Are you ready for 1st grade?

Meet Your Teacher Day is just about the best day ever! I got to meet 17 of the 18 new Wright's Rippers and boy, oh boy is it going to be a year! Just look at these smiles when I ask them to pose with mom and even grandma.  

 I also got to see families and firsties all grown up.  It makes my heart so happy to steal a hug and a quick "Wow, you sure have grown!" or "Man I feel old."  The hour and a half seems to breeze right by and before you know it it is lunchtime and everyone has to say good-bye until Monday.  I thought I would share a few quick photos to spread the excitement. 

 I can't wait to fill this room with learning and the pure joy of reading! oh and MATH I love math! oh and Science too!

Did you know Ron Clark is my #edhero and so is Hope King!  I can't wait to put these lifeskills into action.

This board is still under construction but if you look closely you will see my #1 my hubby Tim! My #2 & #3 Kaile and Carson the loves of my life, FSU-of course Go NOLES! Even a photo with Bobby Bowden, Phi Mu-love, honor, & truth, and my #edheros Ron Clark, Kim Bearden, Junior from RCA and yes Coach Carter. Love some inspiration right there when I look up from my laptop.

 My brand spankin new SitSpots are ready for where the magic happens.  I can't wait to try these out!

Oh there are going to be some favorites made here...the Pigeon, Pete the Cat, Junie B. Jones, Skippyjon Jones, Dr. Seuss, oh the list goes on and on...

 After spending 8 years in my last room I didn't think I would get it all out and set up by now but low and behold I did and it might still be a work in progress...You will have to check back often to see the amazing adventures of Wright's Rippers and all that they have to show the world.  I hope I can sleep tomorrow night just waiting for Monday morning.

GO Otters 2015

My promise this year is to blog more and work on those oh so important relationships.  I try to inform my parents and let them be a part of our class and the firsties love seeing all their efforts on the internet.  What about the teachers out there? How can I connect and collaborate the amazing things happening at CCE? My mission will keep me busy so check back often and please share, subscribe, and tweet away...

I was blessed to spend time with my family and really relax this summer.  Am I ready to go back? OF COURSE I am! I love the schedule of it all and a new beginning with a fresh group of firstie friends is an added bonus.  This year our daughter starts high school as a freshman and our son will enter the 7th grade.  Where did the time go? More on that throughout the year.

Today was our 1st day back as teachers and Dr. L and Mrs. Pitchford threw the bash of all bashes! We enjoyed breakfast at a local country club and wait let me let you check out this short promo video and you count the smiles.


Wasn't that awesome Go Otters 2015! I will have to share my favorite photo that didn't make the video-it ran so fast and this photo needs a stand alone...

You should have seen the line of teachers and staff waiting to join the PTA. Our President Renee is in the middle taking papers & money and handing out raffle tickets.  Our mission is to have 100% teacher & staff membership and I will have to say we are off to the best start in years.  Way to go PTA! Oh and wait did I forget to mention they put $40 in each teacher's account to help with class needs. Well worth my PTA membership and I can't wait for the 1st Spirit Night.

This year is going to be amazing. I am going to run all year and make it the best one yet. I have BIG plans with technology, inspiring them to be the best people they can be, and share our world through Twitter & Instagram and Periscope...stay tuned...#grateful

#infopics what are they?

Of course @tonyvincent is an #edhero for me!  I was so lucky to attend Miami Device in Coconut Grove, FL and got to meet him, of course a selfie...

After listening to his podcast on iTunes I thought sure why not teach my friends to pull out nonfiction information and make an #infopic in Pic Collage.  We were reading about penguins and kids chose apps to showcase information. 

Here is a video of student work.  Not bad for 1st timers.

Life Skills for a Lifetime

Over the years we came to focus on Life Skills.  Skills you would need to learn, model, and carry forth to be productive members of society.  We had inspirational posters made thanks to our photo company of our very own students demonstrating those life skills in every day situations.  Thanks to Mrs. Walker, who would not want anyone to know she was the behind the scenes designer, kids from all grade levels throughout Cypress Creek will have their photos up in the hallway reminding us of the the little things we need to keep in mind to be a good friend, child, sibling, and student.  I happen to love the perseverance poster the most since my little Carson is one playing the trombone in the photo.  Thanks Mrs. Walker and the photo company.  Just love this and all it represents.

Have you been to bingobaker.com?

QR codes are so much fun and the kids love, love, love them.  Our county had us test and level students for SIPPS phonics instruction across the grade level this year.  There are a number of sight words for students to master that seems to be more than in years past.  Have a few moments why not play BINGO?!? Who doesn't love a good game of BINGO...ah my first friends LOVE playing BINGO.  Thanks to Tony Vincent over at learninginhand.com and his FABULOUS podcasts I learned about https://bingobaker.com You can program words on the board and then generate boards and calling lists by simply pressing the yellow generate button at the bottom.  Better yet take the web address and create a QR code to put on display for the class to play whenever.  I made many different boards according to the high frequency words the friends needed to know and a QR code for each.  When I want to play a list I pull up the QR code and then can scan and we can get going fairly quickly.  They love it!

CCE Teacher of the Year Michelle Larrimore

This post has been swimming around in my head and heart for some time. Each year I like to write about Cypress Creek Elementary's Teacher of the Year.  Our faculty gets together to nominate and chose a teacher to represent our school at the county Teacher of the Year banquet.  Well this year I have the pleasure of writing about a fellow teammate, Michelle Larrimore.

Their smiles tell it all, the kids love Mrs. Larrimore.  Michelle has dedicated the last 17 years to Volusia County Schools and all in 1st grade.  She has a talent I tell you.  Eight years we opened the school together and I had the pleasure of being her son's 1st grade teacher.  Michelle has been our team leader for the past few years and works hard to keep us informed on on top of things, did I mention how very organized she is? Thank goodness because I know you have seen my room.  She is very humble and does not like to draw attention to herself, especially pictures.  Well for her day she was such trooper and smiled in every one.  We celebrated her all day and grade levels made basket presentations to her with some of her favorite things.  She loves chocolate, McDonald's sweet tea, being a dance mom, watching her son race, taking pictures, and going to the beach for family time.  The baskets got bigger and bigger and delivered during each grade level's special area time.  What a day to celebrate our Teacher of the Year.  She enjoyed the day off for the banquet as a day for herself. Our team is the best thanks to Michelle Larrimore!  Congratulations on Teacher of the Year, an honor indeed.

Here our team sits with Cypress Creek Elementary's Teacher of the Year Mrs. Michelle Larrimore!

THANK YOU :) Florida Education Association-Retired We are a Grant Winner!

How happy do these children look? They are absolutely loving the new Lakeshore headphones we were able to purchase thanks to Florida Education Association-Retired through a grant we were awarded.

This year my mission was to really integrate technology into our daily routine.  I researched, talked to important people, attended conferences, collaborated with teachers, and used TWITTER like no other year before and it has changed my teaching.

Our district invested in Reading a to z and anyone that has used it knows the power it can be for a young reader.  You can listen to, read, record, and answer comprehension questions.  What do you do when you don't have enough headphones and you can hear others in the background?

Well Florida Education Association-Retired offered a grant for needed classroom materials and I made sure to advocate for my friends.  Who would have know they would have picked our grant out of all the entries.  We were so excited to get the news and order those headphones.  

My friends and I agree they make a world of difference in the classroom.  We are able to listen to information on the internet, record ourselves in apps, and practice our prosody as we get to be better readers.  I can't thank Florida Education Association-Retired (and Charles Moskowitz, District Director)for their efforts and making us a grant winner! #grateful