A View In My Curriculum Binder Video & ELA CC Vocabulary Cards

WOOHOO!  It's official... I {finally} finished the first set of ELA vocabulary cards.  Did it take long enough??  I don't teach ELA so I had to dig deep to get these just right.  The great thing is that I have combined 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade together.  Click below to go to my TpT store.  The 259 page file is only $6.00.  You can read more about it as well as view a preview and a list of included words in my store.

This time I have three versions in one big file.  You get the traditional design set...

The Additional Font set...

and the Blackline Masters set.

Thank you so much for being patient with me.  I know a lot of you had stipulations for purchasing my math set with the understanding that I would have a coordinating ELA set.  Well, it took me forever, but I finally have it done!  Now I will begin working on K-2 which may look a little differently than the 3-5 set since they are for younger kids.

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Okay, do you remember when I did a post on my curriculum binder over the summer?  Well, I just love learning about how others organize their teaching life as well as watching helpful videos to gain insight and ideas.  I have never done a Vlog, but I wanted to try it out.  So, I decided I would Vlog about my curriculum binder.  It is by no means perfect.  It is just me!  That's really all I can say about it.  This is who I am.  Now, I do not show an actual video of myself because I am so sick and look a hot mess!  I had a better video that I recorded on Saturday night {where i actually sounded better}, but it was nearly 18 minutes long and I had such a difficult time uploading it.  If I talk fast, it is because I was trying to hurry and finish.

Enjoy the video!

 
 Just to clarify a few things... the Teacher To-Dos Post-Its are from the Clutter-free Classroom Blog.   You can view the previous post about my curriculum binder by clicking {HERE}.

Is anyone out there interested in recording a video about a binder you use to help stay organized or for your lesson plans?  You can link in the comments section to your post, or, if we have enough interested, I can start a linky party.  Let me know what you think.

 Thanks for sticking with me until the end.  The first two to comment with their email address will get a free copy of my ELA vocabulary cards for grades 3-5.   

Update & Sale

Hey Ya'll!  I have been super busy lately.  We had parent conferences this past week, and even though I was off today, I have been everywhere.  I am keeping my two nieces along with my two boys.  So, I have a 9 month old, three year old, six year old, and an eight year old.  My.house.is.C-R-A-Z-Y!!  I wanted to update you with real quick about some upcoming things for the blog.  I will soon have a video that discusses my Curriculum binder.  I posted about it over the summer, but now that I have it completely finished, I wanted to share it once again.  I am also getting my standards checklist ready for my First Day Freebie for November 1st.  I am looking forward to sharing these things with you.

In the mean time... enjoy 20% off all my products through October 28th.  Now's the time to get the products you've been waiting for. 

Talk to you soon!

Edit my file... a $6.00 value!

I am looking for three people to review my CC ELA vocabulary cards for grades 3-5. This is in one file, and I am hoping to get it posted before Thursday. If you are available to review, edit and have any corrections/changes sent to me by Wednesday morning, please comment below with your email address. I will be out of the house all day tomorrow so I will need to email the file out by 9am tomorrow morning.  The first 3 people to comment to this post and leave their email address will receive a very special package tomorrow morning.  BTW- it matches my math CC cards.  If you have them already then you don't want to miss out on this opportunity to grab it for free.

Thanks!

Teacher Workday: Workstation Revamp

Well, last Friday we had a teacher workday.  It was actually our first one this year since school started, and I am soooo happy we had a chance to work in our room since I needed the time really bad.  I had a few goals in mind for the day.

1) Make a few stations I have found on TpT for free.  It seems I am always running around the week of my new workshop rotation to 'find' good stations for my students to work with during rotations.  Usually I end up creating something over the weekend or Monday afternoon, printing it, laminating it, cutting it out, and putting it all together.  Well, on Friday I was able to create SIX new stations.

Here's one that will soon be in my dollar section on TpT.  I am going to {eventually} upload the ones I make for my students and sell them for just a dollar!  I wish I could find some that I could use and not make for $1.00.  If anyone out there has any great ones for around a $1.00 that I could use with OA 4th grade math standards...  let me know.  I like for them to take no longer than 15 minutes to complete.

Okay, so where do I store my stations when I'm not using them?  It use to be a hot mess that looked something like this.... {sorry about the small blurry picture}.

Like I said before, it was a MESS!  Notice I have some that don't have anything and some that are over flowing.  I had folders everywhere, nothing organized, and half the stuff didn't have everything I needed in them.  Actually, most of the folders are missing EVERYTHING because I would just take the station once the students were done and throw it somewhere up there to get it out of the way.  This leads to my 2nd goal of my teacher workday.

