My goodness, the first week is EXHAUSTING isn’t it?!?
This year my new school has an extended day (7:30-3:30) and while I am SO excited to have more time teaching, it is going to take some getting used to – for both me and the kids!
I have 19 little sweeties who show up each and every day with a smile on their face and I am telling you, they are so excited to learn! I love them already.
I didn’t take many pictures this week because we spent most of the time learning about rules and procedures, but here are a few activities we did:
So Many Buttons!
The teacher before me left tonsssss of buttons! All shapes and sizes of buttons and I am excited to use them as a math manipulative this year. I saw the ever-amazing Kristen Smith had done a similar activity with Legos on her first day, so I adapted the idea to use with my buttons!
If you happen to have tons of colorful buttons in your room, I made the little recording sheet into a freebie you can download HERE.
We also practiced one of my favorite math games, BUMP!
Denise Boehm, over at SunnyDays, offers tons of free BUMP games that my kids loveee to play! I used one of her blank back-to-school boards to create a version with adding two dice together. They had a ball and loved BUMP-ing one another off the board while practicing simple addition.
On Friday, we completed our end of the week booklet:
These books are from my First Week Fun pack and they review some class rules, some classroom basics, and they are a great way to end the week! Do you notice the “teacher’s name” up there?!? Yeah… I have been going by Mrs. Jones even though it is not official until a few a more weeks. I figured this would be easier for the kids, but it is WAY harder for me! I keep calling myself “Ms. Moran!”
I only had one day to get my classroom setup, so I missed out on the classroom tour posts, but my plan is to take some pictures this upcoming week of my classroom and show you what I’m working with! If you read my post from about a week ago, you know my new classroom is WAY bigger than my room in Vegas. It has been awesome, but I keep losing things because there is so much space!
I am so excited and grateful for my new job and I have had a BLAST this past week. I hope everyone else starting school is having fun meeting and getting to know their new kiddos!
Mrs. Jones!!!
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my goodness…I did a quadruple take! Could have sworn your wedding was still coming. 🙂 So excited for you, Susan!
I love the button idea!! When I saw the picture with the "teacher's name" I had to stop, scroll up, and check to make sure I knew your last name. Then I kept reading and laughed out loud! I will have to get used to Jones!! (SO excited for you!!!!)
Thanks for the sweet shout out!
Kristen
A Day in First Grade
I immediately thought of you when I saw the buttons on the desks, Kristen!!
Oh darlin' . . . so excited that are rockin' it in the classroom. Your new school is so lucky to have you 🙂
So exciting!! I've been entering giveaways all summer – can't believe I won! Woohoo!!! Thanks for sharing the button bar graph and the idea for Bump. Love them both!
Katie
KatieHRhoads@gmail.com
Can't wait to see the classroom tour! You are so lucky to be left with a supply of buttons. I tried to find some for a project last year and they came in such little sets and were really expensive! H
ThePolishedTeacher
The first week is exhausting! We're resting up this weekend to get ready for our first week starting on Monday! Glad you made it through yours well! Have a great weekend!
🙂 Tamra and Sarah
First Grade Buddies
Mrs. Jones – can't believe it and can't wait to hear all about it!
Happy new school year…
Holly
Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade