Get Ready: Planning for the Year Ahead!

It is getting to the time of summer where I am thinking about the new school year ahead of me.  In years past my focus was on classroom setup as I have moved rooms and grade levels many times. This summer classroom setup has shifted more to curriculum and planning! Don't get me wrong...I still love classroom setup, but I finally feel like I am in love with my room and I don't plan on changing much.

Developing a curriculum plan for the year can be intimidating especially after being in so many different grade levels. Within my district curriculum is always changing year after year. This adds another level of difficulty when it comes to developing a curriculum plan that my grade level team can stick to for any length of time. Now that I have finished my third year of teaching second grade I feel like I have a better grasp on what works best with my students and what I want to better develop for this upcoming year.

Curriculum we are currently using:

Math: Engage NY Modules
Reading: Making Meaning & MAISA Units
Writing: Being a Writer & MAISA Units
Science: Pearson Interactive Science 
Social Studies: MAISA Units

The problem with much of the current curriculum is that it is not kid friendly, engaging or all inclusive. I often supplement with lots of activities I have found on TPT from some of my favorite educators because they are much more exciting and engaging! I am a believer that learning should be fun because when students enjoy what they are learning they making greater connections to the content!

In the next few posts I will share my year curriculum plan and some of the TPT goodies that I will be working from this year to make learning within my classroom the best it can be! Before those posts please check out Amy from That Teaching Spark! She has wonderful tools to help planning on TPT!

I am currently loving her curriculum map and using it to help me plan my year!

 Check it out because I know that you will love it too!

More on planning to come soon!

GoNoodle Detroit Meet-Up!

I am super excited to announce that the GoNoodle Detroit Meet-Up is 

September 30th from 6-8pm
at the Museum of Contemporary Art!

Click the link below to register for the event! 

GoNoodle Meet-up!

I am excited to be helping set up the event and

I would love to connect with Michigan educators from all over the metro area. It will be a great opportunity to make positive connections and have some fun sharing our GoNoodle experiences in our classroom!

Back to School: Setup!

The last two weeks I have been working non-stop in my classroom to get everything set up. I feel like I have been out of the blogging, Periscope, Blab, Twitter world for too long!

While I wanted to keep up with everything it became too overwhelming! I had to take a step back and focus on my classroom, PD and work. I finally feel like I am in a great place to start the 2015-16 school year. Two more days of relaxation and planning before my wonderful kiddos show up on Tuesday!

I didn't want to leave my blog hanging, so I decided to give you some pictures as a quick overview of my classroom. I promise I will go over some of the areas in more detail as the school year begins!

I hope that you enjoy this little overview of my class. Happy new school year to all the Michigan teachers just heading back to school! I hope all the other teachers already back in school a wonderful September!

Popping in Freebie & Joining TPT...What?

My goal is to make connections with amazing educators all over the world! I want to share my ideas and creativity the easiest way for all of us to enjoy!

I truly appreciate everyone who is interested in downloading my back to school lollipop freebie from last year! Some of you had trouble downloading the file from Google drive so I opened it up for editing.  But that caused even more problems with changes being made to the original file.

I just couldn't win! I wanted to make the file easily accessible for everyone in an efficient way! But how? That's why I decided that it was time to take the TPT plunge and post the Popping in Freebie on Teachers Pay Teachers! WHAT???

Thanks for "Popping" IN - Freebie on TPT!

I have wanted to join for so long but felt intimidated by the amount of amazing products already created. I watched Sheila Jane Teaching on Periscope last night, and my world changed! Check her out on Twitter, Instagram, Periscope and Blab if you haven't because she is amazing.  She talked about not wanted to be left out of TPT just because you might feel overwhelmed. Sheila spoke about using TPT as another form of social media for educators to connect. Thinking of TPT in that way made me feel much more eager to jump in and get started, even with only a freebie!

 I don't know how quickly I will be able create projects, but I promise to add all of my freebies to the site for easy downloading!

Thanks for being here for the start of my TPT journey!

BTS 2015: Virtual Teacher Friends!

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This year I feel the most confident, ready and excited to get back into the classroom!

It isn't because I am finally done with my masters. It isn't because for the first time in my career I am teaching the same grade level for 3 years running. It isn't because I have been working to make this year the best yet. While those reasons are helpful, I really feel like this summer has been about making connections with amazing educators through professional development and social media!

Attending the Cue Rockstar Teacher Camp was the start of something great for me this summer. It was three days full of the best professional development I have ever experienced! Next, I attended EdCamp Global online. I met lots of new people and got many new ideas. Edcamp led me to Periscope and Blab where my list of virtual friends has flourished!

