Classroom Pictures...

Hey everyone,

I always love exploring other blogs that I love to see different things they are doing in their classroom.  I also love getting ideas from something cute I see on Pinterest and then "tweaking" them my own way.  I've decided to post a few pictures of my classroom to hopefully inspire others.  If any of these were your original ideas please let know so I can give you proper recognition!  Whoever came up with these ideas has been a life saver for me and my classroom and deserves recognition!  Enjoy!

Book Nooks

Our book nooks.  Each round label has a book nook spot on it (t-shirt pillow, reading buddy, whisper phone, crate seat, etc.) and each clothespin has a student's name on it.  Every other day I rotate the book nooks and the students look where their clothespin is to see where they will sit for read-to-self time.  They really enjoy reading in the book nooks!

Crate Seats

The most wonderful (and cutest) storage solution!  Not only can you store things but you also get more seats for your classroom :)... double bonus!  I love these and so do my kiddos.  I think every adult that has come into our classroom has also commented on them.  If you don't have any, make some ASAP! You will be so happy you did!

Where Are We? Board

Great idea for keeping track of where your students are throughout the day.  I always have kids coming in and out of the room and people pulling my kids for different thing.  I saw a board like this on Pinterest and decided to make one to help me keep track of where each kid is throughout the day.  It is just a while board with zebra sticky paper and vinyl letters.  The magnets are made from clear decorative rocks from the Dollar Tree, cute paper, mod-podge, and thick magnets.  Each one has a student's name on it and the kids move them to the appropriate box before they leave the room.

Calendar Area

In our calendar area we have the usual calendar things: calendar (I made mine on a white board so I could put little magnets on the backs of the dates), day of the week chart, hundreds, tens, and ones char, weather chart, etc.  My two favorite things in this area are... 

1. Our attendance chart.  Each day that we have every student there they earn a puzzle piece.  WHen they fill in their puzzle the class gets a special reward.  I made this puzzle to look like my little dog Paisley! :)

2. Our target behavior board.  Another wonderful Pinterest behavior management idea.  In our meeting area we pick a target behavior such as "shouting out".  Then each time someone "shouts out" I take one flower down (they start with 5).  The more flowers they keep at the end of a lesson, the more points they get toward a class reward.

Classroom Library

Our classroom library.  The books are organized by DRA and Lexile level.  I love how colorful it is and I love the tubs!  I found them at the Dollar General last year.  They come is large size and small size.  Books fit perfectly in them and students don't have to pull them off the shelves to look through the books.

My Desk... sorry about the mess!

Cute desk skirt made by a friend and they match the curtains she made for me too!  I then made some book shelf covers to match.

My new favorite hobby... painting furniture!  I just started painting furniture last year and loved it.  So I decided to make a few things for my classroom.  I made this little reflection chair, and I just love it :).  I also painted a chair for myself, one for Ms. Fretwell on my 2nd grade team, and a special pink chair for Ms. Ross who is the bravest breast cancer survivor I've ever met!

My pretty painted chair :).

I'll post some more pictures of my classroom later... and I promise next time it will be more pictures and less words :).

Enjoy!

Pinterest Inspired Classroom Management Ideas!

Hey everyone,

I love Pinterest!  I have found some amazing ideas for classroom management on Pinterest and decided to put some pictures up of some Pinterest inspired things I've made for my classroom to hopefully inspire others.  These are all ideas I found in Pinterest and  I've made my own version of them to work in my classroom.  I'm not taking credit for coming up with these ideas, I'm just showing how I've made them to work in my classroom.  If any of these were your original idea, PLEASE let me know so I can give you proper credit for them!

Hope you enjoy and can use some of these ideas in your classroom!

Ketchup and Pickle...

I cannot remember where I got this idea.  I know it was from one of the amazing blogs that I am always looking, but I can't remember which one.  I had to cutesy it up a little bit though.  I saw the idea for Pickle and Ketchup and decided to make my own to use in my classroom.  This is a great classroom management tool.  Students that didn't get their homework done, do their reading, or weren't working in class write their name under the Ketchup.  They will then "Catch Up" on their work during recess time.  In my classroom, we use the Pickle as a reward.  The students will vote on a Pickle each day and tell the class why they think this person should be the Pickle (it can't be themselves).  They pick someone they saw following directions that day, being a good listener, etc.  The Pickle then gets to "pick" first at recess that day.  We usually have one girl and one boy Pickle.

