Last Bit of Freedom

This is my last weekend before school is in full swing. Yes, we went last week, but we only had kids for 2 hours, so it doesn't count. :)

My kiddos are sweet. I think it will be a good class. I did have 4 not show up, but I think they will all make it on Monday. I did get a new one yesterday, so I am now up to 19. I did not get to meet her, but Monday will come soon enough. I have several good parents who want to be involved so that will be nice. I can't wait to get started.

I have no plans for next week though, so that is freaking me out a bit. We still haven't really gotten a schedule, so it is hard for me to plan, when I don't really have a plan! I'm going to buckle down and figure out something after this post though. Instead of working on lesson plans like I should have, I worked on stuff for you.

Our school wants to really focus on Accountable Talk and student learning this year. Pretty much what Common Core is all about. We got to tour some of the upper grade classrooms and the buzz was about some Accountable Talk posters they had in their rooms. I liked them, but didn't think they would work quite right in my classroom. Several other teachers mentioned that they would put up the posters for THEM to use to guide student talk. That's all well and good, but I want the kiddos to be able to use them on their own. So, I decided to make my own. I changed the wording a little bit  and added pictures to help the kiddos understand them more so they can actually use them. Plus, I have a mostly ELL class and they would definitely need help. Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?! Anyway, I think they turned out great and I have already printed them out to put in my classroom.

I put them on Teachers Pay Teachers for you. Just click the picture below to take you to them. I hope they work in your classrooms, too.

I really think they will help my kiddos use them more easily without me having to feed them the words. Woohoo for growing in-depth thinkers! I can just imagine all the conversations that can happen with these little gems. 

I like this one a lot because they really have to explain why they answered a certain way. They have to really think about it to explain it. Who am I kidding? I really like all of them. :)

Monday begins the start of an awesome year! I hope yours starts off great as well!

Be fun and Fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

Classroom Reveal

I'm linking up with Mrs. Sanderson at Flying High in First Grade to do our classroom tours. Fun, fun! I am as finished as I can be right now, except for my center areas. I go back on Monday, so I better be. No kids until Thursday though, but I'm sure I'll think of lots of last minute stuff between now and then. I feel good about where I am right now though. I really love my classroom. It is so cute and calm. It makes me happy and I hope it makes my little kiddos happy, too. Come join up on the linky with pictures of your room! Just grab this button and check out other classrooms as well.

Classroom revealed. :)

Are you ready?

View from the doorway

Carpet area

More carpet

Cute wish list items

Question of the day. I love this and will use it so much in Morning meeting/ speaking and listening.

What to do when finished board

Classroom

Deasks with everything ready to go. Parent registration folders and their Jungle Books.

Writing Area

Reading Center

Math Center

Front Board

There you have it. I guess I didn't really take a picture of my area, but I did in this previous post. It is mostly the same. :)

Go link up! I'd love to see your classroom! When do you go back?

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

I Heart Classroom Stuff!

Crazy Boy and I spent some time in my classroom today. He was not excited, but he did it without hardly any complaining. Woohoo! I got to organize a bit and get my class list! So far, I've got 18 kiddos and they are exactly split in half, 9 boys and 9 girls! That's a miracle. I've got a good idea who most of the kids are, and I'm sure I will recognize more once I see them. So exciting!

I also got to finish my crazy idea. Wanna see?

