Week 2: GOT ER’ DONE!!!

Can’t believe week 2 is over with! I just loooove 3 day weekends… followed by a 4 day week!

My sweet little Firsties worked very hard this past week… I am so proud of what they were able to accomplish in such a short time!

They took their first “Spelling Test” today…I know, Mrs. Hubble is a meanie!

They did a SUPER DUPER job!

I wanted to share a couple of maps with y’all…My Firsties are ROCKIN’ their Thinking Maps! 

In math I had my bilingual partners create a Multi Flow Map together...Blue is my English kiddo and Red is my Spanish kiddo. That's how I distinguish who did what work on any of their activities. 

The skill we were practicing was adding 1 more...on the back is 1 less. 

In Oral Language Development my pairs created a Double Bubble Map. We worked on finding similarities and differences in our names. 

They LOVED this activity! It was a type of informal assessment to see where my Spanish kiddos were at with identifying letters, if they knew the difference between consonants & vowels and letter formation. 

My last picture is of my PRIZE JARS...I am STOKED about how they turned out! YES, another PINTEREST inspired project! 

I am T-I-R-E-D! I plan to get some much needed rest...next week is all about DRA & TPRI testing! Wish me luck! Have a BLESSED weekend!

2012/13 Classroom Decor

2012-2013 Classroom Share:

I seriously can’t believe we are at the start of a NEW school year! School starts on MONDAY! YAY! Time has slipped away quickly! I think I may have had waaaayyy to many PINTEREST projects to tackle this summer!

Sorry I’ve been MIA…I just couldn’t find any time to BLOG!

I don’t plan to blah, blah, blah, too much on this post. I just wanted to share a couple of my classroom pictures with y’all!

OH. MY. WORD. I’ve been a little emotional these past few weeks thinkin’ about my own children and their sweet milestones. This year my oldest is a SENIOR…and my youngest starts KINDER! Talk about time flyin’… when did all this happen???!

Anyhow, onto some classroom sharin’!

I have enjoyed many of the AMAZING teacher blogs I follow and I HEART your products. Thank you all for sharin’ ideas…you have INSPIRED me beyond words…gotta love Pinterest too!

Here is what you see when you walk into my classroom...... 

To the left is my desk area...BUT I hardly ever use it...only to store my lesson plans! 

I soooooo HEART my gorgeous rug! 

A BIG thank you to Reagan over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits for sharin' where she purchased her rug...I was LUCKY enough to find one...totally in love with it! 

I have Amy's gorgeous chevron numbers on my front board...you can purchase them here.

 

Here is my Phonics and sink area. I love me some lamps...it sets off a good vibe in the room...RELAXIN'! 

I also made a "Who's Out" chart... it's harder to keep up with the Dual crew with all the changes going on.

 You can see our first Tree Map of the year...First Day Feelings! 

I can't wait to see my new Firsties again on mOnday...yeehaw!

Next is my Writing Center... I love Cara's chevron alphabet set! 

You can purchase it here... it was the right look for my classroom! 

My writing table was a PINTEREST inspired project as well as my rockin' chair. 

I also fell in love with Hope King's Subway Art...you can purchase her beautiful art work here. 

Here is my Library and work display area. 

I have the caaautest baby chandler hangin' in the middle of the Library! 

I found it at Wal-Mart...it's meant to be used for a locker...it really works! It made me so gitty! HA! 

Onto the MATH Area...my FAV subject to teach!

My "How We Go Home" is from the wonderful Miss. Nelson...love her! You can purchase your copy here!

 I found the perfect 10 Frames Cards here... very stylish thank you 

Primary Possibilities. 

We are a Thinking Maps school... I truly LOVE them! 

We had some AWESOME staff development workshops on Thinking Maps this summer...I can't wait to share more map ideas with y'all!

I am tryin' a new (well new to me) Math Workshop Rotation board this year... I am AMAZED at how organized that darlin' woman over at the Clutter-Free Classroom is! 

I love, love, love her BLOG! 

Jodi has great products! I also purchased her Bright and Cheerful Classroom Bundle... LOVE it! 

Last but not least... "Birthday Celebration" creations...I just finished up my Lollipop Tree (Pinterest Pin)! I still have a couple of Pinterest inspired projects to wrap up this weekend! 

I will have to bring them in on Monday... along with a couple of items I forgot to bring in for my desk area. 

I will have 17 BOYS & 6 girls in my homeroom class this year! YIKES...17 boys! 

