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!

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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.

Sunday Randomness

This week has been crazy busy and a whole lot of random, so I thought today would be a gret time to get random with the Sunday Smorgasbord from Fabulous in First! 

 

I spent most of this week hard at work in my classroom getting my stuff organized after moving from one room to another room down the hall - I am changing grades again this year - lopping from third to fourth.

 

So this week my room went from this:

 

to this:

 

Not perfect or ready yet, but at least it's clean and I know where things are again.

 

In between cleaning, I worked on some painting for a classroom decoration idea I have.

 

 

I finally finished the pictures, so hopefully I will be able to squeeze in some time to get them hung up and ready to show the final product tomorrow.

 

 

Yesterday we went to San Francisco to take some new family photos.  I was able to snap a few pics of the boys with my phone, but I'm sure the professional ones will be so much better - I will share those when we get them:)

 

These are the 4 boys who are still living at home. Palmer (the one in the back who didn't get the wardrobe memo) graduates this year! Where does the time go?

 

Here are the three youngest:

 

At one point during the photo session, Luke, the youngest, fell in the ocean - he was a mess!  But... I still couldn't resist this shot of him:

 

After the photos were done, we went to an Oakland A's game.

 

Palmer looking super cool in shades:

 

 

Luke looking adorable:

 

 

 

The A's won, and it was a great family day - a perfect end of summer time!  Tomorrow is a crazy day with baseball camp, swim lessons, and Body Pump class! Oh and trying to squeeze some work in here and there because I go back to work in 10 days!!!!