I'm Back!! And check out my {FREEBIES}!!

I'm back (again)!  Well, I have been back at it for almost a month and have not had the time to do any blogging, time for blog stalking yes, but not updating my own blog!  Way too busy getting back into a schedule, at home and at school, as well as making things to use in my classroom to implement some new procedures.  My own kids (now in 2nd and 6th grade) also keep me busy with their schedules.  To give you an idea of how hectic things can get (this is an extremely busy week), here's my week....soccer practice, taekwondo class, volleyball (that one's for me-just for fun), overnight Camp Eberhart with my 6th grade daughter (I signed up to chaperone) Thursday-Friday, football game, run a 1/2 marathon on Saturday, soccer game after the marathon, walk 3 miles for a Juvenile Diabetes fundraiser on Sunday. Wow!  That's even exhausting just to type!  And of course I have to prepare sub plans for Thursday and Friday.  Oh, yeah, did I mention that I am getting observed this Wednesday?  Good times... but the sub plans brings me to something I just created and am giving away to anyone that wants it!

I am big on Whole Brain teaching and I can not say enough great things about how much it has changed my teaching.  I use it all day long!  I am not sure how I survived first grade without it?!!  Anyways, since I am going to be gone two days in a row (and it's still early in the year) I decided that I would put together a Whole Brain Teaching cheat sheet for my guest teacher(s).  Most are unfamiliar with whole brain teaching, and I would really like for my class to not have to change too much from what they are used to when I am gone.  I am hoping that it will help them out and mayne it can help you too!  You can find this resource at my TpT store.  Just click HERE!

How many of you have seen this picture pinned on Pinterest?

I {LOVE} this, but when I went to the website I couldn't find a link to print it out.  You can go there by clicking HERE.  She has some cute pics and love her ideas.  Anyways, I decided to make my own Open Mic sign up sheet, jungle themed of course!! 

If you want a copy of it, just click on the picture! 

One more thing I made was a Jungle Themed I Pick chart.  {Which of course I don't have picture of right now....} But I will still share the document tonight and just add the picture tomorrow...or when I get around to it!  Just be sure to print on legal sized paper.  Click HERE for the chart. Here's a YouTube video that goes with the chart.  It is a cute little song teaching kiddos about picking "just right" books.

I am thinking of putting together some Kid Friendly common core" I Can's" to be displayed in the classroom.  I have a TpT seller's  version but they are pretty wordy for my kiddos and are hard to see. Has anyone found a good kid friendly version with a decent sized font?  Believe me, I've been looking!

Well, I think I have out done myself by blogging tonight and actually sharing a few things!  Time to get some rest for a very busy week! 

Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Sale

I am participating in the TpT Back to School Sale! Click below to go to my store and save 20% on all my products starting tomorrow morning!!!

**I just got back from our family vacation yesterday and start school on Monday (no kiddos) then Tuesday with kiddos!  So be sure to check back soon to see how the first week went!

A Few More Pics of My Room....

I spent a few more hours at school again today. And with the help of my daughter I erased several things off my to-do list!

But first-as promised a picture of my hanging names! Love them!

Also got to label my math station tubs/drawers. I only did 6 last year with students working in small groups. I decided I like partners much better so that's why so many tubs!
















We cleaned up and straightened up my poetry station. I was hanging "later in the year" poems on those top hooks and my daughter asked..."how are they going to reach those?". I literally laughed out loud! Never a dull moment.

I actually did this the other day, but I organized all those zillion manipulatives/games for my stations into supply tubs. It might actually be easier to find things this year!

The before and after of a project right up my daughters alley! Duct tape table for word work station. (I took the legs home to spray paint. For some reason the blue does nothing for me!)

And today was labeling day-labels for writing tub, graded papers, intervention tub, student files, closet hooks, mailboxes and lunch chart. Yikes! That was a lot of labels. Some I did numbers so I shouldn't have to redo next year, but others were student names. I am waiting til the day before school starts to adhere many of them. I hate when I gain/lose students those few days before school starts-always messes with abc order!

And finally a pic of student book baskets-including their number and 2 clips to check out books from the classroom library.

Oh-I cannot forget a big thanks to Molly for cleaning out/organizing my indoor recess games! That was a task I was avoiding for sure!

One more day in my room and I should be good to go! Yeah!

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!

My Jungle Version of a Crate Seat~Bucket Style!

