The Teaching Tribune...Student Binders

I shared our Pirate Notebooks over at The Teaching Tribune today.

Please be sure to head over and check it out.

Do not lose heart!

Therefore we do not lose heart.

 Though outwardly we are wasting away,

yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 4:16

I don't know about you, but I soooooo needed this verse this week!

We just finished our 2nd week of school, & I don't feel as though I've taught A THING!!

We were welcomed back to school with a brand new list of YOU WILL DO's.

1. You will meet with EVERY student EVERY day for small group reading instruction.

2. You will meet with EVERY student EVERY day for small group math instruction.

(notice the instruction word)

3. NO MOVIES PERIOD.

So after the "law" came down, we have all been running around,

what does that look like?

how to I fit it all in? 

(especially since you also cut 15 minutes out of our day),

what should my centers look like?

is this ok?

is that ok?

Most of us have basically thrown away everything we were doing

& started brand new plans, trying to match what "they" wanted us to do.

Anyway, I am not opposed to change, I'm willing to let you show me that you know better than I do. So I've been trying to line my classroom up with their way of thinking for 2 weeks.

I'll tell you now, that it has been a bit chaotic.

It took me 2 weeks to realize that most of what they want me to do,

I've already been doing.

So, after 2 weeks of running in circles and not really getting anything done,

I'm going back to my plan.

The only difference is that I will be meeting with every kid every day (twice a day).

In the midst of all of that scrambling, I needed someone to say to me,

"DO NOT LOSE HEART!"

And after hearing it for myself, I'm passing it on to you.....

To all of you great teachers out there,

DO NOT LOSE HEART!

I know we get beat up all the time,

and have people breathing down our necks,

telling us how to do a job that they haven't done in MANY years (if ever).

DO NOT LOSE HEART!

Do your thing!

Love on those kids & do what you know works!

We've got this!!

Click on the cards to get your Memory Verse Packet for this week.
Go make it a great one!

Is the coffee ready?

Monday is usually tough on most of us,

but some Mondays are way worse than others.

Today is one of those days for me.

I did get up on time,

but I'm having a hard time prying my body out of this chair.

I've GOT TO GO TO WORK!

Ok, I feel better & I am getting up as soon as I post this.

Quick before I change my mind.

Here is your Memory Verse Monday...Romans 12:2.

Click on either picture to get your copy.

Happy Monday!

Go Pirates! part 3

Have you heard?

The TpT Back 2 School sale is this weekend!!

My wish list is full & I'm ready to shop.

My store will be 28% off so be sure to head over & take a look around.
(Click on my picture for the link.)

And now.....
I think this is the end of my back to school classroom pictures.

This bulletin board is in the hallway leading into my class.

(Someone on my Facebook page asked me what the numbers represented.)

The truth is...the numbers were supposed to be their class numbers (1-18) 

but we had already cut all of them out on our die cut machine when we realized that they were too big:(  Just too lazy to cut them all over again, so we used what we had.

This is a great piece of clip art from 

and I added the pirate emblem (from My Cute Graphics),

and blew it up on our ELMO.

I had to have a Pirate player somewhere in the room.

Here he is in his place guarding our math board.

This was our first full week back at school 

so we started on a few basic skills like reviewing odd and even numbers.

We called these 2 "The Fair Pair." 

They are ALWAYS fair, always equal, always even.

I filled paper footballs with skittles (Pinterest idea) and they

ripped them open and sorted them.

They liked sorting, but you know their favorite part was eating them when we were finished.

Another fun activity we did this week was writing a 1 sentence goal for the year.

Finally, if you are doing the daily 5 and want a few sporty items to go with it,
here are a couple of things I made for my room.

This file is an "unofficial adaptation of the Daily 5 by Gail Boushey& Joan Moser". 

It is not endorsed by the 2 Sisters. To access official resources, check out http://www.thedailycafe.com/

Just click on them to pick up your free copies.

Don't forget about the sale!!!

First Monday back.....

Wow!

Does anyone else forget how hard it is to go back to school?!

I love my job, but I forget how exhausting it is.

Our first day was Thursday, so we only had 2 days with kids last week.

But, it was draining.

If you haven't started back yet, rest up because it's coming:)

Sorry about the last 2 weeks of Memory Verse Monday.

I know I've been a slacker.

Trying to get back on track.....

This week's verse is Psalm 51:10.

My thought for the month is renewal, new beginnings.

It includes a girl and a boy coloring sheet, word search, and word cards.

Click on the picture to pick up your free copy.

Enjoy your Monday!

Making Bundles

Happy Monday Morning!

I feel like such a slacker with my Memory Verse Mondays the last 2 weeks.

I was out of town last Monday and I don't have a new verse for you today. arrg!

But I'm working on making some bundles out of the monthly themes.

I started bundling in February & March & then laziness took over.

I had a request for the bundles again, 

so that was all the kick in the pants I needed.

Today, I have June and July bundles ready to go.

I have taken the individual packets out of the FREE LOOT sections,

& just have the bundles there now.

If you missed any of these, then here they are.

I still need to do April & May:)
But for now, I have to head to school.

Go out there and make it a great Monday!

Go Pirates! part 2

We are officially back to work!

We have 5 days of pre-planning before our students come on August 8th.

5 days or 10 days, it never seems to be enough,

and I usually head into panic mode thinking there is no way it will all get done.
I'm sure you know the feeling.

Well here is part 2 of what I've been working on.

I posted these already (they are going to be my book buckets for the Daily 5),

but I added baseball name labels to them.

I added magnets to our daily schedule and posted it in on our white board.

(I forgot to make a writing card arrrg!)

This is going to be our class wide compliment system.

They will earn one letter at a time until they spell out the word

"PIRATES."

(sorry about the flash)

I

This is on the front door of our classroom.
It is for my wish list,
all those things that we need but are not allowed to require.
I laminated the poster and will add post-its for the parents to take with them.

Classroom rules....

and a very small welcome board with all the kid's names on it.

The last thing I have is a freebie if you want it.
I love this quote with our sports theme.
I plan to print and frame it.

The artwork is by......

and

Thanks for stopping by!