Five for Friday -- Classroom Setup!

Happy Friday!

And it is happy! I spent the week working in my classroom. My goal was to have it completely set up (insert picture of clean, pretty classroom all set up--can you believe I forgot to take one as I left??? I promise I'll do a reveal when I go back.). Now I can relax next week--my last week before reporting on August 17th! Yikes!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five Four for Friday again.

I'm a bad blogger and didn't take very many pictures today!

1

I got a new phone, and I am loving the quality of the pictures I'm getting!

Just look at those pencil sharpeners! My kiddos use these on their colored pencils ONLY because my sharpener doesn't like colored pencils. 

I took this picture only because I needed to show our school secretary what to order--somehow got missed on my supply list.

2

My "Be" board is complete.

I bought these wooden letters at Wal-Mart. My daughter painted them orange, hot glued thumb tacks on the back, and here you have it.

I'm going to add words to the board after we talk about them. 

First up:

I purchased the words from Tonya's Treats for Teachers--reasonable price made them a HUGE time saver!

I took the "Be" board pictures this morning when I was still energetic and thinking about my blog post. Ha!

3

My new student packs--also something I did early in the day so I remembered the picture!

 I used this for my G is for Genius Instagram post because, well, it is genius! Not sure where I first saw the idea, but after my first year of teaching and rushing around to gather items for my new students, I knew this was the answer! Inside these bags is everything I need to quickly get prepared for a new little person to join my classroom. ;-)

In case you're wondering, the flip book is an editable FREEBIE from Pride and Primary.

4

This picture...I actually took, added the writing, and sent to my principal with the message: Not happy! :(

Don't be worried for me. 

My principal is a friend, so I can do this sort of thing and not get in trouble. Ha! 

The technology people installed WiFi routers in our rooms, and apparently my principal forgot to let me know this messy installation was only temporary. 

Huge sigh of relief!

A few minutes after reassuring me this was not the finished install, he sent me a text wanting to know how to write on pictures. LOL!

And that's all I've got...

Have a great weekend!

Ladybugs, Ladybugs - Cute Bulletin Board Idea!

Well, it's that time again...when Kristi and I are responsible for decorating the HUGE bulletin board outside the office. We didn't want to do the same thing as last year - even though it was super cute! Click here to check that one out - it is our all-time most popular blog post. Maybe this one can take over that title. :-)

 

We always get a kick out of how different the finished product is from the examples we show. We found this idea here at I Heart My Kinder Kids. We adapted it a bit by using a die-cut circle for the head and strips of black construction paper for the legs. The kids painted the paper plates red and used black marker for the spots. And let's not forget the wiggly eyes - kids love wiggly eyes. Ha!

 

This bulletin board was super easy because the background was up from the teachers who had the board in March so we got to keep it!

 

I wonder if that is cheating... ;-)

 

Hope you're having a wonderful week!

 

Crystal

Writing Bulletin Board!!!

Place Value Boot Camp is going great! I know Kristi is going to share some pictures when she blogs this weekend, but I'll just say it has been fun and (best of all) it seems to be working! Hooray!

 

I wanted to share some pictures of the bulletin board we did for our "First Grade Authors." They did a great job with their narrative writing. I tried to get some pictures with illustrations then get a little closer so you could read their super cute stories. Check them out:

 

 

I have to tell you about this last one... I brainstormed with each student individually to make sure their story had a plot (LOL!) using the Sombody Wanted But So strategy. The little girl who wrote this one came up with a very simple, unexciting story when she was with me. I ended up telling her to go pick her favorite out of her Writer's Notebook and copy it because they were far better than when I "helped" her!

 

Happy Wednesday! Tomorrow is "Friday" for us. We have self-directed staff development on Friday, which means time to work in our rooms! Yippee!

 

Crystal

 

Snowman Pictures Have Arrived!!

Sorry, that we didn't get this posted earlier, but we were having troubles getting the pictures to upload. 

Here they are.....the variety of snowmen :-).  It is funny how the same directions were given and how different they can come out in the end.  LOL!  Anyways, we thought they were pretty cute and the kids had a great time making them. 

Hope all of you have had a great week!  Kristi

Cute Faces and Randomness!

Hooray! We finally had time to do our faces for my "The FACE of a Reader" bulletin board.

 

 

 

Aren't they cute? I seriously got some giggles out of these. :-)

 

Sorry the picture is so dark. When I don't have students (before school, plan time, lunch time, or after school), I like to sit in the dark. Weird, I know, but it helps me relax, okay? And I didn't realize I should have turned the lights on until I uploaded the pictures...and I'm too tired to do it again.

 

Why so tired?

