2013 in Review

My 

Top 10 School Ideas/Moments 

of

2013

……………………

This has been an emotional year for me.  I left kindergarten after teaching there for 12 years and moved back to first grade.  It was a hard decision to make however I am happy I made it.  With this change I find myself completely unprepared each week.  I spend hours reading and planning and prepping for the week.  I am so thankful for teachers pay teachers.  I also left my comfort zone of my blog The Very Busy Kindergarten and started a new blog The Very Busy Classroom.  I don’t have a lot of readers this year mainly because I am not consistently blogging, however I do have a few loyal readers who read and I am grateful for them. 

1…. Martin Luther King Art/Writing Project

This was one of my favorite kindergarten lessons and one of those lessons I hope to incorporate in first grade.  I found the picture of the cover on Pinterest but I didn’t know what the teacher did in the inside.  So I had created three lessons around three different books about MLK and I love the way it turned out. 

2….Winning the Ipad at Mayfair Mall

This was a surprise moment in kindergarten.  I was entered in a contest by a parent at Mayfair Mall.  Then lots of parents, friends, friends of friends, bloggers anyone willing to vote for me did….and I won.  I was able to get an ipad for my classroom.

3….Card Making Art projects

I made two adorable ladybug cards for the children this year, a welcome card and a birthday card.  The children made lots of cute cards as well:  Valentine Cards, Easter Cards, Thanksgiving, Christmas Card Exchange, and Reading Buddy Card.

4….My organized Desk

This is my organized desk at the beginning of the year.  I wish I could say it was this clean all the time.  However that is not true.  I generally have lots of papers on it for me to correct.  I do like the space.  I spend a lot of time here correcting papers.

5.....Red Check Curtains

I cannot say enough about my red checked curtains.  They just make me happy every time I look at them.  They remind me of my mom, who made them for me.

6…Self Portraits/Rainbow Names/First Grade is Fabulous

I spend a lot of time as I teach looking at this wall and it looks fabulous.  All the kids portraits and lots of colors always bring a smile to my face.

7.  Reward Coupons

The reward coupons are a hit with the children.  I wasn’t sold on the idea at first however Kristen Smith from A Day In First Grade recommended them.  I trust her judgment plus she wrote a great post about giving the children incentives that were not always material things. 

8.  Lots of Freebie Poetry

My goal each week is to make sure I post my poem of the week.  It is always a freebie because I feel it is important to give back to all the teachers who give to me.

9.  Community Map

This social studies project took a lot of patience and planning however the students really took it over.  They were thinking of lots of places in the community to add.  They were very proud of their map and they wanted to share with everyone.

10.  Minute to win it

I found this idea on Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits, she had the game A Minute To Win It.      I quickly threw it together with the materials I had on hand and the children LOVE IT!  They were so engaged in the activity we played it several times. 

See you in 2014,

Sue