New School...New Room...New Grade... New Decorations!

One of the things that really excites me about moving to elementary is the chance to be creative in decorating my classroom.  The chance to use a theme!  I was always afraid of really decorating my middle school room, and let me just tell you, it was a little bland.

Oh yeah, and the accordion sliding thing really gave me a lot to work with, let me tell you!  NOT!  I did make some feeble attempts to jazz things up with fun math posters like this:

But... really... my room was a bore.  So... this time it will be different, but I wanted to keep with some of the things that I had already purchased which were mostly green and blue because our school colors at my middle school were you guessed it- green and blue.  I wanted to tie something in to match these:

and of course this (my super romantic Valentine's Gift from hubby who totally gets his wife's sick obsession perfectly healthy concern for keeping things organized).

So... I was super excited to find the super amazing dots on black apple theme from Creative Teaching Press!  I think it will tie everything together beautifully, and is just tweeny enough to be cool for my third or fourth grade kiddos. 

Luckily hubs agreed (he's cool like that I told you!) and I ordered the set and it should be here by next week.

I even found this fabric from JoAnns that matches perfectly.  I can't wait to see how my classroom comes together!

The one thing that I have to keep in mind, how do you make sure that your cutsey decorating doesn't take away from the purpose of your teaching?  Any suggestions?







Corinna at Surfin' Through Second is having a linky party, so I'm linking up with her.

 

It's also Show Me Sunday Time from 3-6 Free Resources! And their theme this month is Classroom themes, so I am linking up there as well!

 

 

I would love to see your classroom themes, so link up as well!

The Daily 5 Chapter 1 - An Intoduction Book Study (My Notes)

When I did my student teaching, my lead teacher was just starting to implement Daily 5 and the CAFE, so my experience with it was very much learning along with her as she read and discovered.  It was really nice to have someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of as I was reading myself.  That is why I jumped at the opportunity to participate in the summer book study at  We Read, We Blog, We Teach.

The book study is a bit of a necessity for me because the district I am moving to REQUIRES that all teachers use Daily 5 - CAFE is optional, but highly suggested.  Since I have been teaching 7th grade math, I have had to dig out the big anyway to refresh myself.

The first thing I noticed when I pulled this book off of my shelf (besides the dust - shhhh!) were multi-colored tabs that I had placed in specific spots.  I can't remember what the color coding meant at the time, but if I remember I will let you know. I like the tabs though, because I can remember where things are - (I believe the orange stickies were for anchor charts to make.  I have been getting lots of inspirational ideas from Pinterest that I will share as I make them.

So.... onto Chapter 1: (Quotes from the books are in green - my takeaways are in red)

The book opened with a Regie Routman quote 

 "The typical teacher has children doing a lot of "stuff".  How is what I am having children do creating readers and writers?" 

This is really important for me to focus on and keep in sight.  Because I am moving from middle school down to elementary a big part of me is caught up in the "cuteness" factor of elementary.  I really need to keep in mind that although I may cutesy things up, my main focus must be on instruction and creating readers and writers.

P. 11 Has a chart that outlines the research base behind Daily 5 which is extensive.

The reason why the district I am moving to has adopted Daily 5 is because of the strong research base behind it.  I really love the headings on top of each of the components and am thinking about a way to share with my students to provide them with a "Real World" purpose for each of the elements.

I guess I am just a figure girl today, because I was also drawn to figure 1-4 on p.14 which outlines the Daily 5 Literacy Block.

During student teaching I felt like the area that could be most improved was our focus lessons -they seemed to lack, well focus to be honest with you.  I like the idea of focusing each mini-lesson on the topics listed.  For example, the first focus lesson of the day would be a comprehension lesson, the second would be a reading strategy, the third would be word work, the fourth would be writing, and the fifth and last would be a sharing author's sharing where we review the skills and strategies we worked on that day.

I am feeling a bit more confident after just re-reading the 1st chapter, and am excited to continue this journey. 





If you would also like to participate, the information is below:

Please check out the summer book study! 

(It is not too late to start)

http://www.wereadweblogweteach.com/

There is a calendar available to keep you on track at the blog:

Moving???

I have been up until now a 7th grade math teacher - and honestly I love it!  The only thing that I did not love was my commute - my school was about 40 miles from my house.  My boys were in a different school district and I really wanted to be closer to them during the day, so when I had the opportunity to interview in the district near my home I jumped for it.

Well... I was offered a position right on the spot during my interview!  The position is at an elementary school and will be third  grade.  The principal said he will let me know after he fills the other position where he wants to put me - he just wants to make sure I am in a tested grade.

I am a little nervous as this summer will be spent completely starting over with lesson plans, but I am excited for the challenge.  I did my student teaching in 4th grade, and I home schooled my older three boys for a good portion of their elementary years, so it is not completely uncharted territory.

I have been blog stalking, pinning, reading, note taking and in general soaking in everything I can learn about elementary teaching.  I will be blogging along my journey, and will hopefully be able to inspire you along the way as I have been inspired myself.