Daily 5 Book Study

(Just a warning, the post is going to be a little rambly about my thoughts on daily 5)
I have been so slack in posting about the Daily 5.  I missed listening to reading and read to someone completely. I read the chapters and took notes on them but I never did get around to posting about them. I didn't really have much to add to what everyone else posted about the topics. I'm still working through all this is my head. I've sketched out schedules to make sure I can make this work. I think I am ready to give up control and let my students have a go at Daily 5 completely. I still have some questions about which things I want to teach whole group and what I want to teach in small groups. I'll have an assistant for most of the day so that will help with the small group part.
So here's what I'm looking at for a schedule for the upcoming year:
While I don't have my special times or my lunch time, I know that I'll have the mornings to do all my reading and language instruction.
8:00-8:30 - Morning Work time - What I'm thinking for this time is a writer's workshop type time here. We're going to journal time. I just bought Rachelle Smith's Journals through the year pack on TPT. I'm pretty excited about it. They will also have to answer the question of the day and take a bathroom break during this time.
8:30- Morning meeting - This time we go over rules, question of the day, morning message, and calendar. I need to try to squeeze in some language and grammar lessons using the morning message during this time. That's one of those areas I'm not sure what to do about with Daily 5.
8:50 - Minilesson #1 - This one will be a read aloud lesson that focuses on a comprehension skill. Then we will have round 1 of daily 5.
9:20 - Minilesson #2 - This one will be a phonics lesson or spelling. Maybe. I'm still trying to decide if I want to do this whole group or small group. Last year I did my phonics lessons small group and loved that. I'm not sure if I can swing individualized lists or not. I used Words Their Way when I taught in Nashville and liked it but when I looked into purchasing the book, my budget just couldn't take it right now. This is an area I'm still mulling over. Then we will have round 2 of Daily 5.
9:50 - Minilesson #3 This one will be writing and grammar. Then the 3rd round of daily 5.
10:20 Mini lesson #4 I want to still use some of the reading out of the basal so that will be this time. We will use our reading books during this time. Then they will have the last round of daily 5.
The order of the minilessons might vary. I'm not sure that it is important what goes where. During their group time, I'd like to work on phonics, spelling, writing, and reading workshop type lessons with small groups.
As I'm typing this, I'm starting to think maybe I'm completely crazy for trying this. Am I being too ambitious with this scheduling idea?
I realize too that this post isn't about working on reading or word work at all, yet. I feel like having activities for the kids to during that time, is the easy part. I use Deedee Wills's writing workstations and I also use some activities from Caitlin Clabby. She has a pack of writing center activities.

Then I've been working on word work activities to go with our reading series. We use Treasures. If you are interested in checking it out, I've finished unit 1 and am almost finished with unit 2. It's called Words that Pop Up. 
There's a freebie there. I like to use games where my students practice reading the word. Then I've included a variety of activities like a magazine hunt for the word and then popcorn words three ways. This is for high frequency words.
Last time I was in first grade, I had my students sort their spelling words, put them in alphabetical order, write with them. I think these activities that I asked them to do as a whole group would lend themselves to work work time as well. I'm seeing some spelling freebies in my future. I also reorganized my magnetic letters to make them easier to use. So I plan on having the kids use these as well.
Ok I guess I've rambled enough about my thoughts on Daily 5. I have a couple of other pieces of exciting news.
The first is my I just got my first Donor's Choose Project approved and posted. I'm super excited. If you are interested in making a donation, I would love it and so would my kids. The project is to provide my kids with a wider variety of non fiction texts on their levels. I discovered when I was organizing my books and making my classroom library more accessible to the kids. I was lacking in this area. Click here to see my project. If you have done several of these projects and you have some tips or suggestions for ways I can improve my project or get funding, please let me know I'm new to this and very excited about it!
The second exciting piece of news is my blogiversary is coming up next week. Tuesday July 24th to be exact. I've got some good friends helping me with a giveaway that will go up on Tuesday. I'm having a sale in my TPT store from July 24th -28th. Then starting on the 25th through the 28th, I'll be having a flash freebie each day. So be sure to follow me to get your freebies.
Let me know if my daily 5 ramblings made any sense. I'm liking up with Fabulously First. Be sure to check out the other posts on Daily 5.

