MLK Day Freebie!

Holy wow! Have I really not blogged since before school started!? I guess regularly updating this poor blog will be at the top of my resolutions list!


Anywhos, as I was beginning to plan for the first few weeks back at school {I can’t believe break is already over in 3 days :o( }, I was having a difficult time finding morning work {a.k.a. worksheets} for MLK, Jr. Day that was appropriate for my students. So, I took matter into my own hands and created this beauty!

 Head on over to my TpT store here for your free copy! Please leave me a comment as well if you download it. I LOVE comments!

Printed Duct Tape LOVE



While picking up my 10 cent composition books at Staples this week, I needed at least 5 dollars worth of items to buy to get the extreme deal. {They sure know how to sucker more money out of us, don’t they?}

Anywhoos, I saw these beauties on a display and knew I JUST. HAD. TO. HAVE. THEM.

They’re zebra and leopard print! PERFECT for my jungle/safari theme!

So I got them to my classroom and was just staring at their beauty, pondering what in the world I could do with them. And then it hit me. Why don’t I jazz up my book boxes? So this is what I did.

I took my book boxes that I had purchased last year from Target's dollar spot {have I ever mentioned how much I love that place?} and simply added two pieces of the duct tape to the end! They turned out so cute!

Here are all of the boxes together sitting on the counter. On the first day of school I plan on taking each student’s picture and then adding them on top of the animal prints. This will make it quick and easy for them to find their boxes.

Don’t you just love the simplicity of it? I think these are my new favorite items in my classroom! :o)

 



Classroom Pictures...So Far

So life has been pretty hectic the past few weeks. I have one last final week of summer break before going back for a 3 week “boot camp.” I’m not going to complain though, because one of those “boot camp” days includes a special speaker - - the one and only RON CLARK!!!!!! (I CAN’T WAIT!!!)

Anywhoos, I have spent many hours in my classroom already, but feel like I have SO much more to do! A little bit of background on my school: it’s a charter school in Cincinnati. There is already one campus (K-12) on the west side of town and they are opening up a new campus (K-6) on the east side. I was lucky enough to be able to go to the new campus. I can’t wait until all of the kiddos arrive on September 6^th!

On Tuesday this past week, I decided in the afternoon to head out to get some things done in my room since the hubby got home from work early.  BAD IDEA! I should have just stayed home because not even 5 minutes away from my house, this happened:

I know, right!? And I had JUSt gotten these tires last September for my birthday too!

Well, enough griping. How about some pictures of my classroom? I am doing a jungle/safari theme this year.

This is what my classroom looked like the very first time that I saw it  - completely blank!

After a few hours here and there, this is what I have so far:



This is where the student mailboxes are located. The cute little animal trash cans are fm Target’s dollar spot (last spring). They are going to be the “scrap bins” for each table whenever we have a cutting project. I hate it when kids are out of their seats to throw away little scraps of paper. Such a waste of time. The students will put all of their scraps in their table’s bin and then the classroom helpers will empty them at the end of the day.

 

This is the beginning of the library. All of the items here were also found at the Target dollar spot last spring.

I have an ENTIRE wall of windows in my classroom and not even close to the amount of wall space that I need, so I decided to turn each window shade into a different bulletin board!
This is the first one. It is for our weekly mystery reader. I got all of the items that I needed for this from Mrs. D at The Silver Lining. Here is the link to her post.





I found these “Bucket Filling Essentials” that Hope over at 2^nd Grade Shenanigans created from Ron Clark’s Essential 55. LOVE!

I can’t take the credit for this behavior chart. I about fell out of my seat when I saw this posted here on Queen of the First Grade Jungle. I just knew that I had to use this for my room!

 

“Treemendous Words” Can you guess what this is? Lol!

This is the front of my room. I’ve already banged my head on that blasted tv at least 20 times!

This is a picture standing where the tv is.

As you can see, there is still a LOT of work to do, but not too bad for starting with a clean slate! :o)



Classroom Decorating and Emmie's 4th Birthday

So I went into my classroom for the first day of organizing and decorating today. I have been stressing out about getting my classroom together for this upcoming school year because I am moving to a new school and a new grade. Eeeekkk! I have actually been able to get into my classroom since mid-June, but there was really no point in going except to drop off my buckets and buckets of classroom stuff until today because there was no furniture at our new school yet. 

Well, the desks finally arrived on Friday, so I headed on in today. I got quite a bit done and was actually surprised and pleased with myself. Sad thing is, I FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES BEFORE I LEFT!!! UGH! I was really excited to show my dear husband the pictures of what I had accomplished today and realized half-way home that I never took any! Ooops! Oh well. I guess I'll have to remember to take some when I go in later this week.

