Classroom Tour!! (I'm Back!)

Who knew teaching a new grade and adapting to being very pregnant would make the first couple of weeks so busy!! I am pretty sure I have done nothing but school, dinner/laundry, and more school work! BUT have no fear...I am back (providing the whole having a baby and finishing my last semester of grad school doesn't completely consume me)!

Here are some pictures of my new classroom! I feel like it is always a work in progress and that I have lots more organizing to do before October!

Meet The Teacher Night Goodies! 

Mailbox/Lunch Cards/Math Focus Area

Calendar Area/The Front of the Room

WBT Classroom Rules :)

Guided Reading Chart and Reading Focus Chart Area

Group Table and New Shelves (if only they were still that organized)

Student Book Boxes

My desk...ignore the junk ;)

Student B-Day Area (will post when it is completed)

Library Area

More anchor chart area!

Objective Board and Soon-to-be Chromebook area

Objective Board

Math Groups Board

Outside the Classroom

Lunch Time Choices (obviously the door)

Well that's a tour of my Western Themed Room!! Next up, time permitting, my co-western themed rooms that are displaying my western products! :) Happy Back to School time! 

Week at a glance!

Well, I have had a week with a bit of R&R and lots of work at the same time! ;) By R&R I mean 7 months pregnant...don't sleep well at night...so naps throughout various parts of the day! Mix that with super humid/muggy beginning of the week, a dr appt and family dinner at LAMBERT's, and CANNING makes for a busy week!

So what have you done for school this week, you ask! Made some more posters to laminate next week when I can get to the laminator at school! :)

I am embarking on WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING this year. While I tried some of the basics in my math groups last year, this year I am going all in. I used the Class, Yes! Mirror! and Teach, Okay! with my kids last year and I loved it! The Class, Yes! really got their attention and the Mirror really helped me know that they were listening and comprehending what I said. So this week I made some rule cards to help implement the rules the first day and some class cheer cards to display as well. The cheer cards are a work in progress, but I will let you have them in western of course!

I also made some Daily 5 posters for my classroom to use when we get that up and running! We are also going to jump on the HOMEWORK CLUB bandwagon (see Pinterest) and maybe a Reading to 100 Club as well! Lots of good things coming this year!

Click on the picture to download your own copy! Again I take no credit for the Daily 5!!! That is why I AM NOT selling these! Same goes for WBT!

All clip art came from mycutegraphics.com!! If you haven't checked it out you should...it is amazing!! And FREE for educators!! :) 

Well it is out for dinner this rainy (THANK THE LORD) cool (AMAZING) evening in MO! I couldn't be more blessed by the rain after last year's drought really hurt all us farmers!! Plus I have managed to can some Dill Pickles and Zucchini Salsa this week along with making some Zucchini bread that I might be addicted to!

Classroom Workday, Reward Tickets, and FREE Class Sign!

Today has been a busy day! As I said before, I am moving from 2nd grade to 4th grade this year. This means a new room...which is such a challenge! I was able to work in my classroom today for the first day. It mainly involved arranging furniture and unpacking as much as I can. It is going good, but this little mommy-to-be bent over way too many times today!!

On to even more productive items of business...I decided earlier this summer that I am going to have some positive behavior tickets instead of always using candy or a treasure box. So I created positive reward tickets.

There are 24 rewards and 6 blank reward cards. I look forward to using these with my classroom management system!

Also, I have been seeing all of the posters and signs that say "Our Class Does..." and it looks so cute. So I made a simple one for my own classroom! I made several different prints, but here is the one I made for preview! I will post links below for each template as a FREEBIE!  I plan on cutting, laminating, and then attaching them using ribbon. It will be cute! Pictures to come when it is up in my room!

 Click on the pictures above to download the black dot!

Cow Print Version

Red Bandanna Version

And LAST point of business...here is the finished sewing projects as promised...

Changing pad cover...just DO NOT take a look at the seams ;)

Crib bumper pads-recovered-pictured below- before, during, after!

Math Groups and a FREEBIE!

I started doing Math Groups last year (teaching math in small group rotations)! It was absolutely perfect for my classroom. There are obviously going to be days when teaching whole group is the best option, but as far as tracking student progress and differentiating math...it's the only way to go!

I got the M.A.T.H. acronym from Clutter Free Classroom's Math Workshop post. For those who don't know- M is Math Facts; A is At Your Seat; T is Teacher's Choice; H is Hands-On Math.

My kids are into 4 groups and the order is always M-A-T-H unless I tell them otherwise. It works wonderfully or at least it did with me 2nd graders. I hope my 4th graders do as wonderful with it! I created a set of board labels or headers or whatever you want to call them for our Math Workshop Board. I am not obviously going to sell them because it was not my idea. HOWEVER, I am going to offer it as a freebie if you want it!

