My Classroom Schedule! Come See!

I LOVE looking at schedules in other classrooms. I find it absolutely fascinating how other people schedule their time. So when I stumbled across this linky I knew I had to participate!

So let me explain a little...

8:00 --- Love Calendar Math! I just throw eight questions on to my SmartBoard and the students answer them. The questions always correlate with the date, hence the name Calendar Math. The questions involve reviewing, what we are currently working on, and problems from the next unit of study. Check out Stephanie's blog to learn more.

8:20 --- Class Meeting is fabulous! I always try and read a picture book and then we chat. My kiddos love this time of the day. I wish I could make it a bit longer. Next year maybe.

8:30 --- Specials...Monday is music. Tuesday is Art. Wednesday is PE. Thursday is Computers. I pull kids during this time for intervention. I have started to pull some of my lower kids and I preteach lessons for the day as well.

9:20 --- Shared Reading. Oh, I am LOVING LOVING how this is going. Have you ever heard of Read with a Pen? Well, I will have to post about it. In short, I give the students a nonfiction article that we work on for 2-3 days. We circle vocabulary, identify main idea, supporting details, write questions and observations, and right now we are working on summarizing. We write ALL OVER the article. Then for the next 2-3 days I give them a fiction article that correlates with nonfiction we just studied. Okay, I will definitely post about this soon.

9:40 --- Writing. Simple writing workshop. My students are really starting to enjoy writing.

10:15 --- Recess. I have duty every other week. Love my off weeks :)

10:30 --- Math Workshop. My students are broken into 4 groups. Sometimes they are grouped by ability and sometimes not. Depends on the pretest data. My students work through 5 rotations. Buddy Games, Using Technology, Independent Practice, Learn with the Teacher, Doing Math (BUILD). I have a post planned specifically for this so stay tuned!

12:00 --- Lunch and recess. Once again I get every other week off.

12:40 --- Guided Reading and Daily 5. I LOVE this time of the day! We rotate every 18 minutes. I have 5 groups and meet with 4 of them daily. My students go through all 5 rotations everyday. On the fifth rotation I don't meet with a group, instead I meet with individual students like the Sisters recommend. I ALWAYS meet with my 2 lowest groups everyday. My top 3 groups rotate.

2:10 --- Science/Social Studies. I like this time of the day.

2:50 --- Dismissal and then I am required to stay until 3:45.

On Tuesday we have a late start day and the teachers have PLC's from 7:30-8:20.

On Friday we have early out at 1:00 but the teachers stay until 3:45.

And on a side note...I have some exciting news to share with you! Look forward to it this week. It might explain why I have been MIA off and on the past month. SO EXCITING! Leave me a comment...I love comments! Happy Saturday night all!

Classroom Jobs To the Rescue!

Hi everyone! I am excited to show you my job chart today :) On Monday I told you I would share more with you about how I run jobs in my classroom. In my post I stated that every single one of my students has a job to do in the classroom. I've had a few emails asking questions so I will answer them here.

First off, I redid my classroom job signs since my classroom colors changed and since I changed grade levels.

Here is my "to the rescue!" job board. I write student names with an expo marker next to the jobs and when it is time to change jobs I simply erase and rewrite! So simple :)

There are 16 jobs total. Some of the jobs, like librarian, will have around three people doing that job. I love the flexibility of this type of job chart. Every time we redo jobs I can add or take away students so easily. And if a student needs a job change, then I simply erase and rewrite :)

Here are some close ups from the board. I am LOVING how these turned out. They are actually super similar to my old job signs, but I added the super hero clip art from Melonheadz and it made ALL the difference. These are so much cuter!!

After students have been assigned jobs we make an instruction booklet that goes with the job. I put these on a round clasp so students can add to the instruction booklet any time they need to. Then when we switch jobs I pass out the instruction booklet to the new group and they know exactly what to do.

I would LOVE to give away a free set. Leave a comment with your email and I will pick a winner on Monday.

MMI: Math Letters, Dying, Daily 5 Board, BUILD Board

Hi everyone! I took a blog break for the past two weeks and it was awesome!! I was getting burned out :) I am now back at it though and ready to jump in with both feet. I go back to school in one week and the students come next Thursday. I've been hard at work in my classroom and can't wait to finish it up so I can post pictures :)

Anyway, here is my Monday Made It for this week!

Item 1: My cute Math is Great!!! sign that will go with my Math wall! 

I will be putting this up in the morning and will definitely share my math wall with you.

Item 2: Dyed Popsicle Sticks

Here are the "things" I used to dye my sticks. I also poured a bit of vinegar in the water. Like a teaspoon.

I left them over night in the water!

Here is a top pic of my sticks. They are actually a little darker than the pic shows and I love them. I wrote my numbers on with a Sharpie and then put a dot on the top of each stick. This way I can tell if that student has been called on by simply flipping the stick upside down so no dot shows.

Item 3: Bulletin Boards

My simple Daily 5 and BUILD Math boards. I like to keep them simple. I also made the cute little girl in front of the boards :)

Item 4: Job Signs

 I am lovin' these so much! Every student in my classroom has a job. Every. Single. Student. It is their classroom and I expect them to help me take care of it too. More to come on this later...

