Monday Made It...Projects for a Dollar

I am linking up with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It.  This week, all of my projects were made with items from Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and the Target Dollar Spot.  

I got the idea for using the foam cubes from Dollar Tree for word work activities from Amanda from One Extra Degree.  I decided to use the letters for a Boggle-type game since I do not have the wall space to put up one of the cute Boggle boards. The kids will roll the dice and try to make as many words as they can using the cubes. I think this will be easier than the Boggle board because the kids will be able to move the cubes around to form the words.

I used my leftover foam cubes to make dice.  I love foam dice because the sound of regular dice rolling on a table drives me crazy.  I just used a Sharpie to draw dots on the cubes.  Then I found these great plastic containers (6 for $1 at Family Dollar) to keep the dice in (like I saw on Pinterest from Sunny Days in Second Grade).  The best part is that the kids can roll the dice while they are in the container, the dice will not become projectiles!

I wanted my kids to be able to easily grab the materials they needed for math games, so I used these black buckets from the Target Dollar Spot.  Each bucket has a deck of cards and a set of dice.  I made 12 buckets, so each pair of students will have their own to use. 

Dismissal at my school is a 30 minute process as kids are called for various buses, day care vans, and car rider groups.  Last year, I felt like this was a chaotic and wasteful time.  This year I’m going to try using this beach ball as a closing activity.  The kids will pack up and come to the whole group meeting area where we will pass around the beach ball.  Each color of the beach ball has a sentence frame that will help the students sum up what we learned during the day. 

 

 

Sports-Themed Super Improver Wall

I am so thankful to Stephanie at 3rdGradeThoughts for introducing me to Whole Brain Teaching.  I was very intrigued by the Super Improver Wall idea because I do not think it is fair to only acknowledge students who earn A’s.  After watching Chris Biffle’s video about it, I decided to make one for my classroom.  I used the sports-themed levels shown in the video, but I added a couple of my own to give a total of 12 levels for the students to move up throughout the year.  The levels that I used are rookie, phenom, starter, leader, star, MVP, captain, super star, Olympian, record breaker, hall of fame, and living legend. 

Each student will start with a white name tag on the wall, and earn stars for personal improvement in academic or study skills areas.  Once a student earns 10 stars, he or she will earn the next color name tag.  This continues until the student earns a golden name tag and reaches the “living legend” level.

I will use a similar procedure for behavior with my clip chart.  Each time a student ends the day at the top of the clip chart, he or she will earn on star on his or her clip.  After earning 5 stars, students will earn a new color clip.  This is not a new idea, but I love rewarding students for going above and beyond in regards to classroom behavior.

First Day Jitters Blog Hop

I am joining Ashley from Fierce in Fourth for her First Day Jitters blog hop.  Three things that I am nervous about for this school year are:

1.      New school – I should be used to being the new teacher on campus because this will be my 7^th school in 8 years of teaching, but I am still nervous about getting used to a new school, staff, and school culture. I also found out that the other third grade teacher will be a new hire as well since the original teacher has decided to move and go back to grad school.

2.  Montessori – My new school is a public Montessori, and I have no official training in the Montessori methods.  I have been reading up as much as I can this summer, but I still do not feel prepared for this new learning model. I am excited to see how the students learn through the different methods.

3.  Common Core – Our school is implementing the Common Core standards a year earlier than the rest of the state, so we will not be attending any district training until next year.  I am so thankful to all the teachers who have posted their Common Core resources on TpT.  They will be a lifesaver during this first year.

Extreme Makeover: Classroom Edition

You may not see a dramatic change in the before and after pictures, but I feel like it is a huge difference.  I walked into someone else’s classroom, but now I feel like it is finally my classroom.  This is a great feeling since it will be my home away from home for the next nine months.

This is a closer look into the areas of my pretty tiny (500 square foot) classroom.  First, is the designated anchor chart space inspired by Jodi at Clutter-Free Classroom. I used a black sheet for the background and ribbon for the dividers.  I used the same ribbon to cover the clothespins.  I’m excited to have a space to put anchor charts at all times that are at the students’ eye level.

