All Things Bulletin Boards

I am linking up with Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Angie from Lucky Little Learners to bring you my newest bulletin board and a few bulletin board tips because #2getherwearebetter!

First up is my new bulletin board, just in time for Back to School! My new bulletin board focuses on social skills and character education. It is very important to me that I teach my students social skills early on in the school year. Since I follow a Responsive Classroom approach in my room, I always start the year off teaching my students that "Our Class CARES"! CARES stands for Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-control. These five traits fit right into my curriculum the first month of school because we work so much on setting up routines, exceptions, and rules. 

When students enter the classroom the bulletin board looks quite bare because I want them to be part of the process of putting it up. I first start with just the banner across the top. As I introduce each skill we add the large word and definition to the bulletin board. Once we discuss a trait and fully understand the skill, we then add the “looks like” examples to our board. 

For example, when I introduce the meaning of responsibility we read the Mo Willems book "I Will Take a Nap!" After reading the story we discuss what it means to be responsible and how Gerald was responsible in the book. We come up with a class definition so everyone understands what responsibility means. Then we play a fun game called "Showdown" to sort through task cards with examples and non-examples of responsibly. After this activity students have a better understanding of this social skill and we add the "looks like" cards under the definition. We add to the bulletin board that responsibility looks like; following directions, telling the truth, working hard, completing school work, and keeping our school safe. 

If you are interested in the bulletin board and the 5 lessons that go along with teaching students about CARES click HERE to check out the bundled pack and save $4! 

Next up is a little information about my bulletin boards! I love to have bulletin boards in the classroom that we add to throughout a unit or subject. I usually have a reading bulletin board and then a science or social studies bulletin board. 

Just like with the CARES bulletin board, I will put up a header and then as we learn more about a subject we add to the board. My bulletin board is one large one, so I divide it in half to use it for two different subjects. The board on the left is for our focus on reading and understanding fluency, accuracy, comprehension and expanding vocabulary. The board on the right was from our American Indian unit in social studies. We were learning about Pueblo, Lakota, and Powhatan tribes so we compared their region, homes, land, and transportation. I used string to help divide the sections on this bulletin board. 

A finally, one tip for you! If you don't have too many bulletin boards in your room then get crafty, make some fun anchor charts, and hang them up with Command Hooks! I only have one large bulletin board in my room so in my reading corner I added 6 Command Hooks on the wall and hang three different anchor charts in this area. Using the hooks makes it quick and easy to replace the anchor charts. 

Thanks for checking up my new bulletin board and learning more about bulletin boards in my class. Ashley and Angie will be linking up the 2nd of every month for more #2getherwearebetter!

Beliefs to Actions Blog Hop!

I am happy to be hopping along with Whitney from With Love From Texas today to share with you my beliefs of education. I feel this time of year is always the perfect time to reflect on my philosophy of education, in order to prepare me for the beginning of each school year and get me back into a educational mindset after being off all summer!

My philosophy of education is to teach not only the knowledge that students need to know but also instill in them qualities that will help them be successful throughout their lifetime.  Through providing engaging activities where students can self-discover and work with other students I believe that they will increase their own understanding of content.  I believe it is very important for students to have multiple opportunities to explore and learn lifelong skills such as communication, collaboration, and problem solving. 

In my classroom I like to use Kagan Cooperative learning structures and techniques.  I use Kagan procedures to set up table groups in my classroom.  I do this by looking at students reading, writing, and math abilities and then grouping them so that students have the opportunity to work with other learners.  Once teams are set up in my classroom we often do many structures that involved students working with partners or table teams.  One of my favorite Kagan structures is ‘Quiz-Quiz-Trade’ because it allows students the opportunity to communicate with other students while actively reviewing content.

I also use a Responsive Classroom approach in my classroom.  With Responsive Classroom we have daily morning meetings where students practice greeting others, sharing, and listening.  It is an important part of our day because it sets the tone in our classroom that we will respect others and treat others the way we want to be treated.  I like using Responsive Classroom because I have learned to use reinforcing, reminding, and redirecting language to keep my students on task and focused.  Students also take breaks in our classroom and we discuss ways to regain control of our bodies through taking deep breaths, counting to ten and reflection.  These are all skills that will help them through conflict resolution as they grow into adults. 

