First Month Done!

It's August 30th!! That means we've already been in school for 1 full month. In AZ, we started school on Aug 5th. I know that many people have their first day of school this coming Tuesday.

I have 22 2nd graders this year. It's been a wonderful month! It's amazing how having 7 fewer students makes a difference! Last year, I had 29 students the whole year. Here are my top things 3 that I am glad I implemented this year.

1. Gold tags!! I am loving them! Even though, someone is stealing tags. I use this as my positive reward system. I stole got the idea from The TeenyTinyTeacher. Her Gold tag post is hilarious! Read it!

2. Literacy Centers!! I took a class 2 weeks before school started about Literacy Centers and I am so glad I did! We talked about the Big 5 in reading. (Phonics, Phonenmic Awareness, Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Fluency.) So set to work deciding how to implement it in my classroom. My students love it! And they better since it takes a good extra hour or two to get them ready. I truly have it down to a science were I don't have to spend that much extra time prepping. :) What really makes me happy is the moment when I place the center in the big mailing envelope to be stored for next year. The joy of knowing that next year I will simply need to pull out the center and push play! Because of the focus on my Literacy Centers, I haven't finished training my kids how to do Daily 5. But this week, that will be my big focus.

3. Daily 5 during Writing time!! Last year, my students loved and begged for Daily 5 time! I was really happy with the success. However, my students this year are a bit lower than last years. For this reason, I was happy to do the Lit centers and put Daily 5 on the back seat. My plan is to have the students do Daily 5 during Writing time so that I can conference with students about their writing.

4. Intous Pen!! I am so excited to receive our Intuos pens! Wacom made this pen for artists to be able to draw on the computer. However, it also works as a mouse. And here is the kicker! It has a wireless adapter!! In my other school district we had the SMART Airliner. It was a painful year last year, not having my precious airliner! But this year, I hope we get them soon. I can walk around the room and control my computer while I'm sitting next to Johnny who won't stop talking, won't sit still, needs a little extra attention. Using the Mimio Studio Tools, I can also write on my screen. It's not as perfect or quick as the Airliner but it works! One of the girls on my team, bought hers already and let me play with it for a week. It was so hard to give it back to her!

I am super excited for this year. It is my 5th year teaching so I truly feel like I am with it this year. I am loving 2nd grade! And my kids are so good this year!

I hope each and everyone of you are also enjoying your year or will enjoy it if you haven't started yet!

Enjoy your evening!
Sara