Classroom COMPLETE!

I am very happy to say that after two very hard days of working that my classroom is complete and I am 98% ready for Open House this coming Tuesday. I still have a few things to print and make copies of, but for the most part I am done!

I used some of Kristen's wonderful labels to create my assignment dropbox. This is something new I am trying this year for when students complete and turn in papers... I hope it will work! One student's job for the week will be to check off the names of students who have completed and turned in assignments. 

I also wanted a place that was easily accessible for students if they should ever need extra supplies.

All together :)

I also decided to make a banner type thing to hang above my door... I think it turned out pretty well. I'm not completely in love with it, so it may be remade... we'll see. 

I am VERY excited about this next picture. My wonderful assistant principal helped me find a bigger kidney table for my small groups. I am SO excited about this, because my other one was so small, I could only fit four students at the table. I think I can push this table to hold seven, if I have students sitting on either side of me. 

Here is another example of Kristen's labels in use. :)

More labels. I have decided to keep my students Writer's Notebooks at the writing center, since we don't have desks. I will have a student pass them out as we need them, and of course the students will have access to them any time they want for Work on Writing.

Finally, I also created labels for my Work on Words area, to differentiate between the games. Students must play a game from each bucket before repeating any. The games are higher-level games, and the students get a lot of practice with our Word Study generalizations and grammar.

Below are some pennants I made to go above my tables. Each table is a different color. 

I finally got some more Bordette so that I could finish my Word Wall alphabet. I am still waiting for my color cardstock to come in. Once that does, I will print, laminate, and post sight words. We will also add words we encounter in our mini-lessons throughout the year.

And finally (for real this time) a BEFORE picture of my classroom with the book luggage on top of the tables.

And a AFTER picture of the tables with only the students folders on them and their book luggage on the shelves. I like this look much better... it's much more clean.

 

I love how you can see all the black background with matching border in this picture. I am trying to carry that throughout the room. 

Mr. Whimsical and I are headed out of town tomorrow after my SPED PD tomorrow , so I really needed to have things finished by today. I will admit that I need to organize some of my papers that got shoved onto a shelf for lack of a better place to put them, but I can always get to that after open house.

I also have some other projects I'd like to finish (like my job chart) but those will have to wait.

How are your classrooms coming? When do your students start back?

Jillian

August Currently

Woo Hoo! I am so excited to be linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade! 

So yesterday I may or may not have had a small panic attack and completely taken apart my library! AH! I decided I just couldn't stand the way my library looked any more and that it needed to be changed... The thing is, I have this super cool closet in the back of my room that I use as my classroom library. This past year I had a big bookshelf, a futon, and a huge bean bag in their... and it always felt kind of crowded. 

After moving things around, then moving them around again, and finally one more time, I found a way to be happy with what is in the closet, but ultimately I decided that I HATE the shelves I have in my room. My end goal is to be able to get three organizer bookcases like this one: 

 

I think before going to spend a crazy amount of money on new bookshelves, I am going to see if I can make things work, at least for the time being.

Hopefully I'll be able to upload some photos and maybe even a video a bit later to let you know what I'm talking about :-P

Jillian

Phew! It's been a while!

I was very sad that I didn't get all of my crafty projects done in time for "Monday Made It" over at Fourth Grade Frolics... but I still want to post what I have been working on!

I decided to have a stay-at-home day on Monday, and some of the materials I needed were in my classroom.

First up, a picture of my decorated table buckets and luggage tags!

I had originally planned on a different label for the buckets, but it bothered me that the labels didn't match the rest of my room. Plus, I wanted them to match the luggage tags. 

I also started on magnets for my bathroom management board. 

I made these last year and LOVED them! My students moved their magnet each time they went to the bathroom, and they had three opportunities to go each day (besides before we walk into our classroom and after lunch when we go as a class). I did change something about the way I made these though. Last year I typed each student's name for the magnet and them let them keep the magnet at the end of the school year. This year I decided I would keep my materials. :)

I will take a picture tomorrow when I attach the magnets and put them on the board. 

