Already The End of 1st Quarter

Wow!  Just blink and the school year is a quarter of a year over!  And I just realized today I haven't updated my blog since summer.  :-(    Let me show you around my classroom finally and introduce you to my team this year!

This is my hallway bulletin board for the beginning of the year.  Our theme this year is "Game On" so everyone created boards based on games that kids play.

This is my desk area and the bathroom/wash area.  Above my desk I have the number line that I purchased from Rachelle Rosenblit @ Sweet Kindergarten.  You can buy the product here.

 This is my computer area and the cubbies back there house all of my math manipulatives.  I have them all in nice colorful baskets for better organization and visual appeal.  My desks just got rearranged this past week.  We needed a fresh start to 2nd quarter.  In the middle though, there are plastic drawers that house their interactive journals and extra supplies.  On the desks were the open house packets for the students and parents.

The cubbies to the right side house language arts, reading, science, and social studies manipulatives.  The horseshoe table in the middle of them is where I do my teacher center during center time.

The front of my classroom.  The board in the front here is my "I Can Statement" board.  We have to put up kid friendly versions of the standards every week/day.  My teacher cart with Curious George is the main station I work from.  It houses the computer that controls the smart board.

The alphabet line at the top is AMAZING!!  I love it so much!  It is made by Maria Manore Gavin @ Kinder Craze.  You can buy it here.

This is a panoramic view of my classroom this year!

Now let me introduce you to my team.  They are amazing and are really the only reason I am able to survive this year!

Mary Folger, Heather Adams, Michelle Wiegand, Wendy ANderson, Amy Anfinson, Me, Cindy Pan, Cathy Best

Summertime Blues - Part 1

Summertime, summertime, summertime sadness.  Why does it have to be over so soon?  I have had a wonderful summer.  We didn't take a huge vacation this year but I spent 2 weeks in Orlando at an all expenses paid professional development for Think Math with FSU-STEM program.  I got to visit my family in Louisiana and then my niece and nephew came home with us and spent a week here until their parents (my sister and her husband) came over for a week long beach vacation in Sanibel, FL.

Two weeks in Orlando seemed like a terrific idea and other than missing my husband a tons, it was.  It was an incredible opportunity to learn from some of the best in the state.  I also got to write a lesson plan for CPALMS using one of the brand new 1st grade MAFS Standards (Florida's version od CCSS).  I am so super proud of it.  As soon as I figure out how to turn it into a PDF I will offer it here.

This is just a grid image of a few of the activities we did while I was there.

I completed the PD on the 27th of June at 3:30p.  I got in the car and drove to Tallahassee where I met my husband at my moms house (this was 4.5 hours for me, 6.5 hours for him from our home in Fort Myers).  We immediately got right back into the car and head to Monroe, Louisiana.  This is an 8.5 hour drive for normal people who haven't driven already that day.  We were driving it at 8:00p.  It turned into the nightmare drive.  We were EXHAUSTED!  It ended up taking us about 11-12 hours to drive it.  Why did we do it all in one night you might ask?  Because my fathers side of the family was having a family reunion on the 28th and since my husband had never met most of them after 7 years of marriage I had decided we weren't missing it..lol.  We got to my sisters house and fell asleep and missed the first half of the reunion.  We did make it for lunch and then went immediately to my grandparents house and crashed!  It was THE single most best nap I have ever had!  :-)

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The next week was filled with so much family fun!  I got to see cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, my dad, and my sister's family and my brother's family (who lives in Georgia and made the trip for the reunion too) a ton!  Here are a few snapshots.  

Then I got to visit my grandparents graves.  I haven't been to see them since I was about 13 or so.  I am now 35.  It had been far too long.  The best part is that it was just a few days shy of 4th of July so we brought fresh flowers and flags to put out.  My papaw was a WWII veteran.

Then I took my husband for a tour of my home town city.  Now, we have been married for 7 years, but since we live about 15-17 hours away from my hometown, we don't get a lot of "touring time" while we are there because I have such a limited amount of time with family.  It was time!  Here are a few pictures we took downtown.  My hometown has SO MUCH rich history.  I think I will do a post about it soon to show you more and tell you more.

 

 

No trip to my hometown would be complete without a visit to the Duck Dynasty Duck Commander headquarters!!!

I have SOOOO much more to share but this post is long enough.  I will make another one in a few days!  :-)