Our Number of The Day Routine {AKA- One Proud Teacher!}

So yeah.  It's been about 6 weeks that I've been back in the classroom and this little blog has been neglected as I've been adjusting to being a teacher again.

Can I just say that I love it?  And how much I missed being in the classroom?

I loved being a principal too... but nothing beats having your own little group of tiny humans to connect with and love.

We complete a daily number routine that helps us build our math thinking skills and our automaticity.  I've been noticing lately how AMAZING my kiddos have gotten at understanding how numbers work and I had to come on and brag...

Don't mind the messy handwriting, but check out their subtraction sentences from yesterday... and remember, these are FIRST GRADERS!

A friend had something similar in her classroom at my previous school and so I created this and sent the file off to Office Max, where they posterized it and laminated it for me!  We just use a Vis-a-Vis marker and wipe it off at the end of each day.

We go through this routine every morning as part of our daily calendar activities.  We can get all of this done in less than 8 minutes now and I love hearing their confidence grow each day as their math fluency grows!

You want to print this out at Office Max too?  Just save the image below and upload to their site.  Mine is the 24" x 36" poster and here it is hanging from my easel to give you some perspective on its size:

Open this and save it to use to make your own Number of the Day poster!

Have a great rest of the week!

My BIG News...

So.

It's been a while on this blog.

As a building principal, I didn't have too much to blog about.  You surely didn't want to hear my stories about Kindergarten lunch, or a student who was having a rough day, or that awesome classroom observation I did.

But, I have BIG news.

This blog is about to come back to life.

Because...

I have decided that I miss being a TEACHER, so I'm going back to the classroom!

Yesterday was my last day in the principal's office.

After a tearful day and some silent moments in my office, by myself, at the end of the day, I closed the door on that chapter, literally, and left the school district that has been my home for the last seven years.  It was a bittersweet day.  Leaving the friends, students, and memories behind wasn't easy.  BUT... my heart has been calling me back to the classroom for a while and, when I got an opportunity to teach less than 10 miles from my home, I could not pass it up.

So, starting Monday, I'm teaching FIRST GRADE!

It's been a crazy week trying to get the room ready while wrapping up things in the principal's office.  But, it's done and I'm in love with my classroom.

Want to take a peek?

Come on in!

Gotta do Brag Tags!  I loved these when I was teaching before, so this was one of my first projects when I got this new job.

Here's the view from behind my desk!

Small group table...

View from the back...

View of the front!  We'll be doing a math routine daily.  After seeing a teacher friend with a similar poster, I knew I needed one for my firsties.  So, I created this and the good folks at Office Ma blew it up for me!

Side view...

Dollar Tree for the win with these book boxes!

Of course... D5!

And my favorite spot in the room... the library/rug area.  I do SO much teaching back here and am simply in love with my new rug from Way Fair!

Get ready for new posts, freebies, and TpT creations... teacher Bainbridge is back... and I am ready to go!

Valentine Bulletin Board- Freebie!

This is an oldie, but a goodie... from my last year in the classroom!

Just click the picture to download!