The journey of a first year Kindergarten teacher...

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Classroom Reveal Minus Front Door

Hey all! As promised, here is my classroom decor (just a glimpse) of how it looks like..Pictures overload! The only thing I did not take pictures of is my front door because my nest is falling apart and needs to be redone.. On to the pics!
View from when you open the door..

Straight ahead from main door

Magnet letters behind one of my doors

Bathroom passes, attendance clipboard, washing hands sign, and how do we go home..

 Social Studies board with family pictures created by students

Social & Science boards

Morning meeting time..with calendar, weather, class jobs, rules, and 5 L's of active listening to the left and above is their birthdays.

Close up

Math board

Reading board area, daily 5, etc

Word Wall

Small group area

Window with Welcome banner and curtains

Teacher's Desk/area

Board

Voice Level and Behavior Clip Chart ribbons

Pledge of Allegiance, Tying Teachers shoe, and finished/not finished paper below

Library/manipulatives area

Another view of library/manipulatives area

Simple lining up line with colored duct tape
 
So there you have it! My classroom..it's still a work in  progress as being that I have no $ to purchase storage drawers for centers, etc. But for now..this is what it looks like :)

Saturday, August 25, 2012

First Week Update

Hello! I have been a horrible blogger by not posting as frequent as possible and that will change! I just finished my first week of Kindergarten. I had to get adjusted with my Kindergarten staff, procedures, students, routines, etc. and I just wanted this week to go by as smooth as possible..I will update my blog AT LEAST 2x a week from now on :) Let me give you the breakdown on my first week..

The first day of school was utter chaos! (is anyone with me?) Parents crying, children crying, and supplies coming my way overload! There was massive traffic congestion on  copying machine and I had to copy several reading/writing and math worksheets since I still do not have my student workbooks on these subjects (hopefully they will come in by next week or the following week).  The first day mostly consisted of the usual: routines and procedures galore! I also incorporated the WBT approach and it worked wonderfully! The students were fully engaged when I introduced the signals and were very cooperative.

In reading/writing we reviewed letters A-E and focused on nursery rhymes and Goldilocks, Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Little Pigs, and Henny Penny. We also went over story structure, cause/effect, and compare/contrast. I felt that this was so difficult to understand since I only read aloud the stories via my Teacher's editions without the students' books. Thankfully, I had my own Goldilocks and Three Little Pigs books from my classroom library that I read to them during morning circle time. Students were given writing worksheets for the letters we were reviewing to race and color pictures that started with that letter. Some students quickly caught on while others I had to constantly be on their toes to stay focused and hold a pencil correctly..I also informally introduced my centers to the students for their Daily 5 routine. However, this week I gave them the opportunity to freely explore the centers and get acquainted with each station. I also had to students form the letters with play doh. Man, they loved it!

As for Math, we reviewed numbers 1-4. I had a couple of worksheets for them to cut paste the correct number based on how many animals were on each paper based on the Brown Bear, Brown Bear Book. This lead me teach the color words and the association with the color with the book. Some students (about 4) had diffculty in cutting so yesterday I had them tear little pieces of construction paper to form numbers 1-4 on another paper that I formed. They also had fun forming numbers with shaving cream! They were so excited :)

For Science and Social Studies, we focused on the five sense and their family. The students created pictures in a little flip book I created out of copy paper for the five senses. They also drew their own family picture.

 
Phew! That was a long post! As I mentioned before, I will post my classroom pictures asap when I get the chance. You see, starting at 7AM, ALL Kinder students report to my classroom for breakfast. My Kinder team and I rotate days to facilitate when breakfast is going own while the other teachers are either creating lessons, making copies, etc. It is complete craziness! Speaking of craziness, as  have mentioned before, the school I work with is a Title I school. A new Kinder teacher on Thursday resigned because she could not take it! I felt like she did not give the school/students a fair shot being it is only the first week of school BUT that is just me. Well if you're reading reading this, congrats! I'm through babbling lol Until next time!


Ms. Pasqua

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Classroom Day 1 and 2

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates.. I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off! I have been setting up my classroom since Monday and I have either been tired, sore, or sleepy to blog..I have amazing news! I found out that Kinder teachers schedules are different from the rest of the school..Instead of working from 8-4:30PM, we will start at 7 and finish by 3:30PM..I'm so excited because that hour makes all the difference with my commute (1 hour away from my home). All the veteran Kinder teachers are all very sweet and helpful and I cannot wait to meet up with them either today or tomorrow to plan together. From what they told me, the first two weeks are all about reviewing and testing. I also found another teacher who is obsessed as much as I am with TpT and Pinterest! :) I'm sure we will be collaborating a lot together with ideas... So far I have been setting up my classroom, went to several meetings, lugged around my teacher editions and have been searching for all the student books. I also printed out the whole year's pacing guides.. On to the pictures! Well these pictures are only from Monday and Tuesday. I will post some more tomorrow of what I have as of right now to the final pictures.
My window area with banner and curtains..

Library/manipulatives area


Subject boards
Small group table

Morning meeting area

Before

Before

What do I know with this column? Suggestions?

Before

Front of classroom

Before ...

Until tomorrow..I will post my finished product :)

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Last Day of Summer Vacation :(

I am linking up with Peterson's Pad about all things summer! I can't believe I go back to work tomorrow! Don't get me wrong, I have been feeling antsy to start up my classroom but I will definitely miss summer!


