Teacher Week 2013: Classroom Sneak Peak

This is probably my favorite day of teacher week! I just love looking in other people's classrooms! 

My classroom is nowhere near finished! I will share what I have but I'll be back later to show you the finished product!

 I took some pictures last week before I left but I still have a lot to do.  I have worked more this summer than I usually do because I was on a mission to get rid of every single monkey/jungle thing!  I've been hanging with the monkeys for 6 years and it was just time for them to go.  I decided to go without a "theme" so that maybe I won't get tired of it quickly.  I think my theme now is just bright colors and patterns! I know some people probably think it is too bright and crazy but I believe in organized chaos!  I think if everything has its place and your room is neat and organized....you can go a little crazy with colors!  I just made that rule up as I was typing. I like it.  I'm sticking to it.  My house is neutral city so I think my classroom is my little outlet for my love of all things bright!

I am incorporating a little bit of the "boho birds" collection from Carson Dellosa and "tweeting birds" collection from Creative Teaching Press to pull everything together.  It's funny because I really don't like birds in real life but as you can see from my blog...I adore little pink, cartoon birds. 

OK.....I'm just procrastinating because I don't want to show you my unfinished room.  Don't judge.  ;)

 Classroom library needs labels and some TLC

 Writing table and my teacher area...plus the "word wall to be"

A closer look at my teacher area...needing labels!

 Front of the room...needs a lot of work.  The yellow frames at the top ready to be filled with math word wall cards and word work "chunks."

 The meeting area with smartboard where most of my whole group teaching takes place.  The green chevron board in the back is going to be full of anchor charts and projects that we are working on throughout the year.  The pillow on the floor in the back will be around a little black table for reading and partner work.

 Squint your eyes and pretend that those math manipulative boxes are on a pretty blue shelf that the hubs is making me. ;)  That door is the bathroom door waiting to be decorated.  The yellow curtains hide guided reading materials and more math manipulatives and LOTS of TPT products and games in manilla envelopes!  The blue drawers hold work work materials like wiki stix, stamps, a mini sandbox, shaving cream, letter cubes, etc.

This is my guided reading/math table for small group instruction.  The blue polka dot board in the back is the back of my supply shelf and will hold reading strategies (magnetic).

This is our community supply shelf as you walk in the door...ready to be filled with brand new supplies...makes my teacher heart happy!  Everything is ready for some cute labels...on my to do list next week!

That's all for now.  Come back soon for a finished version! Don't forget to link up with Blog Hoppin' to get in on all the fun this week.  I'm off to the beach...can't wait to look in all of the beautiful classrooms this evening!

Guess what?

I have a new blog design that will be unveiled VERY soon I hope.  I'm so darn excited.  Here's a little sneaky peeky...

Cuteness!

Stay tuned, friends!

I haven't been able to get back in my classroom for a few days but I've been working a little bit at home and my favorite finds this week were these lightweight, bright frames at Michael's! They were buy one get one free PLUS the sweet lady at the register had a coupon for 20% off instead of my 15% teacher discount. Woohoo!  I love them and I think (hope!) they're lightweight enough to stick on the wall with a command hook.

Everything looks better framed, am I right?  I obviously couldn't afford to frame everything on my walls so I decided to frame the rules and motivational posters.  Here is a start on that.

Click the links to be taken to the original source if you like these posters.

If You Can't Be Kind, Be Quiet  (Can I get an amen?)

Be Kind. No Exceptions.

And the class rules were made by yours truly.  

I actually posted a different one a couple weeks ago and I changed my mind on the color scheme (big shocker!) so...you are welcome to grab yourself a copy of either one if you want them!

Click here to download.

I like to keep my class rules short and sweet.  I let the kids have input on what kind of rules they want in the classroom on the first day of school...but for some reason they always get bogged down in things that pertain to physical violence and gross stuff.  Is that just my kids?

If I took all of their ideas, we would have 6,972 rules.  

1.  No hitting

2. No pushing

3. No kicking

4. No spitting in other people's food in the lunchroom (an actual one from one of my kiddos from last year)

5.  No biting

6. No calling people "cry babies" even if they are  (no...I couldn't make this stuff up)

etc. etc. etc. etc.

You get the picture.  So...I still get their input, but I have these 3 ready to rock because let's be honest I can slide any transgression into one of these categories.  I'm good like that.

