School has officially started

This was my first week back to school. Let me just say that I missed summer all week. I was ready to teach my new students but I really missed the pool, hanging out, and late mornings.

I stopped drinking coffee over the summer. There was really no reason to have the caffeine. Well this week I welcomed it with open arms. Our sweet PTA brought around a yummy breakfast for us on Thursday. They had coffee and orange juice for us to drink. I am not a fan of orange juice so I had a cup of coffee. I was in HEAVEN!

My new students are really sweet.
At the end of the week one of my students asked if she could go home with me. LOL! I had to explain that my house is really boring and I don't have anything fun at my house for kids!

This week was all about behavior, establishing rules and procedures, and learning all about their little lives. We read a lot of books and had a lot of discussions. A few of my students are super talkers. I feel bad because I am a super talker too. I want them to learn that there is a time and place for talking. I've been thinking about reading this book:

It's about a little owl that loves to talk but loses her voice. She has to learn to be a better listener.

We have also started implementing this:

Here is some info on it.
Scholastic

It's pretty cool and each afternoon we discuss if anyone has had their bucket filled or if they filled someones. I like to have talk time in the morning and afternoon. I feel like the students have a time to connect with each other, engage in meaningful conversations, and share about their lives. It's also a great time for me to correct their English. ;-)

Snow

We have been diving into SNOW! Not here in Texas.....but in my classroom. Lucky for me it snowed on Christmas day here in the DFW so my little southern students were ready for me to teach them with a snow theme.

They have been working hard on their writing these past few weeks. I've been blog and pinterest searching for some pretty awesome ideas to include in my lesson plans.

from The First Grade Parade

Here are some of the maps and anchor charts we worked on in the beginning of January. We read the Hat and The Mitten by Jan Brett. I LOVE these two books! The Mitten is perfect for introducing pairs or counting by twos. The Hat was really cute and the kids loved how all of the animals wanted to follow along with the main character. Jan Brett's books are pretty amazing.

BIG shout out to The First Grade Parade for these wonderful charts.

The next couple of weeks were all about Penguins so look our for those posts coming soon.
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