Signs, Signs.....

After a tiring two hours of cutting up our fallen tree, I decided it was time to make some signs for my classroom!!!

The first set of signs I made were my group signs. I wanted an easy way for my students to know what group to go to when doing group assignments as well as something that I could move around easily. On one side, I just printed some colorful numbers and on the other I put up the "Groups" poster for them to refer to when working together! I got the groups sign from a wonderful blog called "Teaching with a Mountain View". I bought the plastic frames at Wal-Mart for 92 cents a piece!

The next signs I made are probably the signs I am MOST EXCITED about for my classroom. It is called the Great Pencil Challenge! So, one of my biggest pet peeves are kids losing/not having a pencil and using the pencil sharpener! I absolutely hate the sound of a pencil sharpener and I think that sharpening pencils is the biggest waste of time. Therefore, when I found this on Ladybug's Teacher Files, I knew that I had to do this in my classroom. Basically, all the students get a pencil from me with their name on it at the beginning of the year. We then predict and see who can keep their pencil the longest! This may be the answer to my pencil nightmares! Click here to get your free copy! I bought these frames at Dollar Tree!

Next on my list was the birthday sign! Being that I teach 5th grade, I did not want to use the normal "sing happy birthday" on each of my students' birthdays. I found this chant on Teaching Madness and thought it was fantastic and fun! Click Here to get your free copy!

The last sign I made was the "You Rock" sign. I thought this was a great way to show individuals or groups of students appreciation. I mean,  what kid wouldn't love to get a little public praise? This I found on Technology Rocks. Seriously.

I am well underway on getting everything ready for my new classroom.  My goal is to get everything made so that I can use the next month to set up my room and then start focusing on lesson plans!

Let the Decorating Begin!

I officially have two months until students walk into my classroom.  I have to wait a couple of weeks to move my belongings to my new school being that they are still waxing floors and getting my classroom prepared. With that said, my dining room has turned into a storage unit and I know my husband will be glad when all of this gets moved out!

However, since I have started a collection, why stop now! I have been working on and posting anchor charts on my anchor chart page but I made a poster tonight that I can not wait for my students to use. First, on the back of one of my bookshelves I am going to make this bulletin board:

Mine will be orange and purple to fit my color scheme!

With this bulletin board, the students each have a cup with their name on it and then when they read a book they put the book title and author on the paint strip and place it in their cup.  I am going to use red and green paint strips. If they like the book they will use a green paint strip and if they dislike the book then they will use a red.  I would like for my students to put a brief statement/review on the back of the strip. This way, the students can visually see all the books they have read and other students can get ideas of books that they may like to read.  To go along with this board, I made this poster that will be hung up in the reading center.

I plan to laminate the poster and use dry erase markers to write with so the poster can be reused. If a student reads a book and they think someone else in the class will like it, then they can use the poster to recommend the book to the other students.  A big part of why I want to do these things is to get the kids excited about reading. When I was in fifth grade, I did not like to read and it was not until college that I truly began to love reading. I want to be able to get my students excited and motivated about the books they read!

Exciting Times at the Quarles' House

I had a very eventful morning at my house as I was woken up to a huge tree falling in my front yard!  Being that my husband is at jury duty, I was not sure what to do being that the tree was in the road.  However, some awesome men from the fire department and DOT came and cleaned up and cut up the majority of the tree. They even brought bulldozers! So, while all the commotion was going on outside, I decided to update my blog and add a new page on anchor charts. I also wanted to share with you something I made to put up on the outside of my classroom this year.  I found this idea on another blog ( I love getting ideas from other fabulous teachers!) and made this for pretty cheap!

The monkeys on the board are actually magnets I bought in a cool store called Hip Chics Boutique in Clemmons, NC.  Once at school, I will only have one monkey on the board and a student will be responsible for moving the monkey to where ever we are in the building.

The cut outs I actually got for free on a great blog! Check out Tori's Teacher Tips blog and get your free copy if interested!   Where are We?

DIY for the Classroom

I absolutely love DIY projects, especially when it comes to refurbishing furniture! Last summer, I decided to refurbish an old filing cabinet in my classroom. To refurbish, you basically paint (spray paint works best) and then use modge podge to decorate the drawers. I used scrapbook paper for the drawers.  Here are the before and after pictures:

 At the end of this year, someone was throwing away a smaller filing cabinet. Being the bargain hunter that I am, I throw nothing away that can be fixed so I decided to go with my purple and orange theme and decorate my the smaller cabinet to match!

One of my all time favorite DIY projects that I made last summer was my bathtub! I originally saw this idea on a website and decided I really wanted one for my class. I bought the tub at habitat for humanity for $40. I then just painted the bottom. I allow my students to read in the tub as well as complete classwork or do other tasks/assignments. I use this as an incentive for my students and is the one item that all my students beg to sit in! I have pillows that match the monsters on the tub and I have to admit, I have sat in it a few times myself!

Today, I finally refurbished my chair that I bought at Goodwill! I bought this chair for $5 and it was very easy to decorate. As a side note, visit your local Goodwill once a week. You never know the deals you will find!

A Summer of Firsts!

Welcome to my new blog! So, I follow lots and lots of blogs and I have always been jealous of teachers who have these cute and awesome blogs that they have created. SO...............my goal for this summer was to create a fantastic blog and actually post things weekly! Therefore, here it is in its beginning stages! Here is to a Summer of Firsts and many new challenges!