Family Heritage Project

We've been back to school for a total of 6 days. 

I started the year as a 3rd grade teacher with 27 students. 

I am now a 2nd & 3rd grade blend teacher with 31 sweet and wonderful smarties. 

Needless today these 6 days have felt like 6 years. 

I'll be honest, when I received the news I was not so optimistic. 

There was crying, a lot of crying. My stomach was in knots for days. 

I wasn't sure if I was even capable of doing this. 

Those of you that have successfully done a blend year after year are my heroes, btw. 

After changing all my name tags, labels, resorting supplies, 

meeting with my teammates for some strong drinks extra planning the stress began to subside. New 2nd graders were joining our 3rd grade classroom. The worst and most difficult part was saying goodbye to 10 of my 3rd graders. I know it was only a week, but we were already a strong community and had made so many memories in such a short time. Telling them that they were going to be leaving just didn't feel fair. Most of them took it pretty well, but a few needed some tissues for their tears and lots of extra hugs. 

Today we made the switch. As nervous as we all were, it turned out to be okay. 

The kids adjusted quickly and I began to see those smiling faces again. We're already beginning to build and strengthen our new community. 

For one of our first projects we will be exploring and sharing our family heritage. 

This is a collaborative project that requires students to work with their families in order to complete comprehensive paper bag book about their family heritage. 

Ours will be done just in time for back to school night. It's the perfect project to have on desks for students to share when their families arrive in the classroom!

Take a look... 

There are 4 homework assignments. 

Each assignment has two versions to meet the needs 

of a diverse range of learners. 

A video posted by Hope Danielle (@teaching_with_hope) on Sep 14, 2015 at 10:48pm PDT

You can find it all in my TpT store by clicking here!

Elements of a Story

When I introduce anything new it is most often with an anchor chart of some kind. 

My anchor charts are not Pinterest worthy or cutesy- 

even if I plan them out ahead of time they always end up crooked, cock-eyed and well kinda crappy! 

I think it is so important to create them with my kids though. 

That is why they are called anchor charts, because they are supposed to anchor their learning 

and be a constant resource within the classroom as students need them. 

With that being said, I also like to have those adorable go to resources too.

 When it comes to the cutesy pie posters that I buy from TpT sellers I have one rule;

 I only put them up as I introduce the concept rather than just as decoration. It's much more meaningful to students this way.  

I have been creating some posters of my own and am loving this new idea. 

I hung a ribbon and used clothespins to attach the posters. 

This is in my entry way at home, but I am going to hang some ribbons around the classroom

to put up posters as our learning grows. I am just thinking of the possibilities and spaces that are normally wasted! There's not hot glue needed here just some ribbon, clothespins and a few tacks!

These are my newest Alice in Wonderland themed Story Elements Posters and Bunting Banners.

 I'M IN LOVE WITH THEM! 

And tomorrow I have quite a freebie to share with you! The best part about my indecisivness is that you get to benefit from it. I can never decide what size I like best or which direction something should face so I always try 3 or 4 different ways and include them all in the product. The banner above has two different sized buntings and I also did a chalkboard edition. 

Check them out HERE and HERE!

      

And here is your sneak peak that you must come back for tomorrow!

Hint Hint my indecisivness came into play again.  

What's in your cart?

When you're out shopping do you ever see someone else holding some super cute must have? 

Do you follow them around hoping they will put it down? Perhaps you've even considered tackling them for it?!? Okay I've never tackled anyone, but I have been the crazy cart stalking lady who asks you where you found such and such. 

That's why I am crazy about this linky party hosted by Specch Room News. I want to see what you have in your TpT cart! What are your must haves? What have you been wish-listing for the big sale? 

I have been doing some major product updates in my store that you must check out. 

I just spray painted the frames for these little beauties!

My favorite part about them is that they are editable. 

And here is a peek at my cart... 

"Honey, I neeeeeed all of these things!" At least that's what I tell my husband.

I love the pictures that go with each of these posters! 

They are perfect strategy posters/anchor charts to keep up all year long. 

These are just what I need to save time and get students started on tracking their own growth and understanding. 

And I need each of these for Book Clubs!

And the list goes on... 

Before you leave and check out all of the other carts make sure to enter this enormous giveaway! 

You can win one of 7 incredible prize packs like this one. Click HERE!

Happy Shopping!

TPT dress up and update! + a giveaway

I get just as excited about updating my TPT store as I do my classroom. 

It's a little sadsies that I don't get as excited about working around the house, but what can ya do? Teachers are who they are, right?! 

I seriously feel like I am doing all of this in slow mo- 

Baby is a mamas girl ALL. THE. WAY. 

She doesn't want me doing anything if it is not for her. 

Brother wants a PBJ? Too bad!

Dogs need fresh water? She don't care. 

Love her like crazy though. 

We are enjoying every second of summer time. 

You know you're a parent when you turn your hot tub into a kiddie pool. 

I have managed to get some things done in the TPT world though. 

I love how the updates turned out!

I am going to give away one of each to two lucky followers. 

All you have to do is comment below and tell me how you are spending your summer. 

Simple as that! Don't forget to leave your email though!!

Check out the original post for the Classroom Jobs HERE

It's the most wonderful time of the (school) year!

I think I will start this with a random thought.. I am feeling just a tad bit random as per usual. You know that "Mama" commercial for the movie with the spooky girls? I am sure you do because I feel like it is on every 5 seconds. This is why I cover my ears and close my eyes whenever I watch T.V. or for that matter when my hubs watches T.V. It doesn't matter how distracted I may be with whatever I am doing. I hear that commercial and I freak. I just don't like it one tiny bit!!! I don't know how I ever watched these scary movies. I feel like back in high school that was all we went to see. Even then I buried by face in Josh's arm. That was before I knew he would be dealing with my fraidy cat ways for life! I can't wait until that dang movie finally comes out so they can stop showing the preview, ugh.

On a less random note I am starting to feel like my self again. I started creating again last week and I haven't needed an afternoon nap in a lil over a week now. That is sayin' a lot people, lemme tell ya! After the break it actually feels really nice to back to work and into the routine. Just because I am not crazy sleepy doesn't mean I am not crazy emotional though. I cry over ev-er-y-thing! Sometime I am not even sure why I'm crying. It's all a stage though I am thankful for each and every bit of it.

My two favorite times of the school year are September and right after Christmas break. I love all of the newness, and feeling of school, fall and meeting my sweet kids in September. After Christmas break there is just this sense of routine though that I feel more than any other time of the year. The kids are refreshed and ready to learn. I am refreshed and ready to teach my booty off! 

Now that my thirds have been introduced to the basics of multiplication we are moving on and adding the more complex pieces. This week we worked on what I like to call the CheeriO trick. Hopefully this will explain...

They think this trick is pretty darn cool. For extra practice and to free me up for small groups they practice with Cheerio Memory. 

This week we are going to learn more about the commutative property. I have included Triple Times War as a freebie just for you here... you know I can't blog without a freebie! I just love em! Click the picture to get yours. BTW I was going to use dice but when multiplying 3 numbers if the product gets to high on the first roll it creates quite the problem. The spinner keeps the product low enough on the first and second spin so that they can find the final product on the third spin. 

You can also get these and other ready to go centers in my Multiplication Centers and Activity Pack from TPT!

Bully FREE begins with ME

October is Bullying Awareness and Prevention Month! This week among our Halloween activities we also decorated our bullying t-shirts. We will wear these shirts once a week for the rest of the year. The kids brought in their own white t-shirts and I provided the permanent markers and fabric paint. I will definitely take a picture on Monday when out shirts have dried and we are able to try them on. They are pretty darn cute!!

In other news here is the Inferring Video my sweet darling made! I attached a copy of the song if you would like to use it. We are working on Synthesizing this next week. Who knows, another video could be in our near future! 

Writer's Workshop

I am quite happy to say that tomorrow is my Friday and it is a long weekend. Not only that but I am not going in to work on my room at all this weekend!! That is really saying a lot. Finally, this also means that tomorrow I will have a gazillion bajillion pictures to show you!!!

