26 Random Acts of Kindness

Just a few short days before I go back to school... so sad.

I miss my kiddos, but I don't miss working.

Anyways, I made this reading card set in honor of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary. Every card is about a random act of kindness. It's free on my TPT and TN. Please enjoy.

There is still good in the world!

Kristen

Classroom Tour

Oh what a week! While I still have a ton of work to do to get ready for my students, I wanted to share what my room looks like at this very moment along with some Pinterest ideas that I either completed or altered to go along with my class this year.

Definitely a "Pinterest idea."
How the students go home! Just use close pins
so they are easy to add, or alter.

My classroom jobs laminated and magnetized on
my white board so I can just write names next to them.
This will be coming to TPT and TN soon ;

      

The whole school uses the behavior chart, but
I jazzed it up and use close pins so they move up or
down. Also, I add one more step: "Awesome Note
Home" which allows them to earn a note home and
a jewel for their clip. When the clip is full, they go to
my "Wall of Fame" and start a new one.

My writing wall! We use Write Reflections,
so the rainbow is key! Also, I made writing samples,
both ones that are "ideal" and ones that have very common mistakes that all my kids make, i.e. capitals, spacings, etc.

        

Another Pinterest idea, a mix of a bulletin paper
wall and then close pins to hold the student work.

My Boggle board! Yes, definitely a Pinterest favorite.
I actually used a auto oil pan ($12 @ Walmart) which
I spray painted to match my decor. I made the title and
instructions (they'll be on TPT and TN eventually). The
letters are hot-glued to magnet buttons so I can change them.

   

You've seen "Brownie Points," well here's "Like Points."
I made this myself and will put it on TPT and TN soon.
I post how the students earn "Likes" and display them
until the chart is full. When it's full, they get a "celebration!"

My focus wall. Can't wait to do this. I have
so many poster sets from TPT and TN that some awesome people make and I want them displayed when we are working on those skills!

A Pinterest idea; Objective Boards using
scrapbooking paper and dollar store frames.
I love this idea and it's easy and cheap!

Found the clock numbers on Pinterest and loved the striped and  owl theme.

My wall containing my schedule, objectives, subject minutes, and attendance boards.



The dreaded chalkboard is no more! I used colored cardstock
and magnetic letters to make a word wall.



This is how my room is set up for Open House. At our school,
parents usually bring in the school supplies at this time. I
use my empty bins and boxes so the parents and kids sort my
supplies for me. *Happy Teacher*

What my desk and area looks like now.

 

An awesome mom who does many of my bulletin boards did
this for me on request (yes I saw it on Pinterest).

My computer area with a lovely dotted table cloth.

Set up for Open House!

Each desk has a student info sheet, a welcome letter, a
volunteer form, and a magnet with my contact info.

My facebook bulletin board. Another pinterest idea that I couldn't
resist. This will probably be all you will see for a while, but I plan to
write a post on this later as I update it.

The focus wall, student books, centers, and treasure box (IKEA).

My reading centers; Miscellanous, Independent, Buddy Games, Writing,
and Reading (Not shown).

My BUILD Math centers.

Calnedar and reading corner. The white board is going to be used for
students (and myself) to write what we're reading and what we enjoyed. Also
I made the AWESOME seat crates that are all over Pinterest. Super easy and
SO cute!

They happen to match, but I used leftover fabric and a cut up mattress
pad. Home Depot cut the boards quickly, but I did get an odd look or two...
I love how this turned out to be a bench *Smiles*

The "What are we Reading..." Board. Only I've added to it so far, but
that will change very soon.

This was a last minute Pinterest idea. Take two cookie sheets (0.97 @
Walmart, who knew they were that cheap?), spray painted and signs/numbers.
Students move their number from "I'm Absent" to "I'm here" each morning
so you can see who's here. With specials first thing in the morning, this is
going to be a life saver.

