Classroom Decor Giveaway & Alphabet Exchange Update

It's official- my first classroom decor packet is all finished & uploaded! It's been a labor of love to create this, that's for sure. Next year I'm moving into a new classroom (well, new to me at least) and I'm so excited! I've been in the same room for about 14 years and it was so good to me. So many good things happened in that room. But the varnish on the wood walls was peeling and I had done all I could to make the room look good with blue, orange, and brown cabinet doors. (My principal said it screams 70's!) I'll miss it anyway. My new room is in a portable with blue carpet, cabinets that all match, a counter that's not all scratched up, and walls I can staple into rather having to use tape so much. Here are some pics. 

9

Classroom Reveal 2015!

Friday finished my 4th day of school. My class is so sweet! We played our first partner math game Friday and they did a great job! Everyone was cooperative and had lots of fun. Well, one pair had a slight disagreement but for the 4th day of school I was thrilled to see them playing so nicely with each other. 

I hadn't gotten around to posting pics of my finished classroom before school started so here they are today- better late than never, right? This year my classroom is decorated with frogs and yellow and lime green polka dots.

Sorry about the glare, it was the best I could do. The calendar pieces are little light and dark green frogs in an AB pattern.

I love the look of pennant banners for bulletin board headings to I made these in lime and yellow polka dots.

This is right behind my reading table. Everything I'll need for my small groups.

I love having stuffed animals in my room! They're so cute and later they'll be reading buddies for Daily 5.

That larger empty bulletin board is for writing.  This is where I'll post anchor charts and student work. We'll start Writer's Workshop tomorrow. I'm excited! Hopefully this group will love it as much as last year's. Closer up the banner looks like this. You can get it free- just click on the pic. I'd really appreciate if you'd leave a comment below too!

 We did our If You Take a Mouse to School writing. I love this because it's cute and fun and the kids really enjoy it! I go over how to do the whole thing and then let them work. It also tells me SO much about their abilities. It's one of my favorite assessments. You can read more about it {HERE}.

My mom paint kids hand to make these flowers. After school she painted each child's name above the flower. It gives kids a place to put their jackets and lunchboxes during recess. Plus it looks fun!

Thanks for taking a tour of my home away from home! Leave a link to your classroom photos in a comment and I'll be sure to stop by!

Off to plan the coming week. What else would I do on a Sunday afternoon?

3

Setting Up My Classroom- Day 1 & 2

It's that time again. Got my keys on Tuesday and worked a few hours yesterday and today. Here are the "before's" and "after's."

 BEFORE:

 Everything stacked up on the counter and covered with a drop cloth to keep it from getting too dirty over the summer.

 Furniture in rows? No thanks.

AFTER:

Getting things set up by my desk again. The double student desk will hold my laptop & projector. My DVD player goes inside one of the cubbies.

Today's goal was to get my library put back together and fill book boxes for Daily 5.

 Book boxes ready for Daily 5. They're just missing name labels.

I put about 10 books in each- just an assortment of fiction and non-fiction right now. I've got to find some phonetic readers (or make some) to add in.

 I inherited some new books so I labeled those and put them my library tubs.

 Yay! All my books sorted and on the shelves!

All that's missing are the labels on the tubs and my library is done.

Tomorrow's goals: laminate, organize a couple binders, set up my reading group area, purchase fabric for bulletin boards, have my hubby come and set up my laptop/projector/DVD player. 

3

Classroom Photos and Common Core Math Freebie Too

Whew! It was a busy, fun, confusing first week. I forgot how tired I'd be! The good part is that I ended the week with 22 little first graders. They're very sweet. There are some real smarties in the group. They can already the first stories in their reading book, and of course some who don't know all their letters and sounds and can't identify numbers after 10. I'm very excited to get Daily 5 started tomorrow so I can start getting my low kiddos in a reading group to help them out. We'll also start Math Work Stations this week. Need to get that intervention started for my little ones who don't know their numbers. I was also told I'd get a student who was a HUGE handful in kindergarten. So far he's been great! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Now for the confusing part: Monday morning I got my class list with 23 students on it. On the morning of the first day I got another little girl. Total students on Day 1was 24. Keeping count is important in this story. Riley didn't show up. Total=23. Thursday morning I found out that 2 of the boys were going back to the schools they attended last year. Incredibly, they were 2 that had been a bit high maintenence on the first day so I wasn't heartbroken. Thursday's total students= 21. On Friday I got student number 22. Oh my goodness! Other teachers were asking how many students I had and a few times, I must admit, I wasn't sure anymore. Hopefully I'll have the same 22 all this next week. 

I really wanted to post earlier this week but time just got away from me so I thought today I'd join up with a few linky parties and share some classroom pictures.

Here's what it looked like just a few days before school started:

Here's a view of my classroom now:

a view from the front of the room. The door is by the yellow table.

A view from the door. My desk is in the top right corner. The rug area is on the left side.

From the door again. A view of the calendar wall and library.

So, here's a tour of my space and where I live (at least where I spend a lot of time). I'm linking up with Courtney at Swimming Into Second

and Mrs. McHaffie at Beg Borrow Steal and her first ever linky party

Please join the parties once you're up and running too. My next will be about some of the projects we've done so far and hopefully have some freebies for y'all. But tomorrow's my birthday, so I don't know if I'll post tomorrow or wait until Tuesday. And Back-to-School Night is Wednesday. I still want to put together a trifold pamphlet like I've seen on Pinterest. Hopefully I'll get that done in time.
Have a great start to your week- whether you're working or still staying in your jammies 'till noon. See you later!
Till then, here's a little Common Core freebie for you. It's a quick poster I made of the Mathematical Practices so I could keep that nearby when I'm doing my planning.

Also, my Holiday Picture Books/ Back-to-School books linky party is still open if you'd like to take a look or link up.

2

Here We Go!

Well the school year started for me a week and half ago. That's the cause for my lack of blogging. I can't believe I've been away from it so much the past few weeks.. I love it and miss it! I have been checking out the great classrooms and ideas that others are posting, however.
I'm finally posting photos of my room. I changed some furniture around to create a library area and now have a classroom "frog" theme. It's nice to have some new things going on (excuse the ladder, I was still setting up).

Here is what my calendar wall looks like:

I love my library! Very happy with the way books are organized. I just went down today and took in my book boxes so we can start Read to Self tomorrow and get rolling on the Daily 5.

I started Math Work Stations last week. So far they contain pattern blocks, linker cubes, and tangrams. Just things kids can do independently without much explanation. I like the way this turned out. The numbers come from Lettering Delights.

So far the math work stations are going well. I'm pulling my first group during that time tomorrow so I can help them work on number recognition. I plan for this to be a time for some math intervention.
Thanks to everyone for the inspiration to start Math Work Stations and Daily 5. I hope to post photos of some projects very soon. Meanwhile happy blogging! Wishing everyone a great start to the year!

3