Classroom Reveal

Students arrive on Monday!  My classroom is finally complete.  I thought it would never get finished since I had to move schools. A new grade level adds to the nervousness and excitement.    This is my new name sign outside my classroom door.  My school mascot is a tiger so this is how each room is identified.  

This is the view of my teacher desk.  It is in the back of the classroom so that it isn't in the way of the flow of students going to their various locations during Daily 5.  It looks clean now just not when I snapped this picture!

My grade level is doing Daily 5 so I have a writing space and small group table for meeting with students.   Students will store their writing prompts in the crate shown in the picture.  Every three weeks they will choose the writing sample they want graded.  This will provide them with multiple opportunities to write and give them the ability to choose the one they feel is best.

Our school is having clubs during the day each Friday for grades 3-5.  I am going to have a Greek Mythology Club and decided to promote my club during Open House.  One of my students got so excited she was jumping up and down and hugging me when she found out there would be a Greek Mythology club.  

This is the front of the classroom with my behavior chart and information about how each student is going home.  At the bottom of the picture is my leveled library.  

Here are the rest of my classroom pictures ....I am so proud of how it turned out and so much less junk than previous years.  It is amazing how much stuff you have and don't even know it unless you take it all home and move it to a new building!  I hope everyone enjoys the first day of school!

Teacher Toolbox

I finally created my teacher toolbox that I had pinned to Pinterest so long ago.  I don't know what took me so long to get this together but I think moving to a new school has motivated me.

Thank you to Teaching with a Mountain View for the labels.  Head on over there if you want to use the same labels as I did.  http://www.teachingwithamountainview.com/2013/06/teacher-toolbox-organizerat-last.html

I have not decided if I am going to put it on my desk or behind my desk, I will probably decide once I get the furniture all in place.  I am super excited about using this and having less junk in my desk.

Back to school grade level planning...and another Teacher Pay Teacher product.

Today I met with my new grade level to begin planning for the upcoming school year.  Everyone came prepared and ready to work.  I was amazed at how well we all worked together.  By the end of the day-we were there from 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM-I was exhausted.

We planned the first several weeks of reading, discussed math plans and common assessments, and talked about Social Studies and Science.  We discussed procedures as there are two of us that are new to the school.  This included lunch procedures, procedures for dismissal and media check out.

I really need to get my ideas all nailed down tomorrow and Thursday as Monday is the first day we can get back in our classrooms and I am panicked already.  Only 4 days to set up the rooms prior to the first official day back.  We are back on the 19th but very little time in the classroom with lots of training and meetings scheduled.  Luckily hubby and my daughter will be there on the 12th to help me.

I finished another Teacher Pay Teacher product and uploaded it to the site this evening.  I wanted to create a math review task card set that could be used at the beginning of the year.  You can click on the picture to go to my store.

Until my next post....

Rolling Cart...what to do?

I have wanted one of those rolling carts with colored drawers for sometime now but they always seem too expensive.  Over the weekend I went to Sam's Club over the weekend for their Everyone Gets In event.  (I think they are trying to compete with the BJ's warehouse club that recently came to town.)  While looking around for laminating pouches-which they only sell online now-I came across this great cart with drawers.

My hubby and daughter were with me at Sam's and I told hubby I really wanted one of those.  Of course his response was.."What are you going to do with it"?  I said,"I could use it for stations". " How many stations do you have"? he innocently asks.  I said, "Well I am not sure".  He looks at me very funny and my daughter-who is also a teacher says, "Mom the answer is 10"!

So now I have this rolling cart and am wondering what I want to use it for.  Any ideas?

Going to school next week to set up my room so I will let you know what I decide.

Social Studies Task Cards

I have finally uploaded the social studies task cards that I have been working on.  There are two versions one for North Carolina and a second version that can be used for any state.  I think they came out really nice and I plan to use these as a review prior to the unit test.

The generic version is appropriate for grades 3-5.  Here is the picture of the generic task cards.  Click on the picture to be taken to the TPT store.

The North Carolina version correlates with the Essential Standards for 4th grade.  Click on the picture below to be taken to the TPT store.  

Social Studies Freebie

Moving to a new grade level has meant spending lots of planning time this summer.  I have been focusing on Social Studies as that was the content that I was assigned to be an expert at.  I love Social Studies so I was happy to work on that.  I have been working on the first nine weeks and one of the standards indicates that students need to be familiar with the Bill of Rights and rights and responsibilities of a citizen.  I created a short cut and paste activity that can be used as a mini assessment.  Click here to get your copy or click on the picture below.

Hope you enjoy the freebie.

Lunch and new room

I met two of my friends from my former school last week for lunch and they surprised me with a gift box full of supplies for my new room.  I was shocked at the gift and thrilled with what was inside it.  I had been borrowing-more like coveting my neighbor's pencil sharpener all last year-and she bought me my own!  Woo-hoo.  Here our pics of my goodies.  

I can officially get into my new classroom beginning August 12th.  I am getting very anxious to get in and get my classroom setup.  There is tons of stuff from previous teachers and I need to get it all thrown away before I can set up my own stuff.  My husband and daughter are going to help me set up the furniture where I want it.  The floors were just waxed so I don't want want to mess them up.  Here is what the room looks like now...  I will post after pictures as soon as possible.  I am not in love with the odd green paint on the wall but will learn to live with it.

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