So much to do ...

I LOVE reading and seeing all the photos of the classrooms for this upcoming year!!  I just went by and saw my new classroom, let's just say there is A LOT of stuff in there I need to go through and organize before I even bring in my stuff!!!

On the bright side I have tons of storage and my room is HUGE!!!!  I am going in next week to start cleaning and organizing and hopefully start decorating soon :)  Animal print Safari theme coming soon!!

Do you Sqworl?

I'm sure many of you have already seen or heard about this cool website called Sqworl!  I finally checked out what all the hype was about and made a few groups for my kiddos to easily access websites during Daily 5 and other times throughout the day.  Feel free to browse the groups I've created!

Listen To Reading

Language Arts

Addition & Subtraction

Money Games

Some of the websites are for primary grades since I was teaching 2nd up until now ... I need to find some Websites for 4th grade!

STAR Binders...

I have seen many posts about the different binders used as communication between school and home.  I used them last year for the first time and they were a HUGE hit.  I did have to invest my own money so I was a little concerned about students loosing them or ruining them since the year before I felt I was replacing homework folder every six week if not more!!  I did not use a 3 ring notebook, but instead found the 3-prong poly folders at staples for 49 cents which is much cheaper than most places.  These held up ALL year long and not one student lost or ruined it!!  The parents loved them and so did I, helped me to keep things going home and coming back from home more organized.  


So last year I called them S.T.A.R Binders (Students Taking Awesome Responsibility).  This year I am going with a animal print theme and might change it up ... here is a website that I found to be helpful for finding different Binder Acronyms.

Binder Acronyms

As soon as I find a new name, I will be sure to post pictures of the new Folders and the components!!

To all my D5 people??

Ok so this will be my first time implementing D5 and The Cafe ... I am super excited about it, but I have some questions for those of you who have done it before and might have some suggestions for me ...

A little background first -- I will be departmentalized teaching reading/social studies ... so I will see 2 different classes each day.  Soooooo here are my questions??

** For my Cafe do I  just share the board for both classes?  I'm just thinking for when I introduce a skill for the 1st time and add it to the board ... I guess for the afternoon class I could take the skill down and re-introduce it or just wait to put it on the board??

** Book Bins -- I have a decent size classroom library but not huge by any means, how many books at minimum should the kids keep in their bins, I'm worried I wont have enough for 2 classes to have filled at the same time.

Thanks for your help, it's hard to visualize how this will work being I have not done it with one class and I'll be doing it for 2!!

Voice Levels

So a few of you were pretty interested in the Voice Levels banner I posted about below on the Vista Print Post ... before I start let me make sure you're aware I did not create this poster, it was an idea shared with me on the 2nd Grade Teachers Club ( I can't remember her name or if she even has a blog, but if you do please let me know so I can give proper credit).

SO this is how it works -- I uploaded the file to vista print to make a custom banner, once uploaded I stretched it to fit as big as I could on the Small Size Banner.  Here is the file you could print yourself or use vista print.

The first time I used Vista Print I only used the items that were listed as free.  When I got that first order in, they included a coupon code which pretty much gave me access to ALL the items on their site including all the cool designs, not just the ones under "Free"  you were also able to edit the designs and make them more personal.  I was able to use that same coupon code quite a few times, that is how I got so much for Free!!  But you can too it's easy and all you do is pay for the shipping ... just be careful there is a limit and once you hit that you will pay full price for items that go over.  Oh and sometimes you get coupons that offer free uploads which is how you can upload for instance the voice level poster for FREE too!  I have a few coupons I have scanned in they are kinda old so I apologize if the codes are no longer working but it's worth a try ...  Hope this helps please feel free to ask me any questions!!

Downloads
Voice Levels Poster

Vista Print

Many of you probably already know about this really cool website!  I just wanted to share some of the things I had made for my class this past year, check out Mrs. Lamb's Blog she has some wonderful ideas and many of my Vista Print Ideas came from her!! I'm thinking of some new things for this year, I'll be sure to post when I do!  Here are a few of the things I've done in the past ...

Business Card - I would use this and put it on their desk before they would get to school in the morning if their desk were REALLY clean!!!

Small Size Banner - Voice Levels (this idea came from a teacher at the 2nd Grade Teachers Club)

Postcard - I would send these home as a reminder for conferences

Same Post card, this is the back

Business Card - Used this for students to take home when they reached the top of the behavior chart!

Postcard

Small Size banner - this hung from the ceiling over my classroom Library

Another postcard

And another Postcard I would give out for Birthdays!!

If you haven't check out this site click on the link they have free stuff and once you order that, you get coupons for even more free stuff, all you pay is shipping ... EVERYTHING above was FREE!!!

Vista Print

My new Classroom!!!

