Five For Friday- June 24

This is my last weekend before preplanning starts!
I am excited to link up with DoodleBugs Five For Friday

Well, here goes my busy week that went by in a blink!

I've been working in my classroom this past week just to get ahead. 

This was my TO DO List I left on the last Five for Friday post. I highlighted the things I was able to accomplish.

Fabric, borders, and titles on bulletin boards. 

Put remaining curtains up.

Put crates in classroom (that I added fabric and tops to make them into stools)

Print/laminate/cut new lunch choice photos and add them to TPT

Tape numbers on corners of desks.

Reorganize closets and use label maker to label shelves with which supplies go where.

Hang chart for reading and math rotations.- I hung these but I think I may move them.

Hot glue burlap around desk.

Print/laminate/cut bathroom passes.

Start thinking about Open House...treat bags? magnets? etc.
- I've decided to make a cute treat that I saw on pinteret, a bag of Pop Rocks and then make a tag that says "First Grade Rocks!"
I am going to make magnets for parents with my email on it. (I've made them I just need to print and laminate them)

Here is a SNEAK PEEK at what my classroom is looking like. IT IS NOT DONE! This is just a little peek.

I added this curtain under the sink. It actually is hiding my treasure box. (I really like peace signs).

 My Alphabet with Real Photos is posted. It is in my store HERE
There is also a White Version if you were wanting to use less ink.
My glider is looking great in it's new spot.
I love my easel from Lakeshore Learning- It is by far my best purchase/addition to the classroom. My husband bought it for me the first year I started teaching as a gift, but a colleague of mine wrote a DonorsChoose project for one and got it last year.
In my shelf I have white boards and socks (erasers) as well as rekenreks. I teach students the first week how to pass them down the row without talking. I love this set up with these hands on manipulatives.

My library with new Labels with Real Photos. In my store HERE. 

 These are my reading and math tubs. I need to put labels on them and get them ready for the first week...put that on the TO DO list.

This is my Leveled Library of books that students can put in their book boxes ( I am actually going to use bags this year that I ordered from reallygoodstuff) you can tell that I am used to teaching Kindergarten. I will have to work on collecting additional books for my first graders.

The labels are from Ladybugs Teacher Files HERE

 I've set up my guided reading area. I love a great kidney shaped table.

 My husband put some new fabric on my crate seats. Perfect for our Chromebook area.

 I hemmed these curtains that were on my windows in my other classroom to fit here and hid where students store their book bags. This fabric is beautiful and really brightens up the room.

Sorry for the trash and randomness in some of these photos. I will have better photos once my room is finalized. I've accomplished a lot, but still feel I have lots to do.

New Product

Lunch Choices Editable

I made these lunch choice cards with photos from the DollarPhotoClub. I realize that different counties/states have different things on the menu and that is why I made this document editable. You can edit it using powerpoint by adding your own photos and I've given details about the font I used to create the document. 

Lunch Choice Photos HERE

Here is the chart I created on a magnetic dry erase board for students to make their choice in the morning.

I also made this Monster Birthday set to display birthdays in my class this year. HERE

I've also been in my husband's 7th grade science classroom this week helping him hang posters, put up bulletin boards, etc. 

I may have to get some more photos of his room to share with y'all next week. 

He also has a TPT Store if you are interested HERE

It was my sister's birthday this week. So, we went down to Senoia, Ga (it's only about 30 minutes away from me) and ate at Zac Brown's Southern Ground Social Club.

We also had fun at some of the Walking Deads shops and museums.

Here's my mom with her favorite, Daryl.

  We took this photo to make a few jokes about the Birthday Girl being locked up. :) All in good fun of course!

So, I went to the doctor this week and we found out we are having a BOY!

Cade will be joining our family in December. :)

Thanks for listening to my randomness from the week! 

Five For Friday- July 17

Back To School is right around the corner!
I am excited to link up with DoodleBugs Five For Friday

I've been working in my classroom this past week and lots of people think that it is WAY TOO EARLY! Our preplanning starts July 27th and I am used to having a parapro help me, so I wanted to get a head start with setting up my classroom. 

Here's where I am so far...

 My Color Posters are HERE I have the White Theme (background) as well in my store.

 The Alphabet Posters are HERE

The Shapes and Number posters are from KinderCraze. 

I have some things I would like to do in my classroom this last week before preplanning.

TO DO LIST:

Fabric, borders, and titles on bulletin boards. 

Put remaining curtains up.

Put crates in classroom (that I added fabric and tops to make them into stools)

Print/laminate/cut new lunch choice photos and add them to TPT

Tape numbers on corners of desks.

Reorganize closets and use label maker to label shelves with which supplies go where.

Hang chart for reading and math rotations.

Hot glue burlap around desk.

Print/laminate/cut bathroom passes.

Start thinking about Open House...treat bags? magnets? etc.

I'm sure I'll find tons of other things I would like to do as well, Oh and did I mention I have two Dr. appointments, a meeting with my grade level, a baby shower, my sister and father in laws birthday are all happening this week. So, we will see what actually is accomplished. :)

New Product

I created Library Labels with Real Photos.  HERE

I haven't created the White Theme yet, but they should be up by tonight. :)

I decided to have 5 groups and organize my groups by Vowels. Polka Dot Please has the best table labels in her TPT Store. 

Now, I need to label my supply caddies with A, E, I, O, U, because they are currently color coded. 

Yard Sale!

It is hot, hot, hot and we had a Yard Sale! Honestly, it was total junk that we needed to get rid of. We took our leftover items to Goodwill. 

This wasn't our sign, but I thought it was funny.

Baby/Maternity

Bump Nest- The best thing I ever bought!

If you are pregnant you should totally buy one of these to sleep with! I don't even know if I will be able to stop sleeping with it after having the baby. 

 I purchased the Marina color. It is amazing, my husband is constantly trying to steal mine.

Thanks for listening to my randomness from the week! 

Daily Deals July 15-17th 2015!

It seems that everyone is in the mood for a sale! You have teachers participating in Christmas in July as well as Amazon Prime Day that claims to have better sales than Black Friday!

All these deals have made me want to have my own Daily Deals!
Here is the Daily Deal Schedule!

Wednesday's Daily Deals
Back to School Clip Art Bundle
Only $12 for over 200 images! Perfect for this time of year!
CLICK HERE

Sweet Mixed Up Sight Words with QR Codes
Great addition to your classroom to incorporate technology into reading centers!
CLICK HERE

Thursday's Daily Deals
Rekenrek Task Card Bundle
This is an item I use everyday of the school year. Grab it up while you can!
CLICK HERE

CVC Clip Art
Great for making games!
CLICK HERE

Friday's Daily Deals
A-Z Clip Art BUNDLE
This set includes over 200 Color images for only $15.99!
So many possibilities with this set of images. These are color images only, I do not have blacklines of these images available.
CLICK HERE

HUGE Sight Word Game Bundle
Use these games all year to help students learn sight words!
CLICK HERE

Enjoy!

#2GETHERWEAREBETTER- Classroom Improvements

I absolutely love this topic! It is what I am constantly thinking about and summer is the perfect time to plan classroom improvements.

I am linking up with Ashley and Angie for July's Together We Are Better Linky!

I am getting in on this Linky a little late, but it is still July :)

I am starting a new grade at a new school this year, so I will have lots of classroom improvements or things I am debating on changing. I am going from teaching Kindergarten to First Grade.

I start preplanning July 27th. The first time I've been up to my school (after waiting on the floors to be cleaned) was yesterday morning and then again this morning. I really wish I would've taken more photos, but here is what I am starting with. 

One thing I am changing is my theme that I have had for about 4 years in kindergarten, I've always had an ocean theme. This year I am planning to combine a monster theme and just an overall black clean look. 

For example:

On my behavior board, instead of ships moving towards a treasure box on a bulletin board. I've come up with the idea of using small monster magnets on my white board. This will take up a lot less space, but serve the same purpose. 

I've explained in more detail how this behavior board will work HERE. 

I also bought Monster themed calendar set from KinderCraze aka Maria

I liked her Black Series so much that I bought the shapes, numbers with ten frames, number line and word wall letters. 

I created and am planning to use an Alphabet, Color Words and Library Labels that have REAL PHOTOS. I feel this will make my classroom visually appealing and have students build their vocabulary with real life pictures. 

Alphabet Posters HERE

Color Word Posters HERE

Library Labels HERE

All in all, these posters will make my room look completely different than my old Ocean Theme and Lakeshore Learning Alphabet and Numbers. I think I am going to love it!

I've realized that being in a new classroom, you learn really quick to repurpose things. In my old classroom the dimensions and set up was totally different. So, I have curtains that fit perfectly over there and are not going to work in this classroom. Luckily, I figured out I can velcro them to this shelf and use it to cover the items I store underneath this shelf area!

Also, here are some curtains I also already had, and I am planning on hemming them and using them here to "hid" book bags after students hang them up each day. This will be new for me, because I used to have cubbies that kids put their book bags in. 

One thing I am currently debating on is GROUPS!

Why is it so hard to decide how many groups to have and how many students are in each group. I had my husband at the school today and we rearranged the desks about a million times and I am still not completely satisfied. I don't know how many students I will have, but I am setting my classroom up with 24 desks. 

Also, can't decide if I should number the groups, color code the groups or as I saw on instagram today by Polka Dots Please she uses VOWELS to label her groups. She will call our group E or say the sound for E. How neat!!....but then I could only have 5 groups and I just set up 6 groups of 4......

decisions...decisions.....

Thanks for listening and be sure to check everyone else's blog post about Classroom Improvements HERE!