Meet Mrs. Bittner

Hi! I'm linking up for teacher week 2013. So...all about me. I'm Heather Bittner. I'm heading into my 11th year of teaching. I've taught talented and gifted, Reading Recovery, first grade, kindergarten, and back to first grade. I love my firsties!

I've been married for four years to Mr. Bittner:) We have a 2 year old daughter named Evangeline. I've had a busy summer trying to keep up with Miss Evangeline and I'm going to miss our special time together when I go back, but the beginning of the year is always so exciting! Here's a few pictures of Evangeline:

I love to read. I have to read every night before bed. I read Divergent and Insurgent plus a few professional books this summer. I'm hooked on Pinterest and teacher blogs. I've been trying to be more active by running and riding my bike. I love the color pink so my classroom is hot pink, lime green, and zebra
print.  I also love to travel, and I wish I could afford to do it more!  I've been to 42 states and want to make sure I get to all 50 someday.  I love anywhere with a beautiful view.  Iowa is lacking mountains and oceans, but you will find lots of green fields here!

Teacher Week '13

Summer time!

OMW!  How have I let nearly a year pass without a post?  I tell you what...having a 2 year old has really taken it out of me!  How do you all find the time and energy to post daily? 
Well, I just thought I should give an update so you know I am still alive!  I just finished a week of professional development offered through our district and, and next week I will be attending the National Cognitively Guided Instruction Conference.  I am excited for some new ideas!
I'm also doing a little summer professional reading:

The Next Step In Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader by Jan Richardson.  I have only read the first two chapters, and I'm getting some good ideas.  I am looking forward to some new ways to teach guided reading.  It's one area that I am always trying to improve.   I bought this book on Amazon if you are interested.  The good people of Freebielicious are doing a book study of this book: http://freebie-licious.blogspot.com/2013/06/book-study-chapter-one-posted.html

Well, I am going to sign off for now, but really hope it won't be 11 months before my next post:)

Back to school, back to school...

Well, tomorrow is my first day back at work.  We have two days of professional development and some time to finish up our classrooms and then start with students on Wednesday.  Our open house is on Tuesday night.  I am excited, but definitely have not had much chance to work in my classroom this summer so I have lots to do in two days!  Yikes!  Take a look at my classroom as it looked when I came in the first time.  I have lots of work to do!





I did manage to get a littl work done last week, but not nearly enough!  Here's a picture of one of my new bulletin boards.  I decided to use wrapping paper for the background and it looks great!  I don't even want to add up how much money I spent this summer changing my classroom theme, but man, I LOVE it!  It's so me!

I am really going to miss my time with my little girl, but it's always exciting starting a new year!  I can't wait to meet my students and start building relationships.  One of the best things I have learned is how important relationships are in the classroom.  I want students to know how much I care about them!  I make sure I greet every student every morning, and I tell them I love them every day before they leave.  I used to worry that parents might not like this, but I decided there are too many children who don't hear it enough.  So far, I haven't heard a complaint.

My teachers pay teachers store is up and running.  I've posted some months and days cards in hot pink and lime green and some focus posters that I plan to use in my room this year.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Hollywood-Focus-Posters

Well, I think it's time to enjoy the rest of my summer vacation and put school out of my head for one last day!    
    -Heather

School is Calling... I am midway through summer and really enjoying it!  I finally finished my distance learning classes so I am actually able to relax a little bit.  But guess what?  Suddenly, school is calling me!  I am starting to think about what this next year will bring.  I have tried ignoring it, but somehow it keeps creeping back into my mind:) 
We are starting a new literacy curriculum, Journeys, and I am excited about that.  I went to a half day inservice where we got a chance to learn about the curriculum. It looks great!  Of course, when you start a new curriculum, it takes time to learn so I plan to spend some extra time planning this year.

Here are a few pictures of the decorations I am going to use in my room this year.  As I mentioned in my last post, I am decorating with lime green, hot pink, black, and white.  I made some tissue paper pompoms and I plan to use the pink fabric and different wrapping papers to cover bulletin boards.  I totally love the penant boarder. I can't wait to see the room after I decorate!  I am heading in to school this week so I will post the finished product when I get a chance!

I am working on my first few projects for Teachers Pay Teachers right now.  I doubt that I'll make much money, but it is fun!  You can see my store here:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Bittner

Well, I better get back to playing with my daughter!  Have a great week!

Summer!
Like many of you, I am trying to balance taking classes, planning for next year, spending time with my family, and relaxing.  I think I am doing pretty well!  My 19 month old daughter is definitely giving me a run for my money, but she's lots of fun, too!
One thing that I am getting very excited about is decorating my classroom.  I know it's not exactly new and unique, but I decided on black, white, hot pink, and lime green. Pink is my favorite color and I love zebra print so it seemed fun to do my room this way!  It seems like every time I leave the house, I come home with something to go with my color scheme.  Not exactly good for my wallet!
On another note, I decided to upgrade to a seller's account on www.teacherspayteachers.com so maybe I will be able to make some fun products to share with all of you.  Take care!  I will have pictures of my classroom soon!
Now enjoy that summer!  See you soon!
Heather

First Grade is Great!

I know it’s been a while since I have posted. I have crazy busy taking care of my daughter and lesson planning for school. I am loving first grade compared to kindergarten. Kindergartners are so sweet, but the beginning of the year was always stressful trying to teach so many routines. First graders know their way around the school, but still love being there!

We have been working on learning the short vowel sounds and how to read and write words with short vowels. Some of the activities I have been using are sound boxes, making words, word ladders, and picture/word cards. I gave the students a probe on short a and I was pleasantly surprised by the great results. Just a few students will need extra work with short a.

I’ve been spending lots of time visiting other blogs for ideas since this is my first year back in first grade. I hope to get creative soon! One idea that I am going to use in a word work center next week is a word family game. I have 3 mini pumpkin baskets with consonant tiles in them. On the outside of each pumpkin I have included a word family ending (-ack, in, ot). I made a recording sheet where students will record the words that they make. I will let you know how it turns out!

Well, I will talk to you all soon! Hugs and kisses from first grade!

First Grade on My Mind!

Well, excitement and dread both come to mind as the coming year approaches. This will be my first year back in first grade after spending 5 years in kindergarten. I am very excited to get back to firsties, but it will be hard to leave my 8 month old daughter to head back to work! Although I taught first grade in the past, I have not taught first grade in this district. I know that I have a year of hard work ahead of me, but I know I will love it!
I had to move into a new classroom so I am trying to get in to work when I can to unpack and organize my classroom. While I am at home, I am working on lesson plans and items I need to print. I just printed my labels for poetry folders, writing folders, vocabulary journals, math journals, and reading journals. It's so easy to buy the printable labels at Target and then create the labels in Microsoft Word! I also just finished up a letter of information that I will give to parents at Open House Night. Well, I suppose it's time for me to get back to work! Good luck all!