Classroom Reveal - 2getherWeAreBetter Linkup

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I must say I am pretty happy with how my classroom has turned out this year.  That being said...I know I will change it at least a bit next summer.  I have never had my classroom look the same two years in a row and I'm sure neither have you!  We actually started the first week of August, so some of the pictures are from this summer before kiddos and some are once school had already started as each weekend I changed a few things once I had gotten to know this years class and what would/wouldn't work for them.  Some of these pictures show parts of my bulletin boards that I explained in more detail in this post.  If there is something you wanted to know where it came from or questions you had that I don't answer here, be sure to check back there!

This is the showcase board outside of our classroom.  Each student has their number on an apple that is attached to a clothespin.  They can hang up any piece or combination of pieces of their work here to show off!  The kids love having a say in what they get to put out.  To start I always put our second grade goals that we write at the beginning of the year.  This picture was taken pretty early on so there isn't a lot out there yet!

Next up is our Monster Club board!  I know I had this board in my other post as well but I just wanted to show how many students had already taken part!  My class is directly in the middle.  By week 3 of school I already had 12 kiddos who did extra work and made the monster club!  As of today one of my students is only one star away from reaching the hall of fame already!  I am super pumped about this!  (Yes...I said pumped...)

This is what the setup of my desks look like at the moment.  This is the third setup this year already.  It is a tough class and I kept playing around with different formations to see what worked best for them.  This seems to be the winner for now!  The group bins in the middle hold their "In Progress" folders we use for work that we have not finished yet or will keep referring back to.  This includes things such as their SuperSpeed Math, Word Collectors, and other unfinished work.  I also keep their Reader's Response Journals and dry erase boards in these bins.  Next to them we have the group pencil bin for when students need a new pencil.  I am very structured and only let students sharpen in the morning so I do not want them wandering the room to find a new pencil.  I do not have supply crates on my groups like many teachers.  My students all have a pencil box in which they keep their supplies in their desk.  Each year I buy extra to ensure all of my students have a place for their things.  This is extra important this year as their computers are now housed in their desks without cases!  Eek!

These area few images from our family room.  I am LOVING my new organization of my classroom library into topics/genres instead of levels.  The kids seem to have a much easier time finding books they want to read quickly!  Which is definitely a good thing considering how many books I have.  My green chair is where I sit while reading to them or doing a CAFE mini-lesson.  My kids get to sit there during Read to Self when they are Student of the Week.  My calendar area looks so bare!  Now I have the students names under their birthday months and we have been in school for 4 weeks already!  These counters also house some important items for the kids.  Their book boxes, the book hospital, pencil sharpening stations, and my Check for Understanding checkmarks are located here.

If you haven't noticed already my room has enormous everything.  Enormous bulletin boards and enormous storage.  I love that they utilized every inch possible, but I must say for this short teacher, constantly getting out my stepladder or borrowing a ladder can get cumbersome.  But...yes I am lucky!  The students have numbers on their closets so I don't have to change them each year.  There is also room for me to store manipulatives on the top shelf of their closets.  To be honest a lot of the top cabinets are empty.  I'm a bit of a minimalist and if I don't use it, it's gone!  By the door I store my lunch in the room passes as well as my bathroom chart.  The area by the sink houses our clipboards and Tigger Talk.  This is an idea I edited from Miss DeCarbo!  It is also where we keep our class pet.  It's a little hard to see, but he is a fake goldfish.  We are not allowed to have pets in our classroom so my mother bought me the next best thing as a joke.  And the kids love it!  Each year they vote on a name for him and then I use him as our whole class positive behavior system.  Whenever the class as a whole does something great, the bowl gets a scoop of water.  (Yes, he's a magic fish who doesn't need water.)  Once the fishtank is full, we have a celebration!

