Hallway Display

I'm not a fan of elaborate hallway decorations since they don't really benefit my students much. I don't like putting their most prized work in the hallway, I prefer it in the classroom on our "I Can" wall. But, if I don't have anything in the hall I look like a real Debbie Downer, Sorry Sally, Negative Nancy, or Boring Betty. I have a large space because I'm near the boy's restroom so I have 2 display areas.

One on side I have our AR board. It's an Angry Bird theme that I LOVE. I bought the sky paper at Hobby Lobby and cut it in half width wise so I could laminate it (actually a wonderful volunteer did the cutting and gluing). I put up a picture of the different Angry Birds on the active board, and put out construction paper and said "Make a bird". They were completely on their own, no pattern, no "help" from me...and they are awesome!

Because the paper is laminated, the kids just use scotch tape to move their bird. The board runs itself and I love that. Also, since we are required to do AR, I differentiate by not posting the point total, but the percent of the goal that is reached. My strong, avid readers have a higher point goal. My readers who read low point books (most .5 for each book), have a lower goal, but everyone is capable of reaching 100%. 

 I love the sling shot!







On the other side is my student work display. I got a Donor's Choose grant a couple of years ago and purchased the art frames from Lakeshore. Money well spent! They have held up very well, look great, and are the easiest, quickest way to hang papers.

Storage Wars: ClassroomVersion

I have a LOT of stuff. I've been teaching in one capacity or another since 1994...and I'm only 36 years old, so you do the math! Yep, I've been teaching half my life...not counting all the bossing teaching I did to my younger siblings and cousins as I was growing up.

So along with a lot of stuff, comes the need to organize. I love organization tools. I stop by the plastic bins every time I am in Target or Wal-mart, whether I need something or not, just to look and dream of the possibilites. When I walk into someone else's classroom, I immediately start eyeballing their organizational elements...or lack there of, and my wheels start turning. I like things compartmentalized. I like to be able to find what I'm looking for. I like my students being able to be independent and manage their own materials too.

Clutter free classroom has a linky party to showcase your storage element. That's a hard one, because I have so many, and I have seen so many I don't have that I would like to have!  I chose to highlight my student cubbies lockers because they help my students keep up with their jackets, book bags, papers, books, etc...and they *might* even cut down on the exchange of germs and lice since it keeps jackets/book bags from touching.

I am taking a BIG risk here for saying this outloud...so I'm going to whisper it and knock on wood....I've had these units for 6 years and have not had a single case of lice *transferred* in my classroom during those 6 years. I've had children get lice, but never give it to someone else in the classroom.

I really hope I did not jinx myself.

My Work Space: Clutter Free!

I took a challenge from Clutter Free classroom to clean up my work space, and it was needed. I was tired of walking into my classroom and the messiest, most cluttered area in the room being my area!

Here is a link to the before shots. This was a fairly easy transformation. A little work with big results!

 This is the view from the door. I removed all the graphic organizers from wall. I try really hard to keep the top of the brown shelf clean. I added the lanterns to bring the eye up. That was a tip from a reader and it made a huge difference!

 Here is a close up of my work space. I don't have a traditional teacher's desk, so I work and teach from here. I do guided reading groups, science experiments, social studies study groups, writing conferences, you name it...it's done here, so I need this space to work for me!

 I moved the rainbow drawer unit to the student area. They can fix those drawers all day long...they were driving me nuts! I moved the students' white drawer units to my area. I use those to keep work for each subject/class throughout the day (we are partially departmentalized). I already had the scrapbooking paper lining the inside of the drawer, but it helps bring unity and color to the plastic drawers. It dresses them up a little, dontcha think?

  I had these plastic drawers on my brown books shelf already, but they were down low on the bottom/near bottom shelf. I had all the teacher guides and notebooks on the top shelf. By swapping the shelf the items were stored on, I brought unity and color to the most visible shelf (top shelf). I have the exact same materials, just in different places. The notebooks and teacher guides look kinda "junky" even though they are in great shape. It's just a lot of broken color and shapes and sizes. Now they are not visible unless you are behind my desk. 

 I raised this table up about an inch, and slid my filing cabinet under it. I don't know if you can tell, but I have a table skirt and ribbon on top of the colorful drawers. I can't decide if I want to add it or not. It would be in the way. I am in and out of those drawers throughout the day for supplies. But if I decide to add it, I have the materials ready to go!

 What do you think?  It's going to take work for me to keep the top of that shelf clean, but other than that it's been an easy, breezy change!

I have LOTS more pictures of my classroom that I'll be sharing over the next few weeks, so check back soon!

Standards Diaries

I am always looking for ways to make our standards more relevant, more connected, and give my students more ownership of THEIR standards. They are, after all Georgia Performance Standards for 3rd grade students....not 3rd grade teachers. I've been using chart tablets to put our GPS in kid-friendly language, review the vocabulary of the standard, draw picture clues, symbols, and even graphic organizers to help students connect the GPS to their real worlds and their own knowledge.


What I like about this is it's functional. It's pratical. It's interactive, and it's always available. What I don't like is that my science charts look so different from my ELA charts. It still feels like it's "mine", and I want my students to have total ownership of it, to the point that it's part of their own everyday language.

So here is my new idea. Each student will have a folder with only these sheets. I have posters that match that I will fill in with Vis-a-Vis. This folder will be their Standards Diaries. We will write our standards in "I can" friendly language, dissect the verbs, nouns, draw picture clues, etc. Students will make their own learning goals, and use the thought bubble to make connections to prior knowledge or experiences. The magnifying class is to list our essential questions.

The back is for vocabulary, definitions, samples, illustrations, etc. I'm excited to try something new and hope this method leads my students to the level of ownership that will make them more successful.  Get the files here. And here.

Front Page of Standards Diary

Back page of Standards Diary

"I PICK"

 I've read and re-read The Daily Five and I'm ready to "read to learn" and not just "learn to read". My favorite graphics site Lettering Delights is having a great sale, tons of packages for only 50 cents. I spent just a few dollars and am squealing in delight over the cuteness. So, of course I had to make something, and of course, I want to share.

 This "I Pick" poster is just one way to help children pick out books that are appropriate for them. Click here to download the Word version. 

Edited to Add: Appears the Word version is wonky for some people, so I also have a PDF. Hope that helps! 

In Our Class

 I've been noticing a few "In Our Class" posters on pinterest, and I love the idea of them, but they all felt like someone else wrote them for his/her classroom...which they did! So, I decided I needed to make my own. It turned out to be way more reflective than I anticipated!

I debated on sharing the file, and I may change my mind if there is any interest, but the really great part about these posters is making them your own, to reflect your classroom environment and your philosophy of teaching and learning. I found phrases on Oh Boy 4th Grade that fit me to a "t", and then I added my own to make it something that reflects me and my classroom. What do you think? What's your favorite phrase?