Summer School Comes To An End...

This Thursday will mark the last day of summer school in Cedar Falls. It seems like I have been only working with these students for only two weeks. I have really enjoyed this experience because it has jump-started my brain to think like a lower elementary teacher. Unlike older elementary students, stickers, candy, and smelly markers still motivate these little minds. I have seen this end of the school year gift all over Pinterest and decided to do a different spin on it. 

I found the fun cups at Dollar Tree for, of course, $1.00, then bought the Kool-Aid packages for $0.13. A cheap and adorable gift for my four summer school students. I also filled the cups full of smarties because I always call them my "group of smarties". 

Cheers to another fun night of cutting lamination :)

Parent Communication

Today was a long fight with technology in the school building. I received access to all of my IEPs at the end of last week and I was itching to get them all printed to start going through them. Well 1 1/2 hours later... I finally had them all printed! I spent most of my afternoon going through them at home will making my IEP at a Glance sheets for myself and the students' classroom teacher. From what I've heard from a few teachers they've never received their special education student's IEPs to look through. I believe that this is extremely important for both of the general education teacher and special education teacher to work together, but in order to do this each teacher needs the same information. This is the reason why I have put together my IEP at a Glance sheet. I will post this at another time! 

Along with going through my IEPs, I also set up my parent communication binder. Communicating with my students' parents is extremely important, therefore I need a place to document when and what was discussed to refer to at a later date if need be. I found this freebie at TPT. I love the fun creative covers along with the organized and clean-cut forms.

I like to have this sheet, so that I can fill to the student's tab and find out their address, parents' names, and phone numbers.

Each student has four of these sheets to document any conversations had with their parents/guardians.

Already found a spot in the classroom!

I See Floor!

Today I spent about 5 hours in the classroom and little to say the least I can finally see some of the floor! I had several teachers, including the janitor, stop me in the hallway or come down to the classroom to say I have done a great job of cleaning out the classroom. The only thing I have left to clean out is the lower cabinets. Thank goodness! I'm hoping I can have all of the garbage and floor picked up by the end of this week. 

If you didn't know I absolutely love Pinterest! I have used a lot of things from Pinterest in my classroom. One of the ideas for my classroom is the crate shelving unit. This is made up of plastic crates that I bought at Walmart and then zip tying them all together. The trick to this project is to put the crates together by stacking the crates on top of each other. Then put the columns together one by one. Check it out!

I cannot believe how sturdy this shelving is! Who would have thought that plastic crates would be so durable!

I also stole this little idea from a pin. I absolutely hate the noise of a pencil sharpener so this is perfect for my classroom. No sharpening during the school day! I found the cute little metal tins in the dollar bin at Target and just printed and laminated the find off of Pinterest and PERFECTO!

Another positive for the day is that I picked up my school computer and iPad today! Although the computer is a Mac (which I am not too familiar with!) I absolutely love it so far! On top of this, I received access to all the IEPs for the school yesterday! I have been patiently waiting on this for a very long time. Now I just need to find out which students will be mine.

I am spending my night cutting one of seven rolls of lamination I completed today while watching Law & Order...my favorite! Tomorrow is another fun-filled day in the classroom!

Happy Anniversary!

There has been a little bit more progress in my classroom. I am continuing to "pitch" things in the garbage. I really want to start fresh in this new classroom and to get rid of the clutter. Right now it looks like a complete disaster zone! Check out the new pictures!

 

I finally got one shelf organized! This will be in my classroom library!

Also, I want to wish my parents a happy 31st anniversary! I definitely wouldn't have made to where I am today without the both of them! They truly radiate pure love and how to succeed together as a couple! I LOVE YOU BOTH!

 
 

Little By Little

My friend, Taylir, and I have been working hard in my classroom to get everything cleaned and moved. God bless her! It is unbelievable on how dirty things can get and it doesn't help that I'm a germ-a-phob and OCD freak. So we have been washing every manipulative with bleach and Dawn soap to get all those germs and the grimy feeling off every little piece. I have also purchased all brand new storage containers to hold all the manipulatives and extra school supplies. (This is my OCD kicking in so that EVERYTHING matches!) I'm striving for a clean slate this year! Here is a little sneak peak of what we have been up to...

  
More photos to come once all of the furniture is moved and everything is clean!

Summer School

Summer school is in full swing and we just finished our first week! I was blessed to start getting the practice of working with the little ones and have students who just finished kindergarten through second grade. I was so excited to get the little ones so that I can get my brain to start thinking as a little one would. During summer school, we focus on reading and math for a solid two hours, with of course a little recess in the middle. 

I wanted to share something that I have been using this week and that is the system that I use to practice and assess my students' knowledge of sight words. Many people use the Dolch system, but I prefer the Fry Words system. I found a premade package on TPT that I absolutely love!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fry-Words-Mega-Pack-All-1000-Words-282162

This mega pack is the best thing I have ever bought off of TPT. It is totally worth the $12.00, because who really wants to spend their time on creating all of this! My summer school students have been loving the chance to master a level and go home with one of the certificates that are included in this pack. 

Here is a picture of my finished product after hours of cutting on the cards. 

Note to readers: Use a paper cutter instead of hand cutting all of the words!

 

I Got the Key!

Last Friday, I finally was able to get into my classroom. A friend of mine who also works at the school was willing to meet me Friday morning to show me what classroom was mine. She also shared with me that my classroom may get changed when the new principal arrives, due to the fact that right now the fourth grade classrooms are separated one on each side of the building, so don't get too comfortable yet. Great! So, I have sent an email to the principal in order to get the ball rolling on this discussion.

Here are some pictures of the classroom she showed me:

This is the view from the hallway door.

To the right of the door. I have a parking lot entry, which will be great for moving everything in.

The divider wall, which I'm not too enthused about but will have to deal. Look at all of those manipulatives!

From the front of the room.

 Overall, I am pretty pleased with my first classroom.I'm just working on some cosmetic things for the classroom.