Saturday, August 27, 2011

In preparation (for Hurricane Irene & school)

I’ve been crazy busy this past week, getting things done in my classroom. It’s coming along… but I knew things were going to smoothly. Hurricane Irene is headed our way, and my biggest worry is that I won’t be able to get back into my classroom on Monday. :x Don’t get me wrong, we’ve made all the necessary preparations… and luckily I don’t live by the shore so it shouldn’t be too bad. But you never know.

To give you a peek into my room, here is my favorite space:

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That’s the front of my classroom and part of my library area.

Here’s some of my displays… I’ve been heavily influenced by AMAZING finds of other blogs and pinterest!

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My decoding strategies posters. I just need to add the beanie babies. :)

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My focus wall. I attached magnets to the back of each card and put them on a white board. (The font used is DJ Chunky from DJ Inkers).

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My math board (for displaying anchor charts).

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My reading & writing board (for displaying anchor charts).

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My writing board. When this picture was taken, I hadn’t added the title yet. It’s “We’re Wild About Writing”. I’ll post an updated pic ASAP.

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I’m going to use this area to display student work. It’s layered construction paper (laminated) and Lakeshore Clips.

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Here’s a close-up of the birds I made from scrap book paper. I totally took this idea from Ms. Leslie Ann’s blog, Life in First Grade. Check her blog out- she has amazing ideas!

Here are a few other things I made, inspired by internet findings:

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"BEE-havior Bees”, again inspired by Life in First Grade.

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My writing process poster. I'’ve labeled clothespins with my students’ names, and they will simply move their pin to keep track of what stage they are working on. This was inspired by Juice Boxes and Crayolas.

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My behavior poster. Again, will be used with clothespins. I didn’t include spaces to move up because I already have a TON of positive reinforcement strategies already in place and I simply wanted this poster to use for consequences. Last year I used a traffic light and magnets… which was rarely touched, thankfully! Let’s hope it’s the same thing this year! This was inspired by A Day in the Life of a 2nd Grade Teacher.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Getting Organized

It’s killing me that I can’t get back into my classroom until August 25th. You’d think that this would FORCE me to enjoy the remainder of the summer… but it doesn’t.

After 4 blissful years of teaching in the same room, which happened to be one of the LARGEST rooms in the school, I’ve been moved down the hall two rooms. ::sigh:: I know- I know- I’m very lucky to even have a classroom.

When I was allowed back in, this is what I walked into…

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Within the few days they actually let us in, I managed to accomplish this:

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So there’s been SOME progress!

One of my favorite things I made was some super cute labels for my containers of materials.

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Click on the picture below to print out your own copy. Hopefully they’re helpful!

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I created them in Word, printed them, cut them out, pasted them onto super cute scrapbook papers and slipped them into plastic sleeves. I absolutely LOVE DJ Inkers graphics!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Inspired

I am not completely new to the “blog scene”. I’ve stalked many amazing blogs for some time now. With the school year just around the corner, I’ve been inspired to finally get my own blog up and running. My layout is weak (will improve- I promise!) and there isn’t much here yet. But I’m actually pretty good with computers. I hope to share some of my own creations, revisions, and finds on here.
To start, I’ve decided to use Beanie Baby Decoding Strategies with my kiddies this year. I’m not sure who exactly came up with the original idea, but I have (like so many others) created my own posters to go with each strategy.

I purchased my beanie babies from BuySellBeanies.com. The beanie babies were pretty inexpensive, and shipping is free if you spend over $25.00 (always a plus).

The beanie babies you need to scoop up are: Lips the Fish, Mooch the Monkey, Legs the Frog, Roary the Lion, Hissy the Snake, and Free the Eagle.

I’ve been wanting to try this strategy out for a while. I’m looking forward to seeing how it works out! :)