Back to School Bulletin Boards

Here are two of the projects we have done so far this school year. We are getting ready for meet the teacher night next week. The heat is still on and the humidity is aweful. Every morning I walk into something that has fallen off the walls due to the humidity. We are still praying for cooler weather.

 

 After talking and making an anchor chart of what a reader does, reads, and looks like my firsties drew pictures of themselves as readers. If you look closely they are hysterical.

 

We read the book What I Did on My Summer Vacation and my firsties drew their favorite things they did during the summer. I was really pleased how they did a great job considering it was the first day of school. I'm not sure about you but I thought the enonomy was still not so great. You wouldn't believe the amount of kids who went on some really big trips ( Disney World and cruises). I guess my four day trip to Vegas doesn't even compare.

 

By the way, I want to thank all the awesome teachers out their who posted about their clip chart behavior system. I have been doing it for the first time in my many (many) years of teaching and it works GREAT!!!  The kids LOVE it. They are all trying to get their clip on pink so they can bling out their clip. I even have noticed the students who move their clips below the green really do shape up afterwards and are thrilled when their clips get moved back up. Many of the firsties run out after school all excited to tell their parents what color they ended up on. Even many parents have commented on it. Whoever came up with this system is genius. THANKS again!!

Now back to the oven tomorrow and no school (already) on Friday. Have a great weekend!!

Bring on the HEAT!!!

There is nothing like trying to teach when your classroom is 98 degrees.  Yep!  The temps here in Chicago are just crazy hot. So far, the day isn't over yet, the temps reached 95 degrees with heat index of 103. I'm sure some of you awesome teachers in Texas and other normally hot climates don't bat an eye at these temperatures. However, here in Chitown this is very hot for us. Our summer heat is usually in the high 80's. It always seems when it's time to return to the classroom the temps rise and we all get hot and crabby. AND, yes, many schools do have air condition but not mine. It's an old catholic school with lots of windows, that's it. This afternoon I took my class into the cool church for and hour or so and we did our work there. It was a great way to get them to work quietly. Many of our posters have already fallen in the classroom. I guess I won't put them back up until the heat breaks. When I walked out of the room to go home at 3:00 my thermometer in my room read 98 degrees and probably up more since I left. Anyway, hopefully this won't last long and we can get back to some work.  So pray for some cooler air. 

Back to School Board and A Lonely Rose!

 

Here is another back to school board in our hallway at school. We have this huge board at the end of our hallway and it was my turn to put something up. I saw this puzzle idea and thought it was perfect. I made the pennants from my cricut machine. The puzzle pieces have the names of the students in

k-2. It really doesn't look like a lot of kids but we really do about 140 students in our k-2nd grade.

 

This is the one and only rose my rosebush produced all summer. I have no idea why it does this every summer. One rose and then it's done. Kind of like the saguaro cactus, one flower a year and that's it. At least the color is beautiful!!

 

It's been a great week. My firsties are soooo cute!  My favorite comment this week was... I asked one little boy if he got new glasses this year and he said, "No, these are my handsome glasses. When I spike my hair up I wear these glasses and I look handsome!" That just made my day. What a cutie!!

Besides having wonderful firsties this year, the heat has been on. Middle 90's and high humidity. Yuck!! And next week is supposed to be worse.  I sure wish I could buy my own air conditioner and install it but we've all been told no so that means more hot sticky school days ahead of us.

Enjoy your weekend!!

Ready or Not, Here They Come

Finally my classroom is done and ready for a new batch of firsties. Tomorrow our first graders and kindergartners can come to school just to drop off their supplies, find their desks, and look around. We started this three years ago and what a differnce it makes on the first day of school. The kids aren't all asking what to do with their supplies and they know exactly where to go in the morning. If your school doesn't do this I highly recommend it. Anyway here are a few pics of my room. You will probably recognize quite a few things from blogs and pinterest. Let me know what you think!

 

Here is the bulletin board right outside my room. This idea came from one of my favorite blogs, Kacey over at Doodle bug teaching.

Here is a view from my doorway. Over the summer a group of moms and dads came in and painted all our walls. The walls were all white and now we love them. Each floor was painted different colors.

 

There is my small group area in the background . The sun can be a little blinding in our room.

This is opposite the classroom doorway. I have one of the oldest desks in the building and after they painted there was quite a bit of paint on the desk. So, I decided to cover it up with contact paper. What a difference it made.

 

 My Star of the Week board. I love how it looks. It looks better in person because I have star garland all around it and it's hard to notice in this pic.

 

Here is my new behavior chart. I searched all summer for a new plan and this is what I saw on most of the teachers blogs. Since they all swear by it I am going to give it a try.

 

My class library and meeting area.

 

The bare walls will soon be covered with student projects.

 

 It's hard to see but there are computers there too (a little blinding again)

This is the board across the hallway from my class. I just think it's so cute I had to share with you. So thanks for stopping by and checking out my room. Let me know what you think and I'd love to check out your room. 

Happy 1st Day!!

Can You Say "addiction"

Ok, don't tell me I'm the only one addicted to bins! I've seen quite a few in everyone's classrooms. I don't know about you but when I see a cute bin, basket, or container I just have to have it, even if I don't know what I'm going to do with it.

By the time my room is finished I'm sure most of them will be used or waiting to be used for centers or other goodies. I accomplished a lot in my room today and as soon as I'm done I'll post pics. We start our meeting on Thursday (which I have to take my son to college that day so I'll have to miss the ever exciting meetings) . Now off to more blogging for more great ideas!!

Bulletin Board Linky Party

If you are looking for back to school bulletin board ideas (which I am always looking for new ideas) hop on over to Becky's linky party at Teaching, Learning, and Loving. You might see something you like or be sure to join with your own boards. Who doesn't need more awesome ideas. Now, I just got into my classroom today (my school has been closed due to asbestos removal) so I posted the board I did several years ago. I am leaning toward doing the popcorn board again or the gumball board. I love both of them and can't decide which one.

This is my room as of today. I plan on being in the room all weekend because we start the 15th with meetings all day and the kids come on the 21st. There is sooooo much to do and lucky me, I have to use a personal day on the 15th already. I have take my son to college and move him into his dorm. Woo hoo! College already!

Now on to bed, busy day tomorrow. I'll post more as the room gets completed and be sure to stop by

 Teaching, Learning, and Loving to hook up with the bulletin board linky party!

Gettin' Ready

Thanks to Kacey at Doodlebug Teaching, I made these great birthday treats. Super cute and easy to make. Every year I give the kiddies a birthday bracelet from the magazine Really Good Stuff but I forgot to order them for this year and as soon as I saw these I got busy and here they are.

So this is where I've been the last several days. I called this my last hurrah before going back to school. I went with a wonderful friend of mine. After seeing so many pics from all the teachers who also just came back from their kindergarten blog meet up in Vegas I was so glad I was going. They look like they had an awesome time. It was really hot out there but if we weren't at the pool we were inside seeing shows (The Jersey Boys were wonderful and Terry Fator was just amazing!), eating, and of course gambling. What a great place to go to for a short visit and squeeze alot in.  Now back to getting reading for school, which starts on the 21st for the kiddies. By the way, our school has always had a half of day on the first day, 11:30 dismissal. Now I guess the state changed requirements and says we can't count a half day on the first day as a whole day so now we have the kiddies until 1:00. It's going to be a long first day with these kiddies and me, especially if the heat is on. If you have any suggestions for keeping their attention the last hour or so of school I would greatly appreciate it. I do have some ideas but can always use more.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.