Meet the Teacher

"Mrs. T. Johnson" doesn't always wear a hard hat. Just for emphasis. And tonight was a night for emphasis. It was Meet the Teacher night at Reed Elementary.

The theme for my classroom has been "Building the Future" for three years now. It just works for me.

Here's a glimpse of what you missed if you weren't able to come to Meet the Teacher night.

Work hard. Be Nice. Simple motto. You can't get much plainer than that.

My mom found the alphabet cards above the windows this summer at a garage sale. The pictures are all tools and I'm loving them.

Each student gets a hard hat and a nail apron to wear on the first day and on lots of other occasions throughout the year. For the first day of school the nail aprons are filled with name tags, pencils from Ace Hardware, tape measures, M&M's and a bookmarker. Laying them out for all to see tonight was for emphasis too. (Everybody wants to come to school now.)

Mr. Johnson will come to school on Friday this week. He is going to help us build a house! (A kid-sized house for the classroom.) I'm so glad he's mine.

The kitchen was a big hit tonight too. The kids will get to play in it when they have personal time. The boys and girls love, love, love playing restaurant or house together when their work is completed.

Our school adopted Saxon Math this year (yay) so our Math Meeting area is decked out and ready to go.

Our entry way.

Centers will be set up on this green cart. Each day a "Site Manager" from each table will go get a tub with specific activities in it and take it back to his crew of 5 or 6 others. I'll be reading with students individually while centers go on.

We take Accelerated Reader tests here. Usually we don't start doing those until second semester.

These two long tables of desks will be four smaller ones next week. Each will be a "crew" of workers.

Something new this year will be "The Store". Since we have a work theme the workers will be paid on the 1st and 15th of each month. They'll receive a check with a detailed stub. A certain amount of "money" will be paid to them for returning homework, arriving on time, etc. Then my workers will be allowed to spend their checks at my classroom store, which is full of all kinds of things kids love, like toys and snacks and school supplies. "The Store" is the red polka dot dresser in the entry way.

I'm looking forward to a wonderful year of learning with my new students.