Prefix/Suffix Turkeys

I am SO FAR behind on my blog and have not posted in about a month. School has been incredibly busy and it takes all of my energy just to keep my head above water in the classroom. However, we are almost half way through the year and it is hard to believe how much my students have already learned and the progress they are making.  So, right before thanksgiving, I wanted to do something fun with prefixes and suffixes. Therefore,  we made turkeys! The students picked a prefix or suffix of their choice and wrote it on the body of the turkey. They then had to think of four words that included that specific prefix or suffix.Tthe students then turned the turkey over and put the definition of each word on the feathers and the definition of their prefix or suffix on the body. This way the turkey not only was fun and decorative but also a great flash card for the students to study with! Below are some pictures of the turkeys. The students did a great job and even got a little creative!

                                       

Weekly Reading Logs

I really wanted my students to do a weekly reading log each night in which they were required to read 20 minutes every night at home. However, being that I teach fifth grade, I really wanted to make sure that my students were really thinking about their reading and wanted them to respond nightly about what they have read. So, I created a reading log in which the responses can be changed each week to fit with what we are learning in class.  Please feel free to use and share!

Click Here to get your copy!

Rainy Day Recess

Here is what we do on Rainy Days!

Out of My Mind!

I have not posted in like 3 weeks and I feel so behind!! I promised myself I would post weekly but unfortunately 5th grade is keeping me extremely busy!!!  However, I am having a lot of fun and we are learning a lot of great things!! About two weeks ago, we started reading the book "Out of My Mind" by Sharon Draper. Though we do not get a lot of time to read, this book has seriously opened my students eyes and taught them fabulous life lessons. Below is a synopsis of the book from Barnes and Noble and if you are looking for a good read aloud for upper grades students, this book rocks!!!

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school, but no one knows it. Most people—her teachers and doctors included—don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows…but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind—that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice…but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you'll never, ever forget.

Early Civilizatons

What a week!!! Well, I almost logged another 60 hour week and on top of that got a fabulous little cold from one of my students!!!  However, I made it to Friday! The past two weeks, we have been learning about Early Civilizations.  In all honesty, I was terrified to teach Social Studies because I have never liked history and I know very little about it. But, I actually really enjoyed teaching about the first people who ever came to North America and my students seemed to be into it as well. The other reading teacher and I really try to integrate our reading and social studies so we read a story entitle "Sees Behind Trees". The story is about a boy who is nearly blind but is expected to shoot a bow and arrow in order to receive his new name to become a man. However, he uses his other senses such as hearing and smell and is able to do things that the other Native American boys are not able to do.  At the end of the story, he is blindfolded and is asked "what do you see?". Though he can not physically see, he uses his senses to accurately describe a man approaching from a great distance away. Therefore he earns the name "Sees Behind Trees".  Today, we made Native American necklaces and came up with our own names based on something we are good at. My name was "teaches while exhausted".  Below are some pictures of us with our necklaces!!! And yes, my students are normally this wild and crazy!

Author Study Centers

Chris Van Allsburg

This week, my students have been working on an author study with some of the best books by Chris Van Allsburg. My fellow teacher Mrs. Coleman gave me the activities that she received from another fellow teacher in the county.  My students have completed two stations and have two more to finish next week before we wrap things up with a culminating activity and a quiz on what they have learned.  We started the author study by reading "The Garden of Abdul Gasazi" which immediately got them excited about reading more of Chris Van Allsburg's books.  They have done a great job with the centers and I wanted to share the activities that they have been doing in small groups. Each day the students are expected to read a book by Chris Van Allsburg and then complete an activity that goes along with the book. (Another teacher created these awesome activities!) I have created a rubric so the students know what is expected of them as well as a quiz to make sure they really paid close attention to the books. Below are some pictures of the students working as well as the activities, rubric, and quiz I created.

Reading "Two Bad Ants"

Listening to "The Wretched Stone"

Click Here to access the Chris Van Allsburg Activities
Click Here to access the Rubric
Click Here to access the Chris Van Allsburg Quiz

The Top Ten Things That Teachers Fail to Remember About School over Summer Break!

1. Teachers increase the number of words they say in an hour from about 500 to 5,000! I for one am tired of hearing my own voice and that is saying a lot because I love to talk!

2. Teachers forget what it truly means when they say "my feet hurt!"

3. An hour of reading class only feels like 10 minutes but the entire school day feels like a week!

4. Teachers forget what a privilege it is to go to the bathroom when "nature calls" instead of holding it all in until 2:45.