Friday Freebies and other random ideas

Last night was the last day of VBS. It's been a lot of fun but I'm glad it's over. I have been exhausted. I enjoyed being in the nursery with the little ones. Especially my sweet niece Kaley. Most of the little ones were 2 and that is such a fun age. Chris and I might have gotten a little teasing about me working in the nursery and when we might have a little one of our own. Since we've only been married a little over a month, I think we have some time. Although while I was at McKay's, a local used bookstore, I found a book called Our teacher's having a baby. I got it because I figured someone could use it and I will hopefully use it one day. I had it sitting on my desk at school because I wasn't sure where to put it when organizing my library. I thought about it and realized that I should put away or there would be all kinds of rumors going around school. So hopefully I put it away in time and no rumors will be started.
I've been spending some time on my computer this week trying to get a few random things done. I love the birthday balloons I've seen on blogs and on pinterest. That's what I did for my students' last year. Since I have the same kids this year, I needed a new idea. While I was cleaning out my treasure box, I found some bubbles. I have 12 so hopefully I can find some more next week. I think they came from the target party supplies. I made some labels to go on them. They just say Have a bubbly birthday. I have them as part of a freebie at the end of the post. I plan to have pictures of completed projects for my Made it Monday Post.

I have had this pin on my summer project to do list all summer. I finally decided to start working on it. When I went to the link for the picture, I found the freebies at Tattling to the Teacher. But they didn't fit my theme or the things I needed. So made some tags for my own. I would show you pictures of a completed project but I don't have a printer at home. So Tuesday when I'm able to go to school, I'll finish up this project. This freebie is at the end of the post too.
Another project I've been working on is my teacher binder. There are tons of these out there. I'm including a freebie that I made using Erin Bradley papers. I would love to make you a cover sheet of your own. If you are interested, just leave me a message and I'll be glad to email you one. Here's your freebie of the things I've talked about. Click here to download from dropbox. Please leave me some comment love if you download my freebies. I guess I need to get back to work on some units. I'm linking up with Friday Freebies at TBA. Be sure to check out all the great freebies.

New Classroom decoration and a meet up

So over the weekend I discovered a new graphic artist that I love Erin Bradley. I love her papers she sells. I found exactly what I wanting in my colors I'm doing my room in. I got a black and white pack and a navy and red pack. So I got creating and I have a freebie for you and want to show you something I'm making. I hate to write a blog post just about something that I'm selling but I'm too tired to post much else today. VBS is this week and I'm working in the nursery. It's wearing me out. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back with a post with some kind of substance. Anyway. here are a couple of pictures of my new black and white numbers I made to put up in my classroom. I just printed them out and laminated them today. I haven't had a chance to put them up in my classroom yet. They'll go perfect with the letters that I bought from The Moffat Girls.

 Here's the link to this item at my TPT store. Click here.  I love the black and white because they will go with any color theme I want to change to later.
I also made some month names for my calendar. They are navy and red. You can't tell as much that the navy is navy. Here's a picture on my calendar.

I'm offering those for free on my TPT store. You can get those by clicking here.  If you decide to download those, I would love for you to become a follower and leave me some feedback.

So my post won't be complete self promotion,  Mrs. Shelton at Mrs. Shelton's Kindergarten is organizing a East Tennessee, Western North Carolina and Western Virginia get together. Contact her if you are interested in coming. I'm planning on being there and would love to meet you! Check her blog out here if you want to come.

Monday Made it on Tuesday again!

So I'm excited to be linking up with 4th Grade Frolics Monday Made it party for 2 weeks in a row. My goal is to link up each week for the next few weeks so I can get some of my projects for school done. Although, I keep finding more projects I want to do so the to do list is a little never ending. I can't seem to link up on Mondays because I keep my niece Sophie on Mondays and I'm exhausted by the end of the day. Plus we have Vacation Bible School this week and I'm helping in the nursery so I was doubly exhausted last night. Anyway on to my projects for the week.
I had pinned this making words folder a long time ago and put on my summer project board. I got the templates from Teacher Bits and Bobs. I love making words and I'm always looking for easier ways to do it. I've only made one folder but I'd like to make a class set. I wanted an example so maybe I could find a volunteer to make the rest of them.

Next up are some clipboards. I have been seeing all the clipboard makeovers all over blog land and I decided I'd update my clipboards a bit. I tried covering the first one in duck tape but I didn't really like that it had bumps on it. So I decided to use scrapbook paper and duck tape to do the rest of them. I'm focusing on the colors red, black and blue for most of my decorations and things in the classroom.

I need to get some more clipboards so I can have one for each kid. I'll be putting that on my wishlist for my parents.
I was inspired by Tara's post last week with some scrapbook letters she used in a project and how she organized them. So I decided to do the same for my magnetic letters. I found some organizers at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 and used stickers to label each compartment so there would be a place for each letter. I still need to make some task cards to go with the letters.

