Nautical Classroom 2015-2016

Monday is the first day of school. I am ready.  {{I think.}}  Other than the last minute trip to Walmart, Target, and the Dollar Store I am getting ready to make.....

I currently only have 15 students on my roster. 14 of them came to Meet the Teacher yesterday. That is a VERY good turnout for my school. Out of the five first grade teachers, I have the largest class. We will see if the numbers stay this way. While I am VERY thankful, I am not holding my breath. Lol!

Here are a few pictures. I have lots of empty wall/cabinet space. (Which all of the former students who came back to visit me yesterday pointed out!) This is where I will hang anchor charts as we make them.

Top Right...Math Corner
Baskets are for Manipulatives and Math Stations
Bottom Right...Reading Corner
I love my new colorful Book Bins!

Day One's Morning Work.....We go to Special Area at 8:05 this year. I am NOT sure how this is going to work for my little guys! After Day One, we will come in, drop our bags and head to Specials. There will be no morning work!

Area behind my Teacher Table. The baskets at the bottom will be for small groups. 

Anyone else do a nautical theme?

My Classroom Theme

I finally started working on school stuff today. (You know, since I am going to set up my classroom this week.)  Here is a sneak peek at my theme....Nautical!

Assess Me - A Get to Know You Linky - Week 2

The Tattooed Teacher is hosting a fun Get to Know You Linky. Week 2 is an entertaining one....This or That.

**Jeans- Jeans are my favorite but I have spent most of the last year in long maxi skirts. I live in Florida. It is hot!  

**Earrings- A few months ago I would have said necklaces, but I have been branching out to chunky, bright, colorful earrings and bracelets. 

**Big Pimpin'- JZ's. I don't know Conan's!

**Silver- I am branching out though!

**City- I would love to live in a big city. (As long as I still got to see the ocean every single day!)

**In Store- Except the grocery store. I do NOT like going to the grocery store and will avoid it at all costs!

**Showers- I do not have a tub in my master bathroom. 

**Story Keeper- It is well known that I keep stories of my own and others very well.  

**Homebody- I like being a busy bee but I cherish my quiet days at home!

**Dinner- I am not a fan of eating in the morning or breakfast food. One morning during my first year of teaching a parent came in my room and saw me eating cheese and Chicken-in-a-Biscuit crackers. She included a box of them with my end of the year gift!

**Coffee- I am on cup two right now!

**Early Bird- Which also means early to bed!

**Done Up- My hair is almost ALWAYS up. Lice scares me! (And it is humid in Florida most of the year!)

**Lightning- I do not like storms but last week when our cruise was docked in Nassau the cruise ship next to us was struck by lightning. I saw it. It was crazy! We also saw a water spout on our day at sea. (Don't worry, neither caused damage and it was sunny almost every other second of the cruise!)

**Flats- I cannot and do not wear heels! I wear flip-flops almost every day. Since I teach at a beachside school it is acceptable.

**Airplane- I am terrified to fly and actually require medicine to get me on the plane. However, I am not a fan of long car rides so I prefer to fly!

**Girls or New Girl?- I have never watched either. I am not much of a TV watcher.

**Central Park- I have only been to NYC once but would love to go back and spend time in Central Park! Here in FL, I prefer Central Air.

Click the picture below to meet other bloggers!

Name Plates

I found a new classroom helper I am so excited to share with you! Did you know you could design your own Name Plates at Really Good Stuff???? I could be really late to this party and the last one to know, but indulge me. I have only been home from my cruise for 24 hours and am already trying to rationalize planning another one! Coming back to reality has been difficult. Not only has no one offered to get me another mango daiquiri, I feel like I might already be losing my tan!  Oh the stress.

Okay, back to the Name Plates. I put the student's name tags on the back of their chairs for many reasons.....
I cannot stand them coming off.
It bothers me when they are picked at and get yucky.
They cause bumpy writing....

Please tell me I am not the only one! (Once again, please just indulge me, I am losing my tan here!)

I have always wanted to use the name plates that had "helpers" on them. I just didn't use them because they wouldn't be useful on backs of chairs. {{I am envisioning children trying to turn around to use them and falling out of their chairs. First graders fall out of their chairs when they are just sitting there. If they need to turn around several times a day I am certain I would run out of clinic passes before Halloween!}}

As I was shopping around on Really Good Stuff I came across a build your own option. I ended up buliding my own without putting a place for a name!

I used one side for Math helpers and the other for ELA helpers. I only ordered one for every table and the cost was around $16. I am going to laminate them so I should be able to use them for several years.

If you are interested in making your own, click HERE !

First Day Tried and True Linky

**Repost from Monday**
It is time for a Back to School Linky....even though I am setting sail on a cruise at this very second! I just finished Summer School last week and have 2 weeks before PrePlanning starts. I know one of those weeks will be spent in my classroom so I thought I should spend the other one in the middle of the ocean where I could NOT work on school stuff! (No matter how much I need and want to.)

But, since I will be THINKING about Back to School I decided to link up with Undercover Classroom and Education Electrification for First Day Tried and True Activities!

Even though this will be my 12th year teaching, I still get a little anxious over the first day of school. I don't think a teacher can ever be TOO prepared or have TOO many ideas the first week of school.

I am going to share a few of my First Day Tried and True Activities with you!

1. Play a Game

This can be a fun and easy game but make sure it is an educational game. It keeps them busy while you are sitting and sipping your coffee sorting though mounds of supplies, finding out how everyone gets home, helping a little one who had an accident, drying tears, reminding friends to share, encouraging parents to leave...... Most importantly it shows your students that learning can (and WILL) be fun this year!

