I made it through my first year back!

This year has been crazy! I have been so busy I haven't had the time to keep up with my blog! I am trying to get into the groove of improving my time management skills. I will have plenty of time over the summer to blog ideas! Teacher pay Teachers has been an incredible resource for me throughout the entire year! I also have been following several teacher bloggers for great ideas! I have had to move rooms for next year and we finally have everything moved! We have two days of work left before our seven weeks of summer vacation begins and I am so ready! The school I work at instituted a school wide theme (seems more like a slogan to me) and this coming fall the new theme is going to be "The Winning Ticket". I was not big on having a theme because I like to be creative on my own but I did find some inspiration that has me already gearing up for the new year! I immediately thought about Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Candyland! I pitched my idea to the second grade team which is adding two new team members and they are on board. If you have any ideas to share please do!!! I have hit the ground running with ideas. Last  night I watched the 2005 version of Willy Wonka with Johnny Depp and got tons of ideas! As this unfolds I will share! I couldn't find any other classroom themes online like this to draw ideas from but I did find plenty of birthday parties with the theme and even a few weddings??? Stay tuned!!! This is going to be fun!!

December Math Stations!

I wish I could of thought of this but I didn't! I found this on pintrest and it is awesome. It takes some time to do all the laminating and cutting but worth it! It is also in line with common core.
Here is where I found it http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/MATH-STATIONS-Common-Core-Grade-2-DECEMBER-423789
I found some plastic containers at walmart to store them in!

Journal Jar

I am trying to catch up on blogging! This school year has kept me so busy! I want to share something I found on pintrest, a journal jar! I made this last week and we started using it. It is perfect for those early finishers! Here is the link where I found it www.teachingwithtlc.com/2010/10/journal-jar.html

Teacher Tipster (EPIC Angry Birds Math Lesson)

Fall Break is upon us!

My first year back in teaching has been like my first  year all over again! My year got off to a very rocky start! I found myself questioning my decision to teach again but things have settled down. I have made it to fall break! I decided to tutor the first three days of fall break but I am looking forward to having a week and a half off! I haven't been making anything to share but I do have some pics to share of projects I have found and we made! Today professional development, tomorrow night is our school carnival and I am running the face painting booth! It should be fun!

Whoohoo! First day went great!

I was struggling with the decision on whether or not to start CAFE and Daily Five today. I decided to give it a go and I didn't make it to CAFE, but we did start Daily Five Read to Self and my kiddos LOVED it! and they did awesome!!! I am so excited to start CAFE tomorrow and continue with Daily Five!

School starts Monday!

It has been a long two weeks! One week of orientation all day for five days then this week it has been a full week of trying to work on my room! I have been without a/c all week in my classroom, I almost got moved from 2nd to Pre-k the day I started on my room because I was the only early childhood certified teacher and they couldn't fill the spot and many other little thorns through the week that have finally all been worked out. Finally my room is mostly ready for school to start on Monday. It has been exhausting! I still have some walls to fill, bulletin boards to complete BUT my prize CAFE and Daily 5 wall are done! My reading areas with pillows, chairs, books, lamps and ample floor space are done! I am ready and excited to be launching CAFE and Daily 5. My 2nd grade team is peering over my shoulder to see how it goes and I am a bit nervous! The launch may be delayed one week because of the delay in kids registering for school, but we will see. Here is my room for now!