Throwback Thursday... Again!

I can't believe it's Thursday again already! This summer is flying by which makes me a little bit sad.

Debbie over at Crockett's Classroom has a great blog post and linky with thrifty ideas for the classroom. I thought this would be a great opportunity to revisit another old post from my old blog. Take a look at this one from July of last year...

Classroom Decor & More

I'm going to let you in on a little secret... my husband has a nickname for me. It's not Sweetheart or Honey Bunny or Hot Wife. It's "The Mad Starter." He has called me this for approximately 25 years, since we were friends in high school. Now what kind of nickname is that, you ask? Apparently an entirely appropriate one, even if I hate to admit it. I seem to have some kind of adult onset ADD which causes me to start one project after another without actually finishing any of them. If you don't believe me, please scroll down to the post about my kitchen cabinets. I have almost the bottom part done now, several weeks later. Okay, so what's the point of this? Well I'm onto another project. But it's an IMPORTANT one! I have to get my classroom organized and pretty. If you'll recall, I had to move to a new building on the last day of school. Everything had to be stuffed into the closets so they could put in new carpet and paint. So, now my room is a blank slate and this my chance to start from scratch, to make it look just right.  First step is decor... I (along with my partner teacher) have decided on a black and brights theme. We painted most of our book shelves black and I bought these great bins from Really Good Stuff in the lime green color...

We also have a collection of these baskets from the dollar store which we'll use for our easy readers...

Then I got 30 (that's right, THIRTY) of these awesome stacking baskets on clearance from Really Good Stuff which we will use for our centers and supplies...

I even made some super cute labels to hang on them...

So today I'm making organizers for our chapter books. Because I'm cheap thrifty, I've taken the awful, hideous cardboard things that came with our leveled readers and am painting them lime green. Here is what they looked like before...

And this is how they look after a little spray paint...

Much better, right? You can see I didn't quite get all the way back on the inside but I think it will be okay.  They will be full of books anyway. My plan is to put these (I have about 6 of them) inside my long black book shelf and organize our chapter books by series. The lime will look great on the black!

So that's my project for today. Unfortunately, I've run out of paint and will have to get more tomorrow which means my husband will be calling me "The Mad Starter" again tonight.

***********************************************************

Now here's a look at how those organizers ended up looking in my classroom...

Do you have a thrifty idea for the classroom? If so, head on over to Crockett's Classroom and link up!

The Magic Pen Pot

It's no secret that I became a teacher because of my school supply fetish. Every year I spend hours organizing my supply closet, putting everything in pretty little baskets with matching labels to show what's inside. Then, I round up all my teaching buddies and force them into the closet to view my masterpiece. Really, the supply closet is probably my favorite place on earth, next to Office Depot. Oh, how I love to shop for office supplies!

Now, what's the point in admitting this crazy obsession? Well, I discovered something that might help some of you other teachers out there. You know those days when you come to school and realize 1) there's a full moon or 2) tomorrow is Halloween, Christmas, spring break, or something other craziness-inducing holiday, or 3) your class has just gone off the deep end for no good reason at all? Well, there's a remedy and it's called...  special pens.

Normally, I hoard my special pens, hide them in my desk where no one else can get to them... especially my colorful gel pens. But then I realized that my student love them almost as much as I do. Whenever I bring them out to grade papers or write notes, I see their longing gazes and envious glances. One day it dawned on me to use these magical pens to my advantage... as a bribe, if you will.

Now, whenever one of the above mentioned days casts its evil spell on my little lovelies, I just pull out "The Magic Pen Pot"... a fancy ceramic pot full of the most glorious, colorful, and smelly gel pens. Some of them smell like cherry, some like grape, others like lemon. It's like a smorgasbord! The children's eyes pop out, their mouths immediately begin to water, and I nonchalantly announce, "I think I'll let the hardest working student use my magic pens today."

TA-DAH!! That's it! That's the solution to all of your teacher woes. As soon as the class realizes they might get to touch those special pens, they sit up straighter, start writing neater, and work like the rest of their lives depend on this one assignment. It's a miraculous transformation! And you know what, usually a lot of them earn the right to use those deliciously smelly, colorful pens. So I pass them around, giving each kid a certain amount of time with them. It makes their day, it improves mine, and somehow those magic pens make their work a lot better too.

Do you have a special way of motivating your students to work better or harder? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Throwback Thursday

Thanks to Katie at Mind Sparks for starting this great linky idea! We're digging up old blog posts and bringing them back for a second go-round. The post I'm revisiting is one that I wrote on my first blog, "Making Waves in 2nd Grade." It's all about my favorite read-aloud ever...


I don't know about you but the hardest part of my job right now is teaching writing. The kids either love to write and won't stop...even when they've gone wildly off topic... or they won't even pick up the pencil. One of my goals this year is to really build their vocabularies and hope (pray, fingers crossed) that it transfers to their writing. But I've done the explicit vocabulary instruction, the "colorful words" charts, etc. and decided someone else could probably do a better job of it. And who might that be, you ask?  Edward Tulane. More specifically, Kate DiCamillo, author of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

I decided to jump straight into really good chapter books as read-alouds... chapter books full of challenging vocabulary. Edward Tulane just happened to be the first one I tried and wow, did it pay off.  First of all, the kids were totally captivated by this book. I even had two little ones cry in the middle of it (not that I want to make my students cry) and they begged, yes BEGGED, me to read it as soon as they got to school every morning.

But the vocabulary... that's the best part!  We talked about all of those big words and we practiced using them and they put them in their writing notebooks. And guess what...I'm seeing them in their writing, along with other fantabulous words we've come across in books.

So, first I'd like to suggest reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane to your class. But I'd also like to ask for your suggestions. Do you know any really great chapter books that will challenge our kiddos to think harder and deeper?  Leave me a note if you do. I'd love to hear what must-have books are on your read-aloud list.



Edward Tulane Comprehension Pack

Thursday Threebie

I hope all of you are enjoying a relaxing summer! I've taken a break from blogging to create a Facebook page. Hop on over to enter my first Thursday Threebie giveaway! Just click on the picture to get there...

 

Don't Miss This Giveaway!

Good Luck Everyone!

I've teamed up with the best of the best TpT sellers for what I'm sure will be an amazing giveaway! 10 winners will each win one of the prize packages listed below. Each package contains a $10 shopping spree to 10 different stores- that a $100 shopping spree and a total of $1000 in products in all!

You can enter right from my page. Best of luck!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway