Classroom 2015!

First Day of School & Classroom Reveal!

Well, I survived the first day! The first few hours FLEW by! The third hour was the slowest of my life, then suddenly the bell rang and it was all over : ( I already feel like my 23 kiddos have been a part of my life for half a year. It's a blessing to have such an open and honest class and I can't wait to get to know them better! Now that the kids are here I feel like I probably should show my classroom and how all of my Monday Made It's with Tara fit into my room! This is a post of little words and LOTS of pictures, enjoy!

hallway display in the super dark hall : )

Lots of blue, green, and chalkboard!

Coming into my classroom, welcome banner and star of the week (me of course)

Whiteboard with conversation starters above... my class hasn't made their rules yet : ) Coming soon!

Noise levels and passes (they have magnetic pictures they place when they go to the bathroom or elsewhere)

Table points and listening top 5's *I need to fix it so they are even, driving me nuts after just 1 day

Side wall (Word Work! Spelling, vocabulary, cursive, and word wall)

Place for individual spelling lists : ) 5 words from unit of inquiry and 5 from personal writing. 

I ran out of space but always have an extra cubby open : )

Front of Classroom!

Daily 5 at front of classroom

I need to center my MATH words : ) but I'm so excited to start using this baby!

Computer Station behind library

Classroom Library all ready to go!

Book bins for Daily 5

Close Up of library

Unit of Inquiry Board 1. Natural Changes to the Earth 2. Man Made Changes to the Earth

Small group table : )

back sink with science supplies, IB binders, and small group readers

View From the back of the room

Last Monday Made It!

I love how I was planning on doing a classroom reveal last Friday... I'm not even close to being ready! And now I'm hunkering down for 2 . 5 more days of PD 1 . 5 work days to finish setting up my classroom, back to school night, then students come next Monday!!!!


So this is my last Monday Made It for the summer with Tara : )

Remember these 4 "beauties" I pulled out of my neighbors dumpster? My back to school gifts for my co teachers are now done!

Before... lots of cobwebs and dirt, bleh. But after some hard core scrubbing and white spray paint they are transformed!

For my first co teacher...

She has the same color scheme as I with blues and greens

She's a paisley kind of girl so hers is a bit more feminine looking than mine : )

For my second co teacher...

She has a purple, neon green, and black color scheme 

I made a cute purple paisley chair for her. This co worker is very pregnant right now so I gave her my tall director chair so she wouldn't need to squat in and out of the short white chairs. 

For my third co teacher...

She has a bright color scheme with greens, teals, and orange. 

Therefore her chair is super bright! Well, minus the dark photo. I couldn't find great duck cloth for the seat portion and I thought I could get away with an outdoor bright green fabric... don't do it. Just don't be tempted lol. I sank down an extra 2" and it snapped a dowel. I think I need to get some blue for her and try that again. 

And I also made one for myself : )

My classroom is various blue shades and green

So I made myself a green and blue chevron chair! I'm in love with it!

My other Made It has nothing to do with school, but was a project that was good for the soul : )

PICKLES! 60 JARS OF PICKLES!!

and there's a whole different batch not pictured!

sooo many pickles! I even left a whole grocery bag of cucumbers in our teacher's lounge today. Sometimes projects are just good for the heart and soul. I can't wait to try them in a few weeks : )

Monday Made It... Back to School Edition!

With school starting up in two weeks I don't know what I'll be doing on my Mondays anymore! I loved how Tara's Linky allowed me to ease myself into the blogging world. So here are my most recent Made It's and definitely check back Friday for my 2015 classroom reveal : )


Confession... something has been bugging me about the color scheme that I chose this summer and spent HOURS prepping for... I HATED the red! It looked slightly circus-y (that is definitely not a word, but you understand right?). I was also inspired by the look from Tales of a Tenacious Teacher and her colors returned back to my first year's colors (meaning I have tons of storage that matches the blues and greens of her color scheme) that I realized I would be unhappy ALL year if I was stubborn and stuck with what I had already prepped. The beautiful solution I came up with was to get rid of the red items that I made over the summer and simply substitute it with a royal blue and BAM! Everything fell into place : ) Now I am in LOVE with my classroom decor!

My Growth Mindset Corner!

I am SOOoooo excited to be teaching my students about growth mindset this year and thus I needed a common place for students to find references. This space used to be a Word Work bulletin board that had grammar, spelling, and Mentor Text items on it. I really only liked the Mentor Text section since students put up their wow sentences under it, the rest was stagnant and served little purpose. 

Last years use of space... notice the gaping hole where they took down our clock 2 YEARS AGO

A start to this years use of space... no more hole in the wall, just a bit of teacher clutter I need to deal with!

And here is the same corner this year! I've dedicated it to anything Growth Mindset. There is a wonderful tree where we can write on the leaves the different IB attitudes/profiles that we feel go with the Growth Mindset concept. I plan on using the bulletin board for our weekly lessons on Growth Mindset & metacognition. For most of the year it will have the thought changers "Instead of saying/thinking this when things are challenging...think this". I also grabbed this wonderful Growth Mindset interactive journal off of TPT that I plan on using with my students and some of her posters will end up living here. (see?! I'm a great PR for other people's TPT stores. Someday I'll work on mine). But really... the one goal I have for my students when they leave 5th grade this year is that they have grit and perseverance. So many students accept failure or an inability to learn by 5th grade and it is heart breaking.

Updated Library!

My second Made It was simply spending some time putting together 4 Wallmart bookshelves. I actually love doing projects like this so I was a happy camper : ) The shelves are $15 a pop right now with college kids coming back and I figured it was time to buy real book shelves. 

