Almost there

I'm almost ready and thought I'd let you see a few new pics. 

"OWL" have a blast using these!

Great find Mom! She found this cute little, wooden owl puppet and so I went and got two more and painted them. I may have to go get a few more later this week. I think I might end up using them for groups. When they have an answer ready to share, they have one person hold up their group owl. I was also thinking they would be good on field trips. Give one to each chaperone and they will be a lot easier to find. They just have to hold up their owl and the kids find the right color group. There are an endless amount of opportunities!

Getting Down to the Wire

We're almost down to a week of summer break left and I love setting up my classroom.  Here's a few pictures of my favorite things for you to see!

This is my new management system!  One of my teammates from last year also decided to use owls this year and found this beauty.  She copied it for both of us and I can't wait to use it!

 A new reading comprehension poster I found on Pinterest.  I finally got around to making it and can't wait to use this as well.  It breaks down the story line into the most important aspects that the kids can remember to summarize quickly.

 New birthday calendar: (red and blue class names are written in their respective colors)

 Cute listening poster I found on Pinterest...again!

 And finally...my bulletin board!!!!  :)  I LOVE how it turned out.  Each little owl has the students' names and the color of the class they are in.  As I went to put it up I found out that I'm missing the 'r' in "hooray" and I lost the exclamation points.  I'll recut those this weekend and put them up next week.

A Few Hours Later

Yesterday I spent about 5 hours in my new room and got quite a bit done. Here are some pictures and a 360 degree video. Enjoy!

The board with the leaves will be for the student of the week.

A Blank Slate

Here are some pictures of my NEW classroom before any decorations are up (I tried to do a 360 arial):

 When you first walk in there is this little counter with cupboards.

 The back right corner

I can't wait to get started!!!

'Owl' have a blast making these this summer!

So I saw this great idea on pinterest the other day. A teacher had made owls with each student's name on it for the beginning of the year and put them on her door. I decided to do that as well and just got these little guys done. Aren't they so adorable????

They are taking me quite a while but I hope to get them finished tonight do I can laminate them tomorrow at the district ISC.

Summertime and my LONG Book List!

It has been so nice this last week to get away and visit with family.  I've truly enjoyed my little vacation.  I stopped by the Clutter-Free Classroom blog the other day and read about their Summer Reading Contest.  I've already started on a lot of my fun reads for the summer.  I've got such a long list of books that my little 4th graders wanted me to read so I had to get started right away.  Just yesterday I finished the Percy Jackson Series and I LOVED it (yes - I have only been out of school for a week and have finished all 5 books)!  So much adventure with a little mystery thrown in.  My guilty reading pleasure is definitely children's fiction!  I can't get enough of it (definitely still a little kid at heart).  Here's a few more books that are on my to-do list this summer:

1.  "Hunger Games" series by Suzanne Collins (my roommate and two students have been after me about reading these)
2. "Lockdown" by Traci Hunter Abramson

3. "Inkheart" Series by Cornelia Funke
4. "Fablehaven" series by Brandon Mull
5. "The Beyonders" by Brandon Mull
6. "Uglies" by Scott Westerfield
7. "Miles To Go" by Richard Paul Evans
8. "39 Clues" Series
9. "Seven Daughters and Seven Sons" by Barbara Cohen
10. "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Spear

These are just the beginning....And as far as professional development goes, I'd also like to look into "Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product" by Gail Tompkins.  Hopefully this will help me get some ideas to strengthen my writing for next year!