5. Nap time now occurs at 7:30 pm and usually turns into a full nights sleep.

6. Pinterest posts go from 35 a day to about 3.

7. Mealtime is a ten minute ordeal instead of a 30 minute casual lunch.

8. "Morning Work" is no longer laying in the bed at 10am looking at teachers pay teachers.

9. Busta Brown on wxii 12 is not as comical as remembered when reporting about the traffic at 5:45 am

10. "Play dates" now revolve around  teachers yelling at kids to stop running backwards up the slide!

Open House

So Excited......

We started teacher workdays this week and I have never worked so hard in my entire life. I always thought life was busy when I was an EC teacher. I had no idea how busy I would be getting ready for a fifth grade classroom!!! I put in 12 hour days almost every day and a couple of days were 13 and 14 hours.  I have been exhausted but it was all worth it when I got to meet my wonderful students at open house. I had such a wonderful turn out and all of my kids visited except for one.  My students and their parents were so nice and welcoming and I am so excited for the first day of school on Monday!!! 

My sign in table with the beautiful flowers my husband brought me!

Morning Work!

I decided that I wanted to have my students participate in centers for morning work this year. I have somewhat grouped them by ability level so I can differentiate what they work on each morning.  I created a bulletin board called "The Breakfast Bunch" and each student is either an egg, bacon, waffle, or sausage. These are their groups and each day I will change the heading over the plate so they will be able to rotate each day. On Mondays, they will do whole group morning work so that I have a morning to explain all of the centers for the week!!!

Word of the Day and Grammar with a Giggle

I really wanted to incorporate Word of the Day in my Language Arts block as well as some type of warm up each day as the students come into class.  I found this fantastic book that gives me both things and not only does it have great vocabulary and grammar practice, it is really fun for the kids.

Caught Ya! Grammar with a Giggle is written by Jane Bell Keister.   In this book, she provides techniques for teaching grammar, spelling, and vocabulary which I found to be very helpful. What is even better is that she has written three different stories broken down into 100 different sentences for 100 different days.  One story is for elementary school, one is for middle, and the last story is made for high school.  I have began to create an active inspire flip chart that has the word of the day and the sentence for the day. When I complete it I will post it!  I also decided to create a template for my students to use each day as they complete this warm up. I have included the template below for your use.  You will notice that on the sheet there is a spot that says "recorder of the day" I plan to have a notebook where one student each days fills in the paper. Everyone else will complete the warm up on white boards. I did this to save paper! I have also included the notebook cover sheet if you want to use it!  I highly recommend this book and I think the students will really enjoy it!!!

Click Here to get your copy!

Click Here to get your copy!

Meet the Teacher Back To School Letter

If you would like a copy of my meet the teacher letter CLICK HERE!

Its a rainy Saturday night and of course, I was looking at Pinterest and blogs. ** Even if it wasn't raining I would probably be doing this!** A few weeks ago I made my Meet The Teacher Letter and had it all ready to go. But......I found this really cool template that  a teacher created. Her blog is called "At Whit's End" and she did a fabulous job.  So, I created another letter....which I like WAY BETTER!   She has several templates to choose from and they are all really cute! To create your Meet The Teacher letter using this template CLICK HERE!

Games, Gadgets, and Grins

2013 Educators' Conference

Rockingham County Schools hosts an educator's conference for all staff members at the beginning of each school year. This conference is a day long event in which we are able to pick and attend sessions that are relevant to us and provides professional development opportunities. I presented last year for the first time and decided to present again. However, this year I have a partner in crime....My Mother!!! I am excited to be presenting with her at the conference. We decided to entitle our session "Games, Gadgets, and Grins".   This session is all about how to make and use games and other gadgets in the classroom for math and literacy. Everything can be made and used for almost a dollar or less and are great resources to use in the classroom to reinforce concepts being taught.  Below, I have uploaded the hand out that is going to be given out a the conference and I wanted to post it here for anyone that wanted  copy as a resource in the classroom.  We have listed lots and lots of activities in this document and I hope it will be a good resource for teachers.  We have also created a presentation in slide rocket that shows all of the activities and resources.  I hope you enjoy the presentation and the packet and here is to a fabulous 2013-2014 school year!!!