I can't believe it's been forever since I have posted ... I'm taking summer Grad classes and have been super busy!  Anyway I couldn't help but share my excitement ... I went by the new school I will be teaching at this coming up year to pick up some resources and found out the room I thought I was going to be in had switched ... I got a sneak peak and it's HUGE!!!  I am so excited for the possibilities in this room, I can't wait to get in there in August to start putting it all together :)  Here are a few pics of the room ...

Proud Member of TBA !!

Check out my new post on TBA .. if you have not seen this blog yet -- go check it out now ... you wont regret it!!!

My New Design and Button!!!

YAY!!!!!!  My new design is up and running ;-)  Thank you soooo much Kristen you are so creative and talented!  If you haven't seen her blog you must check it out -- Ladybug Teaching Resources!

I also have a new button ...

                

All About 2nd Grade ....... is now ......  Mrs. Petite's Teaching Passion

Sooo if you have my blog button on your page already could you please :) change it to my new one!!!  Thank you :)  

Excited for new beginnings!

SO it's official I am moving to 4th grade, I will be at a new school as well ... at first this freaked me out and I was worried about being in a new school with new people ... well I got to meet my new team yesterday and today and they are just AWESOME!!!  It will be bittersweet to leave my old school behind, but I will always keep in touch with the friends I have made.  But I am very excited for next year and the opportunity I have!  On another not I am getting a new blog design from Kristen over at Ladybug Teaching Resources!!  I am sooo excited for my blog makeover can't wait!

Memory Book for Students --

Woohoo I have 100 followers!!!!!

So I must say this was not my original idea, I adapted this from the Busy Teacher's Cafe site.  But here is my version of the Memory Book!  I plan to make a book for each student to fill in.  Here is how I put mine together ...

I printed the cover on colored paper and the rest on white paper ( I printed mine B&W for the sake of saving ink)  Just fold the white paper in half so that the text is on the outside then slide it in the cover staple and your done!

Click here to Download Memory Book!

It's been WAY too long!!

WOW! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last blogged ;-(

I have been super busy and lots of stress both personal and professional ...  I found out I am being displaced ... our district is projecting extremely low numbers for next year which is normally the case, but they are lower than usual this time and so their are more displaced teachers than vacancies this upcoming year.  So what does that mean for me???  Well if I do not get picked up by another school which could be likely, they will no longer have a substitute list and therefore all displaced teachers will become long term or short term subs until they find a permanent place for them.  On a good note I keep my salary and benefits regardless of what happens.  But I'm still pretty bummed out I has so many plans and things I wanted to do for next year... but I'm trying to stay positive and I always say "Everything happens for a reason"

Well now enough with that hopefully I will keep up with my blog and have some stuff to share soon!

Linky Party -- A Few of My Favorite Things...

I'm linking up with Katie over at Persnickety Pickles for this fun non-teacher related party!  

1. My Family & Friends -- I love spending time with them and hanging out!  We moved to TX and so now I don't see them as much as I would like so when I do I make the most of it :)


2. Ice Cream -- Absolutely have to have my ice cream!  And I'm not picky I can just about eat any flavor, but right now I've been enjoying Pralines and Cream!


3. My Puppies -- They are like my kids, I love how when your having a bad day or just need some extra love they're always there for you :)


4. My MacBook -- I love this thing and not sure I could do without it ... It hold everything important to me, crazy how far we have come with technology and how important it is to so many of us.


5. My iPhone -- Funny I wanted an iPhone for such a long time, but never wanted to phone bill!!!  Well I finally caved, and now I can't imagine life without it!!  


6. My New Car -- Hyundai Santa Fe... oh how I love you!  I had been driving around a beat up car that was soooo ready to be let go and now I have this wonderful new car and couldn't be happier :)


7. Summer -- I love summer time and spending it outside laying out at the beach or poolside!!

Hope you enjoyed a few of my favorite things ... go link up and join the party!

Pom Poms!!

So my students have been chatter boxes lately and it's still way too early for that to be happening!!!  Soooooo I decided to change up how my kids can earn their Free Friday.  So heres how it works -- each group has a bucket and when their caught being good or staying on task they earn a pom pom, but the twist is that if they aren't behaving or talking whatever it is then I get the pom pom.  Basically their goal is to have more than me by friday and they get their fun friday!  Seems like no big deal -- oh but having them compete against me seems to make the difference, they don't want me to beat them so all I have to say is Pom pom and they get quiet really quick!  So far so good hopefully it will continue!

So I would Love to hear what you do in your classroom to keep your kiddos on task!

I'm getting there

Here are just a couple of the pictures I took today of my classroom library -- still need to finish leveling all my books and putting the labels on.  But the baskets are labeled and waiting for books to be back in them ;-)  Here's to a busy weekend!

If you like the labels used or considering leveling your library and need labels, head on over to Ladybug's Teacher Files!!