Figuring out Finances

It's pretty well known that teachers don't have the highest salaries. Yet it takes a lot to teach a child each year. Schools do have budgets and materials they give out but I have yet to meet a teacher who doesn't have to pay for supplies and resources out of their pockets. I'm still learning but I do feel like I've learned some good tips for getting what you need. 
At the beginning of the year I think you really need to think about what you're going to put on your supply list for parents. Coming from a low-income area I knew that I wouldn't get everything so I put things that would be used all year and kept it to a pretty short list. I didn't put anything on my list that would greatly affect the year if any of my students didn't bring in.
One of the hardest things to get has been a good supply of books. Even though I thought I had a lot of books, my kids went through them pretty quickly. I've been able to add in a couple of new books every week or two by using Scholastic points and Kellogg's rewards. You get Scholastic points for every purchase your students make and can redeem them for free books. They also give out free book coupons, I used these to get a class set of books that I am going to give out for Christmas. Easily I have gotten close to, including the class set, 50 free books from Scholastics. With Kellogg's it takes a little longer to get free books but it still helps. You save codes from the inside of their products and enter them online and get a free book for every three applicable codes. 
Another good way to get funding is through Donors Choose. You can create a project for resources, a guest speaker or a field trip and then anyone can go to your site and donate. With these projects I think it helps to think about when you need the materials and how much your project costs. If you need them sooner then it's better to focus the project and keep it within a few hundred dollars. 
While all of these seems like a lot of work it absolutely saves money. I still spend money on my class for crafts and specific lessons. In the past month though I have been able to cut back significantly on my out-of-pocket spending. 

Fun with Fairy Tales

November has flown by! I feel like it was just Halloween and now I'm getting set for Thanksgiving break. This month we worked on story elements, comparing and contrasting and opinions with a unit on fairy tales. My students really enjoyed reading fractured fairy tales and then writing their own versions. For a couple of my students, even a couple of my high kids,  this was very difficult to do. They could not think of a fairy tale being different than the original version and it made me see how much more we need to work on thinking creatively. 
We did a couple of projects with our unit where the kids also worked on  their writing. Last week we did, "If I Had a Magic Wand..." I really saw each students personality come through in this project. Some made wishes straight from a story we had read and some really thought about what they already like and what they would want. 

This month I also spent some time working on how to write letters. It's not a first grade standard but it helped with my students' conventions and seeing a purpose for writing. We wrote a couple of letters as a class to staff members and then we also wrote individual letters for Veterans Day. My kids really enjoyed this unit and I saw tons of growth in their conventions in just a week. 

We only have school Monday and Tuesday so I'm reviewing a ton and doing some Thanksgiving stuff. After the break I'm starting on habitats and plan on doing deserts first. It's the habitat my kids are most familiar with and it'll help them learn the vocabulary and concepts. 

Spiders, bats and Halloween

Last week we started our bat and spider unit. We focused in on spiders and how they are not insects (which was our last unit). We also learned about how spiders use different types of silk and spin different types of webs. For this project I also introduced symmetry. The students traced their hands and laid them on top of each other with the thumbs making the spiders head. Most of them understood how each side of a spider is the same but then when they put it together they glued it however they wanted. To make the webs I punched holes along a paper plate and tied a long piece of string and then the students weaved it through the plate. 

This past week was super busy for me and my first graders. On Tuesday I had an observation with my district mentor in the morning and then with my AP in the afternoon. Probably not my best idea to schedule two observations in one day but it was a big relief to get them over with. On Wednesday we had our district personal narrative writing assessment. At first I was concerned that my students would struggle with the prompt but their writing has grown so much in the past couple of months. My students were all able to write a personal narrative and the majority wrote one that was at of above grade level. Our school also had our Halloween carnival Wednesday night. It was a really long day and evening but we did have a good turnout. 