 

Well, besides having a long day...

 

I thought it might be fun to share what currently keeps me busy outside of school:

 

This is my son running cross country. He typically runs on Thursday nights, but this week it was Tuesday so I already felt like it should be Friday. Maybe some of my kiddos at school helped me feel that way...but I would never say. ;-)

 

This is my daughter playing volleyball. She plays on Thursday nights - yes, the same night my son is usually running in different places. Hubby and I have been taking turns to go watch them.

 

I took several pictures on this night trying to prove that she always has her hands on her knees. Ha! Ha! Believe me, I caught several with her like that. I even recorded a few minutes for her to watch and see.

 

I know, I know. I'm horrible!

 

I can't help it! I played volleyball in college and coached it for 4 years...I am trying very hard to be mom - and not coach though.

 

Have a great rest of the week!

 

Crystal

 

Sprucing Up Boards and Blinds - Monday Made-It!

This Monday Made-It is all about sprucing up my classroom. First, the bulletin boards! Last year they painted all of our hallway bulletin boards black. I love it! Most of the time I don't even add background paper, just a border, the artwork and it looks awesome.

So as I sat in my room last week, dreaming of all the bulletin boards I can't put up (because the laminator is broken), I thought why not paint these bulletin boards black too... My Daily 5 bulletin board set and the Writing Center I bought from Mrs. Cupcake would look great with a black background, so I talked my hubby into helping. I am a messy painter and I had visions of paint all over the wall and floor and me getting into serious trouble! He did a wonderful job. I LOVE IT!!!!

Before - Front of the room.

Before - Back of the room.

After - Front of the room.

After - Back of the room.

While hubby worked on that, I tackled another eyesore in my room - the blinds. These roller blinds are HUGE and UGLY. I'm sure at one time they looked great, but now they are stained and dingy. In this picture they are closed for the summer, but I usually leave them half open to let in the natural light. Please excuse the mess!

Before - Blinds behind my desk area.

After - Aren't they lovely?

A little bit of fabric and black duct tape does wonders!

I LOVE THESE!

Okay, if you are in a similar situation, here is how I did it. My blinds were 4 ft. wide and I knew I kept them pulled down with about 3 ft. of the shade exposed. I went to Wal-Mart and found fabric. My first pick went along with my sports theme, but it was nearly $6 a yard (or $32 for my project). Um, NO! So I settled for this fabric on the clearance rack for $2 a yard. The fabric was 44" wide, leaving me with 2" exposed on each side of the blind...enter duct tape border. It is all the rage anyway, right? I used spray adhesive to attach the fabric and then added the duct tape...couldn't be happier with it! :-)

And of course, the kids had to be busy too! Here is their project - my math cubby shelf.

Before - Math Cubbies (found those baskets the other day $1 for 2 just the other day and was testing them out)

After - Black to match other things in my room.

Don't forget to link up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics to share your Monday Made-It!

Have a blessed day!

Crystal

Olivia the Pig Bulletin Board and Earth Day Writing Fun

This week, we read the story "Olivia" in our Treasures Reading Series.  The kids just loved Olivia so we decided that for our Extra Fun Thing this week, we would make these adorable Olivia pigs that I found on Pinterest here. The kids had a great time making them and we were so proud because as you can see below, our kids followed directions so well! LOL!!

We also talked about Earth Day and things we could do to help keep our Earth clean.  The students then wrote about what they could do to keep the Earth clean and made the Earth guy that I found on Pinterest  here.  Crystal was not too thrilled with the shirt part of it and all the folding and directions to be followed that had to occur to get the final product.  But in the end, we made it through and they turned out very cute.   Check them out!

I hope all of you have a great and restful weekend!!! 

Kristi

April Showers... Bulletin Board and Base 10 Block Art

At our school, there is a HUGE bulletin board outside the office and each grade level has gets to decorate it one month out of the school year. We are in charge of April and found this super cute bulletin board idea here.

We decided to have students make the umbrellas and flowers for our "Extra Fun Thing." We both use this as a reward in our classroom to make Fridays special. Students who have completed all of their work for the week and had good behavior (no more than 3 problems) get to do the "Extra Fun Thing." We keep it a secret all week and the kids love to try and guess what we will be doing. It is usually art, but sometimes we play games in the computer lab or have extra recess.

Anyway, here's our completed bulletin board. Isn't it cute?

We also worked on Base 10 Block art this week. We got the idea from Kristy over at Teachin' First. Students used flats, longs, and cubes to make an original piece of art. Then they had to title it and calculate the value of their art for the price tag. Some of them were pretty creative! See below:

Enjoy your weekend! Rest up! :-)

Kristi and Crystal