My SUPER Classroom!

I am so happy to be posting this post!  It has been so long... too long!

So here goes!

This past school year we heard that our building would be renovated over the summer.  I had very mixed feelings over this.  On one hand it would be nice to have some updated items, on the other hand I was worried that some of the architecture from our 1930's building would be lost.  I am happy to say that the reno crew did a wonderful job!  So, about a week and a half ago I was able to get into my classroom, unpack about 170 boxes, figure out where to put all of my stuff, and finally decorate!  I worked from the Thursday before last to this past Monday trying to get it all done.  I had meetings this past Monday and Tuesday and had all day Wed. to finish. (School started Thursday.) Thirty minutes before open house on Wed I printed out and laminated my last nametag!  It was stressful and time consuming but kind of exciting to see it all come together! Ok, monologue done!  On to the pictures!

I present my SUPER CLASSROOM!!

My Classroom Library.

The front of my room and my smartboard.

Side view of my room. (picture taken from in front of my smartboard.)

Back of my room. (picture taken from in front of my smartboard)

My word wall.

My area.  Please ignore the mess.  I was still unpacking and this was my last area to tackle.  This is my guided reading area and my landing spot.

My bulletin board outside my room.  I will spruce this up more when I have time1

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

The Statue of Liberty comes to the 21st century!

I recently taught a lesson in my K class on American Symbols.  We discussed all the symbols, made brace maps, tree maps, and created several projects on each.  I was feeling successful and the kiddos seemed happy and content and oh-so knowledgeable on the symbols of America!  We were dismissing when one of my darlings said on his way out the door, "Why does the Statue of Liberty hold a laptop?" I gave him a quizzical look and he tried to clarify. "You know, you said she holds a tablet.  Is it an Ipad?"  Welcome to the 21st century Miss Liberty!

Monster and Pumpkin Freebies!

Hello All! 

I unexpectedly had the day off today!  Our town's water pumps were not working which meant we had no water.  I was very happy the district called the day off - can you just imagine trying to tell 25 five year old's that they can't go to the bathroom? 

Anyway,  I created a few smartboard files to share.  I hope they are useful to you!

Click on the name of each file to access it:

Monster Roll an Word and Color
Real/Make Believe
Pumpkin Carving
Spider Sight Word Fix


Here is a sight word literacy station I created too!

Monster Sight Word Find

Let me know if you download them - I love to know if people use my freebies!

Gotta Love 'Em!

So I am having one of those quick conversations with one of my darlings. You know, the kind that pop up out of nowhere? Like when you are teaching about pumpkins and they tell you that their dog's name is Fred.  Anyway,  My darling says "I can do flips on my trampoline." I respond.  "Really? I used to be able to do that to."  Darling asks innocently, as he looks me up and down from head to toe, "Did you used to be skinny too?"  Just gotta love the honesty of five year olds!

What We've Been Up To

So... it is a challenging year to say the least.  But I am up for a challenge!  (Kinda gotta be, I guess!)  Lately we have focused on fire safety, scarecrows and Fall.  Here are some charts we have made together.  Each kiddo has their own sheet to fill out as we work together.  I can't wait until we start sharing the pen - but for right now I will write for them.  Here are some pics of our charts:

Here are a few pics of my darlings building and illustrating their predictable sentences on scarecrows.

So that's what is going on in our neck of the woods!  On to pumpkins and Monsters!

Spider Smart Notebook File (Freebie)

Hello all!  I have been MIA for some time!  First there was no time because I was getting ready for school. Then I became Really involved with my new class. (Can we say, "Oh my what a year it will be!?!).  Then it was on to softball games for one of my girls and now basketball for one of the others.  O.K.,  I am done griping.  I wanted to give you a little freebie to let you know I am glad to be back!  This is a Smart Notebook file for basic sight word review.  Hopefully you can use this in any of your upcoming spider units!  Click below for you freebie!  Leave me some comment love if you use it!


Spider Sight Word Fix

My Pinterest Inspired Seat Crates!

So I know a million of you already have these and they are old news, but just indulge me for a moment.

I have to admit.  I started these LAST summer.  But I just couldn't get dear old hubby to cut the boards! So I waited and my little crates waited.  In the garage. Getting dusty.  And eventually they were a bit forgotten.  Anyway, I saw the crates all over Pinterest again so I thought to myself, "Self.  Ya gotta get these done this time!"  So I needled, politely asked my darling hubby to cut some boards and this time we were successful!  No more sad, forgotten, dusty crates.  Check out my darlings below modeling improper use of the crates! 

