Throwing a Sale!

Teachers Pay Teachers Sale starts Today!!!!  Woohoo!  I always have about 40 things on my wish list so I'm always so excited to get the email giving me the dates of the site wide sale.  This year, I have even more than normal that I'm buying since I'm moving to 2nd grade.  I'd like to make my own homework, and, probably, will, as the year goes along, but until then, I plan to make use of some of the great resources I've found.

My store is 20% off, in addition to the site's sale!  In celebration, I'm offering a form from my Open House Packet (which isn't quite finished, but will be soon *fingers crossed*).  This form has been one I have used over and over, and has helped me to get so many volunteers in my classroom.  With all that we have on our plates as teachers, it never hurts to have a volunteer to call on for the things that take away from our actual job -  TO TEACH!

Just CLICK HERE!

I have one month to get ready for school, now!  I'm feeling the pressure.  I have a whole list of things to finish, as I'm sure you understand!  One of my goals is to get my classroom management procedures written the way I teach them so I can share on here before school starts.  Plus, it always helps to remind me of everything I teach those first days (weeks?) of school.  Those are the days that create the culture of your class!  

And don't forget to check out my store!  Click on the picture to be taken there and get your discounted items-->

 Happy Shopping!

Starting the School Year Right!

This summer has been all about getting organized and ready for the beginning of school since I have a whole classroom to set up.  Those days in August when I'd normally be making copies, creating my lessons, making lists, checking them twice, marking whose been naughty or nice…oops! wrong job!  well, those things that we teachers do to be prepped for students, I'll not be doing them first.  I'll be redecorating, dusting off boxed materials, putting books back into AR level, setting up bulletin boards, etc.  All those things I haven't had to do for several years since I hadn't changed schools, I'm going to be busy doing.  Which means all those other things, that have to be done, I'm trying to prep for now, or write on that list spoken of before, not the naughty or nice one…that comes much later ;).

Some of the things foremost on my mind: my very detailed lesson plan for the first day of school.  I always make a VERY detailed plan of the first day of school.  I have many reasons for this.  The main reason is that I'll still be on lazy summer day brain, and school brain will not have kicked in, yet.  I need to have a schedule of everything I'm doing (much like I leave for a substitute-HA!).  I like to put descriptions, games, rules, procedures, practice, and time for first day pictures in this lesson plan.  Since this will be my first year in 2nd grade, it will probably have more stuff than I'll get to.  In 1st grade, you need such a detailed plan because those little guys and gals get lost easy, and you can't be puttering around looking for what you had planned or you may lose a kiddo!  I think 2nd grade won't be so dangerous! :)

After the first day plans, I usually use my regular lesson plans from then on.  After obtaining a calendar, a schedule for next year, and copy of another teacher's plans (thank you, new teammate!), I got a better idea of what next year was going to look like.  I decided to create a new lesson plan book that would also contain my grades.  Grades are new for me!  My first grade years we assessed ability, rather than kept grades.  I've been reading blogs, pinning on Pinterest, and asking questions of teachers to see what the best ideas were for keeping grades.  I know there will be a software to enter grades, but I needed a grade book to keep with my plans.  After some research, I created a new {EDITABLE} lesson plan book that contains the grade book I need, plus a calendar, and other necessary forms.  My hours of work can be obtained from my TpT store, but here's a preview:

I'll be adding to it, and updating the calendar each year!  The price will change accordingly as I add to this file, but you can get it now, and any updates will be free!

What's New Going Back to School?

The big news that I spoke of….I've relocated to Washington State!  This is a huge change from Oklahoma.  One of the most significant changes…rain, but no tornados!  Yay!  Well, no significant tornados (aka, giant, mile-wide ones), and July has been beautiful.  I've really enjoyed the change.  Another change-a new school and a new grade.  I'll be teaching 2nd grade this year, which brings me to the problem of how to change the name of this blog.  I'll still be making products for primary grades, but I will be including things that I'm doing in my class this year.

With the new school, the new grade, and, of course, a new classroom, I've been working on some new projects.  Mostly projects that will include decorations!  I'm very excited about this, but don't want to post any until I have them on my classroom walls to be sure they look as good finished as they appear on my screen. :) Since that will be a little while (my stuff for my classroom is still in storage in Oklahoma and yet to arrive *fingers crossed only one more week*), I've decided to post about a first days rule book that I created last summer.

I used this at the beginning of last year in first grade, but it easily adapts to 2nd and K.  It is a lot of coloring and tracing, as well as a guide to move through the rules.  I love this product, and will be using it again.  I'm discounting it in celebration of my new move!

Get it HERE! 

Big Changes!

It's been a while since I posted, and it's been a crazy year!  Last summer, I taught summer school, which was a lot of fun but kept me from posting some of the great stuff I've been working on.  One of the things I meant to post about was some RTI Fluency Practice that I used in summer school.  The class I had was first graders moving to second, but needed a little boost in reading.  I added this practice, which I could do very quickly, one-on-one, with small groups, to boost fluency:
The great thing about this little gem was that I could teach 5 Dolch words at a time, review them in easy sentences, and the next day add 5 more.  Many of the sentences would repeat previous words that had been taught to create fluency.  I kept my sentences in chart form, but over a full school year, it could be used to cut in strips and have students review words in pairs.  To get this product at a discounted rate, check out my TPT store:

HERE

I have several new items I've created to add, but also exciting news about moving to a new state, a new school, a new grade, and an updated blog to share in upcoming posts.  Until then, here's a hint for the new blog look:

Interactive Math Notebooks

This will be the third year that I've done interactive math notebooks in my class.  My first year I created my own notebook out of things I had collected from different curriculums, teaching magazines, etc., and put them together in my own notebook as an example.  After using a regular composition notebook, I realized that if I had thought this out a little bit, I would have realized that I should have put my example in a binder…and that's what I've done, now!  Yay!  Here is are some pictures of my 95 page interactive math notebook (my 1st graders call it a "math scrapbook"):

Putting all of the pages in a binder makes it easier to allow absent students to catch up on their own notebooks, but, more importantly, it makes it easier to rearrange the pages for changing your curriculum around.  Last year, I used the first notebook I had made, but I had rearranged a few of the things that I taught, and I found myself digging around in the notebook, as opposed to being able to find the page quickly and easily.

Since my interactive notebook is made from many curriculums and pages that I've found or my team has created, I don't have a file I can share.  However, as a back to school present, I did create the Linus the Minus and Gus the Plus to share!  :)  Happy teaching!

Get it free here!

Literacy to match Math!

Last summer I worked on my math homework.  I've had a literacy component that I always sent home, too, but hadn't had time to go through it and revamp it.  This summer, I finally did it!  Yay!  It's mostly what I've done for my class with a few changes.  This year will be a trial year so I'm going to put it in my TpT store for  less than the math unit.  Once I've piloted it in it's new format this year, and made changes, the price may go up... so get it while it's cheap! :)

First 9 Weeks     Second 9 Weeks    Third 9 Weeks    Fourth 9 Weeks

  

This is going to make my life so much easier!  Printed back-to-front, just like the math, stapled, and sent home on Monday, and ta-da! homework done!  34 of the 36 weeks have nonsense words (that change every 4 weeks).  Weeks 10-34 also have a reading passage.  These activities have helped my students immensely with DIBELS testing.  Other activities are introduced as they are taught through the school year, such as phonics rules, base word, suffix, prefix, letter writing, ABC order, etc.

Back to summer relaxin'!

1 File Cabinet + Organization!

Okay, so it's August 1st...  School is right around the corner.  I've been working off and on in my classroom trying to get it organized.  Last year was my first year at this school, and the class was barely ready in time.  There were a few hidden places in my room that were thrown together last minute, and, frankly, they were a little scary!  Desk and drawers were okay, but some of the bigger closets were shoved full of stuff that I just didn't have time to organize before school started last year.  One file cabinet was not even being utilized!  I basically was dropping stacks of paper in it that I needed for future use.

One of the aforementioned closets was full of center and theme items.  I bought 4 blue boxes for center pieces.  I have 8 centers (counting the guided reading table), but only a few of them have a lot of items so I figured 4 would be enough.  Then I bought 10 clear stacking boxes, one for each month of the school year, and filled them with all the little things that I need for each theme.  All 14 boxes are the same size (about the size of a large ream of paper, but a bit longer) and have lids so they stack neatly in the closet.  I won't be able to put large theme items in them, but I don't have many of those things anyway.

Last year I kept a shelf with all the books that I regularly read with each unit/theme.  The problem was that they were not separated into categories, and they were close to my class library.  Every now and then I would find one at a student's desk because they got confused and grabbed from my shelf.  It made it very confusing to keep up with.  Today, I finally moved all those books into a file cabinet and separated them with file folders that had been cut to be taller than the tallest book (and still be able to close in the file cabinet).

Also, on this same file cabinet, I have my AR chart hanging.  Once my students start taking AR tests, I greet them at the door  andnask them if they are ready for an AR (Accelerated Reader) test.  If they are, they get on the 2 class computers while the rest put a clip on this AR chart to keep a line going of those ready.

My last name is on the clip above, for display.  I keep a clothespin bag (I bought for a few dollars at the Family Dollar) with clips of every student's name.  I've used this chart for many years to keep me organized, and it works very well.  Once I show students how to place their clips, I then train them to tell the next person when it's his/her turn to keep the testing continually going until everyone has had their turn.  I don't let students take clips off because then they want to move clips up, and it usually becomes a bit of a problem.  As long as there is room to add clips, I don't worry about removing/moving clips.  After all the morning AR tests, I usually clear it so that it's available for use later.  It's great because if I have a student read a book in the middle of the day, they can just add their clip, and wait till I say it's time for those finished with work to take AR tests.

On the side of this same file cabinet I have a pocket chart that was initially created for counting days of the year and place value.  Since I do this on my Smart Board now, I decided to use it to keep track of where students are.  I bought "people sticks", as you can see  in the picture, and glued magnetic strips to the back.  Last year, I took pictures of all my students, and pasted their heads to the top.  When they are out of the class, they drop their people stick into one of the corresponding pockets.  It was so helpful last year, when things got harried, and I needed to know who had taken the bathroom pass or was out of the room for some reason.

Well, my file cabinet is finally getting some real use!  I would love to hear others' ideas for organizing.  Hope everyone's school year gets off to a great start!