I put them on my whiteboard so students can easily write their names and we can erase them for the next day.

Microphone...

Here is another great classroom management tool that I found on Pinterest.  It is our class microphone! :)  We use this in our meeting area during share time.  Only the student holding the microphone is aloud to talk.  All it is made out of is a foam ball painted black and an empty paper towel role stuffed with tissues to make it stronger and wrapped with duct-tape.  The kids love this and it has worked wonders on our share time and morning meeting time!

Blurt Chart...

One last classroom management tool also inspired by a post I saw on Pinterest.  Last year I was having a big problem with kids shouting out and talking constantly toward the end of the year.  So I saw this wonderful idea on Pinterest for a Blurt Chart.  If this was your original idea please let me know so I can give you proper credit for it!  It is a wonderful management tool!  These served as "warnings" in our class for talking out.  The kids could see that they got three warnings before they would have to pull a ticket.  When they were told to pull a warning, they just pull one of their stars down and put it in a basket.  After they pull three, they pull a ticket then put their stars back up.  I love that they can actually see when they get a warning and they can change their behavior before they have to pull a ticket.  (We do the "pull a ticket"/"flip your card" system in our classroom).

These are just a few of my Pinterest inspired classroom management ideas I made last year.  I'll have to take some pictures of all of the Pinterest inspired things I have made for my classroom this year!

Enjoy!

A Great Resource For 3rd Grade Teachers!

Hey everybody!

I wanted to share a great resource for third grade teachers.  This TPT shop has some great resources for you!  They are great units that are well organized and align to third grade core content.  These units will keep your students engaged and you will love how easy they are to follow and use in your classroom.  Adam Chisholm is new to TPT and has a few resources up but I know more are to come!  So keep watching his shop.  He has made these units and uses them in his classroom, as do the other third grade teachers at our school.  His students love these!  And you will too!

Check out his great resources!  Click either of the above links or click here to visit his shop!

Click HERE to go straight to his amazing FREE resource!  

Enjoy!

Tens Frame Cards

Hey everyone,

The other day I was trying to find some good tens frame cards to use in centers.  I wanted some that looked similar to a regular deck of cards except they have tens frames on them.  I also wanted them to go all the way up to twenty.  Well... after a night wasted searching for some that I liked, I decided to just make some.  Here they are...

If you like these, you can find them at my TPT shop.

I love to use these cards for centers.  I have my kids play "Make 10 Go Fish" or "Make 20 Go Fish".  They love it and they are learning ways to make 10 and 20, which is a great addition strategy to have.  You can use them for many other games as well.  I also love them because even my low kids, who can't add very well, can play.  All they have to do is count how many boxes are empty to figure out how many they need to make 10 or 20.

To make a full deck, copy four sets of the cards.  Then you will have four of each card, just like in a regular deck of cards.  I like to copy them onto cardstock so they are a little thicker.

Hope you find these useful!

Enjoy!

I'm Having a Sale!

Hey everyone!

I'm having my first sale!

Today and tomorrow (10/18-10/19) all my items will be 20% off at my TPT shop!  Stop by to get some goodies!

Enjoy!

Shape Posters

Hey everyone!

My 2nd grade class is starting our geometry unit so I wanted some cute posters to introduce the shapes to them.  This set of posters introduces students to shapes and vocabulary they will need for your geometry unit. Each shape has a name to help students remember. The attributes of the shapes are in bold so they stand out to students. I just started using these with my second graders and they love them.

Here are just a couple of them...

   

You can find these at my TPT shop or my Teachers Notebook shop!

Shapes included are: square, triangle, circle, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon, octagon.

I'm having a giveaway!

Hey everyone,

I am having my first giveaway!  I am giving away a Sweet Shapes geometry game to 2 lucky winners!  This game aligns with 2nd grade common core standards for geometry.  It is a great way for your students to have fun while learning.

Here's what you'll win!

And you'll win all 54 cards that go with it!

Enjoy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Geometry Game

Hey everyone!

My second grade team and I are starting our unit on geometry, so I thought I'd make a game we could use in our centers.  This game is aligned to second grade core content for geometry standards.  It is fun way for students to review all the concepts we will teach in our geometry unit.  The game is Willy Wonka themed, which I think the kids will love.  You can purchase the game at either my TPT shop or my TeachersNotebook shop.  Included is: the game board, 27 lollipop cards (fronts and backs for each card), 27 golden ticket cards (fronts and backs for each card), directions for students, an answer key, and directions for setting it up.