My Pinterest Projects

Like many of you I have been pinning like crazy this summer.  Then, I got a rude awakening in the mail the other day - my back to school letter!  REALLY? Only two weeks left?  I decided I needed to start putting into action all the stuff I have been pinning! (that is the point, right?).

So I pinned this:

Then made this:

I also pinned this:

And made this:

Now only at least a thousand more pins to go!

Have you finished any Pinterest projects lately?

"Class?!" "Yes?!"

Oh Sweet Mama I had fun! (Oh Sweet Mama, I had fun!)

I attended the first day of a Whole Brain Teaching conference in Union, MO today and it was awesome!!!  I used bits and pieces of WBT in my classroom last year, but this conference has me stoked to do more!  I can't wait to go back tomorrow and learn even more.  If you are not familiar with WBT, pleeeaase go to their web site Whole Brain Teaching and check them out, then go to YouTube and watch as many videos as you can.  You will love it!

This is me with Chris Biffle.  The wacky picture was his idea!

What Do You Post About When You Have Been MIA?

I have been so neglectful of this little ol' blog! May was sooo busy and then summer just started to happen... and I just decided to take a break from all things school related.  I haven't checked out any of the blogs I usually obsess over.  I am sure I am completely out of the loop.  Anyhoo,  I went to a meeting put on by my district the other day and it sort of got my brain revved up and me a little excited about school.  Then, I went to Target and , Oh My Stars!  I found the cutest, smallest, magnetic erasers for my kiddos white boards!  No more dirty looking socks or pieces of felt for me!  These look like mini chalkboard erasers!  I was so excited that I did a little dance right there in the Target dollar spot.  Next it was on to Wally world.  I found individual glue sticks for 10 cents or a package of two for 50. Hmmm, now which do you think I bought?  I did refrain from going overboard on school supplies.  I will wait until closer to school starting to buy those - hoping that maybe, just maybe, the prices will go down. (they didn't last year, btw.)  I dropped these glue sticks off at my classroom so they wouldn't melt in my truck and that made me take a look at my room.  Big mistake.  They are currently ripping out my vintage 1943 bathroom (which I am thankful for because it smells like a bathroom from 1943!) but that means the floors etc... won't be done until the week before school starts.  Big bummer.  But... it did get my brain working on how I want to rearrange my room.  I will make it work for me this year!  I think I Can! I think I can!  I think I can work around the weird, all-wall consuming fireplace with built in shelves too small for anything!  I will work around the two radiators too hot to push things against! I will work with another wall full of drawers - great storage, but no creating no wall space. 
I CAN DO IT! 

On to other things....  I have perusing Daily Five and am seriously thinking of incorporating this into my room.  I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around doing it throughout the day, after mini-lessons, instead of the more traditional literacy station/center type of structure I am used to.  I will keep you up to date on this progress as I dig more in to it. (gotta finish the last few chapters!)

Also, I am going to a Whole Brain Teaching conference this Tues. in Union, MO.  I am so excited!  I implemented different aspects of WBT this past year and it was awesome!! I always thought I had fairly good classroom management, but this made it even better!  I can't wait to learn more and add it into my classroom this coming year. 

Ok.  That is about it.  I know you were just dying to know all of that now weren't you?  Enjoy the rest of your summer break!

I won!

I won the cutest Smartboard file from Marie at It's a Jungle Out There!  I actually won this a week or so ago.  I have been so swamped at school that I haven't been keeping up with my blog.  Sad, but true!  Maybe I will catch up when school is out.  14 days to go!  Run on over to the jungle when you have a chance!

Anchor charts and Classroom charts Galore!

Well I am home again.  This time my youngest daughter is sick.  We seem to be spreading this lovely stuff over weeks and months.  Anyway, she is asleep right now so I caught up on my blog-stalking and thought I'd post a few pics of my anchor charts and classroom charts.  So this is going to be very random - no rhyme or reason at all - just the pics I could find.  I hope my sharing will help someone out there because most of these were inspired by someone else, and those someone else-s have made me a better teacher!

Our newest anchor chart on re-telling.

Our Inferencing chart.

One of our weather charts.

We created this chart together by brainstorming describing words.  They then wrote their own poems using these words.

 I have posted most of these before but I can't remember which ones. So, here they are again!

 Here are a few more from some past units.  I just didn't get around to them at the time.  My class this year keeps me hoppin'!

Based on an investigation activity from Deanna Jump's America unit.

More describing words.  We taste tested popcorn and used our five senses to describe it.

I think this is based off of Mrs. Jump's page out of her Penguin unit.

Our snowman brace map.

Our student sheet to go with the snowman brace map.

More describing words.  This time we tasted and described hot chocolate!

That's it.  I hope there is something here that is helpful to you!