For the Love of Second Grade, Food, and Fitness: Back to Blogging

Hello blog world! Some of you may have noticed... I have taken a bit of a break from my blog this year. This was not on purpose at first, but became something I needed to do in my life. This new year, I made some goals for myself professionally and personally. I hung them up on my mirror in my bedroom so that I see them every day.

As you can see, some are personal and some professional. Basically, I decided this year that I needed to make time for the things that matter most in my life - My family and God. I know that some other teachers probably struggle with this too. The balance between doing what's best for your "school kids" and meeting other school demands/deadlines tied together with meeting the demands of YOUR LIFE! I really felt that pressure this year. I felt like I was not being a very good wife/ mom/ spiritual leader, and in turn, it wasn't making me a very good first grade teacher either! Funny how the more time and energy you spend on something, doesn't make a change! The change comes from within! Anyway, so long story short, I decided to take less time to blog about my teaching experiences, and spent that time on other things. The good news is... I feel as if I am renewed... rejuvenated!

Me at Oxford University!!

I recently just had the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Europe for 10 days with the Horatio Alger Association, and it helped to reset my mind, my body, my attitude, and... Just EVERYTHING! I am so humbled by the experience, and so thankful for what it has done for me mentally. I have never felt so ready for the school year to begin! Everything is sort-of falling into place in my life, and THAT is a good place to be my friends :)!

Getting Ready for year 10!

WHHHHHA? Yes, that's right. I am old enough to have double digits in my teaching career! I'm not mad about that! More wisdom my friends! This year is all about the books! Last year, our school was lucky enough to receive a HUGE amount of money from the local Methodist church. They decided to give us their ENTIRE Christmas Eve offering donation. Doesn't that give you chills? We received over $17,000 in a most generous donation! I am so thankful for their generosity!

We thought about what to do with that money, but it all boiled down to - BOOKS! Many Lincoln teachers have a pretty substantial classroom library, but we needed new titles, diverse titles, and just some fresh, new copies! I was so excited to make a list of books that I wanted for this school year (ANY BOOKS I WANT!) It was like Christmas! I ordered so many new titles and genres that I know my first graders will love this year!
Here are just a few...

But, with new things, comes lots of work! And that's exactly what I've been doing. I have been working long hours this week and last trying to get my new and improved classroom library ready for the new year. I have been organizing, printing labels, purging, labeling, measuring, labeling.... See a common theme here? :) I hope to share some of my techniques and ideas with you about how I decided to organize my classroom library (this time lol).

Classroom library Redo

I have taught 9 full years in first grade, and this will be the 4th time I have redone my classroom library in some way or another. My first year of teaching, I just gathered up any books anyone would give me and tried to put them into labeled tubs that were divided by genre.

2009 classroom library

The kids had no idea how to put them away, and by the end of the year, I had a huge mess! The next year, I moved classrooms and gained some new books. I kept the same topic bins, but just added labels to the books so the kids could put them away in the correct spot! (The only problem is that some of my kids can't read sooooo.....) Then my 4th year of teaching, I added a leveled library to go along side my interest library. This is when I started the "Number system". The number system is more like a number and color system. It works because even if the child cannot read the topic on the label, they can most-likely connect the color/ number combo to find the correct bin to return the book to. It worked for 6 years up until now! I am revamping the same combo with some new books and topics for my library! I am beyond excited!!!

2011 Classroom library

I have some color/ numbers and sticker labels with pictures so the kids can easily identify bins and put the books back. I have 62 topic/ character bins and 38 leveled library bins! Did I mention I used the book money to buy all new bins for the library too!? Aren't they sharp and pretty!? I printed the topic labels on regular address labels

Then, I printed the numbers on these cute little labels. I found these on Amazon. color coding dot labelhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K8JLV6Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There is a template you can download and then just put these babies right through the printer! It was easy!

Then, I just had to label the books!

WHY Leveled AND Interest?

Now seems like a good time to tell you my "WHY". Why choose a leveled library AND an interest library? What's the point? I have always been a firm believer in choice when it comes to children. If they don't like it, they won't do it. Period. Recently, I have felt a huge swing in the way reading instruction is given. We swung really hard in the direction of only giving kids "just-right" leveled books and limited them on their choices. I saw problems with this because kids were limited on what they could choose and what they could truly get excited about. I recently read a book called Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller. It really opened my eyes to some things and disservices teachers are doing to diminish the true love of reading. One of them is defining a child by a level. A child is so much more than a reading level, and if you define them that way, so will they. So, to answer my question, Why? TO GROW A CULTURE OF READERS WHO CHERISH AND LOVE LEARNING, READING, AND GROWING TOGETHER. We are all readers. It's time ALL kids know that! :)

In other news...

In other news, I just made a fresh new batch of flower pens! /classrom-design-matters-also-flower-pen.html. To see my post about classroom design and my flower pen tutorial!

I love them and they brighten up any room. They put smiles on the faces of writers :)! To read more about how I make them, check out my blog post

Here are some pics from my trip to Paris and London!