Sneak Peek

I wanted to show you guys just a quick look at my room so far! I'm not even close to being finished, so you will have to excuse the mess and just bear with me! Again, sorry for the bad iPhone pictures. I have GOT to get our camera fixed! 

My pirate chart

Alphabet Line

As I was taking pictures of things around the room, I heard my one year old saying, "cheee" so I had to take his picture:) Excuse the mess! My teacher area has been one of the more neglected areas so far:)

Got this idea off Pinterest! (where else) I zip-tied two crates together (got those at Target) to create a place for groups to keep journals, markers, crayons, and trash can. I got the trash can at Dollar Tree, and I want the kids to use them when they are working on projects at their desk. I'm hoping this will cut down on paper on the floor, and frequent trips to the large trash can! I'll have a student empty the trash cans everyday for their job.

This is a closer look at one of the bulletin boards. I'm going to dedicate this board to my Objectives/Focus Wall. We have to have our objectives posted each week, so I tried to think of an easier way to do this than writing them out each day. I made these cards, and I will just flip them each week to match the objective for the week! Did I mention I'm moving down to second grade? YES new adventure. Don't worry, I completely plan to keep posting things third grade related! I don't think you can tear that out of me so easily:) So these cards are made with second grade objectives (in Texas). If you need third grade ones, Amanda at One Extra Degree has a great set! She is one of the blogs I follow over on the right.

I can't take any credit for this! My husband is a rockstar!! He did ALL of this for me! What a stud. This is the back wall in my room. I've tried making this a functional wall, but it's so high and SO DIFFICULT to move things around on it that it's better off being a focal piece for the room. 

Unfinished library area. I'll call it "Pirate Cove." I'm also taking down those lanterns, and I'll be using those for group signs.

Well there you have it so far! I still have so much to do, but it's a start!

Door Signs-Pirate Theme

I had my first training for the year today. I was lucky that several teachers from my school were there, so I had lots to catch up with them:) It also made the training go by a lot faster than it would have! Going to this training today just made me realize how close we are to starting school, and I will be dragging my feet in the sand to go back this year! I've had such a wonderful summer with my family, and I have LOVED it. It was truly one of the most relaxing summers I've had in a while!

So with that little wake-up call, I decided I needed to start working on more things for my classroom!
This is for all my pirate-theme friends! I made my Where Are We? Door signs with pirate kids:) There really isn't too much to say about it since I already posted about them here!

If you like these, you can get them in my TpT store HERE.

OR you can get them in my Teacher's Notebook store HERE. 

Book Box Labels

I'll admit that I have a slight problem when it comes to buying books for my classroom library! I'm obsessed! Where I teach, the kids don't have many books at home, so I do everything I can to provide a wide selection. I'm pretty sure I have over 1,000 books in my library!! I separate the books by genre into baskets for chapter books, and boxes for picture books. All of my labels were a mixture of Beth Newingham's labels and ones I created myself. Well, my OCD self just couldn't handle it anymore, and I decided to create labels that would match! I used the same font and similar graphics for all of the labels:) I also decided to create two different sizes. I use magazine boxes for my picture books, and the labels were just too big...so I made smaller ones.

Smaller ones for magazine boxes

Regular size ones for baskets (I realize the basket says "picture books" when it should say "chapter books." My kiddos accidentally switched them out, and of course I didn't notice until I uploaded this picture! 

You can find my whole set of book box labels here in my TpT store!

Hungry Caterpillar Idea

My sister-in-law is pregnant with her first baby girl!! Several friends and family threw her a great shower last weekend to celebrate sweet Gwendolyn's birth! The baby's room will have a story book theme, with The Very Hungry Caterpillar as the main book. SO what were we to do but throw her a shower using The Very Hungry Caterpillar! I took several pictures, but as I sat there looking at some of the decorations, I thought that one in particular could be used in a classroom! They purchased several paper lanterns and used them to create a caterpillar that hung from the ceiling. I believe they were purchased at Big Lots, and they taped the lanterns together with tape. The eyes and antennas were added on with paper. SO CUTE!!! I also had to take a picture of the awesome cake! I would love to have a cake like that in my classroom 24/7!