I always play a Roll and Color game on the first day of school. Not only will this give them a chance to use those new sharp crayons they are just dying to open, it also introduces an activity that stays in my Math Stations the entire school year!

I have a sample pack of Apple Math Games for free. It is 31 pages of differentiated games! Grab it for FREE by clicking on the picture below.

If you LOVED the freebie and would like more, check out my Apples Everywhere Math Unit by clicking the picture below. It contains 162 pages of activities for only $5.

2. Team Building Activity

Last year my goal was to do a lot of STEM  activities with my class. We started on the first day of school! I got the idea from Ivy Taul. She has a STEM Starter Kit freebie! (Click the picture to check it out!)

I tweaked her idea a bit to fit my class's needs. When our students go through the lunch line they have to say their name and lunch number. In the past I always made super cute little name & number tags for each student to wear. Of course they matched our classroom theme. Last year I challenged the students to make their own name & number tags! Not all turned out great, but the students enjoyed it and they really helped each other out. (Which was my goal..team building to start building our classroom community!) And yes I had back up name tags already made for each student! We only needed 2!!!

3. Have Fun

This is the most important. Enjoy the day. Share the kid's excitement. Relax! If you don't get to all of your activities, don't worry and do NOT rush through them. Do them tomorrow! The students will not mind if you do a Day One activity on Day Two. Trust me they will simply remember the activity. You are setting the expectations and tone for the next 180 days. Make them count!

Check out other First Day Tried and True Activities at the Linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Good luck on your first day.

Back To School Blog Hop and a GIVEAWAY!

Since I will return from my cruise in 24 hours and Back To School Reality will set in, I joined a Back to School Blog Hop to make coming back to reality a little more fun.  I just love Blog Hops and this Blog Hop has LOTS of giveaways so keep hopping by clicking the picture when you get to the end!

A few days ago I blogged about First Day Tried and True Activities. One of my favorite First Day Activities is to play an educational game. It is fun, helps build your classroom community and is an easy way to teach classroom rules and procedures.

We play a LOT of games in my classroom. Especially in Math! My students do Math Stations every day of the week. I keep the most of the stations the exact same all year. I just change out the manipulatives and increase the skill. This means I am not spending hours each week changing out my stations! {{{insert angels singing here}}} It also means I am not teaching the rules and directions to new games every week.

Two favorites are BUMP and Roll & Color.

And let me tell you...simply changing out the dice and markers/crayons is a BIG deal. You hear "Awesome" and "Oh, cool" and "You are the best teacher EVER!" Who knew big foam dice could make you so popular.

If you would like a sample of these games, click the picture below. (It has 31 pages of Math Games and is free!) There are versions that will work for kindergarteners, first graders, second graders, and even some third graders. Talk about differentiation at your fingertips!

 If you liked it and want to purchase 162 pages worth of Math Games grab it here...

 Want to win it and all of these goodies????

Enter the Rafflecopter below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Now you need to keep hopping for more ideas and PRIZES....... There are four different prize packs!

First Day Tried and True Activity

It is time for a Back to School Linky....even though I am setting sail on a cruise at this very second! I just finished Summer School last week and have 2 weeks before PrePlanning starts. I know one of those weeks will be spent in my classroom so I thought I should spend the other one in the middle of the ocean where I could NOT work on school stuff! (No matter how much I need and want to.)

But, since I will be THINKING about Back to School I decided to link up with Undercover Classroom and Education Electrification for First Day Tried and True Activities!

Even though this will be my 12th year teaching, I still get a little anxious over the first day of school. I don't think a teacher can ever be TOO prepared or have TOO many ideas the first week of school.

I am going to share a few of my First Day Tried and True Activities with you!

1. Play a Game

This can be a fun and easy game but make sure it is an educational game. It keeps them busy while you are sitting and sipping your coffee sorting though mounds of supplies, finding out how everyone gets home, helping a little one who had an accident, drying tears, reminding friends to share, encouraging parents to leave...... Most importantly it shows your students that learning can (and WILL) be fun this year!

I always play a Roll and Color game on the first day of school. Not only will this give them a chance to use those new sharp crayons they are just dying to open, it also introduces an activity that stays in my Math Stations the entire school year!

I have a sample pack of Apple Math Games for free. It is 31 pages of differentiated games! Grab it for FREE by clicking on the picture below.

If you LOVED the freebie and would like more, check out my Apples Everywhere Math Unit by clicking the picture below. It contains 162 pages of activities for only $5.

2. Team Building Activity

Last year my goal was to do a lot of STEM  activities with my class. We started on the first day of school! I got the idea from Ivy Taul. She has a STEM Starter Kit freebie! (Click the picture to check it out!)

I tweaked her idea a bit to fit my class's needs. When our students go through the lunch line they have to say their name and lunch number. In the past I always made super cute little name & number tags for each student to wear. Of course they matched our classroom theme. Last year I challenged the students to make their own name & number tags! Not all turned out great, but the students enjoyed it and they really helped each other out. (Which was my goal..team building to start building our classroom community!) And yes I had back up name tags already made for each student! We only needed 2!!!

3. Have Fun

This is the most important. Enjoy the day. Share the kid's excitement. Relax! If you don't get to all of your activities, don't worry and do NOT rush through them. Do them tomorrow! The students will not mind if you do a Day One activity on Day Two. Trust me they will simply remember the activity. You are setting the expectations and tone for the next 180 days. Make them count!

Check out other First Day Tried and True Activities at the Linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Good luck on your first day.