Meet the Teacher


Hello there! My name is Nicole O'Connor and I am a first grade teacher in a rural district in Wisconsin. I LOVE spending my day with young children and seeing them thrive and grow in the classroom. I am dedicated to creating engaging lessons and materials to use in my classroom. Hands-on learning is the KEY to a happy, engaged classroom! I also LOVE to incorporate art into my teaching! Keep reading to learn a little more about me.


My husband, Alex, and I have been married for four years. He teaches middle school math in the same district that I teach in. My firsties love seeing "Mrs. O'Connor's husband" around school.



I absolutely love spending time with my family. I'm super close with my sister and my mom... we talk on the phone waaaay too much. My entire family is in the world of education. My mom is a paraprofessional in the Appleton Area School District, the district that I grew up in. My sister is a high school teacher. Finally, my dad has worked in business and insurance for the past 35+ years and we recently "retired" so that he can teach business classes at the local university in Appleton. What can I say... I suppose I was destined to be in education.

I am also blessed to have GREAT in-laws. My husband's parents and family are fabulous and I love spending time with them, too! We love hanging out at their lake house in North Lake, WI. There's nothing better than floating on the lake during our "summers off." I even tried water-skiing for the first time this summer!


Girls night with my sister and my cousin!

Brewers games are a must with my family!!!


6 comments:

  1. I just changed from fourth to first and I'm loving it. Along with implementing ideas like multiple intelligences, growth mindset, and leader in me - which I am excited to say, the first graders are very much embracing - I'm trying to get a handle on my reading rotations and centers. I'm getting my master's and another student mentioned Daily 5 and it piqued my curiosity. Since then, I've gotten the Daily 5 book and have been researching as much as possible. Your blogs are extremely helpful! Did I say extremely? Extremely!! I have some questions, but the main question is... When do you do your introduction of letters and all the elements of your reading lesson for the day? I'm guessing you must eliminate some of the ideas offered in your TM. From your schedule, I see that you allot 15 min. for this. Is that right? If so, I think I've been spending too much time trying to cover everything from the TM. Do I need to just cut to the chase and get to strictly phonics and leave it at that? Sorry for the overwhelming barrage of questions!

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  3. Hi! Thank you so much for all of the wonderful resources you provide! I use so many of them in my classroom! I have a quick request.....on your "100 Treats" page, would you mind fixing the type in Marshmallows? It's an "e" instead of an "a". I know I could recreate myself, but yours is so cute!!! Thanks and happy 100 days!!! :)

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  4. Hi Nicole! I love your stuff! I work in a mid-size school district in WA, can I reference your site and/or some of your materials in our district pacing guides? Email me at amosich13@yahoo.com when you get a chance. I couldn't find your email on here! Thanks!
    Annie

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  5. Hi Nicole! I visit your blog all the way from the Netherlands. I recently moved here from MN, so we use to be neighbors :)
    I was wondering if you have any advice on helping two students resolve conflict. We have a small class (13 students) and I have two boys that just drive each other crazy. Both are quite stubborn when it comes to resolving it. I thought having them do some sort of team-building/conflict resolution activity would be good...maybe something where they can't solve it on their own without working together...but I don't have anything off the top of my head! Do you have any advice?? Thank you!! And thank you for the amazing blog!

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