February Freebies

Hi friends!

It's been.... phew. A long time.  I apologize for not keeping up to date but I'm a new busy mama over here :) My son, Owen, is 13 months old now.  Time sure flew by and he's the greatest love I've ever known.

Speaking of love, I have found a couple amazing February freebies, perfect for Valentine's Day.  The first one is from Longwing Learning. It is a  February bulletin board that is being displayed currently outside my second grade classroom called What do you know by heart?

What I loved about this resource is that it got my second graders thinking... what am I good at?  What would I be able to teach others?  What is in my heart?
Examples that my students came up with include:
-Addition and subtraction facts          -Reading books
-Being a good friend                           -How to love
-How to speak another language        -How to be kind


The other freebie my students were very excited about was a Family Valentines Project by Teacher's Breathing Space.

I cannot wait for these to come back next week.  This project allows for my students to work with their families and have fun and decorate their hearts however they want.  Unleash their creativity!  They are also allowed to take leadership in the design ;) Very excited second graders I have!
-I laminated the hearts on cardstock
-I laminated and printed in color the sign "Our Family Valentine Projects" so I can use year after year.
-I also gave my students at least a week to complete - life is busy!

I hope you enjoy these freebies... check out more Valentine's products in my TPT store.

Here's a fun writing freebie for the younger grades :)

Happy February!!

Back to School 2017

I am so excited to show you my second grade classroom.  I am moving from the upstairs in fourth grade to a downstairs classroom in second grade.  I am very excited - what a perfect age!

I love incorporating the Daily 5 in my literacy block.  Here is my Daily 5 and CAFE posters that you can find on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Click HERE to check out the cutest CAFE headers and strategy cards.

Oriental Trading has a new addition to their website - Learning365 for all of your teaching supplies and other great educational resources. 

[[Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.]]

The photo below is my calendar area.  I love me some Georgia Grown Kiddos xo her calendar set are the best out there on TPT! Equally just as awesome, Good Enough Teacher has the best calendar pieces that fit perfectly in my calendar pocket chart.

To the right of my calendar area is my "I Can" learning objectives chart.  I LOVE this... there is actually more sections but I pinned it off to only have 3 sections.  It twists to hang perfectly straight and I can't wait to use my I can statements here.  You can use dry erase or cards!

[If you are looking for 3rd grade I can statements, check mine out HERE]

Looking for a little gift for your students? Mine are going to love these second grade pencils!  I love whenever it's personalized by grade level.

These magnetic dry erase owls are on SALE (under $5 for a dozen!) and they can work for table numbers, groups, reminders, or just cute BTS decor.  I have these located right now in my math area and I hope to find new ideas throughout the year to use them.  I already got a few compliments ;)

I also love these posters from Sneaking into Second.  So cute!

Magnetic alphabet squares are a must for me working in a primary classroom.  It's such a fun way to add practice to spelling and word work.  Incorporating the Daily 5 into my classroom I always try to find new ways for learning.

Something else that is perfect for my literacy groups are these highlighting reading strips.  For the primary grades sometimes it's tricky for kiddos to keep track of where they are with reading, especially when the print gets smaller and smaller with the more difficult books.  My sweeties will love using these during reading :) 

A fun, exciting part of second grade is learning about life cycles.  At my school, we will hatch chicks and monarch butterflies.  This 4 poster life cycle set is only $6.49.  You cannot find a better price for these quality posters!  This is one of the best deals for high quality posters I have seen out there. A MUST HAVE for a second grade teacher!

The last photo I'll end my blog post with is my cookie bulletin board.  While I was browsing through

Pinterest and TPT, I decided to create my own with cute clipart and personalize them with my kids names.  I used counting cookies from Classroom Chitchat.

I hope you all have the best school year.  Thinking of you all - for the ones that already have your routine down and for those of you just starting out and getting your classroom as ready as you can before back to school... Never forget - you are wonderful and we all make mistakes and learn from them.

Have a fantastic year! xo

Second grade starts my new journey.

Classroom Setup 2016-2017

I will be going into my 8th year of teaching in September.  I am at a new school and a new grade level.  This summer has been full of hard work and continuous effort.  I have worked with many wonderful children in a literacy summer program and tutoring.  I can't believe that summer is coming to a close and I haven't had a day to relax, but to be in the wonderful district I am, made all worth the hard work!  My journey and teaching path are no accident.  I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

So I will be teaching fourth grade for the 2016-2017 school year.  I haven't taught 4th grade in some years, but I can't wait to provide care and authentic experiences for my fourth graders!

What do you think? There is still time to jazz it up a little more, but this is the basic gist  :) 

Can we say books?! Holy moly.  After many hours of work, all of the books are now categorized with specific labels and ready for the children to read.  Lots of choices! :)  

 Our daily subject board and jobs.  You can find this adorable "Pencil me in" job chart HERE! I am going to be laminating and rotating names for the jobs.

 

Below are some of my subject bulletin boards that I will be adding to and changing throughout the year.  Crayfish and Geography are two of the first units that I will teach for Science and Social Studies.  I am excited to have lots of wall space for each subject area!

 Here are my Genre posters from Really Good Stuff and I LOVED these motivational posters.  This TPT freebie can be found HERE from Teaches Third in Georgia!

 My reading nook is one of my favorite areas in my classroom.  I love my 6 Traits of Writing Posters, my RACE sign from Fourth Grade Flipper, and my Text Evidence freebie I found that would look awesome in color (but I printed in black and white.)

My classroom won't be on Pinterest and all of my bins do not match.  I don't have the latest and greatest bulletin boards, but as the years continue and I develop more of a supply for décor, this is what it'll look like.  And I like it.  Sure I would love to have the chalkboard designs and all black bulletin boards matching and all of my bins to be labeled.  But for right now, it's all good!

