Too much Chevron.... Really???

Ok... so I'm in LOVE with Chevron.  I began making all sorts of chevron items... I tend to gravitate toward chevron pillows, rugs, fabric, clothing. {I admit I may be addicted}  So when I began putting up things in my classroom I had to STOP and look at things again.  I decided my Chevron alphabet was just TOO much!  AND I didn't like all the owls along the bottom.  I mean ~ WHAT!  Too much chevron, too many owls??? I just didn't think it was possible.  So I kept some chevron, added some different patterns with the same colors and I liked it SO much better.  I also took off all the owls but kept them ONLY on the vowels.  I'm thinking what a cute way to distinguish the vowels... they can be our Owl Vowels.  Or maybe Vowel Owl Pals.  Hmmm. Don't know yet but here is what the new version looks like:

It makes me wonder if I feel this way - will others also?  Should I change all my items to this?  If you have an opinion, I'd love to hear it!

I have changed my color scheme this year to the blues, greens and browns because first grade is getting new desks and chairs.  I am super excited but I knew I had to change from my colorful scheme because of our new chairs.  They are really bright but very nice.  Here is a pic:

So I started incorporating this color and took out all the pink and purple.  I am surprised at how well the aqua blue, navy blue and royal blue go together.  Here is a picture of my word wall and the banner I created to go above it:  

Don't mind the mess on the shelves.  I'm still sorting and organizing so I have piles everywhere :)

I had already laminated and cut out my word wall headers so they are gonna have to stay the same this year.  There's only so much time before school starts. 

I also found a new rug for my reading area.  I have to say that I love the factory seconds from Sensory Edge.  I know they are a bit more expensive but I have always purchased a $20 rug from Wal-Mart in the past and at the end of the year have to throw it away.  They just don't hold up.  But I splurged a little this year and hopefully it will last forever ;)

I wanted to give my reading area a little something so I added poms in my colors but instead of spreading them out... I hung them in a group over this area.  I've seen so many pictures on Pinterest and loved this idea!  How do you think it looks?

Again, please mind the mess on the back shelf.  My room isn't finished yet. 

I love these fabric boxes (I get them at Target).  They hold all my seasonal books.  I am thrilled I found some in different blues and added another brown and it really brings the color scheme together. I had to get rid of my purple, pink and orange from last year. 

I also came up with an idea for a title above my Literacy board.  I think it turned out very cute although the picture is not great.  I used blue chevron border and then decided too much... so I decided to layer it with the brown border and I think it looks much better.  However ~ I ran out! :( So have to run out and get another package!

Here's another picture that might be better but has an awful glare (I should invest in a digital camera):

I love using the animal strategies for reading.  My kiddos just seem to make connections as we learn each one and I leave put them on a bulletin board by my guided reading group area.  Last year the borders were all bright colors so this year I had to change them up a bit.  I like how they turned out and am in love with the mini poms on the corners. :)

I also use small caddies for my tables that hold crayons, glue, and markers for students to share.  I always match my caddies to the table color.  I had a bright blue and green already, I found a royal blue one (at Dollar General) but no such luck finding a brown. :( But I was able to find a gray and decided to use it at my brown table.  Hopefully, this will work out ok.  The label matches the table color so it should be. 

I love grouping my students into tables or pods.  Last year I used the paper circle fan decorations for my table signs.  This year I decided to go with lanterns and hang my table sign from the lantern.  Here is a picture which also gives you an overall feel of my room.  I am making new curtains for my windows so they are not hung yet and still have lots more organizing to do.  Our desks haven't arrived yet so still using our old ones until they get here (hopefully before school starts).

I have lots more to do but I can see it coming together.  I could spend hours looking at pictures of other teachers classrooms.  I believe it is important to walk in and feel at home since we spend so much time there during the school year.  I see so many awesome pictures and get inspired each time I see such beautiful, homey classrooms! Hope you have a fabulous week!

P.S. If you didn't notice - I also got a BLOG DESIGN MAKEOVER!  I love this color scheme so much I decided to make over my blog with these colors too.  I have to say thank you to The Cutest Blog on the Block for making such a great design!  

Whole Brain Teaching Freebies and a Giveaway!

CLAAAAASSSSSS! (Then you say .... YEEEEEESSSSS?) I am just lovin' the Whole Brain Teaching strategies.  The first day of school is just around the corner and I wanted to be ready to teach my class the 5 rules.  There are so many cute WBT rule signs out there and I really liked Stephanie's over at 3rd Grade Thoughts.  I used the same graphics as her, but made them to blend in with my dots on chocolate decor.  Here is how they turned out:

If you would like a set for your classroom, just click on the picture above to download!

