Monday Made-It

Happy Monday!  Next Monday I finally get into school to set up my classroom.  I can't wait!!  I have been busy with tons of different projects.  Here are a few:

I had to make the journals everyone is making!  I think they are such a fun idea and will be super popular with the students.  I purchased 6 different color notebooks from Target.  They were only 75 cents each!  Above is a close-up view of one.  Then I printed labels and stuck them right over the writing on the notebook.  I love that each journal is a different color.

 My next project is my new job hanging.  I got the idea from The Go To Teacher. Check her hanging out.  It's fantastic:)

Here's a closeup of the top of the chart.  I will be putting student names on clothespins.  I'll attach the clothespins under each job title.  I plan to have my students have quarterly jobs.  That helps the students to become proficient at the job they do.  All jobs are partner jobs.  I am going to explain the jobs to the students at the beginning of the year.  I will let them write down four that they would like to do and hopefully I'll be able to give everyone one of their choices.  We'll do the same thing the next quarter.

 My next project comes from the book Conscious Discipline that I read this summer.  One of the ideas is to have a safe place for kids to go when they are having a hard time and need a break.  It is NOT a punishment.  Below is my little kit for my safe place.  It will also have a fluffy pillow and carpet square to sit on.  My kit includes a squeeze ball from Target, a light up mini lava lamp and cards with helpful sayings on them.  Hopefully these will appeal to and help any student who needs a break during the day.

My husband and I did some painting this weekend too.  I'll have pictures next time.  I had all these different bookshelves for my classroom.  We painted them all black.  Super cool!!  This week I need to work on making my curtains to cover my open shelving.  I'm a little nervous about it, so we'll see what happens!!

I'm off to check out everybody's Monday Made-Its!  What a fabulous idea Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics had to set this up!  It's been a highlight of my summer:)

Daily Five - Chapter Seven

In Chapter 7 we learn about when to start choice in Daily Five and how to do it.  The sisters suggest starting choice in October. It was good for me to reread this.  Last year I looped with my first grade class to second grade, so they were ready for choice very early.  This year I think I would have started choice too early, forgetting about the time it takes to set the kids up for success in Daily Five.
When I do Daily Five choice, I use the check-in method suggested by the sisters.  I find that it helps focus students on their choice and it lets me know very quickly what they should be doing during Daily Five.  I also like the check-in model because it allows me to be sure that the students are doing all of the Daily Five.  I've found that even at the end of the year I have to remind some students what they've already chosen and what they have left to choose.
For those of you who haven't read The Cafe, I strongly suggest that you delve right in!  The ideas have helped me to be a more focused and thoughtful reading teacher.  I am also a member of the sisters website and have read lots of valuable information there.  They send out an email every week with tons of good information.  Even if you choose not to join their site, you can still get the email. (There will be some sections of the email that you won't have access to without joining.)
Good Luck to everyone who is starting or continuing the Daily Five this year!  It's been so fun to share ideas with all of you.  Thanks to Mel D from Suesstastic Classroom Inspirations and Nicole from Teaching with Style! for setting up this bookstudy.  Today's host is Corinna at Surfin' Through Second.  Be sure to check her blog for the linky!

Monday Made-It

Happy Day!  Today I'm sharing a super cute idea that I found on the last Monday Made It!  It comes from Aimee at Primarily Speaking.

My made it today is Back to School Magic Confetti!!

There is a cute little poem that goes with this that talks about having jitters the night before school starts.  Here is a link to the free poem at TpT.  I simply made the confetti from scrapbook paper scraps.  I chose all colors and papers with polka dots.  Then I bought some dot confetti at Party City to add to each bag.  The little bags that I used are from Michaels.  They come with the cute silver twist tie.  There are a bunch of bags for very cheap!  I used the bags for an end of year gift last year and for these bags.  I still have more left!!!  All I had to buy was the confetti which was 4.99!  With all the money that I spend on school that's a great price for a cute gift.

Please be sure to check out all the other Monday Made Its by clinking the link above.  I have gotten SO MANY great ideas from others at this link:)  Thanks so much to Tara from Fourth Grade Frolics.

Daily Five - Chapter Six

I'll admit it...Work on Writing is sometimes a challenge for me!  I started teaching using Lucy Calkins' method of Writing Workshop.  I find Work on Writing to be very similar.  Some years I have classes that can write and write forever.  Other years, not so much.  I find myself giving out optional writing topics and doing more prescribed writing.  Last year I even felt the need to tell students that they must write at least one side of a page.   I've not done that before!  Although I've always taught specific lessons and brainstormed with the students topics for writing, I plan to do more of this next year.  I feel that it is important for children to have the choice of what they want to write about, but in second grade this seems too much for many of the children.  

