August Currently

Can you believe school is just around the corner? I certainly can't. It feels like I have a million things left to do and I'm wondering if I'll be able to get them all done! We have a new textbook this year that is completely digital and we are going (mostly) paperless this year. It's making me feel like I'm going to have a "first year" of teaching all over again even though I'm literally in the same classroom! 

Thanks to Oh, Boy Fourth Grade for the linky!

Monday Made-It: DIY Workshop Storage

 

If some were to diagram my life, it seriously would be teaching, reading, crafting, teaching, reading, crafting...it's like a never ending cycle that I enjoy! If there is anything I love more that crafting, it's upcycling. I love the idea of improving a recyclable and turning it into something I can use. So for this Made-It Monday, I took Wal-Mart composition notebook boxes which look like this and turned them into something that I could definitely use...storage for reader's notebook. I am a middle school teacher, and let me tell you, I am filled with ENVY at the teacher who can have an individual reading box for their students. Unfortunately for me, 120 magazine boxes are just not feasible for me. So, I decided to come up with something else. I had read about Wal-Mart letting teachers take home boxes to use in their classrooms, so went to my local Wal-Mart and they happily obliged.

All I needed was some scrapbook paper and some modge podge and I went to work. I decided to use my classroom color scheme as my inspiration, so they will fit right in. My labels came from the ever-so-fabulous Kristen from Ladybug's Teacher Files.

I liked the idea of adding some ribbon to clean up the lines...and that's about it! I used a hot glue gun for the ribbon. These boxes will fit nicely on my low bookshelf in my classroom, and will hold plenty of notebooks without taking up too much space. They are also fairly sturdy (I chose to reinforce them with packaging tape) so they can be carried my students to their tables.

Thanks Fourth Grade Frolics! That's all for now! Happy crafting!

Optimum Organization- Google Drive

I hope everyone is loving the summer Optimum Organization series as much as I am! I have some quick thoughts to share with you about how I organize my files on Google Drive. My school district has Gmail as their email provider, so we are able to use the resources supported by Google --which I am very happy about.

Nonetheless, I receive countless documents "shared" with me that I need to keep track of. I also use Google drive to share lesson plans and resources with my PLC to make sure that everyone has the same access to the materials that I do. (After trolling the internet for awesome blog and Pinterest ideas!)

The first thing you will need to do is click on"Drive" at the top of the page. Then, select "My Drive" on the side. From there, you should see a little folder with a plus that looks like this:

From there, you can create a folder. I chose to keep the following folders in "My Drive," but obviously you can choose whatever workers for you!

1. 2012-2013 Information- Includes all the resources that you need to keep on file from last year, but don't necessarily think you will need right away.
2. Behavior Management- I like to keep information on my students on a spreadsheet, which is easily shared with administration.
3. Folders for each unit I will be teaching- For example, I have a folder that says, "Power of Research Resources"
4. Professional Development- I keep certificates and other things that are typically sent to me in an attachment form here.
5. Website- Contains the files I display on my school website
6. Organization Resources- This is filled with many fabulous ideas and resources for keeping everything clean, tidy, and "matchy-matchy" aka...the way I like it.
7. And the wonderful catch-all- Miscellaneous

Once you've set up you're folders, you'll notice that they are all gray. That does not work for me. I have to have some kind of color-coding system in place!

To change the color of your folder,  right-click on the folder, move down to where it says "change color" and select.

I always keep important information in red, my units in green, and behavior in blue (it's calming, right?).

All of these images, I took right from my Google Drive. Thanks for reading, hope it helps! Thank to Kristen from Ladybug's Teacher Files and Elizabeth from Fun in 4B for hosting!

Workshop Wednesday...on a Thursday!

Summer school is in full swing here, so I'm up to my eyes in fingerpaint and hugs..did I mention how crazy different kindergarteners are compared to seventh graders? Anyways, I am in the process of trying to figure out how to implement the readers' and writers' workshop into my middle school classroom. We have 60 minute blocks here, which seems like no time at all! During my student teaching, we practiced the Lucy Calkins' method of workshops, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I decided that I would come up with a small resource list for you of items that I will be using in my classroom. Hopefully this list will eliminate some of the searching!

First, I wouldn't know where to begin with Kristen from Ladybug's Teacher Files. Her items, featured below, really inspired me to make implementing a workshop, a reality.

