Welcome To My Class

So today is the big day for 21 new students! I am very excited about the new year, not only because of all the great ideas I want to implement, but I know so many of the students who will be in my class. Many of them since they were babies!!  I worked last week to get everything together, but of course there is always more to do.

Welcome to my class:)

I love how the surfboards came out

All the kids take off their shoes before they come in


 I hope this set up works for me, I like all of the space



Check in chart


Drill bag (fire, earthquake, tsunami, lock-down, shelter in place)
Bucket Fillers and Clip Chart

Star of The Week Board

Homework Folder, Cubbies, Lunches

My new fun desk

Found these cute tumblers at Target and hot glued them onto a
piece of wood so they wouldn't fall over

No apple on my desk this year, just a pineapple:)

Coconut candle that a student gave me

My new rug!!

Schedule cards-Do you recognize them from

Love this poster:))


These have been on my clock forever, I never change it

Writing Center

Supplies

Library

Book Bags


Computers

I am pretty happy with the set up. I hope we have plenty of room with all my new kiddos,
backpacks and supplies.

If you are starting back today you are probably not reading this, lol!  But for those of you still on vacation enjoy your time:)
Let's see if I still have a voice left at the end of the day:))


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Bucket Fillers

I'm sure many of you are heading back into your classrooms, buying those last minute goodies and getting the finishing touches done.  I have been busy all week and my students will be there waiting for me on Monday!

I plan to share my classroom with you then, but today I just wanted to share a cute product that I found and am using in class this year.

I know Bucket Filling is not a new concept and there is tons of stuff out there on Google and Pinterest. I was planning on just making a cute pocket chart board like this one from The First Grade Parade.

bucketfillers1
Cute simple and bright.  Well when I headed out to pick up supplies  I found these great little buckets from Creative Teaching Press.!! Perfect:)

The colors were great for my class and I also picked up some bright colored pockets to go on them.
But the design was so cute that I decided to switch it up a bit.  I laminated them and then cut a slit in the top.

I decided to use packing tape, much quicker than glue and less mess, to tape the pocket to the back.



How cute is that! I love it and with my non-existant wall space I decided to place these on one of my closet doors.

I wish I would have taken a picture before I placed on their nametags, but you get the idea.  I have a bucket to place nearby that I plan to fill with bucket filler notes, that I snagged from another site. I also mounted them up with velcro so they could take down their bucket on Fridays to get at their notes much easier.

I have had some technical difficulties in class due to the fact I CANNOT find my Bulletin Board letters anywhere!!! I searched high and low and just don't know how they can't be found??? So this weekend I am off the buy new letters to finish up the headings on my bulletin boards.  The studetns will just have to come into a plain classroom for a little while.

Enjoy your weekend and check for my classroom reveal on Monday:)









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Daily 5 Chapter 7-Putting It All Together

d5 chapter 7.JPG

Well here we are, the last chapter of the Daily 5.  This chapter is about putting together all that we have learned and troubleshooting any problems that may arise.

I would like to thank Mel D from Suesstastic Classroom Inspirations and Nicole from Teaching with Style! for setting up this bookstudy.  I have enjoyed learning and sharing ideas with everyone involved. 

This week I am hosting along with Kimberly at Funky First Grade Fun 


We have gone through the book, learned some key terms and ideas and now it's time to get started.  The first step for me is organizing and figuring out my schedule for implementing all of the Daily 5 rotations.

Since I have used centers previously in my class, it is not that big of a stretch for me. I only have a 90 minute morning block and plan to have rotations at least 3 times per week.  I would love to be able to get up to 30 minute blocks, but for now we will start with a few mini lessons and build up.

I have my materials in place and lots of ideas for Word Work, Work on Writing, Read to Someone and Listening to Reading. I don't plan to use a lot of premade posters, as I think it is so beneficial to have your students create the anchor charts with you.

However, I did have a few requests for some posters. Click on the picture to grab them from Google Docs.



Although we have not discussed The Cafe, it is the next step in the Daily 5, and I plan to look at it in the future.

I also wanted a way to organize where the students would be going each day.  I talked alot about giving students more choice, but I still need to keep my classroom orderly.  I have created a Clip Chart to use for the Daily 5 rotations.  I was inspired by a few items I found on pinterest and ideas from other bloggers like the picture below.