This is my reading area and YES, that is a crib. Last year, we were going to have a yard sale so I had plans to put the crib in there, too. After looking at it, I got the idea to turn it into a "couch". So I kept it. Then I started putting my classroom together and sort of forgot about my plan. I finally got the last load out of my hoarder  teacher room and saw the crib again. I kept going back and forth, trying to decide if it was a good idea. Finally, I just decided to go try it out, so I hauled it over to the school. I made my husband put it back together and decided I hated it. Hahaha! I thought it looked a little weird. My husband kept insisting it didn't, but what do husbands know. :) I looked at it from all angles, still didn't like it. Then I turned away and did some other work. When I looked back later, it had grown on me. Plus, I knew the kids would LOVE it.  So I decided to keep it up and see if I still hated it in a couple days. Well, I came back today and added the fabric. It's a shower curtain. The back is from what used to be a bench crate seat. I just took off the crates and kept the bench seat. Added it to the back, covered it in fabric, and guess what?! I Love it! I think it looks great, fits right in, and the kids will definitely like it. I got 2 cute, fluffy pillows tonight to cover the sides, and that's it. Free classroom "couch".  I still thought I might be a little weird, but one of the K teachers walked in my room today and was amazed by it. She loved it and thought it looked great. So whew! An idea that actually worked. Yippee!

I went to Big Lots tonight, looking for those fabulous baskets I keep seeing posted all over blogs, but no such luck. I left there and went next door to Dollar Tree. I heart Dollar Tree. They had TONS of teacher stuff, and it was cute, and even better, it was CHEAP! Cheap is good, especially when it will be laminated anyway! :) Look what I got. 

I've been having trouble with my calendar area. So I am in the middle of making my own calendar stuff. Now I don't really have to, but I'll finish it anyway. Just for you. :) That is a package of 2 calendars, in my classroom colors, and it's smaller, which I wanted. They had TONS of colors and patterns and they were cute. Really! Then there are 2 sets in the package of calendar days and they even come with the special day icons, which I wanted. The clock, again, is in my colors and it's interactive. Those blue things in the left corner are magnetic organizer holders! This was my favorite item. I did not want to spend $15-20 on the counting pockets that holds the straws. Plus, I really didn't like the yellow that all the ones I can find are, so these will be perfect! I got coffee stirrers to go along with them, and voila, it's perfect for keeping track of how many days we've been in school with hundreds, tens, and ones. The middle item are tactile letters. They are glittery and feelable. :) Yes, I made that up. Remember, I told you I made up words all the time. Love them! Then of course, I had to get monkey items. The cute broom and dustpan will be perfect for little hands, the monkey gift bags will be just the thing for my back to school goodies. 

So, I've had a great day and found great stuff. What could be better. Oh, even better is that I got the stirrers, clothespins, and safety pins all for free today because I found an old gift card. Fabulous! How was your day fabulous? :)

Be fun and fabulous! 

~Mrs. Sweeney

Cuteness!

I've decided I really love fixing up my classroom. Haha! I love it so much that I have to limit myself to only going twice a week or my kiddos would kill me. They probably already want to kill me! Oh well, I can't help myself.  Plus, I really need to get this done. All of my bazillion teacher trainings start next week and I'm not going to have much time for putting together my classroom. Pretty soon school will be starting and I will have a million other things to worry about, so I don't want to worry about decorating. Sooo, do you wanna see what I've been working on?! I do! It makes me happy. The front of my classroom is getting there. I pretty much just have my calendar area left to tackle there. Here we go!

This is to the left right as you walk in the classroom. 

My fabulous teacher area. I wish I knew where my missing computer is, but my iPad will do for now. I love, love, love my birthday board and can't wait to get those pictures up there.

From the back of the room. See it looks like a classroom!

                 
                           Looking into the rest of the room. Still pretty blank, but more coming soon!

My project for today (besides all the classroom stuff) was to make my 1st grade portrait letter. One of my kiddo's fabulous teachers had a picture of her when she was in the same grade, and I thought it was so cute, so I made one too. I just need a frame, but this will hang right outside the door for my new firsties to see before they walk in to the classroom. Hopefully, it will make them feel more at ease.

Love it!

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

From Blah to Fabulous!

I wanted a way to keep all of my behavior stuff easily in one place. I'd seen the tool organizers people were using to hold their award cards, etc, and I thought it was a pretty good idea so I asked my husband what he had in the garage. He always has random, extra stuff laying around. Weirdo. :) Anyway, he had this pretty cool tool organizer that he had gotten on clearance for like $2 and it was completely empty! Score!