Then of course there was Friday. In the morning we had a school wide assembly, where I did win an award!! Then we did a book study with Stellaluna and Night Song where the students had to decide which bat they liked better and explain why. In the afternoon we did a short math activity with addition facts and pumpkins and then it was just all about the Halloween party. We had tons of food and I set up some art materials and games for the kids. They had a great day and it was good to see them so excited but it was an exhausting day.

Next week we will be starting our fairy tale unit. I'm going to be spending a lot of time with comparing stories and the theme. I'm interested to see what stories the kids connect to and what stories they aren't as interested in. The following week progress reports will also go out. Last quarter I was just trying to get through each day so I didn't get to the reports until a couple days before they were due. This quarter I'm a little more ahead so I already got my science and writing grades finalized. I also started writing the comments for the students who need a longer explanation of whats going on. It's a really good feeling to be at least a little bit ahead so I don't have to stress about getting them done. 

Finally Fall Break

This year is flying by! It's hard to believe that a quarter of the year has already gone by. There have been some ups and downs this past quarter but overall I think it's gone well. I have seen my kids grow and make huge gains academically and socially. This week was parent-teacher conferences and it was amazing to have parents notice how much their kids have learned and to hear that they actually like to come to school. Hearing those kinds of things helped to get through the long week. They definitely don't tell you how hard parent-teacher conference week is in college. It's a full week of work plus twelve hours of conferences plus getting the quarter wrapped up and the next quarter prepped. And hopefully you have some time to eat and sleep in between all of that.

These past few weeks our theme was Insects. We spent the first few weeks learning about the anatomy (yes that's the vocabulary we use) of insects and the different kinds. The last week students wrote a report about an insect including what they looked like, eat, and what they can do. We also worked on time so I did a project I did during my methods semester with the Grouchy Ladybug. They turned out so cute and it helped them connect analog and digital time. 

I'm happy with how this year is going but I'm really happy to be on fall break. It'll be good to get away from the classroom for awhile and come back refreshed for the next quarter. We will start working on place value, comparing story elements, and will wrap up personal narratives and start informative pieces. 

September; Space and Substitues

The past few weeks have been so busy. I finished my community unit and started on space. The kids have loved space and have surprised me with their ideas and thought process about the solar system. I wasn't even going to focus in on rotation but when it came up in a book the class really started to question it and begin ti develop an understanding for why the planets have different time lengths for rotating around the sun.

For this unit I did two book studies, one with a nonfiction book about rockets and spaceships. I wanted the students to understand that rockets do not stay in space, they just help the spaceship get into space. After we discussed the book they then made their own spaceship and used objects in space for their setting. I let them use aluminum foil, glitter and construction paper. The kids had a lot of fun and they turned out so good.

For my second book study last week we read Green Wilma Frog in Space and then the students made an alien and had to decide what planet it would live on. For this book I focused on setting and how two characters do not always do well on the same setting. With this project I had painted puzzle pieces and made the worksheet to make the setting and give some information on their alien. They had to give the alien a name, a planet to live on, describe the planet and say what the alien likes to do. I thought with this project the students' personalities really came through in how they saw their alien and what they thought an alien would do.

 

This month I also had to spend quite a bit of time outside the classroom. I started working on my professional development where I am focusing on math instruction, specifically with my lowest math group who need a lot of help with number sense and number in base tens. I really enjoy teaching math and believe that it is a strength of mine. But within 6 days I was out for 3 and not did not enjoy writing sub plans. Being gone last Thursday I felt like I had to go back over all the rules and procedures on Friday. While I think reviewing is important I also feel that my kids are missing out on real instruction time. My next day out was Monday and it went so good. The sub left a great note and actually worked through the lessons. The kids enjoyed her and I felt like they were valued while I was gone. That all changed though with my sub today. She was exactly what I was afraid of. I use a behavior clip chart and she had my entire class clip down numerous times. Yes they are not perfect but I cannot imagine what they all could of done to warrant that. My coworkers also told me that a few of my kids were crying through out the day and just seemed to be incredibly sad. I felt horrible and instead of making up for the lack of teaching I felt that I had to rebuild some of their self esteem. So hopefully after this chunk of time I won't have to leave them for awhile. 

