FALL In Love With 5th Grade

Our 5th Grade team had decided we wanted to create an interactive board for parents to utilize while they wait during conferences.  We came up with the idea, "FALL In Love With 5th Grade!"  Students filled in a leaf (each class used a color) and stated when they fell in love with 5th Grade (something we have done that they really enjoyed).  After they finished writing the students took a selfie, and linked the selfie through a QR Code.  The QR code was printed and glued to the leaf.  Parents went around reading the leaves and scanning them to try and find the one their child wrote. It was great to see the students' excitement when their parent found theirs!

ENJOY!

Welcome To Our Classroom

Another year has begun... we are 8 days in! I wanted to share the "current status" of our room.  I am LOVING it, but I am not finished.  I want this room to feel like home. My focus this year has been collaboration areas. We have our U table, a round table, a coffee table, pub table, and made the switch from desks to student tables this year. The biggest struggle has been finding storage areas. For now the students use their mailboxes for all notebooks, folders, and workbooks. They are using bins on the floor for all pencil cases, so they are close. We have pencil holders for the middle table, and finally some square bins for their reading books. It will be a continuous work in progress but we are getting there. Our next change, some lamps for a more soothing feeling. I am beyond excited to see how the year will work out.

FREEBIE ALERT

I have created a record sheet that will allow students to try books in a variety of genres. I often find that my students come in thinking they like only one specific type of genre, and need a little encouragement to step outside of the box. Click on the picture to be directed to my TPT site, so you can snag this freebie! Also, be sure to follow my blog for future updates and freebies! I am just starting out, so there is a lot more to come. ENJOY!

Mustache Theme

My students LOVED our mustache theme this past school year.  Seeing their excitement over it has me thinking I will just stick with the theme for another year.  I just finished creating some posters that I can use around our classroom... there isn't a ton of mustache material just yet, I will slowly try to fix that. Haha.

Click on the picture if you are interested in purchasing your own set of posters.

ENJOY!

Book Bin Labels

I just finished creating these bright book bin labels for my classroom!  There are a wide variety of subjects, authors, and genres! Click the picture to head on over to TPT and take a look. ENJOY!

FREEBIE ALERT

I have made it one of my goals to use picture books as a resource with my 5th Graders.  After teaching K/1 for 6 years, I have two large book shelves over flowing with children's books. I have tried my best to incorporate them in my classroom, the 5th graders still LOVE them, but I know I can do even better.  I want my students to be able to take a book and use it as a model for their writing.  I have created some book bin labels to help categorize the books, based on the 6 Traits of Writing. Below is a sample of what some of them look like.  Click on the picture to grab these book bin labels. Be sure to follow my TPT profile for future updates!

That's a Wrap

I can not believe it has already been a month since I closed that door!  Words can not express what an incredible journey this year has been. It was my second year as a 5th Grade teacher, after moving from K/1 which I had taught for 6 years! This group of students had such kind hearts, which is incredibly reassuring for our future.  I am already anxious for our next group to come... and can't wait to start setting up. Loving my summer break, but I do miss the munchkins.

My goals for 2015-2016-
1) I need to blog more.  I had a great 1st Grade blog, but now created this one which isn't grade specific. This way if I switch grades it doesn't matter. With learning so much new material I had to push blogging to the side for a bit... but, I'M BACAAACK!
2) My classroom WILL have more collaboration areas. This last year my students were hardly at their desk, which I love!  So, I want to offer more options on where they can go.  I am looking into some pub tables to put by our windows! :)
3) Hooks, hooks, hooks. Have you read "Teach Like a Pirate"? This book offers a ton of ideas for hooks.  I have always felt as though I did a decent job of this, but I know I can do bettter... and I WILL!

That is all for now!  Happy 4th of July week/weekend. May it be safely filled with love and laughter!

Celebrations

Alright Bloggers... How does your school celebrate the end of the year? This year we had a "blind" volleyball tournament. They had covered the net so we could not see the other team. Each grade did a fantastic job of really getting into it for the kids. I may be bias but I think our outfits were the best! ;)  Such a fun group of ladies <3

Gift Ideas

Here are some wonderful gift ideas I have used within my classroom. The first one is a Mothers Day Gift, and the rest of them were gifts for our school's auction night. I love how personal they are. The second picture is a crayon melt with flowers made from Bible versus. The third picture is a crayon melt with the students silhouette, and the fourth is a crayon melt and the students thumb prints to complete the picture. <3