I went to school today to try to get some more done on my classroom library. (I just noticed that my foot is in the picture above. How funny!) I got all the baskets labeled and placed on the shelves. I used zip ties to attach the labels to the baskets. It was a little tedious but I think they'll stay on the baskets rather than just using tape. Here's a picture of my library so far:

I decided to add some fabric and border to the back of the book shelf. I'm thinking I'll put up my I pick poster on this space.
I finally finished my bulletin board borders with the tissue paper. I also spiced up my calendar a little bit. I saw this tip over at Clutter Free Classroom. She suggested using ribbon to change up the calendar. I used some striped red ribbon on the border of the calendar and made my own month tags. I made some super hero ones but they didn't really match my colors. So I made some more. I think the month needs something around it but I'm not sure. I'm up for some suggestions.

So those are my projects this week and what I'm working on in my room. I need to get some things put away. I've just made mess after mess in my room so tomorrow I'm going to need to put things away and find a place for some of it.
Hopefully I'll get caught up on my book study of Daily 5 and some suggestions for Math Work Stations. VBS is wearing me out though so we'll see.  Be sure to check out the other projects from Monday Made it.

Fabulous Find Friday

I'm linking up with Fun in Room 4B for her Friday linky party about your fabulous finds. This is probably the only time I'm going to get to link up since I'm on a spending freeze after a trip to Big Lots.

Ok so I'm not sure that I followed all the rules with this whole linky party. I'm pretty excited about some of my recent finds. The first big one is from Big Lots. I found dry erase circles that I want to put on my table that I use for small groups. This would give kids a fun place to build words or respond to texts.

I also found some sticker dispensers from crayola that were really cheap and some large zipper pockets that I think I'm going to put math station activities or word work activities in it.
I went to Walmart Monday with my niece and found some really fun stuff in the 88 cent section. They have some really neat teacher geared things.

I found some of those smelly markers that I've seen all over blog land. I'm pretty excited about using them to grade papers. I also got some snap it things for your pencils. I'm working on an idea for rewards like erasers and these snap its for pencils. I haven't gotten it all set in my brain yet, but I'll share when I do. In the clearance section, I found some removable wall stickers in letters and then the phrase, "You are somebody's reason to smile." Not sure what I'm going to do with them but I'm sure I'll figure something out.
So those are my finds for the week. I'm going to have start finding some things in my classroom to finish decorating my room and getting ready for next year. Chris has put me on a spending halt. He was none to happy with my total spending this past week. I'm not use to having to worry about anyone else being affected by my spending. But I have lots of things in my room and my craft materials at home. I think I can finish most of the rest of the room without buying too much more. I'll probably have to avoid the dollar spot at Target and the Dollar Tree. Eeek! I'm off to Bible Study, tutoring, and then lunch with my teaching friend Sarah. I started attending a Bible study at church 2 weeks ago and I thought it started at 10:30 but it started at 10. Whoops. Don't want to be late today. Be sure to check out the other Fabulous Finds at Fun in Room 4B.




On an unrelated note, I'm guest blogging over at Kinder Kraziness. I have 2 freebies for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom so please go check it out. If you don't know Laura at Kinder Kraziness you should. She's my bloggy BFF and she's awesome. < /a>

Classroom update

So this week, I finally ventured into my classroom. It's probably a little earlier than I usually go in but I want to reorganize and inventory my classroom library. It's a pretty big project so I wanted to give myself time to work on it. So Tuesday, I went into my room and started sorting all my books. I put them in as many categories as I could with authors, characters, and subjects. I discovered that I do not have as many non fiction books as I would like. But I'm thinking of creating my first donor's choose project to try to get more nonfiction books. Anyway, after I made my piles, I made a list of all the categories I had made. I also started scanning in some of my books into the app Classroom Organizer. It's a web based service to inventory all your books. Check it out here. I can add books with an app on my phone by scanning the ISBN number. Not all books will scan in, especially the scholastic ones that I got through book orders. A lot of those don't have bar codes. But you can type in the book. What I like is that I can see the lexile, ar level and points and guided reading level for the books. I've only gotten a small portion scanned or entered in. It is a little tedious and I can only work on it for a little while. I went home and made labels for all my categories. Some of them I combined into favorite authors or favorite characters if I only had 2 or 3 of one. I also made some labels for my monthly tubs that I keep all the books and activities to go with it. If you would be interested in these labels you can get them by clicking here. I don't know that I suggest doing them the way I did. I printed them out and then cut them out and mounted them on scrapbook paper and laminated them. Here's a picture of them all laminated and in need of cutting out.

