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First Grade Teachers Chatboard

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by Mrs. R

May 5, 2012

Just found out after 11 years of teaching second I'm now going to start next year teaching first grade. Feeling excited and nervous. Is it a lot different? Any cute ideas, great books to read, lesson ideas, or must knows...Already thinking of next year.

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KathyB On 5/05/12, Mrs. R wrote: > Just found out after 11 years of teaching second I'm now > going to start next year teaching first grade. Feeling > excited and nervous. Is it a lot different? Any cute ideas, > great books to read, lesson ideas, or must knows...Already > thinking of next year.

I am retired now, but for years I mo...See MoreOn 5/05/12, Mrs. R wrote: > Just found out after 11 years of teaching second I'm now > going to start next year teaching first grade. Feeling > excited and nervous. Is it a lot different? Any cute ideas, > great books to read, lesson ideas, or must knows...Already > thinking of next year.

I am retired now, but for years I moved between teaching first grade or teaching a first-second split or teaching second grade, then going back to first grade for the next year. I loved it so much I was at that school 14 years out of my 36 year career. I could have transferred any year I wanted to, as there were 8 or more other elementary schools in my district, but I didn't want to leave. The year I left I was going through a life change with my children moving on to college. I needed a new challenge. I taught kindergarten for two years, then continued teaching first or second until I retired in two other buildings.

In First Grade I loved using the Junie B. Jones First Grade series for my class read aloud. I leveled all of my classroom library 0.5-0.9; 1.0-1.4; 1.5-1.9, etc. I would use colored dots on the spine and display the books in a bin with the cover facing out, if possible. I used pipe cleaners and index cards to label the bins. Often I kept Little Critter books, Clifford books, Frog and Toad books, or other series books together in the same bins, even if they were in different colored levels, as often they were in neighboring levels. (If not, then the bin can be moved to the floor easily and students can look over the selections. If you have unusable space under your magnetic whiteboard, then purchase long narrow flower boxes from plastic but come in white or terra cotta. (Blackboards can be painted in a magnetic paint, then painted over very lightly or sprayed in white. JUST BE SURE TO COVER EVERYTHING WELL.) I often had shower curtains hanging from windows or a private reading area. Fish, Frogs, Bees, etc. were my themes using titles like FISHING FOR A GOOD BOOK, or LEAP INTO READING or BUZZING INTO READING. You can buy shower curtains with clear pockets from Pottery Barn (or at least you used to be able to buy one froom there.) You could put anything in the little pockets, like owls, apples, bugs... you can't stop thinking! If I had alot of bullentin boards, then I would cover them in muslin, so I was NEVER changing the background, but constantly changing the laminated borders and laminated items and laminated lettering. My school had an Ellison letter cutter and the last year of teaching they bought a CRICUT machine with several teaching cartridges! Laminating keeps the items from not fading and reusable from year to year. If your school has an anthology, then that might determine some of your themes. (My district kept the anthologies from the past few years, but we switched to leveled readers with multiple copies.) Sometimes I used Science and Social Studies themes to change my bulletin boards, as it is often hard to find time for everything, so my nonfiction leveled libraries would bridge the gap.

I loved First Grade, but Second Grade was great, too, but for different reasons. My colleagues were very helpful every time I moved or changed grade levels. I must admit that every year of teaching First Grade I would cry for the first six weeks. My first year of teaching first grade was my seventh year of teaching, as I had been teaching Special Education. All of my past years were very helpful, as it gave me insight as to what the students had been taught in lower grades and what they were going to be expected to learn in upper grades. Their learning was a progression... where they started from and where they ended up. If progress wasn't being met, then I looked for other methods of learning the same thing or referred them for student assistance, which might/might not end them up in Special Education.

May 7, 2012

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1st I've only taught K and 1st. However, I'd imagine you need to realize that going down to 1st will be hard initially. They are not going to be independent like you are used to. Many will not be reading yet and that's what you will mainly be teaching. I guess it depends on your school and how prepared they come into school and if they've ever been to ...See More

May 7, 2012

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1st Clarification -- I didn't mean to say that you will mainly be teaching reading -- as in that's ALL you'll teach them. What I meant by that is -- during Reading Group time you will mainly be teaching them HOW to read and decode words. That's what I meant to say! :)

May 7, 2012

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maria I love the Robin Hill School series. Margaret McNamara is the author of this series. There are about 20 different books about Mrs. Connor's 1st grade classroom. My kids love these books and they are the perfect reading level for beginning 1st grade readers, as the books go on in the school year (Valentines, ST Pats etc.),the reading levels get high...See More

May 14, 2012

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Nik Just found out I will be teaching first grade next year also, I am teaching fourth right now. I am nervous too but I know I used to love teaching first grade. They are still eager to learn at that age.:-) I remember having to use picture clues and words associated with those picture clues. I also plan to use Spalding as part of my small group instr...See More

May 15, 2012

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