Writing Workshop

I must say, I LOVE when writing workshop finally comes together. It usually happens right around the same time  they have built their stamina for Daily 5 and are ready to start rotations. You know the moment? It's when the lightbulb goes on and the kids realize that they are AUTHORS, and that what they do during writing workshop is special and important and thoughtful. For me, this finally came together last Friday. I noticed the little conversations had stopped (aside from reading your story to your neighbor) and they all had very serious, thoughtful faces on as they worked. YAY! They all found special places in the room to work and GOT BUSY! Here are a few photos I snapped of my kids working.

J under the easel

P and C at the listening table using the crate seats :)

K and K at the reading table.

K under my desk. They love to be under things...

J again.

J under the sink

I standing by her desk

T on the floor

M, J, and J at their desks

A standing at her desk

S on the floor in the computer nook

Just as a side note... I didn't realize how many kids have names that start with J and K until writing this.... :P

First Day is just around the corner!

We had Open House on Thursday and I got to meet 10 of my 26 children. Turn-out wasn't so great for my class but the school as a whole got a lot of families. I am now officially nursing 24-hour stomach butterflies and self doubt. I am really excited to get started but I always get so nervous the weekend before school starts. Our classes are overflowing and we will be hiring an additional 2nd grade teacher after school starts. The principal is in the process now but not having much luck. Anyone need a job? We need another teacher! I know 26 doesn't seem like a lot, but the other second grade classes are sitting at 27 and 28 and we have a K-2 incentive grant that requires our class sizes to be 24 or less students. Unless she wants to give back all the money they give us, she will hire another teacher. 

Because I think I'm finally finished (or as close to it as I'll ever be) here are my most recent classroom photos. I finally got all my flamingo curtains up and bulletin boards covered. Although I am pretty crafty, bulletin boards are my least favorite things ever, so don't expect anything fabulous in that department.

 I know it's far away, but the curtains are bright green with pink flamingos. The book displays will be where students can put their finished stories from Writer's Workshop.

 The posters on the cabinet doors are my CAFE boards. The rainbow is a project I did with my first ever class. That group "graduated" from elementary school last year and are now starting middle school :(. I can't wait to get my first graduation invitations! Anyway, we made it as a team-building activity and my favorite use for it is to cover up unsightly storage on top of the cabinets :P.

 Ready for Open House. It's hard to see, but the Promethean just has some things I wanted the kids to find in the the room and reminders for parents to take the emergency packets home with them.

Behavioropoly freshly printed, laminated, and magnetized. (Adapted from Ladybug's Homeworkopoly)

Word Word station. Notice the Math Power Towers and Word Power Towers from Teachertipster.com 

 Hallway display. Each child has a "Best Work" poster where they can put up their favorite projects or work they are proud of. Sometimes I choose what goes up as a class and sometimes I let them choose something they would like to display.

 I like to have the kids sign in when they come to Open House. It's pretty self-explanatory but gives me a lot of information (their favorite color, handwriting, directionality, if they can recognize friends' names, etc.)

This is how I will display our specials for the week (we call them Encore). Each  Encore sign is velcro-ed to the board and can be moved if the rotation is changed due to a short week or snow day. In the past, I put all the signs together on a ring and just flip the card each morning but I like that the kids can see what they will have each day and know when to bring sneakers for PE or to not wear fancy clothes for Art.

This is my Daily 5 check-in poster. It isn't in comission yet since I only have room for 24-25 names and I have more than that. I also have to dig the rest of the icons out of the closet or wherever I stored them for the move. The plan is that at first, I will place all their icons and check-in will be to discuss the last rotation and confirm where students will go next. Then gradually, I will give more and more choice as I see they are ready for it, and we will do an official check-in less often. In the end, I will place their reading group icon and they will fill in their choices for the day as part of the morning routine. But that's WAAAYYY ahead of me. At this point, I am most concerned about making sure my kids go home on the correct mode of transportation.

REAL Classroom Pictures!

OK. I worked my hiney off today and have some classroom photos to share with you. I'm still nowhere near finished and haven't even begun to think about bulletin boards yet but I'm excited to share my progress!

My new job chart. I will laminate pictures of my students faces and use velcro to attach and move weekly.

I used a flamingo shower curtain I found at Target as a backdrop here. This will probably be something literacy based since it is near my listening center and guided reading table.

Classroom Library

More of the literacy area. Not sure what to put on the bulletin board. I hung all my past years' class photos up top. The last one is empty cause it is waiting for the newbies to come!

