Back to School

I'm back! Teacher work week started last Monday. And Monday-Wednesday the entire third grade team were sitting ducks as our classrooms were still under construction. Thursday morning was the first day we could get into our rooms. Our bulletin boards didn't get put up until Saturday morning and I've worked a total of 42 hours in the last 5 days, (well 4 days, I didn't go in on Sunday) trying to get my classroom ready. My poor fiance has met "back to school Jessica" and I'm hoping he still wants to marry me after seeing me turn into a drill sargent barking orders at him when he came to help me in my classroom.

The Before- Thursday

The After- Monday

 

I would love feedback, please leave a comment!!!!!

Pinterest Inspired: Back to School Treats

Here's another Pinterest Inspired idea... I'm going to give these to my students for our meet and greet in two weeks.

A while back I purchased some 1in by 8in clear cellophane baggies that had adhesive to close them. I filled them with plain M&Ms. I cut a tag using my Circut Expression and Plantain Schoolbook Cart at 2 inches on red cardstock and attached them to the M&M Sticks using some yellow ribbon. I used MyPinkStamper's *I Heart School* from her School Days stamp collection to decorate the tag. Very cute and very cheap!

What do you give your students?

VA Bloggers Meet Up

So I had a wonderful opportunity to meet up with some educators in Virginia who also blog. It was nice chatting with teachers from other districts and I can't wait to do it again! Check out their blogs...

Karen http://mrsstamp.blogspot.com
Kelly http://fromkindergartenwithlove.blogspot.com/
Cindy http://kindergartenlovesme.blogspot.com/
Heather http://begborrowandteach.blogspot.com/
Andrea http://www.oneteacherstake.com/

VA Bloggers

Apparently the Bloggers of VA are having a Get-Together and I'm going to try my best to be there. I love meeting new people, especially teachers who share my same passion for children, teaching and learning!

Organization: Teacher Supply Box Part 2

So I finally got my brother in law to spray paint the navy blue tool box black. I used pink and green scrapbook paper and used the font Tan Patty to create my labels.

Here's a link to my previous post http://jessicaywinston.blogspot.com/2012/06/organization-teacher-supply-toolbox.html?showComment=1340571205166#c7791477303761561868

Picture Perfect Science

I just finished a two day institute on Math, Science, Technology and Engineering at the MathScience Innovation Center in Richmond, Virginia. Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry were presenters at this conference. They are the authors of these books...
1- Picture Pefect Science
2- More Picture Perfect Science
3- Teaching Science through Trade Books


I had an opportunity to look through all the books and they are all amazing! I even purchased two of them and I don't even teach science! I teach Social Studies to two classes and my partner teaches the science. But as you know, I love to integrate childrens literature into my lessons, so this is a great way for me to reinforce our science standards through my reading lessons. They give you a lower and upper elementary book option (or use them both), a detailed lesson plan, and the cutest reproducibles!

They actually modeled a few of their lessons during the keynote address and their breakout sessions. The first activity they did was called Loco Beans. It used the book Lucas and His Loco Beans and we completed an investigation with Mexican Jumping Beans. Then they did a lesson on magnets with That Magnetic Dog. The lesson called Turtle Hurdles was the best. They used the books Turtle Bay and Turtle, Turtle Watch Out. They incorporated reading strategies during the read aloud (questioning, synthesizing), then we played a turtle survival game, we identified natural and human events that harm and help turtles.

My partner (the one who actually teachings science) bought the Picture Perfect Science book and I bought the other two. If I had to recommend just one book, it would be... Teaching Science with Trade Books. It comes with 50 lessons on how to use 100 childrens books to teach 1- Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science 2- Physical Science 3- Life Science 4- Earth and Space Science. You may be able to find these books cheaper on Amazon or other various sites.

So... what's your favorite book to teach science with?

Organization: Teacher Supply Toolbox

Another Pinterest inspired idea... I got the directions from Mrs. Rojas's blog. She lays out step by step directions for making a toolbox for yourself. This one is for a teammate who I love dearly (she's always cooking me up something good!) but needs a little help with organization. I gave it to her yesterday and she was THRILLED. You buy the 22 drawer Stack-On organizers in Lowe's for about $17. I found some scrapbook paper in my collection that I thought matched the toolbox. I created the supply names in a word document using CK Retro Block. I cut out the labels and glued them to the pieces of scrapbook paper. To create your own labels you would need 14 labels that are H 1.38" x W 2.00" and 8 labels that are H 2.12" x W 4.25". Then attached the pieces of scrapbook paper to the inside of the drawer using Scotch Double Stick Tape.

I ended up going back to buy another one for myself but I bought some black spray paint that you can use on plastic. I found some cute green/pink/black scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby for my labels. When it's finished I'll be sure to post pictures. If you want more ideas you can google "teacher toolbox lowes" and look at the images. There are some real cute ones out there.

So do you think you'll make one for yourself?