What Fun It Is!

I wanted to get another post in before our break--when I'll be out of the country-- so here we go!

Work Tasks

 

Many of the students in the classroom are working on one to one correspondence so this is a task I created to help them work on that while also working on fine motor skills by clipping the clothes pin onto the circle.

 

If you'd like your own copy, you can download my file here.

 

 Another skill we're working on is sequencing color patterns. I made this task out of part of an egg carton and halves of notecards! What I like the most about this task is that it can be individualized for each student. If the student is not able to sequence yet, they can color match the chips, but putting the chips on top of the color instead of into the carton.

 

Classroom Organization

 

Something important for our students, especially those who are non-verbal are picture schedules. This helps give a clear idea of what to expect for the day and helps eliminate any distress from unexpected changes in the normal daily routine.

 

I created this daily schedule that I refer to throughout the day and move over the picture as that activity is completed.

 

Timers are also helpful in assisting in making transitions easier for students.  We have some timers that give visual cues, changing from green to yellow to red, and others that require audio cues-- usually a verbal reminder.

Winter Wonder-crafts!

 

Of course, one of my favorite things is getting to do crafts with the students. We have done more than what I have to post-- but here are some of our highlights!

 We have been doing some watercolors in class!

I found this free download from teachers pay teachers with the light bulb patterns. I printed it out on cardstock and used a white crayon to write different messages like "May your days be bright" or "Happy holidays to all" or "It's time to deck the halls." They turned out really nice and it was a very simple craft if you're looking for one!

I was very excited to try out this next craft with my brother Tommy. It was a great practice at measuring the ribbon with a ruler, cutting with scissors and then stuffing the ribbon into the clear ornament. In some of the ornaments, we put colored pom poms into them to fill extra space.

 

I think they turned out great as well and would certainly recommend trying it out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organization Machine

So I've had a lot of people ask me what I've been up to so I thought I'd update everyone! First off, I kept my word and organized 1/3 of my classroom library-- I didn't use the cardboard boxes because they were not sturdy enough so I spent $5 and look at the cuteness!

I organized it through Level O (3rd grade) and I am hoping to add to it so I can switch out books through the year for variety for the kids.

Also, I have had the chance to work on my new classroom! It is not done of course, but it's really coming along. I still want to work on getting a focus wall, inquiry section and a word wall. I also need to figure something out for my calendar because my current one won't work. I'll figure something out-- ideas are welcome!

I think I'm just going to show pictures of the room-- no words necessary!

 



The fever has also spread to my office closet at home! I have been an organizing machine! And the pictures to prove it!

 

I hope your summer has been equally productive and awesome! The only bad news I have to report is that I was going to make crate chairs for the classroom but it's going to be a bit too expensive for this year.. we'll see! I did (as you can see from the pictures) spring for cloth for the bulletin boards!

Let's Get Busy!

Bling side!

I have been very busy lately! In addition to preparing to move to our new home in Shawnee, KS, I am trying to keep up with all my goals and planning for next school year! Here are some examples of what I've come up with so far.. 

Tame side :)

I recently acquired a bunch of plywood that I am going to have my dad saw in half so that I can make clipboards for my class next year-- pictures to come once I've made those too!


This may have been a bit early, but I figured I'll need some kind of cute container to store all of my new homemade clipboards in!


I didn't have many fun paint colors..... but I did have glitter!!


Science


This isn't totally done (I couldn't find any brads!), but I want to do more space science this year so I wanted to create a visual way for students to see that the Earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits the Earth. It also says the distance between on the white part in between. I'll attach brads when I get some and then it will be complete! All it took was some crayons, paper plates and brads :)

Things to come

I bought a bunch of really cute labels so I can label the books in my library--once I type up a format on word I'll share it so anyone else labeling books for their library can already have the template!

I'm planning on making more things tomorrow to post so this one may be a little short, but I'll have more things soon!

Resource Alert!!

There isn't a picture I can link to put it on pinterest, but this is a site with lots of BLANK school templates for newsletters, borders, school menus, lots of things! And FREE! Just click here

The Start of the Summer!

