Latest Creations

This is my first week back, and I'm tired!  I fell asleep super early last night.  Meet the Teacher Night is on Thursday, and my kids come back Monday.  Even though getting back into a working routine is making me sleepy, I'm really excited about this year!  I think it's going to be a good one. :)

Here are some projects I've been working on:

After seeing so many of these on pinterest, I decided to make my own "Where Are You" board to go along with my Poppin' Patterns room.   I made the little numbers and glued them onto magnets, so they would stick to the baking sheet.  Click the links to get your own free copy of the labels and the numbers!

I stuck these cute stars to the tile with contact paper.  Each student will stand on their number when it's time to line up.  I never have to worry about friends cutting, because each student has their own spot in line all year.

I also made a birthday balloon bouquet!  I printed the fancy balloons from Once Upon a First Grade Adventure.

These cute fish are my favorite.  I made them for Meet the Teacher Night.  Well, I made three.  I still have twenty-something more to finish tomorrow.  I love these!  Poppin' Patterns has everything!

I rearranged my carpet area too.  My Whole Brain Teaching scoreboard is now easy to reach.  The scoreboard can be found at First Grade Fever.

I also organized my teacher shelf.  The stack of books with red spines are Mailbox Books.  I love Mailbox Books and use them for so many things. The super cute pink hippo holds all of my yummy snacks.  

The bottom shelf holds my small group materials.  I'll take pictures of my binders and share how I organize them in another post!  

I can't believe the first day of school is on Monday!  I'll share pictures of  my classroom setup for Meet the Teacher night and the first day of school soon!

  

Mini Classroom Projects

Yesterday I decided to change my centers board. I think craft sticks with the students' numbers on them will be easier to manage than name labels.  I will assign each student a number at the beginning of the school year.  The numbers will be used for many things, including line order, my grade book, a couple filing systems, etc.  Student numbers make my life a lot easier.

So anyway, for centers, they have three craft sticks with their numbers on them (one purple, one green, and one blue).  I put their craft sticks at the center they're supposed to go to for each rotation. There are three rotations total.  I'll have the students take note of which centers they have each morning, before we start them.  The center cards are attached with velcro, so I can switch them out.  I'm thinking about using this for math groups too.  (I know some numbers numbers in the picture are at the same center more than once; this won't happen when I actually use the board with my class.  I just wanted to see what it would like like with all the craft sticks.)  I guess this project was a little bigger than a mini, but the rest are minis.

I used Amy Lemon's minute labels to put around my clock!  The colored paper I used matches my library buckets.

I also printed these pencil basket labels from Finally in First's Blog.  I copied Jenn from Finally in First, and bought the little black bins from Target's dollar section.  I like how these bins hold a TON of pencils.  I won't ever have to stop and sharpen more pencils during the day.

To the right of my counter you'll find another mini project.  I labeled my graded work and Thursday folder baskets with Poppin' Patterns stickers.  I love how they turned out!

I also organized my desk area this week!  Here are some close up pictures.

I'm going to work on a Boggle Board and a magnetic "Where Are You?" board this weekend.  I'll post pictures when I'm finished. :)

Classroom Setup - Week Two and Three

I'm almost finished with my classroom!!!  I still have some organizing to do and a few small projects, but all the big things are done.  It's a lot more color than I'm used to, but it's growing on me.  Click here to see before pictures.

 

My desks probably won't stay like this after the first week.  I think I may do a "U" shape with some small rows.  I like being able to walk smoothly to each desk while students are working on independent work.

The cubbies will hold all of our text books, and I have turn in trays for each subject on top of them. 

  

I'm going to have students highlight their name before they turn in their work.

I got this cute printable from Mrs. Williamson's Blog

  

I need to cover the bathroom sign with something.  I share the "bathroom" with a teacher next door.  We decided to make it into a closet.  I don't like the thought of poop germs floating around in my room, and we have school restrooms right next door to us in the hallway.  

I'm doing a Super Improver wall door from Whole Brain Teaching this year.  Every student is going to start with a white sticky note, and they can earn stickers every time they improve in something (anything at all).  Once they earn 10 stickers on their sticky note, they move up to the next color.  If they earn all 10 stickers on the highest level,  they get to put their picture on the door.  The picture will remain turned over until they earn 10 more stickers.  I think it's a great idea to help students improve no matter what academic level they are.  The awesome Super Improver wall printables are from Tara's Blog.

 

I finally got all of my labels put on my library buckets thanks to my friend, Caitlin!  She gave me a ton of wall mounting stickers.  They work wonders for attaching labels!

  

The bulletin board on the left is for student work.  I just used black construction paper to help me space the clothes pins, but I think I like the way it looks.  I'll probably level the construction paper and staple it up there for a background.

The center signs on the board remind students what they're supposed to be working on.  I either write what they're supposed to be doing, or hang up the worksheet their supposed to turn in.

 

The picture on the left shows my language arts centers board.  See an updated picture here.

  

Soon, I'll have my big, clunky cart that holds my elmo and projector in front of my SMART Board.

The picture to the left shows more Whole Brain Teaching strategies.  

I got the cute printables from Christie's blog.

The objective and product idea is from The Fundamental Five.  The school district I work for started implementing Fundamental Five strategies from Lead Your School last year.  It tells the students what we are learning about ("We will") and what they are expected to do at the end of the lesson ("I will").

  

This is my messy desk area.  I still have a loooot of things to organize for my desk.

I'm going to use the Mr. Potato head for teacher compliments.  Every time the class as a whole receives a compliment for good behavior from ANOTHER teacher, I will add a piece to the potato head.  Once Mr. Potato Head is complete, my students will get a pajama day, popcorn snack, dance party, etc.  I used to spell "pajama day" or whatever my class was trying to earn on the board.  I think this idea is way more fun!  I got the idea from Something to Chirp About.

 

I've always LOVED new school supplies!!!  I'm going to start organizing all of my office supplies tomorrow. So exciting! :)  

I'm using Whole Brain Teaching rules next year, and the cute printables are from Christie's blog.  I'm going to have the students recite the rules with gestures multiple times each day.

The Early Act First Knight signs are for a character trait curriculum my district follows.  The students get really into it, and six students from each class are "knighted" each year for having knightly traits.  

This is the hallway outside my classroom.  The picture on the left shows where I display my students' work.  I hot glued little wood figures to clothes pins.  They go along with our knight theme.

Have you guessed what my school's mascot is yet?   

I joined Miss Nelson's Before & After Giveaway/Linky Party!  You should share your before and after pics and join her party too! :)