Let The Work Begin!

I have a little less than 3 weeks before teacher work days begin.  I have purchased and made almost everything I want for new school year. 

I am slowly getting my classroom bulletin boards ready for the new school year.  This is my first completed one.  What do you think?

I will be taking pictures of my students wearing a cowboy hat and bandana and placing it on the wanted job posters.  I am going to use the sepia setting so that it will stay with the theme.

I have a long way to go, but when I finally finish my classroom I will post a room tour.

Here are the three borders I am using throughout my room.  I purchased the borders from Scholastic and Mardel’s:

These are the other things I purchased from Mardel’s.  I am jealous of those of you who live close enough to visit their store.  I have only made online purchases.

Did you notice… my classroom will have a Western theme?

I purchased this pocket chart from Walmart for $12.97.  I was surprised to see this in the store.  It is well made and has 27 paper slots.  I saw them in red, blue, and black.  I know a lot of teachers use it for students’ mail, but I plan to place graphic organizers, reading response sheets, and other forms that students will need on a regular basis in it.  This way they have access to them without needing my help.  I can also clearly see when more copies are needed.

I purchased these two pocket charts from Target.  If I remember correctly they were $3.00 each.  The first one shows the folders that I will be using in them.  The second one shows the folders that come with the pocket chart. 

I purchased new library book baskets for my room, too.  They came from Michael’s.  They were pricey but I won’t have to purchase new baskets again.  They come in 3 sizes and I purchased the medium and large ones.

Both baskets hold a great number of books.  The smaller baskets will hold my series and author study books.  The larger baskets hold books by genre and all of my nonfiction books. I will do a post on my new library in a couple of weeks. 

I have two items, genre posters and calendar pieces,  in my TPT store that I made for my western theme.  You can pick them up by clicking on the pictures below:

Before the end of the week I will be sharing the chapter books that I have chosen to read to my students.

Until next time!

Classroom Purchases, Winners Announced, and OH NO! Not My Laminating Pouches!

I want to thank everyone that stopped by my blog this week to help me celebrate reaching 100+ Followers.  Congratulations to the winners of the giveaway and they are…

#56 Kim V. - $25.00 gift certificate to Teachers Pay Teachers

#194 Katie O - $50.00 worth of products from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

#245 Kristi – Box of my favorite teacher/school supplies

I have sent each of you an email.

I have purchased a few things for my classroom and I thought I would share some of my purchases with you.

1.  A.C. Moore Craft Store had these wonderful storage boxes on sale and I couldn’t pass by them without picking up four for my classroom.  They are a jean print, which I ABSOLUTELY love!

 Positives:

·      they fold down easily to store them over the summer

·      sturdy enough for my 4^th graders to sit on with a cushioned top (I had one of my 14 year old sons test it out for me.)

·      remove the lid for hidden storage

They also come in several animal prints.

2.  I purchased new borders for my classroom from Carson Dellosa.  I ordered the wood planks and grass border.  These will work well with my camping theme.

3.  Fleece is perfect for classroom pillows and to cover the tops of sitting benches.  My mother sews pillow covers for my classroom when I change themes and I just slip off the old cover and put on the new ones.  Since they come off so easily, I wash them about 4 times a year.  The fleece washes well and my students love the feel of it, too.   I will show you my new pillows next month when I post about my finished classroom.  Here are the pictures of the fabrics.

The fleece was purchased at JoAnn’s Fabric and Crafts, Hancock Fabrics, and Hobby Lobby.

It feels good to have some things marked off my to-buy-list.

Now for some heartbreaking news!  Last week, I was informed by a manager at my local Sam’s Club that they will no longer carry the laminating sheets that come in the 200 count pack for $20.00.  They will be replaced sometime in late August but he doesn’t know which brand, the quantity, or the new price. He did say that Sam's Club still had some in the warehouse that can be purchased online.  I ordered 3 packs but should have purchased 6!  I hope the replacements are of the same quality and are still at a great price.

What purchases have you made for your classroom in the past week?

I just posted a new back to school item in my TPT Store. 

Me: The True Story Paper Bag Book

This is a great back to school activity for your students to complete in class and share with their classmates. It will also make a great keepsakes to take home.

You will find step by step directions, including pictures of each step, on how I put together this paper bag book. This is only my suggestion but you are free to have your students put it together any way you choose.

This is a list of the pages:

Title Page (I have included two different ones.)
All About Me (2 pages and 1 for the pocket)
My Family (2 pages)
The Strong Me (2 pages and 1 for the pocket)
My Goals for School and Home (2 pages)
My Favorites (2 pages and 1 for the pocket)
My School (2 pages)
My Classmate (2 pages and 1 for the pocket)
I also included to blank pages.

I encourage my students to color the page borders to brighten up their books.

I will send a free copy to the first person that guess how many students I currently have on my class list for the upcoming school year.  You can purchase one here.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Classroom Management, I Was Made An Offer, and Math Drawer Labels

As a reminder today is the last day to enter my 100 Follower Giveaway… 3 prizes for 3 winners! 

You can enter for a chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate to Teachers Pay Teachers, $50.00 worth of items from my store, and/or a box filled with my favorite teacher/school supplies.

