Classroom Reveal 2016

We're about to start the 2016-2017 school year on August 22nd and I can't wait! I've been working in my classroom since late July to get it set up and make some changes from last year. He're a little bit of what I've been up to!

Where can you get this stuff??

A few of these items I picked up on Amazon! I love getting packages at the door and they seem to always have the best prices. Here's a few of the things I've got in my room this year that you can find on amazon as well! (affiliate links to help my decorating addiction)

New Year, new math set up!

2016 has been off to a good start so far for my third graders! We started off the first week with some team builders and review of rules and reviewing some of the standards we've worked on. We also started with a new type of math block for us- a small group model instead of my whole group followed by centers. So far, I've seen great results and responses!

For the first half of the school year we followed a model of math block which involved a quick warm up and a 30 minute whole group lesson. We then had about 45 minutes of centers. These centers would be 3 rotations of things like independent practice, group games, math writing, technology, and I would meet with small groups at this time. We finished our math block with a 10 minute closing and reflection. 

Here's some things I was noticing and reflecting on over break..

-I wasn't able to meet with each math group in this time

-the higher students were bored during whole group, and the lower students had to work harder to keep up

-during whole group I may miss a student who's got a misconception, if they're able to look at neighbors during a group activity (and not ask for help)

-because I will not meet with every student every day, I may miss something

I believe I'm being harder on myself than it actually is.. But because of the varying levels within one class I really feel the need to have more face to face time with my students. However as much as I'd love to have 3 hours for math that's a little unrealistic hehe. So I started researching different set ups for math block to see which one would best suite my students' needs. 

That's when I came across the small group model! The set up is starting with a 5-10 minute number talk/strategy talk which is super important for building number sense. Then, we have 4 centers, each 20 minutes. My students have the same centers, except that I can meet with each of my four math groups! During the 20 minutes I can teach the lesson and work some same problems with my small group of 5-6 students. After centers we spend 5 minutes reflecting/closing.

Here's what I'm loving so far..

-I'm meeting with every student every day

-I'm catching any misconceptions as they arise

-I can instantly differentiate my lesson based on how the 6 students are doing, so if they're having trouble I take it down a notch, if they're flying through it I can add a challenge

-It is impossible for my students to ignore me or zone off if I'm sitting right across from them :)

The kiddos are also loving the new rotations! They ask more questions as I teach and are actively participating. They also get to sit on bouncy chairs at small group so that's a pretty sweet deal! 

So far so good! I hope to continue to tweak the model and its flexibility but I'm really loving it so far. Definitely worth considering if you're looking for a change up!

Rock on,

Diana

Chevron Desk for "Made It Monday"

So I have to say I have the best fiance in the world! Creston helped me so much in my classroom today and I don't know how any of these projects would have come together without him.

For "Made It Monday" we did a desk makeover. I was so fortunate that the new school I moved to had a desk I could use, and that I was also allowed to spice it up! I originally thought of painting it.. but this would take more than one can of spray paint so I wasn't feelin it. I thought of a much more labor intensive project.. Let's wallpaper it! LOL Poor Creston...

This is the "BEFORE" of the desk. It had some contact paper on the sides that was a wood look, so I pulled that off and sanded it down a bit to prep for the project.

Here's Creston being a total trooper and putting wallpaper on this desk! This adorable chevron print was in the paint section at Walmart. It caught my eye when I got the turquoise paint for my last "Monday Made It".

Here's the finished product!!! How adorable is this?? I thought about painting the top and sides white.. but I'm kinda diggin the dark wood look with it. Also.. I really don't want to paint :)

Some other things I picked up for the classroom is matching chevron shelf liner that I've put in the white bookcases. I'll need to take a picture next time I'm in the room. The shelf liner goes fast so I ended up buying 5 rolls of it.. lets hope it holds up! I also picked up a cube shelf organizer and LOVE IT!! I got 2 turquoise boxes like shown in the picture and two gray ones that have a print. I also thought the "weathered" finish made it look more like a homey piece of furniture.

I like it so much that I may go back for a four shelf single level organizer. I'm thinking this could work really well in front of the smartboard. That space below the smartboard has always been empty and blank for me because what can you really fit there? This too cute perfect height bookshelf of course! I know I can always use more storage.

I'll be back in the room tomorrow to get some more things together! All of this decorating is taking my mind off of what's to come... pacing and lesson planning.. DUN DUN DUNNNN!

Binder Heaven

Well I'm going to give this blog world another go! I started out blogging two years ago with a 2nd grade blog and made maybe 3 posts. It was sad. I'm excited to start up again though as I start a new grade, at a new school, with a new name! There's lots of exciting things going on in my life right now and all of the enthusiasm has me knocking out projects left and right.

This post will be short and sweet, as I'm still learning how to set things up and get my blog out there.
I do want to share all of the binders I've made. I'm in binder heaven! Who doesn't love a good binder? It holds so much promise of organization.. let's just hope I keep it up :)

I've made a binder for each math unit I'll be teaching this year. The math units are from Ashleigh's Education Journey and also the RTI resources, test prep, and journal prompts! I went a little wild at her TpT store, and absolutely love the products. You can view her TpT store here.

I'm also very excited about my "ULTIMATE TEACHER BINDER" bundle that I bought and made into my huge plan book. This product has everything you could possibly think of for a plan book! Calendars, weekly plan pages, classroom resources such as class list, birthdays, medical info, etc. and even an adorable section for meeting notes! Now I have no excuse.. I must take meeting notes. I'm very excited to use this binder and have everything in one place. I also love how it's editable so I can make it my own and personalize it to my needs. When you purchase it you get free updates each year with the new calendars. Check out this product here.

So I'm returning to binder heaven to see what else I need before I get into the nitty gritty of planning for the units! I'll need some science binders too, but since each unit is only a month I may just do one large binder with 6 tabs for each unit.. we'll see :)

Thanks for stopping by!

-Diana