Sadly the lighting is low so it doesn't seem as bright, but I think you get the picture. The bookshelves help create a larger reading nook and I obviously still have a ways to go with the stacks of books still on the floor and the unlabeled series baskets on the bottom shelves. I will live and die by the rainbow color coding system though, books ACTUALLY make it back to their home! The colors are designated to a certain letter in the alphabet so all of the Judy Bloom books don't always end up side by side, but at least it's in the same section as the author's last name!

here's the couch that bellies up to the library shelves. On the right side of the couch is a huge shelf with all of the kids book baskets that creates a definitive reading section. 

Front of Classroom

It's done! My Daily 5/CAFE is up, homework board is ready, schedule ready to go, and all I have to do is add the Accountability Talk posters from Tales of a Tenacious Teacher up in that blank blue space above the boards. I have no idea why I have never used that space between my board and that awkward cork strip above it. It took less than 20 min. to put up and it is now a space I will actually use! I think the garland will only live on my SMART board through back to school night seeing as it will cut off the top portion of whatever I'm projecting, but it sure is cute for now!

Side Notes:
*I went to a 3 day PD course on Climate Change in the classroom this past week that was simply wonderful! We stayed up in the mountains for a few days had had hordes of amazing guest speakers that wanted to connect their knowledge with kids. I have so many science experiments and guest speakers set up for the upcoming school year! And look at who we came across on a hike between lectures...

his friend was right behind him : )

*And guess what my neighbors just threw out...
4 director chairs! Can I say back to school teacher gifts for my 3 co-teachers and I?! Time to sand, paint, and start sewing!

Happy last days of summer,

Wednesday Made It?

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Made It?

I waited and waited for an exciting package to arrive Monday that I had planned on using for my Monday Made It post, but sadly it never came Monday... or Tuesday. Therefore the Wednesday Made It with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics.

Our school is trying something new by pulling from  3+ math curriculums in order to run math workshop this year. You can read a bit more about it under my "math" bookmark up above and I'll definitely be blogging about the successes/failures I am bound to have with it! But to help organize myself with the endless amount of curriculum options I decided to try out 2 different ways to help me keep things straight! Both systems are organized using the Common Core Standards.

1.Crate Filing System:
holds...
-curriculum manuels
-homework masters
-math workshop questions
-scaffolded answers to each workshop question

Each strand is a different color to easily see
how much material needs to be covered 

The red file is for end of year/state test review

*Here's an example of a curriculum manual I made, and yes there is one for EACH standard. It took some time to put together but I'll sure be glad later!

Each cover has the specific
standard & a picture

Blue pages are math workshop
questions

Green pages are homework
masters (rubrics are on the back)

2. My NEW rolling drawer system (this is what I was waiting for in the mail):
holds...
-math games
-QR code task cards (each QR code has an answer and most importantly a KHAN academy video attachment for if a student doesn't know why they got an answer incorrect)
-math tasks
-KHAN lists
-online math game lists

I originally made these labels for my old 10 drawer cart system that is still at school, but I found a deal on a 20 drawer cart system online that was cheaper than buying another 10 drawer one! I simply couldn't pass up on that deal : ) I have a feeling that as I start to unload my math tubs at school I'll make some adjustments as to which standards need more drawers and thus swap out the black labels.

Does this process look familiar to anyone? Thankfully I loved rector sets and lincoln logs as a kid : )

directions galore!

it needs a splash of color...

Colors for each math strand!

all done!

pretty happy with the final product!

My second made it was inspired from Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher, check out her amazing ideas here! I LOVED her math bulletin board and how kids can grab a ring of vocab. cards whenever they need it. So this made it was simply many hours of printing, cutting, laminating, cutting, hole punching, alphabetizing, and finally binding all of these amazing math vocabulary cards from Teaching and Tapas who uses the same font that I did for the rest of my classroom. (Apparently I'm really great at advertising for random people on TPT, but they did the hard work and I want to make sure they get the credit! If only there was a marketing job like that I would be the queen) I simply can't wait to have access to my classroom so that I can put together this math board!

LOTS of cutting and laminating... got hooked on Friday
Night Lights while doing this project!

Sorted into the different CCSS areas!

For my next made it I created Daily 5 posters to match my classroom colors (realized I made CAFE posters but forgot the big 5 so I bundled them on TPT)

sorry for the massive glare : ( I have a laminating problem & just a phone camera

I have an old handwritten voice level poster that has been hanging in my classroom for 2 years and needed some TLC. This time I printed my levels and if anyone can find my yellow #3 under the pile of school stuff in my guest bedroom that would be great ; ) I LOVE this voice level system! It is on the very edge of my whiteboard so that I can draw a dry erase star next to whichever level I want work to be done at. And lets be honest, I usually say what level and some OCD kid goes over and draws the star for me! If the level isn't being respected then I take away a NOISE letter. Simple expectations and procedures set up our kids for success!

it was originally from this lil guy I found on pintrest years ago...

I got rid of #5 last year. As in I literally cut it off the bottom of my poster with my students lol. My kids thought it was silly to have a level for something we would never be allowed to use in the building, cutting it off made a huge statement that it was NOT allowed

And some exciting news... organic wheat harvest is officially over! It took 12 days this year, we are exhausted, tan, dirty, hearts and bellies are full, and life sure is good. Time to go back to school!

Saying good bye to the combine for now... millet harvest should be right around the corner though!

Happy last days of summer!