Monday, August 24, 2015

From the mouthes of Firsties

Student: "Mrs. Rapp, I saw a tomato this weekend. It was medium sized." 

Me: "Wow, that's awesome. Where did you see it?" 

Student: "in my backyard. It was moving around." 

Me: "Oh so you and your family grow tomatoes I your backyard?" 

Student: (with a confused look on his face) "No we don't. The tomato just was there and it was rolling a tumbleweed." 

Me: "Oh, a tornado was in your backyard. Gotcha!........" 

The conversation went on. It just made me smile and I thought I'd pass a little joy on to you. 

Until next time, don't forget to be awesome. 

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Beginning, Middle, End

We've started working on retelling stories using- Beginning,Middle,End and the importance on sequencing so it makes sense. We read a familiar story, The 3 Little Pigs. Then retold it as a class. The next day we recalled the story and I gave them images from the story. They had to sequence them, recall the story to me, glue them in their journal and retell the story to a partner. 






Math Games!

I
Part Part Whole models with foam dice. Shake, roll, record, add. 

A classic, War... Or what we call the Greater Game. 

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Meet the Teacher Day



At our school have a little Strawberry Shortcake/Meet the Teacher Day, and today's the day. It only lasts an hour, from 2-3pm but I like to keep my door open a bit longer since we have to stay at school until 3:30 for sure anyway.

Here's a little peak of what I have for the kiddos to see when they walk in while their parents are completing their centers.

              Sign in and packet tables

   Some fun poems and jitter glitter. 


My husbands boss contacted me at the end of last year wanting to donate backpacks to my classroom. She bough them all Jansport backpacks, and designed a patch that says "The Rapp Pack. Team 6". My principal calls us The Rapp Pack, and we are Team 6. 

So that's it for this post! Hope you liked seeing my room and remember, 

Don't forget to be Awesome!

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Meet Mrs. Rapp Anchor Chart

So for the first day of school I know that in my experience, students love hearing all about their new teacher. So I found this idea anchor chart on Pinterest and recreated it for my classroom. I'm going to test their number knowledge (here come some word problems on the first day of school and they won't even realize) while they get to know  about me.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

New Shirt, New Year

Now, if you know me, you know that I have A LOT of school spirit. I mean, my school doesn't have a show your school spirit day by wearing school colors but my classroom does... every Friday.

ANYWAY, while scrolling through facebook I see an ad for some cute baseball style shirts for first grade teacher... oh Facebook you know me too well. Of course I clicked the link and ordered one. It came in a few days ago AND I LOVE IT! It is SO SO SO SO CUTE! I

I am thinking I'm either going to wear it to Meet the Teacher Night or the first day of school. I haven't decided.
I
Well I won't keep you waiting anymore, here's the shirt fresh out of the package (wrinkles and all).

Isn't it the cutest. It has my name, grade and school I teach at. LOVE IT!

 
I am blogging from my phone, but I will link the company for you when I get home. If you can see that lime green card with the white circle on it, that's the company.


Until next time, don't forget to be awesome!!!!

Teacher Deals

So a week or so ago, Staples was having an AMAZING sale on this great cart for the classroom. Regularly $190.99 was on sale for $49.99. I was so thankful for a new teacher friend for telling me about this that I turned around and shared it on facebook.

Well the cart came today and I put it together (the only bummer is it won't fit in my car so my husband and I have to make a trip to my school on a Saturday so we can use it truck to get it there).  It is amazing and well worth the money I paid for it. The cart is still available but it is now full price.


Here are a few photos of it all put together. It looks exactly like it is pictured on the website.

Sammy (left) and Pudge (right) "helping" me out. 


Here it is all finished. Yes it came with all 7 bins as well.

Oh yes and it also came with this pocket chart.


Until next time,
Don't forget to be awesome!


Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Periscope Teacher Tag

Have you been on Periscope? I just joined not too long ago and I love it. It's such a fun and interactive way to collaborate with teachers. I love it because the school district I work for only has one school grades K-8 and one teacher per grade level. Periscope gives me a chance to collaborate with other teachers at my grade level.

With that being said I watched a Periscope that Erica at Inspired Teacher did a fun Periscope Teacher Tag. I haven't gotten the nerve to actually do this on Periscope but I thought I would at least do it on the blog here.


General / Random
Name? Stacey
Birthday? Oct. 18th
Astrological Sign{Do you believe in this sort of stuff?}Libra, some of that description is totally me.
Where do you live? Central Coast of California
Right or left handed? Righty
Did you go on vacation this summer? If so, where? I went to Disneyland twice and the beach.
Have any pets?Yes, two pups.
This is Pudge. He's a yellow lab and is a total goofball. He love playing with his toys and pretending that he is a lapdog. He's a cuddler for sure. We got him from my life long friend that I've known since the day she was born. 

This is Sammy. He is the first dog my husband and I have had together. He's almost 8 years old and we just found out in Feb. that he has bone cancer in his left shoulder and there is nothing we can do. So we have him on anti-inflamatories and pain pills to keep him comfortable until it becomes too much. He is the BEST dog. We rescued him from a shelter and our lives were forever changed for the better. He has a old soul this dog. When he looks at you it's like he knows exactly what you are thinking. He's good around other dogs, adults and kids a like. Best.Dog.
Morning Person or Night Owl? Night Owl for sure.
If you could go anywhere, where would it be? HHMMM, Greece would be amazing as I'm Greek and there is some family over there I have never met.
What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a mom and a teacher (1 out of 2 things accomplished so far).
What can't you live without? My phone. I have no friends or family where I live now. So my phone/internet is my lifeline to them.