My teacher desk is basically only in use when planning without students.  This area houses my filing cabinet filled with my unit plans.  I also have any teacher resources I use back here including lots of picture books I use to teach my lessons or as read alouds.  I am a Tigger and tiger fanatic so there are lots of stuffed animals filling the tops of my shelves.  Students can buy the chance to have a stuffed animal with them for the day as part of my store on Fridays.

This area is quite different than years past.  Normally this is where my computer cart is housed.  However this year our wonderful (very secondary minded) head administrators decided our elementary students (K-4) should take home their iPads/Macbooks every single day...chargers included.  Not that our entire school has internet at home...but um...yeah.  So at the moment I have stolen a few kids chargers (as we won't have extras except for my personal one for 27 students) since I am meeting with their parents this week to discuss responsible use and consequences for breaking the computers before they get to start taking them home.  In our school K and 1 have iPads while 2-4 have Macbook Airs.  This table provides me a place for kids to sit while their computers are charging, bins for turning things in, and a place for their lunch hexagons to go before they put them in the chart each morning.

My small group table was currently half set up for Meet the Teacher night in this picture.  However, this is where I meet with small groups during Reading Block or Reading Success/Intervention time.  Last year I purchased stools from Ikea.  I love them!  We have large classes and it was impossible for me to fit enough students around the table with our old chairs.  These are super cheap!  However, I had to replace a few this summer after coming back from maternity leave to broken stools so they may not last too long when kids are rough with them.  On the back counter you can also see part of our homework folders (post on that later), math center bins, and their mailboxes.  These shelves are where I store all of my small group items as well as the students coin boxes and store items.

Whew!  I think that is it for now!  For a more detailed look at my bulletin boards and the front of my room be sure to check back on my last #2getherWeAreBetter post!

Assess Me Week 2 Linky

Well, summer is officially over for me.  Tomorrow is teacher work day as well as Meet the Teacher Night at my school.  We start school the next day.  We are starting a balanced calendar this year so it is extra early.  If I'm being honest with myself I know I expected more than was probably possible with myself between a baby, blogging, TpT creating, a classroom, and my family.  I would like to say I will be able to blog once a week and make a product once a week...but realistically...who knows!

For some last minute fun before school starts I am linking up with Rachel from the Tattooed Teacher for another week of her Assess Me linky.  Make sure you click the image below to take your test!

This week I need a little more space to explain some of my answers.

Jeans: I am very much a jeans girl.  I like to have a fancy top once in awhile, but definitely prefer jeans.  Fridays we can wear jeans to school and I have to say it is automatically my favorite day simply for that reason.  I feel so much more like me!
Earrings: I am not a jewelry girl.  I know, I know, a teacher not obsessed with Kendra Scott???  I wear earings and my wedding ring.  That's it.  Well, and my aunt gave me a toe ring recently...I'm still iffy on that one.
Big Pimpin': Original is best.
Silver: Silver, always silver.  Not a gold fan at all.
City or Country: Completely depends on my mood.  I love the peacefulness of the country, but love the options in the city.
Online or in Store: Clothes - in store (have to try it on).  Anything else - online for sure!
Baths: Not that it happens much, but who doesn't love a long relaxing bubble bath?!?!
Open Book: If I know you, I'm fairly open with you.  If I don't...I'm super shy and reserved.
Busy Bee: I get bored easily...always on the go.
Breakfast or Dinner: How about breakfast for dinner??  Or Thai food...mmmmm
Tea or Coffee: I hate both.  And pop while I'm at it.  I am one of the few teachers who doesn't run off caffeine.  If I'm tired...I'm tired.  My husband drinks enough caffeine for the both of us.  ;)
Early Bird: I can't stand to sleep in very long.  What a waste of a day!
Done Up: I don't get done up very often but I always feel better when I do.
Thunder or Lightning: Rain is soothing.  The others...not so much.
Flats: I can't walk in heels.  It's more like falling.  But they're soooo cute :(
Car: I'm not much of a fan of any...would rather walk/run.  But, if I had to choose car for sure.  I have motion sickness and dislike being in one for long distances.
The New Girl: I'm at least a season behind, but when I had time to watch it...it was hilarious.
Central Park: I love being outside.  Now if only we could get rid of the bugs...

