First 3 weeks

The first 3 weeks of school have went blazing by at super speed! I apologize for the delay in posting. I am having blog issues with Blogger and our school Google accounts. I am still trying to figure out the glitches, but I hope to have the problem solved soon! I have 13 students: 7 girls and 6 boys. I cannot explain what a breeze grading and restroom breaks can be! I have never had a small class like this and I am grateful to have such a small class for one year! I do not have any parent helpers, so that is my biggest challenge. I guess I will be the one-woman show! I am trying to stay focused and organized in my free time in the classroom so everything can get accomplished. I am still behind on taking birthday pics for the birthday chart so my goal this week is to get that accomplished! This week, we have DIBELS and CBM Math testing. The following week will be DMA testing that I will administer. Last week, students were assessed on the computer for iStation (Reading program). All this data will help me to cater more differentiated instruction. How is your school year going?

More pics

Owl Calendar

Final Classroom Pics

Here are classrooms pics taken the day before school starts (today)! I have 13 students and very happy about having a small class for the very first time!

One week away!

The first official school day is one week away! Where did the summer go??! Teacher in-service begins later this week and Back to School Night will be Monday, August 20th. I currently have 12 students enrolled in my class, but I highly doubt it will stay at 12. I predict adding at least 1-2 more students before next Wednesday arrives. Either way, it will still be my smallest class ever! I am looking forward to more differentiation this year and more one-on-one interaction with my students! I am also excited about the new Bible curriculum we are starting this year. 12 years of the same old program starts to get old VERY fast! Stay tuned for finished pics and Back to School Night pics!

Classroom Pics

My classroom is not ready, but I am posting some progress! Tonight I worked on my large bulletin board where I display student work. I wanted to make an awesome tree, but decided to go simple.

I also worked on another bulletin board, made my classroom wish list (items parents can donate for our class), cleaned the top of my teacher desk, passed out workbooks on desks, and laminated a few items. The three hours went very fast. Here are a few more pics:

My birthday chart will not be completed until after the first day of school. Thanks to Pinterest, I am taking a photo of students who share the same birthday month while holding up the number of their birth date. I have a few posters to hang above these two items.

My classroom door

I made progress in my room! Thursday was the first day back in the classroom after the hallways and carpets were waxed and cleaned! My wonderful husband moved and arranged my student desks and then I got busy. I also went on Friday for a few hours since my husband had the day off and he could care for our kiddos. Here is a pic of my door:

I will be heading to my classroom this evening in hopes of getting my big owl bulletin board finished. I will post some pics as soon as it and my classroom is together! I have made major progress though and am starting to feel less stressed!

Waiting

Last Wednesday, I had to move my desks so that my classroom carpet could be cleaned which meant that I needed to get most of them on top of tables, etc. so that the maximum floor space could be cleaned. After carpet cleaning, our hallways would be stripped and waxed. When this happens, NO one can walk on them. So, my Back to School efforts are on hold until I get the "all clear" signal from the office. I am hoping to get into my classroom tomorrow or Thursday at the latest! I am so far behind and with school starting two weeks from tomorrow, the anxiety is starting to set in.

This is my new teacher bag which is PERFECT for my theme this year! I couldn't find an owl postcard to send to my class welcoming them to my class. However, I found a great stamp at Hobby Lobby and stamped an owl. Hopefully, I can get a LOT done later this week and will post classroom pics!!

Working in the classroom

Last week, I went into my classroom to assess what needed to be done and to take down the paper that stored and hid my stuff during the summer. Today, I hope to get a lot of laminating done and my classroom door decorated. Since I have two wild kiddos, I work in the evenings while my husband is home to care for them. I found a LOT of cute Owl decor at Michael's for $1 a piece and with my teacher's discount (20% entire purchase), I get a lot for less!! I will post some pics later in the week of the room progress!

Tell Me More

I'm linking up with Amy Lemons over at Step Into Second Grade for her Tell Me More, Tell Me More Linky Party. Here's some interesting (or boring, depends on what you like) facts about me: 1) I have two children with special-needs who I adopted through the foster system in my county. My husband and I brought them home from the hospital and they are full siblings.

2) I love to read when I have the time to do it! I love to read Christian and Amish fiction. Karen Kingsbury and Beverly Lewis are my favorite authors.

3) I have never been out of the country, but hope to in the future! 4) I teach second grade in a Christian school in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am starting my 13th year teaching second grade and it will be my 14th year of teaching overall. 5) I attending Miami University in Oxford, Ohio for my Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. Go Redskins/Redhawks!!

6) My husband Matt and I have been married for 14 years.

7) I live on a quiet dead-end street where a lot of my family lives. 8) I have had 3 surgeries this year with 2 of them during the school year. Yikes! 9) Currently, I will have 11 students this year (please don't hate me). However, that could easily change with a few more weeks before school starts. 10) My favorite teacher was my second grade teacher and now I am teaching second grade!

It's that time again...

I am having Back to School dreams which means only one thing....school is starting in less than a month! So, I am trying to figure out how to get to my classroom without bringing my wild kiddos. I usually go in the evenings when my husband is home. It's not exactly the most safe thing, but I usually lock myself into my classroom. Stayed tuned for some before, in-progress, and finished classroom set-up photos!!

My new school year theme is....

Don't you love owls?? I think they are great school mascots since they are supposed to be wise and clever and their vision is excellent! I just ordered a bulletin board set for owls and they are replacing my fairly worn out "stars" as our class theme this year. I also ordered owls for backpack hooks! Can ya tell I am a little bored from my recent surgery?? It's going to be quite a HOOT decorating for Back to School! What is your theme this year??

Standardized Testing Week

We have testing for the next 4 days. Since I teach an "even" grade level test, I do not have to give the Otis Lennon IQ test which means I have less tests to give. The SAT has 8 sections for second grade, so we do 2 sections per day for 4 days.

This year, I decided to do something different. Normally I allow students to chew gum or have hard candy, but I wanted to do something else. We did stretches before the first test and while we had a restroom break, we did jumping jacks, push ups, hops, windmills and splits before we started test #2.

Honestly, I saw a difference in focusing! This eliminated extra energy and they were calm as cucumbers while taking the reading vocabulary test! I will be doing this all week.

Pinterest

Pinterest is such an awesome tool for everyone....especially teachers! It is an online, virtual bulletin board in which you "pin" ideas onto various boards you have. The more you are on, the more boards you will definitely build! I have gotten a wealth of lesson plans, crafts and personal ideas from Pinterest.

If you are already on Pinterest, feel free to follow me (Jennifer Schmidt).

Have fun pinning!!

Blog Neglect

I have seriously neglected this blog! Wow! I am going to revamp it and add month by month resources I have found.

This week is Spring Break and I am mostly spending time with my children and relaxing.

We are gearing up for standardized testing in 2 weeks so the first week back will be reviewing all the material we have studied in Math and Language Arts so that all students will be able to rock the test!