The lollipop cards focus on shapes and their attributes.  The golden ticket cards focus on partitioning shapes and making fractions for shaded areas of partitioned shapes.  Each card has a number on it so students can find it on the answer key.  This allows students who are playing the game together to check each other's answers.

The game board comes in two pieces.  It is perfect for cutting out and gluing inside of a file folder.

Here is the game board...

This is an example of some of the lollipop cards...

 Here is the back of the lollipop cards.  You can print off the front (questions) and turn the paper and print the lollipops on the back.

This is an example of the golden ticket cards...

 Here is the back of the golden ticket cards.  Again, you can print the front (the question side) and turn over the page and print the back on the other side.

My second graders love any chance they get to play a game and they don't even realize how much they are learning.  If you use the game in a center, it is a great for cooperative learning.

A special thanks to Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating for the cute Willy Wonka clipart and KPM Doodles for the game board.

Enjoy!

I'm a Melonhead!

Oh my goodness! I'm so excited!  This morning I got on my computer to check my e-mail and what was waiting for me? My very own melonhead  made by the wonderful and talented Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating.   Nikki you did the most amazing job!  With only a picture and some really unclear ideas from me, you made the perfect melonhead for me, and you even included my precious little Paisley :).  Thank you so much!

If you have not yet checked out Melonheadz Illustrating, I would highly recommend you do ASAP.  You will love her adorable clipart!  Also check out her Etsy shop and TeachersNotebook shop.

Thanks for my wonderful melonhead!  It is now my profile picture on here, as well as at my little TPT and TeachersNotebook shops. :)  I just love it!

A Few Anchor Charts!

*The mistakes that you see in the images below have been fixed on the actual document, I just have not uploaded new pictures on here!*

Hey everyone!

Anchor charts are one of the best teaching tools, but it is so hard to make one just right when you're making it with your kiddos.  I like to make cute anchor charts to hang in the room, but kids learn so much when you make the charts with them.  So, here is my solution... I make the anchor chart ahead of time but then during instruction I make a temporary one with the kids.  It is outlined the same as the one I've already made, so when I bring out the cute one the next day to hang in the room, it doesn't look all that different from the one I made with the kids.  They have yet to notice it is a different chart :).  This way, students get the benefit of making the chart with you and learning from that, but you get to have an anchor chart that is cute and you can reuse again next year.

Here are a few anchor charts I have made and use in my classroom.  Enjoy!

Let's Measure It Poster

A great poster to help kids remember about how large each unit of measure. It allows them to relate these units of measurement to themselves. The poster describes a part of their body that students can relate each of the following unit of measurement to: centimeter, inch, foot, yard, and meter. You can teach them gestures to remember each as well! I have done this with my second grade class and now they can each show me about how large and inch is (they hold up their pinky finger and point to the tip of it). It also helps students become more active in their learning by doing the gestures. You'll love it as much as they do!

Strategies for Solving Math Problems Anchor Chart

 

Use this anchor chart to help students remember math strategies for addition and subtraction. Great for them to refer to after you've taught. Can print this as one page for a student handout or as a 18x24 sized poster.

Telling Time Anchor Chart

This is a great anchor chart for introducing telling time or use it for students to refer back to. You can print this as an 18x24 poster or a one page reference sheet for students. This is easy for kids to read and understand. Great to help kids understand each hand on the clock and the steps to telling time.

Giving a High-5 Retell Anchor Chart

 This is a great anchor chart for introducing/teaching retelling. Teaching students how to give a "High-5 Retell" is a great way to help them remember the key elements of retelling a story. Simple and effective. Can be printed to make an 18x24 sized poster.

Cute Common Core Headers

Hey everyone!

I started looking for some cute headers to use in my classroom for my I can statements.  I wanted some that I could put in a picture frame, had the subject title, and had an area where writing would show up.  I couldn't find any that I thought were cute, so I decided to make some.

With these headers, just put them in a picture frame and each day you can erase your I can statement and they are ready for your next lesson.  The white frame leaves a perfect area for you to write your I can statement and have it show up so your students can easily see it.  I made these in three different backgrounds, so they will fit different classroom themes.  Each set has an I can... header and a header for each of the following subjects: Reading, Math, Writing, Social Studies, and Science

You can purchase them at my TPT or TeachersNotebook shops.  Hope you enjoy them!

Striped Common Core Standards Headers

Polka-Dot Common Core Standards Headers

Chevron Common Core Standards Headers