Monday Made It! 8/4/14 {Shared Supplies}

DID THAT BLOG TITLE REALLY JUST SAY AUGUST? August only means one thing to teachers on summer vacation....the days are dwindling....and according to Calvin, I have to come out of the coffin.

I, however, have been in B2S mode since the beginning of July. I moved my classroom down the hall and we had some major changes happening in the building. Plus, I got bored with my old classroom stuff and needed some new things.

SO, I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics again this week to bring you my "Monday Made It"! Two weeks in a row! That's a record for me!

Last year I had more of an "owl" theme than a Harry Potter theme. I don't really know how that happened, seeing that my original idea was to have a Harry Potter room. Alas, most of the gifts and things I received from students last year were all owls. Although I love and appreciate any and all gifts, the owls were a little out of control. The plan for this year, more Harry, less Hedwig.

We are starting this year with brand new tables in first grade. I'm pretty excited to have them. Our old desks were outdated and a mess. They didn't stay propped open and always SLAM-SLAM-SLAMMED all day. So now the new conundrum.....how to do this whole "table and shared supplies" thing?!

I started out knowing that I did not want my students to have a million supplies to play with on their tables all day, so I purchased mini caddies for $2.99 each at Hobby Lobby. You can order some {here}! I bought the neon green to match some things I already have in my room. They only had blue in my store. I will keep scissors, glue, markers, etc. in these bins and keep them on a shelf off the tables until we need them.

I also knew that I wanted my students to have pencils and crayons on the tables all day, so I purchased small crayon bins (2 per table) at the Dollar Tree. They were only $1 for a set of 4! So I bought 3 sets. SCORE! I got them in the store, but the pickings were getting slim. I think teachers stalk out the Dollar Tree waiting for shipments. You can order in bulk on their website {here}! I, again, purchased the neon green which magically matches the Hobby Lobby bins! I love it when things work out for me that way!!

And then the decorating and labeling began. Here's what I've ended up with for each of my tables!!

{Crayon bins for each table}

{Supply bins, one per table}

I'm ready to get these things in my room and see how they work out! Now to go check on what other people are making!! :)

Talk soon,

August Currently and Back to School Thoughts

I can't believe I actually made it to "Currently" on the first day of the month! This might be a first for me!! I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy, 4th Grade to bring you some thoughts on this oh so wonderful "Back to School Month" Friday!

I'm feeling it...I'm feeling it...That familiar excitement for the return to a brand new school year. The end of last year was *rough* for me, make that ROUGH with all caps. I was losing my creativity and had no energy and didn't think summer break would ever be long enough. Now that I've moved classrooms and gotten a few new things made, I'm getting ready again! I think my favorite part of the beginning of the year is the shiny, brand new supplies, and the anticipation of the school year ahead. (It's always peaches and cream in the beginning isn't it?)

Anyways, enough rambling. Here is my currently! Can't wait to see what you all have for me to read!

Listening: to the soothing sounds of Roseanne on the Logo TV Network...ha! I love this show! Tuning out to some trashy TV is such a luxury after a day spent working and creating and thinking and thinking and thinking....and thinking.

Loving: I've made so many cute new things for my room this year. Continue to check back each Monday as I post my creations as my Monday Made it! Next week I'll show you how I'm handling shared/community supplies in my classroom for the first time ever! Eek!

Thinking: I can't stop thinking about planning and organization lately. It must be the pregnancy brain in me..."nesting" they call it? Can you "nest" in your own classroom???

Wanting: It's a Friday tradition in our home to make or buy pizza. We call it "Pizza Friday" and it's the one night a week I look forward to dinner because it's easy, yummy, and my husband can do it all on his own with minimal instruction from me!

Needing: More money is always a necessity. There are so many containers and things I've purchased for my classroom - but I'm pretty good with coupons, discounts, and gift cards. I NEED to get this room finished next week!

Talk soon,

Monday Made It! 7/28/14 {Bulletin Board Clips}

I finally made it to a "Monday Made It" this summer! Linking up 4th Grade Frolics this week after an *eh-hem* extended "made it" vacation....

 It's been a little nutty trying to get things ready for a new room in the first grade wing, new tables, and *finally* shared supplies! I've been hard at work crafting things for my Harry Potter themed classroom, so today I bring you my latest and greatest idea. 