An Upward Swing

I've almost made it to that one month mark. The first two weeks were by far the hardest two weeks I've ever experienced. I knew they would be hard but I wasn't expecting to feel so discouraged. Every night for those weeks I questioned what I was doing and if I was truly ready for my own class. But clearly I made it through and this week I started feeling like I was starting to get it. Those first two weeks I was getting to school around 6 and staying to almost 5. Even being there that long I still felt like I was behind and was just trying to get through each day. This week I still get there pretty early so I can beat traffic and use the copier without anyone being there. But I'm able to leave close to 4 and I even left my laptop at school one night because I didn't feel like I needed to work at home. 

There are still some aspects of the job that I'm struggling with. My team lead is in her second year and is following a different curriculum than the rest of the team. She also was as she said, "screwed" with having so many high kids who won't show as much growth. So she isn't someone who can provide me with much support or even someone who I can relate to with our teaching styles. This week I also started filling out the CST  paperwork for a student but it's been tough figuring out what I need to have for it and having to wait and keep teaching while she is struggling and needing interventions and modifications that I can't provide. 

This week though I also started to really get to know my kids and see them settle into the classroom and the routine. During meet the teacher night a mom told me her son barely talked and never really spoke to his kinder teacher. However, this week he was talking and when he was calendar leader he was able to talk in front of the entire class. I have seen students start to really use the material we have learned and use the vocabulary across subjects. We have been learning about community and yesterday one of my girls commented that the character from our read aloud was a community helper. 

I'm hoping that this upward swing continues and the rest of this month continues to get better. 

Week 1

Well I survived. It was one tiring, amazing, nonstop, and chaotic week. Here's some of the highlights of the week:

• On Monday despite my planning I went through my activities too fast and had to make copies in the middle of the day. 
• I had a "crier" whose grandma said I wasn't nice enough and tried to go behind her parents back and get her transferred to another class. 
• First fire drill of the year happened and I was more freaked out than the kids. 
• I found out that scarlet fever still exists and already have a student out sick.

Despite all of that I still think it was a good week. I already love my class and can't imagine having a different group of kids. I could have had some back up worksheets ready and practiced lining up more for a fire drill. But now I know and know I will have things set up for the second week. 

The hardest part has honestly been keeping track of all the school/district/state pre-tests. I swear in the first three weeks those kids have to take about eight tests. And most of the material is stuff they don't know and I can't answer questions about. They get so stressed out and I hate that I just have to sit there. They are also annoying because about half of them need to be done one-on-one. The rest of the class isn't independent enough to do much meaningful work so I feel like it's wasted time for them. 

Starting on Monday I am beginning my first thematic unit, community. During student teaching this was one of my favorite units I observed my mentor teach. I love seeing the kids think about jobs and discuss citizenship. I also thought it would build on the first week stuff on rules and procedures. Hopefully getting into more of a routine next week will help cut back on the chaos. 

But now I need to finish getting my lesson plans typed and make a better seating chart.

One Week Left

I officially only have one week left before the first day of school. This summer has gone by so fast. I felt like I was on top of everything but now that I'm really in my room and working on stuff I feel so behind. Today I was able to get caught up and feel more prepared for Meet the Teacher Night which is Wednesday. It was hard to work in my room since all last week I had orientations and trainings all day. Starting tomorrow I again have trainings and meetings all day.
When I got my room assignment and was able to check it out I was not too excited. It was full of stuff, a lot of it being junk or too outdated. I spent days cleaning it out, sanitizing things and organizing the items I kept. It was great to get materials and supplies left behind but it was a lot of extra work. So here's some pictures of my room after the cleaning stage

The pictures above are from the first few days I worked in my room. I was still taking stock of what was left that I could use but also bringing in stuff that I had. The tables had been stacked on top of each other and I asked the custodian to help me move them. 

