Holiday Weekends

Well most people are enjoying their three day weekend with last minute lake time or barbecues or shopping or any of the other fun things they could be doing.  When I think of long weekends I think of two things: extra time in my class and sleep. Well I managed to sleep for about 12 hours each of the last two nights (I also happen to be sick) and then I have spent Saturday and part of Sunday working in my classroom.  Have I mentioned I'm a self-professed workaholic? What I like about the extra time on weekends is that there is no one around which means fewer distractions and I can do all those things I have been putting off because I just don't have the time to do them  This weekend I managed to get a few things done.

First, we have a new reading and a new math series.  The great thing about new series is that it gets you out of any rut you might have been in.  They also happen to come with lots and lots of resources that are in separate pieces. I've been feeling like I'm having to go here for this resource and here for this resource and here for a different resource.  So my one big goal this week was to start organizing all of those separate pieces into one place so I would have everything I need.  For reading I made files for each week that includes vocab cards, definitions, and leveled readers.  As I add to my resources, I can add to the files.  Now the resources I need are in one place.  This will make me a lot less stressed in the coming weeks.

After I accomplished that minor feat, I managed to organize some of my binders.  This meant starting a reading resource binder that isn't related to my series but has supplements for different skills (i.e. teaching character traits, visualizing, cause and effect, etc.).  I also made labels for my binders because I had about eight total that didn't have a label and I was having to open three or four before I found the binder I needed.  Can we say waste of time?  Now I have cute labels and that makes me happy.

The other big thing I accomplished this weekend was to set up my intervention/small group binder.  In the next couple weeks we are going to start going to centers and I am now ready to pull individuals and small groups to work on skills.  This binder is set up to track data and keep me organized.

Beginning of the Year Scrapbook Page

Earlier I talked about the End of the Year Scrapbook that we create for our kids.  I thought it would be a good idea to show specific pages that I used in case you are interested in creating one too.  On the first day of school I like to give my students a chance to express themselves in an easy, non-stressful way.  This is a great little page by Doris Young that gives them something easy to do to ease us back into routine.

While they work on writing and coloring, I pull kids to take photos of their first day of school.  I make sure I have some kind of sign showing it is the first day of third grade.  This year I found these adorable signs on TPT by Teach and Tell Us that the students color themselves. I'm going to see how they turn out, but I'll probably have another sign ready for my kids to use just in case.

All you have to do is put each student's picture on a background and you have your first scrapbook page. I also include the "I'm Glad to be in grade 3" page in the scrapbook because my kids had some super cute excitements and nerves.

Give a Teacher a Hot Glue Gun and She'll Ask For...

Last week my family helped me get my new shelves put together.  This week third grade hallway got decorated.  Give us a hot glue gun and we can do just about anything.