 

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These board will both be up in my classroom this year. I've decided to use black plastic tablecloths as the background because we do not have black paper available to us at the school.

My school will also be a 1:1 technology school with all of my students receiving a MacBook Air. Because of this, and limited bulletin board space, I've decided to take another hint from Kristen and create my own bulletin boards. I'm using black posterboard and teal duct tape to create spaces for "MacBook Tips & Tricks" and a designated spot for "Anchor Charts." I also have a Common Core Word Wall, a spot for mentor texts, and a student exemplar section. I've have been inspired so much through the anchor charts I see on Pinterest. I was browsing though the TWRCP website, and stumbled across another list of Anchor Charts that I thought you might be interested in:

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They have information that is useful for K-8 teachers. Love it! 

I'm going to use clothespins to display my anchor charts. I'm just hoping that are supply order will be enough to cover chart paper!

I've also decided that I am going to try a DIY book boxes project. Since I am seeing about 120 kids a day, it would be impossible for all my students to have their own box. I'm aiming to collect 30 cereal boxes and modge podge them to match my classroom. Hopefully, about 5 composition books will be able to fit into each, that way I can have a box for every group of students in my class. I'm unsure how this project will go, but I can try!

I'm thinking I'll wrap them in a paper similar to this:

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I loved using mentor texts to teach skills during my student teaching, but I was having a hard time finding a comprehensive list of mentor texts (that I have access to), skills, and were an appropriate length. The best list I've found so far, has been put out by Scholastic and is called, "The Common Core State Standards Collections for English Language Arts," but I would much rather have one put together by a teacher...any ideas out there?

My curriculum maps for my county won't be finished until at least August 1st, which gives little time to plan. If it's anything like last year, we will start the year with biographies and autobiographies. I hope we do because that will be a nice transition into setting up our reading notebooks. I'm thinking about making them interactive as well....so many ideas running though my head!

I'd love to hear about how you run your workshop...especially with older grades! 

Thanks to Ideas by Jivey for hosting this Workshop Wednesday! Hope it was useful!

A Sweet Surprise

The sweet Jamie, over at Sixth Grade Tales, was kind enough to nominate me for a Liebster Award, a blogger to blogger award to recognize new blogs with less than 200 followers. I am so happy that someone is noticing my little pet project. It's always good to get a little appreciation, right? As part of accepting, I have 11 questions that Jamie made up for to answer as a little Q&A and some random facts for you. At the end, I will nominate five more blogs for this award to keep the good vibes going. To accept my nomination, you must answer my 11 questions for you, share about yourself, and nominate fellow new bloggers. Don't forget to contact them!

Jamie's questions for me:

1.  What is your best advice for starting a new school year?

Develop a good organizational system that works for you. Worrying about where things are and how to find something should not be an issue when you have 30+ kiddos.

2.  What is your favorite book for professional development and why?


"When Kids Can't Read" by Kylene Beers has to be my favorite. It is full of strategies, examples, and student work samples to help all students, especially those significantly below grade level.

3.  How do you deal with giving homework? Is it the same each week?


Knowing the students I teach, homework does not get done. Our school assigns very, very little homework due to access issues.

4.  If you weren't a teacher, what profession would you be in?
I would be a designer of some sort...just not fashion!

5.  What is your favorite thing to cook?
My homemade spaghetti sauce --it's a family recipe!

6.  Outside of teaching, what do you like to do for fun?


I love to craft. There is nothing that scrapbook paper and modge podge can't fix!

7. What is your favorite place to shop?
Target...for sure!

8.  What is your favorite educational website?
Oh my, there are too many!

9.  What kind of music do you like to listen to?
I'm not complaining...unless it's country.

10.  What is your favorite television show?
Criminal Minds.

11. What book do you love reading with your students the most?
I love reading The Giver and Number the Stars. I love Lois Lowry!

11 Random Facts about myself:

1. My favorite color is green, but my classroom is blue, white, and black.
2. I love going to baseball games, but I hate watching them on TV.
3. One day, I hope to be an advocate for better educational policies in the government.
4. I love technology, but nothing can replace the way a book feels in your hands.
5. I like to try my hand at cooking new things, but I'm always scared to try them.
6. I'm a Target addict, I always look at their home organization stuff, but sometimes it is just too expensive!
7. I love coffee, but I got way too many coffee cups for Christmas from students!
8. Teaching is the hardest thing I've ever done, but I have loved every minute with my students.
9. I dream that one day I will be able to purchase an older home that I can fix up.
10. Someone once told me that I was too much of an idealist when it came to education, I want to prove them wrong.
11. I think it's really awkward to come up with things that you want other people to know about you!

