No rest for the crazy!

We are back from ARUBA and I've spent every weekday getting my room ready for first grade friends.  We had our professional development days last Thursday and Friday and I knew there wouldn't be much time in the classroom so I needed as much done as possible before then.  Unfortunately, all that time setting up my new classroom has meant NO time getting lesson plans ready for the first couple weeks. :(  Don't worry my plans for next week are finally done!

We also had our Open House on Thursday where I got to meet 12 of my 22 firsties!  They were very excited about the guinea pigs and seemed to be great listeners while I quickly went through the G.O. Book, which I got from Michelle at Fabulous in First, with their grown ups.  And... two of my first grade team members will be using the G.O. Book this year also b/c they loved the idea when I showed them my example. I am excited about this b/c we can compare how its working in different classrooms with different groups of kids.

So, am I C-R-A-Z-Y to head into school today, on Labor Day, to finish up some last minute projects and have one last look at the classroom before the 1st day of school?  Here are the reasons why I have decided this is not soooo crazy:

1. The things I have left to do will be really quick and I have already done most of the work at home.

2.  I now have two guinea pigs, Vera and Janie, living in my classroom and I want to check on them over

     the long weekend.
3.  My hubby is coming along to see the progress.  (Ya know those scary pics I posted earlier..that's
     what he's seen so far.)
4.  I LOOOVE my job and it really doesn't feel like doing work on Labor Day anyways!

Finally...Here are the pics I will be using for my four Math Tray areas.  I use four different colored pocket charts with the pics and the student names in them and those colors match the Math Tray that those students will use for the day.  I didnt have a pic of the charts but they look like these from Lakeshore.  I use the blue, yellow, green, and red (I wish I had the purple and orange too!  Those are super cute!).  For my trays I took 4 old lunch trays from our high school cafeteria and wrapped them in duct tape in those four colors.  The activity I place on the tray is what those students will do that day. 

 

 These are the four areas where the students will go with their Math Tray activity.

Stay tuned for pics of the new guinea pigs!  For anyone starting school tomorrow like me, Good Luck and keep on smiling!  And for all of you heading back for another week, Keep up the good work!

<3- Mrs. Bushey