Let me just say that I {LOVE} all the crate seats out there and pinned them to my Summer-To-Do List. I really liked that they were functional seating.  I kept putting them off because the height of them bothered me.  I knew I wanted to use them at my reading table and I thought they were just too short.  After looking and looking for an alternative that was a bit taller....I finally came up with my version....and it turned out to be quite cheap.  (Thanks to my son for sitting on numerous storage containers and such to give a visual of the height I wanted!)  AND it only takes about 30 minutes to make each seat!

Here it is:

First off you're going to need some buckets.  And guess what?  We got ours donated from our friends at Lowe's.  {Thanks to them for absorbing the majority of the cost.}  If you can't get them donated it is about $4 for the bucket and lid.

Now to gather the rest of the supplies.  You will need a hot glue gun, some ribbon, scissors, fabric to cover the project and some stuffing. I bought pillowcases from Wal-Mart which were $5 for two.  They are the perfect size for this project and end up being cheaper than some of the fabric by the yard.  I also used an old pillow that was falling apart to add some cushion to the seat cover.  I got some discounted ribbon and already had the glue/glue gun.  So really the only cost for this project was the pillowcases and the ribbon.  Talk about cheap!

 

Step 1:

Slip the pillowcase over the bucket (opening at the bottom of the bucket).  Hot glue the end of the pillowcase around the bottom rim of the bucket.  It will be bunched in random spots.

Step 2:

Flip the bucket over and pull the pillowcase up tightly and cut off the top right at the top rim of the bucket.  After cutting the top off, hot glue the pillowcase to the top rim of the bucket.  Be sure to pull it up as you glue so it is tight.

Step 3:

Measure how much stuffing you will need for the bucket lid cushion.

Step 4: Take the remaining portion of the pillowcase and cut it in half along the seams.  Use one half and stuff it with the stuffing.  Loosely tie it to keep contained.  Flip it over so the knot is underneath.

Step 5:

 Flip the lid over and push down as you begin gluing the remaining portion of the fabric to the lid.  I apply a 2 inch section of glue to the inside rim of the lid then pull the fabric tightly and press into the rim.  Do this all the way around the rim.  Then trim off the excess fabric.

Step 6:

Time to finish it up!  I put ribbon around the bottom of the bucket to decorate, but also to make sure the fabric stays tight.  I also put a longer piece of ribbon around the top under the rim and tied a bow.  Again, this is for decoration and to keep the fabric in place.  (I applied some hot glue under the ribbon in a few spots to keep it in place.)  But I also attached an o-ring and a laminated card. 

My plan is to put leveled homework books into the buckets.  Each bucket will contain one level.  On the cards I will write student names so they know what bucket to get their books from.  On Monday morning they will choose their books for the week from their bucket.  On Fridays they will return their books to that bucket!  As the students progress in their levels I can switch their names Friday afternoon so it's ready for Monday morning. 

I am so excited to use these new bucket seats this year!

Pin-spiration: Writing Goals Chart

I was inspired by this pin on pinterest:


So I made this for my jungle themed classroom:

Love! If I do say so myself! I used a heavy duty overhead transparency, card stock, staples, ribbon and duck tape to put it all together. I made pockets to slide my goals in and out so they can be changed as the year progresses. I first stapled the transparency piece onto the card stock. 2 staples per side and 4 on the bottom, leaving the top open of course. Then I covered the staples with cheetah duck tape. Easy peasie!

The plan is to put student names on the clothespins, clip to the chart by the goal they are working on, and then move them as needed.  I am going to start the year with just 2-3 goals~depending on my students writing abilities.  (I will leave the bottom pockets empty until another goal is added.)

If you would like a copy of my goals for {FREE}, just answer one question:

What is the summer project on the top of your to-do list?

(school or non-school) 

Just leave me a comment with your email address and I will send it to you! 

(There are 10 goals in all.)

  

**UPDATE: These can be now downloaded for {FREE} at Teachers Pay Teachers.  Just click on the picture above!  Enjoy!

Tired of Buying Desk Name Plates??

Me too!  So I made my own.  The ones I get from the teacher store only get about half used....meaning we use the name line, hundred chart and number line.  That's it.  So I decided to make name plates that only have that and match with our Saxon Phonics alphabet keyword/pictures.  That and they are jungle themed!  (There is a non-themed one that can be mounted onto any color or design).  I have them for sale in my TpT store for only $1.50.  The best part is I have 2 sets on there.  One with handwriting lines for you to write their names and one set that is fillable on the computer.  They are set to be printed on 8.5 x 14" legal paper.  Check them out! And never buy name plates again!!!!

First 3 to comment will get a copy of my nameplates for free!