Back to School...Back to School...To Prove to Dad That I'm Not A Fool!

Ok, so I know I didn't blog alllllll summer (#sorrynotsorry) but let's see if we can start this school year off right. I've been in my classroom since August 1 trying to make it look just right and didn't officially start back until the 15th. But that's ok, because by the time we officially started back, my room was 80% done and I was able to focus more on the team meetings and planning aspect. Was I prepared for the first day of school today? Can I get a big NOPE! I felt totally unprepared this morning as students came strolling into my room at 7:40- BUT everyone ate, told me they didn't want to go home, and went home with the right people- so I'm calling it a successful day! Of course, I completely forgot to take any pictures of my classroom before the kids got there...so I took them this afternoon (pardon the supply bag mess- I promise, all the supplies are organized and stowed away now). Enjoy my 2016-2017 2nd grade class reveal!

This is what I started with....just a pile of stuff everywhere. And some of it belonged to the teacher that was in there before me (who was in Jamaica at the time...). It was a pain working around her stuff because I didn't know what she was going to be taking with her or leaving behind.

This was the first project I tackled (with my best friend's help- HI MICHELLE!). I love portable word walls for so many reasons, but their space-savingness (yes, I made that up) takes the top spot! And as Michelle can attest- this took a lot longer than any sane person would have spent on it...I mean about 4 hours (with a lot of taking it down and putting it back up to make the spacing line up). Trust me when I say my best friend is better than yours. :)

Writing area! This will be a Daily 5 rotation area with plenty of writing papers for students to write whatever their hearts' desire.

Cozy little reading nook. My students are already arguing over who is going to sit where (which being the first day of school, I'll ignore...but tomorrow- no arguing!) The supply buckets will hold any and all materials that my students will need for an Daily 5 rotations (or modified Daily 5 as it will most likely end up being)

Small group reading. Ignore my mess of supplies, please!

Classroom library (I promise I have color-coordinated boxes on the way!) and what will be Learning Scales (Please, don't even get me started on those things :( )

Front of the room with WBT rules, thinking maps, objectives, and a Mimio (*squee!!*). My desk area is off to the left of this picture.

Gathering area. We use this for calendar math, read-alouds, and during Daily 5 rotations for quiet reading areas. Also, my 1:1 technology cart (*double squee!*).

Book Boxes and my "Jazzy Work" wall. I love, love, love how this wall turned out and can't wait to start putting up my students' best work! :)

It was a lot of sweat and tears (thankfully no blood), but it's done. The kids love it and it's home now. On a side note- they told me they didn't want to go home today (and my incredibly-hard-to-reach-been-warned-about-this-kid-by-numerous-adults student told another teacher he likes me!) so I must have done something right with them (or it could be the fact that I let them play with play-dough this afternoon lol).

Bulletin Boards!

I'm linking up with Ashley of Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Angie from Lucky Little Learners for their #2getherwearebetter link-up. This month's topic is BULLETIN BOARDS! Ahh! The dreaded (or in my case not-so-dreaded) bulletin board.

Most teachers hate them. And, to be honest, I don't particularly enjoy taking them down and putting them up, but- I mostly love them! I'm probably the only teacher in my school that refuses to do the same boring ("Poet-tree" or "Said is Dead" anyone?!) hallway bulletin boards year after year. Now, to be fair, I have the same students for up to 5 years in a row (that's special ed. for ya) so I basically CAN'T have the same bulletin board every year. But, even if I could, I wouldn't. Call me crazy, but it's kind of one the only times that we can really let loose and go a little crazy. Do something outside the box, off the pacing guides, dare I say it- FUN?!

Inside my classroom I only have 2 smallish bulletin boards and they're already allotted as a word wall and a work display board (as mandated). My classroom theme is monkeys so my word wall is titled, "Ape for Words" and my work board is titled, "Jazzy Work" (I have a kind of Mardi Gras theme going with this board including real masks and boas straight from New Orleans). Those boards stay the same year after year (though to be honest, I'm so sick of them. But the bank account tells me they have to keep plugging along).

