Hurricane Irene = no power at home = lots of work done at school!

Hurricane Irene did us in!!

Sunday around 2 in the morning the rain started. It was a steady, heavy rain all day – our power went out at 2 in the afternoon Sunday when the heavy winds started. The rain kept up till about dinner time, but the winds were still getting worse. We decided to drive around and take some pictures, and then get ourselves some dinner, since we couldn’t cook. My neighbors lost 2 trees, another tree was laying across one of our roads. I even saw a tree on another neighbor’s house. Roads were flooded over, and some of the shoulders of the roads were gone. I can’t believe the damage we got, when we weren’t even near the coast! 18 hours of rain, 12 with heavy wind, and 19 hours without power (we didn’t get it back until 9:30 yesterday Morning)!  Living in the country is definitely nice, but when you lose power you aren’t really a priority in the eyes of the power company – why fix the problem with only 14 customers without power when you can help more in the towns??

Needless to say, I ended up going to the school yesterday early in the morning, so I didn’t have to sit without power at home. I called the power company at 5 when I got out of bed (I couldn’t sleep anymore since I went to bed so early the night before!) and they told me to expect power back on at midnight – I was like, ummm…. Really? So I made the decision to go to the school and got there around 6. Ever had to get ready to go out in public in the dark, with only a little flashlight to help? I’m sure I looked pretty scary as I walked in the gas station to get a hot chocolate! I didn’t even do any makeup till I was at the school!

Anyway - I got a lot done once I got there, and I took some pics of the beginning of my centers.  These are what will stay all year, and then I will change out the other activities based on the skills we are learning about at the time. Let me know what you think!

 

 

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This is the accelerated reader center. Books are sorted by reading level – the buckets are color coded based on their reading group. So, my kiddos know what group they are in, so they know what bin to select a book from. I have some handy little reference materials in each bucket – I’ll have to remember to take share a pic of what’s in them another time!

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Here is my writing center! Most of my centers have these shelves that I bought awhile ago – not only does it keep things organized, but the kids know what order to work through with their things! On the first shelf there are 4 folders in my reading group colors. This is how I differentiate the centers - the kids pull their folder and do the work that I selected just for them. I do this for most of my centers. You will also notice the work buckets I have at the center. This has crayons, scissors, glue, pencils, sharpener, erasers, markers, and colored pencils. That way, they don’t have to leave to get any supplies! I also have a book of writing helpers and a beginner’s thesaurus for them to use. The signs are from Christie at Teaching in Flip Flops!

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Next up is the fluency center. The fluency station is from Lakeshore (I love them!). This is a piece that I have wanted for a few years, but couldn’t justify buying when it was so expensive. But, when I moved up to 3^rd I inherited it! Can’t wait to use it! On the right are the high frequency word cards separated again by reading group color. They practice these as soon as they get here, then move on to the other goodies. I have a handful of animal puppets in the back left corner – these are fun to use when reading, and they get silly and have fun while they get their work done. They came from Dollar Tree a few years ago, and my kiddos loved them last year, and will enjoy them again this year! I also have a whisper phone here.  

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This is the comprehension center with tons of goodies! To start, I have my “egg-celent” comprehension eggs (thanks to Christina Bainbridge at Mrs. Bainbridge's Class),  some story dice I have had for awhile, some fun brain feeler sticks (from Miss Knight’s Khronicals), my supply bucket, and my FAVORITE story wands (from you guessed it – Lakeshore!). These are so much fun, and I love using them with my kiddos (except for a few boys 2 years ago that seemed to think they resembled light sabers and not fun learning tools)!

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Thanks for taking a look! Tomorrow (Thursday) is the first day for staff. I am hoping to finish up, and get the most current pics up for you to see before my kiddos come back next Tuesday.

+ Laura +

classroom pictures.... FINALLY!

I’m amazed at the amount of blogs that I have been reading where the students are starting this week! I can’t imagine starting this early – we never start until after Labor Day… this year I go in the Thursday before for our Superintendent’s Conference Day, have the long weekend, and start with kids the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Anyway, I have taken a few whole days to sort out my classroom and transform it from a 2nd grade room to a 3rd grade room. I was lucky to be able to stay in my room, since I begged not to have to move only one door down the hall to the newly empty 3rd grade room - I HATE budget cuts, and knowing that I am taking over a friend’s classroom and that she is now out of a job :(

The days I have spent in the school, I have gone through the 3rd grade room and taken out the things that I will need. I kept all my 2nd grade materials, since it isn’t that far off. Needless to say, with the extra materials and more students (this year I’ll have 23 compared to last year’s 16), my room is crowded! I can’t walk in a straight line to get to anything! My room is so tiny compared to the wonderfully huge ones I have been seeing here in Blog Land.

