Sunday, August 25, 2013

School Starts Tomorrow!

Hey everyone!

"Meet the Teacher" was Thursday night and was a success for sure! My little ones were so cute and excited about school! I can't believe I didn't take any pictures. I went up early this morning to tidy up and put school supplies away, so I took a few pictures of specific things that I wanted to share with you guys. 

Outside of our classroom I hung letters that my kids from last year colored for open house. It says "Welcome to our Class." My mom made that awesome stained glass window out of tissue paper my first year. It's lasted all this time! 

                 Here's a pic from the front door. 

I spray painted these plastic drawers this summer and cleaned them up a bit. I plan on using them to differentiate for kiddos when they've finished their assignments (specific games or activities for each student). I would love to hear feedback from anyone that uses these drawers for the same thing! 


The literacy center tubs are ready to go! Got the tubs from Mardel and the Title Pages from Amy Terhune on TPT!


I usually write what the cafeteria is serving for lunch on the neon black board. I got those adorable rules for free off of TPT and if I knew how to attach a link, I swear I would. 


I'm so excited about these home depot seat sacks!!! I bought these aprons from home depot and they will fit a composition notebook and a pencil bag perfectly. I used scrapbook paper and calendar numbers to cover the home depot logo. My mom sewed them onto the aprons. I planned on using velcro, but Suzie (my mom) insisted that sewing them would work better! Love her!


I made the "Reading" Banner out of scrapbook paper. It's new. :) 

This is how we do lunch count in our classroom. The choices have magnets on the back and I attach them to the lockers. Every kiddo has a numbered robot with a magnet on the back. They make their choice by putting their magnet under what they want for lunch. 

I use a kidney table for Guided reading and for my desk. 




This is where I display Student Work. I used glittery scrapbook paper and clothes pins. Above it, it says "Our Work is out of this World."

I write our objectives (TEKS in Texas) on the dry erase board at the front of the room. It just makes it easier for me to change them out. 

I Got this jobs idea off of pinterest last year and I love it! It worked awesome last year. I used scrapbook paper, avery labels, and clothes pins.  

Well, I guess that's it for now. Willie bug and I spent our last day of  "real" summer at our neighborhood pool swimming. Summer in Texas lasts until Mid-October, so I doubt this is the last time we'll be going to the pool. I am going to miss lounging around with this guy though for sure! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful first day of school!  

Thanks for stopping by- Allie


Monday, August 19, 2013

My First Post!!

Hi everyone! Bear with me as this is my first official post! I started this blog because I soooo envy all of the bloggers out there with their beautiful classrooms and wonderful teaching ideas. I hope that I can manage the time to keep up with the blog throughout the school year. I'll make my intro quick, but I'd like to tell you a little about myself! I'm a Second Grade Teacher near Fort Worth, Texas and this will be my 7th year of teaching. I work at a Title 1 school, which is awesome! My husband is a middle school coach in my school district. His school is less than a mile from mine! I so enjoy being able to "Teacher Talk" when we get home from work. He totally gets it! We have a little boy named Will who will be 2 in October! He is so adorable, loving, and smart. We just love him to pieces. Let's see if I can successfully attach a pic...---->
Yay!! It worked. Here's the little guy ^^^
Isn't he the cutest?
He's my little buddy and I'm definitely having a hard time starting the school year, when I have to leave this guy! 

I do apologize for the format and "elementary" blogging skills! 
I'd love to share some pictures of my classroom for this upcoming school year though! My classroom is a ROBOT theme!!
Here is our Classroom Door. I love the way it turned out! Beware!!! This classroom is a Chevron OVERLOAD, so if you're not a fan, keep it to yourself please. :) Ha. 

This pic pretty much speaks for itself. This is the back right corner. My mom picked up the cutest robot fabric, and I cut out some of the characters and glued them above the parking lot.

I left some of the bulletin boards blank so that I can add anchor charts for reader's and writer's workshop throughout the year! 
The board on the lower right is for academic vocabulary. 



Here are some photos of our classroom library and the front of the room. I level the books by DRA level and label with a garage sale sticker. If I can't find the level, then I have sorted them by category/genre. My awesome new teammate Morgan helped me get this system down! 


Well, That's all I have for now. My desk area is still a nightmare as we don't start actual school with kids until next Monday! Gives me some time to clean up a bit. 

I hope everyone is enjoying their first few days, (or weeks for some of you) back at school! Now I understand why there are so many bloggers out there. This is actually a lot of fun! 

Thanks for stopping by! - Allie