First Day { back in my room!}

I went back to school today! It was my first time over the summer!

I decided after a yummy sushi lunch with my bestie to venture back over to my school today. I had my trunk full of things from Target and was ready to find my room looking like I had left it back in early June.

Like this: 

Unfortunately, I walked into my room like this:

COMPLETE DIASTER 

I know they had to clean the floors and the tile but really....com on it is a lot of work moving furniture all over the place! I basically just moved stuff back where it was before and tried to move my desk into a formation that I liked. I'm not sold on the placement of the desks which is why I haven't put down the chairs. It's overwhelming going back in so I did what I could and chatted with my classroom neighbor and school secretary. 

This is what my room looked like at the end of the day! I'm pretty happy with the progress and will be going back in next week to put things together, organize, and get things ready before pre planning.

I just got this AWESOME new pencil sharpener I got from my warehouse order. Do you get a warehouse order from your district? We get a certain amount of money to spend on school items in our district warehouse. We place the order before school ends and then get it over the summer. I ordered this pencil sharpener, paper, folders, and binder clips. Like those rad new pencils?! Dollar spot at Target of course.

I pushed this cabinet over back to its place today. I also set up my writing area. My bulletin board hasn't changed. Can you see my new blue lamp?! I love it!

This is the back area you couldn't see from the other view. I need to clear off my kidney table and still put things up but it is coming along. 

I also got to keep this bulletin board up which is great! This is another one of my favorite boards that hangs right next to my guided reading table. 

I just bought these tins at in the dollar section at Target. I'm going to use them for my students table supplies: pencils, scissors, glue sticks will go in the tins. Then I'll have crayons in the other part of the basket. 

Well that's all I have for my first day back but I'll keep you updated as I continue to organize my room and get ready for the new school year! 

Bulletin Board Linky Party

I'm linking up for yet another party! I just love the summer time! Hope you enjoy my bulletin boards! They aren't as fancy as some teachers but I like to make them all meaningful to the students and interactive. Go link up with Teaching Happily Every After to join the fun!

Here are some bulletin boards in my classroom:

This is my decoding reading strategy board. The beanie baby bulletin board came from Angela Bunyi at Scholastic Top Teaching. 

This was my word wall at the beginning of the year. I did like how I could wipe off retired words and write in new ones but after reading Debbie Diller's Spaces and Places I have new ideas. Next year I will put it low to the ground so my little ones can take the words off if needed. I will also have a file folder with retired words in case some students still need to use them. I am also going to use smaller letters that are less distracting so the sight words pop.

This is my classroom jobs chart. My theme is nautical so it says "All Hands On Deck!" The puzzle you see around it the students made at the beginning of the year showing how they can be helpful in the classroom. I have a job for each student.

This is the Sailor of the Week board. This is like a student of the week board. This was my week at the beginning of the school year. The kids make this board look so much better! :)

You can't see the sign because of the glare but it says "Reading Takes Us Places!" I used this board with the students to track our read alouds around the USA. This helped my students to make connects with the USA and where we live in relation as well as pin point Social Studies books we read. The students loved to put a push pin in a new location. I got this idea from the wonderful Beth Newingham at Scholastic Top Teaching.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of the vowel wall after we had finished it but I did not. I put up each word family under the vowel it corresponds with just to help my students make connections with word families.

My library is organized by genres so I put this up in the library to help my students put books back correctly. These genre posters also come from Beth Newingham.

I know this is kinda hard to see but this was my CAFE board for the year. It is pretty small but so was my portable this year. Next year I will make this board bigger and better! The sticky notes you see attached are my students goals. The posters below are animals that go with each strategy : comprehension, accuracy, fluency, expanding vocabulary.

Some of my math focus boards. I change it up each unit. 

This isn't really a bulletin board it's a poster but I want to make it a bulletin board next year. I want to staple Solo cups to a board and have a bucket filling pledge with an area to get bucket filling forms. 

Reader's Choice board is where students get to vote on read alouds in class. They get to move their picture to the yes or no column depending on whether they liked the book. I like that this gives them choice and gets them involved in read alouds. Another idea from Beth Newingham.

This is the coveted star student board! My students love to get their work recognized on our star board. There is a column for writing, science, math, and reading. Students get to show off their work on the board and feel proud of their accomplishments. I pick who goes on the board and usually the students are really proud of one another and give each other high fives. I try and rotate who is on their to celebrate everyones success in the classroom. Another idea from Beth Newingham.