Student Birthdays

My math/science partner and I are both ADDICTED to Pinterest.  So during the summer we basically pinned each others' ideas almost each day, lol.  One of the fun ideas we found were these birthday crazy straws from Teaching in Flip Flops.

One of my kids had a birthday the second week of school so I went ahead and made them all.  Although I've got some new kids lately so will have to make more.  But the files are all FREEBIES!  So be sure to thank Christie at the above link!  I sure appreciated them!!

Classroom Set-Up Highlights

I thought I would highlight some of the new things I've put in my classroom this year.  So far, (after 2 weeks) I love each of these!!

At the front of the room I put a schedule for the kids to write in their time tracker/planner each day when they come into class.  I put homework, important dates, and reminders on there.  The kids are doing very well with it!  I enjoy seeing the information too.

I got the idea to decorate your filing cabinet from Pinterest.  I just put black butcher paper on with rubber cement, with a border and poster that my friend printed my name on.  I put my UT Pillow Pet (!!!), Willow Tree Angels and picture frames that I've received as gifts on it.  My desk is hidden behind.  I don't ever need anyone seeing my desk (or me if I actually have a chance to sit at it during planning).

I decided to do two (somewhat) connected themes with Travel (OH YEA!!) and Dr. Seuss (YIPPEE!!)  I find the more I share of my interests the more the kids buy in.  So when you walk into my room you usually will notice our wall with everyone's names.  I used Ms. Lak's ideas on her travel theme to put up "Where learning takes FLIGHT!"  (The picture was taken before school started with the wrong word. LOL I had to fix it before Meet the Teacher.  On that note the plastic came off of my computers, too. Lol)  

And this was the beginning of my Super Improvers Wall.  I can upload the file once I learn how.  I used the original sports theme that I learned in my WBT conference.  I have yet to put the kids names up.  I went to Hobby Lobby and got the bronze, silver and gold glitter paper ($1.99 a page, ugh!).  I'll have to take a picture of the final product once I'm done.

And that's it for now!  I'm completely focused on content and curriculum at the moment.  This week I'm applying for Model Teacher for the district so I've got to get everything organized, cleaned up and put my Super Star Teaching into effect!

Summer Pinterest Fun

This summer I traveled to Ireland, St. Louis (to attend a Whole Brain Teaching conference that I'll explain later) and just relaxed at home spending time with family and friends.  But before I blinked my eyes it was August and I found myself anticipating school starting!  Truth be told I was studying to get into my masters degree program at the University of Texas and doing Pinterest activities was way more fun than studying for the GRE! So here I've got my very useful activities I created using the help of others.

 My first project was this handy teacher/craft organizer. I found it here.  I used the one that was from Garden Ridge and used some scrapbook paper I had and Modge Podge.  The hardest part for me was definitely thinking of just the right labels I wanted.  Lots of other teachers at my school have now adapted it for themselves, too.  It was a hit!

Then I used the idea found here for my objectives wall.  Lots of people use their white board but I treat my white board likes it's gold!  So I decided to put them on the wall in cute (Dollar Store) picture frames.  I put scrapbook paper on them and scrapbook letters for "Writing", "Reading" and "Social Studies" frames.  Later on my friend's mom added bows on the white hooks so that it's a bit cuter.  A week after school started the school secretary made me take them down to put up the fire exit poster (ughhh) but I just took off the "Objectives" sign and re-stuck the hooks up to put the three objectives frames up.  I've gotten a lot of compliments on them.  I really love them!  The dry-erase markers work perfectly and I have been highly motivated to let people know our objectives each day!

I also made my Book Hospital found here with a FREE printable.  This really helps me out because the kids know to put all ripped/torn books here instead of come up to me while in a reading group.  This being my 6th year teaching reading, my books are starting to show signs of old age so it's pretty packed just after 2 weeks of school.  But it's definitely something that takes 2 seconds to print, laminate and stick on a box/container.  I found this one for $1 at the Dollar Store.

And my last Pinterest project before school started were these little cute Quiet Critters.  I got the styrofome sheets and googly eyes at the Dollar Store.  They also had small puff balls for a dollar but I'm glad I got the larger puff balls at Michael's, though they were $5.  My students keep asking me if they can use them, because I have them on my shelf, lol.  But I'm saving them for a more special occasion-benchmarks will be here soon so I may use them during those weeks.

And once I figured out I wanted to have a Dr. Seuss inspired classroom I found this adorable ribbon topiary idea here.  It took me a few nights to make while I just watched tv.  It was super fun, though and SO easy!  I put it on my bookshelf that you can see above.

Yay to Pinterest!  I love the resources on there!