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 :)

Sorry it's been so long...

I wanted to write a long time ago and post pictures of my new room and everything.  But then I would get super busy and didn't have time for much of anything but SLEEP ... anyway like I said things have been crazy, and well I really mean CRAZY!!!  SO for those who followed my blog you know I was displaced last year from my school where I taught 2nd grade.  This was the districts doing not my Principals choice ... so I was upset but came to terms and I was ready for a new journey at my new school and in 4th grade!!  Started the year and everything was going great, new team and co-workers were really welcoming and I was adjusting to 4th grade... then oh yes you guessed it they realized they never should have displaced me and now I am back at my old school ... crazy yes!!  But I am very happy to be back in 2nd where I truly feel my heart belongs ;-)  I am also happy to be back with my good friends and co-workers at my old school.  Soooo now that I am back and getting settled I will hopefully be able to get back into blogging!

Ocean Theme Clip Chart

I had a follower ask about making a clip chart with an Ocean theme ... I had some time this evening and put something together!  Hope you like it :-)

Ocean Clip Chart

Another Freebie...

Every time I think I have everything I need, there's one more thing I find to do... here are my new Pencil Buckets!

Click HERE to download the labels!

Jungle/Safari Clip Chart

I am going through my files printing out stuff I need to laminate and get ready for next week ... I can't wait to get into my classroom!!!  So I am figuring out what I have ... what I need ... and what I can make!  I used the Behavior Clip Chart for the first time last year and I loved it.  However I started using it half way through the year and just made a quick one and knew I would want to remake it for this year.  I am doing a Safari/Jungle theme in my room and decided to make it go with that.  I figured I would share in case there are others doing a similar theme and could use it!  Hope someone finds this useful.

Click HERE to download!

Pinterest Inspired Poster!

I'm sure many of you have heard of Pinterest, if not you really should go check it out!  It's a really great way to organize things you find on the web.  I would always find something and then when I wanted to find it later I could never remember where it was or how to find it ... now I have Pinterest Boards and I have everything neatly organized.  Anyway I created a poster from an Idea I found on Pinterest and wanted to share with all my bloggy friends :-)  Hope you can use it!

Found on Pinterest ... 

This is what I created!

Click Here to Download your own Poster!

Vista Print

I just placed an order ... it's nothing big, but I am super excited about it!!!  First let me tell you about a super cute blog I found as I was browsing stalking Pinterest ... First Grade Fever  , Christi had an awesome giveaway which I was so excited to receive.  I decided to use them with my Vista Print order!!  She created these really cute Personalized Jungle Posters and postcards, I thought it was perfect for my Jungle/Safari theme I'm doing this year!  Anyway I uploaded them to Vista Print and can't wait for my order to come so i can send my new students their welcome postcards before school starts!!  I ordered a new pen and some business cards too ...  Check out Christi's Blog she has a lot of cute ideas and other freebies on her site!

Medium Poster

Front of Post Card -- 100 Free!

Back of Post Card -- I am sending this to my kiddos, just hope I get it in time (fingers crossed!)

Free Pen

250 Free Business Cards

Currently ...

I'm linking up with Farley of Oh Boy 4th Grade to share what is currently happening with me...

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!!