School Starts Monday!

Can you believe it?  School starts this Monday!  How CRAZY is that?  I feel like the summer literally just started, and now I'm married and starting school on Monday!  This is going to be a crazy and phenomenal year, you just wait and see.

I just found out yesterday that I get a student teacher this year.  Yes, yes, how cool!  I am very excited and I can't wait to meet her (yes, it is a her) and get the year started.  I'm hoping teaching the combo won't be TOO crazy and that she'll take some valuable tools with her by the end of the year.  I can't wait for her to see us in action!

Aside from that exciting news, the only other fun bits are that back to school night was a breeze and successful and that now I'm finally done setting up my room for the first day of school.  And I think it looks great.  I went for a Dr. Seuss theme this year and I think that it came out wonderfully.  If nothing else, the room definitely looks whimsical (you really have to be IN the classroom to see the full effect, but I figure the pictures I took will give you a rough idea.)  :)

This is a view of my desk area with the college wall behind me, our noise thermometer and our estrellita sonidos iniciales.  Nothing too Seussy here, but it's coming....

That big orange wall is going to be a Boggle board as we get further into the school year.  This will be part of the morning bell work for my kiddos.  I can't wait!  Right next to it on the white board is my language board and next to that is my string of instructions (pencil, colored pencils, scissors, glue.  PERIOD).  On the other side is my kidney table where I plan on doing small group interventions and my teacher run center.  Fun!

On the blackboard I have my daily routine pocket charts.  The green one, conveniently located next to the hall passes, is my "Where am I?" pocket chart.  There's a pocket for bathroom, one for office, one for nurse.  That's it.  The purple one is "What lunch do I have?" with a pocket for from home and another one for cafeteria.  My kids each have a number, so they will take their number and put it in the appropriate pocket.  Then is my most loved Rick Morris clip chart.  If you don't know what that is, check it out right here.  Then my apple is my classroom jobs chart.  Underneath that, you'll see that I have a posterboard with pockets on it.  Each pocket belongs to a child because the second week of school they will get sticker incentive charts on their desks (I'll post a picture once I make one, super simple!).  Each time they clip up on the clip chart they get a sticker.  They will have a sticker goal for the end of the month and if they reach it, to the treasure box they go (to pick a coupon that they can use).  If they clip down, their sticker chart goes into time out in their pocket.  Only once they get back on green and clip up from green do they get their sticker chart back and earn a sticker.  Each time they clip down from green, I write their offense on the back of their chart (PERFECT for P-T Conferences!).

This is my math board and next to that you find my very Seussy calendar.  That yellow wall will be a science board eventually....

My writing wall with Trufful trees!  Those cute little clouds are clothes pins glued to tacks with a little bubble of chalkboard paper with my kids' names on them.  And then there are my math manipulatives and classroom library.

My finished reading nook!  Each week my star of the week will be able to sit in the rocking chair to read and on the little crate where currently 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is on display they will be able to put THEIR favorite book on display.  Next to that is another red poster board with pockets.  In those pockets are these cute library cards that I found at ObSEUSSed.  I am working on scanning my books into a QR reader that will upload the book to an online library database, so when my kids want to take one of my books home, I can scan it and know at all times where my books are.  Yes yes, I'm attempting to be tech savvy (or at least so I'd like to think.)

My outside parent information wall (I drew that Cat in the Hat, took me a LONG TIME, but I did it!).  On that little board with Thing 1 and Thing 2 I will write a word of the day.  Everyday, my students will not be allowed in the classroom until they say the word of the day.  Boom.

My outside bulletins for my kiddos' work.  Next week this will be a "Who's Who in Whoville" (in Spanish, "Quien es quien en Whoville").  With more Truffula Trees!

Woo!!!  That was a doozy of a post!  And I sure hope you got something out of it!  Happy First Day of School everybody!