I wish you all a wonderful 2016-2017 school year.  Make it the best year ever. :)

Cute displays and projects

I was so excited to get some amazing products from Creative Teaching Press for my sweet coworkers.  I feel as teachers, we know how much our coworkers really mean a lot to us - they help us copy, plan, cope, and support! I love them, and I think these are great gift ideas for coworkers to help stay organized (and they are super cute!) - PS-my sweet Lily wanted to get into the picture for this one!

 The stationery sets at CTP are adorable - they come with a folder, blank cards, list pad, and a pen :) They have many different designs - I happen to love polka dots! The whimsy and paisley styles are adorable too!

I also love their bulletin boards... one of the teachers that I gave this one to is going to laminate to use year after year! Such a cute winter display! on sale right now :) 

Since we are having a Thanksgiving breakfast next week, the kids were very excited to create Thanksgiving placemats - there were SO many to choose from online, but I figured they could let their creativity take over, and create their own! All we needed was paper, markers and crayons, a few stickers, and a laminator/laminating sheets! 

Check out those adorable turkeys and apple pie! ;) 

We also made these turkeys! I love them, you can check out the freebie HERE from The Applicious Teacher! They are actually placemats, but I just changed it up a little bit to fit my classroom and made miniature size ones! They loved it and definitely each put their creative spin on them with the sponge paint. 

During their art class, they also made these beautiful fall trees... they used tissue paper, watercolor, and cardstock!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Fall Giveaway and Photos

Hello all! SoOoO I have decided I am going to stop asking for followers for my blog and just go with it.. I know I will get 200 someday, but it is just not happening right now and that is so okay :) I am changing my giveaway to "The first day of fall giveaway".. this is will be on the first day of Autumn (September 22nd) and will run for 6 days.  I can't wait!! I have the BEST teachers teaming up with me, and I am so very, very grateful!

Fall is my absolute favorite season, not only because of the beautiful falling leaves and crisp weather, but also because my birthday is November 10th and my anniversary is November 7th :) The holidays are amazing too! For my anniversary, my boyfriend and I will have been together 3 years (but it will continue through forever). I am excited to do something special!

Here is my CAFE and Daily 5 Chart.. we are going through it like crazy! As fourth graders, they are definitely understanding all the concepts and accepting responsibility for their reading and writing. 

 My word wall has words on it!! My kids helped me pick out the best words to put up that are difficult sometimes, but also interesting :) They could've gone on and on all day!

 A parent gave me a care package of crayons, markers, glue, scissors, index cards, etc. I was so excited!! It's so funny how we teachers get so excited over things like this.  It definitely is the little things, and my parents this year are the sweetest!!! :)

Two days ago we were in the middle of recess and an idea popped into my head for a bulletin board "We are a TEAM, Hands down!" with our hand prints.. so we went with it.  A lot of my lessons come from my head and creativity rather than right from the book.  We had a little more down time than usual so I had them working quietly and then coming over to participate in this poster.  They loved it, and we do so much every day to make us feel like a true team community.

 Here is just a silly picture of me during my break :) I am so happy it is the weekend!!

First week of school

Well, I survived my first week with my fourth graders! I do have a mixed level 3/4 class, but since it's a little more advanced so I am basically teaching fourth grade work.  I have a wonderful, small group of 6 kiddos (7 for Daily 5/Reading).  They are very well behaved, and eager to learn so I know it'll be a great year.  But of course, I am EXHAUSTED! I worked all summer every week day for at least 6-10 hours a day, but there is nothing like being "teacher tired" and going back to school!!

 

I hope that I have enough energy to keep up with the best activities and lessons for my kids.  Fourth grade is new to my school (and last year when I taught third grade it was new as well) so it's a lot of work to do a new set curriculum.  The one thing that I am very happy about is looping up with 3 of my kids - they have been so warm and friendly with my 3 new students, and it's so nice for them to already know my expectations and know my routines/rules.  I am very proud of them and happy I can help them one more year!!

 

 I use this "What can I do?" bin for students that are finished and do not want to do the normal routine of reading when they are finished with everything, they can pick from this bin and I have included 3 activities at a time.. I have included Sunny Days Early Finishers in this bin, and will continue to put her different activities in there throughout the year! A must buy :)

 

Here are our classroom rules :) We wrote them down on chart paper and came up with our rules together so the students know we are building a classroom community, and having the rules more important to them since they created them.  We signed the bottom agreeing to following these rules. 

 

Our classroom schedule! I LOVE  this freebie from The First Grade Parade :) These schedule cards are my favorite, I printed almost ALL of them, and will keep them for as long as they last!! Check out Cara's beautiful Schedule Cards!!!

 Our first bulletin board is from Shelley Gray :) I bought this product on TPT, and will save it for next year as well since there are a few different templates to choose from.  Check it out here!

 

I just wanted to say that I am so proud of my friend, Mrs. Leander for reaching 1,000 followers. I am absolutely not surprised since she is so wonderful, but props to her !!!

 

She and many other amazing teachers will be a part of my 200 follower giveaway coming up soon.. there will be THREE winners.. not first, second, and third place, but 3 equal winners for all equally amazing prizes :) Don't miss it!

*If you would like to contribute to my giveaway, it's still not too late! You can e-mail me boudls89@yahoo.com or comment :) Thanks!!

I will leave you with a quote that I tend to keep in mind all year xoxo here's to a wonderful 2012-2013 school year.. I hope I continue to learn a lot, blog often, and make even better teacher products!