Okay, so today I was in my room around 5:00.  There was a power surge.  The lights flashed.  The air conditioner went off.  The TV in the hallway started blaring.  So, I got my step ladder to turn off the TV.  As I came back into my class, I thought, "Hmm, a power surge made my projector stop working.  I wonder if it would make it start again."  So I took my ladder to the projector and wiggled the cord then turned it off and back on.  I saw a flicker of light where the power light used to be lit.  So I wiggled the cord and made sure it was all the way plugged in.  This time, there was a full red light by the power button.  When I pressed the power button, the "fried" projector actually worked!  Too bad the computer guy doesn't.  Last week he took the projector and pronounced it DEAD!  Maybe the power surge jump started it.  I hope that it is still working in the morning. Five weeks without a board is way too long to have to teach on a chart tablet.

Meet and Greet

Today was Meet and Greet at our school.  21 of my 23 students or their parents came to meet me.  Most of them brought their supplies!  That means that I'll have a lot of work to do tomorrow.

It seems like I'll have a lot of parental involvement this year.  A couple want their children challenged more this year.   I am looking forward to another GREAT year.

How does your class look this year?

I just found the cutest activity for the first day of school.  Anna at Simply Skilled in Second has these wonderful flip flap books.  Today she has an "I Love to Read" version for FREE!  Get your own by following the link below.


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Love-to-Read-Flip-Flap-Book-792371

Okay, so it's just a little over a week left before school starts.  My room is pretty close to being ready.  The desks are set up and the books are handed out.  I just need to put a few unfiled items away.

I won't get my class list until two days before school starts.  That's when we have Meet and Greet.  The students are supposed to bring their supplies on that day.  They get to meet their new teacher and some come to visit their old teachers.  I'm going to go to look for cute ideas to thank the parents for coming.

School has been out for a week.  I have been enjoying the company of my two nieces.  That doesn't leave a lot of time for creating.  However, I have had a few minutes to finalize a few learning games. 

I've finally decided to try to share my creations.  I now have a Teacher's Notebook account.  The account name is Just Teaching 2nd, just like this blog.  I'm still not sure what the direct link is.  I also haven't had time to upload any products.  I think that I will try to do that now, so I'll post more later.

Love my Students

Today started with a bang...of thunder.  Thankfully I don't have a small car because I wouldn't have been able to get out of my driveway.  Within 30 minutes, the street was flooded to the top of the curbs.  7 students were absent.  When one student came in later, she told me that they had overslept because the power was out.

As I was monitoring the class across the hall since the teacher was late, I told my class,  "Y'all can work in your math book."  Student I says, "Thank you, Ms. Justi."  When I asked why he was thanking me, he replied, "For letting us do math.". I'm really going to miss thIs class.

I started to create Fan and Pick cards for all of the reading stories from our reading series.  That's 30 stories!  I wanted to make 10 question cards for each story.  Maybe I was a little too ambitious.  Searching for clip art to match was my biggest obstacle. 

It only took about an hour for each story to type the questions and answers and to add the clip art.  Once I started, I didn't want to stop, so I worked through the night.  Whew!  (I knew I could take a nap today, if necessary.)

I still have a few questions to create and a few answers to verify.  Since this is only my second year teaching the stories, I am not totally familiar with them all.  I didn't think to bring a book home with me and the links that I have to the online editions weren't cooperating., but I am mostly finished.  Yay!