What was I thinking?

I've never been one to leave my classroom set up for the last minute. Since I learned early on that teacher week is never really enough time I always start heading in to set up late July early August. Always that is, until this year.  This year I decided to soak up every bit of summer and enjoy every last drop of time with my kids. So I walked in Thursday having only been to school once during the summer to take a few pics for the Blog Hoppin' challenge. It was just as I'd left it, a packed up hot mess. The kids and I spent about 5 hours in my room and left it like this:

To be honest I'm only a little bit concerned I won't finish in time for Sneak a Peek next Monday.  I don't know why but as I sit here typing this I am okay with my decision to enjoy summer and not worry about school until 8 am tomorrow.  Maybe its because I know we have a different set up this year and I will actually have time to set up during teacher week , maybe its because I've learned that I'm never truly done with my classroom and am ALWAYS changing things its not worth the stress, or maybe its because I've throughly enjoyed the summer I've spent with my kiddos but as of right now I'm okay with my decision.  While, I do hope I don't regret it next weekend when its really crunch time my bigger hope is that I have the same thought process next year because there are certain things that can wait and certain things you can't get back.

Hellloooo Out There!

To say it's been awhile is an understatement!  What can I say, teaching, working at summer camp and my 3 kiddos have kept me uber busy!  Anywhoo, we've started a new school year here in MD and I have a new group of firsties to work with.  At the end of last  year I was really sad to let my kiddos go.  I seriously wanted to loop with them and even tossed the idea out to our new principal, but knew it wasn't going to happen.  Truthfully it's for the best since my AJ would have once again been in the same grade that I was teaching.  Having been with my new crew for almost 4 weeks now I can tell you I'm so glad I didn't!  Oh my goodness I love these kids already.  They have to be the most energetic, enthusiastic bunch ever!  They love any and everything we do.  They can be a little loud but we're working on it and they're learning.  21 sweeties who love to learn =  one happy teacher!

This year things have changed as far as our reading program and I couldn't be happier.  Our school is focusing on differentiated instruction and small groups which has really challenged me.  I did a lot more small group work last year so it's not a shock but there is a difference in being told to do something and doing cause you want to.  I am back to the D5 framework again this year and trying my best to not give up and do my own version before I give The Sisters recommendations a try.  At the beginning of this 4th week of school my students were reading 32 minutes during R2S.  Today and for the rest of the week we will be trying to do 20 minute rounds were they do either Word Work, R2S, or Work on Writing.  Since this is our trial week I am telling them were to go.  They did pretty good today.  As I have it laid out now I will be meeting with my groups M-Th, with Friday being a wrap-up day. I'm itching to get started and test out the D5 for real.  If any of you are still reading and you do D5 in your classroom along with a basal i.e. Treasures, how do you get your mini lessons in within 10 minutes?  That's my biggest fear for the coming week!

My hope is next week they can start choosing for themselves.  To avoid raising my voice and getting frustrated with my class I decided to takes things really S-L-O-W.  Over the summer my principal told my coworker and me that it was perfectly acceptable to take the whole month of September to introduce and practice routines.  She said it was ok if we didn't get into Treasures until October.  I decided to take her up on that offer and really focus on procedures during September.  It has gone really well.  I can tell the kids are ready for some responsibility and eager to start doing things for real.  Next week will be the test to see if giving them extra modeling/practice time benefited them.

I'll post pictures of my classroom in the next couple days.  I didn't think I changed much but all my students from last year seem to think I did.  I'm really happy with the way its coming along each year.  I have a few more changes to make but for the most part it feels more me then it ever has before!

And so it begins

I made my first trip into school today. I have so many ideas in my head I had to start doing something. Today I just went in for about an hour after camp before heading to pick up the littles. I was able to place furniture were I "think" I want it. I still need to decide how to arrange my desk but for now the perimeter is done. Please forgive the iPhone pics I forgot my camera.

This is the mess I walked into. AJ was with me and had to open some of my book boxes. But as you can tell I was in a rush to get on to summer vacation when I left it in June.I got really lucky and my principal, whom I adore, got my cubbies so they will be going in my closets but I will be losing my doors. This is where I plan to have my reading corner and desk. writing center by the word wall. Book Bins will go on the shelf located by the door. I plan to have word work by the radiator so they can use the metal to put magnetic letters. The kidney table is where I hope to have reading groups.

Cubbies how I hope to have them (minus the doors).