Week 1 Done!

I had my kiddos in class on Wednesday and it was great. I am excited. I am also really excited about this only having to plan for two subjects thing. I have never had this before and it is kind of awesome. I am sad because I do LOVE teaching reading and won't be this year, but it is really integrated into social studies so I will still sort of teach reading.

We have a pretty good schedule worked out and I am excited to have our first real week.
I had some fun ideas this week for social studies that I wanted to share.

We teach Ohio state history in fourth grade, so I had the kids write down everything they know or think they know about Ohio. We talked about it and they are going to keep their list all year and then do the same thing on the last day of school! I think it will be so fun for them to compare and see how much they have learned.

We also talked about text features and how important they are in reading non-fiction. We made a list of a bunch of different text features by looking through our books. The kids made a bingo board on a piece of paper and just filled in 9 boxes with a different text feature. When I called out the text feature, if they had it on their board, they could put an x on it, but they also had to find an example in their Ohio text book. They loved it and I am hoping that it will help them remember to use text features while reading non-fiction.

We did a fun math activity too called math about me. They had to write their name in large letters in the middle of their paper and then come up with at least 5 equations that told me something about them.

For example: 3 +2 = 5 I have 3 sisters and 2 brothers. It was pretty cute and now they are all hanging up in our classroom.

We also came up with our classroom contract and everyone signed their name agreeing to follow our classroom rules.

I also got some new great ideas on Interactive notebooking from here. I am going to try this this year. I might not start it til part way through the year though because I am just trying to get settled right now, but I think it is an AWESOME idea. I can't wait!

Open House/New stuff

Today was our Open House! It was so fun to meet my kids and their parents. Everyone showed up! There were so many papers to be sent home etc, but our school just sets up Open House as a meet and greet which is really nice, you don't have  to give a speech or anything! :) Phew...

So I have been working really hard on my room and getting things organized and putting better systems in place than I had had before!

Were you absent and brain builders-both inspired by pinterest! 

 So here is my "Were you Absent" files and my "Brain Builders" files. The were you absent file idea was taken from here. I love it because you have a Monday, Tuesday....etc folder so that kids can pick up the work from when they were gone. One of my classroom jobs includes the responsibility of ensuring the missed work is placed in the correct folders.

Brain builders are essentially fast finisher activities. If students finish early (and accurately), they can pick a stick from the "Brain Builders" jar and then go to the Brain Builders file to pick out the activity. So they get what they get and they don't throw a fit. I am only teaching social studies and math this year, so I have a can with craft sticks for each. Each craft stick says a specific activity, such as "Multiplication War." If you pick Multiplication War, then you go to the Multiplication War file and pull out the directions and materials...make sense?
I love this idea, I meshed a couple different ideas from pinterest on this one! :)

Crate Seats

 These crates were also inspired by pinterest. I found a couple different people who had made these, but I used the instructions from here.  Now I did not do any sewing. I just cut up the mattress pad, hot glued it to the plywood and then wrapped it like a present and staple gunned the fabric to the wood. They are way more comfortable and sturdy than I expected! :) Also, I highly recommend going to Home Depot first rather than Lowe's if you are going to have them cut the wood for you. At Lowe's they were not willing to help me out and at Home Depot they were MORE than helpful! They cut it exactly to the size I needed and were very kind about it. If you have your own saw, it doesn't matter though. I am storing all extra supplies like boxes of tissue and things that don't weigh much inside the crates so that they are useful but also light enough for my fourth graders to move around when they need too. 

I am going to do a daily rotation for mini lessons where half of my students sit on the carpet and half (well 8-almost half) of my students sit on the crates! I love it!

Here are my expo marker and eraser storage. They have magnets on the back.

Just my cute storage cups!

I made these from bean cans and scrapbook paper and I have a bunch more to make for storing supplies in. The ruler storage is a lysol wipes container that works great too. I used tuna cans for storing smaller things.

 

Classroom Job Chart

Here is my classroom job chart! I love it. I got the idea from here. I changed it quite a bit for it to fit my needs. I also read here about having your students APPLY for their classroom jobs! I love it. I am totally doing it. What a great life skill and how wonderful that they can keep their jobs for an extended period of time (trimester/semester/whatever you decide) so that each week I don't have to keep saying, "Who is the janitor this week? The floor is a MESS!" The janitor will be the janitor for long enough to get good at his/her job. We are also going to talk about picking a job that fits your strengths and one you think you will like. I have an job description chart made up and everything. I think it will be really fun for the kids and help me keep my sanity. I think all my classroom jobs will really help keep me organized as well.

 

Here is my self made calendar. I decided that I didn't want to pay for a calendar this year, so I used a pocket chart, these monthly labels and these numbers from the pick me pot!

Organization and pick me pot!

Can't wait to hang student work on here.

 This is only half my math super star wall. There are 10 clips on each side where students will hang the work they are proud of. It is self selected student work and they can change it out whenever. I think I will say they need to change it out at least every other week though. I think I am going to have them make fun name signs to put above or below their clothespin!

Hopefully I will actually use this system this year! :)

I love this

I absolutely love this idea but am exhausted and don't wan to write about it, so here is the link to the site where I found it! LOVE IT!

That's it for now! I'm off to bed!

So much work!

I feel like all I have done the last week is WORK! That is ok though, I am making progress. I went into my classroom every day this week for most of the day. It went from looking like a disaster area to a classroom. Overall, I am very pleased. My goal is to be totally finished setting up my room by Monday evening so that I can focus on planning and getting ready for kiddos. I have a few pictures to post of things that I did in my room. Most of my ideas have been inspired by pinterest, so I will try to put links to the sites the originals came from. I am not a very crafty person, but pinterest has really helped me out and has made me start thinking like a more crafty person. Also, the world of teaching blogging is amazing. I am still working on perfecting my blog, but certainly am following many other blogs. There are some amazing teachers out there with amazing ideas to whom I am thankful because then I don't have to come up with anything original!

