Ahhh!! It's been too long!

Oh my... well the start of school has official consumed my life! I can't believe it's been 2 1/2 months since my last post! While my school year is off to a GREAT start, I do miss summer and my blogging/crafting time. My goal is to keep up with my blog and I'm going to try to post at least once a week. Fingers crossed!

This week at school was Celebrate Education week when parents are welcomed into the classroom to get an idea of what their child's everyday life is like... it was a success! (Although, I can relax a little now that it's over :)

I've recently started a new grammar program - Jeff Anderson's Mechanically Inclined. I LOVE it! I am in the process of creating PowerPoints to guide instruction and have been selling them on my TPT store. So far, I only have Lesson 1 on Fragments posted. I will add my others as I try to find the free time! Let me know if you've used this program and what your thoughts are on it. I love that Jeff recommends teaching grammar through exploration and mentor sentences rather than correcting/editing incorrect sentences. Why teach students the wrong way?... Let's just teach the correct way!

Honestly, I don't know how all of you teachers out there with kids at home do it... it's just my husband, my cats, and myself and I can barely stay afloat! Cheers to October! :)

My Classroom... almost finished!

I've spent hours in my room trying to get it just the way I like it. I think I need just a few more to get it perfect for the first day of school on Tuesday. Many of the posters are available at my Teacher's Pay Teacher's store, so if you click on some of the captions, it will take you to the store. Here's an inside look of what we've got going on so far!

  Research Paper Bulletin Board 

Reading Strategy Posters   

     Supply Shelf with table bins                                                

                

Math Station

Front bulletin board(still working on): b-days, calendar, Boggle 

Boggle - yet to add letters

Paper organization by subject.

 View from my desk

Storage for upcoming lessons for the week.

Behind my desk

Subject Binders

Teacher manual storage

 Bathroom Signout w/hand-sanitizer passes

Job Bulletin

Owl Welcome Banner

Where are you Chart

Table Group Signs                        

 Non-fiction text features bulletin  

Writing Process bulletin

                                                           

My door - We Are.. Penn State! 

Assignment Station

Mailboxes

  Writing Trait bulletin board

  Literary Device Posters  

Essential Question Frames

Writing Process Bulletin Board

I've updated and changed around my Writing Process bulletin board this year. Last year I had something similar, but it didn't work out as well as I liked. This board is almost complete. What I intend to do next is take a photo of each student and attach it to the end of each clothespin. Once students move onto the next step of the writing process, they clip their clothespin on the white strip. I was even able to make a section that will feature excellent writing pieces! Fingers crossed it works!

Last year I had different sections marked off with yarn. Students had their photo that they moved from section to section using a pushpin... we ended up having some problems with students poking their picture (or someone else's) in the face and it ended up a mess. I liked the concept of being able to visually see where each student was, but didn't like the execution. I feel that this year will be a success! I'll post back with an updated photo once school starts and let you know how I'm liking it!

The start of my room...

Today was the first day back in the classroom... what a productive (but unseemingly so) day! I started off by getting some bulletin boards covered. I took some ideas that I saw on Pinterest and put them to use. I covered my walls/boards with black and purple plastic tablecloths. I like this idea and they will work for this year, but next time I will probably use a solid fabric or sheet. I am only in this classroom for a short while so it's no biggie. The plastic just seems too flimsy and easy to rip. I then used duct tape to make my first border (this was actually harder than I thought it would be) and finally put up my white border. I really like the look of the double border!

I also put this other Pinterest idea to use with my Lesson Essential Question frames. I made the letters with my Cricut, make them into stickers, put them on scrapbooking paper, and placed them in my Dollar Tree frames! I used 3M photo strips on the back and mount them to my board. I think I will really like writing questions on these with dry erase markers and hopefully the kids will look at them more!

Owl Labels/Cards FREEBIE

I thought these owl cards/labels would be useful in many areas of the classroom. They are blank, polka-dot cards that you can customize to your liking. I am thinking of possibly using these for my library labels, job chart, supply bins, word walls.... oh the possibilities are endless! Download for free here!

Download here!

Behavior Clip Charts

My most recent project included making some behavior clip charts for the classroom. I still can't believe school is right around the corner! I created one set to go along with my owl theme and one set with a colorful, mini-cheveron background, and a combined owl-chevron theme. To assemble, all you need to do is mount to construction paper, laminate, and attach. Each student has a clothespin with their name (or number) on it and they start at Ready to Learn each day. Depending on their behavior, students move up and down the chart throughout the day. At the end of the day, each student fills out their behavior card by coloring in the section where they ended (See the picture below to get an idea). Then parents initial and return the following day. It's an easy way to communicate with parents! **If you teach an intermediate grade, it might be more appropriate for just the teacher to keep track of behaviors that fall below the green ready to learn poster and communicate concerns with parents when necessary.** You may even consider rewarding students who reach the top of the chart by including their name in a raffle, letting them choose something special, or whatever you have working in your classroom! If you'd like to purchase either of these charts, click the links above, my TpT button, or click here! Enjoy!

Download here. 

Download here

Download here

Owls graphics, chevron background, and scalloped frames are compliments of DennisGraphicDesign dennisgraphicdesign.etsy.com Jagged borders compliments of Coffee, Kids and Compulsive lists at http://coffeekidsandcompulsivelists.blogspot.com.au/ or

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Miss-N