5 Day Weekend

Just getting in from sitting outside, drinking my coffee, enjoying the cool breeze...relaxing.

Don't let the above statement fool you. I was relaxing after preparing my house for the storm. Tropical Storm (as of now) Isaac is projected to make landfall early tomorrow morning. However, we are beginning to feel its effects. We have taken out the generator, filled a couple of cans of gas, boarded the house, placed sandbags around doors, brought in all items outside that can potentially become flying objects, and flipped over the trampoline.

The sky is becoming darker and the rain is starting to fall.  

I pray that all of my friends, family, co-workers, students and their families stay safe. 

Spelling Centers

Yesterday we started spelling centers. Students practiced their spelling words at one of the following centers:

Spelling City - fantastic website where you input the words that need to be reviewed and students play a game with them

Rainbow Words - students write word and choose 3 colors to rewrite them in

Magic Eraser - first the words are written with chalk on a black piece of construction paper. Then, the students take a q-tip and dip in water. Using the q-tip, students retrace the word making it disappear.

Whiteboard - words are written on whiteboard with dry erase markers. One color is used for vowels and another color used to write consonants.

The Kids Are Back!

Yes, today was the first day with the students. I got to work early and put the finishing touches on my room.

Each desk contained a water, a guitar-shaped bag {filled with 2 erasers, 2 pencils, a bookmark, and a bag of Cheese Its}, and a word search. 

The students busily worked on their word search as I gathered supplies. Then it was time for PE. After PE, we worked non-stop until dismissal.

First on the agenda was going over class routines and procedures. The students and my co-teacher discussed and created classroom rules. In pairs, the students were given a tree map and various events. The events were cut out and categorized as one of three rules: Be Safe, Be Respectful, or Be Responsible.

Ms. Gros, my co-teacher, read the story Today I Feel Silly: and Other Moods That Make My Day. This is a great story and the kids enjoyed listening to the main character's moods. After the story, they illustrated their moods about the first day of school on a circle.

I introduced centers and discussed expectations. To get the students familiar with daily rotations and what each center will entail, they completed activities in each center.

At the teacher center, the students listened to Ms. Gros' instructions and designed an About Me necklace. Sorry, I didn't take a picture. I don't know why I didn't??? Then, they used a flow map to sequence the steps.

At the IWB center, students played a back to school game.
The game was a mixture of math review questions and misc. questions {principal's name, name of school, school mascot, etc}


















The students listened to I Feel Silly again at the listening center. Then, they wrote about a time when they felt silly and a time when they felt sad. Details had to include who was present during that time, where did it occur, and what caused the mood.






The final center they visited was the computer. At this center, the students completed a Reading Interest Survey on Google and wrote their first post on Kid Blog. The post was about their summer vacation.

Oh! Did I mention that they electricity went out? A severe thunderstorm came through and knocked the power out. Right in the middle of centers!!! Even though the internet was nonfunctional, the laptops were charged and the students continued writing their posts. :)

Time to plan out day 2. Hope you enjoyed reading about our first day!

**Update**
Found out after I posted that Julie at Math is Elementary is hosting a "First Day Stories" linky.
Swing by her blog and read other first day stories :)

August Currently

This is my first Currently with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade. I love reading everyone's Currently in the past and decided to join this month.

First Peak Into My {Almost} Finished Classroom

These past three weeks working in my classroom have been super busy. I know what you're thinking, "Three weeks and you're still not done!?" Let me explain why this process has been a slow one for me. First, I moved to a different grade and room. That meant starting fresh with everything -- changing bulletin boards, cleaning, rearranging, reorganizing. I'm sure I don't have to continue, y'all know what changing rooms entail. Also, our school has a reading program towards the end of the summer and my room was in use. That meant I could not go in until they were finished. Well, I could have gone in but that would have been rude disturbing the students while they were trying to learn. Three hours a day is what I worked. I may have missed a few days, as well, because my "out-of-school" life took priority.

Are you ready to see?????

My door.

Not the best picture...I know...sorry. 

Each child's name is on a guitar.

Behavior cards, PBIS steps, and calendar

Job chart

Closer look. My daughter did a fantastic job painting the clothes pins!!!

ELA Focus Wall.

There is a spot for story title, spelling words, vocabulary words, genre, grammar skill, and comprehension skill.

The other half of the board will be for the Math Focus Wall. I have not decided what components to include.

Cart for math centers. There are 2 drawers for each Math strand. I have 3 of these and plan to put activities that pertain to each center in it's place.

Since I had 2 extra drawers I decided to place ELA center work there. I have space for word work, listen to reading, and working on writing.

It feels great to have this much accomplished before I am officially back!!!!!

I plan to showcase the entire room towards the end of next week. 

Make sure to check back.