I am posting some of my photos of the work in progress. There are still a lot of little things that need to be taken care of, that add up to a lot more time! I will be going in again tomorrow, but a friend will also be in her room across the hall, so I may do more talking than working! J You see, the two of us are still bitter that after being the closest of teammates and doing everything together last year, we were separated when I was moved to 3rd. But, at least I’m not going far.

Enough talk… here are the pics!

This first one is the view from the door. Can we say cluttered?!?! Anyway, you can see my reading table. Next to that is my meeting area with the rug – used a lot in 2nd grade, and I still plan to use it in 3rd! My desk is in the back corner in front of my cupboards. You can see my vast seas of desks – 4 sets of 6. I only have 23 students as of right now, but last year got 2 new students on the very first day of school! Not the phone call you want to get from your principal while you’re in the middle of taking attendance!




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This is the back wall. Two computers sit on the counter, 2 more are on a computer table behind the centers pocket chart. I kept my word wall from last year, and will make it more grown up and 3rd grade by making it a Wonderful Words wall – we will add words when we hear interesting words in any of our readings, and then there they are for easy reference to spice up our own writing! Along the back counter are small white supply drawers and bins to sort their finished work by subject. You can also see several center tables just waiting to be filled with materials! The pile mess on the back set of desks is all the posters I still have yet to hang.




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Front corner of the room – you can see the reading table and student mail center – this is where I put graded papers, and they are emptied on Fridays only. You can also see my SMART Board – the best addition to my classroom! I’ve taught with it for 2 years, and don’t know what I did the 3 years before that! The rolled up screen above it sits lonely remembering the days of my overhead use (I finally just got rid of the overhead this summer!).



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My reading materials shelf. This has all my reference materials, as well as my bins for small groups. They keep me organized, and when I call a group to the table they grab their bin and we have all the right supplies rightthere! On the counter are more things that need to be hung up!




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One of my centers. The bulletin boards on either side were just made – in our school we have to have our ELA skills and strategies for each week posted for the students. This wall is actually the back of the cubbies and along the top I have my 2nd and 3rd grade EOR (elements of reading) kits for comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency.




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These are my cubbies, which are to the right when you walk in the room. They may seem like a good thing to have in the classroom, but I hate them! They take up too much room and too many students go there during the day to get something they absolutely MUST have! Along the top are my theme bins – these are holiday bins and also center themes. The small cupboards have my Shutterbug books for both 2nd and 3rd grades. The door is our classroom bathroom, and on it is my Text Talk list. This is from last year (but having the same kids this coming year I wanted to keep it up to keep referencing. Text talk words are interesting words we hear in read-alouds. We write them down, discuss, and try to use in our speaking and writing. I am thinking of making these words the first additions to the word wall.



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Thanks for taking the time to read this lengthy post! I hope you saw some things you liked! I am so OCD that it was hard for me to post these, knowing things are not finished yet! :)

For more fun, head on over to TBA for more classroom photos! Click the pic below to join their party!

Laura

It's Like... Christmas!

I walked in my room today to do a bit more. When I walked in I was greeted by boxes on my reading table. My requisition order came in! I’m like a kid at Christmas… I just have to open my packages as soon as I see them! I ordered back in April I think, so I always forget what will be waiting for me in the boxes! $

Each year we get money at the end of the year to buy supplies for the next school year. This past year we were allowed to spend $250. Sounds like a lot, but it didn’t go too far. Here’s a picture of everything that I was able to get with my money:

  

Most of the stuff is ELA. But, I was able to get 4 new SMART Board games for math, so I can’t wait to check them out! The ELA items are all for centers. I opened some of them already, and they look so fun! I just can’t tell you how much I LOVE Lakeshore! I could spend soooo much money on their catalog!

Anyway, I also decided to find homes for my new goodies (inside my newly cleaned out supply cupboards!).

Here’s my ELA cupboard looking a little full:

It will have much more room during the school year when many of these things are out at centers. And here is my math cupboard:

As long as I’m posting pics of the cupboards, i might as well show you the middle cupboard. Here is where I store my picture books and construction paper:

All the books are in bins labeled by holidays, seasons, or favorite characters. I recently reorganized my novels, and will soon be moving on to these.  This last picture shows the cupboards closed. These are behind my desk in the back of the room.

 

The wonderful signs you see decorating my cupboards come from Christie at Teaching in Flip Flops. I just LOVE her things! I have much more of her stuff around the room – I will have to take more pictures again soon!

+ Laura +