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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Mega Giveaway and Common Core

My room is finally coming along.  I get to see all my sweeties tomorrow at Open House and I am looking forward to the familiar faces.

 We had a meeting today based around the common core, that we are just starting to transition to.  If any of you have any resources to go to for 4th or 5th grade that you wouldn't mind sharing, please share!!!! :)

Tonya over at Tonya's Treats for Teachers is having a MEGA giveaway.  head on over and sign up to win some AMAZING prizes!!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Back to work...and more classroom pics

Today was the first day back to work.  We started off with our all district meeting.  I totally empathize with my students when they come back from summer, it is so harf to sit still and pay attention! :)

After that meeting, I went back to my school and met my student teacher.  He will be with me for the beginning of the year as well as the end.  The teacher I will share him with and I certainly worked him today,  He may not want to come back to us!

Even with my to-do-list getting things crossed off, I still don't feel anything ready to have kids next week.  I need to sit down and get some planning done, especially around centers.  We haven't done much of that at our school but are leaning that way so I have to figure that all out!  Tomorrow we have our building meeting and then should have time in our classrooms in the afternoon.  My countdown will really begin since we have Open House on Thursday at 11! EEK!

Anyway, here are a few more pictures of my classroom.  I tried to get some clearer close-ups as well as some all around the room pics.  Let me know what you think, I LOVE comments! :)

 

 
View from my desk to the door
View from my library to the front of the room
I love our sentence frames at the front of the room, the bright colored papers.  We use them daily with all of our subjects, especially reading!
 
This is an up close view of one of the sentence frames.  There are 12 in all!




 
My reading table with pinterest inspired stools.  Last year they were all bright colored, so I had to change them this year to match my room. That's my cricut on the table, that will get moved here Friday.  Also, there should be a bookcase behind my reading table with all of my reading supplies, but the custodians accidentally broke it :( So there is a new one in my car to put together tomorrow.
 

Someone asked if I could take a close up of my labels for my cupbards/curtains.  Here it is!

 
My CAFE board that will be filled with great information within the first few weeks of school.

 
We do a program called Gold Cards at my school.  They are just like our teacher badges taken by LifeTouch each year.  The students earn them each week for good behavior and meeting the certain criteria.  Each week during our newscast, a group of students is announced that have earned a special treat (ie.: snack, extra recess, open gym, pencil, etc...) from the principal.  That group of kids (let's say 5th grade boys) that have earned their gold card go down to the office to collect their prize.  It is a really positive, rewarding program. This is where I store my gold cards.  It makes it easy to look up and see who has one and who doens't.

 
 
There are an up close picture of my table group signs.  They make me smile when I enter my room every time!
 
Inspired by Jessica at Dandelions and Dragonflies.  My students struggled last year always wanting to get up out of their seats to get supplies.  Now there is one of these at every group so that there will be no more walking around! :)

 My Clip Chart.  I LOVE this idea so much.  It was so easy to implement last year and easy to follow through with.  In fact, every teacher in my building is now doing it!
 It's hard to beleive that my students still struggle with telling time, so this clock should help them out!
My inspiration.  I made these for my kitchen years ago and they found their way into my classroom a few years ago.  They are above my door as a reminder to all my students and myself to live, laugh and love each and every day.
 
Well there you have it!  Day one done! :)
 


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Theraputic Thursday

 Since it's Therapeutic Thursday, I'm here to talk about how to relax after a really stressful day. ..

Unfortunately, after a really stressful day at school, I don't have the luxury of vegging out or forgetting the world.  At least not until after the littles are fed and bathed and put to bed and everything is cleaned up and ready to go again for the next day.  There are a few days when I would love to just come home and not do a thing, but that won't happen for like 20 more years!  After the littles are taken care of however, I can take some time for myself to de-stress.

A nice hot shower with this delicious shampoo and conditioner are a great way to start.

Then a nice hot cup of coffee, mmmmm.  Relaxes me pretty quickly.



I can get lost in blog-land or a DVR'd show, like The Bachelor or Law and Order, something that doesn't take any thinking at all. 





 After that, I love to sneak off to my Sleep Number bed early and read until I fall asleep.  This usually tends to help my situation. 

 
There are many times when this doesn't happen because in reality, when I have had that bad of a day, after the littles are asleep, I run to bed as fast as I can to end the day! 
 
I can't wait to hear what is theraputic for everyone else, maybe I will steal some of your ideas so link up!


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Where I Teach Wednesday

 I am linking up with day 3 of Teacher Week with Blog Hoppin: Where I Teach.  My room is not 100% complete but it is getting there. I would love to share a few of my nooks! Thank you for visiting!

My corner welcome board... it will also have the lunch menu and homework for the week posted here.  Those green and red placards will be trimmed down, but everyone had them moved for dangerous intruder.

The Language Arts bulletin board.  The weekly story and vocabulary are posted there with the ELL poster.  I also start the year off with the CAFE material, so that will go under the CAFE signs.

 
This is a somewhat closer image of the labels on my lower cupboards.  It is really fuzzy though. I'll have to get a cuter picture, because these are one of my favorite things in my room.

These are the were the kids put their unfinished work.  I like to have it away from their desks so that it can be found again and completed.  It is also super easy for me to check on them and see what they haven't finished.  My plan was to make these cute this summer, but that didn't happen.  Maybe one weekend...
 
My classroom library.  I have them leveled by AR reading level and author.  My students take car of it all after school starts.Still a fuzzy picture. Grr!
 
 Student cubbies and hte big pillow.  My students LOVE my huge pillow they get to read on. 
 
My Teacher toolbox.  I really love everything in its place!
 

 Soon to be Science board. And one little set of computers. 

 
So the rest of the pictures didn't turn out, so I will add those next time I go in.  But this is a little sneak peak.  I would love to hear what you think!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Must Haves Monday Blog Hoppin

I really thought I would have pictures up by now, but I want it to just look PERFECT when I do show the world! So I promise to get them up by the end of this week! 

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' today to sahe my Must Haves for the school year.

As for my "Must-Haves", I really feel like I need
1.) ORGANIZATION!  My room must be organized and put together before I can even begin to think about what I will be teaching.  This is the most important thing.

2.) Brand new Crayola markers- I prefer the fine point ones.  I use these in my lesson plan book as well as grading papers and coloring with throughout the year.
3.) My Cricut- I use my Cricut for everything from cards, to invitations, to my classroom.  I wouldn't know what to do without it!

4.) Lastly, I must have a good water bottle.  I am addicted to cute water bottles.  My husband is always getting on my case when I bring home a new one!  This is similar to my newest addition, except mine is pink!  GO DUCKS!


Link up by right clicking on the picture above!    I'd love to hear from any of you that MUST HAVE the same things as me! 

I tried to ask a few questions on my last post but didn't hear back from anyone... SAD!  If anyone would love to help me out, that would be great! Thank you!


Sunday, August 12, 2012

Eek... the end is coming too fast!

I know many of you have been back to work for some time now, but I still have 2 weeks left.  I finally decided on my room color, made most of my purchases for the year and have been working here and there to get it done.  I haven't had much "chunked" time to go in so it has been hit or miss lately.  My goal is to be 100% ready for kids by next Monday, except for all that important stuff, like what I am going to be teaching! :) 

I think I have arranged and rearranged my desks 5 times so far and every time I go into my room, something has happened and I have to start all over.  For instance, last week I took down all teh posters and things I had created 8 years ago and was going to remake and rearrange where they will go around my SMART board.  I spent time measuring it all out to be perfect for my eyes and started rehanging.  Time was up so I left me little mess to come back to the next day.  when I showed up the next day ready to continue, low and behold everything was off my walls again!  The custodians were taking advantage of "clean for the most part" walls and repainted.  This is fabulous by the way, but a little frustrating that I had spent time measuring it all out and will have to redo that when I go in tomorrow evening. 

I do have a couple questions for anyone out there.
1.) Every year during our teacher in-service week back, the teacher's have an Open House wehre kids can come drop off supplies and meet their teacher.  I send home an invitation/welcome letter with a supply list.  I have always included "homework" for the child and parent for the first day of school.  It has ALWAYS been "Bag's of Me". Where kdis answer 5 questions in a bag that tell more about themselves.  For the parents, I have them write me a ltter that more introduces their child to me and tells me anything they want me/need me to know right away.  This year is different since I will be looping.  When I have looped before, I have had them do the same homework, but I am looking for new~ freash~ amazing ideas... any help you could give?  It needs to be something they share, like about their summer, but I like it to be visual as well.  (Boy that was a long worded question )

2.) What kids of gifts do you give your students on their desks that first day of school?

I thank you in advance for any suggestions or ideas you give!  Check back really soon to see my room reveal!  I can't wait!


Monday, August 6, 2012

Official 1st day in my classroom

Today I finally made it into my classroom to work.  I did have to take both kiddos with me, which means that I got nothing really accomplished.  My plan today was to move things around so that I can see my room as a classroom instead of a yard sale pile.  I got all my desks moved, bookcases where they will go and my computer hooked up.  When the hubby gets home, I am going to head back to get a game plan for the rest of the week.  I want to get my cupbiards organized this year and get a list of the things I need to still purchase!  3 weeks left isn't enough time!!!  I can't wait to post pictures of my classroom for the very first time! 

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Currently... my first attempt at a linky!

So this is my very first attempt at a linky...   I am linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade with her August Currently Linky Party:


As for my Back to school must haves: 1) a theme... I just can't decide... I really wanted to do an "Oh the Places You'll Go" theme but I have never really done an actual theme throughout my classroom, more a color theme so I am not sure I want to commit completely. 2.) I am in the process of creating a new teacher binder.  Mine reached the "too full" mark this past year, so I need to reorganize and of course make it cute! 3.) Since I am changing color schemes, my old cupboard curtains won't match, so I need to pick out fabric and make new ones... which brings me back to #1 of choosing a theme already!!!

Hope I did all this correctly!  This is super fun!

And so it begins...

Finally!!!.... I have been tempted and tempted again to start my own blog and finally here it is.  I don't really know what I have to offer others that they might find interesting, helpful or anything for that matter, but after spending hours... and I mean hours... looking/stalking other teachers' blogs, I thought, what the heck, I can do that too!  Mainly, I really wanted to comment on other peoples blogs but had a difficult time doing so when I didn't have a blog myself.  I also really wanted to participate in some of the amazingly fun linkys I have seen, and so here it is!  Any and all help, advice, guidance is appreciated, just be nice with it :) 

To introdcue myself more, I live in the stunning, absolutely beautiful Southern Oregon.  This year I will be finishing a loop from fourth gradeto fifth grade with a very sweet group of kiddos.  I love organization and labels, think that everything needs to match/coordinate, and spend way to much time making things cute!  I LOVE this time of year when I get back into my classroom and change things up, making things better and more "cute"!  I am addicted to pinterest as many teachers are.  I try to DIY as many things as I can and love to borrow... steal... ideas! I look forward to this new blog journey and hope that I can be just as helpful to someone out there as many of you have been to me!