This is the second time in my 21 year teaching career that I haven't been able to start school with my class. I had to have colon resection surgery on July 27th. I had prayed I would be healed enough to start school with my class, but I was so weak and still hurting. I had a wonderful substitute. Mrs. Martin is a retired school teacher and did a marvelous job with my class. Today was my first full day back. It was so wonderful to be back with my precious students again. They melt my heart. I had one boy come up to me and tell me "I really miss you when you are gone." He has totally won my heart. Please check back often to see all the fun we are having this year in first grade. | |
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As I look back on the time I was blessed to be Junior's teacher I know I did all I could do to help him improve academically. He made gains in all areas. I know I made learning fun I saw his eyes light up with every new topic I introduced. The one regret I have is that I didn't find a way to have more one on one meaningful conversations with that precious child. I want to be a teacher who knows more than just my student's test scores. I want to know their dreams for the future and the desires of their hearts. I pray as I move forward as a teacher and mother I never forget that each moment with a child is a blessing and a precious gift. I found this blog that offers a wonderful free download of questions that will help you unlock your child's heart and allow you to truly make the most of every precious moment. Please remember to make the most of each moment with your children and students. Don't wait for tomorrow because sometimes tomorrow doesn't come.
http://momastery.com/blog/2015/04/24/key-jar/ The first week of March this school year a precious little boy walked into my classroom. His name was Mario Junior Martinez. He had the biggest dark eyes, long eye lashes and soft black hair. He was smaller than most of my class, but had the heart of a lion. He could hold his own with all the bigger boys as they played at recess. He loved superheroes and wrestling. He wanted to be Superman. He was such a hard worker. He never complained even when the assignments were difficult. He was so well behaved and respectful. His parents had raised him and his siblings to value education and honor his teachers. Junior loved school. His eyes would light up with each new topic we studied. He quickly won my heart with his smile, laughter and precious voice. I adored him more than he could ever imagine. Junior was so excited about Play Day on May 14th. He asked me every 30 min. to tell him all we would do that day. He kept saying "my brothers say we won't have a swimming pool." I would laugh and explain they were correct, but we would have a big blow up water slide. His eyes would light up and he would smile and walk away. I couldn't wait to watch Play Day through his eyes. He was the last student standing beside me that day. I hugged him goodbye and as he walked away he turned to me and smiled and said "I can't wait for tomorrow." When Play Day began on May 15th I was concerned that Junior wasn't at school. About 9:00 a.m. our assistant principal came in to tell me Junior was being taken into surgery for a brain tumor. He had not shown any symptoms. I don't remember much about the rest of that day. I was on the verge of crying or being sick to my stomach all day. I spent most of the weekend at the hospital with Junior's family. I can't put into words how my heart broke for them. They are the most amazing, loving family. The honor his family gave to the staff from my school was so heartfelt. They allowed us to love them and help in any way we could. Our precious Mario Junior Martinez went to Heaven on May 17th, 2015. I knew going back to my classroom on Monday would be the hardest thing I would ever have to do. I would have to see all his things and his empty desk. I would have to watch my students hear that their friend would not return and see them try to work through this horrible loss and grief. I would have to work through my grief and still teach. Junior's family would need so much support and love and would be on my heart every second. I wish I could say the last few weeks of school were not as hard as I had worried they might be. We survived, but it was very difficult.
As I said goodbye to Junior and watched his family grieve my heart broke into a million pieces. His family became my adopted family. My boys and I love them with all our hearts. I pray I never lose touch with his family and we can remember Junior together every year on August 20th (his birthday). I pray I watch his siblings grow up and celebrate each achievement in their lives. As every teacher knows once a student enters your classroom they become forever yours in your heart. I will never forget Mario Junior Martinez. His picture will always have a special honor in my classroom and in my home. My youngest son said "mom you will always be his teacher." I smiled with tears in my eyes and said " and he will always be my little superman angel student." https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fact-Fluency-Through-Concepts-and-Strategies-BIG-BUNDLE-1752001 I just bought this awesome bundle that's on sale for 1/2 price right now. This is exactly what I've been looking for to increase each student's fact family fluency. This bundle offers that and so much more. This product even has awards you can personalize as students master each level. Regular price for each of these is $6.00. The bundle is regular priced at $14.00. It's on sale for all 4 products for $7.00. That's a great deal and such a great product. I had to pack up and say goodbye to one of my students this morning. As every teacher knows it's so very hard to say goodbye to a student who is moving to another school. This little girl really won my heart. I know she will be such a blessing to her new school and teacher. I will miss her with all my heart. Here are some new photos of my students. Oh my goodness how they have grown up this year. They look like teenagers going into jr. high in these photos with a backpack in front of the lockers in our classroom. I am officially on spring break. Here are a few pictures of my boys. We have a whole agenda of fun planned for next week. I will post more pictures of our family fun.