For some background- I started this blog last school year around this time and I've tried to keep up with it. But I had some serious issues I was dealing within my class and couldn't really maintain it until around Dec/Jan. I'm hoping this year will be better. Also, I have to share the only bulletin board with another teacher so we alternated when it was time to change it. So, to make a long story short, I don't have many pictures of most of my bulletin boards. :( I do have some though. :) Oh yea, my bulletin board is painted blue (makes it easier than having to change the paper all the time) but it doesn't always color-coordinate. And I don't go back to school until August 17th, so I don't have my bulletin boards for this year up- yet...anyway, here ya go:

Thanks to Lori at Teaching With Love and Laughter for her fantastic FREEBIE for this bulletin board. In fact, the whole lesson came from her blog post, I just spruced up the display a little bit :)

Love that I was able to reuse the fence (Shh- it's in one of my cabinets so I have it for this year too, if necessary :D). This bulletin board was differentiated for my kiddos because they're all on vastly different levels. Some flowers have prefixes and suffixes, ways to make numbers, and some have color words. The kites have ten frames with teen numbers. Then I printed some clipart from Krista Wallden at Creative Clips to add some extras. :)

I did this one year for back to school. Still one of my favorites!

I found this one on Pinterest one year.

I also did this one year at the beginning of the year. Only I made crayons out of paper as I couldn't find 3-D ones, nor did I want the hassle of figuring out how to hang them.  :)

Again, from pinterest.

I did a take of this one for the beginning of this past year. Since I teach deaf kids, this made perfect sense. Since I teach the same group of kids for multiple years I changed the title to "We love having you back!" with the I love you hands. I was lucky enough to have an awesome interpreter help me with it (I'm looking at you, Michelle!).

Honestly not even sure where this came from. Probably Pinterest.

Since I don't go back to work until August 17th, I haven't figured out what I'm gonna do for the beginning of the year this year. I guess I should start looking around though, huh? And when it's up and pretty I'll be sure to do a follow-up post with more pictures :)

Thanks for stopping by! Can't wait to hop around and see everyone else's boards!

Wow, I've Been Seriously Slacking!

I'm so sorry. Time has slipped away, things have been hectic, and I've been really bad about documenting all the different things that have been going on around here...so it's time for a photo filled quick recap.

We started off February with Jump Rope for Heart. The kiddies loved it! A full half hour of blasting music and jump rope, what could be better?!

Next we had field day. A fun-filled morning of sack races, relay races, three-legged races, tug-of-war, and many other races. They look forward to this day every year!

And then finally we had a visit from Billy the Marlin- the mascot of the Miami Marlins! He even knew how to introduce himself in sign language! The kids were in love!! They listened to two stories, got autographs, took pictures, and even danced with Billy! It was a great day! :)

And finally, we put up our spring bulletin board.

And I promise, I'll try to be more consistent from now on with posting. :)

It Only Took Half a Month...

But it's done!! The bulletin board is finished!! Yay! I think it came out adorably cute..what do you think?

I have to thank Lori over at Teaching With Love and Laughter, again, for her fabulous idea! Also, I have to thank my aide, Christina, for seeing my crazy vision through to the end and helping to make the board beautiful. And our wonderful interpreter, Michelle, for helping my kiddos make their pumpkins and write their sentences. Thanks, ladies!

The dreaded changing of the bulletin boards

Every teacher knows about them, and most of us dread them...bulletin boards. Personally, I love bulletin boards- but not the way I'm being forced to decorate them. They have to be academic and are supposed to be literacy based...ugh. Sometimes kids just need to have fun! So I was super excited to find this little gem from a good friend I used to work with at a preschool many years ago: Pumpkin Writing! I saw it, fell in love, and immediately saved the template to do with my students (with a lot of help) the next day!

And for once, I don't dread the changing of the bulletin boards!

The best part? They got to use their creative juices to make jack-o-lanterns and to practice using adjectives. Double the fun and double the win!!

So, onto the actual activity! First I gave them paper and let them make their own pumpkins. Some needed help cutting and others had no problems. Then we began the tedious process of writing the accompanying sentences...and I mean tedious. English is not their first language and it shows. ASL is not a written language so it's extra hard to get them to understand the conventions and nuances of the English language...heck, I've spoken English for 29 years and I still don't understand it all (though if you ask anyone I'm a huge Grammar Nazi).

Anyway, I decided I would make life a little easier and less scary for my little, little ones by writing the sentences for them so they could just trace the words instead of attempting to track from the board to their paper. Let's face it, if I made them track it, we'd be here until Winter Break working on 5 sentences about pumpkins. They did provide key words though, so I'm happy with them!

My bigger little ones needed less help with writing. We worked on each sentence one at a time and they filled in the blanks on their own. These guys have no problem tracking and could easily do most of this on their own. The hardest part was deciding on a name for their pumpkin as names are not something they learn easily.

Honestly, I'm super impressed with them and the end product and can't thank Lori enough for being kind enough to provide this activity and template! I can't wait to spend my afternoon changing my bulletin board (ok, yes I can wait, but at least I know it'll be a cute board when I'm done!)