Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Back To School BASH



Back To School is right around the corner and what better way to begin the new school year than join other teachers in a Back to School Linky Series and Giveaway!
This is a month long Linky Series to help get you ready for Back To School!

Today we are taking a look at Classroom set up and creative ideas to get you ready for the first day of school!  Did I say first day of school!  Yikes!  It is actually my favorite time of the school year.  You can tell you are a teacher when you get excited about color scheme, borders, rugs, you name it.  For me, I always start thinking about my classroom decor and set up pretty much all summer long.   I visit all my favorite stores such as Target, The Dollar Store, BigLots, and Michaels.  Then I find the newest colors out there and I get started.  I LOVE bright colors and I found great things at BigLots so lets take a peek at my classroom decor this year!


This year I decided to go with BOLD, BRIGHT colors, CHEVRON, and a splash of black.  I covered all my bulletin boards with black paper and my borders are chevron overlapped with a solid bright color.


This is my classroom library.  I started with black bulletin board paper and then I layered BRIGHT CHEVRON with a solid BRIGHT!  I found this darling banner and added the letters from Michaels.  Check out my new BRIGHT book boxes!  I found these at BigLots.  

This is my Classroom Jobs board.  I bought these darling CHEVRON pockets at Michaels.  In each pocket is a CHEVRON card with a student's name on it.  Every week I rotate the cards on Monday.  I love the names of my jobs in my classroom.
President-Starts us in the Pledge of Allegiance
Pencil Pal-Sharpens Pencils
Clean Up Crew-Wipes the tables at the end of the day
Library-Straightens books
Vets-Takes care of our chickens and collects eggs
Weather Reporter-Checks weather
Line Leader
Caboose-End of the line
Lights Helper-Turns off lights 
Doors Keeper-Helps shut the door when we leave the classroom

This is my leveled library for Guided Reading.  Here students visit and select "Just Right" books for their book boxes.


My Word Work area has a Must Do basket that my kiddos complete first and then they explore Word Work games below such as magnetic letters, chalkboards, rhyming games.  I also keep their Word Word journals here.

New area to my class called Little Engineers!  Building supplies galore!  Blocks, Legos, marble run, Lincoln logs, every builders dream.  This is where a lot of my STEM activities are completed.

Math materials and manipulatives are in the same area as the engineer section.  Great for STEM!


Listening center is right near the sink area.  My kiddos grab a caddy and sit on the rug.  There are two books, headphones, and a soft pouch for an ITouch for them to listen to the story.  Easy peasy!


Probably hands down the FAVORITE area in my class the Writing center!  My goal is to get my kiddos writing.  Markers, smelly markers, colored pencils, hole punchers, tape, envelopes, you name it!

Cubbies when they enter the classroom.


This is the most important area to me.  My cozy teacher corner.  Make it special and work will feel special.  I love sitting at my cute little desk at the end of the day(kinder teachers never sit) and take a deep breath from a long day.  Surround yourself with comfort.  It really works!

I hope you enjoyed my classroom tour and I can't wait to hear all your fabulous ideas for Back To School!  Join our Linky Party and share your ideas!

Together with my CREATIVE Blogging teacher friends, we are hosting a GIVEAWAY to get you started for the beginning of new the school year!  




Don't forget to Link up and share your creative ideas!



                                                                 An InLinkz Link-up

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Start Off The Year With Super Readers!


I know, I know we spend most of our summers thinking about the new school year ahead.  I love this time of year with a clean slate, my cabinets organized(not all of them), and that same thought I have every summer, "This year I am going to be more organized and get everything done!"  Well June comes along and that is not always the case.  My cabinets are a complete mess, drawers are bustling at the seams, and NO! I did not get everything done that I wanted to!  Does this happen to you?
Looking at the year ahead, this summer I attended for the first time the TPT conference in Vegas!  I came home inspired, in awww of how amazing teachers across the nation are, and ready to work.  I am not really new to TPT, only 4 items in my store, but something was missing?  The pieces of the puzzle were not coming together until I went to this conference.  I learned so much and I returned on that flight home with a completed puzzle in my head.  It all makes sense now!  Most will think WOW! how did you not know this, but I am hoping I will bring sense to those like me.....
EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED AND YOU NEED EVERY OUNCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO HELP YOU ALONG THE WAY!
What do I mean by this?  I have Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Pinterest, this Blog you name it!  But my problem was I was using my social media to BROWSE.  Instead social media is what it is, SOCIAL!  
You have to participate and be social to get your followers and share your creativity.  So here I go and I am hoping someone is out there reading this and feeling like me?  
While I was in Vegas I learned so much on how to create a Powerpoint product.  I am happy to say that this new unit is completely different than my other products. I am hoping you will use it and be just as excited as I am about it.

   SO GET YOUR SUPERPOWERS ON!

Every classroom needs that magical mask and wand to create  SUPERPOWERS!  I found mine at Party America.  I even purchased a cape too for my kiddos to wear.  When I introduce my 7 SuperPower Heroes this new school year to my kiddos I will definitely be wearing this!  Then my kiddos will get a chance to become a SuperReader too!

Good SUPER readers use reading strategies to make sense of text. Our goal as teachers is teach students to become purposeful, active readers who are in control of their own reading comprehension.  These 7 Super Reading Heroes will do just that!
This Super Reader unit includes:
*What Is Your Reading Superpower Anchor Chart
*7 Super Hero Anchor Charts 
*Super Reader Folder Activity 
*Super Reader Comprehension Sticks
*STAMINA Anchor Chart
*STAMINA Class Goal Chart
*Daily Super Hero Reading Logs
Checkout This Preview and Visit my TPT Store:



I would love to hear your feedback because like all teachers we are learning together!
Sherry