I have put in place many classroom mgmt. ideas .... one of them being VOICE LEVEL! I found a SUPER DUPER cute one here. 

Thank you Live Love Laugh Kindergarten! 

Well that's all folks...I hope everyone has or had an AMAZING start to a new adventurous school year!

Lookin' forward to reading a TON of entertaining post this school year! 

THANK YOU to all you INSPIRING teachers... your talents are a gift to share!

God Bless y'all... and get your TEACH ON!

Back In My "NEW" Classroom

Howdy Folks! I was so excited to get into my new classroom today! I moved rooms at the end of last school year... and now I'm in the GREEN (1st Grade) hallway! YIPPIE! 

I hate moving BUT I love the change and a chance to REDO things. I went today with one goal in mind set-up my classroom...for the most part I think I accomplished my goal!

What my room looked like before I started to rearrange the furniture.... not bad at all!!!

Here is what I was able to accomplish today. Not sure if it will stay this way BUT for the most part I am HAPPY with the way I setup my desk and what will be the Phonics/Writing area!

I love making little nooks for my students...the BEST part is yet to come DECORATING!

I hope everyone is enoyin' the last of their Summer Vacay! 

I will be back with pictures on how my classroom turned out. 

Get your...TEACH ON!

Craftin’ LOOT

 Howdy Y’all!

Well, I started workin’ on projects for my classroom yesterday! I wanted to change things up just a tad. I am still stayin’ with the same bright colors but just updating it a little with the latest and greatest patterns…one being CHEVRON!

 How can you not love ALL those caaaute items in Target’s $1 bins!

Wal-Mart has me sucked in as well…have you seen all the adorable 80’s stuff! YIKES! 

I loaded up on all kinds of goodies!

Here’s a picture of my addiction LOOT!

My first project to tackle was makin' a "Initial Frame" for my classroom door. I LOVE makin' my classroom feel like a home...startin' with the front door. 

Last year and the years before that we had school "THEMES"....BUTtttt this year the majority decided against it. 

I totally understand it gets really expensive. 

I for one like a little change so I go with it....my outside bulletin board is going to be an 80's theme! I'm hopin' my First Grade Team will want to follow along! 

I LOVE the 80's! 

My room will be decorated in all those awesome new patterns that I have fallen in love with! 

Here's how my frame turned out!

Last year's school theme was WESTERN... here's my "Barn Babe" reef.

My next project is a Happy Birthday Frame. I was lookin' for something different to display our classroom birthdays on. 

I saw a frame similar to this one on Pinterest. 

Laketa over at 

The Polka Dot Desk has a cute blog..

check it out!

I still need to find some cupcakes with the months and add the kiddos names to them. 

I plan to do it up for their birthdays this year. We honored birthdays last year... BUTttt with Pinterest changin' the way we ladies do things...I figured it would be fun to add more.

 These pictures DO NOT do this frame justice! It has some serious GLITZ!

I have plans to make these projects to complete the vision I have in my head for celebrating our classroom birthdays.

How do you like to celebrate your kiddos birthdays? 

You can find the original sources for these projects here on my Pinterest board... Classroom Decor/Organization. 

 Last but not least....

I started revamping my clipboards. 

I decided to make them look different but at the same time keepin' in mind that I DO have boys in my classroom! HA! 

My boys love GLITZ!

I used MOD Podge for the first time. 

I think I like it.

At first I wasn't to happy because my first clipboard came out with air bubbles....

it's drivin' me BONKERS!! 

 BUT the more I work with it... 

the more I'm diggin' it! 

This project is takin' me a while. I have the WORST patience when it comes to craftin'!

I need the gratification right away!

If you have worked with MOD PODGE before them you know you have to coat at least 4-5 times... with dryin time of 15-20 minutes in between each coat. YUCK!

This is NOT quick enough for me...bahahaha!

I can see myself doin' two a day until I get all 24 of them done! 

I love how these turned out! 

I plan to put my initial "H" in the middle of the circle. At first I hand drew an "H" and it looked like crap so I cut a circle to cover it up....that's the REAL truth! HA! 

Yesterday Hobby Lobby had all their pretty scrap booking paper 50% off...

so I went Cray Cray!! 

I swear I was in there for like 4 hours! That's a problem...bahaha

My plans for today are to start on my next two projects....a table for my writing center and jazzing up my rockin' chair! 

Here are my inspirational pictures!