                


If you would like a copy of the hand out to print, CLICK HERE

I Hope My Students Pass Notes in Class

       

The top 6 things I Want From My Students

This afternoon I went over to my mom's house to work on our presentation for the upcoming Educators' Conference that is occurring in a couple of weeks.  Like always when my mom and I get together, we talk about school and she listens to all of my crazy ideas and things I want to do this school year. At one point in our conversation she looked at me and said, "So at what point are you going to have any time to teach the actual curriculum?" Obviously she was joking when she asked me this question but as I drove home from her house it really made me think.  Though I undoubtedly will focus most of my energy and lesson plans on the Common Core standards and curriculum for 5th grade, at the same time I realized I want so much more from my students and I almost feel that there are other "lessons to be learned" other than reading, writing, and Social Studies. So, I began to sort through my crazy ideas and really thought about the importance of each of these.  For the past four years, I have been a Special Education Resource teacher and though I have loved every minute of my job, I am so excited about having my own students in my own classroom.  With this new classroom comes new challenges and new things that I get to teach that I have never been able to teach before. I have a million ideas running through my mind but below are my top six items I want my students to learn and take away with them by the end of next school year. I hope that teachers can find these six things to be an inspiration and a motivation. I hope that teachers who are dreading starting a new school year can read this and remember why they chose to teach.  Unfortunately, teaching is not looked upon as the best profession to have, especially if you live in North Carolina. But, in my mind, I can't think of anything better! At the end of the day, its not about the money, the curriculum, or the silly laws that our legislators pass. Its about what your students take from you and more importantly what you take away from your students.  These six things I have listed below are what makes it all worth while!

1. I want to teach my students how to sign the pledge of allegiance instead of putting their hands over their hearts. Why do this? Not only do I think sign language is cool but it gives meaning to what we say each morning. The pledge of allegiance is not just something we recite because the principal gets on the intercom and tells us to do this.  It has meaning and the words that we speak deserve to have emotion and action.  I want my students to learn that when we recite something every day whether it be the pledge or any other daily ritual, that it needs to have meaning.  As we go through our lives, too many times do we do things just because we have to and we rarely stop to think about the true meaning behind something. I am just as guilty for doing this and I want my students to really stop and think about things they say and do.

2. I want my students to sing and dance on a daily basis.  I for one LOVE music. Ever since I was a toddler, I loved when my mom would sing songs to me or play songs on the radio.  One of my all time favorite things to do is to ride in the car with the music blaring singing at the top of my lungs.  Music makes me HAPPY and truly brings joy to my life.  I want my students to experience this joy.  I want my students to learn that they are allowed to enjoy the things that make them happy and should never feel embarrassed or ashamed of things that make them truly happy. I also want them to dance. Not only is movement fabulous for students but it also builds confidence. No matter how silly they look  (and believe me they can not look any goofier than me dancing) I want them to be confident and not worry about what other people think or say.  At the end of the day, we all have to be happy with ourselves and I want my students to ENJOY LIFE!

3. I want my students to write notes in class. Notes in class? Absolutely. Now, do I tolerate hateful and rude notes that hurt people's feelings? Of course not. Do I want little Johnny writing a note to Timmy during math class about going hunting this weekend? No! However, I do want my students to have the opportunity to write positive notes to one another that are uplifting and encouraging.  I personally love to get notes, letters, and cards from friends and colleagues. There is nothing better than when you are having a bad day to come in and find a note from a friend or loved one. I want my students to experience this.  I want them to not only become better writers but understand  how it feels to get a nice note from a peer as well as how it feels when you make someone else feel good.  At the beginning of this school year I plan to read " Have you filled a bucket today?" by Carol McCloud. I will then have a "bucket filler" in our class where students are free to write positive notes to one another.  Check out the book at Amazon and click here to get the activity!

4. I want my students to cheat.  I actually stole this idea but I thought it was brilliant! I once read an article in which a male student came to school and had not done his homework.  He said he had no way of finding the answers because they were not in his text book. So, the teacher told the student to find another student in the classroom and copy his or her answers.  Once the student copied the answers from the student she asked they boy "Why did I let you just copy the answers on to your paper?" Of course the boy did not know. The teacher went on to explain that when we do not know the answer to something, we have to use other sources to get our information. Now, was just copying answers going to cut it in this teacher's classroom? Absolutely not. But, the moral of this story was that when students do not know the answer to something, they need to be taught how get the answer. Sometimes this is as simple as asking someone else. Other times they may need to use resources such as the internet or an encyclopedia. In the real world, when we do not know the answer to something what do we do? We get on our computers, pick up a telephone, or email someone. Why are we not teaching our students this? I want my students to learn how to use their resources. Do I necessarily care if they have memorized the date Lewis and Clark started their adventure towards the west? No. Do I care if they have the means to find the answer if they need to? Yes.  I want my students to use the tools that are at their finger tips and worry less with memorizing and having crash study sessions just to forget the information after they hand in the test.