I mentioned before that Danni and I attended the Ruth Culham writing conference last week. Today I created a writer's workshop clip chart for my classroom. My hope is that is will help my students fully understand the writing process and use it effectively and that it will help me monitor my students and make meeting with them more meaningful.

I dunno about you but if I buy another ink cartridge my husband is going to lose his mind!! For this project I thought I would try to save a little ink while still making it cutesy. I mounted each piece on colored cardstock before laminating. I then put each piece on the ribbon and stapled it up. Make sure that when you put this up you only staple at the top of each piece so that students can use their clothespen clips to show where they are in the writing process.

You can find this chart at my TPT store! And.... the first three to comment will get it FREE!!

Owl Word Wall Pack Updated

So... I got my owl word wall put up the other day and just wasn't loving it. It looks super duper cute on paper but once up on the wall it just wasn't super visible. I updated my pack to contain 3 versions of the letter cards and I love the new set! Here is a preview for you.

If you already purchased this pack go download your updated version!

Yesterday, I went to a PBIS meting (Positive Behavior Interventions and Support). My to do list is about a mile long now. Last night I worked until about 8 and then I headed to a certain Office supply store to pick up my plan book that I made. I handed these people my plan book all put together and all they need to do was laminate the front, back and spiral bind the LEFT side. Well I went to pick it up and they spiral bound the top. Hmmmm well this won't work because when you open it the pages are upside down. Okay round two. I got pick it up and they bound it so that my afternoon pages were in the morning. Okay I am pretty sure A.M. still comes before P.M. but I was still sweet as can be. 3rd time... lady says "3rd times a charm". Then she brings the book over to me.... dum dum dum.... IT IS WRONG AGAIN!!!! I didn't freak, but I tell ya I wanted to. I was starting to boil. I wanted to get home before Conner had to go to sleep. We read a stories and snuggle for like an hour every night and this certain Office place, not Office Max btw was holding me up from my favorite part of the day, grrrrr. So on time number 4 I decided that it would be best to walk them through this step by step and voila my simple project turned not so simple is done and I absolutely love it. Next year, however I think I will choose a place that has a copy and print department that knows how to copy and print. 

Happy Friday all! We are watching my sisters two little ones this weekend. They are just so much fun together. So we will have two 2 years old and a 1 1/2 year old for the weekend. Wish us luck! We'll need it!!!

Whole Class Writing Journals!

I am being a Lazy Daisy sitting here on my computer not wanting to get up, get my camera, and upload all of my classroom pictures. I do have a ton to share with you and a video too. Hoping to get to it tomorrow.

Sooooo my darlings I am dancing on the stars over my 50 followers! Yay and thanks to all of you for reading, sharing and allowing me to share with you. It is amazing to be able to collaborate with so many of you all over the world!

I have seen some pretty amazing Whole Class writing journals around. If you know me you know that I like to create most everything myself. This isn't because everything else isn't absolutely cutesy pie because it is. It is more so that I am always changing, adding and adapting to things and always want to be able to change it quickly! I am sure many of you are the same.

I created these whole class writing journal covers and love them! I plant to cut them out, glue each onto the cover of a spiral or composition book and then cover with contact paper. They are so easy and perfect to get kids motivated about writing and reading one another's writing too!

The first 3 to comment will get a set free!! Yes FREE... all I ask is for you to let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions! These are also available at my TPT store for 2 bucks!

Back to School Giveaway!

Things are finnnnally starting to come together in my classroom! I feel like I have been working on it for absolutely ever but I think you will be pleased with the projects and my Made It Monday Its will have to share this week! Stay tuned....

Mercedes of at Surfing to Success has reached 100 followers and is giving away some pretty great stuff, including two gift cards!! Get your bootys over the and enter!!! 

I also decided that in honor of her giveaway and Back to School right around the corner I would throw a giveaway of my own and give you another chance to win my Back to School Giganti-Pack (love love love this and I know you will too) and my Complete Classroom Jobs Pack! There are only three things you need to do, follow me, follow my TPT store and leave me a blogpost comment!

Good luck!

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