Favorite Spots in our Classroom

All of the Teaching Trio is officially back to school now, so this month, Juliet and I teamed up to share some of our favorite spots in our classrooms...

My USA carpet might be old & dirty, but it's where some of the best times happen in my class. It's where we share in morning meetings. It's where we read at the end of each day (Currently: Wonder). It's where my class chooses to work almost every chance they get. 

Juliet's rocking chair is her favorite spot because it's where she reads with her class. (I'm sensing a theme here!)

My small group table is another favorite spot. This is where some of the best learning happens - one on one with my students. It's where I hear the most "ohhh"s and see the most aha moments. (And my class LOVES the whiteboard circles!)

What are your favorites this month? Grab the template and button and link up below! If this is your first time linking up, check out our Favorite Things page for more details!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Monday Made It- Where are My Students?

We are linking up with 4th Grade Frolics and Monday Made It!

One week back at school and I am already revising my schedule again! And not for the first time!  I have come to think of my schedule as a "flowing document".  At least it sounds pretty and keeps me from groaning each time I open it on my computer.

I need to accommodate and change my regular schedule to fit in reading, guidance, occupational therapy, and special education times for certain students. The speech and ESL teachers haven't even contacted me yet! I will also need to make room for my kiddos that need deployment groups since they have a parent serving overseas.  I feel another schedule revision coming on.  Good thing it is a "flowing" document!

Today's classroom  has a diverse mix of learners with a slew of various needs!  Although we, as classroom teachers, try to meet as many needs as we can in within the walls of our classrooms, sometimes students need to go beyond our scope (and sequence) to receive the help that they need. It can be frustrating to schedule time for EACH child to receive the independent AND classroom time that they need and even harder to keep track of it all.

Of course, keeping track of where our students are should be easy, right? WRONG!  With all of the special service students receive plus add library, nurse, errands,  and doctor's appointments, it has become a time consuming and elaborate job!

Sometimes it seems as if my classroom door is a revolving door!  It never stops turning!

I definitely needed a way to keep track of where my students were at a glance.  I also needed it to be more student controlled than teacher controlled- I couldn't stop teaching all the time to record which student was leaving and to where.

I posted 2 silver magnetic boards on my door since wall space is limited in my room.  You can also use a long magnetic white board.  I just liked the silver.  The boards came with sticky stuff (very technical term) that stands up to any kind of walls.

        

I made a couple of products for Where are My Students? for TPT.  I chose to use the Superhero ones for my classroom.  My 3rd graders love them!

       

I then printed out, cut out (Okay my teenagers cut out- free teen labor rocks!), and laminated each piece.

I bought a long spiral magnet strip that has sticky stuff (another real technical term) on the back of it. I cut the magnet into little squares or strips.  On the back of each laminated piece, I placed a magnet.

 

I placed all of the pieces on the magnetic board.  

 

Students move their numbers whenever they leave the room.  When they come back into the classroom, they move their number back into the middle of the chart.  Students LOVE to move their number.  They also love to remind others that they forgot to move theirs!

 

Last tips:

1. Make sure to place the magnetic chart where students can reach and easily move their numbers.
2. Make sure to place the magnetic board where you can see it!
3. You have to teach the students how to do this with your other procedures and practice.
4. Only display the titles you need.  Leave down the extras.
5. Your teenagers aren't always the best at cutting out Mom's laminating!  Ha!  Lesson learned!

Happy Classroom Managing!

Two for Tuesday! Morphology & Birthday Cupcakes

It's Tuesday...you know what that means! Two for Tuesday at The Teaching Tribune!

This week, I am putting two of my newer products on sale for half price all day today!

First up, my brand new, hot off the presses vocabulary unit... Growing Vocabulary Roots (Unit 1)! I have worked SO hard this summer to get this unit done, and I can't wait to use it in my classroom this year. After a lot of experimentation and trial and error last year, I have finally found a way to teach vocabulary that really works for me, and this unit is it!

Rather than teaching random lists of words that go along with a story we are reading, I focus on a group of morphemes (root wods, prefixes, or suffixes) and several words that use those morphemes. Students learn important foundational skills for decoding unfamiliar words as they come across them in their reading. I saw such an improvement in my students' vocabulary skills last year after implementing these techniques, and I can't wait to see the difference it makes when I actually start the year with a comprehensive vocabulary program!

Includes everything you need for the first 9 weeks of instruction...

• Three morphemes per week
• Word lists that use those morphemes
• Word sorts and weekly practice activities
• Assessments & answer keys
• Personal Root Word Dictionary for students
• Teacher instructions, schedule, summary of research, and CCSS alignment

Grab it today for only $5!

Second... I am so excited about my new Perfect Patterns classroom theme, and I think my favorite element so far is my Birthday Cupcakes bulletin board display! 

These cupcakes are adorable, if I do say so myself, and they are a perfect birthday display for your bulletin board, wall, or door. Cut out the cupcakes, and write student birthdays on the bottom half of each cupcake. Laminate them first, and you can reuse year after year by wiping off the names with acetone! Get yours today for $1.50!

Head over to The Teaching Tribune to see what else is on sale today!

Two for Tuesday is back!

