Classroom Sneak Peek

Yes, I know that I only managed TWO posts in the month of July. Pitiful. However, I was trying to enjoy important things like summer trash TV, cleaning my house, and spending everyday with my babies. I have a few posts to catch up on and I will be combining the 10 and 11 month twin updates because yes, they are nearly 11 months old (GASP!). But for the last few weeks I have spent every spare minute I have had in my classroom. Working most days in the un-air conditioned nearly 90 year old building. But let me tell you that working in the un-air conditioned, nearly 90 year old building is MUCH EASIER this summer not being pregnant with two babies- in case you were curious. I have reminded myself that many times as I have worked in the heat. (side note: yes, our school has air conditioning- just not in the summer or at night when I have a chance to work)

This year I get the privilege of teaching 5th grade English/Language Arts again. This will be my second year on the 5th grade team and second year in room 204. I am thrilled to be working with the lovely ladies of 5th grade again because they make my job so much fun. They are great at what they do and great at making me laugh! Needless to say we usually have a good time. We are also not going to let the fact that we have 30 kids in each class and quite a few behavior problems ruin our fun either. I know it is going to be a great year in 5th grade.

Because I am in the same classroom, teaching the same grade it was a little easier moving in to my classroom this summer. Yes, we have to box up every year because of our beautiful floors. They have to be stripped and waxed each summer so we have to pack up and everything is taken out of our rooms. But this year I kept many things up on the wall that I just covered during testing to avoid having to re-hot glue it all back up. So glad for that. I have spent days working alone and a few days the babes joined me.

Tomorrow is our opening day and we have a county wide meeting in the morning, followed by meetings at school and a short while to work in our rooms on last minute things because kids start on TUESDAY!!! I can hardly believe that it is time. We had back to school night last Thursday and I met 20 of my 28 kids and most of their parents. It was a wild night as always and I was a little overwhelmed by talking to so many people and sharing so much important info in such a short amount of time, but it did get me excited for the year. I seem to have some real sweethearts and most of them seemed excited to come back too. Because we departmentalize I get to teach ELA to all three classes and I have had many of these kiddos in 3rd grade so it is great to see some familiar faces again. I can't wait to see how much they have grown since I saw them last.

My room is always a work in progress and there are soooo many things that I would like to do to it and many things on my pin boards that I would like to try too, but for now it is almost ready for my sweeties to arrive early Tuesday morning.

Here is a glimpse into my 5th grade classroom for the 2012-2013 school year. My 9th year teaching, my 7th year in this school and my 2nd year in 5th grade. Come on in and take a look.

Welcome- Here is the view from the door.

Here is the view from the back.

Front of the room.

My library/small group work area.

I finally got my class sets of chapter books organized this summer!

Yes, my babies are in a cage while I work...

The shelf beside my desk. Loaded up, organized and ready for action.

The wall directly to the right of the door. Board has space for student work and classroom Boggle.The shelf is for sorting papers by classroom, classroom materials and indoor recess games. The black shelf next to it is labeled for supplies like paper, extra crayons etc, and the pencil sharpener  sits on top. 

To the left of the door.
Schedule, calendar, birthdays, and Whole Brain Rules.
Printed the rules from HERE.

In case you were wondering, this is not a permanent fixture.
This is where the kids will sort the supplies they bring in to share with the class.
These are the boxes I had out for open house and I will leave them here for the first few days to allow them to put their supplies away and help keep the clutter away  on the first few days. 

My back to school hallway display!
YES, That is right. I hot glued a cape to the wall...
I was going to do owls but as I began to get it ready I noticed that 4 other teachers in my building were doing owls too so I went with plan B and used Clark's leftover supplies from his party (HERE) and went with it.
I got inspiration from The Teacher Wife  and I am pretty pleased with the outcome.

I have come up with some fun superhero activities thanks to my fiend Ginger and her TPT store that I will be using for the first few days. I am looking forward to Tuesday and hoping that the 5:30 am alarm clock is kind to me! Wish me luck!!!

In case you are interested on taking a walk down memory lane I have blogged about my classroom set up in the past HERE, HERE and HERE.

Teacher Talk- Great Lesson Ideas

Happy Thursday Friends. Today I'm bringing Teacher Talk Back and my goal is to host a link up once a month. That is about all I can commit to these days. Seeing as it is 7:00 on Thursday night and all three of my kiddos need bathed and I am neglecting them to post this! :) They will get cleaned- no worries.

I am getting back into the swing of things after having the babies and being away from school for 11 weeks. I am just now getting the hang of the whole teacher/mommy of 3 thing and starting to feel good about it all. One reason I have been able to come back and feel good about what I am teaching is because of you! I read wayyyyy too many blogs. I find so many good ideas on your blogs that make my life so much easier. I love when I find something that you all have created that I can use in my classroom. I am not sure how I survived teaching without blogs, Pinterest or Teachers Pay Teachers! One of these days I am going to have time to spruce up some of my stuff to sell on TPT or even enough to feel comfortable sharing it on this blog, but until then I am relying on you to help me!

One of my FAVORITE blogs is What the Teacher Wants. I think that Rachelle and Natalie do such a great job and have so many wonderful resources on their blog that it is one I check often. Thanks girls!!

While I was on maternity leave Natalie posted information about her Wax Museum unit and I was hooked. I bought it that night. I teach 5th grade Language Arts this year and I was trying to come up with a way to study biographies and add a little public speaking and research to meet as many Common Core goals as possible in one assignment and this was it!! It was a great purchase. It is a wonderful packet with everything needed to pull off a Wax Museum.

Click HERE to get to Natalie's TPT Store.

I assigned my kids the project the week we got  back from Christmas break and it was due last week. Let me just tell you they blew me out of the water! They did an outstanding job. They had to read a biography, do a book report, share their report in front of the class and then dress up like their character for a Wax Museum for the entire school. It was great and everyone around here has been signing my praises, but Natalie did all the work! It was an outstanding project that I highly recommend you checking out. This is now a yearly project. I learned so much this year and can't wait to try it again next year.

Here are some pictures of my first attempt at a biography/book report/wax museum:

It was such a wonderful learning experience for my kids and for me! I have 75 5th graders and there were a few things I learned about timing tours through the museum and small details like that, but Natalie did all of the hard part for me. Everything is so user friendly. She included rubrics, parent letters, examples, detailed directions and not only is it all very useful but it is so darn cute!

I took hundreds of pictures of the event and would love to share them all, but I'll spare you that. Just know all my kids did a great job and I was one proud teacher.

So, my question to you is- What have you been up to? Do you have any lesson ideas we need to know about? Do you have any lessons you have created you want to share? A Teacher Pay Teacher site you want to share? A favorite blog? Please link up or at least comment and share some things you are up to. If you have any ideas for the next link up let me know that too!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Friday.
The LINKY will be up all weekend so please come back, check it out and link up if you get the chance. Clink on the link below to join in!

TEACHER TALK TOMORROW!

Good Morning Lovely Followers & Friends.

Tomorrow (February 2nd) I will be bringing back the TEACHER TALK THURSDAY!

I would LOVE for you to play along. The topic tomorrow is GREAT LESSONS. I will be sharing a great unit I purchased from one of my favorite TPT stores and highlighting how it worked with my kids. I would love for you to link up and share some fun lessons YOU have created, or that you have found online, on other blogs, on TPT, or any other secret spot you know of (and give credit of course!) This will be a fun way to share ideas. There are so many great things out there and I'd LOVE to see what you are up to.

I hope to see you tomorrow!!!