More soon-to-be library space

 Kids cubbies and storage

Letters came from Michaels. They are hanging over the leveled take home library and student mailboxes.

Classroom Pictures

I worked in my room all day Friday, Monday, and today so I decided it is probably time for a photo update. I'm still nowhere near to being done but things are coming together and I'm getting a pretty good feel for how things will function this year.

View from the doorway. I got rid of 3 of the 6 extra tables I had and the last three are right by the door for easy removal when I find someone who will take them from me.

It's still messy but the shelf with the blue tubs is where the math manipulatives will go, and the pastel color shelving is for Work on Words.

My lovely built-in shelving that will be soon covered by my amazing flamingo curtains (as soon as I get them fire-treated.) I'm also trying to get rid of my overhead projector so it is parked close to the door.

This will be my library area. The library is always the last thing I do room wise because it takes a lot of time and I want to be sure the library is exactly where I want it before I unpack all those books.

My "literacy area"... So here we have the guided reading table in an L-shape with my teacher desk, two bookshelves of guided reading and Literacy Lessons books/materials, and the (soon to be) listening center in the corner. The movable wall is magnetic so it may become my word wall. Not sure yet.

My "special" read-alouds, seasonal books, and content area books. I also shelve some of my favorite authors and pull those out when we do author studies. I also unpacked and filled the poster drawers beneath this shelving today.

I heart my Promethean board. It makes life so much easier.

Paper storage. Don't you just love the construction paper holder my contractor friend made for me?

 Can you say "hoarder?" All these tissues and baby wipes are leftover from last year. I even took a few boxes home over the summer! Shhh! Don't tell.

So that's it for now. I'll probably wait until I get some of the bulletin boards done and the rest of the furniture laid out before posting room photos again. I know you all will be waiting in anticipation!

Classroom Photos

Don't have much to report but I did snap a few photos of my unpacking OCD-ness. A few of my teammates were also in the building working the other day and they came in and said, "Even though we are all in an unpacking-frenzy does it surprise you that your room is STILL the neatest?" Nope. Not surprised at all :)

The math box pile.

Stuff that I'll be cramming into the closet.

My itty-bitty closet and more stuff to cram in there.

Furniture and miscellaneous boxes I'm afraid to open.

Can you tell I ran out of boxes when packing? There are about 4 garbage bags worth of things in that corner.

My desk with listening center boxes.

Guided Reading/Language Arts Materials

Classroom library books.

The first thing I unpacked were the office supplies. I've found that unpacking stuff that will be stored in cabinets and drawers first helps. All this stuff ended up in the pull-out drawers but I had to see everything first before I put it away.

So, not that exciting but it's progress!

Random Updates and News

So this post may be a bit schizophrenic but bear with me... I've got a storm of thoughts bubbling around in my brain and have to get them out.

Literacy Lessons Updates:
So today was day two of Literacy Lessons and we discussed the various forms of assessments we would be using on a regular basis with our struggling readers. If you're not familiar with Literacy Lessons, it was created by Marie Clay, a Reading Recovery guru. Basically we will be working one on one with two struggling readers for 30 mins (each) a day on top of all my regular teaching duties. The reading team will really have to step up with sub coverage and whatever it takes to make sure these kids get their individual time every day because we will be working with students who have not responded to multiple and various reading interventions. Literacy Lessons has its own rules and regulations separate from Reading Recovery so I will be a certified instructor at the end of the year. I know the logistics are tough but I am so excited to be a part of this! Tomorrow my assignment is to kidnap (not really don't have a heart attack) two kiddos and practice the testing procedures. Here are the cute gifts I made to give them as a thanks for using their brain over their summer vacation. I stole from was inspired by about 5 million posts on Pinterest (like this one) and recreated it myself.

For the little girl I'm testing:

For the little man I'm testing:

Classroom Updates:
So today I worked in the room for about an hour and managed to sort the boxes by subject. I am OCD when it comes to room organization and there is nothing that IRKS me more than thinking I have found the perfect spot for something and then finding another box a few days later with more of the same item and not having room to store it all together. Today I started unpacking all my miscellaneous "office supplies" like post-its, index cards, and pens. I didn't get any pics today but there's not much progress to see. I'll snap some photos tomorrow.

Fun Crafty News:
I just finished making Mrs. Shepherd's Dr. Seuss shoes for winning my Sneaky Giveaway! I'll try to mail them out tomorrow :) Here is a SNEAKer Peak!

 A favorite Dr. Seuss quote.

The famous last word of the Lorax.