Sunday, August 31, 2014

Currently September

I can't believe it's September already!  I'm liking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her monthly currently linky party.

Listening: I'm having a relaxing Sunday evening.  My husband helped me out in the classroom today, so I'm not complaining about him playing on the computer :-)

Loving: I am so happy that it's a three-day weekend, I have SO much to do before school starts on Tuesday.

Thinking: I've made copies for the week, but I haven't written down any of my plans yet.  I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do, but I really dislike writing down lesson plans and I put it off to the last possible moment.

Wanting: We've been lucky and have had a pretty mild summer, until today when it got extremely warm and humid.  I prefer cold and snowy.  I am so ready for winter.  We had 14 snow days last year and I've heard reports that this winter may be colder and snowier.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Needing: I have copies made, but I need to figure out what exactly I'm doing each day and get that organized.

3 Trips to places I haven't been: Switzerland sounds like the perfect place: cheese, chocolate, and snow (what more could I ask for) Chicago looks like a fun city, and Maine because I love New England and haven't been to Maine.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

My Classroom

This is my last weekend before school starts.  I'm so excited to get the year started.  I have been busy working away in my room for the past week getting it ready for Tuesday.  I love looking at pictures of other teachers' classrooms so I thought I'd share my room :-)

I switched schools this year so this is what my room looked like after I moved everything from dining room into my classroom.  I pretty much just dumped it all in the room.



After many hours of sorting through nine years worth of stuff, I have finally finished (mostly)!  Here is my room now:
My name in the window and a "Welcome to 2nd Grade" sign above the door.

A view from the door. The room was set up for Back to School Night which is why there is a Sign In sheet. I'll blog a little later about Back to School Night.
The back wall drives me crazy.  I really don't like empty space, but I use that wall for anchor charts we create together, so I threw a couple random things up until we start making anchor charts so it wasn't completely empty.

Here is my room from the opposite corner looking toward the door.  On the far right wall are my punctuation posters which can be purchased here.

I am pretty happy with my classroom library areas.  I LOVE my crate seats that my parents and husband helped put together.  The two white benches came from Target and my mom recovered the cushion that they came with.

Closeups of my bench and crate seats.  My classroom library needs a little organization, but that will have to come later.
Curtains over the window.  I change the curtains every month to something seasonal.  


My desk area.  I printed out some clip art on the poster maker to decorate my desk.  In the second picture you can see the area behind my desk.  I have my "Teacher Toolbox" back there.  I also hang my class picture from all of my previous classes (that's what all the blacked out pictures are).
 
You can't see too much from this picture, but it's my reading table area.  The seats are from Target, and are great extra storage.  I also have a whiteboard easel back there.
My word wall.  I love the curtains covering up the mess on the bookshelves.  I use the numbered baskets to store weekly math centers.

Job chart on the bathroom door.  I put clothespins with each child's name on each card.  Each card has the job name AND a description of the job.

Famous American posters by my sink area.  I have all of the famous Americans that students are required to know from K-3.

My clock.  You can pick up the numbers here.

Content word wall.  As we learn important vocabulary we will add the words under the correct subject header.

Front wall.  I have our schedule, Class Dojo Hall of Fame, noise level, calendar, Promethean Board, birthdays, number line, and alphabet.

Schedule posted.  You can get the cards by visiting my Facebook page.  I will be using Class Dojo this year.  I will add students' names to the "Hall of Fame" as they reach certain points values.  You can pick up the Hall of Fame display here.

You can see my alphabet cards above the board.  You can purchase them from my TpT store here.  Since our school mascot is a Lab, I have a weekly "Top Dog" instead of a star student.  Students decorate a poster that is displayed on the board.  You can also see our stuffed dog that students take home. Here is the Top Dog letter I send home.


I hope you enjoyed the glimpse into my classroom.  There's still a little work to be done.  I'll update then :-)

Saturday, August 2, 2014

August Currently

I can't believe it's August already!  Where did the time go?

Isn't that the truth?  I am more excited this year than any other year to get started on the school year, but at the same time, I do love my summer break. It doesn't help that I'm currently at the beach, and when I leave summer break will officially be over.

Since I'm on vacation, this is going to be a quick post.  I'm linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the August Currently linky.  Before I started my own blog, I always loved reading the Currentlys that others posted each month.  I have been waiting not so patiently for the beginning of August so I could finally participate.  So without further ado, here is my August Currently:


As I said, I'm on VACATION!!  It is a horrible, rainy, stormy day, so I don't feel guilty taking the time to blog while at the beach.  I LOVE my parents' condo.  It's right on the beach. I love LISTENING to the ocean.  I've set up my laptop on a table, and check out my view:

Too bad this is what the weather looks like: 
UGH!

I'm THINKING about and dreading having to move all my stuff into my classroom, and I'm really WANTING for it to be done for me!
Currently nine years worth of teaching materials are sitting in my house.  It took my husband and I a total of eight full SUV trips to get it out of my old classroom and to my house.  My poor dog had to find a seat in the middle of all my stuff.

I am NEEDING to finish all of the projects I have started, and start the ones I had ideas for.

This is currently my "Products in Progress" folder.  134 items in that folder!!!  Tomorrow is supposed to be another rainy day at the beach, maybe I'll use that time to get working.

That's it for now!  If you're already back at school, I hope it's going well.  For those of you that aren't back yet, enjoy your summer :-)