Sunday Scoop

I made it through my first week! It was awesome, really. 7th graders are great and I am excited about the rest of the year.
Of course, every day I learn something new that I have to do - I am trying my best to keep up with it all.
I left school around 5:00 each day (keeping up with my goal! woohoo!) but I spent quite a few hours yesterday afternoon and today working on school stuff.
However, a lot of it is creating rubrics, setting up the reading response letter system, laminating vocab cards for the year...so I am thinking that it won't always be like this :) right? right.

Here are a few activities students completed this past week:

(Intsa-goal, Twitter Student Profile, and Reading/Writing Survey)

The first week at my school is all about procedures and expectations - so starting on Monday (tomorrow!) we will be getting down to business.

The first unit is all about plot, setting, and character. We will start our first whole-group short story (Seventh Grade by Gary Soto) and start diving into elements of plot.

One of my goals this weekend was to get a candy jar...I saw a few other Middle School teachers in my building had one, so I knew I needed one too :)

Starbursts - $4.00
Jar -$3.00 (at Marshall's!)
Bribing students with candy...priceless.

Really though, my plan for this is as an extra reward for students who have gone above and beyond. This week, I am offering a starburst to anyone who finds the latin root "lect" in a new word that we haven't discussed.

I am linking up with The Teaching Trio for this short and sweet (love this idea!) Sunday link-up.

Have a wonderful week!

Classroom Reveal/Currently

Tomorrow is the big day - my first day of school of my first year teaching!
After working really hard for the past two weeks, my classroom is finally done...I am ready to show it off!
My plan is to post more in detail about certain parts of my room once the year gets started...and once I figure out how well they work :)

But for now, here is what my 7th graders will see when they come in tomorrow morning:

Classroom curtain (no sew!!! I am going to post about it soon because I was so happy with how it turned out, and how easy it was)

Word Wall/Group Work table

(I am going to put up academic vocabulary throughout the year)

My favorite part of the room - my classroom library!

Each bin is organized by genre. I haven't marked the books individually...but I am hoping that my classroom librarians will help keep them in order for now :)

Neon Genre Posters!

I just LOVE these - definitely my favorite product I have made.

Find them on TpT here

Whiteboard with I can statement/schedule for the day

(The lefts side is 7th ELA, the right side is Creative Writing)

The bulletin board on the right of the whiteboard has clothespins for hanging up anchor charts

"Proud Wall"

The clothespins are for "exemplary student work" examples :)

Students are going to write affirmations to each other throughout the year - and may choose to post these on the Proud Wall.

View from my desk

More pictures/blogging to come :)

Thank you SO much to those sweet bloggers who commented on my last post about how to balance everything as a teacher. I am definitely planning to set limits/hours for myself this year so I don't go crazy. 

My rough plan is to arrive about 45 minutes before school starts, and stay until 5. But once I am home, I need to RELAX! I think that seems reasonable. 

I am linking up with Farley for September Currently (of course back to school is the #1 thing on my mind!)