Update: Click here to read more about my classroom jobs :)

Item 5: Math Curriculum Map

I've been busy busy busy aligning our enVision Math program to the common core and creating a day-by-day curriculum map outline for it. I'm talking about HOURS of time on this one. I finished it Thursday and was super excited! I wish our district would have just purchased the new enVision Math that is already aligned to the common core...but I'm not that lucky. Ha!!

Happy Monday everyone! Make sure to link up with Tara!

Using Cupboards for Display

So my classroom has two SMALL bulletin boards and I love using bulletin boards to help in learning. I had to get creative to get more display space. I started by covering the face of a large cupboard in my room using a turquoise plastic tablecloth roll from Walmart...

I put tape all around the outside edges of the cupboard as well as the inside edge so I could wrap the plastic around the edge.

Then I put the plastic up.

and wrapped it around the inside edge.

I did the same to the other side of the cupboard and I cut slits on the handles so I could still open the cupboard :)

I put up the first layer of border.

And then the second. I cut the borders where the cupboard needed to open and Wah-Lah! a place to display my reading groups!!!

I plan on doing the same to the cupboard to the right to display my math groups.

This pic turned out dark. Whoops! Just picture the colors above okay? Ha! These are to display my objectives/I can statements. I am required at my school to do this and frames instantly came to mind. I know I've seen these all over so who knows where the original source is. 

I have guest bloggers every week and would LOVE to have you be one! Fill out the form below and I will contact you :) Happy Monday!

Now go link up with Tara for Monday Made It!

Reports, Paper Drop and THE BEST parent letter to her kid

You all are such brilliant people. Brilliant I tell you! My classroom is a much better place because of you! Yes, you! I get so many ideas from you all and I seriously appreciate you!

Here are a few of the latest ideas I am lovin'.

Have the students create a book trailer and then attach a QR code to it. From Lessons with Laughter.

Such a smart idea! Laminate folders. Write title of assignment on folder with expo. Tape list of students on back of folder. Have students mark their name when they turn the assignment into the folder. I'm doing this! Thanks for the brilliance Ms. Lesson Plan Diva!!

Twine around a block...why am I not this smart?

And last, but not least, an amazing letter from a mom to her child on the first day of school. I need to twist this for my students. I wish I could talk about God. I do sharing time in the primary in my church which means I get to see all the kids. I will definitely use it then.  Let me know what you think!

What to do with all my yearly school pics!

Linking up with Holly!

This is going to be super short and sweet. I have a classroom to pack up by tomorrow and time is precious right now :)

For this week's Tried it Tuesday I put together a binder of all the class pics, my pics, yearbooks, etc. that have been collected over the years. Tossing the pics just didn't seem right to me, but I HATED having them just wherever. I've had this idea in the back of my mind for years and I finally did it!!

 I put all my wonderfully amazing school pics that I get for free in here along with the class pics and yearbooks.

I also have a sticky not that designates the year, school, grade level, and other duties (yearbook, journalism, volleyball coach, etc.) that I had that year. 

Planner for Tried it Tuesday!

I know, I know...I'm late! I think Holly will forgive me though :)

So, this Tried it Tuesday is a little different.

I ordered a Life Planner from Erin Condren because they are on sale right now.

But the AWESOME news is the teacher planners are 25% off right now! Seriously, how cool is that!

Have you heard of Erin Condren planners? You haven't!?!?! Oh jeeze, you seriously need to go check her planners out! I can't wait to order my teacher planner this year. Actually, my birthday is coming up so my husband will probably get some not-so-subtle hints. 

Classroom Theme for Tried it Tuesday!

Linking up with the awesome Holly!

I always start getting ready for next year in, oh, say, February. I know, I know... February? Really? But my mind just starts wandering about that time of year and it focuses on the upcoming year.

So, off I went to one of my favorite sites. Schoolgirl Style. Seriously everyone, if you haven't stalked looked at this site then you should go there now. Melanie is AMAZING when it comes to setting up and decorating a classroom. This year I had the Polka Dots and Daisies theme and I get multiple comments daily on how inviting and warm my classroom is. Love it!

The hard part for me is trying to figure out which theme to use. Melanie and tons of them and they are all wonderful and diverse. Well, I decided and took the plunge yesterday! Here is my theme for next year...

Isn't it beautiful?!?!?!! I purchased all the cute cut outs for $8.50 from Melanie's shop and her shop has everything for you. The digital items are editable and ready for me to print and laminate. I am so excited! Sosososo excited!

That is my Tried It Tuesday for ya! I will update as things get made and laminated! Make sure to link up with Holly.

Classroom Storage

So I have been into classroom storage lately and here are some of my finds. Enjoy!!


Ladybug's Teacher Files
Wouldn't this be a great way to store student "stuff" if you didn't have desks?



Mrs. Bremer's Kindergarten
I love these shelves and how the containers slide right in.



Don't know where I found this photo. If you know, let me know.
Shelves at the side of the desks. So organized!


Sew Many Ways
I'm liking this one a lot! But I'm thinking Pringle cans wrapped in cute scrapbook paper...



Soup cans and colored duct tape. Brilliant...



Shopbrodart
Student tables and storage in one! I want these!