Super Classroom Tour

I finally got around to it- a classroom tour! Please note that we start the year with pretty much nothing on the walls aside from titles of bulletin boards as we add everything with the kiddos. So it's pretty bare bones, but here goes:

Our "Welcome Board" outside of the classroom door. We were required to keep our extra desks in our rooms this year as there was no where to store them, so I converted one into a little table outide our door. The second picture is my chair in our carpet area. I hung a sweater organizer from the ceiling with fishing line and use it as a weekly handout organizer.

Front of the room shot. It was the end of the day so the chairs are all stacked. Each pom pom is attached to a group number to be hung over the groups of student desks.

Our name tags attached to the back of chairs. Got this idea from Hope @ Second Grade Shenanigans. I just attached them with a little ribbon.

Our classroom library. I have three shelves divided into "Fiction", "Non-Fiction", and "Good Fit Books" bins. We also have a basket of "Super Monos Lectores" (Super Reader Monkeys) that the students can read to.

We have magnetic walls, so I attached my "LEER" letters with magnets to the wall and below is a magnetic bookshelf.

"What do you Recommend?" board. We will be adding our book recommendations to this as the year progresses.

Our supply cubbies and book boxes. I used my Cricut to print out the numbers and then use contact paper/clear packing tape to attach them.

Our CAFE board, letters compliments of The Resourceful Room and our "Superkid of the Week" board. (I was the first!- Super Teacher that is.)

Science, Social Studies, and Math Word Walls. The calendar labels on my Math Word Wall are available here.

Our classroom expectations- you can find more about how we created this board here. Also, our writing center...still in the works. 

Our behavior chart- students start each day on prepared to learn and move their clips up or down.

Birthday Board- Scrunchy border idea from Peace, Love and First Grade.

Closets with our class schedule on the left, mirror (above it it reads "reflection of a superkid"), homework chart below, birthday board, class jobs chart below, and our "Superkid Promise" in English and Spanish on the right.

Classroom alphabet. You can snag a copy here.

And there you have it (for now). I'll share more as we get things up!

Linking up with Tara for...

(as all this stuff was a while in the making!)

as well as Courtney's...

Super Expectations

Wow...what a week it has been. Between starting school and trying to finish up the last few weeks of my Master's, I am just working to stay afloat- so forgive me for not posting too much lately!

One of my favorite ladies, Candis, over at I Teach Dual Language is hosting a beginning of the school year, classroom expectations linky. So I thought I'd take a quick moment to join in the fun.

Here is our expectation board we have been working on all week:

In our building this year, we started "CBIS", which is our school (Canterbury) version of PBIS. With CBIS we have 4 main expectations for students throughout all areas of the school: "Be a Model", "Be Responsible", "Be Respectful", and "Effort". I of course, deemed them "Super Expectations" for our classroom's purpose and created this board to go along with them. Each larger poster represents one of these expecations.

On the first day, we discussed what these expecations look like in our classroom. I had the students create illustrations to go along with the ideas. For instance, in the picture above for "Be Respectful", the students drew pictures to represent how to do this- using kind words and actions, caring for materials, using quiet voices, raising hands, etc.

Finally, thoughout the rest of the week, we discussed what these expecations look like throughout the rest of the school. I got the idea of creating these posters for relaying these expectations in the rest of the building from Amy Lemons. Here are a copy of hers in English. 

Click on any of the image below to snag a copy of the ones I created for my kiddos in Spanish for the hallway, bathroom, cafeteria, and recess. (Please note, you do need to add a tilde to the "n" in baño", as the font I chose wouldn't let me do it! I just quickly added it with a Sharpie!).

Enjoy!

Posters created with images from Dreamlike Magic and Print Candee, and fonts from Kevin and Amanda.

Monday Made It! Project Productivity!

Time continues to fly by....

And I continue to find more and more projects that I need  think I need to get done!

Linking up with:

and

Here are my latest "made its", a freebie, and a new product.

