Week 1 is finished and although I had pre-first day nightmares that looked like this

I survived, they did not manage to tie me up, and we had an awesome first week of school. This is an exciting year for my family because...look at my big first grader! My oldest is in first grade and so that means I get to see her even more during the day. No, she is not in my class. (That would be REALLY bad.) But, she has the best teacher and she is loving school and she is right next door, YAY!

This week flew by, we were crazy busy trying to squeeze in as many rules and procedures as possible. I always forget how young they are at the beginning of the year. On Monday at about 9:15 (45 minutes into the day) I had a kiddo ask me if it was almost time to go home. Oh honey, its going to be a LONG day! HA! 

Here is a little look at our week, I tried to make sure I took lots of pictures so I could share with you. Monday we began our Back to School book. I LOVE this book and students/parents do too! 

The first page is "Meet My Teacher" where the students draw a picture of their new teacher and write something they have learned about him/her. I created a little Around the Room activity to help. Great first day activity since they are so WIGGLY! 

On Tuesday we began Readers Workshop. We read for a whole 5 minutes, WOO HOO! We are going to build up our reading stamina slowly. My book boxes are from Really Great Stuff, my teaching neighbor showed me these awesome clear labeling pockets from Lakeshore and I created this editable PDF for the labels. These labels are FREE for Facebook Fans. Simply like my page to download them, click on the tab on the right to get there. 

My week started to get a little blurry on Wednesday, it was 113 degrees so that means no outdoor activity. 

No outdoor activity = rainy day schedule = NOOOO!!!!!!! 

We made the best of it and started working on our No, David art. 

Thursday, oh Thursday. My little one had enough by Thursday, we slept in over the summer and she is having a hard time changing her sleeping schedule.  

Thursday was another hot one at 114 degrees so again, no outdoor activity. Oh my! We finished out Back to School book on Thursday and sent it home. 

Friday was crazy hot again but I can put up with just about anything because IT IS FRIDAY! We brainstormed the classroom rules and did the writing to accompany our David art. They turned out so cute! This is by far one of my favorite bulletin boards of the year. The David art and Writing page is a free download in my TpT store. Several people have asked about the poster, I am trying to clear this with David Shannon because I don't want to violate copyright. If/When I hear back with permission I will make it available. 

Next week we get to begin our NEW Journeys Reading Series and we are starting with the story "What is a Pal?" I am super excited about this new series. I have created a ton of stuff to use next week. We are going to begin our Interactive Notebooks and Literacy Stations. I am looking forward to sharing more with you! 

Now I am off to bed and I am looking forward to enjoying my Sunday with my family. 

A Week in Rewind - July 26th

Hey All! I survived the first week! As always, it was a little crazy, mixed with some fun but totally and completely exhausting! I meant to get to this blog post earlier today but felt it was crucial to sneek a nap in before the madness begins again tomorrow. 

I wanted to highlight for you some of the fun we had this week. 

It would not be the first week without tons of time being devoted to the rules and procedures. There is no one better suited to teach your students how not to behave at school than David in the book David Goes to School! We spent lots of time discussing David's behavior and how it could be changed so that he would look like a "real first grader". The kids helped me brainstorm some rules that David must learn and follow. Then they choose three rules to write for David. Next we did this fun little craftivity that somehow always seems to resemble the child who created it! 

 This craftivity is a FREEBIE in my TpT store. Click here to get it! I also have the editable poster available for your class, click here to get it! 

We also worked on our "Back to School" book. I LOVE this book and so many parents appreciate it too! Parents have told me so many times how much they LOVE this book and consider it a first grade keepsake. You can check out the book here.

 This book takes us the entire week to complete. (We do not do literacy stations the first week so this is a great activity for that time period.) When the completed book goes home students/parents have reference to our specials schedule, daily classroom schedule, our school's VIP's, graphs with information about our classes boy/girl ratio, how many students are 5, 6 or 7 a class picture and much more! (There is also a second grade version of this book!)

We also did several activities from Abby's Fun with Firsties packet. We enjoyed some Jitter Juice and her Find a Friend Icebreakers Activities.

The highlight of my week has been being able to take my daughter to school with me. We do not live in the school district I teach in but I decided to bring her to my school this year. I love being able to see her around school and check on her at lunch. Here we are in our matching school shirts on Friday. (forgive the horrible hair, pony tails are a MUST when it is 109 degrees!)

Awesome first week, glad it is over and we can get into our real routine. Next week we are getting busy with our Harcourt reading. I will be back to share some of our adventures next week! 

David Learns School Rules!

I have been asked several times about blacklines for the David's we make while learning school rules, and it's here! AND IT IS FREE!!!  Stop by my TpT store to download it! 

This packet includes the blackline masters to make David and a "First Grade Rules!" writing page, don't worry for those of you who don't teach first I included a generic "School Rules!" template as well :)

I have also created a "David Learns the School Rules" poster that is displayed with the kids David's pictures. Here is a picture of what the poster in my room looks like.

I put the jpg image on my jumpdrive and brought it to Staples and they printed my poster in color in a 16X20. I made the poster in photoshop but then imported the image into PowerPoint so I could share it with you.

BECOME A FOLLOWER!!

I will give a personalized poster away as a FREEBIE to the first 10 people who follow my blog and TpT store. All I need is for you to leave a comment letting me know you follow me, your email address and what you would like the name on the poster to say. Good luck!