My 2013-2014 Classroom!

It is the eve of a brand new school year and I will be meeting 21 22 brand new 4th graders in about 13 hours! I'm looking forward to the new year. Here is a little tour of my "Pinterest-ified" room--

The view from the door. I have what I call a "pie shaped room"--it's basically like a slice of pie!

My large bulletin board area and half of my library plus the student book bins.

My desk area.

Whole group meeting area and the other half of my library. My books are still arranged by Lexile range but I know the research says not to do it that way. I hope to find the time to redo this system this year.

I've always had my student desks in groups of 4 or 5. I really love this arrangement because we do a lot of small group and partner work and this lends itself well to that. Having fewer students this year allows me to keep an extra desk in the middle of each group for storage. I bought some clearance fabric in a cute pattern to dress it up a bit!

Math morning work chart (Pinterest idea came from Math Workshop Adventures) and writing center (my goal is to get it to look like "The Writer's Eye" featured on Teaming Up to Teach).

Information Wall.

Close up of the behavior chart (switching to the famous color system this year after 10 years of "sticks"!), Homework Brownie points (see here for more info) and my fun magnetic board for tracking where students are.

Another small group meeting area by the sink.

I finally have my 10 class pictures properly hung up! Also, I renamed the 4 student computers after my 4 cats--Bella, Blu, Max and Sadie!

Here's a close-up of the Bella computer--each one includes a picture of the cat. All my cats are black and hard to tell apart unless you're me! I think the kids will enjoy that.

I hope you've enjoyed the tour. I know I love looking at others' classrooms. Here's to a great school year!

Classroom Management Projects

With 6 days left until my new class of 4th graders walk in my classroom door, it's becoming more clear everyday that summer vacation is just about over. Sad face.

But, I do always enjoy the start of a new school year! New people, new colleagues, new kids, new families, new supplies, new ideas--everything feels fresh and new. With that attitude in mind, I've been taking some of my recent Pinterest likes and pins and making them for my classroom. I've learned a couple things in the last couple weeks--
1. There are so many things you can do with duct (duck--the brand name) tape! I bought 3 rolls of the fun polka dot print and I just LOVE it!
2. The Dollar Tree has been a lifesaver in helping me snag quality, but cheap, supplies to make my projects! Without further ado, here are my projects and a link to the original post where I found it:

----Revamped File Box----
I've had these files boxes for over 10 years in my classroom with various uses over the years. Last year, I did not use them for anything so I decided to sell them at a yard sale but kept 1 for this project! I turned my old, drab, white, plastic box into a cute organizer! I found the idea at Fifth Grade Frenzies. I love it!

----Magnetic Student Boards----
I'm really impressed with how these turned out. I wanted a quick visual to see where students are located and help take attendance and lunch count. The original idea came from A Spoonful of Creativity. Dollar store cookie sheets and clear flower vase marbles + spare magnets + adorable numbers and labels from A Cupcake for the Teacher = These beauties!

----Brownie Points----
I'm using this as a whole class incentive for completed homework. I'm hoping that this idea will keep everyone motivated to get that completed homework in on time--everyday!! A brownie can be earned each day all homework assignments are completed by everyone in the class. For every dozen brownies earned, the students will earn some kind of reward. Later in the year, it will take 2 dozen brownies to earn the reward. I'm not 100% sure what the rewards will be yet--nothing extravagant--something simple and cheap but that the kids will enjoy. I'll share more ideas on that later. In the meantime, the idea came from What the Teacher Wants.

I'm looking forward to getting these into my room and finishing up all the prep work in there before the kids arrive next Wednesday. I hope to post some classroom reveal photos before that day. I'd love to hear about your classroom management tips and ideas. Also, be sure to check out my classroom Pinterest board for all the great ideas I've found!
Happy New School Year!

ISTEP is a good time!

This week was ISTEP+, Indiana's standardized test. It can be a stressful time but I try to make it a little less stressful in my class. Of course, our preparation for ISTEP+ begins on Day 1 of school but I found a GREAT idea on TpT for doing some test prepping in a new way. We tried it a few times in recent weeks and the kids blew me away! The discussions I overheard and the answer defenses I observed were exciting to see! I highly recommend giving Laura Candler's Buddy Test Prep activity a try. It definitely took some conversations to a deeper level and I was really impressed and encouraged!

Pinterest ABOUNDS with ideas for test treats. Last year, I went with the "smart cookie" idea.

This year, since we tested for 3 days, I opted for a small treat each day.

Day 1: Andes mints

Day 2: Smarties candy

Day 3: Fruit Roll Ups--Last day!!

Yay! It's over and we survived... well, until Part 2 in April. In the meantime, here is a cute little video to get the kids excited about ISTEP, put together by another Hammond school, Lincoln. Enjoy!

Anchor Charts for Writing

If you would've asked me my thoughts about using anchor charts in the classroom a few years ago, I would've said something along the lines of them being more appropriate in a primary room--not so much 4th or 5th grade. I've come to learn that anchor charts are just as necssary in intermediate classrooms--and may even be more beneficial--than in a primary room! Anchor charts are very big in my school and the students here have learned to look for them in their classrooms over the years. My students in the past couple years really rely on these charts and I am always pleased to see a student referring to one when they are working independently. As usual, Pinterest has an adbundance of anchor chart ideas and I have chosen some of those ideas to use in my classroom. Here are a few of our favorites for writing (along with a link to show you where the inspiration came from in the first place!):

These are two of the first charts we do together during our Launching Writer's Workshop unit. Plus, they are just fun charts to have hanging up in a classroom. My students were impressed with my drawings. The inspiration for both charts can be found at Life is Better Messy Anyway.

As we began the writing process for our first piece, we read the book, Little Monster Becomes an Author, and then created the following chart to help us through the process. I made color copies of the pages to add to the chart. It's quickly become my favorite writing chart and we will use it ALL the time! The original post about it can be found here.

When I got to the revising and editing minilessons, we made the final chart below. The inspiration came from Confessions of a 4th Grade Teacher. I've been teaching for just about 10 years and NEVER heard of these acronyms--they are genius!

I think it's safe to say that using anchor charts has changed my classroom!

The Teacher Binder

So many papers, so little time! But--I am going to share my teacher binder so you can see how I try to keep my "teacher life" organized. I have kept variations of this before but really put together a set system this year after seeing other ideas on Pinterest. I really like the one put together by The Teacher Wife so a lot of my inspiration came from there. Here is the binder--not a fancy front but it is my favorite color.

It looks better when it is open. You will see the FREE lesson plan book I got from Lakeshore Learning this summer and the cute (and FREE) cover page I got from The Curriculum Corner.

I made tabs to divide my binder into the following sections: schedule/calendars,student/parent information, guided reading plans, assessment data, common core checklists, curriculum guides, meetings, and IEPs.

Schedule/Calendars--Our daily schedule and school and district calendars for the year.

Student/Parent Information--I have a sheet with the pertinent contact info for each student in my class, a parent contact log, and a weekly tracking sheet for each student. Another teacher in my building made the tracking sheets and they are great! I keep track of missing assignments, behavior issues and reading goals for each week of the trimester.

Guided Reading Information--Paperwork and plans for my leveled guided reading groups will be housed here when we start this the week of 9/24. We are still building our stamina this week and next!

Assessment Data--My data dissagregation sheets along with all assessment recording forms are kept here. This helps when I plan my lessons.

Common Core Checklists--This is my lifeline this year! I am still feeling my way through CCSS but I took the time over the summer to create these checklists for my grade level team to track when we cover each standard. I have them for sale in my TpT store. There is also a checklist for 5th grade available.

Curriculum Guides--I have mapped out my curriculum for Daily 5, CAFE, Everyday Math and Writing. I keep those guides here.

Meetings--Staff meetings, plan team meetings, committee meetings, etc.! All agendas and notes go here.

IEPs/Behavior Plans--This important paper work is here for quick reference.

Whew! I am really fond of this binder and consider it to be my "school bible". = )

Literacy Strategies

I love these posters that are now a feature in our literacy rich classroom! We refer to them often and we talk about when and how to use these strategies. I found them linked to Pinterest and they can be downloaded here for use in the classroom.