While I was planning on doing more things for school, Mr. Kietzman and I are buying a house this week! I still thought I should share some of the things I've been working on.

This is a game that I created a while ago to help students work on prefixes and suffixes. They toss a bead or coin into the muffin tin and whatever it lands in, the student then says a word that contains that prefix or suffix and then the meaning of the word (using the definition of that prefix/suffix). There are also 2 "free spaces"--the prefixes spot allows them to choose any prefix and suffixes spot allows them to choose any suffix.

It is very easy to make and the kids really enjoyed playing it this year-- it was also great for me to assess which ones were a real challenge for students.

Another things I've been busy focusing on is creating file folder games for students to work on skills. I found this game on the My Second Grade Journal This fraction game has cards for identifying fractions, but I am going to create my own cards for more advanced levels of fraction practice.

Click here to download Pizza, Pizza.

I'm happy to say that I am making some progress on organizing my resources (homework, units, paperwork, lessons, etc.) I've started making binders for each subject and then subdividing it within.  So far I have math and science done. I'm hoping to get to reading and social studies this week!

I recommend organizing resources because it's already made a big difference in helping me find things! With this and my filing cabinets, I feel unstoppable!

Now I just need to get to cutting out the laminated card resources for my reading groups...

Here's a bunch of links for the things I've found:

This is making inferences with comics: here

Matching character emotions with situations: here

I have who has math cards: here

I hope you enjoy checking out the resources!

And of course, just for fun, here's a picture of my helper for the day. My sleepy 2-year old Jack Russell mix Riley.

Have a wonderful day!

Classroom Organization

So I was hoping to accomplish more toward my classroom organization for next year, but I've at least got a start and a plan that I'd like to share.

This is a project I've been working on all year-- making my classroom library more accessible for students.  I've managed to label containers for about half of my books so far, but I want to get to a point where I can have all of the books in a sorted container. It makes it a lot easier for students if they know the series, author, or genre that they're looking for. So far I have a Captain Underpants, Junie B. Jones, and Fly Guy series containers, non-fiction animals, and Roald Dahl.

My goal for the summer is to also sort the books by F&P level so that my readers can find books that are just right for them.

I found this website on pinterest of course, but it's helped me to do just that. It is: Booksource's Classroom Organizer. At this FREE website, you can use the ISBN numbers to add books your virtual library where you can add F&P levels AND you can add your students' names to have them actually check out the books from your library! The students have a log in and everything! I am definitely doing this next year because it also is a great way for me to know which of my books have been checked out of my library. I definitely recommend the site and I will keep working on my library through the summer!

I have managed to start doing some serious organizing of my resources. I bought some storage containers and labeled them for the school months and have started to move things from out of my filing cabinet and into this much more accessible storage system. I'm very happy with it so far. I know it may take up a little more room than a filing cabinet, but to me it's worth it because I can also store items that don't fit easily into a filing cabinet--AND I can store books! It's great!

I got this list from Mrs. Freshwater's Class, but if you want actually go to the link, she has little cards she made up for you to label the containers if you are interested. I am using her theme ideas as a template for my containers as well.

August/September: back to school, apples

October: Halloween, Open House, Scarecrows, Monster, etc.

November: Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, 50th Day

December: Gingerbread, Holidays, Winter, Snowman

January: New Year’s, Polar Bear, MLK, Penguins, Chinese New Year

February: Dental Health, Groundhog’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Black History

March: Dr. Seuss, St. Patrick’s Day

April: Easter, Earth Day

May: Cinco De Mayo, Mother’s Day, Butterflies

The little black and green container I am using to store different kinds of paper-- copy, construction, pastels, teacher paper, AND I have one drawer with emergency sub plans.

I also started using this idea to store in some of my bigger plastic storage containers that I wasn't using at my house. I'm not done with that yet, but I've really enjoyed organizing so far!

I hope this gives you some ideas. I'm just getting more and more excited for next year already! :)