Back to School 2015 - The Classroom Tour

This year, our 3rd Grade theme is "Originality." We want to encourage our students to discover, create, and collaborate throughout the year, valuing what makes each student unique.  So to celebrate my originality and uniqueness, I wanted to share the beginnings of my classroom for the year (as always, still in progress).

For bulletin boards, we created a word cloud describing originality along with some quotes from some other original thinkers. Outside my classroom is where we will share all of our original work.

For my door, I hung a poster to show my love of all things Doctor Who - something that makes me unique (at least where I live).

Now in the classroom, I went with a black, blue, and teal scheme that I think really works. Here is my small group area that will double as my STEM station/mini-Makerspace:

The Reading Corner with my comfy pillows and milk-crate benches that I made last year:

My little corner of the room. I had to take a picture of my new pen cup. I went a little crazy buying multicolored pens. Maybe I'll share with the kids! :)

Here's my best NAEIR find - one of my laminators that I bought for $14. Put that baby to good use!

My laminator thinks it's a Dalek  

Finally, ready for Meet the Teacher! Welcome packs (Open House Flipbook by Ashley Reed) on desks and sign-in sheets ready for my awesome new 3rd graders:



Class starts Monday, and we have so many adventures to share! It's going to be a FANTASTIC year! Hope you'll join us along the way!

Because I'm Appy! - My Favorite Teaching Apps

With everything we teachers have to do nowadays, it's nice to have something that makes you're life a little easier.  Here are some of my favorite apps and websites that I'm using this year:

Kahoot! (Website - compatible for use on most devices)

Having fun and leaning with Kahoot!

Kahoot! is an awesome way to engage my kids.  I create multiple choice quizzes on the website and then my students use their iPads to answer the questions as they come up on the screen.  The students earn points as they answer the questions - the faster they answer, the more points they get.  I usually give a little prize to the winners.  I can also download the data from each session to use as an assessment.

GoNoodle Brain Breaks (Website)

This is one of my kids' favorites!  I use GoNoodle to give my students a brain break between lessons.  There's lots of choices from yoga to Zumba to track and field.  I also love to use the Indoor Recess mixes on those cold, rainy days that we've been having.  It also becomes a game because as you earn minutes, your class avatar changes and becomes stronger.  This one is a keeper!

ZipGrade (App, website for downloading answer sheets)

I can't say enough about how much this app has changed my life as a teacher!  ZipGrade is an app that allows you to grade multiple choice quizzes by taking a picture with your iOS or Android device. You scan the key then scan the answer sheets.  It's so easy!  It also gives you automatic Item Analysis as well as the option of downloading the data to your Google Drive or Dropbox.  I use this for nearly all of my tests as well as for exit tickets or quick quizzes.  There's a free version for the first 100 scans, but the full version is only $9.99 in App Store.  Believe me, it is totally worth it!

Google Apps - (Web and Apps)

I've been addicted to Google for years, and now that Docs, Sheets, and Slides are available as Apps, I've gotten even more use out of them.  My campus hasn't quite gotten all Googly yet (I'm working on it!), but I still love using Google Drive to share documents with my coworkers and parents on my website. I create exit tickets and classroom sign-ups with Google Forms. It really just makes my life a little easier and more paperless.

Reflex Math (Website and iPad app)

One of my goals this year is for my students to become fluent with their math facts, especially those multiplication facts!  Reflex Math helps me to do that while my kids have fun at the same time.  They beg to practice their facts and are really showing growth with the games and fast action quizzing.  I'm able to track my students' growth with my teacher account and see which facts we need to focus on.

There is so much more I could share, but I need to go prepare for our Science Fair experiment.  We're doing a little something with forces and motion...can't wait to show you next time!

Have a FANTASTIC day!

Weathering Addition and Subtraction

What to do on a rainy Wednesday - write a new blog post of course!

A new quarter is upon us, and we are beginning our unit on Weather, starting with a review of the Water Cycle.  We worked together to make an awesome anchor chart to remember our vocabulary, then kept it going with the "Water Cycle Boogie" (see video below, you won't be able to stop singing!).

With Halloween last week, we spent our workstation time practicing our addition, subtraction and place value strategies with some Halloween Math Centers (from TpT).  The students enjoyed collaborating with each other to solve word problems using strip diagrams, classifying numbers by place value, and practicing addition and subtraction algorithms and mental math strategies.  Here are some of our third graders working and learning together:

We ended the week by reviewing modeling part-part-whole word problems using strip diagrams:

The students then used those strategies to create comic strips illustrating an addition or subtraction problem.

The students had a great time sharing their stories, and are becoming fantastic problem solvers!

Have a FANTASTIC day!

Mission Organization: Putting it all Together

I was so excited to finally meet my awesome 3rd Graders this past week!  Still have a few things I'd like to do with my room now that I've actually had students in it, but I'm happy with how things turned out.  Next week, I'll show you what we've all been up to, but for now, I'll just give a little tour of my classroom!

Originally, I was going to decorate my whole door as the TARDIS from Doctor Who, however, the fire code in our district won't allow that, so I used some "3D" letters and a cute cartoon as a start for my door decor:

My favorite part of the room is the Large Group area with my awesome benches (see last week's post).  The rug is a great buy I found at IKEA for about $20.00!  I'm housing my library in fabric bins inside the benches, so this doubles as my reading center.  

