Classroom Pictures

I know I have been promising pictures for a while, but better late than never right?  They are not in any special order.  I have taken a lot of time with my room and have changed it several times and probably will several more times.

Each classroom has a phone.  This is where I keep mine becuase it is where the phone jack is.  Also in this area is a bucket labled "Work Folders."  This is where I have my students keep any unfinished work.  This keeps it in one place and it is always there when they have time to finish.  Next to that area, I have my little table and chair for the listening center.  Instead of spending a lot of money on books on CD, I simply recorded myself reading them and put it on CD.  I have since changed out the stuff on the little table.  Makes a great center activity area.

Many people have heard of the "Clip It" system and I made mine to fit my classroom theme.  Can you guess what my theme is!?  I also made a form that I use to record at the end of the day what color each student earned.  I have some behavior issues and this allows me to show parents that some days are better than others.

This is just the inside of my classroom door.  Again, frog!  I also work on using manners, so I have my "Good Manners" poster up as a reminder.



When I first started, I didn't know what or how to write my expectations.  I narrowed it down to three and I am very happy with it.  They are general, but they work with my kids.

I LOVE this wall and the kids do too!  Each kid has a frog with their name on it.  Each frog has a ring of index cards.  On the index cards are sight words, CVC words, and CVCe words (depending on what skill that child is on).  They are responsible for the words on the ring.  I  have them come in and get their rings to study for about five minutes and then I quiz them.    When they get the word correct, they get a plus in the upper right corner of the card.  When they get five plus', they get to take the word off the ring.  The students get so excited when the words come off the ring.  It comes with built in motivation.  I was thinking of doing this with math facts too! 

Above the "Hoppin' Words," I have sentence starters and the alphabet for help on different activities we do.  I also have rings of a program called "Drops in the Bucket."  I copied the pages on to cardstock and laminated them.  Then I cut apart each section to allow students to focus on one skill at a time.  I give them dry erase markers to write their answers.



 

This is my space.  I have been debating about turning my desk, but I have not gotten that far yet.  The other thing I love, but you cannot see is that when students come up to my desk, there is a stop sign on the floor so that students know and respect my space.  And of course the frog carpet!

This is "Mr. Frog."  He loves to sit in the classroom library.  He is a great listener.  The kids talk to him when they are upset.  They also enjoy reading stories to him.

This is my math area.  I recently changed it and so far I am happy with it.  In the corner we have two student computers.

This is a close up of one of the shelves on the bookshelf in the math area.  These are activities that I made.  I bought containers from the dollar store and went at it.  I love it because I put all the materials for the activity int he container and I can just pull it out when students are doing centers and games.



This is my classroom library area.  Again, this is something I recently changed as well.  I used to have another bookshelf in this area, but I wanted to open up the space a little more.

 Close up of the library.  I have books sorted by AR levels.

This is where my students keep their classroom money.  They earn money by completing homework and making good choices. They can also earn money by getting a perfect spelling test.  Students can lose money for poor choices or not completing their homework. At the end of the week, they can choose to either save their money or buy something from the price list.  Notice the frogs!

Here is where I moved the bookself that used to be in the classroom library.  Also another view of my clip system.

I also took pictures of our Fall sentences we worked on this week, but I will save that for another post.  Happy Fall!



Handwriting Notebook

This is a blank version of my handwriting notebook so that you can dot the letters and words that you want. For my younger kids, I do the letters and for my older kids, I do words and sentences. It is meant to adapt to how you want to use it. You can use it for print or cursive.   I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but you can customize it however you want to.

Halloween Number Match

I love Halloween!  It is my favorite holiday and the kids are figuring that out.  Everything we are doing this month is related to Fall and Halloween.  For my Kinders, I made a fun number match that can be found here. 

 

This week for writing, we are dicussing what Fall is (which is harder than I thought because I am in Arizona and the seasons don't change like they do in other places).  You should see some of the sentences my kids came up with today.  I am so proud of them.  We are going to print our sentences onto leaves to hang up in the room.

 

Next week we are on Fall Break, but the following week, we are making ghosts from Cheese Cloth.  Then we are going to write the steps of how to make the ghosts.  I will do my best to remember to take pictures.  I am so excited.

 

Happy October 1st!

On a Creating Spree!

I am on a creating spree!  I have not been able to find exactly what I am looking for lately, so...I have been busy creating pages.  Please be sure to check them out.  I will post them as I can.  I am so happy with the way they have turned out.  I might even start taking requests.  Let me know what you think of this one.  If you like it, you can get it here.

Freebie Friday

I have a freebie that I made and I am very excited to use next week in my classroom.  I am going to use it to introduce new sight words.  I am giving you a blank one for you to print out and customize. 

On the first line, I write the new word several times.  Student will practice reading and seeing the word.  On the second line, I dot the word so that students can practice writing it.  On the third line, I allow students to practice writing the word several times on their own.  If you have higher students, let them come up with their own sentence on the bottom lines.  If you have young kids like me, then you may want to come up with a sentence as a class.  You can assess their handwriting with this sheet as well! 

Please let me know what you think.  If you like this page, feel free to leave a comment.  If you want to repost this page, please be sure to give credit back to my blog.  Have a great weekend!

I'm Sorry!

I was sitting at my desk today thinking I need to take some pictures before I leave and what did I do?  I left without taking pictures.  I have my camera in my bag and everything.  I am sorry.  I just cannot seem to remember.  I need to write myself a note and stick it to my forehead or something.  Ok well I wanted you to know that I was not forgetting about you per say, just the pictures.  I am off to Pinterest for the night.

Still Alive and Well!

I am still alive and well.  I have been so busy with school that I am so tired when I get home that I forget to blog.  I'm so sorry!  I will try to do better!  I have been blog hopping lately and have been spending my free time on Pinterest.  You all know how addicting that can be.  Bad idea for a teacher who should be doing other things (but great for ideas).  You can feel free to follow me on Pinterest (since that seems to be where I spend a lot of my time lately).

On top of that, my internet keeps coming in and out.  It is driving me CRAZY!  I wanted to blog last night and I couldn't get the internet to stay conneted long enough.  I have called and they say it is my fault.  How rude.  I am tempted to call and say that I don't want to pay for a service that I am not getting.

I am busy adding new things to my classroom and making new centers.  I need to dig out the camera and take pictures for you.