Classroom Pictures Part 1

School is officially over! The last few days have been a whirlwind....Let me give you a little background on all the changes happening at my school.  Currently we have three 12:1:1 classrooms (K1, 2-3, 4-5).  The 2-3 teacher is retiring and I am taking over her room.  The district also decided to open three 8:1:1 rooms (k-2, 3-5, 6-8).  The K-2 room and the middle school room are opening in September, the 3-5 room will be open the following year.  That is a lot of numbers and a lot changes!  

My new position happens to be in one of my current classrooms so I didn't have to move out (which was very nice) but I did need to add all my materials from classroom #2 in as well as make room for all the materials that were purchased for the 12:1:1 room over the years.   

This was my stuff from school #1...just one shelf and a few containers.  

And below is all of the 12:1:1 things that were moved into my room that I now need to get off the floor:

Don't forget that I had to add school #2 stuff in too!

(This is school #2 stuffed into the back of the car)

There is another table full of things too that I didn't take a picture of.  I went down to get more cabinets out of the current 12:1:1 room so I could put all of this away and...they were all full!  At that point, I decided to go home and come in next week to deal with it.  Hopefully, next week I'll be updating with pictures of a perfectly organized classroom....a girl can dream right?!

*Don't forget to enter to win a $20 amazon gift card and an item from my TN store!  See the last post to enter...you have until Sunday night!

I'm linking up with Karlie for her Before Classroom pics linky!

Click the picture to join it!

100 Follower Giveaway & New Job!

This has been a CRAZY year.  This year started with a massive flood and is ending (tomorrow) with a new job!  I officially accepted a position as a 12:1:1 (12 students, 1 teacher, 1 aide) teacher for a 2nd & 3rd grade classroom.  I am beyond excited and a little nervous about the new position.

Today was basically my last day with students...tomorrow is the official last day.  I had my students share their animal research posters while we decorated animal shaped cookies (no pictures of the cookies - sorry!)

I also gave out all of my summer packets today...these are just the books for 5 students...I have 43!  

Now for the giveaway!  To celebrate reaching over 100 followers I am giving away a $20 amazon gift card and an item of your choice from my store.  You can enter by following my blog & posting about this giveaway on your blog.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway ends Monday.  

Martha Stewart

The other day I was in staples and I saw the new Martha Stewart Home Office collection....have you guys seen this?  It is AMAZING!  I almost bought everything there.  She has cute labels and stick on white boards...even chalk board labels!  Here is what I bought:  

(Please ignore the messy cabinet) I am using this stick on pocket at home to hold take out menus but I am going to get another one for my classroom to hold the emergency folder.  The pockets just stick on and peel off without damaging walls! 

This is a stick on white board that I got for my fridge.  There are a ton of ways you could use these in the classroom...I really love the shape of it. The items aren't as expensive as I thought they would be either...I think this was only like $3.  

I also grabbed the matching smaller labels that you can print on.

I plan on using these labels to label all of my bins in the classroom....and at home.  

I'd love more creative ideas on how to use these products, let me know how you are using them! 

Alphabet Songs

Have you guys seen the alphabet song videos from Have Fun Teaching?  I love these videos and I have been using them a lot in the last few months.  I work mostly with 2nd-5th grades and my students know the alphabet, however, many of them struggle with vowel sounds!  It is not easy to find vowel sound resources that don't seem "babyish" to 5th graders but my students love these videos!  Check out this video for the letter E: 

I LOVE that the music is upbeat and catchy.  It doesn't seem to be aimed specifically at younger students. My students ask to listen to the songs while they do independent work.  I also love that the songs are so repetitive...my students learn the songs quickly and begin singing along.  The songs give students plenty of opportunities to practice saying the sounds (both long and short vowel sounds).  Just a warning...these songs will get stuck in your head!  

Make sure you check out their giveaway...hurry though it ends today! 

Desk Plates Freebie

I still have 17 days left of school but I'm already getting ready for next year.  I keep reading about all of you who are already on summer break and I am soooo jealous!!  I already started printing some of the things I want to make like this adorable welcome sign: 

Click the picture to grab yours for FREE from Live, Love, Laugh Everyday! 

