Grade 1/2 Quote of the Day

We had an assembly today. I played the guitar as we all sang together. After the song was done, everyone was quiet and one of my grade one boys said, quite loudly, "Mrs. M! You're a Rock Star!" LOL Well, Thank you!

Quote of the Day from Grade 1 and 2

A group of Grade 2 boys were working together and I overhead their conversation. They were discussing girl colours vs. boy colours. They decided there was no such things, since boys and girls can like all colours. However, one student logically explained that it is different for babies. "When the bird brings the package, it is either pink or blue. If it's blue it's a boy. If it's pink it's a girl. That's how you know."

Grade 1/2 Quote of the Day

A little girl in my class coloured a turtle with many bright colours.

I commented on it "My, that's a colourful turtle!"

The little girl said, quite seriously, "Yeah, he's a rockstar"

Of course he is!

Scholar's Choice Sale

Once or twice a year, Scholar's choice has a 20% off sale for Teachers. Amazing deals. I have been making my list for a while. So I went in, armed with specific products that I  wanted. I figured that anything I couldn't find, I would order online and still get the discount. Somehow, I managed to find everything on my list, and a few great extras, and still make it out of the store for less than $100, taxes in! I love sales! I am super excited to get everything punched out and laminated! I'll post pics when they all get on my classroom walls in late August.

Painted Blackboard

My classroom has multiple blackboards on two different sides of the room. I decided to orient my class in such a way that most of the boards will be used as bulletin boards. The main board I will use as my "blackboard" was in rough shape so I started the process of painting it. It took a while to get the glue and gunk off of it. Then I taped up the frame and got one coat on. It will need a few more, but it's a start.

Furniture Arranged

I went into the school today and dug into the disaster that was my classroom. The cleaners left everything in a terrible mess. Desk drawers were in the wrong room. Shelves everywhere, things very ASKEW! Anyway, so I decided to get things in a bit more order so that I could start to visualize where things were going and how my days would proceed. I didn't follow my amazing furniture plans exactly, as I have decided to use centers in my room.
I also did not want to come into class on the first week back and have to face all of that mess. This way I am much more relaxed about the whole thing. I was working at it for over three hours. I also managed to find a great stereo in the portable (where miscellaneous items go to die) that plays cd's and cassettes (essential for my listening center). It also supports my split track tapes (a tape that allows you to turn the voices off and sing along to the music...often used for choirs). All in all, it was a very productive day.

Two Units Finished

So today I finished planning Unit One - Grade One of my Language arts curriculum (Working with Words, Guided Reading, Writing).
I also finished planning my first Science Unit "God Speaks Through Matters and Materials". I'm looking forward to this one. It's all about senses and there are a few fun experiments.

This gets me through September for both subjects. YEAH!

Small steps, one by one I'll get through them all!

School Work Accomplished

Today I finished planning my Bible Curriculum.... YEAH! One whole subject done for one whole year!

I also have my Making Words lessons printed up for grade one.

One step at a time!

Popped Out Letters

So today I got most of my bulletin board letters popped out and ready to be laminated. I can't get to that step until august, as they have closed down our school for floor cleaning already. It's so exciting to get new letters, etc. since I've just been using the ones belonging to others for all these years because I didn't have a classroom of my own. Now I can invest in these things, laminate them and use them for years! I did all this while baking in the sun in my bikini. Nice combination!

Teacher Store Purchases

So I finally made it out to Scholar's Choice, the most amazing teacher's store ever! I've been there many times before, but this time I can invest in some things because I now have a permanent job! Anyway, so I did some online browsing, made a sizable list and away I went. I spent way too much, but I'm so excited to get these up in my room! I just to get them all punched out now and laminated...and then cut out again... oh, this is sounding like work! Oh, well, pass it off to another day...

Bible Curriculum Mapping - Up to Mid-November

I've been working away at mapping my curriculum for next year. I have all the lessons and days in, I now have been going through everyday and writing in which activities I'm going to do and the materials needed. After a few hours work, I am done up to lesson Day 46. It's exhausting!

Plans for Furniture

I went to the school today with my measuring tape. I took some measurements and made some decisions about where I want the furniture in my new classroom to be placed. Over the summer, they have a cleaning crew come through the school and redo all the floors. They have to remove every piece of furniture from my room and replace it when they are done. SO I decided that I would let them to all the work for me and move my furniture back into the places I want it. So the above pictures are how it looks right now.

So I  went to my trusty paint program and drew up a terrible, yet useful set of room plans to tell them where I want my furniture. I numbered each piece of furniture and labelled them in real life with pink sticky notes. I really hope they move at least the big stuff for me. I can move little stuff on my own. So this is what I accomplished today. Planning work for others!

Organized my Curriculum Binders

I picked up all the curriculum for the coming school year from school today. It was a lot of binders! I ended up cleaning off all of the shelves in the dining room bookcase so that I didn't have to pile them on the table. It took all the shelves and the top of the bookcase. I didn't work on any curriculum yet, but it looks rather nice. And so it feels like quite an accomplishment.