One Week down...Ready, Set, YOU BET!!

We had a fantastic first week of first grade. We read some great books and played some fun games and with this little group of AWESOME kids, we started our Guided Reading Work and math rotations. They are a hard working bunch of kids and I am SO glad that I get to be their teacher.

This year we are really going to be focusing on the 7 Habits...and we have already found ways to Be Proactive (choosing our attitude about new friends and no outdoor recess since the Texas weather is not cooperating with us!), Beginning with the End in Mind (setting goals for becoming stronger readers, reading books like Wolf! and Oh How I Wish I could Read), using Synergy (for many of the getting to know each other activities and by reading books like The Crayon Box That Talked), putting 1st things 1st (learning our schedule, setting up our desks and folders so they are organized and ready for learning to happen, making our class agreements with the help of the book Miss Nelson is Missing) and also learning about why it is so important to seek first to understand and then to be understood...we still have a few more habits to think about next week and then we will go into each one more deeply to try and get REALLY good at each one. That way we can all be leaders at Glen Oaks.

PHEW...if you have a child in first grade...you know how tired they were by the end of this first week of school...their teachers were too...but we have rested this weekend, spent time with our families and friends and gotten to the grocery store...all in an effort to Sharpen the Saw and be READY to GO for week two!!

Start Blogging...NOW! WHAT?!?

Now, what??  Now!??? WHAT??

The Blogger is prompting me with an orange arrow...saying, "Start Blogging" like if I click it, a blog that is good and important and helpful...will magically appear!

Why do I even want to blog?

I am a busy mom. I am a busy wife. I am a (sometimes) busy housekeeper.  I am a busy teacher. I am a busy dieter. I am a busy scrapbooker... (All in whatever order my to-do list is written in...I am busy at it. So, why? Why add another busy?

I think that having been a teacher, both pre- and post- being a mom, has made me ultra-sensitive to the parents who want a view into their kids life. I want to give the parents of my students an easier way to see what their kids are talking about; pictures of the classroom (the centers, the books, the games), samples of their work, ideas and articles to help all of us prepare these kids for the world they will grow into. We all want to make the best for the children in our homes, the ones we tuck in each night, and worry about each day. I want to do that too for my own two boys, but I also want to make a difference for each child that walks into room F103. ...and if adding one more busy to my to do list will help...?!? Then I will give it a shot! Stay tuned...

The school year is about to get underway and that means, my to do list is long and complicated...and BUSY! (But I thrive on busy...so what is one more thing on the list?!)