Last year I displayed my student work on a large bulletin board with the usual staples. Every time I wanted to switch work around (usually once a week or every other week), I would inevitably rip and tear my students's work. GAAHHH!!! So frustrating. So in the middle of year I decided that next year, there had to be a change and TA-DA!....the idea was born. 

I started out thinking I wanted to hang student work in the hallway on string using clothespins. I did this and it worked out well, until someone opened the door and blew all of my papers right off the wall....again ripping or tearing them. Oh, the headaches.

This year I'm going to use my large bulletin board WITH CLOTHESPINS! {What, you say? Clothespins can't be affixed to a bulletin board you say?!!?} Well, genius me decided to glue thumbtacks to the back of mini clothespins to hang work from! No more rips, no more tears, no more sad teacher ruining hard work!! Here's how it works:

I started with the following supplies:

1.) Mini clothespins

2.) Hot glue gun and glue sticks

3.) Thumbtacks (the kind with the semi-flat end, NOT push pins!)

4.) Yellow acrylic paint

5.) Black sharpie

I hot glued a thumbtack to the back of each mini clothespin until I had an army of them ready to paint. Since you only see the front of the clothespin, I only painted the front of the clothespin. {Why make more work for yourself?}

After the paint was good and dry, I drew a lightning bolt on each clothespin with black sharpie, because (duh) Harry Potter has a lightning shaped scar. 

I'm super excited to get these babies up on my board at school and display some fun first grade projects! I made sure to make some extras in the event that thumbtacks come unglued or clothespins come apart. Can't wait to see what everyone else is working on for their rooms!

Talk soon,

Tune into Technology Linky Week 1: Integrating Technology Into Reading

Today I'm linking up with Kristin at iTeach1:1 for her Tuesday summer linky party, Tune Into Technology! If you want to link up and blog along, go visit Kristin's blog, grab the graphics, and let's go! Here are the weekly topics:

This week's topic is using reading in technology. There are two very important ways that I use reading technology in my first grade classroom. Last year my district adopted the Houghton Mifflin CCSS series, Wonders. While I'm not always a fan of a basal series, I am a fan of all the awesome technology I get to use on the iPads and SMARTboard in my classroom. To start, I get to make all of my plans, input my students, and choose all of the resources I like to pull up on my SMARTboard. This is so much nicer for my firsties than the typical, "Get out your book. Open to page 134. Stephanie, please read for us." BORING!!! There are several different voices that read aloud for students for when they are sick of my voice :), which (let's face it) does happen!!

Here are some things I have my firsties do:

1.) They love to practice their grammar with the online games and resources. Another class favorite is the grammar song, which we all clap and sing along to!

2.) My students can use the iPads to access the Wonders app to read their stories for the week, and have access to their guided reading books both in the classroom and at home! They love to play the games on the Wonders app that match the skills we are practicing for the week as well. I often use this during literacy centers time.

The second thing I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to use in my classroom for reading is Scholastic News. Each year every first grader gets a subscription to Scholastic News, a print magazine for students with plenty of informational text. Each month has 4 issues related to things happening that month. For example, there will be an issue about Spring, weather, and St. Patrick's Day in the March issues.

Although my students get the print issue, I do the entire lesson on my SMARTboard using the online resources on scholastic.com. It has plenty of little "extras" such as vocabulary words highlighted in purple that students can click and hear a definition and see a picture to match the word. My students love to come up to the board and choose the answers to the quizzes on the back of each issue, as well. There is a skills game and a opening (preview) video for each issue for students to enjoy as well. 

Can't wait to see all the new ideas that I can integrate into my classroom! Go link up! 

Talk soon,

Blogger Meetup and Currently July!

This week started with an awesome Monday Blogger Meetup at Brio inside the lovely Yorktown Mall property! I met so many nice ladies and a nice guy to follow and blogstalk. Thank you to Erin at The Short and Sassy Teacher for hooking me up with this cool event!! What I found most helpful was putting a face to the blog name and hearing how others use their blogs to spread ideas and make themselves a little cash using TpT. Now, I'm not very good at the whole marketing aspect of blogging, but I loved hearing what helped make them successful! 