I am also lovin' the concept of the Super Improvers Wall.  I think this will really motivate students and I love how motivating it is for individual students.  This can really tie in with RTI and student goals for improving.  I really liked Tara's Super Improver Wall over at Little Minds at Work.  I especially loved the wording she chose for each level.  But to keep with my theme  - I can't help myself - I decided to create my own Super Improvers Wall using OWLS (imagine that!) I did change the wording just a tad but here is how it turned out.

I used our die cut at school and punched out stars in each color that I will hang next to these signs.  If you would like the owl signs- click on the picture or you can download them HERE.

So I've been working in my room the last few days and I am by no means finished but I think my room is coming along.  Here is a sneak peak of what I've done so far:

Thanks to Pinterest, I decided to use my four bookshelves to separate my tables this year.  I'm finding all sorts of ways to organize all my math manipulatives, table caddies, etc.  I'm already LOVING it this way. I also made the signs over each table from tissue fans from Party City and the BIG Dots on Chocolate from CTP.  The idea, of course, was from Melanie over at School Girl Style [I just ADORE her creations!]

I would love to show you SO MUCH MORE but I have bigger and better news!  I am having a GIVEAWAY!  To celebrate back to school and my birthday [let's just say it's a milestone for me]... I decided to have a giveaway.  I just happened to mention it to my friend Deedee Wills and she kindly offered one of her best sellers... so get ready to enter!  Have you seen her Writing Work Stations?  They are FABULOUS!  Well I will be giving away 4 (yes - I said 4) Writing Work Stations THE COMPLETE SET worth $32.00!  AMAZING!  

BUT WAIT.... THERE'S MORE!  In addition to the Writing Work Stations, the four lucky winners will also get my new Everything OWLS Classroom Bundle worth $20.00.  It includes my OWLStanding Clipchart, OWL Write! Writing Choice Board Packet, Owl Themed Desk Nameplates (in both Brown Owls and Bright Colored Owls), Cubby Labels Numbers 1-28, Blank Labels for book boxes, baskets, material tubs, etc., Color Word Owls to display color words, and OWL themed Restroom Passes (3 different designs for boys and girls)!  Take a look:

There are 4 ways to enter - so there will be 4 winners!  The giveaway starts today - August 7th - and ends Sunday, August 12th.  The winners will be announced on Monday, August 13th!  

In addition to my giveaway, I will be running a Birthday Sale in my TPT Store today.  Everything is 20% off for today only!  Happy 4- th to me! [Can you tell I'm having issues?]  

"OWL" see ya later!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Parent Orientation

Monday night we had parent orientation and I got to meet my new little first graders.  They were all so eager to see the classroom and meet "the teacher".  I decided to give them a little welcome treat on their desk.  This is what it looked like:

I found these cute little printable popcorn boxes and made them for all my kiddos.  Inside I put a chocolate hug, a sticker, a starburst, an eraser, a pencil and a bookmark.  On the outside I attached a poem about what each item symbolized.  Here is a close up of the poem.

Even though the popcorn boxes were EXTREMELY cute, the ink it took to print them out probably wasn't worth the cost (lesson learned).  Orientation went well and I had my first graders find three things in our classroom and then they could write their name on our chart.  Look at these adorable handwritten names...

I only had 2 parents that were not in attendance.  I am so excited about all of the parent support and involvement I hope to have this year. After leaving parent orientation for my first graders, I went to my daughter's 3rd grade orientation.  And then last night, I went to my son's middle school (6th grade) orientation.  What a BIG event! We received his schedule, locker assignment and met all of his teachers as we toured the building.  I think I was more nervous than he was!  I can't wait for the first day of school!  

As I left my room that night, I decided to take a snapshot of my classroom from 2 different angles.  Here is what my room looks like as you enter the door.

As you can see LOTS of school supplies were dropped off on my back table that I still need to sort and put away. 

And here is the view from my class library looking back at the door:

Have a great night!

Whooo wants a freebie?

Last year I put my word wall on my cabinet doors and I used notepad shapes of trees (consonants) and squirrels (vowels).  I called it "The Word Wall Woods" to go along with my camping theme.  This year I decided to use clipart and type the letters onto these patterns to construct my word wall.  I also decided to change the squirrels to owls (surprised, huh?)  This year a huge magnetic whiteboard was installed in my room on my backwall (taking the last little bit of wall space I have.  However, since it is magnetic I thought what a great place to put my class word wall.  I plan on putting magnets on the back of my words and then adding them to the wall each week.  Here is a picture of how it turned out:

I'm still wondering if there will be room for all our first grade words.  But having them on magnets, I hope it allows more interaction with our words, especially during writing.  So whooo wants a freebie?  I know some of you have mentioned you also are doing a camping theme so if you would like these the file is below.  Click HERE to download.

