Octoberfest! = Coopertative Grouping Galore!!!

As promised... I'm just inside my personal deadline for my monthly blogging!!! October has been an ABSOLUTELY crazy month!! With all the curriculum changes,  grades, and preparation for my  PDAS observation... sadly, blogging has been at the end of my to-do lists. 

     

    At the beginning of this month, I decided to try to give my students as many opportunities to work together as possible. They have been loving talking and thinking together through Think-Pair-Share, working in pairs, and working in groups. I have no idea where my camera is, BUT, I have some pictures of our latest group activity that we did on Friday... It was our Halloween Costume Day which would  be followed by our annual Fall Festival, and the kids were a bit wild. I almost decided not to do it, fearing the worst. But the kids did a really great job and learned a lot about magnets.

Here are some pictures:

First Weeks of School + Newsletters

The first few weeks of school have gone great! I absolutely loooooove my class. They are all super cute and very, very sweet. It has been an experience having to re-train my new batch to do simple tasks, especially after being used to the END of 1st grade 1st graders... :) But, they are doing great!

One of my goals for this year is to inform the parents as much as possible through newsletters. I have been working on them this weekend, and am so excited to have them ready to send in to copy Tuesday morning.

Here are some snap-shots of my creations:

This is the first of my Seasonal Newsletters. My plan is to send them out at the beginning of each 9 weeks.

I want to send a weekly snapshot of the week informing the parents of the skills that we will be focusing on in the classroom and give them ideas on how to reinforce those skills at home.

 I really hope I can keep up with the newsletters this year, but I think I'm off to a good start! :) Wish me luck!!!!

Classroom Preparations 2011

 



 It has been exciting seeing all the projects that I have been working on throughout the summer. Eventhough the students don't go back to school until the 23rd, and our 1st official day back is on the 15th, I worked really hard to have it ready for the 15th. I am a part of my campus' Literacy Cohort and as the 1st grade represenative, my room had to be ready for the Classroom Gallery that will be conducted on the teacher's 1st day back. I am so grateful to my husband, and my friends (Nataly, Katrina, Alex, and  Maria) for all their help and hard work cutting laminate, creating bulletin boards, putting posters on the board, and creating a beautiful kindness tree. I really wouldn't have been able to do it without them and all their help!!! As I was uploading the pictures, I was pleasently surprised to see how different my room looks. Here are some of the images: 



This is my friend Nataly posing with her beautiful creation!

I am so excited to get this project going with my students. I cut out a ton of leaf diecuts where students will write/draw a picture of times where someone does something nice for them or someone else. She did a great job!!! I'll have to update some pictures of the tree when its branches are filled with leaves.

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 Here's the front of my room. The posters on the top right side, the icons on the Workstation Mat, and the train on the right side were some of my summer projects. Needless to say that the PISD Media Center was my 2nd home this summer.

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Here's the back of my classroom.

Lots of storage with the lockers!!! Last year, I kinda threw everything in there as I transitioned into this classroom 3 weeks into the school year. It was a real adventure trying to find anything.  So this year, I used an index card to label the contents of the lockers.

On the image to the right you can see the math area. The tubs with the white lids are my Math Tubs. The bulletin board that you see on the wall will be used as a Math Word Wall and right under it I will place any anchor charts that the students can use as they work. I have a ton of additional Math Instructional materials on the shelve that is now covered by the green curtain. I didn't like how it looked with all the boxes and baskets piled on top of oneanother. So, I went to Family Dollar bought a spring rod and a shower curtain to hide the storage. (Total: $5.00) I'm sure you can find something cheaper at the Dollar Tree or any other Dollar Store, but I'm kinda picky on my colors. They only had a baby pink curtain when I went there.

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Side of the Classroom- Word wall and Big Book Station

The Word Wall will be reveled with my students on the 1st day of school, I will be turning them around and going ove the alphabet with them.

I am so excited about the Classroom Library!!! I will be taking some pillows for it, and my friend's mom will be sewing some custon large pillows for me. I went to Goodwill and found the white shelf for $7.00. I was pretty excited about that because I didn't have to build anything! (I'm sure my hubby liked that too) We will be getting some baskets that I will place on the shelf. My students and I will be sorting the books  into generes the first week of school. I will also be changing the stuffed animals throughout the year to keep the students interested in the station all year-long.

The poster above the easel on the Big Book Station was one of my projects of the summer too. I am also working on task cards that I will be hanging on the suction hooks that I found at Target for $1.00. I also found some cute pointers (star and flower) that I will be rotating throughout the year.

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This is my small group area. I am using a lot of baskets to keep my materials on hand and organized. Last year, I had a really hard time keeping things well organized. I think that this year will be a bit different since I have spent a lot of time setting up an organization system.

Treasure Chest Project

My DIY Treasure Chest Project

I have been wanting to purchase a Treasure Chest Box for some time now but never got around to it. Today, my husband encouraged me to make my own! He even took me to Michael's and helped me pick out the paint. As soon as I got home, I began with my project. ( I can be a tad impatient at times) I started with a medium sized wooden chest (14.99) and three Crafter's Acrylic Paint:  
                             Country Maple, Burnt Umber, and Antique Gold. 

Here's What I did: 

1. I began by painting the entire chest with two coats of Country Maple

2. Once it was dry, I used Burnt Umber to paint the edges.

3. Once that dried, I used Antique Gold to paint the golden bolts and lock.

4. Using a hot glue gun, I glued a wooden pirate flag from Michael's

5. Using a Paint Pen I wrote in the words: Mrs. Breaux's Treasure chest... and tah-dah! I have a treasure chest!!

Back to School

Welcome to Mrs. Breaux's 2011-2012 Classroom!!

August has finally made it here. Back to school sales are in full effect. This means that it is time for my fellow teachers and I to start preparing for the 1st day of school. :) One of the biggest change this year will be my name change... Say goodbye to Mrs. Escobar, and hello to Mrs. Breaux!

Today was my 1st day back in my classroom. The room was clean, but everything was stacked on the back wall... and I couldn't remember where I had left anything!! Thankfully, after about 15 minutes of running around trying to find things and remember how to set things up, I eventually got my computer and phone working and the real fun began.

I was able to set up all 21 desks... (compared to my 17 from the previous year), the Classroom Library, Big Book Station, Computer Station, and Small Group Section. I changed my room completely and its really exciting!!  So far, I love the way its turning out! I think the highlight of the day was being able to set up the Computer Station in a different way (taking up less room).

 

Small Group Area & Computers

Big Book Station

Classroom Library

 Also, one of my sweet, sweet friends, Beverly gave me some adorable bug dye cuts as part of my birthday gift. I immediately knew what to do with them! I was able to use for their locker name labels. They look adorable!! :)

Amazing Bug Dye Cuts

 

I am soooooo excited to have gotten part of my room ready! I am really hoping not to have to move much around in the upcoming weeks.