You can find the original sources here on my Pinterest board. 

       

Well folks, that's all I have for now. 

I will share some more pictures when I have finished my other projects....wish me luck!

Have a SUPER Sunday! 

Get your TEACH ON!

Classroom DECOR

Howdy Folks!!!

Just wanted to do a quick share about my baskets and crates...lots of people wanting to know where I purchased my stuff. Thank you for all the very kind compliments! I for one ♥ being in my classroom...but the BEST compliment I have ever received about my classroom was from my very own children. They told me, "WOW! This classroom makes me want to learn!"! I knew then that the small fortune I had spent on my classroom was well worth it! HA! EXACTLY the look I was going for! :)

Aqua & Lime Baskets- DOLLAR Tree

Crates & Magazine Holders, Stools, white cubbies, shelves, Zebra Print Rugs, Lamps, Wall Decals, Library Chairs and the cutsie baskets- ALL TARGET (LOVE me some Target!)

Around "Back to School" time frame...look in the DORM display area... they always have caaaaute stuff there!

Bright Colored Rugs and Zebra Print Pillows – Wal-Mart

Zebra Borders, Labels and Letters - The Learning Zone

Teal & Zebra fabrics, ribbons and Bright Glitter foam (for my STARS)- Hobby Lobby <3

Hope this helps.....Happy Decorating!

This and That to Share!

I just wanted to share a couple of things we have done in the classroom post PINTEREST took over my life! 

We have done many wonderful projects that I've discovered on this FAB site! However, I think I may have forgotten where some of the ideas originated. 

I sure don't want to upset anyone! If anything I have posted is your original idea PLEASE let me know and I will gladly give you props for it! 

 Ok, sooooo I was in hurry to start Christmas break or should I say more like "choir practice"! Teacher code for I need to unwind with an adult beverage. 

Our firsties made fact family gifts and peppermints! I am pretty sure most of y'all are familiar with "The First Grade Parade" and if not you need to click HERE and check it out! 

Mrs. Cara Carroll has a gift for CRAFTIVITIES and I am so THANKFUL she is always willing to share! They turned out super duper cute!

Shape Monsters were a big hit! First I had my sweeties make their "Shape Monster" then they had to write down how many of each shape they used to create their monster. 

Sentence Stem: "I used ______ circles." They wrote a sentence for each different shape. 

I'm pretty sure these cute little guys were Pinterest inspired :)

MLK Writing: 

I seriously have fallen in love with Reagan over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits! 


Her Winter Art and Writing Packet is the "BOMB"! HA! Love it! 


All I can say is…you need to pick up a copy ASAP! One reason why...check out the pictures below :)! 

I read the books below. I did a whole group discussion asking them to come up with facts about Martin Luther King, Jr. from the books I read and we created a circle map. 

I have to remember to take pictures of our anchor charts! I will get better with this.... I pinky promise! Newbie here!

Penguin Unit: 

I have to say I LOVE this cute lil' penguin! This lil' guy is actually sold as a glyph but I used it differently. 


You can find your copy of the "Perky Penguins Glyph"-Kimberly Edgerton over at Creative Teaching (her glyphs are super cute)! 

I also used Cara's "Penguin Writing" over at The First Grade Parade. 
I read the book "If You Were A Penguin"-Wendell Minor. 

We discussed facts about penguins and then I asked them based off of the facts we read which ones would you NOT be glad to do as a penguin? 


Sentence Stem: I'm glad I am not a penguin because: I would not like to eat fish and squid.

FINALLY!! I get my student teacher on MONDAY!! YAY me!!! 


I stayed up at school until 8:30 in the evening reorganizing my room. 

I get very obsessed with placement so I have to do things like 20XXX...yes, I am OCD! 

I just want her to feel at home in our classroom... so I created a little nook area for her. It's still a work in progress...but I thought I would share.

Her "WELCOME" sign

Her lil' Small Group Area

Library/Listening Area (I promise there's books back there on a long shelf) HA!

Her name plate and some post-its & EXPOS!

My Small Group area back by the window ( keeps my Firsties awake)

I moved the Writing Center to the front of the room...curious to see how this will work.

Another view of the Writing Center...sorry, if they are blurry...I am buying a camera today (:

Shoot! I didn't realize how late it was...I am fighting a NASTY sinus infection and it keeps me up late at night and into the early morning hours. 


Have a great weekend! I plan to catch up on some much needed sleep!