When reflecting on my philosophy of education I am reminded of a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”  I believe this to be true because I see education as an opportunity to develop one’s own self through practicing and obtaining skills that will help them through life.  I believe it is important for me to demonstrate my passion for learning and encourage my students to be lifelong learners as well. 

Thank you for hopping along to read about my educational beliefs! To continue the hop visit Whitney from With Love From Texas!

Must Read Monday: Cooperation

The Kindergarten Connection and Kindergarten Planet are hosting a great summer linky called Must Read Monday! 

I love finding new books that other teachers use in their own classroom so I am here today to share with you three books I love to use when teaching my students about cooperation and team work. I believe that cooperative learning should be incorporated into all subjects because it infused social skills into academic curriculum. Through cooperative learning students can develop important social skills such as effective communication, eye contact, active listening, and so much more. To help my students learn about effective cooperation we start the school year off with many picture books that display the importance of cooperation. 
Here are a few of my classes favorites:
First up...Swimmy by Leo Lionni

This story is about a little fish named Swimmy. The ocean can be a scary place full of danger until one day Swimmy teaches the other fish how they can all work together to keep danger away! It is an adorable story that really illustrates how a group of fish can accomplish something great when they call "school up"! 
Next up...Stick by Steve Breen

Stick is a frog who gets carried away by a dragonfly one day and he ends up far away from home. It takes the cooperation of many animals to help him make his way back. This book is great for young readers because the whimsical illustrations tell the story with limited text.

Finally...Duck & Goose by Tad Hills

Duck and Goose come across an extraordinary discovery (or so they think)! They both want to take care of an egg but there is a problem..Duck doesn't really care for Goose and Goose isn't too fond of Duck. As they begin to take care of the so called egg, they begin to work together and find out that they might just really like being friends. 

If you enjoy teaching your students about cooperation, stay tuned!!! I am working on something BIG for the beginning of the school year that will focus on collaboration and your students are sure to love the story that I have in store for this big surprise! 

Winner Wednesday: Measurement Problem Solving

I am linking up with Jennifer from A Day of Glue Will Do again to bring you the chance to win a product from my store for FREE! All you will have to do is enter your name into the Rafflecopter below!   

This month you could win this Problem Solving: Measurement packet. This packet included 22 word problem performance tasks that cover time, calendar skills, money, volume, weight and measurement. An answer key is also included. You could use these for homework, centers, math notebooks, and so much more! 

My team loves to use them in centers for guided math!

If you would like to enter to win this product for FREE please enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The drawing ends at midnight tonight so make sure to enter right away! I will email the lucky winner a copy of this product on Thursday. 

If you can't wait to get your hands on this problem solving packet, then check it out in my store! 

Also, feel free to follow me on Facebook or Bloglovin' for other future Winner Wednesday FREEBIES and giveaway updates! Winner Wednesday happens the first Wednesday of every month thanks to Jennifer's wonderful link up! Make sure to mark your calendars for August 5th and check back here for my next Winner Wednesday, just in time for the beginning of the school year! 

Tell All Tuesday: Summer Flashback

It's time for another Tell all Tuesday with Jayme from Teach Talk Inspire and Diana from My Day in K! Todays Tell all Tuesday is a summer flashback to way back when...

Each summer my family would travel down to Duck, North Carolina for a week at the beach. It was a summer tradition that lasted throughout my high school years. 

When I was little my Dad was always working so I quickly learned that a week at the beach was a guaranteed week of Daddy time, without him leaving for work! I loved stroller rides and time at the beach but there was one thing I didn't like...sand!  

Headed to the beach with Dad!

I hated the sand so much that my parents had to put a boogie board down just to give their arms a break from holding me. Once I was on that boogie board I wouldn't move, I would stand there the whole time and just look around. My parents didn't have to worry about me running away when we were down by the water, thats for sure! 

A few years later I got over my fear the sand but to this day I still hate the feeling of sand in my bathing suit. I mean..does anyone really like that feeling?!? I am not one to sit on the shore and let the waves rush over me unless I am in a chair (and a good book in my hands). 

Anyone else with me?

Thanks for check out my summer flashback true confession!

Share & Prepare: B.O.Y. Hopes & Dreams

I am linking up with Marie from Once Upon a Classroom to "Share and Prepare" for the beginning of the school year this fall! 