I love making connections and seeing each other in person on these wonderful sites! If you haven't checked them out already you NEED to!

Click links for Periscope and Blab!

BTS 2015: Makerspace Creation & Freebie!

I have one week until I can get into my classroom and I am so pumped! Ever since attending Cue Rockstar Teacher Camp in July, I have been so excited to create a classroom makerspace for my second graders.

I have been collecting items, making lists of things I already have available in my classroom, and designing a creative space in my mind.

A few days ago I came across a photo of makerspace banner that someone created for their own classroom. I loved the design of the letters because they were made out of tools! I decided to hit the interwebs and trusty old Google to find the font.

Low and behold I came across a font called Sketch Tools!
Check out the example of the font below:

  I decided to print off the letters two to a sheet in Keynote in black and white so that I could color them in! 

Here is what my makerspace sign looks like completed! 

I colored it in with  Twistable colored pencils, cut out around each letter leaving a little white around the edges. I then backed the letters using a black poster board from the Dollar Tree. 

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Getting ready to laminate them with my heavier Scotch lamination to keep them from curling. I wish It was August 25th so that I can get everything set up in my room!

I would love to share my PDF file with you wonderful educators!

Makerspace Sign Freebie!

If you are thinking of creating a makerspace this year or you already have an amazing setup that you would like to show off, please feel free to download the PDF and make your own sign come to life! 

Please share your makerspace sign creations with me on Twitter or Instagram. I would love to see your creative makerapces!

I promise to share mine as soon as I get everything set up in my classroom!

BTS 2015: Most Loved Bulletin Boards!

I love setting up bulletin boards and decorating my door every year!

I should start off saying I am a crafty person and love to create things for my classroom. I change my bulletin boards a lot but there are always a few that make a comeback EVERY SINGLE YEAR! I am here to share my most favorite bulletin board ideas!

My Classroom Door Every Fall

I am in love this inspirational door! It always starts my year off right! I took inspiration from a Pinterest post and made my own file. I printed off all of the words in black and white and then backed them on Astrobright colored paper. I laminated each section to keep it protected from year to year! It has moved two classrooms and two grade levels but keeps going strong! The holographic polka dots are a Spritz brand garland I found at Target on clearance after New Years a few years back!

Leader in Me Board

As a Leader in me School, I love having the kids think about what it means to be a leader. This board comes up every year at the beginning of the school year. Within the first week I sit down with my class and have them tell what it means to be a leader and where can we be proactive in our lives. I use Vis-a-Vis markers to write down their thoughts and ideas in each colored section. I found inspiration from this Leader in Me Pin. The picture is from Ardena Elementary in Farmingdale, New Jersey. It's super simple to make! I taped together colorful Astrobright paper and ran it through the laminator. I added my signature sparkle border and voila! The kids also drew themselves as a creative addition!

Inspirational: Be You!

I needed to cover above my coat rack because of a damaged wall so I bought some navy blue fabric to match my schools colors.  I wanted something inspirational for the whole year so I found another Pinterest favorite! This time I was lucky enough to find a blogger who had made the original file! Susan from Entirely Elementary...School Counseling made this FREE Be Yourself bulletin board file! She has now made a new board called You Are which is available for a small price on her blog. I printed her file on plain printer paper and backed it yet again with Astrobright colorful paper! 

Reading Month Dr. Seuss Door!

My favorite door of all time was inspired by the Lorax for March is Reading Month! I took inspiration from a Pinterest post on how to make the Lorax Trees. I used black foam pipe insulation from Lowes which looks exactly like a black pool noodle! I used yellow duct tape to make the stripes and made my own pom-poms using tissue from the Dollar Tree. To make the Lorax himself, I used a neon orange and yellow poster board from the Dollar Tree and drew him from the book! I love this door and have kept all the pieces to use around my room from year to year! 

These bulletin boards and doors show a wide range of creativity. Even if you don't think you have that crafty side to you, you can still print words, add some color and make your space come to life! 

BTS 2015: Engage & Interact

This summer has been full of professional development in ways I would have never thought possible. Through the use of Edcamp Global, Twitter, Google Hangouts, Periscope, and Blab I have been able to connect with educators from all over the world. I have tried to take in their plethora of information for the beginning of the school year but it can become overwhelming. I decided to focus on one main topic at a time and today my focus is:

Engagement & Interaction

Much of the PD was about making kids excited for school and keeping them engaged all day, every day. I don't know about you but that seems like a daunting task! However, I know it's necessary because students don't connect to boring worksheets or mindless tasks. I am making it my mission to make every lesson as engaging as possible. 

