Monday made it on Tuesday!

I go back to work 2 weeks from today and I don't know where the summer went. I've been at school a little bit each week for the past month and I don't know what I've been doing. I am starting to feel like I need to get it in gear. I have a slight problem in that I need a couple more bookshelves. I have used all my bookshelves for my classroom library and now I'm trying to figure out how to make a math corner. And what to do with all the random knick knacks the kids have given me over the years. I used to use a tall bookshelf to keep all these things and my teacher's books but I'm trying to give my kids more of the room.I'm trying to put into practice some of the reading I've been doing in Daily 5, Debbie Diller, and Reading Workshop. I'm trying to make my classroom more about my students and less about me. But I do like having all the knick knacks. They remind me of the students I've taught and the impact that they've had on me and me on them. So I guess I just need to get creative. Since my last Monday Made it, I've worked on two craft projects. Here is the first one:

It isn't as cute as some of the ones I've seen on pinterest. But I found this frame at Hobby Lobby, and had another craft I wanted to make with it. I'm wanting to turn this into an earring holder by putting window screen in it. So I just hot glued the letters on there and hope it will work for the first day of school.The second project is below.  I covered these letters in scrapbook paper and added some ribbon. I wanted to make the read letters that I've seen all over pinterest, but I could never find the letters. So I thought I'd try it with Math. It would go well with the math corner I'm working on putting in my class this year.

So I uploaded those pictures using my blogger app on my phone and they are not cooperating with me so let me tell you about them. The first one is my author's corner. I'm focusing on one author a month as an author study and hope to do a take home bag of this author as well. (Look for some upcoming posts on this topic). First up is Kevin Henkes. I'm pretty excited about it. I need to do the research part to find a picture of the author, some facts, and then make a list of the titles to let the students vote.Sorry these pictures are really terrible. The second picture is my word wall all done. It already has words on it because those are the words from Kindergarten and their names. We put those on last year when the kids were in kindergarten and we'll add to it in first grade. I used the word wall letters from Holly at Crisscross applesauce in First Grade. It looks great with my theme. I wish I had thought to put black paper behind them before laminated but oh well. I'll be reviewing another one of her products tomorrow as part of the product swap. I'm excited.
The last picture is my super work board. It really looks good in person. I added clothespins I had hot glued thumbtacks to. The last touch will be their names on stars. I'll be sure to show a picture when I do a classroom tour.
So that's what I've been making. Check out other Monday Made it's by heading over to Tara's blog.
And before I've got another random question for all my friends out there. I'm working on making a new play list of music for my students to start the day off. I want it to be energetic not necessarily typical kid music. So give me some suggestions please.