Now I'm at the stage where I've got all my furniture setup and my supplies put away. I've been able to start decorating and making it my own classroom. I still have a lot that I want that I want to put up but most of it is going to be projects I do during the first week of school. I also didn't want to have an overwhelming amount of stuff out that the students didn't know the procedures for using. 
Looking back over the summer I think I could have worked on more stuff at home so I would feel more prepared now. But it's all a learning process and now I know what to do before hand and what could probably wait. I would spend more time working on getting a welcome letter and data folder setup and wait on getting displays planned. I had found my masters for the first week but I waited until today to make copies and separate into folders and by days. But I am happy with what I've done and I like how my room is turning out. I like the activities I have planned for the first week and think I will learn a lot about my students and their families. But I still wish I had just a couple extra days!

It Takes a Village...

Over the past week I have gotten more settled in Phoenix and also started to get some bigger projects done.  There is no way I could have done these projects without advice and help. 

The first project in this picture was pretty easy and only took a few minutes. I bought empty paint cans at Ace for maybe a dollar and then covered them with duct tape. It was much cheaper than buying pre-decorated containers at a store. This is a project I did on my own but if I was going to make a lot of them I would probably have asked for help to cut back on time. I like them because they're not the normal container that other teachers will have and if they get ruined I won't be upset at money wasted.
The milk crate seat project was the Pinterest project I was most excited to try. It started in May when I asked my boyfriend to try and make it and he found out after going to a number of stores that these colorful crates come out with school/dorm supplies at Target. Two weeks ago I bought a crate and the plywood at Home Depot. The man was very helpful and made sure the wood fit right into the crate and left room for the fabric. Then this week my great aunt who was a home ec  teacher for 27 years and my mom helped me to make the seat parts. The first one took about 15-20 mins but by the last one it only took a few minutes. I love how colorful they are and that they will be something different for my students and also give me extra storage space. They cost more than I would have thought but it was mostly because I didn't already have a heavy duty stapler. 

Adding a ribbon handle made it easier to get the seat on and off. I also used the same color on all three to tie them altogether and it was the only ribbon I had.

The next project I finished were these cork board crayons. My boyfriend got a sheet of thin cork board and then cut out crayon shaped pieces. The edges of the cork start to fall off so he put a border of electrical tape so they would hold their shape. I had left over fabric from my seats so I used that to start covering the cork. My great aunt made a pattern and helped me cut out the fabric and then we just folded the edges over used tacky glue. Crayons are my theme so these will be a cute decoration but they also will be great to put in areas where it would be hard to hang things. I was thinking about putting them near my turn-in tray and putting no name papers on them. I have 3 of each size so I also was going to use them to hang pictures on of school events. 

I could have done these projects on my own, I'm more than capable of doing them. But they might not have turned out as well and it would have taken much more time. As a new teacher I think we want to prove we can do this and don't need any help to setup and run our classes. Even going to Home Depot I wanted to be able to act like I knew all about lumber but I had to admit I needed help to figure out what would work best. I think teachers both new and old need to always be willing to ask for help and let someone else teach you how to do something. I can't say that I will always be this willing to ask, but I hope that I am able to be more open to getting advice from other people. 

Back on Track (Almost)

Well I am back in Phoenix and trying to get back on track with my planning and preparation. I'm able to go in my classroom but I can't move my furniture for a couple more days. They moved my projector but the actual smart board still needs to be put up. This is what I've been doing for my class

*I went through the art supplies left behind and got rid of the materials that were taking up space, too old or falling apart/almost out. I then sanitized all the scissors, markers and containers that I was able to save. 
*I attempted a Pinterest project where you use duct tape to add a decorative edge around plastic bins. It didn't work for me, the tape kept peeling off so I just ditched that project.
*Today I filled out all my official new hire papers. A little overwhelming but also nice to feel like an adult. 
*I wrote a list of my procedures and information I want to type up for parents that I can hand out during Meet the Teacher Night. 
*I bought a milk crate and plywood to make a seat, haven't finished it but I'm feeling pretty good about it working out. 
*A Pinterest project I did really enjoy was taking paint chips and using them to write sight words on like the picture shows. I didn't stick to one color like the picture shows and I also hand wrote my sight words. But I love them and it was worth all the trips to take paint chips. 