I created my own Whole Brain Teaching rule posters that fit with my classroom.  Since it is a Montessori environment, “raise your hand to stand” was an unnecessary rule.  I also use hand signals in my classroom for basic needs, so I used “Use hand signals to communicate” instead of “raise hand to speak.” You can see my hand signal posters below that are based on the sign language alphabet.

I love the effectiveness of the clip chart system, so I was thrilled to see this sports-themed clip chart by Cupcakes & Caterpillars.  I plan to reward students with a star on their clip when they reach the top, which allows them to earn a new colored clip after 5 stars.

My students will not have individual desks, so I was thankful to see these built-in cubbies.  This is where my students will keep their clipboards, journals, and folders.  Since it is a public Montessori school, we do not use textbooks.  I’m glad I do not need to find room for all those books, but nervous about planning all my lessons around hands-on manipulatives and real-life experiences. You can see a sampling of these materials below which are housed on eight bookshelves in my classroom, which were a challenge to arrange around.  The designated exit slip area was inspired by Erin's from Adventures in Third Grade.  I chose to use jerseys with students' numbers to designate each student's area to place his or her exit slip post-it note. 

 The final area is my reading nook.  I used two Expedit shelves from IKEA to make reading benches. The fabric drawers add extra storage for pillows and other items.

 

Destination: Summer Vacation Linky Party

I am joining Krista at The Second Grade Superkids in a linky party to celebrate her 300th follower.  These are my top 3 summer travel destinations:







1. International: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
My boyfriend and I had the opportunity to travel to Cabo for his cousin's wedding.  It was so beautiful and peaceful.  We all stayed at an all-inclusive resort, so we never had to leave the resort.  I want to go back soon.



2. National: Honolulu, Hawaii
My cousin lived in Hawaii for two years, and I had the opportunity to visit her two summers ago.  It definitely makes the trip a lot more affordable when you don't have to pay for a hotel room.  The weather is so amazing in Hawaii no matter when you go, but I could live in the summer sun there.  

Parasailing is an experience that I will never forget.  I was terrified in the boat, but once I was up in the air I didn't want the time to end.

 Hawaii will always hold a dear place in my heart because it is where I met my boyfriend.  I was only there for a week, but that trip changed my whole life.









3. Close to Home: New Orleans
Now that I live in Louisiana, I have been trying to explore my new state. I have been to some amazing places including Baton Rouge and Avery Island, but New Orleans definitely has the most to offer.  Whether you want to go on a historical tour of the French Quarter, walk through the haunted graveyards, or bar hop on Bourbon Street, there is something for everyone.  I am so excited to be going back to New Orleans when my teacher bestie from California comes for a visit.   

My First Monday Made It

I am linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for my first Monday Made It.

Monday Made It #1 (for the classroom): I found this great football-themed bulletin board paper at the teacher supply store.  We use Accelerated Reader at my school and I am going to use this board to track each student's AR points for the quarter.  I attached a ribbon to each "5-yard line" and the students will move their football clothespin at 5-point increments. The whole project cost less than 10 dollars and I hope that it will motivate my students to keep reading.

 

Monday Made It #2 (for the classroom): I have been using Rick Morris's (from New Management) classroom sign language posters in my classroom for the past two years and I love them! This year I decided to make my own posters based completely on the ASL alphabet. 

Monday Made It #3 (for home): I have pinned three different versions of a magnetic makeup board, and I finally decided to make my own.  I took a shortcut and bought a black magnetic dry erase board and just decorated the frame with ribbon.  II bought the board, ribbon, and monogrammed metal container at Michael's for a total of $15 by using their great 40% coupon.  I love that it keeps all of my makeup at arms-reach, organized, and looks pretty.

 

Transitioning from Blog-stalking to Blog-writing

This summer I have spent hours pinning, blog-stalking, and creating items for my classroom.  Now I am finally spending the time to sit down and begin writing my own blog.  I am a third grade teacher in Louisiana, but am a California-native.  I have a lot of experience setting up classrooms and learning new curriculums because over the past eight years I have taught 2 different grades (third and fourth) in seven different schools.  This school year I will be teaching third grade at a public Montessori school, so I have spent a good portion of my summer learning about the Montessori philosophy and methods.  My school is also transitioning to the Common Core standards this year, and I am so grateful for all the teachers out there who have shared their Common Core resources.  I hope to begin sharing my own Common Core resources soon...keep posted.