the first day of school! Routine, routines, routines. The first few weeks of school are all about that! Some of the books we will be reading are:


My favorite!!








Time for bed! Last first day of being Miss Bowers is tomorrow!!!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Classroom Pictures!

Well, the classroom is ALMOST done! WAHOO- finally, after all summer! I got lots of great ideas from all of your bloggers and of course, from Pinterest {gotta love that site!} I got some of my Firstie friends from school on there too- their classrooms look awesome and reflect some of the Pinterest ideas too!

Anyway... here are some pictures!

As you can tell, I am not completely finished, but {sigh} I have got to move on! :)

 One more thing! Before I head out! Check out these b-e-a-utiful flowers my tutor friend brought to me on our last day together- sweet?? yes- I think so! Shout out to him & his mother! I am so blessed!


 Happy Wednesday to everyone. I better go get a move on for another one of my favorite things- meetings!!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

3 Ways to Read Bookmarks

Wowzer.. where does the time go? With all of this wedding planning, new Firstie planning and trying to keep up with my daily life.. I have been neglecting this blogging world!

Summer is over... meetings all week this week and I have got to get my classroom finished too {that will be how I may WILL spend my evenings this week.} EEEK {admit my procrastination here}! I am doing a jungle theme for those of you following and I can't wait to get pictures up. My mom is sewing me some curtains and the last detailed decorations will be going up and then I will be sharing. Check back soon for a classroom tour!

The Firstie team has been working together {5 of us- with a total of 3 of us moving up together from kinder} to get our schedules worked out. We have decided to use this bookmark with our kiddos. Another teacher and I designed these last year, while teaching kindergarten and we loved them! We run them on colored card stock and laminate them for each kiddo's book bins. Check it out! Click here to get it!
That is all for now. Hopefully, I can wake up tomorrow on time and raring to go! We have 3 new kinder teachers and I am blessed to be mentoring one of them- that will be my meeting all day tomorrow! I may need this below to keep me moving through the day.. :)
non-fat, white choc. mocha- iced..mmmm

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Jungle Flowers

Before I head out to tutor, I wanted to share my flowers I arranged {or tried to!}

Here was my inspiration that I found on Pinterest. Check out the One Charming Party website to see more!

inspiration from the link above

Here is mine to match my jungle room!!
I found the flowers @ Micheal's and I had the vase- added some ribbon and there you have it!

I also won the Giveaway @ Christie's Blog! I am so excited to get my jungle cards, name tags and sign printed!! Big shout out to her!

Also, I'm hoping to get some of my Firstie Team on board with these blogs. We were raving about all of the cool teacher blogs!!  They are going to be in love too.. I just know it! :)

Happy Thursday to all!

Monday, August 1, 2011

I'm Engaged!!!

WAHOO! {not teaching related- I know!} However---last night, Keegan and I got engaged! We are so excited to be planning a wedding for next summer.  As if starting a new year with new firsties wasn't enough for organizing! :)  It sure will be a busy year and I can NOT wait! Miss Bowers will become Mrs. Hamilton {sounds good... I think!}

Cool story for all who want to read.. hehe. We got hooked up set up through a second grade teacher @ my school, AKA Mrs. Hamilton, which is Keegan's sister in law.  She would pass me in the hall teasing and trying to get us set up- this happened about once a week!  She tried and tried for sooo long to get us together and after about 6 months, we gave it a shot and the rest is history. :) Small world it is out there!

Thanks for all of my followers... I am loving this blogging world and now Pinterest and I are really going to be spending time together with all of this planning {as if I wasn't already wasting spending a lot of time on that site!}

Happy Monday!