After we shared some tips, ideas, a little about ourselves, we headed up to The Chalkboard for some teacher shopping. I was able to pick out some new borders and things for my new classroom (not a new grade, just a new room away from the stinky corner I so lovingly called "pee corner" because my room was directly across from the first grade boys' bathroom...you can imagine what that was like day in and day out...) My goal for July is to NOT ENTER AND SET UP THE CLASSROOM. I need a solid month off to reboot....but that doesn't mean I'm not at home crafting and planning...and planning...and planning!!! 

Now....

Linking up a day late with Farley at Oh Boy, 4th Grade for July's edition of Currently...

Listening: I believe it was Anchored in 3rd that said she was a sucker for trash tv in her free time. Amen, sistah! I'm enjoying the early days of RHONJ when the drama seemed more real and the ladies were VERY "jersey".

Loving: I've only been on summer break officially since June 19th so I'm loving getting some much needed sleep and relaxation.

Thinking: They come between 12 & 2. SO EXCITED!!!

Wanting: Being pregnant means I have to watch the caffeine intake. I really would love a Coke right now!

Needing: I'm currently reading about 12 books...okay maybe not 12 but a lot. I need more time and faster processing in my brain to absorb all the goodness!

4th Plans: ALWAYS the parade in the morning and this year we are having a shin-dig at my aunt's. Complete with a fireworks show at the park! I love the 4th of July but this is usually the mid-mark to summer and I feel like I've only just begun!

I'm on the search for a cool way to store shared supplies....new post coming soon!

Talk soon,

Getting Creative for Next School Year - Tables and Harry Potter!

I've officially been on "Summer Vacation" for 7 days now, and the bug has already bitten me! I've made my list and started getting ready for next school year. 

If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with all things Harry Potter. Last year I discovered the cutest of all Harry Potter clipart for my little firsties by Emily Wean, {here}, but I didn't discover this treasure until after the school year had already begun. So this summer I am transforming some of my old signs into new, updated Harry Potter signs. I'm working on my classroom jobs, mailbox names, book box signs, etc. 

Something super exciting for my little firsties next year is that I will have tables, yes TABLES, instead of desks for them! No more SLAM, SLAM, BAM, SHUFFLE, MOVE, TIP OVER of desks in my room! Hallelujah! I could just cry they are so beautiful....

So today I worked on my table signs to hang above the tables from my ceiling. You can download them { here } in my TpT store. They are completely editable, so if you have a HP classroom, they are perfect for you to label and do as you please! 

Now to research the best way to share supplies on these tables....hmm....

Talk soon,

June Currently and Summer Plans

I officially feel like a terrible teacher blogger, but I promise to make it up this summer!

The "spring" seems to have gotten away with me. I use quotation marks because "spring" in Chicago this year was snow, cold, snow, cold, rain, cold.....gray. It was simply awful. However, it seems those days are behind us as the humidity and 85+ degree weather is back! I'll never complain about summer heat again!!! (maybe.)

We are still in school in my district due to the 4 extreme temperature days that we had in January and February. It feels like the winter has played a part in making everyone in our building just a bit crabby and ready for a break. I've even caught myself singing, "This is the year that never ends....yes it goes on and on my friends..." I'll try to keep my chin up and survive the next 5 days! I CAN DO IT! I CAN DO IT! CAN I DO IT? I mean...I CAN DO IT!!!

Here's my June currently, linked up with Oh, Boy 4th Grade:

Listening: Self-explanatory

Loving: HALLELUJAH it's warm! No jacket for this teacher!

Thinking: I'm so exhausted I plan on doing not one thing the week after school lets out. I just need to sleep and relax and then get back in the swing of it!

Wanting: Frozen Cokes are my super summer vice.....must...drink....cold....slushie....

Needing: Summer vacation to get my life in order!

Summer bucket list: Crafts! I plan on crafting a lot for my home and for wedding gifts for two sweet friends. Maybe Short and Sassy will be by my side? Also, enjoying my garden is a must. The herbs are planted and it's ready to go! Lettuce, basil, rosemary, lavender...all the necessities. Lastly, and again, need my Short and Sassy Teacher for this one...make it to a blog meetup! Get ideas! Get motivated!!!

Talk soon,