I'm a teacher! Now what?

After my excitement of getting hired wore off a little bit, lets be real it hasn't, but I still had to figured out what to do next when it comes to preparing for my classroom.

I have been following the districts steps like getting fingerprinted, signing billions of papers, and getting checked to confirm I'm not on drugs. But my own steps are as follows:

First, I researched the Sunshine State Standards.
I needed to know what I was teaching these little guys. These standards are the teacher's in Florida guide of what our little rugrats need to know by the end of the year. I found some very exciting things I would be teaching such as:
-vibrations of objects (like rubber bands) cause sound --- hello shoebox guitars!
-the food chain --- I remember making a large food chain around my classroom in elementary school and am excited to do the same with my students

Second, I researched my students.
How? I read this book:

I already owned the book (it's wonderful by the way) so I didn't need to read the entire thing. I just read the portion on 6 year olds; it talks about characteristics of six year olds including their skills psychically, cognitively, socially, and many more attributes. I found it very helpful to begin planning for my students to know where they would be when it comes to curriculum and what they would be able to do in the classroom. 

Did you know that these little guys thrive on encouragement and are uber competitive? They learn best through discovery and love asking questions. Well I didn't know that either but I do now!

I'm sure Google could also supply you with this knowledge if you don't want to purchase the book.

Third, I am researching classrooms and have been reading nonstop. 

I read blogs, lots and lots of blogs. I love that I can connect with 1st grade teachers all over the United States and even the world; I get great ideas from people I don't even know. Once you find one great teaching blog you can bounce around to that blogger's 'friends' and find more great ones. 

The con about blogs= OVERWHELMING! Many blogs display the best of the best classrooms and that is something I cannot live up to my first year so taking in all of the ideas and inspiration can be difficult. I sometimes browse for a while then give myself a break since my brain gets to full of ideas and I get too excited... somewhat like a puppy who gets so excited he pees all over.

Yup, thats me! Kind of, I just get too excited and overwhelmed I have to find something else to do (usually pack).

I have also been reading this book:

I love it so far & that says a lot coming from me. This book is also the size of a text book, like the size you could use to prop a door open with. With that being said there is a TON of information; some of which you probably know so you can skip, the rest you probably forgot about and could use the reminder, and you could learn some new things! 

And of course freshening up on Harry Wong's The First Day of School.

All teachers should read this, learn it, and embrace it. I have read it several times and I'm reading it again to make sure I follow his advice so I have a successful first day, first week, and first year!

Well that's all folks, all I'm going to share for now anyway. Everyone has their own ways of doing things and this is just mine. Be on the look out for more steps I've been taking to prepare as well as updates on the new apartment. ps. I have electric for the new place now!