GARDEN

One week down!  35 more to go!  Overall, the first week of school went quite well!  I've made a few adjustments to my plan already, and will make more next week I am sure.  I am thankful to have a good class!  Yay!


We ended up with 10 minutes in our schedule between lunch and specials (PE, Music, Art).  It's not enough time to go back to the classroom, so we found a perfect spot for reading: the school garden!  I bring a book and read it aloud to the class.  It's a beautiful setting! There are real grapes growing here!  (Next week I plan to try one!)






 Here are my first graders hard at work in Math (while my second graders are at Math Centers):

I CAN DO THIS!

Being the teacher in a "Dual Grade Classroom"  (Thanks KM for the term, I like it better than split or combo class!)  is a lot of work!  Ok, so I knew that going in, but it's still true!  Today, however, I actually feel good about it! Thankfully, I had half of my 2nd graders last year.  Having children in the room who already know my routines has been extremely helpful!  Especially for tech support!  They have really jumped in and helped other children get on the computers and on the iPod touches.

Many of you have asked, "How in the world are you supposed to teach two grades?"  Excellent question! (That was my first thought as well!)  Here is a glimpse:

For the Reading block, I explain the seatwork to the 1st graders and get them going. Then I take all the 2nd  graders to the rug/promethean board for their lesson.  After that is my usual Literacy Center/Small Group Instructional time. I can do both grades during that hour easily. We tried out the centers today and it went well.  I will start the small groups next week.  After that time, it's back to Reading Lesson for the 1st graders, and seatwork for the 2nd graders.

The Math Block is somewhat similar:  send the 2nd graders to Math centers first and teach the 1st graders their Math lesson.  Then switch! Send the 1st graders to centers, teach 2nd graders their lesson.

It has been nice to work with only half the class at a time on these vital subjects.  I can check for mastery much faster and provide more individual help as we go along.  It's a lot more work for me, but this way each grade level gets what they need.  After only the second day, I can see how smoothly it will all work once the routines and procedures are down pat.


The key to making this all work is ORGANIZATION, ORGANIZATION, ORGANIZATION!  Having the Literacy and Math centers ready is vital, as well as being super organized with the planning.  I keep folders for everything : 1st Grade Reading, 1st Grade Seatwork, 2nd Grade Reading, 2nd Grade Seatwork, etc....(I will actually color-code the folders this week: everything 1st grade in blue folders to match their Reading program, everything 2nd grade in green folders to match their Reading program, and anything that is whole class like Science/Social Studies/Health in another color).  Before I leave for the day, I have always piled the next day's work in a stack on my desk (in order of use). This year, that stack is extremely high!  Good thing I have a nice big desk to spread it all out as I need to!

THE NIGHT BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED

'Twas the night before school started....and all is finished!  I am officially ready for my 12th year of teaching! And the classroom is ready for my first and second graders!

 

I love the open cubbies.  Each one has a magazine holder for the student's reading books: library books, leveled readers, and books for fun.  

This is what the students will see on their desks when they arrive!  An owl desk name tag, an owl cup holding a sharpened owl pencil, owl bookmark, several erasers (not owl, sadly), and a package of tissues.  I created a Welcome to School work packet (featuring owls) to keep the students busy as they arrive.  

(teacher note: the Owl work packet is available on TPT- just click the picture)

This is the Writing Center, which seats two students at a time.  Writing paper on the top, clipboards in the middle, and small dry erase boards on the bottom.  The 2nd graders will use the green instructions, and the 1st graders will use the blue instructions.  The centers are already differentiated to meet student needs.  

Now just need to add pencils and it's ready to go!

Tomorrow is going to be a great day!  It will be the start of a great adventure!  

DESK

Today a teacher friend commented that I had not updated my blog this week.  While I was sparing my readers the details of random Staff Development meetings, I remembered that I did finish my desk area!  I found a really cute pencil bookshelf to help organize my smaller things (far left in the picture).   Most of the back counter top in the picture is filled with the teacher materials for my two grade levels of Reading (that's not even all the Reading materials, just the TE's in 3 crates and 2 boxes!)   The back cabinet is still a bit cluttered for me, but when you combine your decade of things, with another teacher's decade of things, and then two grade level's materials, it's bound to be a bit cluttered!  As I go through the year, I will purge things I don't need.  Today I gave away several large piles of books to my hall buddies!  (you can rest assured that there must have been an outrageous number of children's books in my classroom for me to give up so many!)    Actually, there is still an outrageous number of children's books left, but my students will still be very happy!

  I love having a desk this big!  I like to conference with students individually at my desk, so now we have lots of room!  Next to my desk is the Writing Center.  More pictures coming this weekend.  I need to finish putting up the Reading Focus Wall(s), and then I'll take pictures of the finished room!  

CLASSROOM CURTAINS

Last year we made cute gingham covered seat crates for my Reading Table, so this year we made curtains to match!  They turned out great!

Under the sink

  Front of the Teacher Desk (it was open before)

*the desk clutter has since been removed.  It's nice and clean now!

Valance at Window

Another view of the window

CLASSROOM DAY 5

Today was a very productive day!  My wonderful husband was a great help!  He hung the number line, the phonics ABC cards, the handwriting ABC cards, and two bulletin boards!  Awesome!

