Tropical Theme

I am so excited that I picked a tropical/luau theme this year for my classroom!  Lot's of cute stuff online and on different blogs.  I am especially fond of the guided reading table turned tiki hut (if I can find a cheap umbrella I am totally doing this since my kids would LOVE it!)  I found a bunch of cute stuff at dollar tree and the good news is it was only $1.  I will post pics when I can actually get into my classroom (they are using it for VPK).  I am hoping this theme will help keep me calm this year since I just found out they are adding an hour to the students day for reading.  Any other ideas to keep calm and collected on long days?

CC Reading foundations

So I buckled down and decided I was going to make my own assessment for the foundational standards from Common Core to use in my classroom this year for progress monitoring, etc.  It also gave me an excuse to practice conditional formatting on Excel which I had just learned about in a training (and I LOVE it... will probably be using it for everything LOL).  Trying to put it on my teacherspayteachers.com store for those who would like to look (click on my store link at the top)!  I am working on assessments for the other parts of common core, but they are a bit trickier... will keep you all posted!

Read Alouds

I had a thought in the shower today, that is where the best thoughts come from after all, about how I needed to try to record some books for my students to listen to as a listening center or to replace me talking during read alouds.  I then thought that I would ask my teammates if they wanted to record a few stories as well and then we could share.  But then I thought why stop there?  I would love to have a good number of books to choose from (maybe 1 per week) for my students to be able to listen to for fluency, so I will be proposing to my school that each teacher choose one book from our school library (one with mulitple copies would be ideal, but any story will do) and to record themselves reading it.  We could place an icon on our computers or record each teacher a disc for their classroom.  Books would be labeled with a special sticker that says TRA# (Teacher Read Aloud and the number assigned to each teacher).  I figure this would be a great way for the whole school to have access.  Students would also have the chance to me self motivated to hear the read aloud by checking it out from the library and asking the teacher for the recording.  I know some students might also like to hear former teachers or new teachers read stories to them at any grade level.  What are ways you incorporate your peers in your teaching?

Centers

Hello again!  There have been many times in my teaching career when I have found cute items and thought... "I can make that!"  I have spent a little time (and probably will be spending more) doing just that this summer.    Follow the link to look at an alphabet puzzle that I created to use as a center this year with my students.  I will be posting more simple center ideas on TpT also!  (Look for FREEBIES too!)  I think I might steal an idea I saw and start doing Made it Mondays where I make something for my classroom.  What are your favorite centers?

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Large-Alphabet-Puzzles

My clipboard houses all my important documents for daily use: daily behavior and folder tracker, dismissal sheet, student information sheet and others.  I will try to post examples too.

Here is the daily tracker sheet.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1it8WVvZjORvij9LbINvYnatCMIOENlafMavtoAb0dmw/edit

Let's get it started!

So I have decided to try blogging since I am always thinking of things for school and I enjoy sharing thoughts and resources with others.  I am teaching myself how to do this so it will come together as I learn more!  I would love any thoughts, ideas or suggestions you may have.