2014-2015 Classroom Reveal and $25 TpT Gift Card Giveaway!

We started school last Monday and it really knocked me out! I am finally *almost* back to feeling human again!  In all the mad rush of back to school I almost completely forgot this month's TpT giveaway!  Luckily I remembered and you can enter below.  Thank you for not throwing stones at me for being late!

I also wanted to share my room for the year - I was trying to match the blog a bit - do you think it comes close?

This is the view from the door.  Yes those are tables - adult sized tables.  I have had them for the past three years and I have grown used to them.  Not sure that I love them completely, but they work.  The best part is that they don't have messy desks to clean out.  Everything gets cleaned off each day before they leave.  They keep their things in buckets from Really Good Stuff.  (I just realized I didn't take a picture of those, so I will update the post when I do). The students sit on both sides of the tables, and we have a large whole group meeting area for mini-lessons.

I also don't have a desk, but instead work from my kidney table.  I have two drawers underneath where I keep my supplies.  You can see them along with my mess of bags and junk.  Don't judge - it's the first week of school craziness! 

A close-up shot of the shelves behind my desks (And another bag!  I swear I was a bag lady in a past life!)

Our very well loved library - along with reading buddies!

A close up of the READ sign - I painted the pics last year and couldn't take them down.  

The Whiteboard.

Whole Brain Teaching Rules.

Student computers.  I plan on using the hula hoops for giant venn diagrams - hubby thought that would be a good place to store them.  The fabric backgrounds are brown sheets from Wal-Mart.  I think they might look black in the picture, but they are brown.

Close- up of storage containers.  The OCD in me is irked that they aren't straight and not in alphabetical order - but at least they are ready to go!

I really love this color scheme!

I am linking this post up with:

and
Blog Hoppin'

And now, to the part you are waiting for!  The giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday Made It June 30th

Summer is here, but that doesn't mean all of us teachers aren't working!  I think many of us work harder in the summer getting things ready for the upcoming year.  I know this because Monday Made It is always full of evidence of it!

Here are a few of the things I have made this week:

Ok, I have jumped on the spray painting band wagon! I have these containers where I keep all of my supplies, but the covers were getting a little dingy from all the little hands touching them. 

They may have even been a little extra loved on and decorated.  Gotta love 4th grade humor right??? 

Anyway... I had thought about bringing them home to scrub with some Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, but then I saw everyone in bloggy world spray painting the heck out of everything they could get their hands on, so I decided, why not?

Before

After.

Luke also decided to join the spray painting party.  He had us spray paint his pegs for his bike (they were silver) so that it matches.  He may have gotten the matching OCD thing from me..

I also managed to make my new Whole Brain Teaching 5 Rules posters to match my room.  The matching OCD thing..  I still need to cut around the laminate and hang them up, but they are made!

And.. I managed to give my TpT store a little love with 2 new products! 

Homophones Bingo

and 

Prefixes & Suffixes Bingo

Both of these products were flash freebies this weekend, and I let my Facebook fans know about it.  If you aren't already following me on Facebook, make sure you do to find out about flash freebies like this one!

And speaking of following, make sure you are following me on Bloglovin' as well.  I have a big 500 follower giveaway coming up that you don't want to miss!  I am already a bit over 500 followers on TpT and I am getting close on Bloglovin' I would love to be at 500 on both by July 5th (hint, hint).  

Make sure you link up to 4th Grade Frolics and show us what you've made!  If you don't know how to link up, check out the tutorial on linking up to linky parties I wrote yesterday.

Classroom Digs - A Tour of My Classroom

 I am super behind on this week's blog hoppin'!  We officially started back at work on Tuesday, and my family and I went to a baseball game at night and didn't get home until 11 - and then Wednesday was training all day and dinner with the hubby - so I have been too exhausted to blog.  Too exhausted and the kiddos haven't even arrived yet!  Yikes!  Anyway, catching up now with my classroom tour!

 

This is the view from my door:

On the other side of the room are my student's book boxes for Daily 5.

The other wall has our Daily 5 Wall and CRAFT wall.  I will be adding I Charts underneath each section as I introduce them.

A closer look at the CRAFT board.  Whenever another teacher comes in my room, I always get asked about where I got this, so I will let you know that I got it from Ladybug's Teaching Files. 

Here is my doorway with the hand signals we use in class.  I used these last year and love them!  Students can ask me if they need to go to the bathroom, sharpen a pencil, etc. just by raising their hands.  I can nod at them without interrupting work with other students.  I got these from Clutter-Free Classroom here.

This is my Independent Math Station.  We use Accelerated Math at our school, so I made this file box to put the student's work in for them to grab.  They scan their work to grade, and then put completed work in that file for me to check later. I might also add skill sheets for extra practice as needed.

This is my favorite area of the classroom, the library.  I love the chairs - they are super comfy, I almost want to keep one for myself!  I got them at Wal-Mart.

In the background you can see my Power Pix wall for Language Arts for Whole Brain Teaching.

A close up of the Read sign. I painted the canvases this summer and am super proud of them!

Speaking of PowerPix, This is my Math side which is next to our daily schedule and underneath our 7 habits signs.

Close up of our 7 habits posters and our Whole Brain Teaching 5 Rules posters.

And finally my Smart Board!  I didn't get a Smart Board until late last year, so I am excited to start out the year with this one!

I have added a bit to my classroom decorations since I took these pictures because I got a special package in the mail that I wasn't expecting.

It was from my Super Sweet Blogger Exchange Partner Amy! Amy  blogs at The Teacher Next Door.  She had already sent me some goodies that I posted about here. It was an awesome surprise because I was feeling a little Blech yesterday and this package made my day!  I love how supportive the teaching Blogger community is! Both of the posters she sent are hanging outside my door- I just need to take a picture of them.

Monday Made It

When I was a little girl, I carried around a Snoopy doll everywhere I went.  I might have even said that I was going to marry Snoopy.  So you could imagine my reaction when I saw the Peanuts line from Really Good Stuff.

Yes, I screamed and shouted really loud and asked hubby if he minded me changing my theme again this year.  He agreed and I ordered tons a few of the things they had.

But... I have a few classroom items that I use that I wanted to match, so for today's Monday Made It I wanted to show a few of the things I have been working on.  I haven't printed anything out or hung them up yet, but I have finished a few things on the computer.



The first thing I made were schedule cards.  My kiddos are constantly asking, "What time is recess?  What special do we have?" With schedule cards I can just direct their attention to the board.  They have to solve the elapsed time on their own!

 

 

I also use Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom, so I made the 5 rules Snoopy style as well.  Here are two of them:

 

They came out pretty stinkin' cute in my humble opinion!

 

I have also been hard at work on my place value unit for the beginning of the year.  It will be available at both TpT and Teachers Notebook when I finally finish it!

 

It has I Can Statements

 

Vocabulary/Word Wall Cards

Lesson Plans

Games

 

 

And Assessments

 

 

I will let you know when I finish it... It is a monster of a project.  Also, don't forget to enter my contest to win a TpT gift certificate and other great prizes!