 There it is, my classroom. It will change and it will get very messy and unorganized as the year goes, but I will say it's starting out better than previous years. I will get the files I mentioned out on TPT and TN ASAP, but don't expect them right away... School starts Tuesday and I am traveling to Orlando on Thursday night for a school function... oh the fun!

If you have any questions or comments, leave them, I would love to hear from you!

1st Grade Review Math Menu

Here's the one I promised, a first grade review to use either at the end of 1st grade or the beginning of 2nd grade. I hope you all can use this, because I know I will be assigning it as homework for the first week.

You can buy it at Teacher's Notebook and at TeachersPayTeachers (whenever the updates are done).

Check it out and let me know if you have any requests or ideas to use with this.

Enjoy!

Math Menu - One done, so many possibilities

I'm on a roll, what can I say?

I just finished my first "math menu" and couldn't wait to share with you all. I still thinking of different ways to use this and I will be making one for the beginning of school so they can review what they learned in the previous year, but until I get that done, here's the first one = Money!

You can buy at TeachersPayTeachers or at Teacher's Notebook. I'm also open to ideas about topics to do this type of project with. Measurement? Shapes? Let me know what you think or would like...

Manipulative Task Cards and a Sale!

Hello all!

Just a quick update here. I have been been in training but made several files to share. All of the tri-folds that I planned on making are up on Teachers Pay Teachers. I believe there are 13 files including Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia and Henry and Mudge in the Sparkle Days.

Also, I finally created the task cards that I had talked about wanting to do with BUILD. After researching many that were either too low or too high or with manipulatives that I didn't have to begin with... I went ahead and created my own set. There are a total of 68 cards in the file (17 pages). I may do another set sometime during the school year or even break apart the sets into categories (i.e. money, patterns, etc.) if anyone is interested... let me know.

Patterns - The students make specific patterns using unifix cubes or shape blocks.

Length - The students measure objects using rulers or common school supplies.

Calculators - Students enter numbers in calculators to see what word they need to find.

Phones - Students use touch-tone phones (old cell phones) to complete mental math problems.

You can buy this file and my others at TeachersPayTeachers and Teacher's Notebook.

Also... ALERT, ALERT, ALERT!!!

I am having a 15% off sale at both TeachersPayTeacher and Teacher's Notebook from Saturday 7/21 through Tuesday 7/24 in honor of me going back to school (at least to unpack and bring in all my numerous boxes of teacher stuff). Enjoy and buy :-)

Build - Math Centers

Normally, I won't be updating this often, but I ended up finding the perfect bins for BUILD today and had to share.



In case you have no idea about BUILD, check out Adventures in Teaching

I actually found out about it from Pinterest (of course) and was immediately attracted to having my math centers set up the way they describe. If you know about Daily 5, it runs similar with there being five set centers that can be altered throughout year.

Here's the sum-up:
B is Buddy Games - I plan to use all those awesome math games I find on blogs, TPT, and TN with this particular center.

U is Using Manipulatives - Tens and Ones, Dominos, Shape/Pattern Blocks, Flashcards, Counters, Calculators, Unifix Cubes, etc. But I want to create task cards for these so my kiddos don't just "build" objects with no purpose.

I is Independent Work - Worksheets, Workbooks, Folders for different math unit, i.e. money, measurement, addition, subtractions, etc.

L is Learning About Numbers - Books, I found a blog on Pinterest that lists math books by topic  (SCORE, Math Books Galore!) Most books are from $3.99 - $7.99 on Amazon. I got to see Stuart Murphy at the IRA conference and would recommend getting any of his books. He has over 60 math books in his "Math Start" series. I'm trying to collect them all. Check out his books here.

D is Doing Math - This is kind of that miscellanious center that you can do anything with. If you have extra games or activities you want them to do, they can do it here. Also, this can be a teacher led center or even just a "pop-in" center where we check in with them throughout the time.

I found these buckets at Dollar Tree and the labels at Sunny Days in Second Grade. Just alter your print settings to make them smaller to fit on whatever boxes you want to use. This is one of those things I can't wait to start next year.