Under the Sea Classroom Tour

Classroom Reveal Time!!

We will start in my favorite area, the library. My wonderful husband spent a couple hours helping me cut and staple the plastic tablecloth in the shape of waves. I love this so very much and it really ties the whole ocean theme together! Plus, each of my library book bins have an ocean label as well. I have too many books (not a problem at all for any teacher) to fit into the bins, but the collections are housed together.

 

Onto my desk area! Here is the view from my desk and the lantern fish that hang above me. Then a quick pic of my actual desk.

 

 

Writing Area: This area will be added to throughout the year. I will be doing mini-lessons about various writing activities and types of writing. Then, an example of that writing will be added to this bulletin board.

 

 

Hallway outside my classroom: My third graders are Swimming To Success!

 Front of the classroom, guided reading area, calendar area, & birthday fish bowls:

 

Bulletin Boards

     

Classroom Management:

  

Student Resources

 

 

Reading & Guided Reading

Who's Got A Fancy Planner? ME!!

Let me tell you a little story:

My great friend from college (who teaches in a nearby district) ordered a wonderful Erin Condren planner for this school year. She got it in the mail, but it was the wrong one. Sad day for her, but lucky for me. After she called to let them know the mistake, they promised to send her actual planner quickly. But they told her she could keep the planner that isn't hers or get rid of it.
Here's the happy part for me: SHE GAVE ME THE PLANNER!

Here is the beautiful (and free to me) planner:

Meet the Teacher Night

Last night, the evening before school, Moonlight hosted Meet the Teacher Night (or Sneak Peek, as it is also called). Students bring in their supplies and I am able to meet them and their parents. It's a wonderful time to have the first interaction with students and teachers.

This is what the students' desks looked like before they came last night:

On their desks: Important Points for Parents (includes specials schedule, homework requirements, contact information, brief content explanation), Bare Book note (students make a scrapbook of their writings over the school year, read about it here), Third Grade brochure, where to put supplies, and the students' first h/w assignment (All About Me bag)

 

Signups for the parents: conferences, parent goals for their child, party signups, contact information, volunteer information, and classroom donations

Paper Lantern Fish

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

To go along with my fish theme, I made some paper lantern fish to hang above my desk area. I had a heck of a time finding some sphere paper lanterns! But I finally found some cute ones at Michaels on sale (even better!).

Then, I got to work making these lanterns into fish! I used my scotch tape dispenser as a template for the eyes and just free-handed the fish tails. I used rubber cement to attach the eyes and tails to the lanterns. This was probably the hardest part of the project. I didn't want to rip through the paper, so I had to press and hold it on for a while to get it to stick. Let them dry overnight and they are good!

Use some fishing line (ha!) to hang them up and now you have a cute fishie addition to your classroom!

From Summer to Work

This was me on Tuesday:

This is what I was working on today:

We are officially back to work from summer. Today was our first day back to work. We had our welcome back district meeting this morning. It was a great, inspiring time! We had two fish mongers from Seattle's World Famous Pike's Place Fish Market come speak to us. I can't say enough good things about the speech. One quote from them I especially loved is "No day is a bad day, just tough moments within the day". This is inspiring to me because the each part of the day can be looked at as moments in the day. If our reading time does not go well, that does not mean that math won't go well. Each of us, me as the teacher and all the students, are there to make the decision to create the best environment for each other.

Can't wait to meet the kiddos next Tuesday night and the first (half) day next Wednesday!!

New Product: Teambuilding Questions

This product includes 60 teambuilding questions for your students. They can be used in a think-pair-share activity or as a writing prompt. Students answer a question about themselves and hear how others answer the same or different questions.Questions can be printed to Avery labels or printed on cardstock and cut apart.

Example questions:
-What is one thing you want to learn more about? Why?
-If you could get rid of one food, what food would it be? Why?
-What is one thing you are good at doing?
-What is your favorite sound? What is your least favorite sound?
-If you could be great friends with any celebrity, who would you pick?

Writing Bulletin Board

I am working on my Writing Bulletin Board. Like many of you, I'm sure, I am adding an "I Can Write..." section to my writing instruction. I have made it into a bulletin board. Miss Maharry has some great materials for my to use on this bulletin board for free. I am excited to have these along with my fish for my students to have examples of what they can write.