Will Start Posting Again Soon...

Hey Y'all...just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be starting to post again about my classroom and lessons in a few weeks.  Things have been so hectic...
I've been organizing all of my materials from the school year (I threw papers into boxes all year and thought I would have all the time in the world this summer to organize...)
I also have been seeing many doctors recently because I haven't been feeling well for quite a while...I've had some tests done and don't get to chat with my gastro doctor for another week, but he told me that the bloodwork came in and I have to go gluten and lactose free...WAIT WHAT?????
Yes...that means I'm going to miss eating these every day:

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!!!!!!

I'm just hoping that going gluten and lactose free helps me out and I don't feel so sick all the time!

Let me know if you have any food allergies and any suggestions!

I promise that I will post pictures of my classroom in a few weeks when they let us in to set up!

Shopping for the Classroom

I have an addiction.

I admit it and I'm trying to come clean...

...I am...

...addicted to...

...shopping for my classroom!

Seriously, I should upload a picture of the back of my car because I went to 5 different stores on Friday (with coupons, of course) and stocked up on all of the essentials for my classroom and now my car is packed.

I'm linking up with Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files for her Summer Shopping Linky Party...check out her page and the wonderful ideas she has there, as well as all of the wonderful ideas that others have posted! (click on the button below to go to the linky party!)
    

I'm switching classrooms for this school year and I'm so excited about the space that I have and what is already in my room, but there were some things that I was missing that I needed to pick up.  Because I got some great deals, I wanted to share them with you to let you know what I got for my classroom in case if it will help you out!

First off, STAPLES has a  card that you can buy for $10 that will take 15% off of every purchase until mid-September, which is definitely worth picking up if you will be buying a lot of supplies.  If you don't have one already, pick up a staples rewards card...definitely worth it, especially if you have ink to recycle because you get money back for it.  Staples changes its deals every week, so the deals that I got are expired...however you should go to the staples website to see what the weekly ad is this week.  The best deals are the ones you get a rebate back on (paper is $1 each and you get $6 back from a rebate!).  

Second stop was at the dollar store (we have a dollar tree by me) and I picked up some binders and tab dividers for, of course, $1 each (where in staples the binders are averaging $6 and tab dividers are about $3).  The dollar store is a GREAT place for find organization bins for the classroom (where I found my center bins for last year).  

Lastly, my FAVORITE FIND for my classroom came from Bed, Bath and Beyond...and you know, we all either get in the mail, newspaper, or can find online those 20% off a single item from BB&B (if you don't have one...go to the website and sign up for e-mail to receive your coupon via e-mail).  My biggest thing that I have to tackle this year is organization and effective use of space.  So I found something at BB&B that will help me with just that! 

So instead of having regular chairs around my U-Shaped table for reading groups, I picked up four of these: 

                                                  

This is a storage box that you can also sit on (up to 300lbs!) -- you can click on the picture to be sent to the website to purchase.  They also fold up so if you need to pack up your room at the end of the school year to be cleaned, they can easily be stored away in a closet!  I'm so excited about this because I think I am going to store my binders in these.  

This week, Michaels is also having a sale on all of their storage items.  

Definitely check all these deals out!  Please leave a comment or link back to what you found for your classroom this summer!

Happy Shopping!

Math Stations: "More Than" Bingo and a Freebie!

For the upcoming school year, I am changing math time in our classroom around to make room for math stations (or math centers).  Last year I focused on whole group instruction a little too much and only had math stations about once every 1-2 weeks.  Not anymore!  I believe that math stations will help with differentiating lessons more (because I can really challenge my higher level students during small group instruction and their stations they are in, while honing in on concepts that my lower level students need more help on) as well as keeping students more engaged during math time.  

So this is what I am going to try out with Math in my schedule:

Mondays: Whole Group Instruction: Introduce a new concept & math game to go along with it (which will be put into one of the math stations)

Tuesdays-Thursdays: 10-15 Minutes Whole Group (review new concept), 30 Minutes Math Stations/Small Groups, 10-15 Minutes Whole Group (review and exit slips to check for knowledge)

Fridays: 10 Minutes Whole Group, (maybe math stations for 20 minutes?), Assessment of concept

*Please note that my math period starts out with calendar, weather, number of the day*

Please let me know if you use math stations/centers in your classroom and how they have worked for you!!

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In the midst of coming up with math stations for the upcoming school year, I put together a Math "More Than" Bingo game.  

MATH MORE THAN BINGO

Materials Needed

 -Dice (1 per student) 

-Game Board (enough for one per student in center)

-Counters/Markers to cover up spaces.

Directions

 Each student will have a game board and they will need to roll a die and cover 

up the number that is either one more, two more, three more, etc. depending on the

board that they have. When they cover up their entire board they can yell out BINGO!

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This game correlates with common core numbers and operation standards for students to be able to determine numbers that come before or finding a number that is 1 to 10 more than a given number.  

For Grade 1, this game specifically lines up with the standard: 

1.NBT.5. Given a two-digit number, mentally find 10 more or 10 less than the number, without having to count; explain the reasoning used.

You can pick up the 1 More Than and 10 More Than FREEBIE here at TPT

You can also purchase the entire packet of 1 to 10 More Than Bingo here at TPT

Please let me know if you have any math stations/centers ideas on your blogs and post the link in the comments!

I've linked up with Ms. Alley's Class for a linky party about guided math time.  Check out how she runs her math time and how others have who have linked up on her page!

More Vistaprint...!!

It just so happens that yesterday afternoon after I posted about my classroom management cards, I received an e-mail from Vistaprint about all these free things they were just GIVING away!  It's like...THEY KNEW that I posted something and yup I took the bait they were dangling right in front of me.  Oh wait, and I also bought two groupons yesterday (sorry, the deal expired so I can't post a link!) that was $20 for $80 worth of merchandise from Vistaprint...so yes, Vitaprint...I'll be back for more.

Anyways, I got everything for almost free...that's right...just had to pay for shipping! 

This is what I made:

This is a "lawn sign" but I thought that I could either put it on my door, in front of my desk, or I could use it when we go to assemblies or the Halloween parade and we have to hold up a sign for our class.

These are address labels that I thought I could put onto all the students' homework folders so that the parents always know how to get in touch with me or can look up what we're doing in the classroom online.

This is a bumper sticker.  I love how it is patriotic AND it goes with the theme for this year (which is Hollywood...so my class is going to be Ms. Schifano's Superstars)

Notepad paper with my name to write notes home or for myself during meetings.

Magnets!!!  I got them blank because I'm going to try using dry-erase marker on it to write the spelling words for the week or student names for making graphs on the whiteboard.  Last year I went through so many sticky notes where the students were writing their names to put onto a graph we made as a class, so I thought that maybe the magnets would work out.  If that doesn't work, then I want to put it in one of the new literacy centers this year (I have a big file cabinet in my new room, so I want to have the students make their spelling words for the week using magnetic letters on the file cabinet...so maybe I can write directions on these blank magnets?)

Please leave a comment about any Vistaprint ideas that you have or have used in your classroom (leave a link to your blog if you have posted what you've made!).

By the way, check out *Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge's* Linky Party for all Vistaprint ideas!

Now off to get ready to go to my first Yankees game of the summer!