Sneak Peek

I have spent the last three days (and two days last week) in my classroom, and I was hoping to be done today so I could show it off to you...

I'm not done. 

Oh well.

I'm kind of ADD, so I have 15 projects going on, and probably only 3 of them need to get done before Open House next Wednesday. Yeah, that's how I roll. And I'm OK with that. But hey, I have all my reading calendars and birthday book pages done for the entire the year! My classroom library is completely reorganized and leveled, and I took everything out of my wardrobe cabinet and reorganized it. Because, you know, that's what's important to get done before Open House...

Anyway, here's a little taste of what's going on in my room:

THE LAMINATOR IS WORKING!!!!! JUMP FOR JOY!!!!! I wanted to hug the laminator repairman when I saw him fixing it yesterday, but he was kind of grumpy looking, so I refrained. I did, however, hug our secretary; I was just so happy! I laminated my hippo flags and hung them up today. What do you think?  Also note the newest planet... the clock between Earth and Mars! That always makes me smile :) Oh, and don't mind all my junk on the reading table.

Here's my new Daily 5 and CAFE board. I pinned this, and when I downloaded it, I found I could edit it. I'm obnoxiously color-cordinated and all things reading-related are green in my classroom. So I changed the shadow from blue to green. I also changed the font and the words to match the vocabulary we use at my school. Then I made the Daily 5 sign and all the station cards. You'll notice there are six... that's because I added a computer station to incorporate Compass into Daily 5. Then I mounted the cards on green card stock and laminated them. I don't have any strategy cards on the CAFE board because I put them up as I teach them. I also have the kids decorate them. This project is about 75% my creation :)

Here's my calendar area. Honestly, I'm not too big on calendar routines. I'd much rather go right into a subject area. I don't have a September name plate up because I have the kids make them. The white card (that's randomly at the top of the calendar) is used to mark the current date. The pig is new this year. I'm going to have my calendar helper put some coins on him every day and we will count them. I also added the white "Days in School" activity. I found it on Pinterest, but here's the direct link. I liked the idea of using expanded notation to reinforce the concept of place value. The yellow pocket chart isn't new to me; you add a straw for each day of school and regroup the 1s and 10s as necessary. I will share the "What's the Scoop?" and empty ice cream cone with you at a later time :)

I'm taking the next few days off because I deserve it. I'll be working at home on some things, but I'm not going in to school. Inservices start next Tuesday. Sad that summer's coming to an end, but excited to get back into the school routine and meet my new bunnies!