Favorites
Color? Turquoise, Yellow and Sage Green
Season? Winter
Type of weather? Partly cloudy/cloudy/chilly- love bundling up.
Sport/ Team? Hockey/LA Kings Football/49ers...nothing finer than a 49er.
Food? Greek food and sandwiches,
Genre of Music? A little of everything
Song? Longest Time-Billy Joel - This was the first nonkiddy song I sung when I was little "Whoa, longest time, whoa longest time", HA!
Movie?So many, Grease, 16 Candles, Breakfast Club, Peter Pan.....
Place? Disneyland, and the beach
Hobby?Scrapbooking, sewing, SHOPPING,
Book?The Giving Tree, I read it every single year the first week of school and no matter the grade level, we have some very meaningful conversation.
TV Show?Gilmore Girls
Scent?The Volcano Candle (it comes in a blue candle holder) from Anthropologie.

Teacher Questions
Where did you go to college? What is your degree in?California State University, Fresno / Elementary Education
Do You Blog? If so, what's your blog? Yes, Whole Heart Teaching
Do you sell on TPT? What's your store? No I don't but friends have told me I should.
What Grade do you teach? How long have you taught that grade? I teach first grade. This will be my fourth year teaching first grade. 2 years at the beginning of my career and this past school year.
How long have you taught all together? What grades have you taught? This will be my 10th year in education and I have taught grades K-3.
Do you have any goals for the 2015-2016 school year? To create a team, a family in my classroom. I strive for that every year and I have succeeded. It's so amazing how much more kids learn when they feel apart of the process.
What is your favorite subject to teach? It varies each year. Last year it was writing, the year before it was math, the year before it was reading. I think it depends on the set of kids I have I think.


Welp that's it. There is a little about me, If ya'll want to know more just ask. Post below your answers OR if you post it to your blog, leave the link so I can check it out!


Until next time, don't forget to be awesome!

The Pampered Teacher

So earlier this year I discovered a Teacher Subscription Box. It's called The Pampered Teacher.


 It's a fun little box you can get a quarterly subscription or order one box at a time. I contacted Pampered Teacher because I couldn't remember if I was just buying one box at a time or not. Cristin at Pampered Teacher got back to me right away and even offered me a code to use and give out. So I wanted to share it with you my teacher friends and parents lookin for a fun teacher gift. I'm not getting credit or earning anything free for this, just helping to spread the word. 


Here is the website and $2 off coupon code: 

pamperedteacher.com
Code: 2Stacey

Here's a photo of one of my two boxes. 


Monday, August 3, 2015

Back To School


So I've been working in my classroom for a while now just getting things made and put up in my room. My room is set up now for the most part. I planned this week as a week to work in my room everyday but I don't think I'll be needing to go in all that much. So I am very happy about that. 

Today I went into my room and got some things done and thought to take a few photos I wanted to share with ya'll.

My school building is old, we have no AC and not too much shade from the sun. This year I decided to make some curtains for my high windows. This will help block the heat, and it will also make the room dark enough for my projector/doc came appear more clear and vivid. As you will see the other side of my classroom is all windows.


Here's the other side of the room, lots of windows.



Here's a closer look at the counter from my wall of windows. I have book boxes for all of my students. They are upside down for now so they don't get dusty etc. until school starts. Each of the boxes have a cute monster with the students' numbers on them. I also have a marker tub system for extra markers just incase someone needs one. The Mickeys are actually popcorn buckets from Disneyland. I also have framed photos of me and my students that I have received as gifts throughout the years.





Sticking with the Monster's theme, I drew this Sully and I have him up behind my desk along with my super cute Mrs. Rapp pencil. Look closely... do you see the colorful Mickey heads (and there is one small black Mickey head as well).




You can't have Sully without Mike, so I drew him too and he's giving a thumbs up to all the excellent student work that will be displayed there.




Couldn't forget Mike and Sully's schoolmates, reminding everyone that Teamwork Works!




Here's our classroom library. I need to put out the rest of my books. We take part in AR, so my books are leveled to best help the kids find books that are a just right fit for them. I've got two AMAZING blue chairs (Big Joe is the brand. You can find them at Walmart), two body pillows and a few seat cushions. I have some cute battery operated lights over the bookshelf and reading area just to make the space a little extra cozy.


At the top of my bookcase I have one of my two Fancy Nancy dolls and a sweet sign about reading.







So here's my desk. The striped tablecloth is from IKEA a few years ago. I had turned it into curtains for an old classroom but now brightens up my old desk. I've got a cute tray from Hobby Lobby, and a great mug that has my class saying on it "Don't forget to be awesome!" that a co-worker saw and bought for me. In a red bucket stuffed some furry friends and a Monsters U mini bank a student in another classroom gave me last year.



As you can tell in what I mentioned and what you might see hidden around my room, I love Disney, so my room couldn't be complete without a little Disney magic on our front door. So here's the door decor I came up with for this year. My backdoor has some monsters on it with a welcome sign on it.


Welp there is a little peek into my classroom. I hope you liked it, because I liked sharing it with you. 


I'm going to end this the same way I end the school days with my kiddos by saying.....

Don't forget to be awesome! 





Hi I'm new!

Hi, I'm Stacey and I'm a first grade teacher. I LOVE what I do and I love to share. That leads me to why I started this blog. I work in a very small one school school district. There is one teacher per grade level. I don't have a team to collaborate with or bounce ideas off of, so I am very happy to have you and this blog to be my collaborative team. Welcome, comment, share and lets build a happy teacher blog family.