I haven't decided on a theme for next year yet.  I am thinking about doing a Where the Wild Things are theme...I'm a visual person so I have to see different themes before I can choose one.  I made some simple desk plates to see if it is a theme I might want to do.  Feel free to grab them from my Teachers Notebooks store...they are also free :) 

If you want the lines colorful, leave a comment with what colors you would like and I'll send them to you.  

Literature Circles

Sorry for the lack of posting lately...I finally finished this semester of full time grad school (what was I thinking?!).  After being observed 4 times in two weeks, writing a thesis paper, and creating a giant portfolio, I was exhausted.  A few days after my classes ended I had to put my dog to sleep.  The next day, I found out my cat has kidney cancer and there is nothing we can do for him.  It's been a rough few weeks! Life is starting to get back to normal now...I hope!
 
Onto teaching related things...I started literature circles with my fifth grade group last week and I thought I'd share how I set everything up.  The first thing I do is find some books that I think they will like.  I do mini book advertisements for each one so the students get a feel for the books.  Then they vote on the book they want to read.  These were the books they could choose from:

  

All five of my boys chose Dear Mr. Henshaw which is secretly the one I wanted them to pick :)

I only have them for 30 minutes a day so usually the book advertisements/browsing and voting take about the whole time.  If they have any extra time, they can look through the book some more. 

Next we split up the book into 6 sections because I have 6 lit circle roles and I want them do each role once.  I assign the roles by giving each student a card with a role on it.  That is the role they do first.  Then they rotate the cards...that is their second role and so on.  The page numbers, roles, and due dates are all written in their lit circle packet. 

My favorite part of literature circles is the discussion.  After they read, the discussion director leads the group in a discussion about that section of the book.  I let the older students run the discussions with no help from me meaning if the group gets off topic or isn't paying attention - the discussion director needs to get them back on track.  I ALWAYS have kids tell me that they didn't realize how annoying it is when other students keep interupting you during a discussion.  They are  usually better behaved after having the experience of being discussion director :) 

With my current group of 5 very chatty boys I decided to use a talking stick.  Best. Idea. Ever.  A huge thank you to whoever came up with the talking stick!  The boys took it VERY seriously.  Only the person with the stick can talk.  If you talk without the stick, you get a check on the behavior chart.  They were so quiet that they actually had extra time at the end of class instead of leaving with homework because they didn't get everything done.


(I just use a crazy straw for my talking stick.)

I recently added a Wild Things literature circle packet to my Teachers Notebook store...feel free to check it out!

I'm always looking for ways to make literature circles better so if you do anything differently, please share in the comments section!

Predictions

What a crazy few weeks!  I feel like I have barely had time to sleep, let alone post - sorry!  I'm still in the middle of state testing and end-of-semester grad school projects so this is going to be a quick post.  I was cleaning out my files on my school computer and I found some "formal" lesson plans.  This one I did with 3rd graders to help them with predictions.  It uses the book Nate the Great and the Missing Key. 

Here is a quick picture of the lesson plan (click to download it for free):

Happy (almost) Friday! 

Tax Break Sale!

Today is the last day of spring break for me...it also happens to be tax day!  I'm celebrating (having 1 day left of break) with a Tax Break Sale!  Everything in my Teachers Notebook Store is 15% off today.  

Click on the picture to go to my store!  

I know this says TPT not TN...I'd change it but I'm trying to finish my grad school thesis :(

Enjoy! 

I've been Tagged!

Marcia from Learning in Bliss tagged me!  She just did a really cool wax museum project with her kids - you should check it out!  Here are her questions for me: 

1. What is your favorite holiday project for your classroom? *I forgot to answer this one before posting - oops!  Honestly, I don't have a favorite holiday project...it seems like everyday I see more ideas on Pinterest that I LOVE.  I don't think I could choose just one!  


2. Which do you prefer reading/writing or math/science?  I love teaching reading & writing.  I'm starting to really like teaching math too.  I've never taught science. 

3. What is your favorite piece of technology for your classroom?  I love my document camera!  

4. What was the last thing that happened in class that made you cry?  I am a resource room teacher (as you probably know) so I get some kids for multiple years.  One of my students tried for a YEAR to consistently subtract with regrouping and he just wasn't getting it.  This year, something clicked and he could do it!  I cried because I was so excited haha

5. Who is your favorite children's author? Mo Willems

6. What is last song you listened to on your iPod or radio?

7. If you could go any where on a trip, where would you go?  If I were going to go on a road trip right now I'd go to Boston.  I'd like to go to England sometime.  