I would like to start working on making decorations for my theme (crayons). I have templates made for labels and crayons for a bulletin board so I need to actually start using them. I'm hoping that if I can get some of these done now then when I can move my furniture the setup will go much faster and be easier. 

A couple days ago I saw that Target was starting to put out their school supplies. It was tempting to buy a ton of stuff I saw but I was able to walk away and wait until more of it goes on sale. I also didn't want to buy anything without having my list and coupons. But I am getting that excited new school supply feeling!

And The Roadbumps Begin....

So far my journey into teaching has been pretty easy, busy but not too many bumps. Until today. I haven't seen it and really in a way don't want to but while installing my projector for a smartboard the roof broke. From what I gathered the panel broke and it and the projector fell and shattered. They need to fix it so it can hold and also reclean my carpet so it will be clean and safe. I know it isn't the end of the world but it was so frustrating since this was going to be the week where I started really getting into my room and setting it up. So after driving up to Phoenix I am driving back home to Tucson for awhile and will just work on stuff there. I guess this eventually had to happen and it's better to get that first roadbump out of the way now then when I have kids in the room. I think this was such a blow because I haven't experienced something like this and I kind of panicked and had a rush of frustration all in one. But it'll all work out and I will still get stuff done even if I'm not in my classroom. But seriously make sure your things are installed correctly so you don't have any freak accidents!

Monday Dear Me

I'm linking up again with The Teaching Tribune. Today I wrote a letter to myself, like an advice to a new teacher from a new teacher. I'm thinking about printing out my letter and rereading it when I'm feeling overwhelmed and defeated throughout the year.

This is the day, instead of being 90 minutes away from my school I will now only be 25 minutes away. It's a little overwhelming to be moving but it also is exciting to do something more on my own. 

Besides that I have been working on planning out my first days. I will explicitly teach the rules and procedures but I also wanted to reinforce them through literature studies. I'm hoping that they will help to make the rules more "real" and give the students an opportunity to discuss and work with the rules. Since I start on a Monday it has been difficult for me to decide how many days I should use as my "first days" and when I should really get into the curriculum. I want to have time to start building a community but I also don't want to waste time and not get my curriculum done.

Monday Meet Me

Happy Monday! It's my last Monday in Tucson, I have so much to do in this last week!!

 

Today I'm linking up with The Teaching Tribune to meet some new bloggers

I'm Official!!

This morning I went and got my teaching certificate!! For a new teacher in AZ you get a provisional certificate so you have three years and you need to teach full time for at least two years. Once you have done your two years you get a conversion and get a certificate that lasts for six years. It is also much easier to move to another state and get reciprocity once you have gotten your conversion. So here it is...

This is that last step in my college path where I'm now able to go out and start my career. It's very exciting and a little scary. So far I have been working on labeling all my personal materials and books that I'm taking into my classroom. I have also started collecting resources for my first couple of weeks of school. I know those first few days will be absolutely crazy but I'm hoping to dial down the chaos by being well planned. I'm back in Tucson, but I took a lot of pictures and inventory of what I have in my room so I also have been thinking about the layout of my room. During student teaching you get so many amazing ideas but then you realize maybe you have too many ideas to fit into one room. I want a lot of different areas but I don't want it to be cramped. 

When I tell people I'm going into teaching a lot make a comment how it'll be nice to have summers off. Seriously, I have worked harder and been more stressed now then I ever was in school or with any of my other jobs where I actually "worked" during summer. I wish that more people could see the time and work that is put in over summer. You can't walk into a classroom the first day unless a teacher put some work in over summer. 

Seeing the New Room

Today I finally got to see my new room!! It's so much bigger than I thought it was going to be which is exciting and a little overwhelming. The teacher who used to be in the room left so much stuff behind so mostly I was going through things and throwing a lot of stuff away. 

So I will have seven of those little tables for my students. I was thinking about doing groups with 2 tables together with a plastic tower drawer that they share. 

