Finally Got Something Finished!

My children don't want me to go up to the school and work. (They are 15 and 17, but evidently still need mom WAY more than they admit!)  I told them last night that I was not going to be on a time clock today.  NOBODY ask me when I'm coming home, ok? I was going to get something done without being disturbed, and I finally made some headway.  I'm not near finished yet!  I went through some files and threw out duplicates, so that isn't something that shows, but I'll enjoy the clean files.  I hung up my new brown polka-dot shelf curtains and one new window curtain.  I re-hung my pennants that show one of my favorite quotes, "Choose the path that leads to awesome."  Remember that adorable Kid President YouTube video? My student teacher, Kim, suggested we have that somewhere in my room!  

 I bought the pennants at the Canton First Monday Flea Market.  The black ones are chalkboard, and again, used the Bright Sticks to write on them.  
I have that huge bookshelf in the corner (my friend, Tina, calls it "the beast.")  My textbooks, workbooks, and construction paper are close at hand and easy to get to! The file cabinet drawers are covered with "chalkboard vinyl" from Michael's (one roll did 3 drawers, and I "pieced" the last drawer.)  It was shiny, so I'm not sure how it was supposed to be a chalkboard, but the Bright Sticks worked great, and I just put encouraging graffiti on it.

 My bookshelf that holds the class library didn't need much, just some sorting.  The bins and tubs hold either fiction or non-fiction books, and it's good for the kids to sort them!  Some of my chapter books are "sort-of" sorted by genre. I don't have a TON of books because we use our leveled bookroom for Daily 5 books.  These books are just to read when they want to read for pleasure in my class.

Full room reveal coming soon. Feels good to get a corner done!

IKEA

I just spent 2 1/2 hours at school and my classroom looks exactly the same - messy!   It doesn't look better yet.  I was really hoping to take some "after" pictures to post, but they would qualify as "befores." What did I do with my time?  Hmmm...I know I hung some stuff from the ceiling, organized some shelves for my stations, moved a table, and hung a framed bulletin board.  I think I stood and looked around alot!  I did find some cool stuff at Ikea last this past week.  We don't have an Ikea near us. Well, there is one about an hour away, but that means going across Dallas and into Frisco...traffic...stress...no.  This past week I went to the Hill Country to visit my sister. (For those of you who don't know about this part of Texas surounding Austin,  it's gorgeous and fun.)  There is an Ikea in Round Rock,  and so much easier to get to than the Frisco Ikea (from down there!)  Anyway, it's more fun to shop when you're out of town.  I bought some cushions for my kids to sit on while they read.  I had originally thought I would make some thicker ones, but it's too close to school starting, gotta move on. 

They are obviously made for chair cushions, but I liked the thickness and color, so I bought them!  I also found some bargains for .99 - these cute little frames (two sided).  I thought I would put reminders for each station for Daily 5 on the front, and then reminders for my math stations for Guided Math on the back.  I think the dry erase (I'll use Expo Bright Sticks over the black I've put inside them) will make them "pop." 

 
If that idea isn't working, I'll use them for something, I'm sure!  They had such cute colors, these three, along with red and white.  I LOVE them!! Ikea is a confusing and busy place, and I've found that I need to know exactly what I'm looking for (this time, the seating was my goal) along with measurements of the spaces I'm trying to fill if I'm buying storage containers.  Here is a link to the last items I bought, a plastic tote that will hold several items for a station.   I love to shop in the summer.  After school starts, I'm onto more important things! 

Cool Stuff for $1

     Thanks to Stephanie @ www.thirdgradethoughts.com, I went to Target today to look for some of the flashcards she mentioned the other day.  I found some cool stuff to start the year off!  I found the cutest chalkboard stickers for my team!  I thought we could use them outside our doors (we change classes for our LA block, so we have different kids coming to our rooms, trying to remember what they need to bring.)   I wrote on them already, but they erase great with a damp cloth (tried it.) There were even some stickers that were speech bubble shapes! So cute. I used an Expo Brightsticks pen to write on them.  I love these pens, and I use them on the regular chalkboard to write things that I want to keep on the board all year.  They don't erase when you wipe over them with the regular eraser and come in five colors.  You have to use a wet wipe or two to get it off the chalkboard, but it works great and the colors are good. 

www.lovsthirdgrade.blogspot.com

www.lovesthirdgrade.blogspot.com

I also found  flashcards  ($1) that Stephanie mentioned along with some wipe-off books ($1), which I promptly cut apart to fit into my plastic file holders for my centers.  There were also some wipe-off flashcards, and of course I had to grab some more of the little dry erase markers (4/$1) and erasers.  

www.lovesthirdgrade.blogspot.com

 Social Studies

      Ok, now for a social studies connection...We all know there are things that our kids should know, things we don't directly teach on a regular basis because of time constraints.  For older elementary kids to know the 50 states and their locations is just a "given," right??  I believe that we have to teach and review these things and not just assume they will get it down the road.  Consider this a preteaching activity!  Geography and maps seem to get a little lost sometimes, at least in our curriculum.  I love maps and coloring them.  I love map colors!  Weird, I know.  The kids in our district learn their states and capitols in 5th grade and up.  A little center where they get a head start couldn't hurt. 

www.lovsthirdgrade.blogspot.com

See? I just justified my purchase, much like I do when I buy clothes I don't need.  I found these wipe-off maps ($1) and flashcards on a different Target trip, but still very recently, so they should still have them.  I thought the kids could draw a card from the stack, read a little about it, use the card like a locator map, and label the board using the correct abbreviation.  They could also label the capitols.  It even has continents on the back of the board for more practice.  LOVE IT for $1!  
  
 Yea Target...again!