Pretty sure spitting in other people's food qualifies as not being kind and respectful.  Just saying.

Last but not least,  I've been working on a little "Back to Basics" math and literacy pack and it's up and ready to go!  This is full of activities (whole group, small group, individual work, and partner games) that I plan to use to review basic skills with my first graders at the beginning of the year.  It would be perfect for kindergarten and Pre-K all year long.  I also plan to keep these activities handy to use for intervention as needed throughout the year in my first grade classroom.

Language Arts Skills:

first day writing template

-alphabet letter cards (lowercase)
-alphabet letter cards (capital)
-letter sounds picture cards (26 plus ch/sh/th)
-beginning sound assessment & answer key
-CVC picture cards
-CVC word cards
-"write around the room" CVC activity and/or assessment
-missing letter CVC assessment and/or guided practice
-DRAW IT (CVC word version)
-DRAW IT (CVC sentence version)
-rhyming picture match/pocket chart cards
-"No Nonsense" real vs. nonsense word rhyming activity
-rhyming sentence challenge activity

Math Skills:
-"A Number Book" (students illustrate simple sentences to show mastery of one to one correspondence with simple pictures)
(numbers 1-10)-"Adios Monsters" dice game & recording sheet
-"Spin it to Win it" card/unifix cube game (numbers 0-20)
-"It's All About the Dots" subitizing cards...perfect for number talks!
-"Fill it Up" card game (numbers 1-30)
-colorful number cards 1-30

It is ON SALE for 5 bucks this week. :)  Check out the preview here if you're interested!

I'd also love to GIVE IT AWAY to the first 5 readers that head over to my facebook page and leave me a comment there telling me you could use it! 

Happy Summer!

Classroom Sneak Peak & Scrap Fabric Banner Tutorial

I got the itch to start working in my classroom this week.  The spare bedroom was filled to the brim with "stuff" that needed to go to my classroom so I packed up my car and went in on Monday morning expecting it to be 120 degrees in my room.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the AC was on (thank you summer school)!  So, I stayed longer than I had originally planned and got some things put back.

Here is what I walked into on Monday morning. Yikes.

I've had a "jungle" theme for the past few years and each year monkeys have slowly started to disappear. Bless their hearts. They're cute but I got tired of them about 2 years ago but couldn't justify spending the money to completely re-do everything.  I finally decided that I'd built up enough bright, colorful decor to make THAT my theme.  

The last reminder of "the jungle" was the vine hanging in the meeting area.  I decided to replace that with a black and bright, whimsical rag banner.  I kept seeing them popping up on Pinterest...mostly as photography backdrops and party decorations. I decided that I could whip one up faster than cutting out triangles for a pennant.  I am am impatient crafter and I'm really, really bad at measuring things. Eek.

I can't even describe how easy this was and I'm thrilled with the final product!  I had a LOT of fabric left over from various unfinished projects and I ordered some more (chevron...duh!)  on fabric.com!  They have an awesome selection.

So I ended up with a ton of playful patterns and colors to work with.

The best part of this project was NO MEAURING required.  The strips do not have to be uniform or perfect.  In fact, I think it is better if they're not.  That's what I tell myself, anyway.

 I used some decorative black cord from Hobby Lobby to string the fabric.  If I was using this for a party in my house or for photography or something...I think twine would look adorable, but the black worked best with my classroom colors.

 Just cut strips, lay them out, and get ready to tie!

 I tried to show you how I tied the "knots" but it was hard with one hand on the camera. ;)  Basically I folded the strip in half.  Put the "open" ends on the top and pull the "closed" end through the hole and then just pull it snug.  The end result was a knot that looked sort of like a man's tie.  My fabric was not double sided, so I just pulled on it and arranged it so the pretty side was facing out for the most part. The cutting and tying combined took about 2 hours.  I made two really long banners.

So easy. So cute.

And her's my little fashion model posing with the finished product.

And ta-da!  Here it is hanging in my classroom.  Please ignore the crummy quality and everything else in the photo.  Good grief. I still have a lot of work to do...but no more jungle vine!

I have some more fun projects planned for that pretty fabric...stay tuned!

Now, I have a pajama party planned with my laminator.  Friday night...what else would I do? 

Happy Summer to you!