Vowel Team Poster UPDATE:)

I'm in that, "I can't believe school starts on Tuesday" mode and can't relax!  I have been working on school stuff all day and my mind keeps racing on!  I'm hoping by getting it out of my system today I can actually relax and soak up all of the snuggles and cuddles I can from my little one tomorrow before we are back to the daily grind.

Over the summer I spent some time tweaking and revamping my vowel team posters that I had previously posted.  My teaching partners and I are increasing our time spent working with words and vowel teams this year.  I want to include an anchor chart display focusing upon the vowel teams in a prominent place in my classroom.  So...this is what I came up with...

I partitioned my whiteboard using bulletin board trimmer and created sections for our weekly spelling list, word wall words, the spelling pattern of the week, and vocabulary.  (The fifth title you see "P.A.W. Award Winner" is part of our building behavior management plan.)

I created vowel team posters giving the specific name of the vowel team, examples of words highlighting the vowel team, and gave visual interest to the word by writing consonants in blue and vowels in red.

 I have posted these posters in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  You can find them by clicking on this link: {Vowels Make the Words Go Round!}

For all of you teachers out there who have been back in school for a few weeks, I hope you enjoy the extra day off tomorrow!

For all of my teaching friends in Michigan, enjoy one more day before we head back to reality!!

~ Nichole

MANAGEMENT!

Helllloooo!  After a much needed, relaxing, care-free summer, it's time to head back to the classroom and get back in the routine of blogging.  I seriously have debated for a few weeks whether or not to continue blogging since I haven't posted much of anything all summer long.  Yet, as soon as I stepped back into my classroom to prepare for my new batch of kiddos, I quickly realized I have a lot of ideas to share and what better way to do that than to blog about them!  I have been stalking all of the great teacher-bloggers out there and I am uber-inspired!  Amy Lemons from Step into Second Grade with Mrs. Lemons and Hope from 2nd Grade Shenanigans are seriously amazing!  I want to be just like them when I grow up:)

Each summer I spend weeks trying to let my mind wander and relax and push school further and further out of my brain.  Every summer...until this summer!  Pinterest is amazing for so many reasons...yet I found myself up at midnight each night scrolling through amazing images from other teachers' classrooms and ended up creating a gigantic to-do list for myself.  One item I saw that I just knew I had to have is the check-in board!

In my eight years of teaching, I've never lost someone (Whew!  It feels good to say that!)  BUT....I have come close. You know that moment when you're working with a small group and someone leaves to go to the bathroom, someone else leaves for a reading group, someone else leaves for testing, someone else has to go to the bathroom, then a students remembers where they left their library book after weeks and weeks of it being MIA and heads in search of it....and...before you know it...the fire alarm goes off and you're like, oh, this is just perfectly awesome timing and you start counting kids like they're ducklings as you head out the door?!  I'm hoping the check-in board helps with a scenario just like this one and all of the other crazy moments throughout the school day.

Here is what I created!

My check-in board is hanging right on the front door of my classroom at my students' level.  The plan is that they all start "in the classroom" at the beginning of the day.  If any student is absent, I will move them to the "other" category and write an "A" by their name.  The students will then be responsible for moving their number to the appropriate category as they come and go throughout the day.  {BONUS!  Did you notice I only have 22 students this year?!  LOVE!}

Head on over to Teachers Pay Teachers to download your own FREE headings and labels to get started on your own check-in board!

I hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend!!!

~Nichole

Little Things Make Me Happy!

Just a quick post today!

I snapped a few pictures of my classroom and thought I'd share my new door display and homework reward organizer:)

Originally my classroom doors were covered in lists, lunch count baskets, parent notes, etc. and it was starting to look a little unorganized.  This is just not okay with me!  I don't know about you, but when something is visually distracting me in my classroom, I can't stop thinking about a way to make it better.

So...I knew I had to come up with a solution.

FAST.

It's the little things in life that make me happy:)

TA-DA!    Here are pictures of my new door!

If you see something you would like for your room, but want it to say something different, send me an email or write a comment and I'll make one to fit your needs!

I stuck with my trees/nature and black, white, teal, and green theme.  It is so much easier to create things for my room and purchase items now that I have a color scheme in mind.

(Notice Sparty in the window?  I have to show my Michigan State Spartan pride!  Sparty and other MSU logos pop up in various places in my classroom:)  GO GREEN!)

Click here to download the {Classroom Display} files!

My students also are responsible for completing a weekly homework and reading log.  If the logs are returned completed on Monday, they can choose a reward for one day of the week.  I mounted each sign on black paper, laminated it, and placed magnets on the back of each sign.  Each Monday children sign up for a reward for completing and turning in their homework log from the week before!

Pick a day to wear your socks!

Bring a stuffed animal to school.

Curl up on a rug any where in the room.

Do your work using a marker.

Sit or lay on a pillow during the day.

Take over MY DESK for the day!  (I never sit there any way!)

