A Little Walk Down Memory Lane and a FREEBIE

Well as you can see, it's been awhile since I've been active on this little blog. Each time I get really ambitious and plan to share something amazing, life gets in the way. :)

I had extremely high hopes of continuing to blog last year and was VERY surprised to find out I was pregnant again. So now I've got to littles 2 and under and am back in the classroom doing what I love. 

 

I realized after taking a break, that I've never really explained the meaning behind my blog name. I thought since I was jumping back on after all of this time, it was a good segway into all the sharing I'm planning to do soon.

STEPPIN' UP TO FIRST GRADE....

Well back in 2010 (I KNOW, I can't believe it was really that long ago!!), I was a new teacher, eager to learn and implement as many good ideas as I could get my hands on. I became obsessed with Cara Carrol at the First Grade Parade and Abby Mullens from the Inspired Apple. 
I loved how they made learning fun, challenging and most of all I was so inspired by their passion and excellent teacher resources. I aspired to be just like them. So, I decided to start this little blog to document my teaching journey and capture the snapshots of successful learning moments. 

As I was thinking about the name and racking my brain to come up with something original, an event that we participated in at our school kept coming to mind.

Each year, our school would do "Step Up Day." This was a fun way for the students in each grade to step up into the next grade level and "test it out". Since I started out teaching a kinder/first combo, in some ways it always felt like Step Up Day, thus the idea formed and my blog came into fruition. 

Here's a little sneak peak into what "Step Up Day" looks like when preschoolers come "Step Up" into my kinder class.
Since none of the other classes participated in Step Up Day, my current kinders stayed with me and helped buddy up with the preschoolers and set an example for them. It was really sweet to see them trying so hard to do a good job. *We always do "Step Up Day" during our spring semester when my kinders have matured and can do a good job helping. :)

Depending on the amount of time we have and how large the group is, we may start with a brain break to get everyone's wiggles out before we sit still.

Last year, our preschool wanted to send me 20 kiddos {a big group}, so we decided to split our Step Up Day into two mornings. 
The pre-k kiddos joined us for a little more than an hour. 

I decided to read a story, color and trace letters then share a treat at the end of our time. *It's always a good idea with littles to give them something sweet to remember how fun your classroom is, this way they want to keep coming back. ;)

I choose the books "If You Give A Cat A Cupcake" and "If You Give A Dog A Doughnut" by Laura Numeroff, mostly because of how predictable the writing pattern is (which kids always love), but also because I could make treats that matched our theme.

So here is the schedule I followed:

11am- Read Story (after the story ask lots of questions)

11:10am- Model writing a letter C (or letter D for dog)- then explain how they were going to trace their letters on the page I'd provide. 

11:20am-Get everyone settled at the tables working with their buddies. Tell the kinder to help the pre-k kiddos. When they finish tracing their letter C, give them a coloring page to accompany.

11:40am-When things are winding down, have everyone clean up and get ready for a treat. Pass out the cupcakes (or doughnuts) and ask the kids to share with their partner their favorite part of the story. Then ask them to raise their hand and share what their partner said.

11:50am-Start cleaning up and get ready to send the pre-k kiddos back to their classroom. 

 Feel Free To Grab a FREE coloring page HERE

I'm BACK! Classroom Reveal & a FREEBIE

Goodness gracious it has been WAY too long! I hope you had an amazing summer. I have been eagerly awaiting the time I could hop back on my blog and fill you in on all of my new happenings.  As you may know, I had a baby last year and it has taken awhile to get adjusted to our new normal.  I have absolutely loved becoming a Mama and learning how to slow down and enjoy life with my little guy, but now school is back in session and I couldn't be more excited to show you what I worked on all...summer....long!

(my reason for not blogging- isn't that face scrumptious! I mean c'mon, I just can't handle those cheeks!)

Last spring I accepted a new job as a kindergarten teacher (that's right- a single grade!! I feel like I've died and gone to heaven). I am now teaching kindergarten half days (I'm teaching in the morning and my partner teacher is there in the afternoons). This gives me just the right balance of doing what I love: teaching kinder and snuggling my little one at home.  I am one happy lady!
So, as soon as I found out I would be teaching kinder, I got on Pinterest ASAP and started planning out the design for my new room.  It took me all summer, but I finally feel ready to share it with you. So here we go,

Drum roll please....

 Here is a close up of my desk area. I got the pink tassels at target. The bunting is from Amy Grosebeck's unit. You can grab it HERE

<<< Our cozy reading nook. We have already started using it during read to self time and the kiddos love lounging on the benches while they read.

