Target Dollar Spot Center Supplies

Has anyone else discovered the amazing supplies (for $1!) for classroom centers? Kelly and I found these for $1 each this week at Target.

I got many of these for my grandson and some addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division card sets for my third grade class. Kelly is moving to Kindergarten, so these will be very easy for her to set up as centers as she gets used to the Kindergarten curriculum.

Preparing Interactive Math Journals

I have used Math Journals for 12 years. The ways I use them have changed over the years as I have become more comfortable with them. Now, I wouldn't know what to do without having them in my classroom.

This is how I have prepare them.

This year, I am using these composition books.Last year, I used spiral notebooks and they worked well. I am using the composition books because I had some left over and the room I moved into had a lot in there already so I didn't have to buy any. I printed a simple label for the front and taped it on.

On the back cover, I put a laminated Hundreds, Tens and Ones chart for the children to write on. I also stuck on a 100 chart sticker. I got the stickers from JoAnn Fabrics in their Teacher section. I got the Hundreds, Tens and Ones chart in the "Math Tools" set I bought on Teachers Pay Teachers. I printed it 2 to a page so they would be smaller.

On the inside cover, I attached the Math Tub of Tools from a set by Reagan Tunstall. You can get to it on Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking here.

We will start with reviewing the money and Odd and Even cards in the Tub of Tools.  We will add more tools as the year progresses.

In the inside of the back cover, I used duct tape to attach ribbon to be used as a bookmark. This will make it easier for the children to keep track where their next page is.

This is how I have prepared the Math Journals.  This will help us to be well prepared to start the year right off with our Math Journals.

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Join us for the Teachers Pay Teachers Cyber Sale on Monday and Tuesday. You can save up to 25% off of great resources.

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Teacher Down-Time

What do you do to relax when you get a break from teaching? I know that it helps me a lot to do activities that have nothing to do with teaching sometimes. This helps me to recharge and I have more energy to give to my students when I return to work.

This Thanksgiving Break, when I was not with family and eating turkey, I worked on creating a playroom for my grandson in our house.

I love crafting and painting, so this was really fun for me. This room had been my son's room and then it was my craft room. We are now in the process of creating a "She Shed" in a shed outside for my craft room since we decided to make a playroom for Benjamin.

Here are some pictures:

I am planning to cover the top 3 shelves on the left with fabric to hide those bins. I still need to add cars to the black "road".

My husband was a drag racer for years, so I am going to add pictures of his race cars on the black "drag strip" on this wall. I also need to add the "B" to the alphabet. The larger letters in the alphabet are for the first initials of the people in our family.

Here are some close-up pictures of the word BEN in the room. I got this idea from Pinterest (of course):

These letters are about 18 inches tall. They are from Hobby Lobby ($3.50 each).

I cut up white stickers for the roads.

Then, I used hot glue to attach the cars. I used Command velcro to hang them on the wall.

I hope everyone got some time to relax this holiday break.

Pencil Parking

This year, I have had a pencil dilemma.

This is my 21st year of teaching and I have never had this problem. I have always just put out pencils in the supply buckets at each table. I would put out new pencils as we needed them, but it wasn't very often. Each year, I always had a surplus of pencils left.

Luckily, I had a lot of extra pencils left from last year, because this year, the pencils in my room have been disappearing.

I teach two different blocks of students. I'm not exactly sure where the pencils are going, but over 100 of them have gone missing. 

So, I have been searching for a solution.For a couple of weeks, I had a sign out sheet for the pencils, but it was taking too much time to have the kids sign out a pencil and return it at the end of class, since I was having to monitor it.

I looked online at Really Good Stuff and I found this amazing pocket chart.

I wrapped each pencil with washi tape and numbered them. I gave each student a number. Now, at the beginning of each block, I quickly pass out the pencils. I have a student collect the pencils at the end of each block and we make sure all the pencils are returned. I have been using this system for a week and it is working very well.

If you are having a pencil problem, I highly recommend this pocket chart (or something similar).

Classroom Pics

So far, this school year has flown by! Since things are calm for now, I thought I would post some classroom pictures. This year, I moved to a new, larger, classroom, and I decided to go with a Sports theme. For the past few years, I didn't really have a theme. I used the colors turquoise and lime green with black.

Anyway, here are some pictures:

This is the board where I put the Essential Questions, Vocabulary, and Anchor Charts for Science and Math. (I only teach Science and Math.)

I still have a Reading/Library Area in my classroom even though I don't teach ELA.

This is the tile area where the sink and cabinets are located. I hang student work above the sink. To the far right, are the student mailboxes. This table is used for Stations and Science Experiments.

This is my table area. I meet with small groups here. My teacher desk is by the wall to the left.

I have the schedule on the board to the left. I write their daily agenda items on this board, as well as, any announcements.

This is the middle area of the room where the desks are.

This is a small board area I made on the folded-up movable wall. (My room is actually 2 rooms with the wall opened between them.) I keep the math manipulatives and Station items here.