Pinned Image
from responsetoinstruction.net via Pinterest



Here is my version
My Clip Chart is similar. I used icons on the side of each to show that there is a limit of 4 people at each rotation, except Read To Someone.  You can grab this freebie on Google Docs.

Another concern was how to give students choice and make sure they are going to all rotations.  This is a simple check off sheet that students can use to help them keep track. I plan to have each child go to each rotation before they can repeat. 

Just click on the picture get them from Google Docs.


I think the key to being successful with this program or any other is to take it slow, keep it simple and practice!!!  I truly appreciate all of the ideas, feedback and experiences that everyone has shared during this book study.  I plan to refer back to many of these posts as needed. 

I also visited The Daily Cafe. There are resources available there and they have a weekly tip that you can sign up for. Membership is a bit pricey for a year, but you could sign up for the 3 months for much less.  I plan to ask my school to see if the funds are available for a membership.
If you refer back to Nicole's original post she posted a link about a Yahoo support group that shares about The Daily 5. I have received lots of great info from there as well.

The new year begins on Monday for my students and I plan to start filling their book bags for our first lesson on Read to Self.

For those of you still on vacation, enjoy it!! For those of us heading back to class I hope the new year is a fresh and exciting one.

P.S. Don't forget to link up your Chapter 7 post and link it back to your hosts.
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Back To Work

Today was my last day of vacation and my youngest daughter and I hit the mall to get some Back To School shopping done.  They just opened up a TJMaxx so we hit that first.  She got some really cute shoes and some fun new outfits.



We spent the entire day mainly window shopping and enjoying each others company:) I think I have met my match in the shopping arena!!



I feel like I have been out of the loop for the last few weeks in the blogging world.  I have been back in my class, and trying to spend time with my family before school starts. Things start to pile up and I have to remember that I started blogging for fun, so forgive me if my posts are a bit sporadic;)

Well I think this is the last week for Monday Made It, so I am linking up for a few projects I completed this week.

This week in my class I started some fun makeovers.  I have some lovely furniture that is old and rusted which I usually just shove in the corner and pile things on, but this year I decided to do something about it.

I posted previously on this lovely file cabinet. It was covered with these stickers when I moved into the room. That was eight years ago, lol!



Then there is this beautiful desk that I also inherited with the room.



So I made a few purchases and decided to get to work.



My class theme is bright and tropical so I found this scrapbook paper at Target.  I made some homeade Modge Podge by pouring a bottle of glue into a container and then refilling the bottle with water and mixing that in with the glue.  I got the idea from pinterest, but I don't remember the exact recipe that they used, so I improvised.

I just layed on the paper in pieces and tried to line up the patterns and fill in around the label trim.





Up close its not really pretty but from far away it looks much better.  I had several teachers already walk in my class and tell me how nice it looked.  I think they are being sincere:) I decided to move it back to it's spot and then I added a few embellishments.  This picture is with my phone and not as clear.



The words and pictures help to cover up the seams. I am pretty happy with it and just plan to leave it like this. The right side will be used for our AR chart since it's right next to the computers.

Then I purchased a table skirt on Ebay for my desk.  I used some heavy duty tape and just taped it to the edge.


It looks so bright and fun and everyone was oohing and ahhing about  it too:)

The next thing I made for my class was my Behavior Clip chart.  My original Clip Chart was bright tropical colors and I loved it,  but I think my class is starting to look a bit feminine and I wanted to throw a surfing theme into the mix as well.  I also received a sweet email from a follower who sent me a surf themed clip chart that she had made. I loved  it and wanted to create my own version. So I made this.



It turned out really cute and I know my students will love the surf terms!


Now I just need to figure out what I will do when students reach Cowabunga! I want to somehow tie it into my Reward Necklaces I made, but I am not quite sure what to do.  I saw something with tickets, and beads, but I need something simple that I will remember to do! I really want to get away from the reward box. Ideas are greatly appreciated:)

Tuesday is when I have to officially report back to work, but I'm sure I will pop in today to work on a few more items. The kids start next Monday and I need to get those first week plans going!!  Hopefully I will be able to post my fully finished classroom on Friday! Head on over and link up with Tara!

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