 

On a non-school related note, my little girl turns 4 tomorrow. 4! I can't believe it! Check out this cute little face!

We’re surprising her with a trip to the zoo and Build-A-Bear tomorrow. She is also getting her ears pierced because she wants to be like the “cool girls” that live across the street. :o)

 

Super Cute New Blog!

I found a super cute new blog this morning called A Little Kinder Told Me So and she is hosting her first giveaway! She is giving away a customized tote bag, a $10 gift card to Target, and a $10 gift card to Sonic!!!
Head on ove rto her blog to find out how to enter and to look at all of her cute stuff!

Bulletin Board Linky Party!

So I'm doing my first ever linky party with  Sunny Days in Second Grade to share some of my bulletin boards over the past few years. I hope I am doing this right!

I know that I have a lot more pictures of bulletin boards, but I just can't seem to find them right now! Oh, well. I am already planning for my new classroom at my new school with my new grade {2nd}! I hopefully will be able to get into my classroom some time over the next week. I have been gathering some great ideas from all of teh awesome linky parties that are going on in blogland! I'll post some pics of my new room when I get some things on the walls!

Cupcake Addition!

I have posted my first products on Teachers Pay Teachers and I thought I would share it with ya'll! I am so excited to finally be able to find the time to post these products! :o) Anywhos, the first product is an addition math center game, which includes a recording sheet. Below, you will find the link to teh game on Teachers Pay Teachers. I hope to be posting more games and units soon!

Cupcake Addition

My First Attempt...

Okay, so here is my VERY FIRST attempt at creating a game or anything of the sort to share on my blog.  PLEASE let me know what you think!  I could REALLY use your feedback!!!!!  Thanks!

Pointers!

I just LOVE finding ideas on the internet and being able to use them in my classroom.  Why reinvent the wheel, right!? I do not recall where I found the idea of book pointers in the library area of your classroom, but I loved it - especially when I found these adorable bee cutouts at the teacher store.  I just laminated them for durability, hot glued them to a craft stick and put them in a cute decorated can (see previous post).  I plan on adding the student names to each bee so that they all have their very own pointer to use as they are reading books in the library!

I also put together these awesome "Read the Room" pointers for the students to use while in the word center.  Check out First Grader...At Last! for directions on how to make these.  I love Sarah's blog and find GREAT ideas there.  For the holder, I covered an old beer bucket that my husband acquired from someone with scrapbook paper. Ironically, he doesn't even drink beer! Anywhos, I decided to cover both inside and out to make it really interesting looking.  I think it turned out great and I can't wait to see my students using these pointers as they walk around the classroom. 

 

The Bees Knees

Okay, so if you haven't been able to guess yet, my theme in my classroom this year will be.....BEES! :o) I have found some really great ideas online that I am planning on using in my classroom. One of the ideas that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE (and can't wait to make) is Our Five 'Bees' Promise from  First Grader...At Last!.  I have also been in the process of making many more bee related items for my classroom.  Unfortunately, I don't have any new pictures to include since I have not been able to start setting up my classroom yet, but I promise to post some as soon as I get in there!  I was able to find a picture of my Kindergarten classroom door two years ago that inspired my decision for the bee theme this year.

In addition to deciding on the theme of my classroom, I had a genius idea as I was opening up a can of peaches for my daughter. It's strange how we teachers can come up with crafty ideas to "turn trash into treasures?" :o) I decided to turn the many soup, vegetable and fruit cans that we use in my house into nifty little pencil holders for the students to keep at their desks.  I used scrapbook paper to cover each can and then "laminated" each one by covering it with packing tape.  I then added a label to each one to write the student names on as soon as I get my class list.  I also plan on adding a piece of Velcro to the bottom of each can to keep them secure to the desks.  I am *hoping* that this idea will actually work.  I'm curious to see if it will help my students stay organized.  I guess time will tell.

Finally, for all of you that are parents of infants or know someone who has an infant, ask them to keep their baby wipe containers and formula canisters.  I wrapped mine in scrapbook paper and again "laminated" them with the packing tape to use as inexpensive manipulative holders!  Here are a few pics of the ones that I have created recently.

First Day Name Graph

This is a project that I did in my Kindergarten class last year on the first day of school and the students absolutely LOVED it!  I think that I may do this on the first day of first grade this year.  It worked as a great ice breaker last year.  The students just simply added each letter of his/her name into the squares next to where his/her name was written.  The students then answered questions about the graph, such as "Who has the most letters in their name?" or "Who has the least?"