Monday Made It - Question of the Day Board and More

I am so excited that I can actually link up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It today! It has been awhile since I joined up with this fun linky party.

This first project has been on my to do list forever! I just could never find a large oil drip pan like this anywhere! This pin is from Proud to be Primary. It's a large magnetic board for the question of the day!



After constantly checking Walmart, hardware stores, and auto parts stores in my area with no luck, I finally found one on Amazon! I thought it was going to be smaller, but it's pretty big! It measures about 2 feet by 3 feet. I think it's the perfect size for this project! Plus it was only $22 and free shipping (when you spend over $25, but there are always books in my cart, so that was NOT a problem!).
So first up, I gave the pan a little quick rub down with some Goo Be Gone to get rid of any smudges or sticker residue left on it. Next I hung two small Command hooks at the top and used some purple masking tape to make the lines. I laminated and taped on some of my new Chalkboard Brights Letters from Teacher Created Resources. Then I hung my daily questions with binder rings on the Command hooks and placed round student number magnets at the bottom.

Each day we will flip to a new question and students will move their magnet number from the bottom section to either the "yes" or "no" sections. It will be part of our morning routine to answer the question so that I can check who is present and who is absent. It can also serve as a good discussion time and a math opportunity to count and talk about more/less.

I have a set of questions for each month that are on binder rings. The rings hang onto the Command hooks. Each month I just stick the new set of cards up and each day we flip to the next question. It is so easy to setup that even my student helper can do it. Same with resetting the numbers at the end of the day--a perfect job for a student helper.

These are my students' number magnets. More details about them below.

I decided to create a pack of questions for each month that I could use with my question board. The cards are two-to-a-page, so they are each about 4.25x11" big. They feature a hint of chalkboard and bright colours. Each month will have twenty-two question cards, along with six blank ones that you could write on with a dry erase marker or Sharpie.

I will also be bundling all the questions into a yearly pack. You will get all 220 cards for a discounted price. That's more than enough question cards to last you the entire year, so you can pick or choose some . There are no duplicate cards. Each of the months has a few holiday/seasonal themed cards (Halloween, Christmas, etc.), but there are lots of generic cards as well. (So far only September and October are done, but the rest will be done by the end of August!)

I have these Neon Book Bins from Really Good Stuff that I love. They have held up super well over three years now. Anywho, my new classroom theme is going to be chalkboard with brights--focusing on the colours pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Well, the book bins I have are only in pink, yellow, green, and blue, so OF COURSE I had to be matchy-matchy and order some purple and orange book bins to complete my theme. These book bins will work as my students' book bins, house my home reading books, and hold some of my special teacher-only books and read alouds.

I created some cute numbered labels for my students' book bins.

You can find the circle labels from my question board above and these fancy labels in my new classroom decor pack. Each type of label comes in numbers 1-30 and letters A-Z. Check them out by clicking the picture below. The chalkboard decor style does use up a bit more ink that other designs, so if you are more ink-conscious, I still have my Rainbow Polka Dot labels.

Another project that has been on my to do list for over two years now were these Story Stones. These pictures are from Natalie over at Natalie's Nook. I already had the stones bought and the pictures printed and cut out--I just needed to modge podge them! Students can use these stones for story ideas during writing time. They turned out pretty cute!

While I had the modge podge out, I covered up the labels on my "What's that Smell?" jars for my senses explore tubs. Read more about those {here}. I also added number stickers to the bottom so I could create a little answer key for myself. Note: put numbers on the bottom of the jar, not the lid, because lids can easily get mixed up!

Here is another science activity I put together for my living things explore tubs. (Those will be up on the blog soon enough, along with my objects and materials tubs!) This is a seed matching activity. You need some packets of different seeds, small containers, and dot stickers. I emptied the seeds into the small containers (one type of seed per container), placed a matching number sticker on the back of the seed packet and the top of the seed container, modge podged the seed container, and laminated the seed packets.

Students can practice matching up the seeds to the type of plant. Here's my little Zoe having fun with the seeds. She just liked shaking them and hearing the sounds that they made!

Woo! That was a lot for a Monday. Now we can take it easy and get some coffee! :)

Oh, P.S. Math Book Monday is taking a little vacation until I go back to school in September. Most of my math books are at school anyways, so I will just wait until school is back on. Then I will be able to show you books that we are actually reading in class and what my class is working on to go with them.

Colourful Binder Organization--What's Inside?