I guess technically it never went anywhere, but I was so happy to see on The Teaching Tribune's Facebook page that they are going to keep Two for Tuesday going a while longer!

Since everyone is starting to think about back to school, I thought I'd share some of my classroom decorations. I'm sharing one of my most recent products & one of my most wish-listed at half price for today only!

These Birthday Cupcakes make an adorable birthday bulletin board! I just love the bright patterns & sprinkles on each one! I cut them out and display them on one of my doors since we are a little short on bulletin board space. I've also had a buyer tell me she puts the current month's cupcake beside her calendar, and the birthday kids feel extra special all month! (Love that idea!) On sale today for just $1.50! 

My Turquoise Dots Classroom Decor Pack is a best-seller and highly wish-listed item! This is a BIG pack of classroom decorations that I made so that my classroom could have a cohesive look and feel. Includes editable signs and labels, schedule cards, a "where are we" sign, word wall letters, & much much more! On sale today for only 6.25!

Hop on over to The Teaching Tribune to see what else is on sale! 

Two-for-Tried-it-Tuesday

I'm linking up with both of my favorite Tuesday posts today... Teaching Tribune's Two for Tuesday and Fourth Grade Flipper's Tried-it Tuesday.

     

Today's Two for Tuesdays are two of my Teacher Binders...

One is brand new, and the other has been given a total face-lift with a clean, fresh, & modern design! Both are editable and include editing/printing tips. They include organizational forms, calendars, planning pages, grade & attendance sheets, student information, parent contact info, a multitude of binder dividers, and more!

Here's a peek at what's inside... In the interest of keeping this short-ish, I'm just posting a little bit of each one. The overall binder is the same though, so if you see it in one set, it exists in the other one too. Download the previews on TPT to see a peek at every page!

Brand new: Rainbow Honeycomb Teacher Planner

Just updated: Turquoise Dots Teacher Planner

Both of these are on sale today only for just $5 each! Get a jump on next year's organization by grabbing one now!!

Here's my Tried-it for this week...

I am super excited about this one! I decided I wanted a custom printed binder for my teacher binder this year instead of just printing covers to slide into the sleeves of some plain binder. So I headed over to Zazzle to create one, and I found it was pretty easy really addicting, and I ended up making customizable binders to go with both of these Teacher Binder themes, and just for fun, I also made a spiral notebook too!

They are high-quality Avery binders custom printed to match the theme of the binders. These are printed directly onto the vinyl and are customized with your name. My Rainbow Honeycomb Binder is on its way to me as we speak, and I can't wait for the package to arrive!

Pop over to both of these great linkies to snag some more great deals and check out some Tried-it's!

Five for Friday: Father's Day Fun, Summertime, & Projects

Hi everyone! Today I'm linking  up with Doodlebugs for one of my favorite linkies...Five for Friday! We've been working hard and enjoying some summer fun at the same time. Here's a peek at what's been happening around my house this week...

Sunday was Father's Day, and my husband wanted to take our little man fishing. He just turned 2 in April, so he wasn't very into the actual fishing, but he had fun watching daddy and looking at all the rocks. (Although his new-found love of throwing rocks in the pond probably didn't help the fishing...we didn't catch a thing!)

 

In a desperate attempt to declutter my jewelry box the entire top of my dresser, which was covered in necklaces, thanks to my Jane.com addiction, I started scouring Pinterest for ideas. Monday night, I whipped this little beauty up...

I'll tell you all about it in my next Monday Made-it post!

I've been hard at work on my new classroom theme, which I'm calling Perfect Patterns...bright rainbow colors and a variety of fun patterns with chalkboard accents! I am *super excited* about it!

I have a couple of Teacher Toolbox sets already done, one with chalkboards and one with white labels, because I couldn't decide at first.

     

I am SOOO close to having my Teacher Binder/Planner finished! The creative work is actually done; I just need to finish adding the editable fields in Adobe. It should be uploaded sometime this weekend. Be sure you're following on Instagram, because I will post there, and it will be on sale! I am really excited about this product, and about giving my other two Teacher Binders a fresh, modern look with their updates as well!

This summer has taught me one important thing about my son...he needs his schedule. Several days, I've either kept him home with me or dropped him off at daycare late in the morning so I could go to an appointment...It's never good. So, he's going to be spending the mornings, through nap time, at daycare most days. I'm sad that we aren't getting to do as many fun summer things as I had hoped, but on the plus side, I have plenty of "me time" to work on stuff like ^^that^^. 

Wednesday afternoon, when I picked him up after his nap, I took my little guy to the park, and we discovered what is apparently the only time of day *no one* wants to go! We had the whole place to ourselves for once! It was so much fun, and more relaxed for me since I could really just let him run free!

 So...today I am organizing my closet because, well...

...THIS! {hangs head in shame} I decided earlier in the week that I needed to get organized. A couple of closet organizers arrived yesterday...Thank you, Amazon Prime...and I am going to be hard at work today getting my shoes and bags organized, and putting away winter clothes. My husband is going to be very happy!

That's about it for my week...Busy, productive, with a little relaxation and fun thrown in! How about you? Pop over to Doodlebugs to link up with what you've been up to this week!