Each school year, before starting with classroom rules, I have my students start by identifying their "Hopes and Dreams" for the coming school year and for their future. From these hopes and dreams we then create our class rules by posing the question, "If we want to achieve all of our hopes and dreams, what rules will we need to make our classroom a safe and friendly place where hopes and dreams can be reached?" I have found by creating these hopes and dreams first and then having students think of rules that the class will need, it gives them a sense of ownership to the rules that are created.

So how do I get my students to generate hopes and dreams you ask?

While, before introducing hopes and dreams I use a treasure box full of items that show the class what they can expect to learn during their school year. For example, in my box this past year I had the following items:

• Butterfly wings from our Monarch Butterflies unit
• Clock from our math unit on measurement
• Writer's notebook from our Writing Workshop to discuss that we will be becoming authors
• Piece of animal skin to show the type material used to make clothing worn by American Indians from our social studies unit
• Baseball to represent Jackie Robinson from our famous Americans unit
• Weather vane used during our weather unit
• And much more! 

The students love finding out what items come out of the 'treasure box' and it gets them excited for the year to come!

After the box is revealed, I read the book Someday by Eileen Spinelli. I love this book because the main character has all sorts of hopes and dreams for her future but she does things each day to help her reach her future goals. During this book I begin discussing that we all have hopes and dreams for our future just as the girl in the story does. 

Then we examine some hopes and dreams by using partnering cards and then student generate a list of possible hopes and dreams for our school year and their future. To conclude this activity students then write and draw about their own hopes and dreams from the pages in this product:

We display our hopes and dreams in the classroom the whole year on our back wall. This past year I cut out pictures of my students and had them glue it between the speech bubbles so that parents could see their own child's hopes and dreams on back to school night! The class loved looking at each others pictures and it also helped them identify students in the classroom since they are still learning each other's names early in the year.

My HOPE is that I gave you some new ideas to start your school year off this fall! I usually complete this activity sometime during the first week of school. My DREAM is that your students will love this activity as much as my past classes have! 

You can visit my store to get a copy of this product HERE!

Happy share and prepare!

Tell All Tuesday: Summer Snapshot

It's Tuesday which means it is time for Tell all Tuesday. I am linking up with Teach Talk Inspire and My Day in K again and this weeks topic is Summer Snapshot.  

This is the last week of school for my school district and summer is so close you can almost taste it!  This summer we are taking more of a stay-cation with the baby being so little. So, I am going to be dreaming about our summer trip from last year. 

We went down to South Carolina and boy do I LOVE IT THERE! While down in the Carolina's we traveled to downtown Charleston, Boone Hall Plantation, and Isle of Palms. 

South Carolina

We love the historic feel and architecture of Charleston, not to mention the amazing restaurants that are down there. Our favorite two restaurants were Poogan's Porch and 82 Queen. 

Waterfront Park, Charleston, SC

Charleston, SC

We also went to Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant. We had a great time touring the home, not to mention I love the live oak trees that line the entrance of the plantation. 

Boone Hall Plantation where part of the The Notebook was filmed

We also spent a lot of time on the beach and enjoying this great view from the condo we rented for the week! 

Isle of Palms, SC

I would love to hear your favorite places to visit when in the Charleston area! We are going to be headed there early next spring for a wedding and would love to check out any of your suggestions!

Make sure to check out these great bloggers summer snapshot too:

An InLinkz Link-up

Tell All Tuesday: Fib Reveal

On Tuesday I linked up with Teach Talk Inspire and My Day in K for a fun game of "Two Truths and a Lie". I am back today to reveal my fib and also share a freebie with you!

1. (TRUE) I spent a week in Walt Disney World one summer to attend a conference all about Kagan structures. We looked at different intelligences and practicing structures. The structures help students become engaged in curriculum while learning to collaborate with their peers. 
2. (FALSE) I looped from 2nd Grade to 3rd Grade with my students. I love looping and think that it is very beneficial. Looping with a class can increase learning time because the class can spend less time learning routines at the beginning of the second school year and students gain a sense of stability and constancy.  
3. (TRUE) I still keep in touch with my favorite elementary school teacher from 4th Grade. Her passion for teaching was so radiating that she inspired me to become a teacher myself.

Number 2 is almost TRUE except for the fact that I didn't loop with my second graders to third...I looped with my first graders to second! Looping with my class was an AWESOME experience and I recommend it to any teacher who has thought about trying out a new grade level. 

