Off and Running

We are off and running in first grade land and loving every minute of it.  My kiddos are settling into our normal routine and seem to be loving everything I put in front of them.  I LOVE that first graders are young enough to still think that their teacher is one of the coolest people they know no matter how dorky I act.  At least that's what I tell myself.  :)

I am feeling super lucky this year to have a third teacher that floats between our 2 classrooms.  Our enrollment was high enough to put us over the class size limit for the SAGE program we receive funding for.  It is SO nice to have that second pair of hands and eyes in our classrooms to help out.  I'm afraid we'll be a little spoiled and won't know what to do with ourselves next year!  It's amazing what just one more person can do to help your classroom run smoothly.  Do you think I can convince her to be a full time volunteer next year???

I've stumbled across a few things this year that are totally saving me from total classroom chaos.  Minor things that are making a HUGE impact in keeping my kiddos engaged and our classroom running smoothly.  Not that my classroom was chaos before, but these few things definitely help to keep us moving along.

The first one is our Smarty Pants awards.  I think this came from Babbling Abby.  Each time a kid gives a super smart answer they get a little slip of paper that says "I'm a Smarty Pants!" and get a Smarties candy.  I think she prints hers as stickers, but I decided to save my labels.  You want to see 19 little hands shoot in the air with an answer?  Start handing out Smarty Pants!  I don't use them every time I ask a question, but often enough to keep it exciting.

Whole Brain Teaching has been another life saver.  I'm not even going to pretend to be an expert in this since I really only watched a couple of You Tube videos, but the mirror, teach, smiles/frowns, class, and hands and eyes have become a huge part of our day.  They keep my kiddos on their toes and engaged.  I'm loving it!  Check it out.

I have more, but I'll wait until I have some more pictures to share.  Enjoy your weekend!