I don't have enough time to do Work on Writing during my Daily Five block, so I am going to have writing be a separate block.  I will start with a mini-lesson or larger lesson each time.   One writing that we do every Monday is to write about the weekend.   Maybe later in the year the students will be better able to choose their own writing topic on other days. We'll see what happens; this is still a journey for me.  

Last year during Word Work I started with having 2 groups of students working on different words.  One group was working on first grade words that they still needed to master.  The other group was working to identify and record new words that they found in their reading.  They were WAY beyond the second grade word list.  A couple of times a week I used Work Work time for spelling practice.  This year our Word Wall Words will be different than our spelling words, so I am still mulling over how to handle the time.  It's definitely not a "one way fits all" time of day!!
On another note, I am looking forward to going back to school.  In our district, we can't go into our rooms during the summer.  The day we can go back is Aug 6th.  My husband is even taking off the day to help me!  I have to move rooms this year and lots of materials found their way home. Last weekend I spent time deep cleaning the microwave, dishwasher and washing machine.  That's a sure sign that I need to get back to work:)

OOPS!!  I completely forgot to link back to the blog roll and thank Jenn from Best Practices 4 Teaching for hosting this. You can find her HERE!

Monday Made it!

Hello!  I have several projects to show you today.  I missed last week's Monday Made It:(  My first project to share is a fabric banner that I made for my classroom.  Instead of going with a theme this year, I went with colors: lime green, black and white.  There are TONS of ideas on Pinterest for banners and I used ideas from each one.

This is a section of the banner.  I used 7 different fabrics at 1/4 yard each.   That made four pennants of each fabric because I backed up each fabric.  That way it is sturdier and is also 2 sided.  I made a template for the triangles that was 7 3/4 inches across the top and 8 inches down to the point.

I used Heat n Bond to adhere the two sides of the fabric together.  Then I used a ribbon and more Heat n Bond to attach it across the tops of the triangles.  There is ribbon across the top on both sides to make it sturdier AND two sided.  I left about 14 inches of ribbon on each end of the banner to be able to tie it up.  

I have to admit that this project seemed a little daunting at first, but I'm happy with the results.  I'm glad I pushed myself to do it!

My next two projects are Modge Podge projects.  The first is a birthday wall hanging that I plan to use year after year.  I will tape a typed page of each month's  birthdays to the hanging square.  One caution I have for this project is to be careful what chipboard you use for the birthday months.  As I Modge Podged the papers on, the black color turned my Modge Podge PINK!!  In some cases it dried clear and in others there is a bit of pink showing.  It is what it is!!  The letters are from Michaels.  I typed up the words "Happy" and "Birthday" and added them to the letters.  

My last project is an easy one...or should have been.  I made one of those clipboards that everyone seems to be making with Modge Podge and scrapbook paper.  After these two projects, I'm not sure that Modge Podge is my friend!!  I had trouble keeping it smooth on the clipboard.

Be sure to check out everyone's amazing projects at Fourth Grade Frolics!  I absolutely LOVE seeing all the great ideas and inspiration!

Do you want a good laugh?  To remember the good and/or bad times in your school history?  Well jump on over to Simply Kinder to check out her great story and other peoples' too!
I have LOTS of memories of school!  One memory from Kindergarten is when someone got in trouble the teacher took them into the supply closet in our room and spanked them! (OK-I am 46!) One time she took a girl into the closet (usually it was boys) and the girl didn't come out crying like all the boys did.  I remember feeling so proud of her!  Awful to even imagine happening now, but it is funny to think about the story.
I also remember learning from my kindergarten teacher that the sun didn't go away at night; it just went around to the other part of the world.  I remember her describing just how it looks when the sun goes down!
I loved all my teachers, even the kindergarten one!

Daily Five-Chapter 5

I love the quotes that the sisters find!  They are always backed up by research and always seem to resonate with me.  At the beginning of the chapter the sisters quote Hopkins who basically says that we need to concern ourselves with what is going on at school.  We can spend time being upset about the home situations or lack of parental involvement, but we don't have control over that.  We need to focus our energies on is what is going on day to day IN OUR CLASSROOM!  We can make a difference for all kids!!

Read to Someone is always a favorite in my classroom.  I do find that certain students can get off track easily.  I go back and reteach whenever necessary.  I have questions for you!  Do you think that it's OK for partners to always choose the same people?  Part of me doesn't agree with that because I want them to experience different readers.  Also, those partners tend to get off task more easily.  So far I have let the children choose their own partners after we check-in.  What do YOU think?  Do I need to be more involved with their choices?  I'd love to hear your responses!

Listen to Reading is another favorite.  Many of my kids also choose to do this when they are done early with an assignment.  So far I've used a CD player with headsets and my computer.  I have a CD walkman that I would also like to use this year.  I've heard about teachers using mp3 players also.  If you have, I'd LOVE to hear how you did it and how it worked for you!