I also had shared in an earlier post about the new classroom rug I purchased.  I forgot to post pictures so here are a few I took the other day.  It already needs to be vacuumed ~ and please mind the mess.

That cute little red head in the second picture is my daughter.  She went to school with me that day and helped me with all sorts of things.  She's a great little helper.

Lastly, I'm going to share with you a picture of my six trait writing posters.  Each poster has teaching points for each trait and they are removable from the poster (via velcro dots).  They were all on colored construction paper when they were given to me, so I took them and put them on wood scrapbook paper to make them look like signs ~ say on a camping trail? 

This is not the greatest picture.  Hopefully when my classroom is finished, I will have better pictures to share.

Have a great weekend! 

Classroom Cleanup

So - I decided to go into school today since our floors have been waxed and I got the A-OK to enter the building.  I walked into utter mess and wondered where in the world would I start?

Although, I was happy to see I'm still LOVIN' my new paint on the wall ~ including the stripe that I painted all the way around the room.  I love the color and it is so calming. (Hope it has the same effect on the kiddos.)  Anyway, I moved desks around, tried to organize and PURGE as much as I could and couldn't help but work on ONE bulletin board.  My theme is camping (and I'm adding owls this year) but I'm also in LOVE with polka dots - especially dots on chocolate.  I couldn't help using the big dots and border to create my reading strategies (word attack) board.  What do you think?

I also decided to splurge this year on a classroom rug.  (Mind you it is a factory second, but I still paid quite a bit of money for it - PLUS free shipping.)  It had arrived at school and I just couldn't wait to open it.  I am so in love with it... I FORGOT to take a picture but I'm going into school tomorrow and will take more pictures. Last year I put masking tape on my rug to make "spots" for my kiddos to sit... I bought a rug that has 30 squares (I have 24 first graders this year) so they will all have a square to sit in.  What I also adore is that is has the alphabet in the shape of animals on it - so I've already been thinking of ways to incorporate letters/sounds/relationships into our meeting times.  I have to giggle as I tell you this, but because it was such a major purchase and I love it so much, I had to try it out for myself.  N for Nicole and I sat in my square on the carpet.  Silly! I promise to take pictures tomorrow and I'd love to hear what you think about it. I also will post tomorrow about my new word wall letter headers and share those with you all. 

New Math Curriculum ~ SAXON.

So yesterday I decide to go by school to pick up my new teacher guides and check out the new math series our district just purchased for K-3.  Here is what was waiting for me:

There were 7 boxes of stuff... plus crates to put things in.  I started with OPEN THIS BOX FIRST.  So I found out there are 135 lessons and crates to put all the lessons into ~ GREAT... because my file cabinets are pretty full.  The 3 boxes you see on the right are ALL worksheets.  I started putting the worksheets into the folders and filled each crate... here is what it looked like after about an hour and a half:

Each crate has a lid and you stack them on a base that has wheels.  There is a small crate that goes on top to hold learning wrapups and other small manipulatives.  After I put it all together, I rolled it down to my classroom. 

I am very nervous about the meeting board.  The dimensions are outrageous and I have very LIMITED space in my classroom.  I don't have any large bulleting boards and my smartboard is right in the middle of my front wall.  Where am I going to put this?  I wish I had the space like Ms. Van Orman of First Grade Fun:

 

Her board looks AMAZING!  However, I just DO NOT have the room.  Just to prove it to you I will post some pictures of my classroom last year.

Here is a picture of my classroom from the door.  I will be changing LOTS of things this next year...PLUS my room has been painted including a new accent wall. (YAY)!!  But this will give you the general idea of the room in my classroom.  The window wall has shelves built in so I could not put it on that wall due to the kids cannot reach it or be interactive. 

I know what you are thinking... what about the back wall where the moose and bookshelf are now?  Well another addition to my classroom ~ a new whiteboard takes up that wall that is 4ft by 8 ft.  Here is another view of my classroom looking back the other direction.

NO room here!  You can see at the left corner I put my word wall on my cabinet doors last year.  I REALLY didn't like this and have now decided to put my word wall on my new magnetic white board at the back of the room... to allow for a more interactive WW.  But, I may have to use the new whiteboard for my SAXON meeting area.

My question is... teachers who are using Saxon... Could the meeting board be made for the smartboard and be interactive so that it does not take up so much space?  Does that go against the whole SAXON philosophy?  I just think if we have this technology available, the students could do the whole meeting process on the smartboard.  I have searched thinking that someone might have had the same idea and made a Saxon Meeting Board into a notebook file.  No such luck {sob}.  If anyone has ideas, I would LOVE to hear them.  Thanks ~ in advance!