Looping with a class has many benefits for both the teacher and the students. Just to name a few:

• The teacher has fewer students and parents with whom to relate over a longer period of time, allowing for more in depth knowledge about the students and their needs 
• Learning time increases as the students are already familiar with the teacher and routines during the second year
• The sense of community in the classroom is stronger; greater support for children who look to school as a stabilizing influence in their lives

Personally, the best part of looping was continuing to build a strong relationship with my students. The year that I looped I didn't have the same butterflies in my stomach because I knew my students strengths and areas for growth right away. From the start of the second year I was able to start differentiating to help my students transition smoothly into second grade. 

Another big difference was my students excitement as they started the second year with me. They came in the first day ready to share all about their summer. Instead of a quiet first day of school when students are still shy, my students were talking up a storm. We still spent some time playing a few fun ice breaker/get to know you games because who doesn't love a fun ice breaker?!?! But then it was right to work! We were able to get started on the curriculum much sooner then all of the other classes. They say to spend the first six weeks working on routines but I would say that we cut that time in half the second year because so many routines my students were able to recall. We didn't have to spend a whole week learning how and where we put away supplies or how I like papers collected.  

I have added the letter, to my TPT store, that I sent to my student's families last year to communicate with them that I would be looping. My principal and I worked together to allow parents input, so with the letter I have also included a parent looping preference form. 

If you ever get the chance to loop...DO IT! I promise you won't regret it! :)

Thank you for stopping by to find out my fib!

Tell All Tuesday: Two Truths and a Lie

I am linking up with Jayme from Teach Talk Inspire and Diana from My Day in K today for their first Tell All Tuesday Link Up! This week we are getting to know other teachers and bloggers with a great beginning of the school year game: "Two Truths and a Lie!" 

If you haven't played "Two Truths and a Lie" before here is how it works: give three "facts" about yourself making two of them true and one of them untrue. 

Let's see if you can guess my fib:

1. I spent a week in Walt Disney World one summer to attend a conference all about Kagan structures. We looked at different intelligences and practicing structures. The structures help students become engaged in curriculum while learning to collaborate with their peers. 
2. I looped from 2nd Grade to 3rd Grade with my students. I love looping and think that it is very beneficial. Looping with a class can increase learning time because the class can spend less time learning routines at the beginning of the second school year and students gain a sense of stability and constancy.  
3. I still keep in touch with my favorite elementary school teacher from 4th Grade. Her passion for teaching was so radiating that she inspired me to become a teacher myself.   

Thanks for stopping by and spending a little time getting to know me! Leave a comment below to tell me which number you think is my fib. I'll be sharing which one was the lie by Friday. Don't forget to also stop by others in this link up to get to know them too! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Winner Wednesday: End of the Year Math Review Task Cards

I am linking up with Jennifer from A Day of Glue Will Do again to bring you the chance to win a product from my store for FREE! All you will have to do is enter your name into the rafflecopter below!  

This Cumulative End of the Year Math Review covers concepts taught throughout the school year. This set includes 30 task cards with directions for three different games. Using this set students can play Showdown in groups of 3 to 4 students, move throughout the classroom in a Scoot, or play Quiz-Quiz-Trade to quiz others in their class! 

These task cards cover the following concepts: place value, number sense, skip counting, rounding, fractions, addition, subtraction, word problems, time, money, geometry, measurement, and much more! An answer key is also included.

A colleague of mine used these in her room for a classroom Scoot! Her kids love moving around and are very active so she finds that review activities that allow them to move are the most beneficial. My class loves to talk and interact with others so I use these cards for small group Showdown! My kids love becoming the "Showdown Captain" and reading the task cards aloud. 

If you would like to enter to win this product for FREE please enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The drawing will end tonight at midnight so make sure to enter right away! I will email this product to one lucky winner! 

If you can't wait to get your hands on this copy, visit my TPT store and grab now! If you are a first grade teacher and would like a cumulative end of the year math review I also have a set of task cards available at my store just for first grade! 

Also, feel free to follow me on Facebook or Bloglovin' for other future Winner Wednesday FREEBIES and giveaway updates! Winner Wednesday happens the first Wednesday of every month thanks to Jennifer's wonderful link up!