Thanks to Melissa at Dilly Dabbles and Mechele from Barrow’s Hodgepodge for hosting this chapter.  I can't wait to go read what everyone thinks:)

Daily FIve - Chapter 4

For this week's chapter on the Daily Five, I thought I'd pick out a quote that really inspired me and encompasses the whole chapter.  The following quote is from page 47:

"The tone for the entire year is established during the early weeks of school. When we take our time during this critically important period, moving slowly and thoughtfully to build a solid foundation, it pays off all year long."
As I am rereading The Daily Five I find myself re-energized and committed to starting the Daily Five with my new group.  The lessons in this chapter and others are ones that I've used to some degree and plan to implement more this year.  In the past I haven't specifically talked about stamina.  I want to this year.  I want the kids to know exactly what they are doing right and build on that.   I want to start even slower than in past years and build MORE modeling and checking in to what I do.  Don't get me wrong...I understand how jam-packed those first couple of weeks are with bus evacuation drills, review/learning of lunchroom, hallway and classroom procedures, ETC.  Those things are important but so is building the foundation of learners that you will build from throughout the year.  That's what it's really all about, isn't it?
Be sure to click on the picture above so that you can read everyone's great ideas from this chapter!

And the awards go to....

Thank you again to Kristi and Crystal from Teaching Little Miracles for giving me this award!  I would like to give this award to Building a House of Love, 4 the Love of Teaching, Smiles and Sunshine,  Sweet-n-Sassy in 2nd, and I Teach, What's Your Super Power?  Be sure to check out their blog loveliness:) Here are the directions for this award:


The purpose of this award is to highlight new bloggers with less than 200 followers.

Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. Thank the giver and link back to them.

3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog. 

I was so excited to receive two more blog awards.  The teaching blog community is certainly making me feel special!  These awards were given to me by Tammy at The Resourceful Apple. Thank you so much!!

The rules for this award are as follows:

1.  Thank the blogger who nominated you.

2.  Include a link to their site.

3.  Include the award image in your post.

4.  Give 7 random facts about yourself
5. Nominate 15 other bloggers, include their link and let them know!

Now for Seven Random Facts about myself....

1.  This month I will be celebrating my 23rd anniversary with my wonderful husband.

2.  I love to read cozy mysteries.  Right now I am reading Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch by Nancy Atherton.

3. My terrific son will be a senior at NIU this year. 

4.  I love to plant container gardens!

5.  We put a small pond in our backyard and it is filled with plants and fish.  I love the soothing sound of running water.

6.  I LOVE to learn new things!!!

7.  I was a DJ at our college radio station in Valparaiso!

 

The rules for this award are as follows:

1.  Follow the person who gave you the award.

2.  Link back to the person who gave you the award.

3.  Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers.

I just joined the world of teaching blogs about 3 months ago.  Since then, I have found so much inspiration from so many bloggers.  I will be passing these awards on to the following blogs: Buntings, Books and Bainbridge, Clutter-Free Classroom, Schoolgirl Style, Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations, Teaching with Style, Step into Second Grade with Mrs. Lemons, Swimming into Second, Surfin' Through Second, Heather's Heart, Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher, Learning is Something to Treasure, Learning in Wonderland, and my nonteacher blogfriend, Lynn, at  Shabby Story! 

Monday Made It

Today I'm linking up with Monday Made it.  I LOVE all the great ideas that I've gotten from people, so be sure to check it out!

Aren't these LOVELY?  They are from create-share-inspire!  She has a great tutorial there for you to follow.  I decided that I had to make them for my classroom.  They were a bit of a project. (Spray painting clothespins is not fun!)  I'm very happy with the results!  In a nutshell, the black paint is chalkboard paint.  The frame is drawn on with white paint.  I will write the kids' names in chalk and then I can erase them and use them year after year.  My plan is to set up a permanent spot in the classroom where students can post what they think is their best work.  A lot of teaching goes into what best work means, but it essentially has the kids choosing work that is THEIR best and not their neighbors.  Here is my take on the clips-

The clips are painted the light lime green that I used for my trashcan project.  For some reason the color doesn't photograph correctly.  I'm sure it's not my lack of photo-taking skills:)  Below is another project  that I used the spray paint on.  I bought the lamp at a garage sale.  The color was gold, but I wanted it to match my classroom.  I did have to buy a new lampshade.  The lamp itself was only $7 and the shade was the cheapest one I could find at Target.  I don't remember the cost.  The last photo is of a $2 lamp that I bought at a garage sale.  I decorated the lamp shade with ribbon.

I'll be coming back for a second post because this one is already so long.  I am so psyched that I got nominated for TWO more blog awards! I'll be writing about them next.