Welcome to First Grade Class of 2027

 Welcome to first grade!  I hope you all had a fabulous summer!  I spent my summer hanging out with my three beautiful daughters, reading lots of books (both children's literature and books for me!), we spent tons of time at the pool, went on a trip to Mexico, and had lots of fun outside and inside just enjoying each others' company.  The school year is upon us and while I'm sad that the long days of summer have come to an end, I'm also super excited about the coming school year.  This year will be extra special as my own daughter is officially a first grader.   Although she won't be spending her day in my room, it will be very special being able to catch glimpses of her at recess and lunch and all the other times in between.

I hope you all received your welcome letters from me in the mail.  If not, I'll tell you a little about me here.  I am in my tenth year of teaching first grade (wow!) at CES.  I was raised in California my whole life and graduated from CHS in 2001.  I then graduated Summa Cum Laude from The University of Central Missouri with my Bachelors in Elementary Education.   I became a first grade teacher at CES and then went back to school and got my Masters from Southeast Missouri State University in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).  I am married to my college sweetheart, Kelly.  We have three amazingly beautiful and bright little girls, Lily, Elly, and Karly.  In my free time I enjoy spending time with my family.  I also enjoy photography, reading, and walking.

It is my goal to create a warming and welcoming environment for my students. I hope my classroom is an extension of home and that my firsties love stepping into our room everyday.   It is also my mission to instill a love of reading and learning in all of my students.  I strive to make learning fun and enjoyable.  I strive to differentiate all of my lessons based on each child's individual academic needs.  I promise to give 120% of myself all of the time.  I love my job and my students truly are an extension of my "family."  It is with great pleasure that I will be serving you this school year.

Welcome to first grade...it's going to be AWESOME!

My beautiful family.

Our welcome bulletin board.  Who's in our class?

Our classroom meeting area.  We work a lot on our Interactive Promethean board.  We will also have 7 computers in our class and ipods in our listening center.  Mrs. Hogan loves technology!

An overview of our classroom.  

This is our guided reading table. I have baskets out ready for open house.  :)

Reading is at the heart of my first grade classroom.  

Classroom "interests" library.  I'm missing a few labels for my baskets.  Don't worry, they'll be there by open house. :)

Good fit portion of our classroom library.  You can see our listening center off to the left.  I forgot to take an official picture of it.

You might be wondering why we have a bathtub in the middle of our room.  This is our reading tub.  The bean bags are just stored in there during the day when we aren't using it.  The kids get to choose their own places to read during reader's workshop.  The tub is a popular spot.  The bean bags are also very popular.  :)

Our classroom jobs board.  Every child will have a job!

Number frames for reference.

Retell rope

Our CAFE reading strategies board and Daily 5 Reading and Math rotation charts.

Word Wall.  The words will be added as we learn them.

We will be using a lot of whole brain teaching techniques this year.  These are the rules of whole brain teaching.

Touchpoints for math.

Calming buddy

Calming safe seat.  Students can come here when they need to calm down.

Classroom hallway.  Yes...we have a little hallway in our room.  These two doors enter into a closet and our own little bathroom!

Classroom coat/book bag closet.

Just a little class decor.