Here's the rules:
*Share 4 things about your summer!
1: a place you visited
2: a book you read (either for fun or for school)
3: something you did or made for your school class
4: a fun thing you did

*Grab the picture above and share it on your blog.
*Write your post then come back here and link up.
Then like Farley and her Currently,
*PLEASE comment on the 2 links before you and the 1 after you.
If you don't have a blog, then please leave me a comment.
I think it will be fun to see what everyone did over the summer.
 
Here are mine...
1. I visited north Florida and Orlando (Disney World)








2. Books I have read:

(for school)


(for fun)
3. Things I made for school
Crate Seats!

 Tying Teachers shoe
Birthday pot
And various posters/banners...

4. A fun thing you did: my vacations! Plus spending time with family, friends, my boyfriend, and dog :)

Have a great week everyone! I will post my before pictures of my classroom tomorrow..


Friday, August 10, 2012

B2S To Do List Linky

Hello all! I can't believe this Monday I go back to work...It has been a whirlwind these last couple of days. I had all my PreK stuff and book storaged in my aunt's garage and I still need to go back for more sorting (woe is me!) On another note, I found out one of my 3rd grade friends is moving to Kindergarten with me (WINNING!) She is a bit overwhelmed of the change but I reassured her I would help her out as much as I can once Monday comes..I also requested a larger Kinder class to store all my junk materials and my principal agreed to move me into a bigger classroom! I could not be more thrilled..I was hoping for a larger classroom to set up my teepee I purchased a couple of years ago from Kirkland's during my internship.

On to the list! I have linked up with Ms. Shope's Class for my B2S to do list..I have so many needs/wants for my classroom so I made two lists of things I need to get done and things I need to buy once my first paycheck rolls around..Here they are..Things that are highlighted are things I have done/purchased so far..


  1. Tying Teachers: Make a big shoe and list all the student names that can tie their own shoe
  2. 1st day of Kindergarten: Have students write their name on a small whiteboard/or take a pic with a large frame entitle “1st day of Kinder”
  3. How do we go home ribbon with templates and blue/brown ribbon from Walmart
  4. Gallon ziplock mural for student’s work(quilt-Pinterest)
  5. Duct tape squares for morning meetings
  6. Pledge of Allegiance
  7. Classroom Rules poster
  8. Schedule poster
  9. Whole Brain poster
  10. Daily 5 Poster
  11. BUILD poster
  12. Finish calendar
  13. Magnet strips, Velcro strips
  14. Ribbons
  15. Make a ketchup bottle and pickle (pickles get to pick an activity, ketchups catch up on HW)
  16. KWL chart
  17. How we Listen poster
  18. Uniform poster
  19. EZ Grader
  20. Label Maker
  21. Laminator
  22. Printer
  23. Where are we? Sign
  24. Home or School Poster with student pictures
  25. Pick Me popsicle sticks
  26. Stress reliever box
  27. Radio with cassette/CD/MP3
  28. CDs for math and phonics
  29. Sharpened/Unsharpened pencil boxes
  30. Tattle Box
  31. Name desk tags with alphabets, numbers, right, left
  32. Two 5 drawer storage containers
  33. Signs for labeling items
  34. Pocket CHARTS!!!!
  35. Months, Days for calendar
  36. Teacher’s Toolbox
  37. WBT Signs
  38. Popsicle Sticks (more)
  39. Sentence Strips (more)
  40. Easel
  41. Sand/Rice table/ box
  42. Place Value Chart for days of the school year
  43. 3 Ways to Read a book sign
There ya go...LONG list but all items are very worth it to me!


PS Just for kicks..I'm so sad my school does not have a pumpkin patch like my old school :( The kids really love visiting it and each class make a scarecrow (ours is with the Halloween face)

Have a great Friday..and next time you hear from me, I'll post pictures of before and after of my classroom :)

Monday, August 6, 2012

Monday Made It! and Question

Hi everyone! Most of us are down down to the nitty gritty with the last couple of weeks left before school starts..Today I go and sign my contract! I'm also going to ask if I can start slowly moving in my things before the 13th because I know all teachers will be fighting for those pushing carts to take all things in the week before school. I also need to ask if I can bring a volunteer aka my boyfriend to help me set up my classroom. Somehow my school is weird about bringing in outside help so most likely they will tell me no, but hey, a simple request wouldn't hurt right? Question: how is your school feelings about outside (volunteer) work? Are they always A-OK with it? Anyways on to the post.. I've linked up again with Fourth Grade Frolics for my Monday Made It..Here are some additional things I've made these past few days..


Tying Teachers shoe that I recreated..I found the tying teachers show on Pinterest to write all the student names that know how to tie their shoes so I don't have to bend down all the time to tie! GENIUS! 

 This is my birthday pot..these little starburst were something I bought from the Dollar Tree. I attached a pencil onto it and wrote in the back "Free No HW Pass! Love, Ms. Pasqua"> Super easy to do and on a tight budget :)


 These two banners I also got from Dollar Tree and I hot glued a cute memo found through Pinterest and the Pledge of Allegiance.
KWL chart I'm going to laminate once I get some $$$ so students and I create an anchor chart with post-its on whatever subject I'm teaching.

Classroom Jobs poster. I got these cute neon envelopes at the Dollar Tree too.

"5 L's of Active Listening" poster. I wrote down how are they supposed to behave when listening with illustrations and arrows pointing to what they should do.


I am no crafty girl, so I got this bunting banner from Party City and hot glued each letter to make sure they don't move around through the school year. I finished it off by laminating it with contact paper (matte).

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday and keep on truckin'...we're almost there! :)