First Grade with a Cherry on Top

Today was the first day of school! My ninth one to be exact and I was the least nervous that I have been my entire career. Usually the first day brings a terrible stomach ache, shaky nerves, and lots of prayers. But today, I was pumped up! It may be because I love my school and the families that go there. I've been there 4 years and it truly feels like a second home. Speaking of, I made a few changes to the room that I wanted to share.

We'll start with my back to school bulletin board. Pinterest inspired of course, but I added my own touches to it. Like the coconuts with the kids names on them. I spent hours going through a HUGE bag of letters to find all the little pieces to their names. I could have done something much easier, but I'm crazy like that.

 

This is a picture of what I had on the student's desks for meet your teacher. Notice how I do not hand write the names on their name tags. My handwriting is decent...I just don't like it, and when I do write it I critique it all.year.long! I also include their number on their name tags. It makes life easier for me and them. 

 

 I made some cute labels to help keep things organized and so the kids and parents would know where to put school supplies. It's so much easier when they help sort through some of it.

 Here are just a few little snippets of my new and improved room. It gets better and brighter every year. I'm super excited about my Daily Five focus board. Usually I make huge poster anchor charts that are hard to keep up all year. This way the expectations and criteria for success are in front of them every day...right in front of their book boxes actually!

I also added some trees that my sweet friend Holly gave me. One girl's trash, another girl's treasure!

Once again, I have no theme in my classroom other than bright and beautiful. The more color the better! It makes life so happy.

So there it is, ready for a new group of sweet little first graders to learn and grow.