Here is my new ruler container! :)

Ok the first thing I made was ruler tube. I used an old clorox wipe tub and hot glued scapbooking paper, a label and a tissue paper flower to cover up the seem.... and here is a beautiful container for the rulers in my classroom! :)

Another project is my teacher toolbox. I took the step to get rid of my teacher desk! Yikes, it is kind of scary, but not really because it sort of became a junk pile by the second month of school and then I rarely used it. So I have replaced it with the toolbox idea from pinterest. There are tons of examples on pinterest, but this one had dimensions for the labels and I bought the exact same one that she used. 

I created a word document using the label wizard and made my own custom sized label template to accommodate the dimensions of the drawers. My scrapbook paper was 12 x12, so I cut it into 8.5 x 11 and just stuck it in my printer and printed my labels that way. I put tape on the inside to hold them there. I think it looks great. I am very happy with it. If you want my template, let me know and I can post it! :) Next time I think I would put the labels on the smaller drawers down lower so that the words were easier to read, but for now it will work just fine! :)

Here it is! I am pretty happy with it! Hopefully it will keep me more organized.

I got the idea for interactive bulletin boards on pinterest as well and this was the best I could do with my brick walls, but I really like it. I am hoping that my yarn will stay up on the walls. I used a lot of tape and stickiclips. The kids will each have their own clothespin and can put up their best work and can change it out whenever they feel like it. This will only be used for math since I am teaching only one session of math but three sessions of social studies. I will display social studies work in the hall or hanging from clotheslines hanging from the ceiling panels.

Number 1

Number 2

Anyway, I have more to share but that is for a later date. This is all for now because I am tired and have shared enough! :) Good luck to all setting up classrooms or who are already teaching! :)

Enter to WIN

Check out the giveaways at Second Grade Perks! Go there to win!!! I did! :) There are all sorts of things-writing activities, back to school, all about me etc... Just enter your email and voila, you are entered in the drawing to win! :)

A few projects

Bean cans covered with scrapbook paper

I made these using scrap booking paper. I just wrapped it around the cans and taped/glued the loose ends. I think that a hot glue gun would work best but I don't have access to one right now, so I just had to make do. I got this idea from pinterest and this blog. She used pringles cans to be ruler holders, which I plan to do eventually too, but for now my short cans will work for pencils, markers, anything really! :)

Pom Flowers

I am going to make a bunch of these pom flowers and hang them from the ceiling using ribbon and paper clips. These are SUPER easy to make. I am NOT artsy at all and was able to make these look really good. I would give you step by step directions, but Design Dazzle has already done an excellent job of giving these directions, so just check this blog for great directions and step by step pictures as well.

Sterlite Drawers fancied up

I got this idea from Kinder-Craze, I would also provide step by step directions for this, but she does a great job with a video that takes you through the step by step process. It is a fun way to dress up your sterlite drawers and make them look cute rather than simply useful! :) I got this paper at Pat Catan's it is the pocket full of posies pack.
Anyway, these are three of my recent creations that I am very proud of because I am not artsy and have pulled these things off thanks to PINTEREST! I love PINTEREST!

Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for more new ideas... I am going to attempt to make crate chairs this week with my hubby's help!!!

Just kidding

Ok I have decided that I am going to use this blog for my teaching blog and my other blog for everything else! Check it out if you are interested in running, God or just life in general...otherwise if you only care about teaching, stay here! :)

Decision

Ok I officially decided that I will continue using my wordpress blog rather than this one..I like wordpress a bit better and already know how to use it....sooo check it out!
katieandphil.wordpress.com

And we are back....

Clearly my intentions of keeping up a blog were short lived... about 3 posts later, I stopped writing. Now I hope to start writing again. About all sorts of things, running, teaching, moving, church, being married to a resident etc...
So where should I start, well I don't want to post too much because that might be too much work and I might not ever come back again.
Let's start with the fact that about a month ago we moved across the country...HOLY COW! Spokane, WA to Cleveland, OH. Big move...but alas we are here and settling in nicely...although the heat and humidity leave something to be desired.
Phil started residency woo...so far so good...
I got a job! YAYAYA!! Teaching fourth grade at a small district which I am super excited about, the job is just perfect for me, I can't wait.
I am training for a 5K which I will do in 2.5 weeks. I have never before done so much speed work in my life. Track workouts, tempo runs etc. Hopefully I make it through the race and it is a nice cool morning! :)
My brother is getting married this weekend in Seattle...also awesome.I have to take a Praxis test for my Ohio certification the day before he gets married in Seattle....not so awesome, but it is for a good cause (my job)! :)
We went to a great church on Sunday that might be a keeper. Providence Evangelical Free Church, it seems awesome so far, but we have only been there once, but will certainly be going back.
God is so faithful, even when we are not faithful, He is faithful because he cannot disown himself. Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
¹² if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
¹³ if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
2 Timothy 2:11-13.

What a wonderful God. Regardless of how faithful we are to Him, he will never let us go from His hand. My name is graven on his hand (Isaiah 49: 16). When I was in high school and sometimes even to this day, if there is something really important that I don't want to forget, I will write it on my hand. What an amazing thing that my name is written on the hand of the Almighty God, creator of the universe. What great grace has been provided for sinners who don't deserve it. Hallelujah what a savior...