I actually loved it and thought it was PERFECT! Not only could I fit all of my award cards in there, I could put my behavior strips in there as well. My kiddos move up or down my jungle behavior chart, and I have them glue the picture of their behavior of the day in their agenda.

 I needed an easy place to keep up with those little pictures and this was perfect.

I can also fit my special reward coupon for making it to Marvelous Monkey and my Behavior Reflection sheet that I send home when they clip down. Everything all in one spot! How perfect! 

What was not perfect was the color. BLAH! It did not match and was ugly. I tried to deal with it, but I couldn't. First, I tried wrapping it in matching paper.

I liked the paper, but it just didn't look right. I tore all of the paper off and decided spray paint was the way to go. 

PERFECT! It matches my room perfectly, holds everything I need, and looks great. I wish I could bling it up a bit, and I probably will add some wording with my Silhouette, but for the moment I really like it.

Definitely much more fabulous, that's for sure. :)

Thanks to Mel at Seusstastic.blogspot.com for her awesome reward coupons! Click the picture to take you to her blog post about these little gems. 

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

Classroom Design Star WannaBe

Sooo, I REALLY love decorating classrooms, particularly MY classroom! :) Being in so many different classroom over the years, I have thousands of ideas floating in my brain. Now I get to turn a lot of those ideas into reality! Yippee!

My classroom this year is based mostly in the colors, lime green, sky blue, and brown. I LOVE those colors together and I think it fits me perfectly. Plus, it just so happens that my room color is the sky blue I've been dreaming about. Score! Who'd have thought when I picked those colors 2 years ago, that it would be so easy. Then the theme of my classroom is Jungle, particularly monkeys, but I threw in the other jungle animals just to be nice. :)

So, I'm a planner, a BIG planner, so I've been planning my classroom since I started back to school. Which makes it especially good because I am also CHEAP, I mean THRIFTY, so I've been stocking up on stuff for 3 years. When I see it on sale or cheap, I buy it. That way I've only been doing small amounts at a time, which is much easier on my budget, although my husband may not be saying the same thing at the moment. Oops.

Our extra room upstairs turned into my teaching room. My children call it the hoarder room. Maybe it's a little bit like a hoarder room, but it is nice and organized, so there! I had to fit a whole classroom worth of stuff into a little tiny office space, what can I say?! Anyway, I've been SOOO excited to get all of that stuff out of there. It's amazing how many things you find or forgot you had when you have a hoarder, I mean nicely organized teacher room. But I must say that I have A LOT of stuff which makes me happy that I only have to go and buy the little stuff you don't think of until the last minute like magnets for the white board. I COULD be buying bins, and books, and furniture, but thankfully, again, I'm a planner and thought ahead.

I of course, started working in my classroom as soon as I was given the ok. I mean really, like the minute I was given the ok. I just couldn't wait! I'm glad I didn't, because it makes me happy to go in and make my room beautiful. I love everything about it. That means I'll love being in it all day, everyday, which I think it important, don't you?!

So here's a little sneak preview. I did this my first day and I love it so, so much. It's exactly how I envisioned.  I can't wait until it is completely done with bulletin boards, files, notebooks, etc. I'm getting there. I've done much more since then. Shy Guy walked in earlier this week because I forced him to come and help me bring my thousands of books and he said, "It's a classroom already!". Yep, it's definitely a classroom and definitely looks like one. I COULD have kids tomorrow if I needed to, but now it's time to cutesify! Yes, I make up my own words. That makes me happy too.

Now, on to the sneak peek. :)

Now, I do sort of hate that my rug doesn't match. I do have another one upstairs in my fabulous teaching room, but the school bought these and every classroom has one. I sort of feel bad not using it, plus isn't it better to have 40 little first grader feet on a free carpet, rather than my "bought with my own money" carpet? THe more I look at it, the more I think it is ok, but I may change my mind at the last minute. We'll see. 

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney