New Classroom Design

School has just ended and I am already deciding how I will decorate my new classroom. Since there will be 7 first grade classrooms instead of 6 at my school one of the 2nd grade teachers were going to be asked to move into a different classroom. Once I found out which room it was I volunteered myself to move. My new room is way bigger and has a HUGE walk-in closet. I am in love with my new room. With a new room comes new decorations.

My items come from the Black and White collection from Creative Teaching. I am so excited to get back into my room in July to start putting up all my new items. I will post pictures once my room is done. Here are all the items that I have purchased so far!

Large Cut outs for my Writing Board.

Smaller cut outs for Name Plates for student work.

Pockets for Library Book Check out (classroom library)

First boarder.
Second Boarder

Labels for the student Cubbies

Birthday Chart

Name Plates

Will use this computer paper for the front of their binders. 

I am so excited to get the rest of the collections. I still need to the Blank posters, Welcome Poster, Classroom Rules Poster and the lesson plan book ( they have an E-version).  Make sure you check back in the fall to see all this in action in my new room!

Last item.... I am 5 followers away from hitting 50!! I see a huge giveaway in the near future!

 

Followers and Organization!

First I want to start by thanking those who have started following my blog. I am up to 40 followers. I am 10 away from a milestone. Once I hit 50 I will be holding a GREAT giveaway!



Next I have found some great ways to stay organized. Doing this weekly post has added a WHOLE lot to my summer to do list. Every item I find to share turns into something I JUST HAVE TO HAVE. So let the list GROW!


1. Teacher Binder: I personally set up a teacher binder last year but did not like it. I found this one on Pinterest.  Having a binder like this one is a great way to keep all your teacher information organized and in one place.  This idea came from Jennrivera over at Beyond the Grades.

2. If you are anything like me or really any other elementary school teacher, you have tons of bulletin board letters.  I currently keep all of them mixed together in a plastic drawer. I now will be keeping them well organized. I have found a great idea from MargD Teaching Posters.  She uses a CD case....what a GREAT idea. I sit and wonder why I don't ever have these genius ideas pop into my head but I don't mind finding them and then using them.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. I plan on blogging more often now that school is out for the summer. I have lots of PLANS and will blog all about them.

And The Award Goes To.......

Here are the blogs I have selected for the One Lovely Blog Award!

Here are a couple rules to follow:
1. Follow the blog that gave your the award.
2. Link back to the blog that gave you the award.
3. Select new blogs to win the award.

The Wise & Witty Teacher

http://wisewittyteacher.blogspot.com/

Ms. Alley’s 2^nd Grade Class

http://msalleysclass.blogspot.com/

Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits

http://tunstalltimes.blogspot.com/

Views from Room 205

http://mrslambsclass.blogspot.com/

2^nd Grade Ponderings

http://2ndgradeponderings.blogspot.com/

Mrs. McCumbee’s Class

http://mrsmccumbeesclass.blogspot.com/

Ms. Preppy

http://mspreppy.blogspot.com/

Curls and a Smile

http://curlsandasmile.blogspot.com/

The Teacher Wife

http://theteacherwife.blogspot.com/

Second Grade Style

http://www.secondgradestyle.blogspot.com/

Made in the Shade in 2^nd Grade

http://www.madeintheshadeinsecondgrade.blogspot.com

A Modern Teacher

http://www.amodernteacher.com/

Mrs. Lirette’s Learning Detectives

http://www.mrsliretteslearningdetectives.com/

Sweet Seconds

http://secondgradesweets.blogspot.com/

Second Grade Smartypants

http://wearesecondgradesmartypants.blogspot.com/

Blog Award

I have been awarded the Lovely Blog Award. I am pretty excited about this! I will be looking for 15 NEW blogs that I find Lovely. I am truly excited that I started a blog and I have loved every minute of it. This was a great move. I have learned so much in the fast couple months.



Stay tuned for the 15 new blogs I have selected. I am going to do some blog stalking tonight! Make sure you check out Michelle's Blog.  She has a great blog and it is worth checking out!

Organizing, poison ivy and a GIVEAWAY

Lets start this post with why I am late with my organizing post! I have a horrible case of poison ivy. I am being treated with steroids. I thought my case was bad but my poor husband is covered with the itchy stuff. The doctors and nurses were in shock with the size of his blisters. Needless to say we are both now on medication.

Next here is my find for this weeks organizing post. I am sure you have seen this idea all over different blogs and on pinterest. I am so excited about this. Some of my coworkers and I are going to make these "Teacher Toolboxes" over the summer. Pictures will be posted once they are made.

Here is a post on this item that includes printable templates for the labels. Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics has such a cute "teacher toolbox. Click over to her blog and read all about it. Here is a picture of her box!

 

Don't forget to get her freebie for the labels for the different boxes. She explains were to pick up the box and even links to the Lowes website to get the exact box.

Last, I have decided that once I have reached 50 followers on my blog I will hold a HUGE giveaway. So spread the word to all your blog friends and help me reach 50 followers. 
 

Organizing Mondays

Organizing Monday on Wednesday!