This framed little ditty will get hung on one of my cabinet doors along with another in Spanish! We talk about this promise in our classroom within the first few days of school and it stays up all year!

I finally got around to making these adorable little seats (thanks to the bf who did most of the work and had wood lying around at work!). See the tutorial I used by clicking here.

Made some numbered sticks to use with my kiddos! (I still need to decorate a container to put them in...but you get the drift!). Head over to my TpT store to snag this "Student Number Label" freebie!

I also spent all day (that is why I am a little later in getting this post up today) created new calendar labels in Spanish to correspond with my color scheme! 

You can snag them too at my TpT store! They are normally $3.00, but if you hurry you can get 28% off today only by using the code BTS12! Click on the image below to check them out (...and maybe get a steal of a deal ;)).

If you guys do download either product, I would really appreciate your feedback! (Thanks in advance!)

Happy Monday (especially to those of you who were back in the swing of things today)...2 more weeks!

Vistaprint Vavavoom!

Finally got around to utilizing my Vistaprint groupon today....here are all of the fun things I got for $20 (what I paid)/$80 (what it cost)! 

1. 100 postcards to send to my students before school starts (would have preferred a few less....but I guess I will rock them for years to come). Aren't they cute! (It says "Welcome to 2nd Grade").

2. 50 Parent Magnets (once again, would have loved to get just 25...but I am not sure if I have 25 or 26 students this year...erred on the side of caution! Let's just hope I am in the same classroom next year so that I can use them again!) I plan on handing these out at Parent's Night so they never have an excuse for not getting a hold of me!

The sizing was a little off...(I just got sick of trying to tweak it to be honest----it can be tough work!)...so I think I will just chop off the extra white before handing them out!

3. Tote for Pepe (our class monkey)- I will give credit to the lovely Virginia Duran for this great idea! Each of my students gets to take Pepe home for a week and then they are required to write about their adventures with him and share with the class. This tote is now what they will take him home in and I will put a folder inside as well with the sheet for them to fill out, instructions, etc. The tote says "The Adventures of Pepe" - and of course it has a sock monkey that looks just like him!

4. And this little freebie...not the cutest stamp in the world...but it will serve its purpose, and I figured for free, why not!

So there you have it. My new Vista bling. I will say that customizing it with my own images did end up costing me quite a bit more. I see some of your groupons went a bit further than mine did! Hopefully it will be worth it....now for the 14 day arrival waiting period. 

The Magical Product Swap!

For those that may not know what this is, let me give you a brief low down. The lovely Mrs. Jessica Stanford came up with with this super idea a little while back to have 2 bloggers swap one product from each of their TpT stores, create and review the product, and then write a post to rave all about it to others! She put a lot of time and energy into organizing all of this, and we appreciate it. I am excited to see all of the product reviews, and even more excited to share my review with you!

For this swapping adventure, I was partnered up with the fabulous Corinna Gandara from Surfin Through Second.

And I had the opportunity to check out her "Differentiated Spelling Lists" packet pictured here.
Note: If after I sell you all on this product you are interested in snagging a copy yourself, just click on this image and it will take you straight to her TpT store to buy it!

Corinna's packet includes 34 weeks worth of differentiated spelling lists as well as several different holiday themed word lists for those special times of the year! Each lesson for the week then includes two different lists- a basic word list and an enrichment list for students who need more of a challenge. Corinna shares in her packet instructions that at the beginning of each week, she gives her students a pre-test using the basic list for the week. If a student scores more than 90% on the pretest, then they are given the enrichment list instead to practice the weeks word work, if not, they are given the basic list to continue to study throughout the week.

Here is an example of two different lists for a lesson on "Long a- 'ay'".

Here is also an example of one of the Holiday spelling lists included in the packet. Take a stab at which Holiday it is ;)!

Obviously, these lists and word work will be studied in class, but Corinna suggests in her packet ways in which the students can practice at home as well. Each of her students uses a composition book and each week they glue their new list in their notebook. Then at home they complete a variety of activities using their list such as writing their words three times, in sentences, etc.