5.  I want my students to learn manners.  When I started teaching, I quickly learned that most students have little to no manners. Now, this is not true for all students but I think this applies to most students.  Kids now days expect people to give them things without giving anything in return. Please and Thank You does not exist in their vocabulary and introducing themselves to a stranger means mumbling their name while looking at their shoes.  I decided this year we are going to work on one rule every week of the school year.  These rules include things such as:
             1. saying thank you when you are giving something even if it is a simple as a piece of paper
             2. shaking someones hand and looking them in the eye when introducing yourself
             3. Never asking for something such as candy or a prize when you have done nothing to deserve it
             4. saying excuse me when you burp or do other gross things that 5th graders like to do
I not only want my students to be smarter when they leave fifth grade but I want them to be better people. I want others to look at them and think to themselves how polite and respectful the students are in Mrs. Quarles' class. I truly believe that being polite can take you a long way in life!

6. I want my students to receive sweet treats and enjoy every minute of them!  I remember on my 10th birthday I looked at my mom and said I wished I was turning 16.  At that time I really did wish this were true. Now that I am almost 26, I wish I were 10 again.  I feel like in today's society we push kids to act older than they really are and expect them to be more mature and learn more things than there bodies and brain can actually handle. One time I wanted to give my 5th graders a treat at the end of school. When I asked the other teachers if they wanted to do the same they replied that the did not like to baby their students and that 5th graders did not need to be given "treats". I was shocked. These kids are 10 years old. I want my students to enjoy being a kid for as long as they can. Do I want them to be independent? Yes. Do I want them to explore and learn things without being taught by an adult? Absolutely. But do I want them to enjoy fun games and treats and be given hugs when they leave the school building? You better believe it.  These students have the rest of their lives to be grown ups. I want them to remember having the time of their life in 5th grade. I want them to remember Mrs. Quarles giving them icy pops on hot days and giving them treat bags on Halloween. Yes, they have to be prepared for middle school and be able to care for themselves but let some of that learning happen in middle school, not in the elementary classroom. I am almost 26 years old and I still love a good icy pop on a hot day! Let the kids be kids!

I know that as an educator I must teach all of the standards with in the school year and make sure my students have the knowledge to be successful when the enter middle school. However, I feel that it is my duty to make my students better human beings.  At the end of the day, I want my students and myself to be able to go to sleep at night knowing not only did we learn new information but we also learned how to be respectable, loving people. I want my students to love to learn and to love school which sometimes means allowing them to dance around the room to their favorite song while eating a handful of skittles!

More DIY for the Classroom!

DIY Project #1: Shutters and Metal Stand

Today, my friend Sarah wanted to get some shutters to use as a book shelf for her math and reading games so we went to an awesome restore that is in my town and found three shutters for only $15.  We painted these as well as a metal stand that she uses for her equipment for her active board. Here are the before and after pictures!

       

My sweet Abby in the background!

DIY Project #2: Book Shelf

Once Sarah and I painted the shutters and stand, she said she needed space to store other math and reading materials but that she could not find a book shelf short enough to fit under the window ledge in her classroom. That is when we had the idea to make our own shelf out of crates and press board! Basically, we zip tied the crates together. Then to make a top, we had the wonderful man at Lowes cut press board to fit the top and covered it in fabric to make it stand out. It turned out so well we made a smaller one to store here reading materials!!!

Small shelf

LargeShelf

Moral Monday Protest!

On Monday, July 29th, myself along with some fellow teachers attended the Moral Monday protest in Raleigh North Carolina. For those of you who do not live in N.C. or are not sure on the legislation that is currently happening in this state with education, let me give you a brief synopsis of what is going on and why we went to protest.
In the 2007-2008 school year, North Carolina teachers were ranked 25th in the nation for teacher salary. Though this is not the top dollar in the nation, half way is not bad. However, in the past 5 years, things have taken a turn for the worse, much worse. This past school year, North Carolina teachers were ranked 48th in the nation for pay and it seems as though we may hit 51st this school year, very dead last.  Just recently, a bill was proposed to both the house and senate and in a nutshell this is what the bill included:

1. No raises for teachers. However, Governor Pat McCrory graciously gave his cabinet members an eight percent raise in which they were already making 128,000 dollars a year!