I am super excited about this next project. I couldn't help but purchase this cute, cute, CUTE alphabet from Kristen over at Ladybug's Teacher Files. I have this awkward wall above some shelves that run along an entire wall. It makes it hard to hang anything, because I don't want to constantly climb on top of the shelves to change things. So I decided this year I would add a word wall there. 

At the beginning of the year I plan to have just the dolche sigh words for 2nd and 3rd grade posted. As the year progresses, I will add Tier Two words we encounter during our mini-lessons. 

In order to really make these POP, I bought some black foam board from Kroger of all places. It was on sale for $1.50 a board! Great Deal! Can't wait to hang this up!

**P.S.** 

This is NOT the border I am using. I ran out, and needed to use something to ensure that the spacing was correct.

Luggage tag on a book luggage basket. I am going to print each student's name on a mailing label and attach it. I am so in love with these tags!

Example of luggage contents. 

Another view. 

I have loved looking at everyone's Monday Made Its! I will have more to post within the next couple of days!

Jillian

Table Buckets and a FREEBIE

I have a confession... I am addicted to laminating things, and not with the thin, cheap lamination you find at most school supply stores, the thick, wonderful, never-going-to-peel lamination from places like Staples and Office Depot.

I like it, because it is so thick and doesn't bend. I know I can give it to my students and it will last for many years (hopefully!).

So today, I decided to laminate some items with this amazing lamination, including my Check for Understanding bookmarks, my Voice Levels Posters, and my Classroom Expectations.

I also plan to laminate some book luggage tags I created today that you can see here. This year I have decided to spend some extra money and laminate these tags with thick lamination and put clear mailing labels with the students' names on them. This will allow me to reuse the tags for multiple years, which I think I will like.

**EDITED**

I just tried printing one of these tags, and they're a little large... I'm going to work on that and upload some new ones when I get them fixed. They are perfectly fine the way they are, but they are a little large for what I plan to use them for.

I also got in contact with Michelle from The 3a.m. Teacher to help me with some freebie frames she had posted. I want to give her the BIGGEST shout out, because she was SO helpful! I saw this freebie frame, and wanted to modify it a little (by filling in the middle with a solid color). She was so quick and had my requested color, plus many more colors and FONTS done for me within an hour. This girl is AMAZING!

So, I made a make-shift table bucket with her frame, and I LOVE IT! I can't wait to officially finish it (and by that I mean use modge podge and hot glue instead of tape) and display it on Monday. Until then, here are a few preview shots:

What do you think of them? I had originally planned on using a solid background, but thought that looked a little boring. I may end up making one bucket of each and then deciding! 

Also, in my frame madness today I created some labels for the oh-so-cute "Highlight Your Name" buckets I see everywhere. You can get those by clicking the picture below. 

Let me know what you think! And be sure to check out both my TN and TPT shop as I have added several more items!

Jillian

Helping My Teacher Friend

One of my very favorite teacher friends was moved to a new school this year, and I was lucky enough to get to help her set up her new classroom! Mrs. A was on my third grade team this past year, and we had such a blast! This year she will be at a different school within our district and will be teaching 2nd grade.

I know Mrs. A is very excited about this move, because last year she was in a portable and this year she will have an actual classroom... a big upgrade!

First off her math center. She used some of her school money to purchase those awesome bookshelves, and will be organizing her math games in the buckets. I love that she has a table where the students can sit to play the games!

How cute are those letters that she painted? Here's a close up of them:

Next up we've got her student mailboxes. I used these last year, and convinced her that they were absolutely necessary!

This is her super cute work on writing area! I love the frames she has to display student writing. 

P.S.--We hung that curtain up, even though there isn't a window, because there was a really funky painting on the wall that we decided needed to go!

And finally, the super cute name plate I made for her last year when she joined out team. I am going to miss her terribly!

Here's the one I made for myself when I started teaching. I'll be completely honest... I might like hers better!

Also, a few updated photos of my room:

I found some extra tables. Still kind of messy... I'll post a better photo when I get the paper lanterns hung.

I went ahead and posted my D5 expectations, but I will still make I-Charts with my students. Also, I am planning on mounting a 4 x 6 whiteboard that I have above this area, and will use it for my CRAFT board.