She also includes a list of enrichment activities which the students could complete for further practice. I won't give them all away...but my favorites include "translate your words in another language" and "illustrate the word" (maybe its the dual language teacher in me ;)).

One of the main reasons Corinna shares in her packet for creating these differentiated lists, is because she has students with such a variety of needs, including a large group of ELLs, and the regular spelling curriculum did not seem to be meeting their needs on its own. Oh how I can relate! (..and maybe you can too). I would definitely recommend this packet as Corinna has clearly put great thought into trying to meet the needs of all learners, and her lists cover a variety of spelling concepts that are covered throughout the grade levels. 

Thank you for sharing your product with me Corinna- I look forward to utilizing it with my kiddos this school year. I encourage you all to check it out as well! Remember you can click on the TpT spread above to head to her store!

Totally Terrific Teacher Tools

Linking up with the lovely Laura @ Mrs. Castro's Class for her Totally Terrific Teacher Tools @ Home linky party to share with ya'll some of the things that I use at home that make my life a little easier!

Alright, so that last part was to share one thing that I would love to have...tough choice as I could make a shopping list...but here is something I have been dying for, for awhile!

What tools do you use at home? Link up with Laura to share with us!

Cinco de Mayo Freebie and Linky!

There she is- my latest freebie. Just in time for Cinco de Mayo! The packet includes a Cinco de Mayo themed graphic organizer, writing paper, and templates and corresponding instructions to create a "Sombrero Craftivity". Click on the image above to go ahead and download a copy for yourself!

Now I have seen that some of the rest of you have been posting some of your great Cinco de Mayo ideas as well, and I am sure there are many others that will pop up this week that I have not even seen yet! Let's get them all in one place friends- so that we have a wealth of sombrero and piñata filled ideas for years to come! 

Go ahead- grab this button and post it along with your Cinco de Mayo celebration ideas so that others can link up and check out the linky "fiesta" as well!

Looking forward to seeing all of your ideas!

¡Gracias!

Super Sunday and "Teacher's Pet"

Happy Super Sunday!

The weather is kind of crazy around here- any other midwesterners have all the storms last night? I think we are supposed to get worse ones here this afternoon too....ugh.

The super themed item I have for you on this "super" stormy Sunday (check out that alliteration ;)) is our "Give a Super Compliment" activity. At the beginning of the school year, as part of our character building, we discuss what it means to give a compliment to someone. Then the kids practice writing compliments to one another. We discuss how to add important details, how to make them more meaningful (because otherwise you will get 100 "I like your shoes" etc.). I just have a little labeled bin in which I place the "Give a Compliment" papers and the kids can go pick on up at any time they feel like they would like to share something wonderful about one of their peers. They they put it in our fabulous "Give a Compliment" monkey basket, and I read them and pass them our at our morning meeting each Monday. 

Click on the handout to download the slips we use for this activity in English and Spanish!

I am also linking up with Sandy @ Soaring Through Second Grade for her ....

Who doesn't want to share about their pet? Such a great idea!

Thus, I introduce you to my furry friend (and furry is an understatement!)- Miss Bella Carlson. (It's pronounced the Spanish way, not like the Twilight character ;)!) 

Here is my little fluffball as a puppy!

She is a great helper.

So loving- and photogenic- Don't you think?!

The picture on the right is her most recent- she is growing up so fast- already 2 years old!

And she is ready for the summer time just like her mama!

So we are supposed to share one thing our pet has taught us. I honestly think there is probably more than one- but as most would say I am sure- just unconditional love. I come in from work and she acts like I have been gone for years (tail waggin, lickin, jumpin for joy)! Furthermore, she is just so full of personality. They say pets take after their owners and I see my goofy, flighty, yet high strung personality in her for sure! It's too funny!

Can't wait to see all of your "teacher's pets"!