2) Organize my station storage area.  Since I teach by standard, I wanted to store my stations by standard.  Here's what I came up with.

First, I store all the materials needed to create my stations in one bin behind my small group table which is where I usually lay it all out and get to business.

Here's what's in the bin.  Markers for writing, post-it flags {we'll get to that in a minute}, labels, and plastic pocket folders without prongs.  I use plastic folders because the students always seem to rip the paper ones and destroy them.  If you want to be SUPER organized then you could have a certain folder color for each strand of standards.  I got these from Target when they were on clearance for .15 each.  They had a heaping load of purple so that's what I have.  I like the look of them all being the same color.  And... if you wanted to go even further, you could have the folder color match the bin color where they are stored {you will see that in a minute!}

Every station folder has a nice little label in the top right corner with the station title {this is what I put on their station checklist} and the CC standard the station correlates with.

Once a station is complete and ready to be filed away for later use, I take the post-it flag and apply it to the label then I place it in the bin that correlates with the standard.  I use the flag so I can see at a glance what stations I have not used this school year.  I love this idea because I use to be really confused about which stations I have used and which ones I still needed to use.  Once I take the station from the bin to be used, I take the flag off {you can then use it for a new one or trash it}.  When it is used by the students and returned to the bin, it goes in without a flag which means it has been used once before.

These are my new standard labels I created and printed to organize my stations.  I will eventually {hopefully} have two bins for each standard.  Right now, I have more NBT stations than the others because these are the standards we have been teaching since school started.  I simply taped the paper cut-outs to the bins {hence the glare}.

Here's what they look like so far.  BTW- I didn't include it in this picture, but I have a TON of stations on the shelf above this one that still need to be reorganized and redone.  Can I have another workday, please?  Also, I didn't have a large variety of colors or I would have each standard bin a different color... In the words of my three-year old, Oh shucks! {he gets that from Goofy!}

And... when I am busy through the week and have stations that need to be checked and put back together neatly before going back in the bin, I place them in this basket.  I am hoping to get in a healthy habit of checking ALL stations after they are used and before they go back in the bin.  Hopefully this will help my station area STAY nice and neat through the school year.  As you can see, I already have a few a need to work on!

Do you have any tricks you use to help keep your stations organized?

More Classroom Photos

I posted a few pictures before school started of my classroom but those never seem to truly 'capture' a lived-in classroom.  So clean, neat, and tidy.  That is NOT my classroom.  I would call my classroom somewhat organized, but I love the look of a classroom that is the center of learning.  And... before we begin..... I have a LOVE for lamps.  I love them.  If I didn't have to spend so much time turning them on in the mornings and off in the afternoons, I would have so many that I wouldn't need the stark white fluorescents.  Okay, ready... here we go!

 I know your are probably tired of seeing pictures of my station baskets but OH WELL!  I have finally decided that I do not want to have 10 stations at a time.  I usually have 6 because that's how many math workshop days I have in a 2-week rotation (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday).  If we have a holiday or a S.U.P.E.R. crazy week like this week then I will adjust accordingly.  For example, I knew we had book-in this past Thursday and would not be able to have math workshop on Thursday so we only had 5 stations.  I figure... less stations... less time... every student gets to do all stations!

 Here's a close-up of the new labels I made for my station basket.  I got the idea from Kristen at Ladybug Teacher Files... she's great and makes you go.. hmmmm... why didn't I think of that??

 This is my math calendar board.  We are well into our math workshop model and the students are loving it.  It's like nothing else they have ever done in math and they get SOOO excited for math class.... I just love it.  I have always made them write EVERYTHING down that I do in their calendar, but they are having a very difficult time finishing.  So, I am going to try just having them write down things that are only necessary.  We'll see how this goes.

 This is a pocket chart on my closet door where we place all the vocabulary words we are working on.  After we have discussed them, they go on our vocabulary word wall.

 Here's our vocabulary word wall.  I actually have this for sale on TpT here.  I LOVE IT!  After teaching the curriculum, there are a few words I want to move around OR include in several standard headers.  I am hoping to get that done in the near future and offer my buyers a free upgrade.