The class I have this year is absolutely amazing. I sat in awe watching them as they began working on their reading stations this week. They were all having so much fun and so engaged in learning. I had to snap a few pictures of this magical moment before I called my first group. I bought two of these oodles of doodles books at Barnes and Noble to use in my classroom 8 years ago. I copied the doodle art pages and then ran plain lined writing paper on the back. Every class I've had in 8 years has loved these doodle art writing pages. These pages can really bring out the creative side in my students. This is a wonderful stamping product. My students loved using these pages to stamp new words this week. I have had groups in the past that had problems following the "stamp rules". This group rocked. Not one student had letter tattoos or ink on their hands. I thank God everyday for planting me in such a wonderful school. I love the staff, families and most of all my precious students. I am so blessed. Almost every teacher I meet will admit to being a pack rat. We can't throw anything away, because in our hearts we know the day will come when that item others view as trash will be the magical learning tool that will help a child learn. 13 years ago I was hired to teach for the amazing school district I still call my second home today. 4 school transfers later I am still here happier than ever. These text books were the adopted reading curriculum when I was hired. Now almost 14 years later I'm still using these text books. They contain wonderful trade books that are A. R. test books. My new school shares my love and passion for A.R. I'm so thankful I'm a pack rat. I fought to save these books. The reading coach stood shaking her head telling me "you are getting so many new books with the new reading series you won't have room for these." I made room and I'm so thankful I did. My students are loving these books and I'm loving watching them bloom as they enjoy every story. The moral to this post is "it's okay to be a pack rat when it comes to books" I love the month of December in my classroom. First grade students minds are filled with visions of sugar plums and toys. I love trying to make everyday as magical and fun filled as possible. The first fun and magical part of the holidays in my classroom begins with our classroom elf and this wonderful elf journal. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/An-Elfs-Life-Elf-Journal-994370 Here is another fabulous freebie from my favorite blogger Carol Carroll. Her ideas for having a classroom elf are precious. http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/search/label/classroom%20elf I follow so many blogs on facebook. So many bloggers post freebies they find on TPT. Here is an incredible Christmas freebie I can't wait to use in my classroom. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Activities-Reindeer-Edition-965160 Here is another great writing center freebie. I love watching my students find joy in writing as they request presents, share their love for Santa and family and express all the dreams and joy that come with the holidays. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Letter-to-Santa-Writing-Set-Freebie-Whimsy-Workshop-Teaching-1000881 I pray my excitement is contagious and you have caught the magical "holiday classroom" bug. :)
This is a freebie from Mrs. Bremer's Class. I've used this sight word station and my students love it. Mrs. Bremer's Class blog has so many wonderful ideas. http://mrsbremersk.blogspot.com/2012/05/spaghetti-meatball-spelling-more.html
I apologize for not posting for several weeks. As any teacher knows the first week of school is amazing and exhausting. I wish I could say I'm past the exhausted part, but to be honest I'm still needing to nap an hour each afternoon after school. I'm loving everyone of my amazing first grade students. Almost all of my student's parents signed to give me permission to post their child's photos, work and video on my teaching website and our school website. This is a video that can only be viewed if you are on my website. It is set as private on youtube. This is a math game we play almost everyday. We pretend we are on a television game show and I'm the game show host, the students are the contestants and audience. All I do is show a math flashcard and my contestants try to be the first to say the number. It's a lot like around the world, but with more pizzazz. My students LOVE it and beg to play it everyday. This is the cutest, most funny video you will ever see. There is an intestinal gas comment at the beginning of the video which is just part of being in a first grade classroom. We are already jumping head first into daily five. I chose my student's 5 books the first week. We practiced and practiced read to self and read to a buddy last week. This week my students chose their own books and I added a word work station. My students did so well yesterday I added read with teacher station today and they did awesome!! Here are a few photos of my students hard at work reading during daily five.
My classroom is finally finished. Yea!! My reading table has a huge wipe board behind it. I've hung my phonics sounds poster, grammar, and writing posters at the top so I still have room for students to come up and practice writing words during small group instruction. I downloaded for free these years ago on TPT. I found them on pinterest. I'm not sure if they are still available. My bear board will be a seasonal board to display student work and celebrate each new holiday and season. The clips with pencils is an idea my youngest son's school uses in the hallways. We have these peg boards all over my school so I glued clothespins for each student to the peg board. Then I taped a cute pencil on top. I'll label each pencil and use them to display student work all year. Lastly is my classroom management chalkboard. I was kind of hesitant about having a chalkboard in my classroom at first, but now I'm loving it. I have my Whole Brain Teaching posters at the top, my hand signals, I can... statements and lastly Whole Brain Teaching tally mark chart. I also plan to add student tally marks that will be used to keep track of GREAT behavior. When I see a student really doing an awesome job I have a small bell I'll ring and say "oh, I love how _____ is _______ " and give an awesomeness tally mark. I also have a prize box and a lucky duck jar I will draw a name from daily. All student names will be in the jar, but the ones with the most awesomeness points will get their name in the jar more times. Estimation, probability and great behavior all wrapped up into one awesome package. This is the reason I started my blog. I hope one day when I grow up I'll be like the fabulous teachers who create these amazing stations. Today I'm still growing so I follow so many wonderful teacher blogs, I like so many teacher fb pages and I find so many amazing ideas from gifted teachers. My gift to my followers is to share those wonderful products. This is a product I purchased. It doesn't require colored ink (which I love) and will be awesome for my math stations. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Bags-for-1st-Grade-THE-COMPLETE-SET-30-Common-Core-Aligned-Math-Centers-749488. The other three products are free downloads. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Addition-and-Subtraction-Sandwich-Bag-Sliders-FREEBIE-1387860
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Personal-Word-Wall-File-Folder-FREEBIE-Editable-1394718 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Getting-to-Know-You-Back-to-School-Paper-Quizzers-Cootie-Catchers-FREE-263788 |
AuthorMy boys are so much fun. I wanted to share some photos of our summer fun. Archives
March 2023
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