Our reading buddies >>>
I haven't introduced them yet this year, but I know the kids are gonna LOVE partner reading with their favorite characters! 

Here's a little close up of our number "feature board"

This helps my students gain a really solid understanding of number concepts throughout the year. Feel free to download yourself a FREEBIE

 This is a close up of our cubbies. I found this awesome idea on pinterest a few years ago. Put the students names on clips so you can move them around. This really helps me since I always put my students names in ABC order ;)

 <<<This is our writing wall. I plan to put up student work once we get into the swing of things. Also it's a little hard to see, but the other board is for "selfies". I plan to have the students complete monthly self portraits and we will add them to the wall. I can't wait to see how they progress throughout the year!

And last but not least, I wanted to give you a close up of my favorite bulletin board!

I got the idea from Pinterest, but I added my own spin.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'll be posting later in the week all about our kinder orientation and back to school night.

Until next time!

Maternity Leave, Pregnancy Recap & Nursery Reveal!

Well, it's official! I am finally on maternity leave and to be quite honest I don't know what to do with myself. 

They say right before women give birth, they either have a big surge of energy or feel really tired. I think I've fallen into the first category.  If you're anything like me, you enjoy making checklists and even more, checking the items off once each task is completed. For months I've had a giant list in my head of things I felt I "needed" to accomplish before my baby arrived. As that list has gotten smaller and smaller, it has started to sink in, that this is REALLY happening. Hopefully in just a few days time, we will get to meet our little bundle and our world will be turned upside down.

In preparation for our son's birth, I want to check one more thing off my list. I thought it would be fun to take a little break from educational blogging and share something personal. 

Here is a fun little recap of my pregnancy journey and the highlights along the way:

Chalkboard Pregnancy Milestones

I found these awesome chalkboard templates on Etsy designed by SweetBeeCreates.

I have loved using these by-weekly updates to keep track of my growing belly.

Best Baby Shower EVER!

I have to say that I've got the most amazing friends! I was completely blown away by how incredible my shower was. I was in pinterest heaven! My friend Joanna hosted and spent countless hours pouring over all the details.

Here is just a little peak at all the amazing stuff she created:

Photo Booth Area

 

Sweet Treats 
Can I just mention that she made these airplane pops by hand!!

Savory & Scrumptious Snacks

How cute is that? I love that the food matched some of my favorite children's books.

Also, these were the favor boxes. Each guest got to take home their own "suitcase" filled with fun goodies. 

They were absolutely incredible!

Maternity Photo Shoot

A friend of mine {Shelby Clark} recently started a photography business. I fell in love with her style and wanted her to capture my baby bump.

I love how she used warm lighting to capture each image. You can check out her full portfolio on her website. 

 
































Nursery Reveal

People have asked me what my theme is and the best I can come up with is Aztec modern print with a  touch of a camping theme. Not sure if that makes any sense, but I'm pretty happy with the end results!

This is probably my favorite part of the whole nursery. I LOVE our gallery wall.

I found the prints on Etsy created by Zoom Boone Creations, the marquee letter B from Michaels and the white ceramic organizer from Ikea.

I absolutely love our little book nook. Being a teacher, I couldn't help but stock up on a ton of classics. Our little dude is gonna be quite well read.

Getting organized

One of my favorite things is to put labels on bins. I'm pretty sure it's the teacher in me, but naturally when it was time to get the nursery all set up, I couldn't help but slap on a label to anything standing still.

Here is how I organized all our stuff:

I'm sure these labels will change as our son grows and his needs vary (but that's why I chose chalkboard, it's easy to wipe off and re-write).

 Call me crazy, but I plan on cloth diapering. Since it will be new to me, I've decided to give myself about a month before taking on that new learning curve. We've got our stash of disposable diapers on the left and all the size small (8lbs-13lbs) cloth diapers on the right.

The bottom two bins are filled with clothes. The best way I could think to organize them was by style- going out or staying home. Clothes in the bin labeled "Fancy Duds" will be reserved for special outings (church, doctors apt. etc), and the ones in the bin on the right labeled "Dressin Down" are the casual clothes he can poop and spit up on at home. 

Lastly, I was incredibly blessed by the generosity of several friends who shared their sons hand me downs and helped me get stocked up for our little dude. 

Since it was a little overwhelming sorting through all the clothes, I decided it would be easier to sort them by size and of course add a laminated label to each bin :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I think the next time you'll be hearing from me, I will have my little bundle of joy!