My First Monday Made It!!!!

I have been wanting to link up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics every week since it started ... I would pin my little heart out with tons of ideas, but never got around to making anything ... so finally I got busy yesterday and a little today!!  Here is what I have made so far ...

I'm so excited about the Boggle Game ... I used a cookie sheet from the $ Store, and I think it turned out super cute!!  This was my first time using Mod Podge and I was nervous when I first brushed it on, but It sure did dry clear, thank goodness!

 I added the stickers to help spruce it up!!

Cutting out over 100 letters and adding magnets to the back was my least favorite part of this project!

Next up, is the this cool management piece which I saw all over pinterest!  Again so excited about how it turned out!

Objective display! I have the signs on my Teacher's Notebook Store.

I loved this Reading game, and got excited when I found the trays at the $ Store!!!  So I snagged 4 of them, I plan to make 2 fiction like the one you see below, and also 2 nonfiction!  I got the idea from Life In First Grade, check her blog out if you haven't, she has awesome ideas!!

Well thats it for now, I will have a lot more in the coming weeks!!!  Nothing like waiting all summer long to finally get things done :-)

Objective Display

I love the daily objective displays that I have seen all over pinterest!!  I created these backgrounds that can be used in the frames or used with the ribbon shown below ... click on the picture to download the backgrounds!

New stuff and some FREEBIES!!

I've been busy this evening making stuff for my classroom ...

I love the Popcorn sight word games and decided to make it myself ... I created 3 different games using the dolche sight words for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade.

Click here to visit my TPT store to download 1 or all three!

I also created a Jungle clip chart for tracking students AR points.  You would assemble it just like you would the behavior chart, but instead your tracking AR points not behavior!

Click here for AR Clip Chart

I have been seeing the Boggle bulletin boards everywhere on Pinterest and plan to make one when I get into my classroom!  So here is a link to download the letters!!

Source: Mrs. Rojas Teaches

Another Pinterest inspired idea ... Create a basket for students to put damaged books in.  They take the book to the "Book Hospital".  Also when you find missing pieces and not sure where they belong have a basket for that as well!  Here are signs to go with your baskets!!!

Source: A Teachers Treasure

Hope you're enjoying your summer!!  I go back August 20th, so I am trying to enjoy what is left :)

Mother's Day Craft

Last year my kiddos made these coasters and they were such a hit, we are doing them again this year!!  All you need is white shower tiles, felt for the bottom, and permanent markers.  I also sprayed shellack to give them a nice glossy finish.

Eeek ... Spiders!!

We started our spider unit this week, and I was soooo excited with all the awesome resources I found on other blogs ...  Please check out the links from the following blogs, they all have such awesome ideas!  Thanks ladies :-)

We used this idea from Mrs. Carroll over at The First Grade Parade ...

The the students created Spider Facts from the chart and made their own sentences, and we put it together using this creative idea from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits , the kids loved

Then today we used the Spider Research Freebie from Mrs. Lemons over at Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons and let me tell you my kids absolutely LOVED doing this, and they really did such a great job!!!  I was very impressed :-)  

Thanks for the resources!  

To Save or not to Save the Ant...

A few weeks ago we were learning about Author's Purpose ... I came across this super cute book, Hey, Little Ant.  We were talking about persuasion and this book was perfect.  The little boy in the book is about to squish this Ant when the ant tries to convince him not too, at the end the author leaves the ending up to the reader as to wether the boy should or should not squish the ant.  My kiddos were really into it and had a lot of responses about why the ant should live ... so we made these cute little ants with black construction paper and pipe cleaners.  Then I gave them each an index card and they had to write to the boy convincing him to either squish the ant or not squish the ant.

We are Bucket Fillers!

I finally made my buckets, I got them at Hobby Lobby and soooo excited for how they turned out!!!  So I would love to know how you manage your bucket filling ... the first day we did it they went pom-pom crazy so we stopped using the pom poms and went with the little letters I have found on other blogs ... so my problem is that they seem to want to write a note to EVERYONE and for EVERYTHING... don't get me wrong I love that they are so excited about it, but I don't want them doing it every second of the day.  So I would love to hear how you manage bucket filling in your classroom.  Thanks!!

I couldn't Have done it without all of you...

Five weeks ago I was setting up my room for my new 4th graders ... then 3 weeks into the school year I found out I would be going back to my old school and would have just 2 days to get my room ready for my eager 2nd graders!  I was happy to be going back and especially in 2nd grade, but a little overwhelmed when I knew I would have to take down everything in my room and start all over in only 2 days.  However with the awesome ideas I find on blogs and Pinterest I was able to finish with ease!  I am really happy with how it turned out, I must say it's pretty "bloggerific"  Thanks again to everyone who has inspired me, some ideas were too good to change, so I hope you don't mind I swiped with pride and my kids will truly benefit from all these awesome resources and ideas I am using!

Writing Center -- Idea from Persnickety Pickles

OMG!!!  I loved this the minute I saw it, and I love that my kids talk about being "Peacemakers"  Anyway this idea was way too cute and good to change in anyway so yes I followed every step down to the drawing!  Thanks soooo much to the The First Grade Parade!

 I love these math Key words, and I can't for the love of me remember where I found them, but thanks!!! :-)

My Focus Wall!!

My Leveled Library behind my teacher desk, I sorted all the books from the reading street adoption!  Something I wanted to do, and so glad I did!

Behind the teachers desk!

So you can't see it but I finally splurged and bought a mini fridge!!  Woohoo, it's right below these shelves :-)

A view from behind the teachers desk

YAY!!!  We are Bucket Filler!!  I loved how this turned out and so excited to see my kids writing nice notes to one another and how happy they were to get them at the end of the day ;-)

I hope you enjoyed a little classroom tour and again thanks to all the awesome ideas, I truly couldn't do it without you :)