back in the game

I don't know about you but my Christmas break is officially over Monday. But it's been a good break! It's been restful and up until yesterday, I had pushed any thoughts of work off to the side. It seems I always have school things running through my head - things to do the next day, a new idea to try, something I may have forgotten to do that day - it never seems to stop. So being able to push "stop" for a week and a half has been nice. But I'm also excited about seeing my kiddos again and getting back into the swing of things. I popped in for a few minutes on Monday to put my room back together after it had been painted the last day before the break. I still don't have anything put back on my walls but furniture is back in its place as well as rearranging a few things...just to give my room a bit of a fresh look. I read a great post by Tara West that got my brain back into school-mode. I can't find the post at the moment but she gave a few ideas of how to make the transition back to school a bit easier. One thing she suggested was rearranging furniture...just to change things up. I don't have copies made and I have a long list of to-do but thankfully Monday is inservice so I will be a busy bee getting everything ready for my kiddos coming back on Tuesday! It's going to be a great second semester!

TPT sale!

I don't know about you, but I go back to school Monday. Kids come the following week so it gives us a week to prepare for a new year. I'm excited about it! This summer has been good and I know this school year will be good. If you haven't heard, Teachers Pay Teachers is having their Back to School sale August 3-4! I already have my cart ready :)

From top to bottom:

Back to School Social Stories Bundle 1 - there are six different bundles, with three stories in each. They cover EVERYTHING you would need to talk about with your kiddos! This bundle has stories about playground safety, walking in the hallways and cafeteria monitors.

BAT Book for Kinders - this is full of early finisher activities! I don't know if I'll use it right away but it has lots of good activities! Maybe a good enrichment idea as well.

Sight Word Fluency Readers - fluency readers to practice those sight words!

First Day of Kindergarten - lesson plans and routines for the first day

Good Morning Kindergarten Morning Work - morning work is that time when kiddos can work independently and get themselves together for the day. I want my morning work to be meaningful and I think this will help me do that. Plus it's a growing bundle so now is the time to buy!

Interactive Alphabet Books - I think I'll use these in small group and possibly intervention. A good resource for those kiddos that need extra practice.

Read Trace Glue and Draw - this is another growing bundle! It's good sight word and fluency practice.

what i'm reading

I want to always strive to grow as a professional and here are two books that I heard about through another blog. I finished The First Six Weeks of School this weekend - it's a great back-to-school read. It talks about the importance of using those first six weeks to practice routines and set your expectations for your classroom. You basically practice EVERYTHING (just like you model EVERYTHING) so your kiddos know exactly what to do. The authors say it's a bit tedious to spend so much time on this but that it pays off. As a first year teacher last year, I didn't go into great detail with this but now I know better :) The other book, The Morning Meeting Book I'm going to start next. It's hinted at in the other book but it's the process of taking time in the mornings to go over the daily morning message and just give your kiddos a "run down" of the day. At the beginning of the year, it's a time to practice greetings and showing students how to interact with each other. I'm excited to read it and be able to incorporate this into my classroom! You can click on both titles to find them on Amazon. 

back to school read alouds

I was at Target the other day and they have display with back to school books! There was more than just these titles but these are the ones I picked up. First Day Jitters is one of my favorites! It's super cute and I love the "twist" of it being the teacher who's nervous (spoiler alert). I think I might have read this to my kiddos last year since it was my first day of school too :)