Teacher Week: Classroom Tour

Day three of Blog Hoppin's Teacher Week!

I am on maternity leave so although it's bittersweet that I do not have a classroom to prepare this year, I get to spend my weeks with this cutie: 

But if you're new to my blog, here's a throwback to my last first grade classroom reveal:

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*apologies in advance: I am horrible at remembering my camera so all of the following pictures were taken with my phone at 7:00 this morning. So the lighting is strange and the pics are somewhat blurry!*

Above is the view from my classroom door.

This is my little "where we are" information board located on the outside of my door:

To the left of the door is our command centre. This is where the kiddies put their communication folders, drink/food tickets, and move their star over to sign in. There's also a classroom "lost & found" bin, tissues and hand sanitizer, and bins labelled for "notes" and "work" to go home:

(you can download my FREE magnetic sign-in labels HERE!)

To your right when you walk in the door is our corner prayer table (not pictured) and the "welcome" bulletin board, which is currently featuring our class jobs and birthdays. Beneath the bulletin board is my behaviour management system (currently pictured is our old ticket system but I have since switched to a much more effective program). I don't use a clip chart or ticket system anymore and have switched to a program called 1-2-3 Magic! and the Zones of Regulation.

(If you would like my FREE class jobs labels click HERE!)

Next to the welcome board is our word wall and the Word Work 2 centre:

(Download my FREE blank word wall labels HERE)

Separating Word Work 1 and Word Work 2 is my alphamagnet "Read It, Build It" activity. This filing cabinet was just a waste of space last year--I NEVER use it. So this year I had the great idea of turning the drawers to the wall, and using the remaining 3 sides as a magnetic activity board. MUCH better! :)

If you keep moving along this same wall, you will find our writing/reading focus wall. Right now it is just showing off (from left to right) our Visual Writing Rubric, Writing Rules Checklist, our in-progress classroom big book which will eventually be moved to our reading centre, and our current writing focus (recount writing). Below this whiteboard fis the Word Work 1 literacy centre.

Last but not least along this wall is our reading centre/classroom library. That big empty space on the bulletin board is being reserved for our class-made big books. Right now my library is seriously lacking some comfortable pillows/seating, but I have been too broke to buy/make pillows :( ...One day!

You may have noticed the folders on the back of the blue bookshelf above. Those are fast finisher activities. I have not introduced this routine to my kiddies yet but I can't wait! Here's a closer look:

(Although they are not editable, HERE are my fast finisher folder labels--as seen above plus MORE!!--if you would like them!)

The back wall of our classroom is where we display all of our fabulous work:

In the centre of the counter (as seen above) is our pencil station. Here's a closer look at that:

(Grab some FREE pencil labels HERE!)

And beneath on the shelves are all of my math manipulatives and math tubs:

(Download my FREE math tub labels HERE!)

Moving to the other side of the classroom, you will find my guided reading corner:

Beside that is our "math" whiteboard and "math words" bulletin board. Beneath that is our listening centre, which also houses the laptop and Elmo for my SmartBoard:

Here's a bigger view of this side of the room taken from the reading centre:

(The coloured construction paper above the boards is my alphabet, waiting to be customized by my firsties! Download my FREE chalkboard alphabet labels HERE)

To the left of the SmartBoard (as seen above) is our "Morning Meeting" area. 

Here's a closer look at that:

...and looking from the reading centre to the back of the classroom and out the door:

Behind my desk, at the back of the classroom, is our writing wall (currently featuring all of the students' writing from the beginning of our "Recount Writing" focus until now) and writing centre:

Behind the chart stand, pocket chart, and "Morning Meeting" area, is our supplies station and the storage system that houses all of my math tub activities for each month. Opposite this area is the sink: 

(Click HERE to visit the post where you can download my monthly chalkboard labels for FREE!)

Here is a view from my desk (such a beautiful sunny morning!):

And last but not least, each of my tables has a coloured pompom and a chalkboard group number:

(Chalkboard labels are from my Chalkboards and Banners Decor Pack)

And that about sums up my classroom reveal. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

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I can't wait to take a tour of everyone else's classrooms!!

Five for Friday (linky party for April 24)

Today I'm joining in once again with Doodle Bugs Teaching's Five For Friday linky party :)

My week started off FANTASTICALLY when I opened the weekly TpT newsletter and saw this:

Needless to say I was *pumped* to see my most popular freebie featured in the newsletter for the first time! Here's a sample of the super simple but skill-packed math craftivity:

If you don't already own it, go download my Name in a Ten Frame freebie, and don't forget to check out the newsletter to grab 9 other awesome freebies as well!!

We are quickly outgrowing our little house and are most likely making the move to a bigger space later this summer! ...A bigger house, but a much smaller backyard. Which means I have recently been obsessed with pinning ideas of how to create a cute little backyard oasis:

(You can check out more of my outdoor pins on my "Going Green" board!)

So far these have been some of my fav ideas:

(all of the pics above + their sources can be found on my board)

We are still waiting for the arrival of baby and I've been off work for over a week now...bored. out of. my mind. Seriously, where is this desperate "nesting instinct" they talk about?! 

Well anyways, being home has actually made me quite productive work-wise and I was finally able to put my Healthy Eating Unit together as a resource to share with others in my little store!

These are all of the activities that I have used in the past when teaching all about nutrition and food groups, along with some newly-added posters, worksheets, and more!

I just uploaded it last week and already I'm pleasantly surprised with how many teachers are finding it helpful! Here's a closer look at everything in the pack if you're curious :)

(And if you're interested in reading a detailed description of everything included, click HERE)

So, like I said,  I've only been off work for a few days and already I'm missing my little firsties. It's seriously crazy how one day I was looking forward to being off and finally taking some time to relax, and the next I'm just dying to get back to my classroom! I'm so grateful for all this love:

And finally, since I am no longer spending my days in a classroom, I thought I'd share a little tour of where my recent days have been spent: in the teeny tiny nursery!

And if it wasn't yet obvious that this nursery was decorated by a first grade teacher....

I'm not kidding, deciding which books to display first on these shelves actually took longer than the time it took to put together the rest of the room! I have WAY too many to choose from, but these will do for now. Seriously though, what teacher is not obsessed with children's books?! 

 And that's that! Thanks for stopping by and reading my very random 5!

If you'd like to join in on the Friday fun, head on over to DBT to link up and have a wonderful weekend :)

St. Patty's Poetry & FREE Measurement Printables

Well.....I suppose I'll do just one last blog post before I throw in the towel! 

Because we won't be in school for St. Patty's day (hello spring break!!), we "celebrated" it for the past two weeks with some simple themed activities, literacy centers, and poems:

You may remember the above poem that I used last year as well.

I put each of my firsties' names on a sticky note and each time we read the poem throughout the week, a new set of students got to be "in" our poem.

We also finished up our short-and-sweet linear measurement unit with a couple simple activities. My firsties worked hard while I pulled them for some one-on-one assessments.

For this first activity, the students used little cubes to measure and record the length of each ice cream:

Download this freebie HERE!

Next, they could draw any object/picture they wanted and then they measured the length and width of their drawing with snap cubes:

Download this freebie HERE!

After seeing my kiddies *flip* for my (FREE!) Dr. Seuss flip book, I knew I wanted to create some more. So over the week, I worked on putting together a little bundle of 7 different fiction & non-fiction reading response and comprehension flip books:

I have so many plans of how to use these with my firsties: from simple follow-up activities to various shared and guided-reading texts, to comprehension and story element assessments.

(As seen in the two pictures above, the books can be printed on either coloured or plain white paper)

If you think your kiddies would enjoy flip books as much as mine do, check out my new obsession in more detail :P

And now I am *officially* on spring break!!! Here's to a slightly productive and excessively lazy week ahead ;)