The best part of the beginning of the school year is meeting my new firsties on Meet the Teacher Night. And the second best part is getting my room ready for the new year. I love being creative and crafty. Each year I try to come up with a fun theme for my classroom. Last year I did a "Candy" theme and it totally rocked! The room and incentives worked so well last year that I had a hard time changing it for this year. So, for this year I went with a "Sweets" theme, really focusing in on Ice Cream, but also keeping some of the candy things. If you know me, you know how much I love Blue Bell! This room is definitely a reflection of my personality and interests. Here are some pictures of our classroom:
It has become a tradition that my sister and I create my classroom door together. This year is her first year of teaching (junior high science.....yikes) so she has been very busy getting her classroom ready as well. She still made time to help me with my door, and this is what we came up with. I must say that I pretty much love it!
This is the bulletin board right outside of my room. Hopefully, you can tell that they are Blue Bell's bullet popsicles.
Here are a couple of pictures of the front of the classroom.
Behavior Chart and Jail Words - For those of you thinking "what in the world are jail words," these are irregular words that kids often misspell. They are not spelled like they sound. This is just a way of reminding them how the words should be spelled. Last year this worked wonders and my hope is that this year it will be just as helpful.
More pictures of the room!
Fill a Bucket- This goes along with a book and study called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? And basically it is a lesson that teaches kids that we all carry an invisible bucket with us, and when someone is nice to us by helping or giving us a compliment they fill our bucket. And when someone says mean things or is not nice they are "bucket dippers" and empty our bucket. At school, when a child does something nice for someone they get to fill their Blue Bell bucket with a cotton ball. It's just a visual way for kids to see how they are being "Bucket Fillers."
This is my new birthday corner. When one of my firsties has a birthday they will get a pixie stick balloon. I am also going to put their picture in the frame inside the wreath and hang it outside my door. I am really excited about this new addition!
Brownie Points is our class reward system. When the class gets a compliment from someone other than myself for good behavior they will earn a brownie for their pan. When the pan gets full of brownies the class gets a special treat. It always amazes me how hard they will work for a brownie! So if you ever hear your child talking about getting brownies at school in Mrs. Adams' class do not worry. I'm not stuffing them full of calories. It's just paper! ; )
Smarty Pants - The newest and coolest addition to our class. My sweet friend, Robyn, helped me design the cute Smarty Pants and I am super pumped about them!!!! The pants are sewn shut and have Smarties candy inside them. When one of my firsties says or does something smart or has an"outside the box" idea I will say, "You're such a smarty pants" and they will go get 1 Smarties candy out of the pants. Totally CHEESY, right?! I know, but whatever works!
Of course there is so much more to our little first grade room, but this gives a taste of the fun!
