Made It Monday - Back at School

I'm joining Tara for 

I had intended on getting this out earlier but being back at school out a dent in the free time :-)

We had a half day training and then I took advantage on some quiet time in my room to get most if it finished up except for two bulletin boards.

Here are the few things I did get done.

This is a large banner that will hang between the two classrooms in our team. I still have to create all the clear labels with our new students so we can stick them all over.  The other team in our grade made a display with bulletin board paper and letters to go between their doors. Unfortunately it didn't hold so I made an alternative for them but I want to make sure they like it before I print the 15 pages.

I made the book bin labels for our lakeshore boxes. They have each kids name as well as the proper gender diver. The kids can color them if they want to personalize it a bit.

I printed a bunch of bag toppers that I created last year. We will stuff snack sized baggies with goldfish crackers and Swedish fish candies.

These for a special ed teacher on our hall that needed something in primary colors to label her word wall. I used a couple of patterns that fit the bill. I let her cut them out.

My favorite Made It this week is actually something that I can't share yet. It is on its way in the mail to CT  as part of the Back to School Blogger Exchange.  I don't want to ruin the surprise so I will come back and add a picture later.

I probably won't get a chance to go check out everyone else's posts for a couple of days but that won't stop the rest of you that are still on break. Hurry over to Fourth Grade Frolics. 

Monday Made It from Texas

I'm here in Texas visiting family but I didn't want to miss out on Tara's fun Monday tradition.

Before heading out of town I made a few things last week.

After seeing a couple of other book return buckets and baskets, I decided to create my own. I was given this container by a parent (as a part of a great margarita beach themed basket). I used my cameo to cut out the words and then added some stickers to go with the ocean theme.

I created this one after I was inspired by Tasha at A Tender Teacher for Special Needs a couple of weeks ago. This is a lanyard for my ID and keys. I picked up the beads on sale at Hobby Lobby and Michaels.

After pinning a writing conference board similar to the top one I decided to make my own version. At first I made the bottom one because I thought it might be easier to have the clip on one side or he other rather than storing them somewhere else. I couldn't decide so I made them both and I will just make up my mind later. I actually made them for both of my classes so that's why it has my name at the top.

This last one is just a a simple folder with my copy code in vinyl for when we have parents come in and help with copies.

Now it's time to go check out everyone else's projects

 

 

Ocean theme again this year

Today I'm joining up with Leigh from an Appalicious Teacher for her weekly idea share. The topic this week is classroom decor.

Last year my teammate and I did an ocean theme in our rooms while the other fourth grade team did superheroes. Both of the teams really liked what they did  (not to mention the time, effort and money invested) so we are continuing with them this year.

I went on a hunt for pictures and I didn't have many where the actual room/theme were the showcase. I kind of had to grab assorted pictures to give you a little idea.

The focus when you head into my room was the diver hanging over the window. A couple kids thought she was a bit creepy but most thought she was cool. I have her home for the summer to fix up her hair and add some stuffing because she looked a little sickly thin by the end.

.

here is a little fuzzy but farther away version

I did add fish and other sea creatures on the ceiling and around the room. During the first week of school I had the kids decorate large paper fish with their favorite colors and hobbies. Those stayed up all year you can get a little peek if you look at the top of this picture. You also can see my calendar and birthday board.

paper making on earth day

The first picture here was right before school started. In the distance behind the silly picture you can see the reading corner. You can kind of see the reading posters and book recommendation board with fish. We also had comfy reading chairs until one got a hole. I brought them home for the summer and I bought new beans for refilling. I also included a couple closer up.

start of school

holiday sweater fashion show

reading with a first grade buddy

having a book club meeting

The area by our ActivBoard is our gathering carpet. It is also the area where I post our learning objectives and the each student has a little aquarium stickers that they fill with fish stickers for each book they read (different genres have different fish). I loved my little colored bubbles hanging in the corner. Some of them were lights and others were not.

make a 3Rs video for earth day - table is not normally there

theater for mall day

Along one of the walls when you come in there is a bulletin board, two whiteboards and our book boxes. All the boards have fish or waves around the edges. In the first pictures the boxes are empty and the bulletin boards don't have much on them. The second you can see the stuff in the boxes. The boxes had each kids' name with either a boy or girl diver (from scrappin doodles) that they could color in.

saving Fred during the first week of school

eating crepes during our french party

beginning of the year - before the fabric table cover

 In keeping with the theme I brought in dive equipment the first week of school and let all the kids try things on. I tool pictures against a green screen and then worked my magic. They really got a kick out of really "Diving into Learning."

Last year I made a bunch of things for my room so I'm going to stick some down here since the pictures were already in blogger.

.

Wow this ended up being very picture heavy. Hopefully it didn't take forever to load :-o

What do you have in the works for this year. Be sure to go over and look at some of the other great ideas at The Applicious Teacher.

First Week

I just completed the second week with students and I'm finally getting around to sharing some activities we did in the first week.

Obvious we spent time the first week going over procedures, sorting supplies, and getting to know each other. On this post I'm just sharing a few of the FUN things.

On the first day the kids participated in the Saving Fred activity shared by Lorraine at Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies. They loved it and it was nice to get a feel for the kids. It even connected with our ocean theme. I know I took pictures but I don't seem to have them right now so they must be on the other camera. On our second day we also Lorraine puzzle races. The winning team finished in just over 10 minutes and the last team finished in a little over 20 minutes. I used Sponge Bob puzzles from the Dollar Tree. Once again there were great strategies shared.

the winning team

On the first day we also opened up a package that came to us from New Zealand! The kids were very excited to meet Snail and Whale, traveling pets from Room 3. We read the book about them and then picked a lucky child to take them home and fill out the journal about their visit in Georgia. The first week the kids took them to an assembly, out to recess, to specials, to the cafeteria and pretty much everywhere else. They also our school mascot ,Wolfie. This continued on through the second week as well.

In keeping with our ocean theme, on the second day I also read Manfish. It is the story of Jacques Cousteau given to me by the Two Sisters at a D5/CAFE workshop. I also shared a quick slideshow of pictures I have taken while scuba diving. Then I let the kids try on the gear and we took pictures in front of a green screen. I finally finished changing out the backgrounds this weekend. The full set can be viewed here.

 

One other thing we did the first week was read Not A Box and Meggie Moon and then have the kids (in pairs or trios) use their imagination to transform a squiggle into something else. They definitely had Snail and Whale on the brain because five groups had some variation on them. We did however get a rabbit spy with a jet pack and a few other creative things.

I'm sure we did some other fun things but since it has taken me so long to write this post I lost the list I had made for myself. All in all it was a fun week.

Monday - First Day & Made Its

This is a quick post because today is the first day of school and I need to get ready. I had intended to set this up yesterday and then got caught up with other things and forgot.

My major accomplishment this week is the diver for my classroom ceiling. I used an old wetsuit, my real BCD and I bought a cheap mask and fin set as well as a wig from Party City. I had to create a fake tank, reg and pressure gauge/computer.My husband was super sweet and helped me get her hooked on the ceiling this weekend. Excuse the fuzzy picture below but apparently it was the only one I took from a distance.

view in the room

 The other little projects were name tags for the desks (that are line art so the kids can color them in) and a goodie bag of fish. Later I will come back and upload the baggie topper.

When I get home today I'll go check out the other great projects. For those of you still home go ahead and check them out now.