Progress

Wow, has this classroom (and this teacher!) come a long way this summer!  From a room that was unorganized, messy, and just didn't feel "mine" comes a new beautiful room that will work for me and my new little firsties!  I can't wait to show them what I have in store for them this year!  I wish I had before and after pictures, because you wouldn't BELIEVE what this room looked like before.


Soooooooo......

Welcome to Mrs. Marsh's Sweet Shop!!

 My books organized on my newly painted bookshelf!

I decided to buy a new calendar because I was sick of my 3rd grade one 

and the K one seemed too young.  I LOVE this dots on chocolate one!

My bulletin board for notes and important school info

The back of the room with the word wall (ice cream cones), 

birthday board and Smartie of the week board.  You can see the candy jawbreakers 

hanging from the ceiling.  Those are going to be my table colors.

Birthday chart and jobs

Prayer Chain and Word Wall

Another look at the front of the room

So there it is!!  I am loving this sweet shop theme.  It was so fun to decorate with!!  Now I just have to figure out what I am going to do with these sweeties once they arrive.  Enter my "Important Binder".  This baby holds all my important notes from school, lesson plans, school calendar, student information, etc. in it.  I carry this guy to faculty meetings, conferences, and home.  It has everything I need in it and usually lies open on my desk all day.  

Have a great back to school week everyone!

Remember who you are,

Katie

August to August Must-Have!!

It's that time of the summer when I start to panic because my daily planner only goes until August and -heaven forbid- I may miss something!!  It's also that time of the summer when I get SUPER excited because my planner only until August and -gasp- I get to go out and buy a new one!!

You are probably thinking, "what is the big deal about a planner?"  But wait. until. you. see. this. thing.  It is the BMW of planners.  It's so pretty.  And made well.  And it fits well with my line of thinking.  My life revolves around the school year.  Hence, the need for an August to August organizer!  I mean, it's like they were in my brain when they made this thing.

Every summer I look forward to finding this year's crop of planners in their multitude of colors.  Oh, what color will I pick???  I usually waver between a few different colors and try to never buy the same color twice (have I mentioned this year's planner is my TWELFTH one??!!).  Yeah, I'm a little obsessed.  But it's so stinking cute.

And the font.  The FONT!!  The font is what makes it.  It is handwritten in waaaaay better writing than my fingers could ever do and it has lots of space for all of my appointments, meetings, birthdays, etc. (Read: pedicures, coffee dates, movie release dates, etc.).  And every month there are a few pages for notes, a monthly at-a-glance, and a financial record page.  Which I have never used.  I mean, c'mon, I purchase this baby every year for $17 when I could get the cheapy ugly blue one free from school.  There isn't much recording happening on my part.  But for those of you who are money conscious, have at it!!

Behold.  The beautiful planner:

I chose turquoise this year to remind me of the cool, blue waters of the pool 

when I am so sad to be in the dead of winter!

The inside:

Isn't the writing sooooo cute??!!

So there you have it!  This planner could SAVE your sanity!!  I'm off to fill mine with playdates and pool time!!  

Remember who you are!

~Katie

P.S.  You can purchase yours at Lakeshore Learning Store, ABC Toyzone, and other teacher resource stores.  You can also order it online here.

First Grade Jitters...Oh My!

Well, here we are in summer mode and I am already making my plans for my cute little firsties!!  I am all moved out of my preschool room (I have to say I am a bit sad to leave.  That room had a lot of fun memories in it and I will miss all the space).  I have begun cleaning and organizing my new room and trying to decide how I want to organize the furniture.  Isn't that always the most difficult part?  Do I want the desks facing the SmartBoard or the whiteboard?  Do I want the bookshelf in front or in the back as a reading area?  All of these are questions that I know I probably can't answer until I actually get in there with my students.  But for now, it stresses me out a tad.

