Ten Tally Marks!

When our class does a great job at following directions or at doing a nice job in the hallways so other classes can learn, we earn a tally mark.
When we get to ten tally marks, we earn a class reward!

Sometimes we get to take off our shoes for the day, sometimes we get free time to play or draw, and today we are having a popcorn party!

Here we are watching our video and chomping away happily:

I Did It!

I sold my first product on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Seriously, folks--that totally made my day, and it was a RUFF day.  (and yes, I spelled rough wrong on purpose, thanks for noticing.)  (And yes, I just started a sentence with the word 'and.')

But anyway, here's the product I sold if you're interested:

It's my Engineering Station.  I got the idea from a Sally Ride science workshop I attended back in September.  I asked parents to send in broken electronics, and we got things like old vcrs, dvd players, cd players, electric pencil sharpeners, remote controls, calculators, cell phones, etc.

My students use tools to take apart the electronics and record their observations of the parts and/or how the machines work.  Then their task is to use some of the parts they found to design their own machine or invention.  FUN.  Seriously, though--my kids are IN LOVE with this activity.  Kids that I've never seen get excited about anything have been running to me as soon as they finish an assignment to see if they can work in the Engineering Station.  GREAT critical thinking skills and creativity, people!  Not to mention it's funny when 7 year-olds say "engineering."

Here are some previews for you visual folks.  Click on any of the photos to check it out in my TpT store and to read more about it.  Thanks for stopping by!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Engineering-Station-Pack

Spelling Task Chart Freebie

Hey there!

I whipped up a little chart to display in my classroom so that my kiddos will know which Word Work/Spelling activity to complete each day.  We have 4 differentiated spelling groups (we use Words Their Way-eh...), and we rotate on Mondays to introduce the new sorts and on Fridays to assess.  The rest of the week the students work on their word sorts/patterns independently, so I have changed our morning routine to ensure that all students get spelling practice daily.

Please feel free to download this chart if it would be helpful to you.  I included a chart with 3 groups and one with 4 groups.

I'd love to know if you are able to use this or if you have any ideas of how to improve it!

Hope you all are having a good week so far.  Can anyone else not believe that it's only TUESDAY?!  How am I already so tired??  :)

Please click on the screenshot to download this Freebie from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Thanks again!  (8 days till Turkey Break!...not that I'm counting...)

Currently in November

 Well, it's a good thing I posted October's Currently a few days ago.  Since it's November now.  LOL.  WHOOPS.  Yeah.  But anyway, yay for Farley's Currently!!  Thanks, Farley, as always!

How do you feel about It's Always Sunny?  Hubs loves it, but it's gotten a little hit or miss for me.  This week's episode was pretty funny.  Sometimes it's just too far out there.

Happy Hour.  Enough said.

Sleep.  I'll never take it for granted again.

I can't complain too much about not having a fall break since we get off the entire week of Thanksgiving.  Yeah buddy.

I do need sleep.  I do need a maid.  I do need lots of other things, like a secretary (yes, just like Farley!  My teamies and I talk about this all the time)!  Like a bigger house to hold all the toys!  :)  But I truly can't complain.  I am SO very blessed in my life.

Pandora is the best.  Sometimes I put it on the Ambient Music station or other soft music, but the Kids Music station is great.  Unless a dance song comes on, and your entire class stops working and starts dancing.  In which case you should change the station or simply skip to the next song.  

Now head over to Farley's blog to share your own Currently and to meet some new bloggers!!

Happy Friday!!

Currently: October (tho LATE, tho sad)

Dagnabit.  How is it already nearly NOVEMBER!?

*SIGH*

Yes, I literally just let out a big sigh.  *ding ding ding*  Sorry, "sigh" was one of our vocabulary words a few weeks ago, and we always *ding* when we hear or read one of our fab vocab words.

Is it just me, or am I exhausted, downtrodden, and beat down by this school year?  I am LOVING my students, even though they are quite the challenging bunch.  I LOVE teaching.  Problem?  I haven't been doing much quality teaching.  I'm too busy collecting data, progress monitoring, and trying to finish up district math assessments (that were started over a month ago) (yes, they have taken that long) (they are 6 pages long and to be administered individually) AND report card data since grades are due Tuesday morning.  *SIGH* *dingdingding*

Farley had a post that explained my feelings EXACTLY, and if you are feeling overwhelmed and beaten down, you should read it.     FARLEY'S POST

Anyway, so as not to be too big of a Debbie Downer, let's move on, shall we?

Some YAYS:

Yay #1:  Red Ribbon Week is over (yes, it's fun, but 3 special programs/assemblies in 1 week is TOO MANY for those of use who like the children to PAY ATTENTION when we talk).

Yay #2:  Fall Conferences are over.  Our district rocks b/c the kids get Columbus Day off and we do conferences the whole day.  Yes, I scheduled several on other days, but I still had 17 that day.  SEVENTEEN.  Yes, my voice hurt at the end of the day.  Yes, my mouth hurt from smiling.  But they went well.

