Poetry Basket

One of the things I did last time I taught first grade years and years ago was......

 I worked hard to find thematic poems that incorporated the spelling words and vocabulary I was teaching.  So that is one of my goals again this time.  I don’t know exactly what poems I will be using yet however I do know poems will be an important part of my classroom.

The first thing I organized for my new first grade classroom is a poetry basket.

I made this label using graphics from Jessica Weible Graphics and the fuzzy border is from the pond and then taped it to red polka dot scrapbook paper.     

 

Look What I Bought

The First Purchase for My New Classroom

 

Ok so maybe it is not the most practical thing for a classroom however it is the cutest thing for a classroom.

I just love it.  My biggest fear is that the children will get it dirty and I have no way of washing it.   If you are interested in purchasing your own pillow 

Click Here! 

I do not benefit from purchases I am just sharing the source with you.  

Teaching Binders

My first project for first grade is organizing my teaching binders.

I used binders in kindergarten for my lesson plans and run offs and they worked great for me. 

I made some new covers and backed them with red polka dot paper because I could not find red check paper. 

They look super cute.  I put my old first grade ideas in them from when I taught first grade years ago, however I don’t know if I will use much of what I saved.  There are so many wonderful new ideas available.  If you like the binder idea you can read more at my kindergarten blog here.  

If you would like a free copy of my new binder covers, I will give them to the first three people who leave a comment and hopefully I can email you back.  Let me know if you want them to say first grade or just blank.  

Happy Organizing :)

My Little Pink Notebook

Thank You for all the support and encouragement!

I am so excited about my move to First Grade.  The first thing I did for my new adventure was to purchased this cute pink notebook.  It is my space where I am keeping all my notes, lists and thoughts I want to remember about First Grade. 

Every day I am adding something new to this notebook. 

I started this basket for everything first grade.  I am trying to read something about first grade every day and there are so many wonderful ideas that bloggers are so gracious to share.  I print out ideas I think I may use and file them in my basket for now.  

dreaming of first grade

dreaming of my first grade classroom

google image

Wafter twelve wonderful years of teaching kindergarten i decided to go back to first grade.  it was a very hard decision to make however i am getting older and older each year and the children are getting younger and younger each year and sometimes i just don’t have all that kindergarten energy.   so i decided it was time for a change.  nothing to drastic i love teaching young children.

i have had the same classroom for 12 years now and i have a lot of stuff.  for the past 12 years i have decorated my classroom in the same basic color scheme as well, green, blue, yellow with a pop of pink!   i love my classroom however i will have to leave it because it is a kindergarten room. 

Sso i am off to a new territory and with that new possibilities.  i may have some of the same students next year and i don’t want them to feel like they just walked back into kindergarten.  Sso i am going to go with a whole new color scheme and theme.

here are some of my inspiration photos

source

first is the red check curtains.   love red check curtains... it gives the classroom the little red school house feel.

Tthen i noticed the red geraniums in the white pots. Tthat would be an amazing idea for the   window ledges or religion/reading areas.

source

i found this photo for my desk area however that lead me on this idea

i am still looking for the source

it reminded me of the cute tree i made last year maybe i could put that somewhere and add a red balloon

but then i found the best idea for the reading area

both the banner and the eiffel tower

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i want to repaint all my chairs in my writing center red

ikea

and repaint the little benches in my listening center red

i want to look for some more chairs at rummage sales this summer and of course paint them red for the reading area

i am going to get white baskets for the books and make red labels

google image

 all i can think about is the color red ....and first grade....what and where am i going to be teaching.

i am super excited about the new adventure.