Survived BTSN

Well, I've survived the first two weeks of school and our annual Back to School Night! I've been doing great with the goals I set for myself... except for goal #3, which is to leave school after the buses pull out. But I guess late nights are to be expected the first couple of weeks of school. But now that BTSN is over, I'll definitely be leaving by 4:15pm each day!

Me... rocking Back to School Night!

Speaking of BTSN, here's a photo of what I had waiting for parents on their child's desk. 

• Food Permission Slip
• Movie Permission Slip
• Learning Handbook (a copy of all study guides for the year spiral bound into a book)
• Parent Handbook (policies and procedures of our classroom)
• Student Log In Card for access at home
• "Pineapple of my Eye" paper for parents to write a note to their child on (Ford's Board)

student desk

I thought I share a couple more photos from our classroom so far.

We read The Potato Chip Champ by Maria Dismondy and completed a writing activity from Stories by Storie. 

We talked about mathematicians and completed an activity from Amy Lemons. 

My students have been earning Smart Tags and stickers on their Super Improver Cards

Here are some of our Anchor Charts that we've created.

Our "Stuck? Try 2 Before Me" Poster. Christina Bainbridge had this as a handout but I made it into an anchor chart for our classroom.

So that's what we've been up to in room 303, hope to share more photos next week!

Made It Monday 8*14*17

I've spent the last week working on "cosmetic aspects" of my classroom. I remade my 7 Habits Posters and letters for my classroom bulletin boards and walls. I'm not one to plaster my walls with store bought or even hand made posters. Everything on my walls now have a distinct purpose, mostly it's related to "creating leaders" in my classroom. As the year goes on, I'll add the anchor charts we create to various parts of our classroom. 

These are my new 7 Habit Posters. They are modeled after the ones in Amy Groesbeck's classroom. She offers the templates for FREE on TpT, you just add your own text. 

Here they are above one of my bulletin boards in my classroom. 

I made my bulletin board header out of the Creative Clips Alphabet Letter Bundle. I intend to post reading anchor charts and posters on this board. 

I also made this bulletin board header out of the Creative Clips Alphabet Letter Bundle. I intend to post math anchor charts and posters on this board.

I also made letters using the Creative Clips Alphabet Letter Bundle.

I have a huge wall above my cabinets in my classroom and I use it as my "anchor chart wall" and hang anchor charts from it that we create throughout the year. For now it has the school expectations pinned to it. 

Here's my classroom Wellness Station. My solution to bleeding, sore throats, tummy aches and sore limbs! I used Learning in Wonderland's Let's Get Organized for these labels. 

So that's what I've been working on. I'm trying to keep myself out of my classroom so I can enjoy my last two weeks of summer vacation, we'll see if that happens! Looking for more Made It Monday ideas, check out 4th Grade Folics!

Summer Projects

It doesn't even feel like I've been on vacation! Shortly after school got out our 4 year old niece and 2 year old nephew came to visit and stayed for 10 days. I don't know how you mom's do it, I was worn out. Between Paw Patrol, getting them to swim lessons, baths and bedtime stories I didn't know whether I was coming or going!   The day after they left I started teaching summer school. I choose a different school and grade level this summer, wanted a change of scenery. I had no idea that my summer school was a Leadership/7 Habits of Happy Kids School! I will be blogging about how they implement the program school wide, as of now I'm the only one at my current school who does it, so this has been a learning experience for me.   I've also been knee deep in creating resources!

I've decided that my student's take home folder will now be called their SMORE Folder! I'll place these inserts inside the Nicky Folders I order for them, this year I'm purchasing black folders.

I've decided that my students graded papers folder will now be called their VIP Folder.  I'll place these inserts inside the Nicky Folders I order for them, this year I'm purchasing silver folders 

My division/school is finally jumping on the I Can Statement bandwagon. I've decided to have my typed and ran on colored paper. I'll run math on pink paper, social studies blue paper, science on green paper and so on.

Math I Can Statements

Science I Can Statements

Social Studies I Can Statements

What have you been up to?