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