Substitutes!

Monday is my first day since becoming a real teacher where I will have a substitute in my classroom. She is great and I know my kids will love her, and I totally trust her with my class, but OMG. There is so much to do as a teacher when you are going to be out for a day!  I've known that this would be the case... I've watched my mentor teachers prep for sub before. But it is sort of overwhelming. I had to make sure all my copies were done today, the kids are prepared for a different person, notes and directions are written on the board, my lesson plans are done and printed, she knows where she is going, etc.  AND I am still coming in on Monday morning, before school starts, just to make sure that she is ok and understands what needs to be done.  It is literally more work to not come to school. 

Five for Friday {First Time!}

I am trying to link up with as many linky partys as I can that way people can see and maybe even follow my blog! So here is another one... 

It is time for five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

 I finally got some student work up on my boards in my classroom. So now it doesn't look so bare! Yay!

Wednesday was a holiday here in Hawaii so we had the day off from school. I went with a group of friends to get breakfast from this place in Kailua called Cinnamons. They have THE BEST guava chiffon pancakes. They are so incredibly good. Like dessert but for breakfast. Yum! That was great.

22 Jump Street comes out today. I am pretty excited. I want to go see it today, but I don't have time. So I am going tomorrow. :)

I spend one of the days earlier this week organizing all of my photo albums and backing them up to drop box. I found baby pictures of all of my 3 fur babies. I am glad they are now backed up and going to be saved for ever! Here are some of their cute baby pictures.

I made it all week without going to Starbucks. I made my own drinks at home before I left for school. But this morning, I caved. I went to Starbucks and got a bagel AND and and Oprah Chai. It was wonderful, and well worth it. Made this Friday go by much faster!

Monday Made It {First Time!}

Yesterday was my FIRST DAY teaching summer school, and my FIRST DAY having my very own class with out a mentor teacher. It was so much fun yet so incredibly terrifying at the same time. Luckily... it went really well! My kids were well behaved, they followed my directions, they told me they loved my class at the end of the day, and they got their work done! I call that a success! Having my kids enjoy this class is really important to me. I am teaching summer school at a fine arts summer program, but my class is reading class for students performing below average. So they go to all these fun classes (like dance and ceramics and PE), and then they come to reading. If I can keep them interested and having fun- my job is complete!

Time for my first Monday Made It! I know it is a day late, but better late than never! Thank you to 4th Grade Frolics for putting this together! 

I'm pretty excited about the one thing I made this week... but it has a lot of parts. I made.... MY CLASSROOM!!

Yes my first every classroom is decorated and ready! I'm pretty proud of it. It started completely blank with all the furniture stacked. I had no idea how much I would have to set up for summer school, but now I love it! So here are all the pictures of my new classroom. 

^This is the front of my classroom. It has the alphabet at the top (which I made), the 1-2 grade library on the left, my READ table on the right, and the behavior chart. 

^These are the birthday sticks that I made for my students. They are just crazy straws, and they get to pick one when it is their birthday. 

^This is my desk area. I LOVE that the bookshelves were already painted yellow, considering it is my favorite color. It's kind of organized, and kind of just stuff thrown in bags... oops. :)

^This is the student work wall for my 3-5th grade class. They each have a folder hanging, and as they finish work, they will add it to their folder so it can be displayed. Also, this shows my 3rd-5th grade library. 

^My READ table! I made the letters myself. They are just wooden letters covered in scrapbook paper. This is the table where our pencils, erasers, and highlighters live. Each student picked a folder when they came in on the first day. Each folder had a parent letter and an "about me" paper for the students to fill out. 

^This is where I have my rules posted. I am using the whole brain teaching rules with my class this summer to see how they work out. The rules are:

 1. Follow directions quickly.

2. Raise your hand for permission to speak.

3. Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat. 

4. Make smart choices.

5. Keep your dear teacher happy. :)

^This is my anchor chart bulletin board and my behavior chart. I am planning on leaving this anchor chart up. In my reading class, we are doing close reading as our "curriculum." These are just the basic steps for close reading so that my students can refer to them. 

The behavior chart I got from That's So Second Grade. I love it! The levels say: Parent contact (red), teachers choice (orange), make better choices (yellow), ready to learn (green), great choices (pink), and outstanding day (purple). All the students start on green, and can move up and down the chart through out the day depending on their behavior. 

^This is just another view of the front of my room. The display folders for my 1st and 2nd grade class are located below the white board. 

^Another view of my 1st/2nd grade library. 

^The view of my room from the door! My roommate made all of the pom poms for me that you see going across in the back.  That's it! I hope you all enjoyed my room tour for my first ever Monday Made it!

My First Currently... June!

Since my blog is now up and running and it is June 1st, I am just in time to link up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade to do my first ever currently post! 
So, here it is!

Listening- Seriously, the Pandora 2000's hip hop radio is the greatest radio station ever. Flashback to junior high/high school for me!
Loving- That my hard work payed off! I love my new blog. 
Thinking- Wednesday is my first staff meeting for my first big girl teaching job. I am so excited, yet so not prepared... haha! I have no idea what to expect!!
Wanting- I spent yesterday making some DIY projects for my classroom, but I want to make more!! Starting as a first year teacher means I have NOTHING for my room, so I have tons of ideas and plans. But all those ideas involve money... Ugh!
Needing- Lunch! I have spent all morning and afternoon working on this darn blog, and I seem to have forgotten to eat. Oops. 
Summer Bucket List- 1: Thinking about maybe taking a trip to Maui. 2: I need to go through all of my books that I will be taking to my classroom, and label/sort them. 3: Since I have a few more days off, I want to create some fun and yummy things to cook/bake. 

Happy June Everyone!

Makeover!

After nearly 24 hours straight of trying to create my own blog design/layout, playing around with colors, sizes, etc... MY NEW BLOG IS COMPLETE!!!

Now that I have a big girl teaching job, I am going to try my best to get my blog out into the teaching world to see if I can make some blog friends and find some more resources to help me as a first year teacher.

Now- I'm off take make friends. Internet blogging friends of course. :)