This is the corner that I worked on most today.  Ready to see the almost-completed New and Improved Classroom Library behind the pocket chart?  Here goes:

My new colorful book bins look great!  (Dollar Tree!)  The chapter books on the bottom are new to me (I inherited them with the room- yay!)  I will eventually get around to organizing them too, but for now, things look great!  A bean bag chair for the corner will be a perfect touch!

This corner will get my attention tomorrow.  I still need to put away my files/books, as well as organize the various First and Second Grade Curriculum.   This is the "before" picture.  The "after" picture will be posted soon!

CLASSROOM DAY 4

When I packed up my old classroom a few months ago, I very carefully put everything back in order- all the books, materials, wall alphabet pieces, the leveled reading books by unit and week, and even all the sight word cards (by unit and week too!).  I did this so the next teacher could just walk in and not have to worry about getting it organized first.  Boy am I thankful that I did that then!  Today I went back to my old room and made two piles of materials that needed to be moved upstairs to my new room.  When I saw the sight words cards still organized, I was very happy!  One huge task I don't have to do now!   I'm also thankful that I didn't have to move these things myself!  Whew!

  

 First Grade materials to be added to my new room

 I did get a great deal done in my room today!  Check out my progress:

Tomorrow will be a big day- pictures of the room coming soon!

CLASSROOM DAY 3

Not bad for only 2 hours!!  First, I had to take apart the mountain of furniture in one corner.  I found 5 pieces of furniture that belonged to the classroom next door (Hi L!).  That happens when non-educators decide to take all of the upstairs furniture down to the first floor in order to replace the upstairs ceiling tiles, without labeling where things came from.  LOL!  I'm only missing 2 things, but I have hope that they will be found!  Here is one thing that I hope to find:

This is a leg to a shelf that would really come in handy this year.  It reminds me of a vacuum part.  I hope it turns up soon!

I had some help today, so we set up the desks/furniture.  I will probably change it around later in the week, but it'll do for now!

I really should erase the random writing on the board left over from the previous year's class.  But first I need to unpack an eraser!  Tomorrow's another day!

(if you look just in front of the window, you can see my upside down 3-legged shelf)

The pile on the cabinet isn't so high today (yes, that's because the boxes are now on the floor), but still- it makes it look like there's been progress made in this area!  :)

My project for tomorrow: set up my Awesome Classroom Library!  I had used the same book baskets since my first year of teaching, but this year I decided to upgrade!  

Just wait and see! 

Just had to share.  I have a strange addiction to plastic containers.  

Target's dollar section and Dollar Tree have been fun places to shop this year!

CLASSROOM DAY 1 & 2

August already! Time to start on the new classroom.  Here's what it looked like on Day 1, from the door:

So much to do!  But before I can unpack my things, I must finish going through all the cabinets/counters to see what was left from the previous teacher, and make room for my things!


Here is the progress I made on Day 2:

Doesn't look much different you say?  Try a close up...

Still doesn't look much different?  Try the hallway....

Success!  For today, anyway!  Next time- unpacking and setting up the furniture!

WHO'S ON FIRST, WHAT'S ON SECOND

This fall, I face a very interesting challenge of teaching a first and second grade bridge class!  Some districts call them "combo" or "multi-age" classes. I'm going to have 1/2 a class of first graders, and 1/2 a class of second graders. It's going to be a great adventure!

Part of me thinks it will be a piece of cake! I've taught first grade for 11 years, so that part is easy. I've spent a great deal of time this summer preparing for second grade, so that part isn't so bad either. The hardest part for me is figuring out "HOW" it's all going to work. How will I work with one grade at a time on the important things like Math and Reading, and how can I combine things like Writing, Science and Social Studies to meet both grade level's needs. I have spent much of the last few days thinking about it (ever since I found out about this new adventure!), and I have some plans in my head about how it's going to work. I'll try them out once school starts and make adjustments as we go. I am a big planner, but I'm also flexible enough to try different things, and work to make things better. It's going to be interesting, that's for sure.

I've heard from several people who have taught in multi-age classrooms, and I observed quite a few during my college days. Those teachers all state how much they enjoyed it. I have one friend in California who will be teaching a 2nd/3rd combo class this fall.....with 38 students (yes, you read that right!). That makes me count my blessings that I will only have about 20!

So the focus of my blog is shifting from my journey into Second grade, to my journey into a 1st/2nd combination classroom!

Here are some things I have done already to keep myself organized. I color coded my binders for the Pacing Guides (aka Scope and Sequences), and the Curriculum. My district's curriculum is all online, so printing it is very helpful!

I also decided to color code the Take Home Folders. First and Second graders will have different homework, so this will make it easier on me to manage it all.

After I made these labels, I decided to go ahead and make labels for everything, particularly all the folders and journals the students will use.  The students will have journals for Math, Reading/Writing and Science. Having labels will make it easier for them to find the right one.  Since I am using an owl theme this year, I added a cute owl to each label.

                                                                 

I put the labels on my TPT page (click on the blurry picture above for a better view). Oddly enough, I used Comic Sans font to make it easier for the students to read, but the jpg of the file shows a different font! No worries! The font is saved as a .doc, so it can be changed to whatever font is available.

So, thanks for coming along on my new journey!  I'd love to hear tips on how to run an effective/organized combination classroom.  Feel free to share tips, or share where to look for tips!  Thanks!