I posted this picture on my Instagram and Facebook and got a lot of positive feedback. I just love colourful, organization. Tubs, binders, containers.... love it all! I will give you a peek at what is inside each of the binders. I will put a list of links for each binder of different units that I use in my teaching--some from me and some from other bloggers!

I have to go purchase two more yellow binders. I only have one binder for all of my writing activities so far and it's bursting at the seams! I will split up my activities into three binders. I have all of my activities sorted by the 6 writing traits and by type of writing (how to, lists, letters, non-fiction, etc.). I like to focus on a different type of writing each month. I put all of my blackline masters and lesson pieces into clear page protectors.

Engaging Writing Activities by Reagan Tunstall

Writing Through the Year Bundle by Deanna Jump

Non-fiction Writing Project by me

Letter Writing Unit by me

OREO How To Freebie by me

Writing Freebies {here}, {here}, and {here} by me

I also have a monthly poetry binder. Each week we read and study a poem. On Fridays they put a copy into their poetry folder, which they keep in their book boxes to read. Most of my poems come from various blogs or websites, but I also have a lot from Deedee Wills' poetry packs.

Poetry Stations by Deedee Wills

My Guided Reading binder is full of activities that I use during guided reading lessons. There are alphabet, phonics, sight words, fluency, and comprehension activities. I keep his binder near my guided reading table so I can pull activities as I need them. I have activities from a bunch of different packs.

Guided Reading for Kinders by Julie Lee

Small Group Staples by Babbling Abby

Guided Reading: Phonics for Kindergarten by Rowdy in Room 300

Guided Reading Made Easy For Kinders! by Kristen Smith 

Guided Reading Made Easy For First Grade by Kristen Smith

Guided Reading Mini-Lessons by Rachelle Smith

Guided Reading 101 by Deanna Jump 

The blue binders are a huge project that I just undertook this spring! I created a yearly phonics and sight word scope & sequence for me to follow throughout the year. You can download an editable version of the scope & sequence {here}. Each week we focus on a particular phonics skill and we have five sight words that we practice and add to our word wall at the end of the week. I have two page protectors for each week--a sight work page and a phonics page. In the sight word page I keep any printables we might complete, our word wall words, and our list of sight words for word work centres (there are actually three weeks of sight words on one list). In the phonics page I keep any games, our weekly picture match cards (from Reagan's big phonics bundle), a list of phonics words for word work centres, and any printables we might complete that week.

Sight Word Intervention by Deedee Wills

The Big Phonics Bundle by Reagan Tunstall

Word Work Activities by Babbling Abby

Roll & Cover Phonics Centre by me

Roll & Write Phonics Centre by me

In Science I will be using my interactive journals. In each page protector I place the lesson page, journal page, and any lesson pieces I need. I have two binders for all four clusters.

First Grade Interactive Science Journals (four units) by me

Second Grade Interactive Science Journals (three units... one more to come!) by me

I organized my Social Studies unit the same way as my science. All three clusters are in one binder though. I place the lesson page, journal page, and any lesson pieces I need into a page protector.

First Grade Interactive Social Studies Journal by me

And finally health! Organized the same way. Lesson, journal page, and lesson materials all in a page protector. Health isn't divided into clusters or units.. it's all one big unit but covers topics such as bus safety, fire safety, food groups, dental health, stranger danger, bike safety, and more!

First Grade Interactive Health Journal by me

I still have tons of files at school that I will organize into these binders. So far I've only organized the stuff I have at home and new things I have created/purchased. The only thing I have not quite organized yet is my math. All my math worksheets are in topic binders. But all my centres are in my holiday tubs, boxes in my garage, and all over the place. My goal this summer to organize them all into topics like Reagan's beautiful boxes {here} and put my centres into labelled envelopes like Miss Pich over at Apple-y Ever After!

**Update: I have put all of my binder covers and spines together into an editable PowerPoint file on TpT. Check out the preview to see all of the pages included. All of the text on the title pages and spines are editable, so you can change the fonts and wording to suit your own needs! Click {here} or the picture below to check it out.

That's it for now. Happy organizing!

Monthly Labels {Freebie}

A while back, I shared a bunch of my classroom labels in a post {here}. These were my monthly boxes that I stored my holiday activities, read alouds, and centres in. I have since updated my sweet cardboard boxes to some sturdier plastic tubs with lids that latch. I just added a file that had July & August, so you can have labels for every month of the year. You can download them below.

September-June Labels

July & August Labels

Happy Organizing!

More Excuses, What We've Been Up To, and Freebies!