2. Eliminate teacher tenure.

3. Eliminate the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program. This program was ranked number 1 in the nation for recruiting teachers. I was a NC teaching fellow and eliminating this program is one of the biggest mistakes the NC legislature could make!

4. Eliminate the 10% raise for obtaining a master's degree.

5.Cut teacher assistants and teaching positions.  Hey, why not add more kids to a classroom and get rid of the extra help?

6. Cut funding for text books and other supplies.  Being that us teachers make so much money, we have plenty of it to go around to buy things for our classrooms!

7. Retired Educators will not receive cost of living adjustments. Hey, we have eaten Beenie Weenies and Ramen for years, why stop now?

There were a few more points stated in the bill, but these were the major components.  This bill passed in both the house and senate so now our only hope is that Pat McCrory Veto this bill.  So, in order to make our voices heard, hundreds of educators, parents, and friends gathered on Halifax Mall to stand up for education! With that said, I do want to make one last point about everything that is happening and let people understand why us educators are taking a stand.  I feel like legislatures and other people looking in feel that us teachers are complaining because we want more money and want our jobs protected.  I know some people feel that teachers should not have tenure being that in what other profession does that even exist? I agree.   This protest for me was not about keeping tenure or getting a pay raise, it was about earning respect and showing people I love my job.  The truth is, I could eat Ramen and Beenie Weenies the rest of my life if need be, however, even those items do go up in price.
The reason I need the raise and the master's pay is because both my husband and I struggle now to pay our bills. On a monthly basis, we pay everything including car payments, student loans, mortgage, power, phone bill, etc.  After all is paid, we really have no money left to do anything else.  I am ok with that now but one day I would love to start a family and with what I bring home, I absolutely could not afford another mouth to feed or day care for that matter.  Us educators, do not do this for the money or for the fame.  However, we do need money to pay our bills and we need raises to keep up with cost of living adjustments.  Also, I know that this summer I easily spent 400 dollars of my own money to buy things for my classroom because I was only given 200 dollars in which I had to purchase my own paper for copies, glue sticks, and scissors.  I am not asking to be handed any favors and I am not asking to be paid six figures, I just want to be respected and shown a little bit of gratitude every now and then and unfortunately the passing of this bill does just the opposite.  I just want to be able to live comfortably and do my job well and if things do not change, teaching in North Carolina may not be in my near future. Not from choice, but from necessity.

With that said, here are some pictures from our adventure in Raleigh!

This was Beth and I in the "beetlejuice" car. When we arrived in Raleigh, the parking attendant was fantastic and let us sit in his vehicle!

Holding our signs before the march!

The legislative building where nothing good seems to happen!

Mom, Kelly, Beth, and I on Halifax Mall!

I loved this sign that a guy had made!!! People are so creative!

Bethany Girls Holding up our signs!

Moving In....

 So, I have not posted in over a week and I feel a bit guilty because I really wanted to try and post weekly. However, I was gone to beautiful Emerald Isle last week for my cousin's wedding and did not have much to post other than my view from our beach house and a sun burnt face. However, now that I am home, it is back to the real world......the world of school.  I finally moved all of my belongings and lets just say my room is a bit of a mess! But, after seven hours of hard work today, I got a lot accomplished and I am excited about sharing some things I have already done!

Here is my mess of a classroom! This looks good compared to what it looked like three days ago!

One of the first things I did today was set up my reading space.  I moved in the bathtub (one of my favorite things in the classroom) and set up the space. I still have to make my crate seats and bring in a chair but other than that this space of the room is complete!

Another thing I did was move in my monster filing cabinet.  I hated the blank side of the cabinet so I decided to put my brownie points behavior system on the side. The way brownie points work is if no one in the class gets in trouble that day or if the class gets a good compliment from another teacher, they earn a brownie. Once the entire pan is full then they earn a treat from me! It could be brownies or some other surprise that I decide to bring the students.

The last thing I did today was put up my letters for my word wall. I decided this year instead of posting every word on a large wall, I am going to put them on rings and hang them under the a appropriate letter.  The current words we are using will of course be posted on the board but once we move on to new words they will be placed on the appropriate ring.  This way, the students can access the rings of vocabulary words when they need them or can even use them to study with a friend when they have free time.

Once the room is all set up, I will post every nook and cranny on my page on the blog that is dedicated to my classroom decoration!

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!