Looking Ahead

So this is the time of year we are all anxious for next year right!? This year we are a little more stressed due to incorporating all new curriculums next year…but it’s also very exciting to be working with new materials!

Organizing is how I stay sane.  haha I just wasn’t happy with my word work cart from this year.  It always got messy, and students had to dig through bins to get the word work they were searching for.  Therefore, I arranged my word work bins on my back counter in pull out drawers. Now, it’s so much easier for my kiddos to see what they want to work on.  Also, I don’t have to reorganize my cart every day!

 Ok so I have to tell you a funny story…being a teacher is always full of surprises! My kiddos were so excited to use the new drawers for their word work the next day that they came in.  However, when they went to their first round all I heard was a bunch of loud squeaks! We all looked at the word work bins and started laughing. Apparently if you don’t pull out the drawers just right they exhibit a horrible shrill pitched sound. Call me crazy but I always keep a WD 40 pen in my supplies drawer and home, so now I have purchased one for school too. It has really come in handy to fix those squeaky drawers!

Did you notice the great polka dot labels!? That’s my theme next year and I downloaded this freebie from Mercedes Hutchens. I have also used them as my daily five reading group labels and math labels check them out. I just love finding awesome freebies on TPT!

I would love to hear what your themes are for next year. Please post what you are planning to do!

 

 

 

 

Going on a “safari” to see more classroom photos!

I’m soooo excited so share my classroom photos with all of you! This is my first year having a “theme.” I always switched things up, but this year I had a ton of fun creating safari/jungle items. I am kind of crazy about monkeys......so that inspired me to have my kiddos take a safari adventure.  Below you will see the closest I could get to a whole classroom view.

This is my small group table.  I am a HUGE advocate for small groups.   I believe all kiddos CAN be successful at their individual level.  You will see my “FACE of a Safari Guide” board.  I love the lights outlining the board.  Also, My mother-in-law made the cool palm tree!

The “Grrreat Behavior” board is where students earn a piece of their lollipop for doing outstanding work/ being kind to others.  After all four pieces of their lollipop are earned, they get to choose from the “lollipop tree” on my desk! It’s amazing how little dumdums can be such an incentive. ;)

 

Our “Writing Hut” reinforces skills used during writer’s workshop.  Students can refer to this board after individual writing conferences as well.  Next to this board is our “Daily Five” choice board.  I just love the monkeys for each student’s name!  To the right of this board is our “Wild for Math” resources board.  Students use this often to look up strategies learned throughout the year.

 My carpet area is also titled our “Reading Hut.” Many of our mini lessons take place right here.  It is enclosed with crates my awesome dad made me a few years ago.  My “bench buddies” for the week get to sit on the crates. They are chosen for making good choices throughout the week……yet another incentive that works so well to get kiddos motivated!

I absolutely LOVE my behavior “ladder” this year!!  We call it a ladder since the goal is to reach the top.  The names are what crack me up.  They are arranged in this order: “Mischievous monkey,” “Troubled tiger,” “Poor parrot,” “Happy hippo” (everyone starts out here each day), “Great gorilla,” “Stupendous Snake.”

I’m ending my tour with a pic of my “Hunting for Helpers board.”  I have to share with you that my students were absolutely fantastic with already remembering their “jobs” this week.  I’m so excited for this year as I hope all of you are!

Check back early next week to see our geography pack and grab a freebie!  We hope all of you have a RELAXING weekend!  We know we will get some much needed zzzz’s to start out our first FULL week of school on Monday!  J

Classroom Photos (Galore) Party!

Well the first day has come and gone, just like that! I have the most fabulous group of kiddos this year but geez, am I exhausted!.

We are linking up with the Classroom Photos (Galore) Party!



Here are a few photos of my pirate-inspired space:

This HUGE treasure chest is sitting outside of my doorway. Our VBS theme this year was 'diving deep' and this was graciously given to me when it was over.

When you walk into the room, my carpet area is the first thing you see. This is a new rug and chair this year (my fabulous aunt let me do a little shopping in her basement....can you tell she decorates homes?!) Math games and brainstorming pages for writing will soon fill the counter.

Behind my meeting rug, is the small group table where our interventionist meets with her groups during math and reading. The red pocket chart is where students will make their Daily 5 choices each morning.

Continuing along the back wall of my room are my computers and word walls. I have two word walls that my kids use on a daily basis. The word wall system is another post in and of itself, but that will be coming shortly!

This is my small group meeting area. Behind me is our "FACE of a pirate board".

This is the area behind my desk. My classroom job board is to the far left, and my social studies/science wall is to the far right- just waiting to be filled with terms from our geography unit! The 'Shiver Me Timbers' board is an incentive board. Each student has a "treasure chest" (library card pocket). If they are cuaght doing something good, they get to add a plastic coin to their chest. 4 coins by the end of the week = a prize!

On the left, is my writing wall. The top will be utilized for writing goals for my students. The bottom will be used for examples of skills taught during lessons. In the middle is the calendar. On the right is my math wall. Important terms and things to remember are here. Last year my kids used the math wall alot. I love it when they are working on a worksheet or even a test and they have to stand up to see what's posted on the wall. I'm big on teaching them to use their resources! 

This is the closest 'whole-room' shot I could get!

Looking back, I realized I didn't get close enough to see all of the little 'pirate' embelishments on everything but oh-well it has been a crazy past few days!

Head back here soon to see what Val's safari-inspired room looks like. (It's fabulous, you won't want to miss it!)

We hope everyone's school year is off to a great start!



Meet-the-teacher night and TPT sale!

It is extremely hard for us to believe school starts in a week and 2 days—yes we are including those two precious days!  ;)  As we mentioned in our last post this is the very first year we are having a meet-the-teacher night. We’re thrilled to meet our kiddos and parents prior to day one to ease some of the first day jitters.  

Sooo…..due to this new experience, we decided to create a few items to go along with our “Safari” theme to help on this special night.  We are sharing the pack with you as a {FREE} download. Some of the items include: a PTA signup sheet, a transportation list, a helper signup sheet, goodie tags, a safari match game and more.  Click on the picture below to download the pack from TPT. We hope you can find it useful!

As many of you already know TPT is having a HUGE sale the 12-13th. We are debating back and forth as to what items we have to purchase! Haha. We are including all of our packs in the sale so please stop by and grab one of our items for a great discounted price. Have fun shopping!

 

Classroom Themes Continued....

Hi all! It seems like the school year is slowly starting to creep back up on us. I got a new carpet and meeting chair for my classroom this year and I dropped it off at school yesterday becuase I just had to get it out of my car. Then I got thinking...."Am I ready to come in here and start working in just a few short weeks? Where did summer get to?!" Looks like I better get working on all of those 'projects' I wanted to get done before the start of school!

Anyways, we are excited to announce that our 'safari-themed' Back-to-School Pack is up in our TpT Store! Be sure to head on over there and check it out!

We will give a Back-to-School pack away to the first 3 people who leave us a comment. Since we are always on the look-out for cute classroom ideas, leave us a blog or a website that we should check out. Let us know if you want the pirate pack or the safari pack and be sure to leave your e-mail address.

If you didn't get a chance to grab one of the Back-to-School packs for free, here are two freebies for you to use with your kiddos this year.

Heidi, at My (Not So) Elementary Life, has been doing a series of posts on classroom management. We just love heading to her blog for some great ideas. She has some awesome resources and lucky for us....they are pirate-themed! There are so many cute things that we will be picking up in the future. Be sure to check her out if you haven't already!

Val and I have so many ideas running through our head about what we want to make for our classroom this year. So, we are currently have a few units in the process of being made. Be sure to check us out next week for some updates!

Classroom Themes

Thanks for checking out our page, we're excited to finally join the world of blogging! We have used many great ideas and resources from your blogs and have been anxiously awaiting to share our ideas with you as well.

As we continue to plan for the upcoming school year, this will be the first year that we will tackle the task of creating a classroom theme- one will be using a pirate theme and the other, a safari theme. The hardest part? We find this to be very overwhelming. The best part? We have decided to swap themes with each other the following year so we can re-use everything we have created along the way. With that being said, here is a sneak peak at our 'Pirate-Themed Back-to-School Pack'. In this pack you will find

- a classroom contract with accompanying rules
- a classroom scavenger hunt
- a getting to know you activity
- a character buildng activity (using food, mmm!)
- 2 math review games
- a world builder



Since this is our first unit, you can grab it for *FREE* by visiting our TpT Store

 

Come back soon for a peak at our 'Safari-Themed Back-to-School Pack' and more giveaways!