Back to school day 1 sans kids!

I have officially survived my 'first day back'.  Although we don't have students yet - it still means I have to wake up to an alarm clock, get dressed and go to work!  It was actually a great day and felt good to be back!  We always have a 4 day (Thursday-Sunday) teacher In-Service in August and this year we are receiving TRIBES training.  I tried to use some TRIBES activities in my classroom last year, but actually having the training is making me REALLY excited to use it a LOT in the upcoming year and create a *hopefully* great classroom community with a strong foundation!  I look forward to the next few days of learning!  Here are the four agreements that are honored in the TRIBES learning communities.  Great, yet basic and to the point rules to have in your classroom!  

We still have 3 days of training, parent meeting/open house and then the BIG DAY 1!  I know most of my kids from last year (I had them for 1st) or just from being in a small school, and I am super excited to watch them grow this year!  

Here are a couple other things I have been working on:

Whole Body Listening.  I got this from a co-worker and just added voices are silent - this should be great! 

I also am working on Our Class Promise and to help the kids, I have created this book to reiterate the ideas and also communicate them to parents!

Just a quick update...ready to sleep!  Rough days getting up early!  8 more days till sleeping in! =)

Daily 5

As the new school year approaches and I have been working hard on getting the CAFE and Daily 5 programs up and running for my classroom, I have been busily creating posters and such for these.  Here are some of the things I have created!  

*Please note - these are all ideas from The Cafe Book and The Daily 5 book.*

*Graphics and fonts courtesy of: 

Teaching In A Small Town

BaBa Puff

Kevin and Amanda

DJ Inkers

Scrappin' Doodles

KPM Doodles*

The Prep School

I am currently working at a Prep School in St. Kitts.  The school consists of Daycare through 8th grade and each classroom is a multiage room...Daycare/preschool, Pre-K/Kindergarden, 1st/2nd (that's where I am!), 3rd/4th, 5th/6th and 7th/8th.  Our classrooms are about 19-20' by 14-15' (with an anticipated addition slated to begin in September that will double the school/classroom sizes...right at the time I leave island!)  Having a small classroom is nice in that I have less to decorate, but I am discovering a lot  of great resources from my fellow blogging friends, and now enjoy decorating!  It also makes it hard to fit 14-16 children(and desks) and teach two curriculums...But the challenge makes it fun!

When I arrived in St. Kitts last year, I had about 4 days to prepare my classroom, get my self together and be ready to teach 1st and 2nd grades (note: I had only ever student taught in elementary school)!  What a challenge!  Luckily, about half way through the year, I discovered that there are tons of teachers out there that blog, and their resources are AMAZING!  They pretty much saved my life and gave me my motivation!

I have decided to try the blogging route and hope that I will be able to share and continue to learn from all of the amazing teachers I have found out there!

The Prep School runs year round..Since we are located on a Vet School campus and that is our purpose for being here, we run on their schedule.  Our school year runs from September through June with 15 weeks on (and 1 day off during those 15 weeks) and then 2-3 weeks off in between.  From June to August, we operate as a Summer Camp and that means, no summer off!  I have been spending a lot of late nights and long afternoons prepping and trying to prepare my classroom while it is still filled with kids!

So far, I am pretty happy with what I have accomplished decorating!  I am starting my year off with a Detective Theme.  Here is a picture of my bulletin board so far.

Right now, I am working on creating a first week (or two) Detective Packet that will contain a variety of activities like creating Our Class Promise, meeting and getting to know our teacher and classmates, school rules, and many other first week routines!  One activity students will be doing is creating a magnifying glass that will go onto the bulletin board!  The 'glass' will contain clues about that student, and when you lift the glass, there will be a picture of that student!  It will look like this!

I am also going to try to make a BIG deal about of reading this year, so I have found space in my room for a reading corner.  I got the idea of tracking reading from The Teacher Wife and have altered mine to Catch the Reading Bug!  I created this fun bulletin board (once I get the rest of my class list, I will fill in my missing jars!) and then blew the bugs up and posted them on the wall!  My *amazing* summer intern made 25 small pillows for me which will go on the floor and I am going to get a lamp, some christmas lights, a small rug and make a fun 'buggy' reading corner for the kids!

I have a bunch of small bugs (the sames ones as the border
that will go inside the jars when they have reached 100 minutes!)

This is still a work in progress! 

Here are some other areas in my room - once it is kid free and the school cleaning is all done, I can get some more finalized pictures!

Thanks to Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemon's for the great clock labels! 

Our 'small' calendar, jobs and schedule area...
And our HWT (handwriting without tears)
numbers! 

I plan to have a popsicle stick with each students picture
to put behind their job each week!

One section of my shelves containing all my
Guided Reading Books! 

Some great reading strategies I found on TPT! 

I also decided that I wanted to get away from 'Rules' and am going with a Class Promise that the students will help to create during the first week!

Our School Mascot is the Turtle and we live in a tropical place,
so when I found these great tropical turtle graphics,
I thought they'd go great as a little decor with our promise!  I created a bunch of
circles like the first one that will go in the blank spaces!

Happy New School Year and a new blog adventure!  

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Leann and I live in St. Kitts, which is a little island located in the Eastern Caribbean. Why am I here, you ask?! Well...my husband, Brayton, is currently a student at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. So while he's in class all day preparing to become a veterinarian, I stay busy teaching and exploring our new island home.

RUSVM Preparatory School, where I teach, is located on the main campus, and is available to students, professors, as well as others who work and live on the island long-term. It's a high quality school with exceptional standards and high expectations. I feel proud to be a part of it!

In addition, I just hit my three year mark of teaching (yay!). The first two and a half years were as a middle school resource room teacher in upstate NY. This year I have been teaching a multi-age class of first and second graders here in St. Kitts! What a change, right? It has been a great experience, and I've learned so much. We are really loving our latest life adventures—both the challenges and successes—that have been brought into our lives. We look forward to another two years here!