Math Toolkits


DIY, Fourth Grade, Math

You know it’s a lot of cutting when you end up with blisters on your cutting hand. Hopefully, it is all worth it in the end! My fourth graders will each have their own math toolkit to start the year! Many of the manipulatives are from Brittney Hege’s Mix & Math 360 group, with a few other items thrown in from other places. Besides the items pictured, each child also has a small plastic container for dice rolling (we all know how dice end up across the room on the floor, which they won’t be able to retrieve without being […]

Mini Anchor Charts


Classroom Setup, Daily Life, DIY, ELA, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, Math, Printables, Third Grade, TpT Store, Writing

I love anchor charts. I hate hanging anchor charts on my walls. They either take up precious bulletin board space, or they constantly fall down (or just wave at me from one droopy corner). So, a few years ago, I created a set of mini anchor charts for my tables using IKEA’s Tolsby Frames. After much frustration to get everything just the right size, I finally had a small set of charts. Multiplication chart, synonyms for overused words, math talk stems, commonly misspelled words, and more. And I also made some cute motivational cards to keep it fun and positive!

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Printable Post-Its


Daily Life, DIY, ELA, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, Printables, Second Grade, Third Grade, TpT Store, Writing

A friend asked if I had ever used or created printable Post-Its to use in my classroom. A logical question, since I do love Post-Its! While I had never printed on them before, my curiosity was piqued and I was on it the next morning! It took a few days, but I finally had a full set of printables that I could see myself using in the classroom (whenever we head back, that is!) Positive notes of praise, notes of encouragement to keep going, sentence starters for those days when I want to be more specific, writing checklists (my stamp

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Math Games Library


DIY, Fourth Grade, Math

I love using math games. The kids love them and they’re good practice for fact fluency. However, I wanted to have a bunch of different operations, levels of challenge, group vs. individual, etc. available whenever I needed them. I also wanted something kids could take home if they wanted to continue practicing because, let’s be honest, Xtramath is a bit dull. Therefore, the math games library was born! I pulled games from TpT, created some of my own, invested in lots of bins, bags, containers, clothespins, game pieces and colored paper. After plenty of printing, cutting, bagging, labeling etc., it’s

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DIY projects


Classroom Setup, DIY, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, Third Grade

DIY Project #1: I was cleaning out some old kindergarten supplies and came across the purple drawer container which used to house all of my alphabet stamps. I thought it could be a cute desk holder for all of those knick-knacks that get cluttered around, so I brought it home for a little TLC. I peeled off all the old ABC stickers and gave it a good cleaning, printed out some new labels and taped them on (I would have put them on the inside, but the label goo didn’t come off), and then painted the outside with an acrylic

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NaNoWriMo Update


DIY, ELA, Fourth Grade, Writing

I have posted before about taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge with my students. For the last two years, I have spent the month of November plugging away at a novel with a goal of 30,000 words. They wrote and published their own books and told me that I should do the same with my two novels. So I figured, why not? It was many hours of proofreading, formatting, researching information about self-publishing, more proofreading, and more formatting, but I think it was all worth it in the end. The proof of the second book is already on its way, and

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When You Enter…


Classroom Setup, DIY, Fourth Grade

I came to the sudden realization the other day that except for the little welcome bird I made, my doors were quite empty!  Worse yet, I have two doors to my classroom.  So, a quick Pinterest search, a hunt for fonts, a little scrapbook paper… and voila!  It’s nothing too fancy, but I like that it gives credence to so many different roles that students may take on within the course of a day in my classroom.

DIY Projects


Classroom Setup, DIY, Fourth Grade

Moving to a new grade level for the second year in a row, I didn’t quite know where to start again this summer.  I brought home curriculum and textbooks, downloaded all of the common core standards, started looking at what went wrong last year that needed to be improved… but most importantly, since I will have some of the same kids that I had last year, I needed a new classroom theme!  And that meant that the cute DIY projects took precedence over everything else for a while! My room was repainted, and while the color is lighter than it

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Inspirational Posters


Classroom Setup, DIY, Fourth Grade, Third Grade

The mix of emotions in switching grade levels can be overwhelming. Excitement at the prospect of something new, and in this case getting to work with a great group of kids for the second year in a row, yet apprehension about a brand new curriculum.  In my case, it’s the second year in a row for this range of emotions and without being able to get into my new room to start organizing things physically, all I can do is sit and plan things out in my head or on paper.  And boy do I have notes and new projects

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Owls


Classroom Setup, DIY, Third Grade

Found the idea for these owls on Pinterest (where else?) so I made one for each table.  I found the paper lanterns at the Christmas Tree Shop for 2/$1.00, and they had colors that matched with my theme, so that was the perfect price.  A little scrapbooking paper for the wings, some construction paper for the rest of the details, a little glue, and voila! I put a small clothespin hanging from each one so that I can label the tables and change the labels.  I might start the year with numbers, but I’d like to name the tables something

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