I am totally lame! I am sorry this is so late. I have been super busy helping my husband install a new patio in our back yard. I have not even had time to watch my shows this week! I have found a blog that has many great organizing ideas. I am going to talk about A Cupcake for the Teacher's ideas in this post. 

1. She has a great way to store and organize STICKERS. I never thought to do this but I plan on doing it for the fall. All you need is a binder and page dividers that have pockets on both sides. You can read her post to see the exact brand she uses. She uses the dividers for different months or holidays. I don't know about you but my sticker bin is a HUGE mess!

 

2. She uses a combination of big ziplock bags and plastic containers from the craft store to store and organize her craft patterns. She uses one box per every two months ( Sept. and Oct). She places all the pieces and a finished product for each craft in a different baggie and then places all the baggies in the bin for storing! I don't use patterns all that much but if I did I would find this idea helpful. 

 

3.  She color codes EVERYTHING! It seems like each group or table has a color and then they only use items that are their groups color. This is such a great idea, except I ALWAYS end up taking my students out of groups for part of the year when talking becomes a problem. I might have to use this next year if I get tables instead of desks. 

4.  Last she has a great way to keep spelling words for activities or teaching in order and easy to find. She uses small accordion file folders to hold to cards. She has each section labeled with which unit and lesson those words belong to. I like this idea but my cards would be too big.

Organizing Mondays

I am back for round two of great organizing ideas I have found. I have three different ones for you today!

First I want to share an idea that I found a while back on Pinterest. I have actually made this item for my classroom and I believe I am going to make a second one for next year. This item is a great way to help keep your desk and yourself organized. It is made up of a metal file holder ( I got mine from Target), with hanging files labeled (copies, to file, to pass out, etc). I lined mine with scrapbook paper to make it look cuter! Here is the link to the post I found about it. I have posted a photo the one I based mine off and a picture of the one I made.

The one from the POST I found.

Mine from the Back

Mine from the Front

The Second item I have found is a way to organize all your files for those students who need or receive some sort of intervention. Carrie at A First Grade Teacher's Passions and Obsessions has created a great way to keep up with those students. She has created different forms. These forms are available on her blog for FREE!!!!! Go on over to her blog and get all the details. Below is a picture of how to houses all her intervention information.

Lastly is something that I will be using starting in the fall. This is a great way to keep up with extra copies and papers for students who are absent. I tend to either throw away or lose my extra copies and then I am always making more copies when I need a student to redo an assignment or if they are absent. This was found at Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher

I hope you enjoyed these great ideas that I have found this week! Come back again next Monday for new ideas on how to stay organized!

Teacher Appreciation Sales, Jackpots and New computer battery OH MY!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me. First my work computer died and I was lucky enough to get all the data from it! Now my home computer has decided to act up. I had to go buy a new battery and a wireless mouse. I am now back up and running both at school and at home.

This week is going to be so EXCITING. I am hosting a sale both on TPT and TN. Make sure you stop by and grab up some great items at a discount. Who doesn't love a good sale right?

With the end of school fast approaching we all should be thinking about summer break, pool visits and sleeping in. Yet, if you are anything like I am summer break isn't really a break from working. I always find myself working just has hard on school related items during the summer as I do during the school year. This summer will be no different. I have been accepted to present with a fellow teacher at our counties summer institute. I am nervous thinking about all those teachers coming and listening to me talk about Math Interactive Notebooks. I plan on blogging about this experience as it unfolds. I will also up load some of the items will be using during our presentations.

Enough about my life.....Lets talk about Jackpots. I have heard this Sunday is going be AMAZING. 100s of blogs have come together to give away items for free for ONE day and ONE day only. That day would be TOMORROW. I am going to leave a link here on my blog for you to go and get all the details from the people who are putting on this Jackpot Sunday.
Below are the links to:

Jackpot Sunday: http://www.amodernteacher.com/2012/05/teacher-appreciation-jackpot.html 
My TPT Store 20% off  Sunday- Tuesday: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/For-The-Love-Of-Teaching
My TN Store Today - Friday: http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/ksveska26/sale 

Bubbles Bubbles Bubbles Everywhere

BUBBLE GUM EXPERIMENT

In my class about a month ago we did an experiment to help us understand the scientific method. Here is what we did along with the documents we filled out.

I don't know about you but when I was young I LOVED blowing bubbles with my gum. I thought this would be a great way to help my students learn the different steps of the scientific method. I bought three different brands of gum (Hubba Bubba, Orbit and Bubble Yum). Then I had to spend a whole science lesson teaching my students how to blow bubbles. This was something I had not planned on doing but oh well. 

 2nd Day: My students were given one piece of each brand of gum. They were to pick one piece and start chewing the gum. Once they were ready they were to blow a bubble. Each student had a partner that was to measure the bubble with a ruler. Once a bubble was measured the partner got a turn to blow a bubble. Students were to record their data on their paper. 

3rd Day: This day is when we took all of our data and made a graph to show which brand of gun made the best bubbles. We filled this graph out together as a class. Students were also responsible for answering the questions about the graph. 

Here are the printables for this experiment

I used a booklet about the scientific method that I found on TPT. Here is the link to that item. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Scientific-Method-Experiments-Notebook-Bundle