I will announce the winners tomorrow. 

Now, for today’s post…

I find it very hard to sit in my seat all day without talking to my neighbor during long meetings and professional development so I know my 4^th graders would struggle with sitting in one place quietly during the day, too.

For this reason, I change up the way they work several times each day.  Each and every day they work independently, with a partner and with a group. They work at their seats, on the carpet, or on a comfy spot.

Sometimes I want them to come to me for assistance and at times I want to go to them (especially when they are working as a group).

There are times when I want them to turn in their completed work into our box.  Other times I want to immediately see the completed work.  With longer assignments, I may want them to keep it in their desk to finish at a later time.

Well with so much going on throughout the day and focusing on the assignment at hand, can I really expect a nine or ten year old to remember all the extras?

Last summer I found a pin on Pinterest that gave students a visual reminder.  (I would love to credit the pin, but I can no longer locate it.)  This was a perfect solution to the never ending questions of – May we work together?  May I use a pillow? I am finished, what do I do with my assignment? I need help, may I come see you? And on and on and on!

Well I changed up the chart I saw on Pinterest to make it work for me.  This is a picture of my chart.  It hangs in my classroom near the SMART Board where everyone can clearly see it. 

 

After we have discussed my expectations for the assignment, I call students up to remind the class of “how they are going to work”.  When a student comes up he/she puts a clothes pin on the card that goes with my directions.

Here is a picture with the clothespins attached.

Ms. Foreman to you – I go to the students.  I do this with all group assignments.  It is just too difficult for them to all come to me and bring all their materials, too

see Ms. Foreman – I use this mostly when students are working independently.  They are allowed to meet me at the small group table for assistance.

work at your desk – Students must work at their assigned desk.

even in a comfy spot – I give each of my students a number the first week of school.  The number is used for many things and this is one of them.  If the day of the week is an even number then those students may move to a comfy spot (comfy chairs, stools, benches, pillows, etc.) in the classroom.

odd in a comfy spot – Works the same as “even in a comfy spot” just with odd numbers.

work with your group – I have my student’s desk in mixed ability groups.  During this time, students are to work with the members of their group.

work with a partner – Students may select a partner to work with and sometimes I select their partners.

voices off – Students are to work silently.  This is used mostly for assessments or during independent reading times.

see Ms. Foreman when work is completed – This is for the times I want to assess their understanding immediately.  I also use this to conference with students.

turn work into the box – We have a paper turn in box in my classroom.  Papers are placed in the box for grading.

place work in desk – This is for times when we will go over the assignment as a class and I need to wait for others to finish the assignment.  I also use this when it is a longer assignment and students will need more time to complete it.

At the end of the assignment, one of my students places the clothespins at the bottom of the chart until they are needed again.

I was contacted by SmileMakers with an offer to review one of their products.  This product… The DeluxeYacker Tracker…

I am hoping that this will help control the noise levels in my classroom when students are working with partners and with groups. The product descriptions states that it will help students self-monitor their noise level through the traffic lights and sounds.  I am looking forward to testing it out.

I will let you know if I receive it and let you know how well it works after a week with my new students sometime late August.   

I had a request to share my math drawer labels that were shown in this post.  I now have them available here.  There are 27 math labels with a choice of 3 fonts.  If you don’t see a label that you need email me after you have made the purchase and I will be happy to send you the extra labels within 24 hours.

What have you found on Pinterest that you now can’t imagine not having in your classroom?

Come back tomorrow to see if you are one of the winners of my 100 Follower Giveaway.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Dollar Tree Finds, Crayon Storage, and a Small Giveaway!

I posted here about needing to find a sturdy container for my students to keep their crayons safe. I am always finding broken, dirty, and/or lost crayons.

Well I took a trip to the Dollar Tree, which I frequently visit just in case they put out something new, and I found several goodies. 

All of the following items were located in the front of my store. They were being housed in boxes.

The first was the perfect container for a box of 24 crayons.  It is called a “Lock-Top Snack” container and comes with two containers and top lids.  They are made of the sturdy thick plastic. My store had them in blue, green, red, and purple.  If you live near me, I cleaned out the blue and green ones!

Here are some pictures of the containers.

They have secure side flaps that snap closed.

I added Avery Labels 6359 to the top of them and used Modge Podge to keep the labels from getting dirty.

 

The container with a box of 24 crayons in it.

 

These containers will be kept in their table crates.

 

They had some other great new products in the store.  Here are some pictures of some of the other finds:

I purchased a few of these items.  I will post about them soon.  Do you have the perfect use for one of the items I found?  I would love to hear your comments and suggestions. 

I want to share some addition task cards that I made for my class. You will find 4 sets of cards with a total of 100 task cards.  Students will need to add numbers up to 5-digits with regrouping.  Here is a picture of them:

Anyone who can guess my favorite color from a box of 24 Crayola Crayons will win a FREE copy. You must use the exact name from the crayon.  I will accept answers until 6:00 p.m. on Friday, June 21^st.  Don't forget to leave your email address. 

You can also pick up a copy HERE in my TPT store.

Thanks for stopping by today!