New Year, New School, New Freebies!

Hey teacher friends! I've been going through some major upheavals throughout the past few months, and life is finally starting to settle down again. Since May, I left Japan to move back to the States, got married, bought a house with my new husband, and accepted a position as a first grade teacher in my local school district! I'm thrilled to find myself in first grade again after all the changes I've gone through recently. Starting the school year in a new place on short notice has been a bit daunting, but I've been blessed with friendly, collaborative coworkers. Here's a little glimpse into my life for the past two weeks!

My biggest focus lately has been classroom setup. I'm trying to keep things clean, organized, and simple from the get go. 

Alphabet Sound Chart and Matching Word Wall Labels Available Here

It's so important to establish rules, routines, and expectations during these first few weeks. On day 1, we read No, David by David Shannon, and made T-chart of things we DO at school, and things we DO NOT do at school. On day 2, we read Swimmy by Leo Lionni, and thought about the ways we work together at school. Then, we used these two stories to launch a discussion about respectful vs. disrespectful behaviors. We managed to boil our T-chart down to two rules:

1) Respect people (including yourself)
2) Respect materials

Next week, we're going to focus on Whole Body Listening. I've made a Google Slides presentation to lead a conversation about listening with ears, eyes, mouths, hands, and feet, and we'll make an anchor chart for referencing this lesson throughout the year!

Whole Body Listening Lesson

Whole Body Listening Lesson

Whole Body Listening Lesson

Whole Body Listening Lesson

Whole Body Listening Lesson

I've also added a new math freebie called Good Clues, Bad Clues to my store. It focuses on adding zero. 

Good Clues, Bad Blues FREEBIE available here!

Now that things have calmed down on the home front, I'll be getting back to my "First of the Month Freebies." In the meantime, enjoy this math game and b/d reversal posters! Happy teaching!

FREE b/d reversal posters available here!