Death by DPP, PST, Professional Development and everything else.

If it's not a workshop its a professional development meeting, a parent teacher conference, a data chat,PST, IEP meeting, you get my point. I am one more meeting added to my agenda away from sobbing like a baby. The only thing keeping me sane is finding new things on pinterest to make. I found these ideas and decided to create my own version! I'm sure I pinned them so I give full credit to the creators (or repinners) of these items :)

My students really liked this chart I made (that I found on pinterest). They had to find evidence in the text to support why they thought the author was trying to persuade, inform, or entertain. 

However, it is 9:40,40 minutes past my bedtime. GOODNIGHT!!!

I FINALLY HAVE MY OWN CLASSROOM!!!!!!!!!

WHOOOO!!!! I thought this day would never come!!!! I have my OWN, VERY OWN CLASSROOM. I feel like a grown up! Its only taken me a few weeks to get it all together and it's not all done, but it's as done as it's ever gonna get before school starts and school starts on Monday *bites nails*.

Students will post their favorite quotes from books they're reading on the bulletin board out front the classroom.

My daily reminder.

The Bat Cave.

Got this idea from a fellow classmate of mine. Here's the link for more info
Homeworkopoly

A chalkboard, right?! I'm going to use it to post up important info like rules, consequences, voice level, etc.

This is my favorite part of the room, the classroom library!

I love books. I love reading.

A job chart I made up.

I found these posters on Scholastic, I thought they were very inspirational.

Found these on Scholastic as well.

A better view of my chalkboard.

View of the class from my small group area.

View of the front of my desk.

I like flowers. :)

and lanterns.

I made these owls from toilet paper rolls. Here's the link to my "how to" blog on making them
toilet paper owls

The glass jar says "Treat Jar"

View of the classroom from the door.

View from my messy desk area.

The lanterns kept falling so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. 

I put tape around the neck so when students go to pump sanitizer out, it won't be a huge glob.

The Brag Wall. The G kept falling down and I didn't think "BRA WALL" would go too well with the kids. This is where they can post work they're super proud of. I am a little annoyed that my iPAD cart is sitting right in front of the bulletin board, but hey, at least I have iPADS!!!

Wish me luck this 4th grade school year!

FINALLY!!!

I got a job offer today! I am going to be a 4th grade teacher for the 2013-2014 school year! How exciting!!!


Now, time to brush up on my multiplication skills /:

Graduated and ready to work!

I know I haven't posted anything in a while and I want to apologize for my last two post below, I have no idea why the pictures aren't showing? 

I have officially graduated!!! I am done with school and so ready to begin my career as a teacher! 

It's been so hard to find a job because most schools aren't hiring and if they are, its for ESE/gifted, middle/high and I want to stick to gen. ed. elem. But I was asked to do a 9 week subbing job for kindergarten! I am so excited to have this stability in my life right now and I pray it leads to a longer position! 

Any kindergarten teachers out there with advice?

So I have about a handful or two of students who always completes their work before everyone else and it's hard to have them work ahead. I was thinking about making a display with different compartments, that holds different assignments and activities for those students who always finish first. I haven't had the time to make it yet, but my supervising teacher had a container with center work that we're going to use.

It's not all that fancy, I know, but it is practical. I have a few folders with skills students are learning, like parts of speech, idioms, etc. This is just temporary until I can buy a display board and make it all pretty! But if you put a few folders on the white board and inform the students that when they are finished with their work, they can do an activity from one of the folders in the front of the room, it will eliminate the "I'm done, what do I do know?" question. 

Well, Halloween is officially over and all the decorations are down :(. I'm sad to say goodbye to October. I can't believe it's November now! Before we know it, it's going to be December, then 2013. Where does the time go?! Before I truly say goodbye to October, I wanted to post the crashing witches my students made!

Ok, now I can make my peace and say goobye. Now, time to make Thanksgiving decorations! :)

Also, because the elections are nearing, I wanted to post a link that explains what the amendments are about in easy to read lingo!

Know what you're voting on! Click the picture to take you to the link.

Happy voting and teaching!

Red Ribbon Week Door!

Our Motto: We'd Rather Eat Bugs Than Do Drugs!

The kids loved making the spiders for the door. I went out to Wal-Mart the night before and bought a pack of fake roaches. During the day I was placing them in various spots and on students. It was HILARIOUS watching them freak out, the entire class loved the prank.

However, we did not win the contest :(

Words Fourth Graders Should Know How to Spell

My fourth grade team and I created a list of words that fourth graders have a hard time spelling. We also included a list of words that are commonly mixed up. Feel free to customize the list to your liking :)

you can get this free at my TPT store :)
Words Fourth Graders Should Know How to Spell

I love Halloween!

Halloween is near! I love, love, LOVE Halloween! I love dressing up, I love the candy, and I love the decorations. I want my students to get involved with the holiday, but I also want them to do it constructively, so I try to incorporate as much academic work as I can with student decoration. Here is a picture of pumpkins my students decorated that I hung up around the classroom

The writing activity on the back of the pumpkin is a short prompt to help students develop expository writing skills (something my students are struggling with big time!). Once students completed the short prompt, they were given a pumpkin cut out to decorate. They loved it.

If you would like a copy of the writing prompt I made up, you can get it here Pumpkin Prompt

Happy Writing!

First item on TPT!

YAY! I posted my first free item on TPT! Check it out!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mad-Minute-Tracking-Sheet

4th Grade

So, I'm back in fourth grade and I love it! I think I want to teach intermediate grades instead of primary. I love the class I am in, but I am learning that having a job while interning is very stressful. I have to admit though, it is by the grace of God, that He has given me strength to keep going.

Aah!

School starts on Monday?! The summer flew by way too fast, but in the same respect, the sooner school starts the sooner I get to graduate! I met up with my supervising teacher and she is awesome. I have a feeling November is going to come and go way too soon. I wont lie, I am nervous about completing my senior internship. By week 8, I will have 100% teaching responsibility. YIKES. Although I have few assignments, they are lengthy. I think my biggest problem right now is getting used to waking up at the crack of dawn. This morning I woke up at 5:58 AM and I didn't allow myself to fall back asleep. I figured if I wake up that early today and tomorrow, Monday morning won't be so hard. Another issue I run across is the ratio of water I drink to the amount of times I get to use the restroom. I drink a lot of water, like A LOT, and I am in a portable all the way in Ireland. See the problem? Yea, I may want to invest in depends :). Wish me luck on my first day of fourth grade!!

Who doesn't love the dollar section at Target? *raises hand* I know I do. I can't ever walk into  the enticing little section without dropping at least $20.00 on random classroom goodies. Today's trip was brought to you by Starbucks's free drink promo. Naturally, since I was already at Target, I figured browsing wouldn't hurt. Here are my findings:

There were so many Dr. Seuss products to choose from! I was able to snag 2 bulletin board boarders, 2 packs of pencils, 2 packs of book marks, 2 packs of paper cut outs, a white board, a pack of erasers, and 2 packs of certificates!

I thought this sign was pretty awesome, the picture is front and back. I saw a really cute idea on Pintrest of different arrow signs pointing in different directions. The sign was $1.00!

The Adventures of Library Girl

I got this lesson plan book for $1.00!

I also got these books from the dollar section! I love when Target has the classics for just a buck.