Bulletin Boards 2GetherWeAreBetter Linkup!

 

Ah, bulletin boards.  Most of us have a love/hate relationship with them.  When I started decorating my room before my first year as a teacher I was completely lost when I looked at my bulletin boards.  As you will see in the pictures...they're huge.  They go to the ceiling and take up much of the room on the walls.  We basically have 1 enormous bulletin board in the classroom that spans 2 walls.  Then we have another GIGANTIC bulletin board ourside our classroom and yet another one for all 2nd grade classrooms to share.  I had no idea how I was going to fill these!  Well let me tell you...it has never been a problem.  :)

Here are some quick pictures so you can get an idea of how many bulletin boards I have.  First these are in the hallway.  The first we share with all 2nd grade and the second is mine alone.  I want to say we figured out they were about 15 feet wide.  The bottom two pictures are from inside my room. 

 First I want to tell you some of the most important things I have learned about creating bulletin boards.

1. Do not make it something you have to change constantly throughout the year.  Be honest...we don't have time for that.  Not with the millions of other things we are busy doing on a daily basis.

2. Make sure they are something you will use and refer to constantly.  Just putting things up to fill up space...not a good idea.  This was definitely something I struggled with my first few years due to the sheer size of the boards.

3. Fabric, fabric, fabric!  Did I mention fabric?  After years of putting up new bulletin board paper due to fading, I finally heard about this simple idea.  I'm on the 2nd year with my fabric and it still looks as new as the day I (with many helpers) put it up.  I have heard bedsheets work for this, but I personally went to JoAnn Fabrics.  They give teachers a discount!  Plus, I bought the colors that were on sale!  Love it!  TIP: DO NOT BUY PATTERNED FABRIC  Oh. My. Goodness.  That took forever to line up and there are lots of spots that I hide with my computer cart...

Now for the details of my boards.  :)

The board we share as a second grade we use for our Monster Mastery Club.  We got this idea from Amanda Madden over at Teaching Maddeness.  I do believe she got the idea from someone as well and adapted it to her monster theme.  We adapted it as well to fit with Indiana and our needs.  For this the kids have "extra credit" options they can do as part of their homework.  There are 80 choices.  When the students complete one they bring in the paper and turn it into us the next morning.  They then get a monster to put on this board.  For each mastery club item they complete afterwards another star is added to their monster.  Once students reach 15 stars they are then moved the the Hall of Fame!  The plan is for them to stay in the hall of fame indefinitely...of course a lot more went for it then we expected the first year.  So that may take some altering.  :)

This is the board I use to display student work outside my classroom.  I wanted a way to show what my students were working on but without the hassle of constantly changing my board.  This was my solution.  I hot glued tacks to the back of clothespins that I put on apples.  I then pushed the tacks into the bulletin board.  It has looked slightly different through the years depending on my classroom decor, but with the same concept.  I use clothespins for the students to hang their work from.  I have used paperclips in the past but they do not hold up as well as clothespins.  The students decide what they want to hang up and what they want to take home.  Some students keep many items hanging while others prefer to only do one at a time.  It is completely up to them!  No work on my part and yet they feel ownership and pride over their space!

I apologize if it is hard to see the pictures!  This board is where I display my CAFE and Daily 5 anchor charts.  As you can see the CAFE is currently empty.  As the year starts we will fill it up as we learn the strategies.  I have this in our "family room" which is where I read to the students and do my mini-lessons.  It is perfect placement to refer back to ones we have already worked on.  My CAFE charts are from Christina Bainbridge, Elizabeth Walen, and Natalie's Nook.  I love that most CAFE and Daily 5 things are freebies!  I also have some parts of speech signs my students refer to from Lindsey Hill.