I do know from teaching Kindergarten that these little munchkins are going to enter my classroom and a) be sooooo nervous and excited!! and b) look around the room and realize that they are NOT in Kansas anymore!!  The first questions will most likely be, "Where are the all the TOYS? When do we get Free Choice?  What are all these desks doing in here?  They are taking up all the PLAY room!!"

To ease this letdown of sorts, I searched on some of my favorite blogs and of course, Pinterest, to find some great books that will ease their little minds.  Yes, first grade IS very different from Kindergarten.  But we will make it through, my little smarties.  We will make it through.  And we will have a blast doing it!!

This photo is a little blurry, but you get the idea.  They are all great reads for the beginning of the year jitters.

Which brings me to....JITTER JUICE!!  This was an adorable idea from Babbling Abby.  She reads First Grade Jitters, then introduces her poem that goes with it, and the kids all share this really fun drink that helps with those first day jitters.  So cute, right??  I bought her whole Fun with Firsties Packet! on TPT and I am so excited to use it that first week!!

Remember who you are,
Katie

Books, Books, and More Books!

Oh my, I have SOOOOO much work to do!!  Take a look at the books I have to go through!

Each one of those bins holds about 50 books.  That is probably over 600 books I need to sort through!  Some of them stay in Preschool and the ones that I purchased will go with me to 1st.  Not to mention these:

and these:

Can you tell I love children's books???  It is one of the reasons I wanted to move from 3rd grade back down to Kindergarten-I wasn't reading picture books as much anymore and I missed that!  I love having a picture book to go with a lesson or activity we are doing.  I use them to introduce almost EVERYTHING I do!

I had better get started on these bad boys.  It's gonna be a BUSY summer trying to organize and move everything.  Let the fun begin!!

Remember who you are.
~Katie

First Grade Fever!

It's official.
I am moving to first grade!  As Junie B. says, "First Grader...at last"!! (insert sigh here)
After teaching 3rd grade for three years, then moving down to Kindergarten (which I love), then getting asked to teach Pre-K, I get to move to the "big kids" hallway and teach grade uno.  I am so very excited!!  


It was a nice break to leave the grading, report cards, and conferences (I conferenced with parents in Pre-K, but it wasn't as extensive) behind.  But those are the exact things I am most excited to DO again.  Mainly because they are all part of what it means to teach.  I love assessing knowledge and seeing how a child grows academically throughout the year.  And grading is one of the ways we can really see that growth.  I also love coming up with alternative ways of assessing knowledge.  Because, let's face it, we aren't ALL test takers now are we?


Soooooo, here I am blogging about my newfound happiness/joy/excitement/nervousness/etc. that I feel about moving up the elementary ladder.  I figured I am about to embark on a new adventure.  Why not add to that by blogging about it?


Ok, on to my first order of business.  Upon learning I was officially moving, I immediately changed my Mailbox magazine from Pre-K to the First Grade edition.  

I can't wait to begin getting this baby in the mail. It's like receiving the big toy catalog before Christmas. I'll run all the way up the driveway on the day it is delivered.  Dork, I know.


Next up- I began organizing my pins on Pinterest.  I had been pinning all of my teaching ideas to a "Classroom O' Fun" board.  Last week, I moved the more advanced items onto a new board that I coined, "First Grade Fever".  Brilliant, eh?  Now, I'm adding more and more ideas to it.  I can't wait to get started on some of the exciting things I have found!

If you would like to see my boards and follow me on Pinterest, click here.


So, there you have it.  My first blog as a First Grade Teacher (gosh I love the sound of that!).  It didn't go too badly, if I do say so myself.  I'm thinking this thing could be my new journal (not that I ever used a journal.  I just bought them because they were cute and then had to have a fancy pen to go with it, but then quit writing after a day or so).  Ha!


Only 40 more days of Pre-K.  Then I'm moving on up!!!


As my Dad (whom we affectionately refer to as Sparky) always told me when I was younger...
Remember who you are.
~Katie