I'm not saying that everything we teach is mind blowing fun, but after listening to Hope King's exciting Periscopes, I know I can add attention getters, songs or chants to celebrate learning even in the most boring of lessons. These simple attention grabbers can keep kids going and make learning exciting. Check out her blog at Elementary Shenanigans for more chants & cheers! She will be posting her Periscope & information soon!

I also want NEED to make New York Engage math lessons much more interactive and fun. While I believe that the curriculum pushes students to think deeper, the workbook pages are dull, boring and not kid friendly at all. I dreaded teaching math last year because my students would turn
into globs of jello and melt into their desks. I would literally watch as they slipped down in their desks and the life went out of their eyes. They knew math was full of blah, repetitive workbook pages and I didn't know how to fix it until now. I am going to start math workshop where we will work for four rounds on different math activities related to the lesson.

1. Students will work with me on New York Engage lessons in small groups.
2. Students will get hands on learning using manipulatives.
3. Students will play math games on the iPads that focus on second grade standards.
4. Students will complete interactive workbook pages that allow students to reflect on what they learned.

I will be using the Second Grade Common Core Interactive Journal Bundle from Common Core Kingdom on TPT. It has everything you need for a full year of interactive math journals!

For reading and language I am also adding the interactive notebooks. This will allow them to collect their thoughts and have a fun book filled with their learning that they can reference all year. I will be using the Second Grade Reading & Language Interactive Notebooks from Nicole Shelby on TPT!

Finally, I am going to make learning fun by showing my own excitement! I fully believe that you have to sell what you are teaching. If you are excited about learning, your students will be too. I agree with Hope King when she says you have to be willing to make a fool of yourself for the sake of learning!

GOAL: I want this year to be a blast! I want my students more engaged than ever before! 

Back to School 2015: Goals!

I am sorry to say that last year was a time of neglect to my beautiful blog. I started the year finishing my last two classes for my educational technology masters. They were supposed to be two easy 2-credit classes. Well, that didn't pan out the way I had planned. I'm pretty sure I spent more time working on those two classes than I did during my whole masters.

To top it off I had 31 kiddos in my second grade class all year. It was a year where I had to focus on me and my kiddos 100%, which sadly meant a lot of things I planned on doing went by the wayside.

Ever since the MACUL Technology Conference in Detroit I have been inspired to learn all that I can about transforming my classroom into a learning space full of exploration, enhancing my way of teaching and upping my level of student engagement in any way possible. I have always believed that learning should be fun and engaging I just lost my way throughout the mess of a masters.

Exciting lessons are the ones students work the hardest on and get the most fulfillment out of. They are also the lessons that they will always remember learning. I believe that my students need to set goals for the year, but so do I! So, to finish this post I am going to share my goals for this year in my classroom, professional life and this blog.

Goals for the 2015-2016 School Year:

1. Create a learning environment geared toward exploration by building up a Makerspace within the classroom, working in collaborative groups, and letting children choose their best learning space.
2. Help students maintain high levels of engagement and excitement for learning throughout all subject areas. No more boring New York Engage Math Lessons...It's time to make them come to life in ANY way possible!
3. Continue to grow professionally though engaging professional development I WANT to attend.
4. Present what I learn this year within my school district and at a conference!
5. Blog about my experiences in and out of the classroom at least ONCE A WEEK to keep myself accountable to my goals.
6. HAVE FUN & LEARN RIGHT ALONGSIDE MY STUDENTS! Show them that you never stop learning.
7. Be present! Live in the moment and take in everything this year has to offer. 

What are your goals for this upcoming school year?

 I would love to hear in the comments below or let's start a conversation on Twitter using the hashtag:

 #teachergoals

Back to School Open House Treat FREEBIE!

I don't know about you, but on the top of my checklist is open house!
We are having ours the Thursday before school Labor Day.

Last year I gave each family a pack of microwave popcorn that said Thanks for Popping In! This year I am trying to spend less money because the popcorn was pretty expensive. Hence the hunt for a quick and easy treat to give my students at open house!

Here is my solution and a special FREEBIE just for you!

Thanks for POPPING in Blow Pops!

 

  FREEBIE is EDITABLE! 

You can personalize these treats with your own name! 

NOW ON TPT! CLICK TO DOWNLOAD! 

All you need to do to put these sweet treats together for open house is to print as many as you need, buy some Blow Pops, cut out labels and tape them onto the lollipops! 

Please share on Pinterest and with your friends! 

If you like what you see on my blog, don't forget to follow me by clicking on right hand side or by following me on Bloglovin!

BTS Craftivity: Pool Noodle Pencil!

Happy Sunday Teacher Friends!

I woke up this lovely summer Sunday morning and stayed in bed browsing Pinterest to see what new things my fellow teachers were pinning. I didn't think that I would come across an image of a classroom door that I fell in love with! 

