Random Acts of Kindness

This week I have decided my 3rd graders will do a service type project for Valentine's Day. I saw something like this on Pinterest that was created for a youth group or private school setting. I changed it so that my public school students could complete the activity. If you click on the picture you should be able to download the file.

College Readiness Week

 

As I mentioned previously, this summer I attended the No Excuses University seminar in Dallas, TX with a co-teacher and our administrative team. Our district brought a team from each elementary.The seminar was AWESOME and I recommend it to anyone who gets a chance to go!  

 

College readiness is the idea that students are prepared to go to college, if they choose to do so.

We have decided on our elementary campus that our students are COLLEGE BOUND!

 NO EXCUSES!

 

Each teacher adopted a 4 year university for their classroom to learn about. Every classroom in the building has a different university.

 

The teachers decorated their classroom doors to show their school spirit!

 

My classroom adopted Texas Christian University! Go Frogs!

 

 

 

Each day of the week we had a theme for our kids to participate:

Monday - We're kicking off College Readiness Week! Wear your boots!

Tuesday - Our future is so bright we have to wear shades!

Wednesday - Education is tied to our future! Wear tie-dye or a tie!

Thursday - Hats off to College!

Friday - School Spirit - Wear your favorite university gear!

 

Hook Em Horns and Gig Em Aggies! Coming together for the future of our students!

My co-teacher and I also created this bulletin board earlier in the year. It shows where each teacher attending college.

 

As a project for the week, every 3rd - 5th grader was expected to create a poster about a university they were interested in learning more about. Our hallways are now decorated with these fabulous posters! It was awesome to see universities represented that weren't in Texas.

 

 

More pictures to come of the awesome things happening on our campus!

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.

 

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 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!