 Here's a close-up of my stations checklist.  Students store their station check-list and all their station work in their folder until the rotation is over (usually 2 weeks).  They then take all their papers, staple them, and turn them in for me to review.  If you would like to learn more about my stations checklist, click here.  The only thing I have changed since this post is the stamping.  Even though it is fun, I no longer allow my students to stamp the station they complete.  This was chaos in a classroom of math workshop learners.  I tried it at the beginning and I swear it took 10 minutes for students to transition from stations to anything.  I'm really not sure if I will allow them to do it again.  I am thinking of having them stamp at the end of the rotation (2 weeks) before they turn in their station packet.  They could stamp as they get things in order so they can make sure they have everything they need.  We'll see....

 These are my CC standards posters.  I really should have gotten a close-up so I could show how I have the students interact with them.  The standards that we are currently working on 1) are highlighted with highlighting tape, 2) have post-it flags.  Once we move on, the flags are removed but the tape stays.  Eventually the entire posters will be highlighted.  You can get these FREE in my TpT store by clicking here.

 I LOVE Really Good Stuff.  That's where I get ALL my baskets in the classroom.  These baskets have table numbers taped to them.  In my first class, I have a student who places these at the tables right before class (he's in my homeroom so he's already in the room and has the time to have them ready by the time others arrive).  I have another helper in my last math class who puts them away every day.  The students store their math folders in the baskets.  We use our math folders to keep up with anything they are currently working on or trying to finish.  We call them our Independent Work folders since most of the work kept in them are independent assignments.

 This is the front of my room from the door... I love lamps that glow!  This is how I keep my room when the kids aren't working.  Sometimes the kids are working and beg me to turn out all the lights and turn on classical music.  I love it... they love it... we are all happy!

love it....  The front view of my room from the back. LOVE

This is my desk area from the back of the room... it is a mess!!

This is my small group area.  I try to have everything I could possibly need at my fingertips.  The plastic filing bins beside my whiteboard are for my portfolios.  I have one for each math class I teach.  This is something I am still trying to develop.  I'm not real sure about how to really make them work for what I want them to.  I always have a difficult time deciding what to put in them and what to leave out.

This is my small group area from the opposite side.

 This is where I store my math manipulatives.  I have a lot more but have decided to only leave out the ones we use on a weekly basis.  These change as our unit changes.  I have found that less things go missing.  It's working so far.  If the students need any of these for any station they are working on, I usually include them in the station basket.

 I hope you enjoyed looking around my room.  Have a great week!  I will post a new post tomorrow were I will talk about what I accomplished during my teacher workday with more pictures.. yay!  I just love pictures.

October Currently

I've never participated in the monthly Currently, but I want to start!  Here's my currently for October.

1st Day Freebie

Okay, okay... I'm two days late and a dollar short.  I promise... I will get better! My life is Crah-ray-Z right now.  My sister is finishing up her house which her husband and my husband have practically built themselves.  My husband has been M.I.A. from this house since MARCH!  Here's my nightly (every night.. mind you) routine.  Pick the kids up from the sitters (they stay at 2 different places), come home, play a little (if time), cook supper, feed the kids supper, clean up, try to get some things ready for the next day, put dishes away, give the kids a bath, get them ready for bed, brush teeth, read a story, sing a song, and off to bed while fighting with a three year old about how I know he's tired even though he says he isn't.  All the while, my poor 8 month old sweetie is just wanting his bottle before bed.  ARGhhh...  To say that I am ready to have my husband back is an understatement.  This week, I am also cooking my sister's family food and taking it over since they are having to live in a camper because their mobile home has been bought!  Interesting yet?  I'm sure a lot of you have the same crazy life I do.  I honestly don't see how we do it.  There are times when I just want to lay down and take a nap or just have 2 minutes of .me. time!  Yeah right!
                              

Thank you fo being patient with me.  Anyways, I have worked and worked to get the standards checklist ready to share with you all.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to finish it.  I want to make sure it is the best quality so I'm going to postpone the sharing until November 1st.  I want to make sure I have the time to get the post exactly the way I want it.  Instead, I am going to share a center/workstation I have created to use with rounding.  The goal of the activity is to round the number (drawn from the number deck) to the place (drawn from the place deck).  It has a recording sheet for students to record their answers and should last 10-15 minutes.  I have 15 minute rotations and have yet to have a problem with the students finishing early.  The only thing you will need to do to prep this center/workstation is to print, laminate, and cut.  That's it!  This center is going to be part of my dollar specials that I am planning on having in my TpT store.  I am wanting to have 20-30 $1.00 center/workstations that you can use in your classroom.

My apologies again that I do not have my standards checklist ready for my first 1st Day Freebie.

This file will be available for free from now until 6:00am on Friday.  I'm extending the time since I was late posting.  Click the picture above to download the file.