Here is my inspiration door...

The link on Pinterest only takes you to a photo, so I am not sure who to give credit to but I did link the photo for you below so that you can check it our yourself!
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/bf/be/a7/bfbea7d301d6815b8e0873b452d53a0d.jpg

While I love this door, I already have my go to back to school door up and ready to go. That doesn't mean that I can't take inspiration from the pool noodle pencils and make one myself! 

Here is my final project!

 This project is super simple especially if you already have a pool noodles sitting in your backyard like I did!

Supplies:

1. Hollow pool noodle in your choice of color.
2. Tin foil
3. Scotch tape
4. Pink acrylic paint (I mixed Red & White!)
5. Super sharp knife for tapering the pencil end.
6. A large wooden Dowell Rod, broomstick or old flag pole like I used! You only need a few inches to go inside of your pool noodle!
7. Sandpaper
8. Tan or light brown paint
9. Paint brush
10. Black Sharpie

Directions:

• First I mixed red and white acrylic paint and painted one end of the pool noodle, including the top! I used a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.
• I cut a piece of tin foil off the roll and folded it in half with the dull side out. You can use the shiny side, but I thought the dull side looked more realistic! Then I folded the ends in to make them straight. I taped one end of the foil to the noodle, wrapped the foil around making sure it was straight. I finished by taping the end.
• Next find a wooden rod that will fit into the hollow hole. I had an old flagpole in my garage. I cut off about 4-5 inches to make sure it would stay inside. I then sanded one end to look like a rounded point. Color the wooden Dowell with a black Sharpie to look like the lead and insert it into the noodle.
• Take a sharp knife, or a serrated knife and slim down the end to create a point. It was really rough with a serrated knife so I took the sharpest knife I could find to clean it up a little. Don't worry, the paint will conceal any problems!
• When you have the tip the way you like it, paint it with some tan or light brown paint. I decided to make a zig-zag pattern along the edge but you don't have to! Use a hairdryer to make it dry faster!
• Use black Sharpie to make lines on the foil to make it look a little more realistic and TA DA!

You can also add a #2 and anything else you would like to personalize your pencil! I am still thinking about what I want my GIANT pencil to say! If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them! Please leave comments below! 

Lunch Choice Station: Then & NOW!

My first year teaching, my three teaching partners all used lunch choice charts. I joined in because that's what you do when you are scrambling to put a classroom together in three days! However, I have used it ever since and thought it would be the perfect post to share with you...especially since it just got an overhaul!

I love my lunch choice chart! 

First, it keeps my classes student ID cards and Ziplock bags for lunch money organized and easy to find. It also makes my students accountable for making their choice right as they walk in the door every morning. Plus I can tell who is absent or who forgot to choose a lunch with just a quick glance!

Here is an example of my chart! 

 I put student names on the colored tickets, the Ziplock bags roll up and slide right behind the tickets and the short pocket in front holds their ID cards. When students enter my classroom their grab their ID card and check out the lunch choices for the day. They choose between the hot lunch choices or lunch from home by placing their card in the corresponding pocket on the easel. I also keep my lunch count envelope and lunch signs stored in this easel. The clear tub below holds lunch boxes so my students don't have to run into the hall before lunch to get their things.

It was the perfect setup for me and my students....until I moved...again! 

My new room doesn't have enough space for both the chart and the easel. I found a home for the easel and I know where I want the chart, but the section of brick wall right inside my door is too small for my go to pocket chart! SERIOUSLY!

So as the crazy teacher I am, I have been on the hunt for a new chart that is smaller, yet still holds about 35 pockets. However, after a long search, I am sure that the ideal chart I have conjured up in my mind doesn't exist! Does anyone else do this? You get a great idea in your mind...yet you can't make it happen!

Story of my life!

Anyway, I figured out the next best solution!
A HANGING JEWELRY ORGANIZER!

I found this adorable chevron jewelry organizer at TJ Maxx for $7.99! 

The organizer has 33 pockets on each side, however I will only be using one side. I added my typical tickets after trimming them down to fit into the smaller pockets. I love it because even though the pockets are smaller they puff out and hold everything I need! I can still fit the Ziplock lunch money bags if I fold them in half and the student IDs can go right in front of their ticket.

Adorable + cheap = PERFECT!Once I get into my classroom I will post a picture of my new lunch chart!

Here is the tag, just in case you want to find one at your own TJ Maxx, Marshalls, or Home Goods! 

Classroom Evolution!

I have taken so many pictures of my classrooms over the years because I have moved three times in four years! I decided it would be fun to take you on a journey of my classrooms from 2010 until now!

Check out each slideshow below!