New Blog!!

Incredible new blog from Charity Preston, creater of the Organized Classroom. In Charity's own words, "It is a network of websites that contain blog rolls specifically for each grade level, AND they include Pinterest boards to match as well!" What are you waiting for? Head on over now!

Follow me on Facebook

I may not have been posting on the blog, but I have been active on Facebook! Sometimes it's just easier to pass on a link or an idea on my Facebook page, so why not follow me on Facebook and not miss a thing!

Where Have I Been?

It seems I've been gone forever! I thought that as I got into the swing of things at school, things would settle down a bit and I would be able to post more often. While some things have settled down, other things have been kicked up and swirled all over the place!
I'm so happy I decided to loop with my class. If you ever get the chance to do so, go for it!! The beginning of the year was so easy! Instead of teaching my class my expectations for behavior, turning in classwork, jobs, etc...I only had to review and remind them. Same thing with the parents. Plus all my reading groups were already set up and most of the stuff I spend hours putting names on was already complete! What a time saver, and I needed every minute!
Work Stations for Guided Math are up and running and I plan to meet with groups (the way I'm supposed to) this week. Same thing for Guided Reading. This may seem like a late start, but with all the beginning of the year assessments that had to be completed, I feel like I'm right on schedule. TPRI, IRI, Math tests, admin meetings, ...you name it!
All in all, this year has had a great start and I'm so excited for the rest of it! The days go by so fast, I hope I can keep up.
What have been your successes so far? What have you struggled with? What do you need help with?

LOVE this idea!!

Walked into my team mates room and what do I see? The greatest marker storage ever!!! I couldn't stop smiling after seeing her clever way of storing student markers. take a look....

It's an ice cube tray for making ice to go into water bottles! She has one tray for every 4-5 students. I definitely have some shopping to do this weekend. Thanks for sharing Christi!

Thank You Sub Hub!!

Rachel Friedrich of The Sub Hub has named me one of her Top Ten blogs!! I'm super excited! I love reading every else's blogs and all the wonderful ideas. Here are the top ten that inspire me...

Desk Arrangements

Tired of putting desks in rows or tables? What else is there, you ask? Just check this site out http://www.classroomdeskarrangement.com/ClassroomDeskArrangement/Welcome.html. An amazing collection of ways to arrange desks. The plans are even sorted by how many students you have! Just click on the Number of Students headings along the top and be ready to be amazed! I had no idea there were so many ways to arrange desks. The hard part? Which one to try!

Classroom Jobs Linky Party

I'm back! What a great first two weeks. Looping with my class has been an awesome experience...so far! It's nice not having to explain everything, we just get right down to business. Like classroom jobs; they already know the jobs and how they're to be done. But that doesn't mean there's not room for improvement. Check out the classroom jobs ideas at Mrs. Dillard's 1st Grade Linky Party. I love her management chart and all the jobs! Lots of other great posts too.
I don't have a job for every student but I do have a boy and girl of each of the following: line leaders (girls lead to / boys lead back); door holders; paper passers; messengers; and helpers. This means about half of the class has jobs one week and the others are "off". I use a small pocket chart with each child's name on a small sentence strip and use clothes pins with the names of the jobs on them. I just move the clips down one spot each Friday. Simple and effective :)
How do you set up classroom jobs in your classroom?