8. Which do you prefer winter or summer? Fall is my favorite season...between winter and summer, I have to go with summer because I love swimming.

9. What is your most memorable teaching experience? Recently, I was working with a group of five 5th grade boys.  It was the perfect session (why can't my observations go so well??).  The boys were talking about setting a purpose for reading, activating their schema, and making connections while we read a book together.  They were using everything I had taught them...it was amazing to see everything come together for all of them. 
 
10. Why did you decide to start your blog? I initially started my blog to document my own teaching experiences for myself.  Last summer, I found all of these amazing teaching blogs and decided to start writing for others.  There is very little out there for resource room teachers so I hope that I have helped someone through this blog!  


On a side note, I have a student who is having trouble learning sight words.  He loves monsters and Where the Wild Things Are so I made 600 sight word flashcards with wild things graphics.  They are adorable and available in my Teachers Notebook store!

Peek at my Week(s)...

This is such a crazy time for all of us NY teachers!  We are officially on spring break today!! Our state tests start the day after we come back (thanks to whoever made that schedule!) so the last few weeks have been spent on test-prep and making packets for kids to do over the break so they don't lose everything we have done over the last 3 quarters.  I can only stand so much test prep so I split it up with some fun activities like:

Making our Hortons

Watching Ralph S. Mouse (after reading the book - this is the first movie I have shown as a teacher).  The kids were making connections to the book and comparing the book and movie without me prompting them : )

We did a little "cooking" and made Cups of Dirt

And how could I forget making fraction animals

Since it's kind of warm today, I'm going to go take a walk and enjoy the sun :) 

Problem Solving - Choose an Operation

Problem solving is HUGE right now in my district.  Our state math test was almost all word problems and our students are struggling with them.  I have read several books on how to teach math that I definitely recommend you pick up!  

  

Click on either book to be taken to Amazon.com.  Both books are by Susan O'Connell who I think is a math GENIUS!  These books totally changed the way I teach math.  The second book is an old edition.  She now has separated it into 2 different books - a k-2 book and a 3-5 book.  

Basically, the philosophy is that real-life math is presented to us through word problems so why not teach math that way?  Makes sense to me and apparently the people who are writing the state tests figured this out too.  

I am definitely not an expert at this yet but I have found and created some helpful worksheets for teaching kids how to choose an operation.  I have compiled them into a Wizard of Oz mini-unit.  (I'm considering making the same thing but with different themes - let me know if you would be interested in that). 

Click on the picture to be taken to my store

The goal of this resource is to help students understand the key concepts of each operation, give them strategies to choose an operation, help them explain their thinking, and assist them with writing their own word problems.  This mini-unit contains: 

1. A sample Word Problem for each of the 4 operations

2. A graphic organizer to help teach the key concepts of each of the 4 operations 

3. A mini-poster to help your students decide what operation to choose

4. Problem Solving pages that could be made into a notebook or glued into a notebook or to use as worksheets

5. Organizers to help your students go through the problem solving process (can be used with any strategy)

6. Organizers to help students write their own word problems

This item is in my TN store if you're interested...TGIF! 

Free Forms

I created a few forms that I wanted to update and I thought I'd share them with you.  The first one is a parent contact form.  

The second one is a problem solving sheet for students to reflect on their behavior.  

Click on the pictures to grab your copies.  

Strategy Sunday: Vo"back"ulary

The strategy I'm going to share with you this week is called vo"back"ulary. This activity helps your students learn vocabulary words. It's pretty simple...write vocabulary words for any unit on index cards. After explicitly teaching the meanings (maybe posting the words on a word wall too) you can play the game. Clip a word onto a students shirt in the back. The rest of the class can give the student hints about the word that is on his back. When the student guesses the word, the game is over or you can choose a new word and new student. Kids really love this game and they may pay more attention while you teach the vocabulary knowing they will have to guess the word based on clues. Sorry for the lack of pictures and posts. Grad school and annual reviews are killing me. As always, I hope you can use this strategy in your classroom. Have a great Monday!

New Job?

 

It was 70 degrees out today <3 spring!