If you are still here following my little blog, I truly apologize. I promise to get back in the blogging game, it's just been tough. I know I make a lot of excuses, but really... just listen to them all!

1. I have no internet--only the data from my iPhone. I'm hoping to get a better plan so I can do more blog browsing and updating my own blog!

2. Starting at a new school is always so busy. Add that to a new provincial report card and a new attendance/grading program, and I've got lots to learn and think about!

3. I'm slowly starting to think about our wedding plans... so far we have a date, a location, and now I have a dress! :) Each Monday, I model writing in our weekend journals. I remind students about capitals, spacing, sounding out words, adding details to our pictures, etc. Here is what I wrote about this Monday:

4. Which leads me into my last excuse... this summer we also found out we are expecting! I am about 15 weeks right now and due in April. It has been a lot to take in and think about. It also makes me have to miss some school for doctor's appointments and think about what I'm going to do when I go on maternity leave in April! It'll be a big life adjustment for all of us! :)

So life is a bit busy! I promise I am still doing fun and engaging things in my classroom, I just don't always take pictures or get around to blogging about it. But I'm going to turn this post over to my camera now and share some random pictures and freebies of things we've been doing since school started!

We started with an apple theme in September. We did a little KWL to see what we wanted to learn about apples. We didn't make apple smoothies (really?!) or jam, but we did make applesauce and decided which apple we thought was the best. 

Mmmmmm.... homemade applesauce. It made our classroom smell delicious all day! I need an air freshener that smells like this. This activity was definitely a highlight for the kids.

Yum yum! 20 out of 23 kiddos liked it. Not bad!

We did a fun making ten activity. After reading the awesome "Ten Apples Up on Top", we used colourful dot stickers to make combinations of ten on each character's head. I love that adding something simple like stickers makes math fun!

Here are a few apple freebies--title page (I like putting all my theme activities in booklets), sequencing apples, writing directions for applesauce, ten apples up on top, and colourful apples (for practicing colour words--print the large apples on different coloured cardstock). Click the picture below to download these freebies.

Next up, some fall writing and art. For the art project, we looked at different leaf shapes. On a piece of manilla tag the students drew a big leaf in pencil. Then they traced the leaf in black sharpie. 

After that, we modge-podged fall coloured tissue paper squares using a mixture of white glue and water.

Once cut out, they looked beautiful!

Looks great with our Hello/Goodbye poem.

For the poem we brainstormed fall things we will say hello to and summer things that we had to say goodbye to. A fun little writing activity for the season! You can download a copy of the poem {here}.

We also did some fire safety activities. We have weekly assemblies for the Grade 1-4 and each class is in charge of presenting about 5 per school year. We decided to do our first one on Fire Safety. We sang a couple of songs, put together a fire safety rule slideshow complete with photos of us demonstrating the rules, and just looked cute in our fire helmets and Clifford puppets.

Our second author study is Clifford the Big Red Dog. I did a little riddle/shared writing activity to figure out who are next author was. We have enjoyed reading Clifford books. My class especially loves the ones about Clifford as a puppy. They can't believe he used to be so small!

We did a little tree map about Clifford after reading the first story "Clifford the Big Red Dog."

Here's our author study wall.

We also had our (Canadian) Thanksgiving lunch. It's an annual tradition at our school. We provide the students with chicken noodle soup and a bun for lunch, and the whole school gathers in the gym to eat. Yummy and fun tradition for the kiddos. They had a table decorating contest while we waited for the food--our class one the prize for the Grade 1-3 category. They were so proud! :) Each class also made a list of all the things they are thankful for to hang up in the gym.

I was doing some organizing of my counters/cupboards and decided to invest in three palstic drawer sets. I wanted to get the big 12x12" drawers, but my Walmart didn't have them in stock anymore. I had to settle for 8.5x11" drawers, but they are working out just fine. I have a drawer for each day of the week, a drawer for extra work, and three drawers for stuff to file, copy, or laminate. You can download my drawer labels {here}.

Last up, my class really needed to work on an attention signal, so I pulled out my good listening poster from a couple years ago and turned it into a "Give me 5" poster. I got them really excited about showing me five by making it into a game--told them I would always be testing them and that it could happen at any time of the day! Sometimes they would even ask me if I was going to do the "5 Thing" today. If I try to get their attention another way, they usually remind me about it too. So funny, but it works! :)

And that's it for now! I promise I will be back sooner rather than later. I've got a few products in the works and a fun giveaway coming up soon! Have a great weekend all!