Amazing Lesson

I have successfully completed my first week of teaching the 2nd grade! I am absolutely in love. We are beginning an author study on Kevin Henkes which is so awesome because I have studied author studies at UNLV. The book we reviewed today was Chrysanthemum (just like the flower) about a little mouse who gets made fun of because her name is too long and different. The students loved the story.

First,  the mentor teacher and I read a letter from our mothers about where our names came from and why our parents chose those names for us. (The students received this assignment for homework-ask your parents where your name came from).

We then did a little activity where we had all the students' names written on sentence strips and cut up letter by letter (vowels in red, consonants in blue). We put them in plastic baggies and passed them around the class. Students had to sort out the letters to spell their classmates names. It was hard for some of them, but a great way to learn names. To make it easier you could give them their own name.

Once they completed the sorting part of the assignment they glued that person's name on a piece of construction paper and gave it to the person. We then began to make circle maps about ourselves including pictures and words of our favorite things and places to go. This tied into a noun lesson we had done earlier in the morning. How AMAZING to combine lessons and make connections to each other and the teacher. I will definitely be using this in my own classroom :)

I am also making my first scholastic book order in the eyes of a teacher and man is it hard to choose! There is a Kevin Henkes pack available that I am purchasing so I can complete my own Chrysanthemum activity.

Until Later,
Amanda

A Week Away...

Well, that time has come. I am a week away from my first "first day of school" from a teacher's prospective. My information was wrong, I am not in a first grade class, but instead in a second grade class. My mentor teacher had looped her students so she has the same kids just a year older. How awesome!! I have been getting everything put together, slowly but surely. The good thing is that I like doing this kind of stuff (getting school supplies & getting myself organized). It's really an escape for me. I recently had to reorganize my whole "teacher closet" in our extra room because I had acquired so many resources. I put everything in categories including student incentives, teacher supplies, resources, student supplies & made sure everything was labeled, of course! 

Then I became inspired to get my desk organized as well. I made sure I had all my binder clips accessible (I love those) and enough pens of various colors available at arms reach. ;) 

And then my favorite part of my new ORGANIZED teacher room: my wall art. I am fortunate enough to have a Cricut. If you don't have one & are going into teaching or love scrapbooking: you HAVE to get one. I like to use vinyl with mine so the cut outs are sticky and don't require any adhesive. It took my mother & I forever to get it straight and centered & just the way I wanted it...I might have been a little OCD with it, but I am super excited about how it turned out. 

I created a schedule for myself on bright paper (of course!) I planned to have one for every week & I will just be able to write in what I have planned & what I have to get done...as teachers we know how things can change on an hourly basis! (That is pictured on the left).

I also created my very first parent letter for my little ones for Open House this week. I am very excited to meet them as well as their parents. I think adding a picture to the letter can add a little something extra as well as a pop of color. I think my excitement for this next week of preparation is apparent and I know that I will grow to love these kids for the next year. BRING IT ON :)


Until Later,
Amanda