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Wednesday, August 1, 2012

What I've Been Up To.... A Peek into my Classroom

The beginning of the 2012-2013 school year is creeping up on me....I have less than 2 weeks until a brand new set of firsties greet me at my door!  Ahhh!  I am so excited to meet them, but need to finish getting ready.  I still have a family vacation to fit in as well so I have been busy setting up, as well as cleaning my room.  I decided that I am a packrat when it comes to school stuff...you never know when I might need that!

One thing I got done was an overhaul on my classroom library with some new jungle themed book basket labels.  Maybe someday I'll paint all those baskets so they match like so many creative teachers out there!  I put stickers on my books with a matching sticker on the basket label so the kiddos have a better chance at putting their books away correctly.  I decided to go a step further with using clips this year with their number on them to also help.  When they get a book they will put a clip on that basket.  They only get two clips at the beginning of the year so this will also slow down the "hogging" of favorite books!



Another thing I accomplished was to figure out a way to display those core standards without using a whole bunch of velcro.  I found Deanna Jump's file of the first grade standards and decided hers would be alot easier than me making them, but I didn't want to display them the way she suggested-only because I am a cheap skate and am always trying to figure out how to do things/get things for free or fairly cheap.  Anyways, she suggests velcro-well as you all know velcro is expensive.  So this is what I came up with:
As you can see I have an odd space to the left of my projector screen-which worked perfect for this.  I made some subject headers Jungle Themed of course, printed on cardstock and laminated.  I also laminated all of the 1st grade common core standards.  Then I punched a hole on either end of the cards.  (Even the subjects in case they need to changed out.)  I then used small ended thumbtacks to "hang" my standards on.  Here's a closer (a bit blurry) view:
Another project (besides cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning) that I do every year is mere decoration.  I make hanging names to greet all of students on the first day of school.  They usually stay up for 3 weeks before they begin to drive me crazy.  I punch out letters for each child's name from the ellison machine, staple them together, punch a whole on the top and then hang from my ceiling.  The students usually can't wait for them to come down either because they want to hang them up in their own rooms at home!


{Picture of names hanging in my room COMING SOON!}

I also worked on pulling my Jungle Books back together and organizing student math tool kits.  Pictures and info to come soon.....I have a list of things to do as I head in tomorrow to finish up a bunch of little things.

First three people to leave a comment can get a copy of my Jungle Themed Book Box labels for FREE!  (Also available at my TpT store if you aren't one of the first three!) Be sure to leave your email address!

11 comments:

Katy

Love the idea of giving the kids clips to put on the basket, and the jungle labels are so cute!

Katy
kevans927@hotmail.com

Anonymous

The jungle theme is so cute. I love animals and the kids love anything animal themed. I love your idea with the names, I wish I could do something like that, but my county is so particular about not hanging from the ceiling and only 30% of the walls being covered. It makes it challenging. I appreciate all your hard work. Good luck.
Alicia
aliciachapman10@yahoo.com

Unknown

Your classroom library looks fantastic!! I am inspired to get to work on mine as soon as I can get back in my classroom!
Shelley
sdaecar@gmail.com

Kiah

Those names are a really cute idea! I may have to recreate that! And good idea about standards placement, I have an area just like that in my classroom that I may just have to look at again! Thanks for the inspiration!

Kiah
kiah.m.berg@gmail.com

Micheal

This is a really cute idea! We usually don't get our class list until the day before school starts. I can see me now running home the night before trying to cut out 20 names or so! LOL!

Kahla

I know I'm not one of the first three, but I have to say that I LOVE the name idea!!! I hope we get our class list with enough time that I can do this.

Unknown

I love your book boxes labels! My personal library is the biggest thing I've struggled with keeping organized! Thanks for the idea!

Carrie

Thank you all for the great comments! I am sorry it took me so long to comment back! Getting back into school and the swing of things can be quite an adjustment!

Unknown

I'm doing a jungle theme this year! I would love your Jungle Themed Book Box labels for FREE! :)

Unknown

Little late! LOL

Ms. Ruffin

I love this name idea. How fun will it be when the students walk in with their name hanging from the ceiling!!

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