Back to School!

Lots of teachers are putting the final touches on their rooms for the 1st Day of School. I'm not huge on different bulletin boards because I'm horrible about changing them throughout the year. Below are some pictures of my classroom.

 

 

I teach reading and social studies this year, but I wanted to support students learning in all areas. I found the digital times on Pinterest. Then I made the other clocks to show significant times throughout the day.

 

 

 

 

These are my Love and Logic Posters. I had to re-do them from last year as my originals got damaged over the summer. Boo. But I like this one better I think!

 

 

 

 

This is my Classroom Management Book. It's a binder with all my conduct management information. I got this idea from the Turn Around Schools: No Excuses University Institute I attended in Dallas this summer.

 

 

This is the Classroom Management Plan all of 3rd grade (and the campus) will be following this year.

 

 

Here is a picture of our Rethinking Letter

 

 

 

And of course the Love and Logic Classroom goes in the front of our notebook! I'm combining ideas from 2 of the best workshops I've been to thus far in my teaching career.

 

Goof Off

Goof Off has to be the best product ever when you need to remove last years decorations from your classroom

Do your desks have a film on them from name plates and packaging tape? Spray this on the desks. Let sit. Then wipe off.

The laminated poster you made las year have permanent marker or dry erase marker left on it? Spray and wipe! It's awesome. No more hairspray or nail polish remover.

Of course you wouldn't want to use this product with students in the room. Strictly for summer cleaning or at home use. You can buy it at Lowes or Home Depot for less than $10 (when I bought my bottle).

Readers Notebook

 

 

 

Today I learned how to make a CUTE readers notebook out of scrapbook paper and a composition book.

 

Prep: 12X12 scrapbook paper. Cut 3 inches off the side of the paper. This will leave you with a 3X12 strip and a 9X12 (almost letter) size piece of paper. You need 2 of the 9X12 pieces of paper and one contrasting color of the 3X12 piece of paper.

 

Materials:

 

Composition Book

Glue Stick

2 pieces of 9X12 pieces of scrapbook paper

1 piece of 3X12 piece of scrapbook paper

Packing tape

Scissors

 

Here is my notebook with my scrapbook paper



Use the 3X12 piece of paper to cover the spine of the book. Use the notebook to make a crease in the paper. Fold the paper under to create a piece of paper that will fit to the spine. Put glue on the both sides of the notebook and wrap the paper over to cover the spine.

This shows the back of the notebook with the paper wrapped around the spine.

Seal the line of paper to the notebook with a stip of packaging tape.





Now cover the entire front of the notebook with glue.

Cover the notebook with one of the pieces of the scrapbook paper.

This actually shows the back being covered. But its the same process for both sides.

Now wrap the scrapbook paper around the notebook like you are wrapping a gift. Use packaging tape to seal the edges.

 

Leave a small gap as you fold the corners so that the paper has a little give when opened.

See small gap!

 

 

 

This is another view of the wrapping of the cover.

 

 

 

 

Once the cover is wrapped you can seal the spine paper and the cover paper with packaging tape.

 

 

 

 

 

These are the tabs created for our Readers Notebook.

Tada! Here is the front and back of my Readers Notebook. Next step is to add stickers and photos. Then seal the whole notebook with packaging tape.

Back to School Shopping Trip #4

You've heard me talk about my Staples shopping trips in previous posts. They changed their Teacher Rewards Program this year which means teachers can no longer get the huge amount of instant savings at the register. Basically, teachers spend money on certain items and in return get 100% back in a rewards certificate to be spent in the store the following month. As shown in previous shopping trips I spent about $80 in July. I received $65 back in Staples Teachers Rewards.

While this change hasn't been my favorite, I'm still pretty happy that I was able to get some great deals on school supplies. Districts do the best they can with budget cuts. My district is awesome about taking care of its students and staff. However, teaching has rigourously changed over the years. In order to keep learning occuring at its best, teachers often purchase supplies for their classrooms and then purchase more for their own children.

 If any of you happened to catch Teachers Rock on CBS last night, you may have heard Walmart spokeswoman say that teachers spend approxiamtely $500 a year out of their own pockets on supplies for their classrooms. This is totally true! Honestly, if you're moving grade levels or new to the profession this can be amount can be even more. So getting rewards and deals on supplies is really important for a teacher's personal spending budget. You know since teachers are so overpaid!! I can't tell you how many times I've been out buying supplies when someone asks "Doesn't the school pay for that?" or "Don't you get money to spend at the beginning of the year for that?" The answer is no. A lot of people who are not an educator doesn't seem to understand how this is possible.  I've even heard that in other states, such as California, districts can no longer ask for school supplies from students. Everything must be provided by the teacher or the school. Now that's crazy!

This is my haul today. Doesn't look like much but school supplies are expensive!

                                                           Retail                Back to School Sale Price

Staples Stickies 12 pack                    $13.99               $5.00

Staples Stickies 12 pack                    $13.99               $5.00

Stickies Mini 12 pack                        $6.29

Sharpie Fine 12 count                        $9.99                $6.00

Record Book                                      $7.99

4 inch Glitter Letters                          $6.29                Free Teacher Promotion

Kodak Ink                                          $19.99             

Pencils 2 packs                                   $2.00                $0.50

(3) Composition Book Wide Rule     $3.00                $0.30

Post It Novelty                                   $2.99

Command Hanging Strips                  $9.99

                      Total Retail Value:    $96.52                  

                          Total at Register:  $64.05

         15% Off Back to School Pass: ($6.87)

                                                Total: $57.18

Amount Paid: NOTHING!!!  Due to Teacher Rewards Earned in July :) 

 I also have more rewards to spend.

The guy behind me at the register was like "How did you manage that?" Kinda made me feel like I was on Extreme Coupoining or something HAHAHA.

I did buy a Post It 5 Pack for $7.79 on accident. I didn't include this in the total. I'm gonna exchange it this afternoon for a 12pk Stickies for $5. That's what happens when you don't pay attention to how things ring up at the register.

Like I said, in the picture it doesn't look like $100 worth of stuff, but school stuff is expensive. I go through post it notes and sharpies like crazy. I'm super excited about being able to get this using my Teacher Rewards, especially after having to throw away a lot of my supplies this year for reasons beyond my control.

If you have children and want to make a teacher happy, ask what supplies the teacher needs. Classrooms are always in need of something such as pencils, crayons, markers, glue sticks, colored paper, etc. It really varies on the teacher and the needs of the classroom. If you see something on sale, grab an extra and donate it to your child's classroom!

Happy Shopping!

Back to 3rd Grade

Guess what?! It's back to 3rd grade for me! Now that my classroom has literally moved from one corner of the building to the other, I am working on getting ready for next year. Below are some pictures of Pinterest ideas for classroom organization. My friend and co-worker, Trina, had these in her room too.

I am teaching reading and social studies this year. These are my objective boards. I decided these were the 3 content areas that my class would have the same objective. While independent reading will be on the indvidual student's level, I want them working on a grade level objective that will be modeled through read alouds and mini lessons.

This is my class expectations board. I plan on using this to help remind students of the expectations throughout our 90 minute block.

The Teacher Clipboard System will be used when I am doing Guided Reading. Each student will be assigned a number that they will use in each of their class rotations. Each of the students will have their number written on a clothespin. If a student needs my assistance during a small group time they simply clip their clothespin to my clipboard and walk away. It's a silent way of them letting me know they need me without interrupting my group. I haven't used it before, so we'll see how it goes this year!