These are available at my TpT store!  Head on over and check it out!

{Be Positive!  Classroom Reward Posters}

I hope you're having a great Thursday!  39 days left of school...but who's counting?

smile;)

~Nichole

My Classroom, Onomatopoeia, Flat Stanley, and a Bunch of Random Stuff!

Yesterday was a busy day!  It was the day before SPRING BREAK (so, technically, as I write this...I'M ON VACATION!  HOORAY!)

A little about my classroom...

We have 3 sections of second grade in my school.  I plan writing lessons for our team, Molly plans reading, and Patty plans math.  I cannot tell you how this has transformed the way I teach!  Why work harder when you can work smarter?  I can put much more time and energy into my classroom, learning the new common core, and spend more time with my family each evening and weekend due to the fact that I only have to plan one subject!  We each teach our own classes, but share the planning responsibilities.  This is why you see mostly writing and language arts materials on my page since I spend my time focusing on this area for our second grade team:)  

With that being said...

Here are some pictures of my classroom!

MY ROOM

I used my cricut to create signs that say, read, write, think, and explore.

This saying hangs above my door.  Our school mascot is the Panther and we use this saying to support our behavior expectations.

Heart Maps! 

I also used my cricut to create my word wall.  My word wall is beneath my white board.  I want my students to have full access to the word wall.  We add and remove words as needed!

These bookmarks remind my little ones of the various qualities of fluency.  They often use them during Daily 5.

Our contraction poster!

The Mrs. Meurlin's goodies tray was a gift from one of my angels last year.  The mom who made this is super crafty and artsy.  Check out her shop at 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/chinamommy?ref=pr_shop_more

This is my "shopping list."  My students "shop" for books in our 2nd grade library to fill their book boxes with good-fit books.  I made this schedule with days and times, glued it to scrapbook paper, and laminated it. When my students are done shopping, they check off their name.  I can easily see who has shopped for books and who still needs to shop. 

WORD OF THE WEEK

I started a "Word of the Week" activity a few weeks ago.  Last week, our word was "plethora" and I must say, I saw a "plethora" of the word "plethora" pop up in their writing. So cool!

This week my AMAZING teacher partner, Molly, planned for our little second graders to learn about the awesomeness of ONOMATOPOEIA.  To say that my kiddos loved the concept is an understatement.  This display filled up in less than 10 minutes!  Then, throughout the rest of the week, they added more and more examples as they were reading.

FLAT STANLEY

We assembled our Flat Stanley envelopes with a letter from the student to the recipient, a recipient letter from me, a journal page, and FLAT STANLEY!  The kids were concerned about Stanley and I heard many comments reassuring Stanley that he will travel safely and be treated kindly upon arrival at his destination.  It was so sweet!  Each of my sweeties folded their Flat Stanley and tucked him in the envelope.  I wish I had taken a picture of the stack of envelopes.  Hopefully I'll remember next time:)

And, in addition to the Flat Stanleys my students sent off in the mail, each of my honeys also took a Flat Stanley Travel Journal and a Flat Stanley with them on Spring Break.  I can't wait pictures of their adventures!  Here is a picture of the journals and Stanleys all ready to go home!

I am heading off to Tennessee on Tuesday next week to visit my brother and sister-in-law.  Flat Stanley is coming along on my trip!  This will be my first solo trip since my daughter was born.  I'm feeling a little nervous leaving her yet I know that my amazing husband will hold down the fort.  She will love visiting with Grandma during the day while Daddy is at work, and I have a feeling that my baby girl will be spoiled while I'm gone:) 

I forget what it's like to just take care of me.  I hope it is as nice as I remember:)  

I'll post pictures of my adventures with Flat Stanley soon!

SPRING CLEANING

And, while I'm rambling away, I might as well show you the disaster I created in my classroom yesterday afternoon.  My sweeties have 2 specials back to back in the afternoon on Thursdays (ahhh....quiet time....) so I decided to tackle a project that I've been putting off for 2 years...ORGANIZING MY FILING CABINETS...ugh.  Since moving buildings, switching grades and moving into a new classroom in the fall of 2010, I haven't even wanted to go through the mountain of paper I had stashed away.  (This doesn't include the filing cabinet I have at home with old teacher files, too!)  I had to start somewhere...

I filled 2 and half recycling bins!  Plus, I passed along files to a first grade teacher friend:) 

I was able to create space in the two small filing cabinets to the right of my desk for my listening center materials.  This way they'll be tucked away, yet accessible for my sweeties when they need them.  I never actually sit at my desk, so I'm creating a "reading cave" under my desk, putting the listening center CD player, headphones, books and CDs in the drawers, and turning the actual surface of my desk into a working space for kids who earn a special reward.  How is that for purging and utilizing my space!  More pictures to come;)

TIME TO WRAP IT UP!

WOAH!  I did not plan on writing this much!  Yet, it feels good to share:)  I hope you're having a good day!

Happy Spring Break!