I used 3M hooks, a curtain rod, and drapery clips on the back of my bookcase to use as a holder for my chart paper.  Below the chalk rail, I attached clothes pins to the wall with mounting tape to hold current anchor charts. The red and blue pocket charts will hold papers, task cards, and other items students will need during workstation time.

I'm back to using Every Day Counts this year, so I found the perfect corner for Calendar Time (think I may add a rug here too!).  I also used a Doctor Who theme with the months, weather, and seasons. The corner shelf holds all of the calendar items as well as drawers for pens, pencils, glue, and paper. This will also eventually house my Maker Space where I'll have Legos and other items for the students to use to create during workstations.  Oh, and of course, every room must have a TARDIS on the bookshelf, just for a little more awesomeness!

I'm actually still working on my final desk arrangement, but this is pretty close!  Once the plastic storage drawers go on clearance at Target, I'll add them to the middle of each group to hold notebooks and supplies.  On the back board you can see my Math Workshop rotation board.  I hope to get that started with setting up rotations in the next week or two.  I also have my small group table in the back along with all of my Math Tubs and some of the manipulatives I'll be using at hand.

I'm also very lucky to have a great Computer Station setup, along with an iPad cart that I plan on making great use of once we really get going next week.  I also love my TARDIS a la Van Gogh poster, and the banner I got from Staples on this wall! It says, "Welcome to 3rd Grade Adventures in Math & Science."

I really do want to try and make each day a little bit of an adventure for my students.  We'll work hard, learn a lot,  and have a little fun along the way!  This is always a work-in-progress, so who knows how this could change throughout the year, but I think we're off to a great start!

Until next time, have a FANTASTIC week!

Mission Organization: Making a Milk-Crate Bench

Vacations are done, teacher training has begun, and my kiddos come next Monday, so it's time to put my room together (tour coming soon!).

One of my favorite Pinspirations that I've been putting together is the awesome milk crate benches that are going to double as my book nook.  It took a little help from my tool-wielding hubby, but we finally put two of them together.  Here's how we did it!

How to Make a Milk-Crate Bench

For each bench you will need:

• Three milk crates 9"x 9"x 13" (You can ask for them at the grocery store, or buy from Home Depot, the Container Store, or online)
• 1/4 inch MDF cut to size (You can use other types of wood, but this is light, durable and less expensive)
• Three 5/16"x1 1/2" bolts, three 5/16" nuts, and six 5/16" Fender washers
• Polyfoam (most craft stores will have this)
• Fabric (I wanted Doctor Who fabric, so I found some on Spoonflower.com)
• Zip ties (at least 8)
• Spray adhesive
• Upholstery stapler and 1/4" staples

1) We  zip-tied the three milk crates together and then took measurements for our MDF.

2) Test the board to make sure it fits.  Then mark where to drill the holes for the bolts.  We did one on each end and one in the middle.

3) Drill the holes with a 5/16" bit and then insert the bolt through the holes over Fender washers to distribute weight.

4) Cut the polyfoam to size, leaving about a 1 to 1 1/2 inch border.  Glue to the top of the board.

5) Cut fabric to size, gather and staple to the underside of the board.

6) Attach board to crates using another washer and 5/16" nut.

7) Cut the zip-ties and you have a completed milk crate bench!

I added cloth drawers for my classroom books and other storage.  They turned out great, and were even tested by one of my colleague's children.  They loved them, and I hope my 3rd graders will too!

My Quality Control Experts - Think these benches passed!

Now to get ready for another day of prep and training.  Once the whole room's together, I can't wait to show it off!

Have a FANTASTIC week!

Mission Organization Continues

Hubby has been out-of-town for a week, so I spent several days working on all sorts of things for my classroom.  I've been creating and labeling and sorting and Pinning like crazy!  My material isn't in for my benches and chairs, so that demonstration will have to wait until next time.

I'm especially excited about my organization for Math Workshop.  I made my rotation chart based on having four teams of students and four stations and adapted from printables I purchased from The Clutter Free Classroom.  I've decided on a black & white theme with elements of TARDIS blue, so her printables work perfectly!  I put my rotation chart on poster board so I can reuse it or move it around if needed.  I'll be using four small dry erase boards to list out the team members so that I can change them easily each week.

Math Workshop Rotation Chart

I've also finished numbering my Math Tubs and have been labeling my drawers for supplies.  I have discovered my new love for decorative duct tape and washi tape for decorating.  I like this particular tape because it looks a lot like Gallifreyan writing (for those that don't speak geek, that's the written language of The Doctor's home planet on Doctor Who).

Math Tubs

Drawer Labels

Then I got REALLY crafty (thank you Pinterest!) and made this sign for my students.  I'll find a special place for it in my classroom!  I used Google Drawing to make the words and frames, then printed and glued on to cardstock, laminated and attached to each other with ribbon.  I used leftover cardstock for the heart on top.

Last thing I did this week was create the bones of my teacher website using Google Sites.  I used the Classroom Website template and edited it for my needs. I still have a few details to add and adjust, but I think it's a great start.  You can check it out at http://goo.gl/5Gghgp.

I also posted several of these projects and more ideas to My Classroom Pinterest Board - Follow Amanda's board My Classroom on Pinterest.

I'll be starting my actual classroom setup in two weeks, so I can't wait to see how everything comes together!  

What do you think is most important to a successful classroom setup?  Let me know in the comments - I would REALLY appreciate it! :)

Have a FANTASTIC day!