This is a picture of all my baskets. I still need a few more baskets for books. But I'm kind of a spending halt. But you'll have to read about that tomorrow on my Friday finds.The next step next week will be to attach the labels to the baskets and get the baskets on shelves. I'm hoping I have enough shelves. I'm trying to give up some of my space and make the room more the kids' space. I plan to punch holes in the cards and use zipties to attach the labels to the basket. I'll take pictures when I'm finished. I still haven't decided exactly how I want to the label the books so they know what basket they put the books back into. I've used color stickers before but that didn't work. I'm really going to have work on modeling and modeling on keeping the library in order. I didn't feel like I had accomplished much with all the library stuff because I just kept making a bigger and bigger mess. So I worked on my bulletin boards some. I wanted to try out the tissue paper borders I saw on Classroom DIY.  I'm really trying to focus on the colors red, black and blue. I don't want to redo everything I already have like my clipchart but I did recover my bulletin boards using black fabric. My large word wall one already has red fabric. But I took down the Dr. Seuss border and am using black ribbon with white polka dots. Here a couple of blurry pictures of my bulletin boards. I ran out of tissue paper so they aren't complete.

I think they look pretty good. I'm planning on doing our work one with black tissue paper borders similar to these. I'll post pictures when I'm done. I didn't finish the word wall one and I didn't get a picture I might have to get an opinion when I finish the ribbon part. It might need an extra border. I also plan to take down my Dr. Seuss alphabet and numbers down and replace them with Annie at The Moffat Girls' alphabet. Here's a picture of it all laminated:

I haven't decided what to do about the numbers. I might make my own or keep searching for some that match my color scheme. I'm still working on super hero things and I have added a few things to my file. So be sure to download it if you are interested in the freebie. I've added some signs for different boards and places around the room. I also made some monthly signs for my calendar. I'm not sure how well they will work because it's my first time making these.
Click here to get the freebies.
I'm trying out dropbox so let me know if it doesn't work. 
If you download one of my freebies, please leave me a little comment love.

Monday Made it on Tuesday

So I just can't seem to follow a schedule period. Not even when they are set by other people. I've been seeing all the Monday Made it posts all summer long and have wanted to join in but I hadn't motivated myself to make much. Now with only like 5 weeks left of summer, I have to get it in gear.I'm setting the goal of participating in this linky the rest of the summer. I made 2 trips to hobby lobby yesterday and a trip to Walmart so I'm almost completely ready for all kinds of crafting. I still need to go to the hardware store. I want to make some of the crate seats. I've got a few projects I need to get materials from school for. I'm heading into school for the first time this summer today. Well, as soon as I can motivate myself to get off the computer and get going. Ok so on to what I made for this week's post.

This was a project I had seen a few places on pinterest and a couple of other blogs. I think my inspiration was from The Silver Lining blog.You can see her version and instructions. I made mine a little different. I had pinned a couple times this website all about organization. The author of the website suggested having a place to put all your papers that gather on your desk. So this is my solution. I add some ribbon loops and hope to hang it up using some 3M hooks.

I have been wanting to make a retelling rope ever since I saw Kelli from Castles and Crayons guest post on Teaching in High Heels. You can check her post out here.  I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday and decided I was for sure going to get the pieces to make it. It was on my summer bucket list and something needed to get done on that list. I was in Hobby Lobby with Sophie and she loved this section of the store. By the time, we left I wasn't sure what wooden cut outs I had. Sophie kept putting them in my basket. The tree is for setting, gingerbread man is for characters, football for what kicks off the story, 3 buttons for beginning, middle, and end. Then a bow for what ties up the story. I think it turned out pretty cute.

My last project is some pointers. I bought the stuff to make these over Christmas break and never got around to it. I don't know why. It took me maybe 5 minutes to make. I hope they hold up. That will be the kicker. I might make a couple more. I still have some wooden cut outs that Sophie put in the cart. I want to let the kids use them on big books and reading books. Anyway, I'm excited I finally linked up and I might need someone to hold me accountable. Check out all the other great projects at 4th Grade Frolics.




On a couple of side notes, I'm contributing to a couple of good giveaways you should check out. I usually don't blog about giveaways. But I'm giving some things away, so I can't participate but you should check them out. The first is at Wild About Teaching. Lacey is up to 500 followers. Check out her giveaway here.



The second one is at Mrs. Shelton's Kindergarten. She's celebrating 100 followers. She's a fellow Tennessee blogger and since we are the volunteer state. Several Tennessee bloggers volunteered to help her out. Check out her giveaway here.