Now this set is Western-ish Print to match my classroom theme. If you want something else, just let me know! I will be doing a set that is black and white dot and colored dot for my teammates, but that will be a tomorrow project!

Click HERE for the FREEBIE!! And below is a preview of the labels...

Also, last night I managed to finish my Contact Info Magnet Cards (great name, huh?) that I plan on laminating, attaching a magnet (I bought a roll of magnet tape at Hobby Lobby for $3), and giving to the parents at Meet the Teacher night. A pinterest idea of course (from this post)! 

I had a picture of them posted...but it has ALL my contact info on it...so I deleted it! I will post a not so close picture when they are completely put together :)

Well, on the agenda for tomorrow...recovering a crib bumper pad for my little man's room, making a few crib sheets, and returning an ink cartridge to Wal Mart because it only made it through 30 pages! I couldn't believe the ink cartridge situation...wish me luck! 

Welcome Back to Productivity!

I have managed to accomplish more today than I have in the last 2 weeks! I am going to give credit to being too hot outside and a way to relieve some stress about not being able to unpack my classroom yet! :)

Here is the Polka Dot Colored Teacher Binder... (TADA)

Click the pictures to see more at my TPT Store! 

I have also been thinking about what to do for Back to School and Meet the Teacher night goodies! So far I have a post card created to be printed and mailed out after class lists are posted. These were created with Kindergarten to 6th Grade. So if you choose to buy one of the post cards you will get all grades in that print! Click on the picture to link to my TPT store!

These cow print cuties are what I will send out!! 

What are your plans for Back to School or Meet the Teacher Night????

Teacher Binder Production (TADA!!!)

TGIF! Except for the fact that it is the end of my "NOT TOUCHING" my Capstone paper. Let's hope the week away from it motivates me! After spending all week getting plenty of sleep (the joys of being 6 months pregnant during a Missouri summertime) and accomplishing nothing other than making a huge To-Do List!

Pinterest finally pushed me into finishing (and starting) my own teacher binder for this year. I will be moving on up to 4th grade so I am determined to start organized! I created this file in Black and White Cowprint with red accents AND Black and White Polka Dot with red accents. I will eventually work on adding some colored polka dot designs too! Check out below for the preview of my creations! I promise when I get ink for my printer and get my binder put together I will post pictures of that too.

Various Page Examples

Followed by a Break Down of the Entire Package

Polka Dot Binder Cover Example

Tabs for Both Binders

Sample Calendar Page (also available in black and white dot)

Hope you like it! I will get started uploading it to TPT here in a little bit! This has been a very timely project! :)

Target $1 Deals!!

I'm Back! I am really excited to finally be done with Summer School! Now I can focus my summer time on getting ready for the baby, finishing my masters (ugh!), and getting ready for the new year in a new grade, 4th!

I am celebrating my blog return by showing you my *spur-of-the-moment trip to town to deliver the hubs his boots at work* Target $1 find! I love the Target $1 area and almost never leave without buying something.

Today's find... (un-edited because I'm lazy photos)...REUSABLE SANDWICH BAGS

Okay, so these come in sets of 3 and in the 2 prints that I purchased. They are the same material as the reusable shopping bags are. Here is why I think they are wonderful...

I love the way they open up and have the good Velcro closure! I am trying to decided how I am going to use them. I bought enough for each of my kids to have one. I think I am going to start out my 4th grade year with a class economy system, and these would make good wallets. OR I am thinking good Word Sort storage for Words Their Way sorts. I will keep thinking on it until I find an exact purchase for these...and maybe purchase a few more when I head back to town next time! AND of course I bought a set for my lunch box next year! :)

And my other cute purchase (complete with sideways picture)...

I just thought these were too cute not to buy! I am sure I will find something cute to store in them or to give my kiddos as a back to school gift!

Target $1 area also had lots of good Treasure Box goodies and Notepads that were adorable. I just managed to practice a little control today! :)

Geometry Games!

I love teaching Geometry! There are soooo many hands-on activities that can be done. I came up with 2 matching games. One for 2D Shapes and one for 3D Shapes. There are 4 different cards for each shape.

1- Shape Picture Cards 

2- Shape Name 

3- "Real Life" Shape Pictures

4- Shape Attributes

Here are the 3-D Shape Matching Cards...  

Then I created Scoot Games for both 2D and 3D Shapes... Here is the 2-D Shapes Version (Sample- Recording Sheet Included)

And here is the 3-D Shape Version... 

Each image is linked to my TPT Store. 

Be the first (or only :) to comment on this post and FOLLOW me if you aren't already will receive all of these games FREE! :)