Math Manipulatives and Reading Program Frustrations

It's been a LONG week of orientations, trainings, and institutes!

First, for the good news! I follow ETA/Cuisenaire on facebook, and a while back, they offered a giveaway of a set of their new mini VersaTiles cases. I entered it, and then they ended up giving it away to everyone who entered! I got my set of 10 in the mail today.

I'm so excited about this! As you may remember, my math manipulative situation is pretty desperate. Although these aren't really manipulatives, they're more like a review tool, I still think they will complement our math program well! Also I can use them for other subjects! And I found out that I can create my own VersaTiles activities using the template on their website!

And now for the semi-bad news. Yesterday, I went to two trainings so I can learn how to use my new reading program, Superkids.

I'm pretty sure no one uses this besides the Archdiocese of Chicago. This program was created by the woman who made American Girls. It is extremely phonics heavy, as in, they don't want you to teach any other word-attack strategies. Their idea of differentiation is using the same decodable reader for all of the students, but just "teaching it in different ways." If you have a high reader, you aren't supposed to give the kid a chapter book - you're just supposed to force the kid to read the -sh digraph story regardless.

I read a LOT this summer, including the Daily Five, Reading With Meaning, and Growing Readers books. Everything these books told me to do is opposite of this program. In the first grade program, they even literally said in the training manual that students should only be reading SuperKids materials - no authentic text.

I am just beside myself. Luckily, having read all of these books, I had enough backup to convince my principal that I can't teach SuperKids the way they intend and that I need to supplement it highly. Luckily, he said that was fine and he is supporting my choice! If I did everything according to their crazy plan, I would spend 90 minutes on first grade and 120 minutes on second grade. Ummm...???

So that's the scoop! We start school, I'm pretty happy with how my room looks, and I'm going in tomorrow with my next-door buddy to continue getting things ready!

Bulletin Boards!!

Today I brought my amazing cousins to school with me to help me decorate my room a little! It's crazy how much better my room looks with my bulletin boards covered and bright!

Here is my student work board! I got the Bravo idea from Pinterest, but I repinned it from someone and it's not linked to anyone specifically.... so if you made the Bravo board with the zebra print - you are amazing and I will be MORE than happy to give you credit! I found this shiny paper in a secret storage room downstairs. The black papers will be covered with student work soon. I think I will make some glittery clothespins to make them more exciting!! Also in this picture you can see my SUPER awesome ASL alphabet. It just warms my heart.

Here is my calendar board. I don't love it because it is so squeezed!! Also I think I need more things, like how many days we've been in school, however, I bought Cara Carroll's Calendar Companion, and it includes everything I want to do during calendar time. So maybe it doesn't necessarily need to be displayed? Thoughts?

This is my lunch board! The bottom three pockets say Cold Lunch, Milk, and Hot Lunch on them. Every morning, the students will come in and put the appropriate color slip in their pocket to tell me what they are ordering!

This is the tiny bulletin board right next to my desk. I'm going to use it as my space to put my diploma and other me-things. I also love this border because of the different languages!

Here is my clip chart which I got from the lovely Denise of Sunny Days in Second Grade! I love it because it is so colorful. I just jammed it into the top of my NON-magnetic whiteboard for now but I think I will hot glue it on before school starts so it's centered vertically.

I still have a couple more things to do but I am so happy with how everything turned out!!! My cousins are the bomb dot com! I realized that I have a lot of ideas in my brain, but carrying them out is not my strong suit. Kelley and Lisa are great at flattening out bulletin board paper and fabric and picking out good borders for the boards! This is us at Easter. :)

Tomorrow I have a training for my reading program, but I hope I get back early enough to bring these two lovely ladies back to school because we got so much done today!!!

Classroom Setup: Complete!

With a week left until opening day, I went in today to finish up the nuts and bolts of my classroom.

Over the weekend, I visited my local Super Target (thanks for the tip, Sydney!), and I bought baskets for my classroom library. They were only $2.99 and came in an assortment of colors! I bought the medium size and they fit a ton of books inside AND fit perfectly on my little shelves.

I set out everybody's BEE binders and Religion books on their desks along with their nametags so I could get a sense of where I wanted everyone to go. I think my groups will be good for now based on what I know about my incoming students!

And here is the view from the back corner! You can see all three of my tables and my desk! Also you can see where my library is relative to the rest of my room.

So, if the students were to come in tomorrow, I would be ready enough! All I have left to do is decorate bulletin boards, hang up my alphabet line, get my word wall ready, and label my library baskets. Well, I have lot more to do, but those are the BIG things I definitely want to have done by the 16th!

If you'd like to see more pictures of my developing classroom, you can look here! For pictures of other teachers' amazing rooms, check out the classroom pictures linky party hosted by Teaching Blog Addict!

More (Unfinished) Classroom Pictures

This week, I was able to go in on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to start working on my room. On Thursday and Friday, I made a list of everything I had to do..... and I was super stressed. So I went in today with my brother (and my parents joined us later) to get a lot done. And I think we got a LOT done!

My brother finished up my crate seats! And you can see my stacks of books in the background...