I posted my  Classroom Expectations  and Voice Levels posters, but haven't printed the titles of them yet.

I felt like I did so much in my room today, but it really isn't noticeable. I need to buckle down and get things finished! How are your classrooms looking??

Jillian

Fabulous Find Friday!!

I am SO excited to be able to finally participate in my first Fabulous Find Friday. I am linking up with the lovely Miss Elizabeth from Fun in Room 4B. 

When searching for some beautiful buckets to put on top of my bookshelves (a la Dandelions and Dragonflies) when I found these wonderful caddies at KHOLS! 

Can't you just imagine them with cute table labels and ribbon?? 

Now the very.best.part. of these caddies is that they are MARJORLY on sale! I just checked, and they don't have them in stock any more :( When I purchased mine, they were on sale for $8.10, marked down from $29.99!! Add to that a 30% off coupon and these wonderful caddies were just over $5.00 EACH! WOOT!

Hopefully I will be able to print on my table labels, add some cute ribbon, and Link Up on Monday for Made it Monday!

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! Did you find anything good this week??

Jillian

Classroom Tour--Part Deux

Here are a few more pictures form my classroom. You will notice that I did not include my small group area or teaching supplies... that is because they are still in complete disarray!

Since I decided to use bookshelves for my tables this year, I am short one bookshelf that I normally have for my library... With all of the expenses that come with the beginning of a school year, I'm not sure I can justify spending any more money right now! I've already spent SO SO much! I think that's just the life of a teacher.

First up, my gathering place and teaching materials. 

I use the white board below for a lot of whole group lessons. On the back of my easel is a pocket chart I use for Word Study. The bookshelf contains all of my picture books for mini-lessons, as well as class sets of books for novel studies. I was part of a literacy committee this year for our district. We met once a month and planned a literacy curriculum that aligns with the Common Core standards. Then, our wonderful district bought us all the books we need to teach those lessons! WOOT!

Another view of the whiteboard and bookshelf. You get a better view of my carpet here. 

I am hoping to be able to hang a big bulletin board in between those two windows, and put my CRAFT board there.

You can barely see this area in the last picture (on the far right), but this is the entrance to my classroom library. My room is the old music room (which is why the walls have those weird holes) and I use the storage closet for my classroom library. It is super cool!

Here is the entrance to our classroom library. 

We have an old futon I used in college. And above that you can see our genre charts, courtesy of Beth Newingham. 

Close up of the charts. I LOVE that they have the covers of books on their, to give the kids an example of each genre!

That huge thing is a luvsac (sp?), i.e. huge beanbag chair. This was my sisters from college. I don't love having that bookshelf there, because it makes it too crowded. I will probably be rearranging that the next time I go up to school.

Mr. Whimsical thought it would be cool to hang books from the ceiling, so we did that. I love it!

A close up of my alphabet. I spent way too much money the summer before I started teaching collecting and painting these letters. Can you believe we actually found cute things before Pinterest? I found this on a mom blog.

This is a picture from the front of my classroom as you come in through the door. I'm angled so that you can't see the white board up front, but it's there. We also have a door in the back.

I saw this idea for "book luggage" from Fourth Grade Frolics and decided it was a great way for my students to keep up with their books. In the past, I have just had students keep their books on top of their desks... but it always looked SO messy! So until I can get some seat sacs, I will have these. I think they're pretty stinking cute! 

And finally, a close up of one of the shelves I have in front of my groups. Right now I have three tables and 2 groups of 6 desks, but I'm hoping I can trade those desks out for tables if there are any extra tables. *Fingers Crossed*

That's it for tonight. Sorry about the picture overload! Hopefully I will get the rest of my room cleaned up and will be able to get some more pictures soon! 

One quick question, do you think third grade is too old to have a word wall? Should I put sight words on there? Words from our mini-lessons? Both? I have a large space above some cabinets that is hard to get to, so I don't want something I have to update a lot... I don't like having to climb on top of the cabinets. I might add the sight words now, and add vocabulary words from the mini-lesson books as we read them. Thoughts?

Good night all!

Jillian