All the long hours, hard work and extra cash I have are in this room. Once again I had to recreate an environment for my students to learn and explore. It can take a lot to get first graders excited and keep them going through out the year. This group of students is a little different from my last few years of teaching. Many of the students are ELL (English Language Learners) and many are below grade level. I wanted to make the year extra special. I have lots of incentives and fun things planned for us to do. The first week of school my students completed "The Real Scoop On Me" papers. Each week one student is the "Super Scoop" and we learn all about him or her. The pizzas on the wall are our behavior management system. Students who receive warnings for behavior are asked to "eat a piece of pizza" or "remove a slice". The students decorated their pizzas with favorite toppings. I also have lots of books in the library area of our room. It is said by professional educators that a good estimate is to have 100 books for each child. That would mean I need 1,600. (I'm up to 16 students.) That's a lot of books. I think I have a good number of books, but there are always more to add to my collection. I really do enjoy children's literature. I think the library is my favorite part of the classroom.