This bulletin board is where my students behavior cards are kept.  I use a simple card system for my behavior management.  The "we're learning about" sign is where I put anchor charts we create during the week based on what we are currently working on.  The genres signs are from Aynsley Patton.  

This bulletin board is where I hold our calendar meeting during math.   It contains the birthdays as well as typical calendar activities.  Once my class list is finalized I add the students' names under the months for their birthdays.

Across the front of my room I have my alphabet, number line, and my Whole Brain Teaching classroom rules.  You can grab these here in my TPT store.

My final bulletin board is where I learned about what a terrible idea patterned fabrics are.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture but there is a huge awkward line down the 3rd column of letters as well as 3 tiny rectangles in the bottom left where I had issues getting fabric to line up pattern wise.  It was not fun.  Trust me.  This is similar to a word wall.  I am trained in Orton-Gillingham and use that with my students.  Therefore, I chose to implement a red word wall instead of a typical word wall.  Red words are words that do not follow the rules and you cannot spell phonetically by sounding out.  Often times they are very similar to most sight words.

Whew!  Thanks for sticking with me through that LONG post.  Make sure to link up your bulletin board ideas with #2GetherWeAreBetter!

Assess Me: Get to Know You Linky

Quick, fun post today!  I am linking up with Rachel from The Tattooed Teacher today for her new Assess Me linky!

How fun are these!?!  Make sure you head to her blog to join up!

Five for Friday - July 17th

This week has been very up and down when it comes to Dollar Tree.  I stopped in to see what kind of storage containers they had and immediately fell in love.  I knew the long ones would be perfect to redo my classroom library with!  My parents live about an hour away and close to 5 other Dollar Trees.  My father calls himself "hunter gatherer" so I knew he would be up to the challenge of finding the extras I would need.  Two days later he drops of his finds while in town....they're completely different.  Turns out the other stores don't carry the adorableness I found...at least not in pink...or the right sizes...  After much frustration and a few other trips to my Dollar Tree (hoping there would magically be more) I bought other styles and made it work!  I do love the results!  It just turned into a much bigger project than I had originally planned.  I suppose that's the life of a teacher.

 In my "family room" (what I call the area of our classroom where I read to the kids and we have meetings) I have had a dark blue rug for a few years to help identify the area better.  Slowly with little fingers picking and picking the rug has started to fall apart.  Of course, so has parts of the shelving and other things kids find to pick at, but that's for another project.  Well, back to the "hunter gatherer" that is my father.  He calls me one day to tell me he found some cheap rugs.  I wasn't a fan of the patterns and mentioned that if I got a new one I'd really like a cute chevron rug.  Next thing I know he is ordering a rug from Target and it is showing up on my doorstep.  (Addressed to my maiden name might I add)  It is chevron!  It is enormous!  It is perfect!  :)

My husband and I took Liam with us to meet his babysitter for the school year.  She is a former coworker of mine who decided to stay home for awhile to be with her children.  I couldn't be happier knowing that he will be in good hands.  At the same time going to her house, discussing details, and seeing him interact with her little one started making the reality that I am going to have to leave him for the bulk of the day soon very real.  It overwhelms me just to think about it.  I don't know how all of the moms out there do it! 

 I had someone randomly stop me in the school parking lot today to ask me when the office staff would be back to work at the school.  Being that it is summer, I of course had to pull out my phone to look at the calendar.  Checking for him, it hit me that I am down to about 2 weeks this coming Tuesday!  2 weeks?!?!  Where did the summer go?  I have spent the bulk of my summer at school and I know I have accomplished a lot, but I still feel there is so much left to do!  I know we've come so far, but we've got so far to go...  Hairspray anyone???  No?  Yeah...just me.  

One thing I did finish up this week is my homework folders.  Last year my teammates and I changed up the way we do take home folders and homework in general.  This led to us purchasing our own folders (with prongs) and supplies to fill them followed by many hours in assembly line form putting them together.  It is a long/pricey process but completely worth it!  I will go through one of my folders more in depth next week so you can see what all goes inside!