Every year around this time, I start thinking about next year.  It becomes really easy for me to plan ahead right now because I do test prep until spring break, the tests are the day after we come back from break (for 2 weeks), and then I am out scoring the tests for another 2 weeks.  By the time I come back, it's the first week of May and everyone has basically finished teaching new concepts so I review what we did this year.  I already made review packets for about half of my groups.  This gives me a lot of time to reflect on this year and start planning for next year.  

I'm extra excited about next year right now because my district has some Special Ed openings in self-contained rooms and I applied for one of them (2nd and 3rd grade 12:1:1).  As far as I know, nobody else wants the position.  I'm really trying not to get my hopes up because I am a new-ish teacher still but it's really hard not to!  An added bonus to this position is that it will be in my current classroom so if I get it, I won't have to move!  

On a completely different note, Ms. D. from Superlative Six gave me not 1 but 2 blog awards!  A HUGE thank you to Ms. D - you made my week!  If you haven't already, you should go check out her blog.  She just posted an awesome idea for getting students to participate during literature circles.  

     

I'm passing these awards on to a few amazing bloggers: 

 

Check them out if you haven't already!  

Classroom Organizer

How would you like to know where all of your library books are by looking at your phone?  There is a FREE app & website that allows you to scan every book in your classroom, organize them by genre, reading level, title, author etc..  You add your students and then they check out books using the app.  I set mine up where students have to review the book when they return it.  All the information is stored in a database and you can look at reports showing you trends.  I'm setting everything up today but overall this looks AMAZING! 

Screenshot of the Admin. Page

Click on the picture to check it out! 

Strategy Sunday: Creating Nonsense Words

I looked EVERYWHERE this week for the book Horton Hears a Who but I could not find it.  I was planning on doing this super cute glyph on Friday: 

I asked teachers at 2 different schools, libraries, Barnes & Noble...the list goes on but nobody had it.  I finally ordered it on Amazon but it didn't come until after school on Friday :(  Oh well, I plan on doing Dr. Seuss activities all month BUT I had to quickly come up with something to do on Friday that was Dr. Seuss related.  I had my students search through Dr. Seuss books and look for nonsense words. 

They used context clues to figure out what the nonsense word means.  Next, we listed the spelling patterns we know on the board (blends, vowel digraphs, word endings like tion etc..).  I had the students use the spelling patterns to create a nonsense word of their own.  They wrote as many as they could on a post it.

Then the students wrote a few sentences using their chosen nonsense word.  The group had to guess what each nonsense word meant using the context clues in the sentences.
I really liked this activity because it reinforces spelling patterns/phonics as well as using context clues to comprehend or infer word meanings, AND show, don't tell writing.  Next year, I will introduce this activity in September and we will use it throughout the year.

On a side note, I updated my Lesson Objective Stripes Posters (only the stripes one so far) to include spelling and language arts posters.  I also added a new Literature Circle packet (it's the same as the space one but with a Woodland Creature theme).

A Peek at my Week

I love looking at all the activities people are doing in their rooms each week so I thought why not share my week!  I'll try to take better pictures next week.  So here is what we did this week: 

My 2nd and 3rd grade math students made Fact Family Rockets: 

2nd graders made addition and subtraction fact families and the 3rd graders made multiplication and division fact families.  These aren't quite finished...I laminated the rockets and we are using them as "I'm Done" activities.  The kids LOVE using these. 

 My 4th grade math groups worked on problem solving.  I had a problem solving bulletin board but I wanted to change it up so I moved the problem solving sheets to the wall below the board.  Some of my walls are magnetic so I just put a magnet on each one.  

The groups work together through each step in the problem solving process on these sheets.  When they are done, I check their work.  

This week, my ELA students worked on using their reading strategies while reading in their Reader's Notebooks.  

                     

 My 3rd graders also learned how to write a summary using the Somebody, wanted, but, so, then organizer

We also used the error detection strategy I posted on Sunday.  

I had the students come up and put a post-it with the correct word over the incorrect word.  They asked me if we could do these every week...isn't it great when they WANT to learn?! 

Reader's Notebooks, problem solving posters, and the summarizing organizer can be found at my Teachers Notebook Store.  The rocket template came from Made in the Shade in 2nd Grade.