Just about every single one of these cabinets and drawers had something in them. Tons of old materials and resources that I can use but also a ton of junk I ended up throwing away. I do like that I have my own smaller desk with shelves so I can keep my stuff separated. And I'm glad that my room had a horseshoe table that I can use for all my group work. 

In this space I'm getting a smartboard installed and a docking station. I'm not great with technology so I'm hoping this gets put in soon so I can figure out different ways to use it. I am happy that I don't have to give up all my whiteboard space for it. 

After 5 hours of cleaning and being in a hot room I finally had to take a break and leave. I took my first units worth of teachers editions with me so I can spend all day tomorrow going through them. Then  on Friday I'll have an "official" (aka paid) planning meeting with some of the other teachers so hopefully it'll give me a good starting point for planning. It was a very busy and pretty overwhelming day. I had no clue that my room would be so full when I walked in but it'll help cut down my supply cost. I was hoping to get a lot more done while I was there but I think it was better not bringing in my own stuff yet. If I had boxes of stuff with me I would have been even more stressed trying to find space for it all right away. It was a good way to jump in and start making it my own room. 

Curriculum Overload

First off, I have t-minus 4 days until graduation and it still has not entirely set in yet. Maybe I will really start to get excited about it when I'm walking across the stage. I have been so busy and felt like I already graduated when I signed my contract.
Today though I printed over 100 pages for all my curriculum maps, my printer was pretty stressed out. They are so overwhelming to read and I already found some things that don't quite match up with how I had wanted the year to be. I think that my unit ideas will still work but they will need to be rearranged and done in a different order. What is the hardest for me now is that some skills will need to be saved or taught earlier than I had planned. I probably should have looked at my teams maps sooner but now I know. At least this means I can focus on what resources I need to collect over the summer and really decide on what is a priority to get/find/make and what can wait.
More and more I'm finding it difficult to be in Tucson and have to communicate with my principal over email and phone calls. I really cannot wait until I can actually go in and take stock of my room and get some clarification about next year. I set the date of May 29th to make the drive up there to get all my teacher copies and student data. Hopefully then it'll be easier to be away from the school while I plan for a couple of weeks back here in Tucson. 

Yesterday was my last day of student teaching and I still cannot believe I am done and just waiting for graduation. It was an incredible semester and I learned so much. I know some people say it is the most stressful semester but that wasn't the experience I had. Through it all I felt very supported and was happy to go to class everyday. 
Now I really need to start working on what I am going to do with my first graders. There is only 3 months and 1 day until the first day of school. I started looking at all the standards and got kind of overwhelmed. I know I have a whole year and need to just focus on where my kids are at now. But I also am trying to figure out my long term plan and goals. I have some unit ideas but it feels like I will never have the money and resources to teach them the way I imagine them. For now I need to work through my to-do list and get my projects done so I can set up my room and plan what that first day will actually be like. 

Classroom Layout

Today I got a couple of pictures of the room I will be in next year so I can start planning how I want to set it up. I've been going back and fourth between ideas for my room's theme and I think I may have picked one for now. I think I want to use crayons and have my door say, "Get Ready For A Colorful Year!" Then all my tables, procedures, and storage bins will have labels that look like crayon wrappers. I know I have time to get things figured out but it's so much harder to plan a layout when the classroom is over 100 miles from me. 

I'm glad that there are tables and lots of storage already in the room.

I also want to find a way to organize the room so I have space for a class library where multiple kids can sit and read without being on top of each other. And I was wanting to have a layout where it would be easy for me to do small groups or centers. So it'll take me awhile to get it just right but at least now I have an idea of what kind of space I have to work with. 

Welcome to The First Year!

Welcome to my very first year in first grade! I officially signed my contract this week and have already started thinking about themes and first week activities. I'm looking forward to trying all my ideas and getting to know my team and future students. I hope to share my experiences throughout the year and get some feedback and an outside perspective on situations. It might be a crazy year but hopefully it'll be productive and lots of fun for the kids and me!!