What I've been up to..with a freebie!

This is going to be a hodgepodge of ideas and thoughts...but that's kind of what my life has been like lately. ha! No lie. I mean, that's what back to school week is for everyone, right!? It's crazy! But, that's ok. It's probably the MOST stressful few weeks of the year, but I love the amount of progress that I get to see in the end product!

Anyway...to start off with, this morning, I had asked my Facebook fans and Instagram followers which color numbers they liked best with my circles. This is going to be for my A.R. board. They use little people to jump circles...the circles count by 5s, I went to 170....

I ended up going with black...I even tried the dark turquoise like one follower suggested, but it didn't look right, still. All I have to say is "thank goodness for my cameo!"

Also, the other night, I showed a picture of my husband being conned into helping me. lol He made my offices for my students. I call them offices, because when I interned  (12 years ago - ahh!) my intern teacher called them offices. You might know them as privacy folders. Essentially, they are these...

Well, for the last 11 years, I've made my own.....

(he'd SHOOT me if he knew I took this picture...I had my phone on silent and I did it behind the dog..lol!)

You use 3 folders for each office...and staple them together to make THIS...

And one picture that sparked a lot of interest was when I was laminating (while my husband was stapling). Yes, that is right...you see TWO laminators! I mean, why WOULDN'T you use 2 laminators?! haha!

(that is my alphabet from my blue/green classroom pack!)

I also had a lot of questions about my desk pockets I was making when I posted this picture...

(also from my blue/green classroom pack)

Well, here's what I use them for....

Inside their desk pocket is their behavior card (which is blank right now since school hasn't started yet. But you can read about how I do my behavior cards at THIS post. But WAIT until after you read the rest of this post before leaving...or make sure you come back! lol). 

I also put in their team job cards into the pocket. I copy off each team onto a different color. I have up to 5 jobs per team, but I try to only have 4 people to a group (it's a Kagan training reason), so I usually don't use the materials job and just have my team leaders do that one. Some of the ideas are from the Kagan strategies - what they say to use for jobs, but I changed a few to "match" my room better.

If you want them, click the pick below to snag them for free.

I'm also going to be trying something new in my room...Social Hour! This idea also came from my Kagan strategies workshop over the summer (it was a great one!) Now, I know what you're thinking...some kids think the whole day is a social hour! haha...I know. But this is different. And it's not really an hour. It's the 20 minutes before school actually starts. Our doors open at 7:40 and then kids have until 8:00 to get to our room. BUT, soooo many kids don't come in until 5 or 10 after, or even later! (And no, we can't do morning work during that time.) It drives me crazy because they miss some important things going on during that time. SO, my friend and I were brainstorming, and we've decided to try and "bribe" them to come in earlier... We're going to have some "games" for them to do during that time in the morning. By games, I mean activities that get their brain thinking and they don't realize they're actually "learning." (sneaky, sneaky). And these games are ONLY available during this time...and no other time during the day. (well, the card games like the math deck of cards and the headbandz games I actually use throughout the day sometimes..lol)

Some of the games I'm going to do are these pattern blocks I got from that plum district deal I posted about...

The headbandz game (and I'm going to be making my own cards that will go with what I want)

They can also play some of my deck of cards games

check out how I organize and store these activities at THIS blogpost.

Other ideas are wordsearches and "Highlights" pictures, puzzles, computer/iPad games, Legos, playdoh, and reading. I will probably only have 4 or 5 out at a time, but I might change depending on how many kids I have showing up. If you want these posters (which I'm going to display on the board to let them know which morning centers are available), click the picture.

One more thing I want to share with you before I leave...I am so excited about another box I got in the mail! (I probably get a box a day in the mail...my mail lady and my husband are probably mumbling under their breath at me. lol) I love using music in the classroom, and when I started shopping on Ron Brown's site, Intelli-Tunes (check out Intelli-Tunes Facebook too!), I couldn't make up my mind! Look at all these different CDs that matches learning skills and concepts to music!

and, oh my gosh...I just saw his Science one!! I need to get that one too! I love it!!

Ok, I think that's it! I hope you didn't get lost in all that, but I just wanted to touch base with you and share just a little bit of what I've been up to!