My Liebster Nominees are:
Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'
Life with Middle Schoolers
The Learning Chambers
Creating Lifelong Learners
The Adventures of Room 83


My 11 Questions for my Liebster Nominees:
1. What made you decide you wanted to be a teacher?
2. What was the hardest thing about your first year?
3. The funniest thing a child ever said to me was...
4. If you could change one thing about your school, it would be...
5. What's your favorite hobby?
6. Tell me three things you couldn't live without.
7. Where would you go on your dream vacation?
8. What was the most valuable advice you ever received?
9. What classroom supply will you NOT share with your students?
10. What color pen do you grade with?
11. If someone gave you a grant to help start a school, what would you name it?

Special thanks to Colleen from Tales from the Third Grade, Angelica from Fourth Grade at the Beach
, and Lisa from Grade 4 Buzz for their nominations too! Jamie got to me first, so I decided to go with her questions, but I really appreciate your thoughts!

Optimum Organization

This Tuesday, I'm linking up with my blog-spiration...Ladybug Teacher Files for her Optimum Organization Link-Up. I'm absolutely obsessed with her designs! She is so talented!

I never thought finding classroom bins would be so easy! I had been searching the "regular" teacher websites for book bins for my classroom and all I could find were book bins that were sold in sets of six for about $20. That is way, way too much for this teacher. This past week, I stumbled into The Dollar Tree and found that they have stocked up for back to school....already. Mixed emotions. Anyway, they had these bins for...you guessed it...$1 each. I picked up 25. The cashier looked confused.

 

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I drove home a very happy, and inspired, girl. There is just something I LOVE about the idea of organizing. When I got home, I knew I wanted to create my labels. I didn't really want the ones that I saw online with all of the cutesy clipart because I didn't think my middle grades students would like them. I decided to make these instead.

 My classroom colors are blue, yellow, black and white, so these will work out just perfectly for me! I decided to make primary colors and chevron colors and put them in my TPT store. If you like them, you can check them out HERE.

Monday Made-It: Chevron Wreath Tutorial

I'm super excited to be participating in my first-ever Monday Made-It with Tara over from 4th Grade Frolics. I have been a long time fan of looking at others' (blog stalking) DIY projects and love LOVE love crafting things myself. So here is my first go around at a tutorial. Since chevron is the go-to pattern right now, and I had found fabulous chevron ribbon at Hobby Lobby. I thought I would use that as my inspiration. You obviously can pick out any pattern of ribbon you would like.

Supply List:
1. Blue Chevron Ribbon
2. Black Ribbon
3. Medium foam wreather
4. Yellow flower (I just liked it. :) and other accessories
5. Gray lace ribbon
6. Small pins (must have for working with foam)

7. Hot glue gun (Optional)

 

The first thing I did was unravel all of the blue ribbon. I decided I wanted it to be two-toned, so I tightly wrapped the ribbon around the foam, securing with pins as needed to keep it tight.

 

Next, I added the black ribbon at the bottom part of the wreath. My classroom is blue, black, white, and a hint of yellow, so I thought I would make this wreath into a wreath for my door.

 

Then, I used a small gray lace ribbon to serve as a sort of border for my wreath. I cut it into two pieces and framed the left first. I used the second piece to frame the right and tried to make them meet in the middle.

 

I used a bright yellow fabric flower to serve as the base of my bow. I chose to pin this in, however, you could use a hot glue gun. I chose to use pins so that I could tuck my left over ribbon behind it to make it look a little more "wreath-ish." I also added some smaller white flowers for decoration.

Using leftover black ribbon, I pinned a little loop at the top to make sure that it hung centered on a door. I love the color scheme, so I think I'm going to keep it on my door until I take it to school in the fall.

Hope you enjoyed my first ever Made-It Monday! Everyone should try making a wreath...it really is painless and makes a classroom feel a little more like home!

Any questions? Just ask. I'm happy to help anyone!