Yay #3:  Even though I haven't blogged over here in AGES, I've been keeping up very well with my classroom blog.  If you'd like to see SOME of what we've been up to in my classroom (aside from the assessments, of course), visit us over at:  MRS. COCKRELL'S CLASS

Yay #4:  The Vampire Diaries is back on.  Holy Ian Somerhalder.  Jeezus Pete, do I love him, LOL.  But don't tell my hubs.  Wait.  I think my hubs already knows.  But don't like, rub it in.  ;)

Yay #5:  I'm working on some new Daily 5 Technology Choice Menus, and I'm pumped for when they're done!

Onto the best part!  Farley's CURRENTLY PARTAY!  (Thanks, Farley.  You rock.)

Currently: September

Ah, Farley.

You give me an easy, fun way to post at least once a month, and I must thank you for that.  :)

I would totally write a more meaningful, detailed post, but I must go to bed immediately.  These kiddos are really gonna give me a run for my money, LOL!  I've got some hilarious little sweeties this year.  It usually takes a little while for most of them to really come out of their shells, you know?  Not so much this year!  HA!  I consider it payback for my own behavior when I was in school.  Yep--B in Citizenship on every. single. report card.  "Needs to learn to control her talking."  That was always the teacher comment.  :D  My friends and colleagues would NEVER guess this about me, HA.  (Yes they would; I still never shut my mouth.)

Anyway.

By the by, Brix wines are only $6.99, and I swear they are good, 

at least if you know nothing about wine other than the fact that you like it.

Be sure to holla at Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade.  

Link up, and remember the rule of 3.  You know you wanna.  Peace out, and get some sleep.  2 more weekdays.  And good luck with assessments if you're as bogged down in them as I am right now!  :D

Classroom Tour

OK, a week into school, and I'm already exhausted beyond belief.  I got up with the baby at 5:00, but he took some milk and went back to sleep.  My hubs got up with him when he woke up and let me sleep till 10:30, God bless his soul.  Then, after doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen, I took a NAP during baby's naptime, too!  I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to recover from this week.

Monday and Friday were full days, but Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the K-2 kiddos went home at noon while we did one-on-one assessments all afternoon.  We had no planning time and no duty-free lunch.  Monday & Friday I worked almost 12 hours.  So yeah.  Exhausted.  Not to mention my class...it's definitely going to be an interesting year.  I'll leave it at that.  :)

So anyway, I've been meaning to post a classroom tour all week, but you know...it just wasn't gonna happen.  ;)

Here we go.

I've since added white strips under the A and E on my CAFE board.  :)

Do you see the adorable Math Alphabet?  I got it from someone's blog but can't remember whose!  If it's yours, please tell me so I can give credit!  Sorry!

Book Boxes.  Got these at Hobby Lobby for 1.99 each, but they didn't have enough, so I have 6 of the cheap cardboard ones on the bottom shelf.  :(

The buckets are numbered and are inside an old pocket cd holder.  This way, the kids can slide their notes behind each bucket for their classmates.

Daily 5 storage.  Need to make a couple more labels.  

The colored bins on top hold my weekly papers.

Made the black vinyl letters on my Cricut.  LOVE.

I intended this to say "Spotted: Super 2nd Graders," but I didn't have enough letters.  And those glitter letters were $7.99/pack, so I gave up.  LOL.  Oh well.  I am planning (in all my spare time) to cut out a big peace sign from my black and white polka dot wrapping paper so the bottom of the door doesn't look so empty.  :)

View from my door.

Front of room.  We do whole group lessons here.  

Read alouds are done by the rocking chair over by my CAFE board.

Behavior chart I made for my team this year.  Love the clip chart, and even our 1st and 3rd grade teams decided to use my chart this year!  They felt that their system of "strikes" wasn't working that well, so they decided to try something new!  I think it's nice for the kiddos to have continuity like that.

Part of my library.  Love the bright neon bins from Really Good Stuff.  

My school bought these for me last year, and they work great to hold picture books!

Another view of the library.  Love my new black baskets and my green polka dotted cushions!

New black bins to hold math manipulatives!  My labels were inspired by the AMAZING Kristin over at Ladybug Teacher Files.  I loved her "flipped" labels, but I wanted to include one of my colors.  She is AWESOME.

Close up of the labels.

Vocabulary pocket chart for when we start "Text Talk" and our Must do/May do board.  Started that last year (saw the idea on Pinterest, of course), and when a kiddo says "what should I do now?" I just point at the board.  LOVE.

To the left of my desk: printer, newborn pic of baby boy, and my cute new Pop Top jar.

LOVE THE POUFS.  It's like a party every day, LOL.

Pencil area.  I put the "Quietest Classroom Sharpener" on my wish list, so I'm hoping and praying one of my parents will get it for our room!!  :)

Spotlight on board.  This will change out with the specific skills we're working on in reading/grammar.

Storage and Turn in basket with the ever popular "highlight your name" poster.  I found this on Pinterest last year and have told everyone at my school about it.  It literally CHANGED MY LIFE last year.  If you have not implemented the "highlight your name" procedure, do it.  Do it NOW.  You will thank me, I swear.  :D

I read Work Hard, Be Nice this summer (about the guys who started KIPP schools).  Great book, very inspiring.  These are 2 of our class rules this year.  (Gotta re-route that pesky cord.)

Well, that's all for now!  Hope you enjoyed my tour!

I missed some of the linky parties, but I'm linking up with: