Coming to and End and PB&J

It is my last week as "Teacher Julie."  I have been student teaching at an early childhood development center, completing the last part of my degree.  It is hard to believe I have 4 days left with these funny, inquisitive, smart, and loving preschoolers.  Most of them are graduating on Friday and will go to kindergarten in the fall.  I joke with them that I too am going to kindergarten next year! :]

This past week has been a mix of doing final assignments and working on things for my classroom.  In a couple of weeks I get to meet my team at a school wide meet and greet. I am both nervous and excited to meet the team.  We have already been corresponding over email and they sound super sweet and supportive.  Sometimes I ask myself, "Is this really happening? Do I really get to teach next year?"

Here is a little something I made this weekend, feel free to use it!  I plan on splitting up my kinders into partners as part of Whole Brain Teaching.  One group will be PB and the other will be Jelly.  I'm visualizing this in a pocket chart.. yes?  I can say "Peanutbutters will be teaching first, then Jellies."

 
 4 days left of student teaching, 2 online assignments, and 12 days until graduation!

It's Kindergarten!

Yes, I am so very happy to announce that I will be teaching kindergarten come this fall!  Since my interview I have had kindergarten on the brain and sure enough I got the call to confirm.  Not only that, but I have the honor of helping start a new school.  I am overwhelmed with excitement and happiness.  Below is a picture of my new school being built. (Sorry it's not the best).

Since finding out about my placement I have been reading studying Mrs. Crowder's blog, Sprinkles to Kindergarten.  She is AMAZING.  I have gotten so many first week ideas from her blog.  She even has a rhyming Chester the Raccoon tour of the school activity.  Bought, printed, laminated, love.  I can't wait to use it on the first day! Check out her TPT store here to get it!

 Only 14 more "school" days for this girl!  Trying to make each one count and really enjoy my time with my preschoolers.  It is going to be VERY hard to say good-bye.

Classroom To-Do

It's the second day of Spring Break which means I finally have time to write a post.  My friends weren't joking when they said this early childhood student teaching is a lot of work.  I love it, but I really can't wait to have my own room and a diploma.

I am anxiously waiting to hear from my district what grade I will be teaching and what building.  I have a feeling it will either be kindergarten or first grade because of my early childhood background.  I would be thrilled with either.

I wanted to share with you what I have been busy preparing.  I have been working on things I want to use in my classroom that are multi-grade appropriate.

The first thing I made was this super cute "Good Listeners" poster.  I will post a picture of mine later, maybe when its hanging proudly in my room. You can find this awesome FREEBIE below.

Good Listener FREEBIE

 

I also made these great bathroom passes.  Does anyone else have a good way to manage bathroom passes? 

Bathroom Pass 

Lastly, I finished up my whole-brain rules.  I liked these ones better than the original 5.  I think they are more age-appropriate.

 Whole Brain Rules

 

I'm a little nervous about implementing whole-brain.  I have only researched it and discussed it with a friend who was in a classroom that used it.  I love gestures and the idea of shortened direct lessons.

Hopefully I will hear soon what grade I have!  A little more than six weeks until graduation!   

Teacher Julie's Garden

This last week I was "head teaching" in my preschool student teaching.  Part of this responsibility was planning and implementing activities for various areas of the classroom.  We decided to have a farm in the dramatic play area.  My master teacher encouraged me to think how I could challenge the students in this area.  I decided to make a garden, something they are familiar with but haven't had in the dramatic play area.

Thankfully I went home this last weekend and recruited some help!  You will see my dear mom (master of sewing) and my dedicated brother who took on the job of stuffing the vegetables.  We had so much fun working on this project, even if it did take most of our Saturday.  

Mom and brother hard at work!

The veggies - lettuce, potatoes, radishes, and carrots

The finished gardens. I used two cardboard boxes stuffed with cut up paper bags covered with brown felt. 

A template to make the veggies, feel free to use!  You can tell I used yarn for the tops instead of the stalk I drew. 

The students loved the garden!  They worked on harvesting and planting the vegetables.  They referred to it throughout the week as Teacher Julie's Garden. So sweet! :]

Number 1 Goal - Be Organized

As I think about my number one goal for the start of next school year it is to be organized.  I want to create good habits my first year that will last for many years to come.  What's great about this is I can start planning for my organization right now! 

Mrs. McDavid has a wonderful site dedicated to walking teachers through how to organize their classroom.  She has seriously thought of everything!  Using her list of suggested items I now have an Office Depot cart full of things I will be purchasing in the coming months. 

Check out her site now!

Short post, but trust me - you could spend at least an hour on Mrs. McDavid's site!

Hello Blog World!

Hello blog world! I am so excited to begin blogging about my thoughts on education, awesome projects and lessons that take place in my classroom, and share others' great ideas.  I have been an avid blog follower for about two years now.  It is overwhelming how creative and inventive the teachers that I follow are.  I'll share more about one below...

First, I'll start with a brief look at where I am and where I see my blog going.  Currently I am finishing up my final student teaching.  In the fall I student taught first grade at a Lincoln elementary school.  This semester I am student teaching at an early childhood education center.  I will graduate in May with a degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education.  Next year I will return to Omaha and teach with a district near there.  I feel very blessed and fortunate to already have a job with a local district.  The hardest part is not knowing what grade level I will be in.  Patience is much needed.  Along with teaching next year I will also be a part of UNO's CADRE program.  I have the opportunity to teach and take classes to get my Master's degree.  Again, so very blessed.

My hopes for this blog are to communicate with parents about the exciting things happening in our classroom.  I also hope to become a part of the network of teachers exchanging ideas and offering support.  I will most likely not be posting any of my work right away, but instead be posting ideas from others - so that I can share them and so that I can remember them for August!

One blogger I have recently become a fan of is Jenny at Luckeyfrog's Lilypad.  New teachers must check out her section I Just Got a Teaching Job... Now What?  She has written several posts about things that are good to think about BEFORE you step into the school.  One of my favorite statements from Jenny is that the district hired you to teach, not to be a classroom cutesifier.  She has such a great wit to her blog which makes it enjoyable to read.  PLUS she has a great section on creating your own custom lesson plans.  Seriously, check her out!

Thanks for reading my first teacher blog post! Look for more to come, I'll be sure to keep you all posted when I find out what grade level!