And here they are, finished around my circle table! I ended up using three different fabrics for my six seats. The first one was from a skirt I started making in high school, the second fabric is a Go Green print (yeah!), and the third is a school one!

Here is a a close-up of the bookshelf behind the circle table. It is still pretty empty, but I'll keep my students' hardcover reading books in here once they come in. I'm keeping my caddies on top. I bought four but I only have three tables.... oh well.

I moved my computers so that they weren't blocking the bulletin board anymore. And, dedicated readers will be pleased to know that the computer table covers up my creepy green people!!!

Here is my little rocking chair and easel. My bulletin boards clearly are not done yet. Also I need to replace the cushion on the rocking chair, as I think it was made for a lawn chair.

My mom figured out a great way to hold my tiny chalkboards so the students can get to them fast! This black cabinet is where I found the huge stack of records the other day.

And lastly, here is my desk! Do you love my gigantic monitor? Yeah, me too...

And now, a question for you: what can I use this pocket chart for? I've never seen one without clear pockets! We put books in the pockets so you can see how deep the pockets are. Please help me!!

And..... a final treat! My mom and I went to the county fair yesterday and I found this cow who was clearly named after me. She is a big mama at the tender age of 2.

More pictures to come next week, between institutes and trainings and all that jazz. Next Wednesday is classroom decorating day with my cousins!!

Christmas in July!

Early last month, I found out about an opportunity to participate in a Christmas in July book exchange! Today, I received my package from Caitlin at Learning Ahoy. :)

In my package, I got two books!! I received The Naughty Fairy's Naughty Surprise and Snail's Birthday Wish!

I haven't heard of either of these books, and I love learning about new books to read aloud and add to my classroom library! Both of the books are SUPER cute, I can definitely see myself using them for Reader's Workshop mini-lessons, and I think my students will really love reading them over and over. :) Thanks, Caitlin! :)

I sent One Hundred Hungry Ants to Caitlin.

This is also a cute book about ants trying to get to a picnic. On their way, they rearrange themselves to try to find the fastest way to get there! I can definitely see its use for arrays, as the ants describe their 4 rows of 25, or their 10 rows of 10, but for students who aren't ready for arrays, multiplication, or division, I made an activity for Caitlin that asked the students to write a letter to the one hundred hungry ants telling them why they shouldn't come to our picnic! I can't wait to use the activity with my own class and read what the students come up with.

This was a super fun Christmas in July book exchange! :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Yay for Wednesday! It came fast this week for me.

I'm loving that I have been able to spend time in my classroom this week! I just wish I could have gone in earlier... but I definitely am making progress so I am feeling good about that!

I'm loving these baskets from the Container Store! There is an option to ship them to my nearest store, so I can avoid shipping costs, and I found a coupon code online that reduced my total by $10! Although I wish they were bright (as my room is extremely brown) I will just make my book basket labels colorful to make up for it!

I'm loving that the teacher before me left many good books in the classroom! I found many Kevin Henkes books and a few Skippyjon Jones books, as well as a TON of Junie B.'s!! This brightens my heart.

I'm loving that my next-door teacher friend came to school today. It was a big relief to go into her room and take a break every once in a while! Also we have big plans for our rooms - the kids won't know what hit them! I'm excited for her reading nook and couch!!

I'm loving that I found a rocking chair in the library at school that no one was using, and I asked my principal if I could have it, and he said yes! I was sort of looking for one this summer but I got too busy and forgot. But now I'm good! I just need to find some cute fabric to make cushions.

I'm loving my cute pupster. He got his hair cut today and he is cuter than ever!!

I'm loving that my library had Chrysanthemum so I can use it for the first day of school! I'm also loving that Mrs. M at The Techy Teacher posted a free name activity for the beginning of school! I am totally using it and she just made my day today. :)

And finally, I'm loving mi familia! My dad made my crate seats (I just have to buy fabric), my mom is just the bomb dot com, and my bro sat through me reading Chrysanthemum to him in the car on the way home from the library and didn't even complain! What a pal.

I had a question that I wanted to ask my teacher blog buddies but I totally forget now what it was... maybe tomorrow. :)

August Currently

Oh' Boy Fourth Grade is hosting a Think Write Share linky party about what we're doing currently! Here's my list...

After I wrote it, I realized that I didn't say how much I want one of Hadar's signs from Etsy! I especially want this one:

Also, I wanted to share a few pictures from my adventures in my classroom today. My goals for today included emptying out a few cabinets and file cabinets. I didn't get everything done that I wanted, but I definitely made a dent. While I was emptying one little cabinet, I found a huge stack of records. What this tells me is that clearly no one has cleaned out my classroom in like 30 years!

In that huge pile of books I shared yesterday, I also came across this old science book. Can I just say: why do photographers have kids make these stupid faces??

And lastly, when I was about to leave, I realized that I couldn't find my phone in the big mess that I had made. I ran to the office to call myself so I could find it, and while I was in the office I found my basket for next year, along with my next-door teacher friend's basket!! This made my day; I feel like a real teacher now!! Yay!

I think tomorrow I might try to tackle the library... wish me luck!! And link up with the partay!