Writing Center Bulletin Board

How many of you have a writing center in your classroom?  But you are always hearing from your students, "Miss Woodward, I don't know what to write!"  Well, I found this idea on Pinterest, and I thought it would be perfect for my students!  I modified it to fit my classroom's needs.

My plan for the writing part of Daily 5 is to keep it open for students to write what they'd like.  Occasionally, we will do a more formal writing piece that they can also work on during Daily 5 writing time.

I have to say, it was my first time covering a bulletin board on my own, and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be!  I started by using the previous green paper as a template for my new black paper...

One edge was too wide, so I had to trim.

The other side was too short.  Luckily, my border will cover that bare spot!

I added a glittery silver border...

And voila!  

I used my school's die-cut machine to make the letters.  I printed off some "types of writing" labels and glued them to cardstock.  Each teal piece of cardstock will hold an example of each type of writing.  You can go grab the "types of writing" labels from my TpT store for FREE!

What do you think?  I hope this eliminates some writer's block!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Revealing.... The Classroom Library!

I am so, so, SO excited to show you my classroom library!  I love how neat and organized it looks.  I am so happy I bought all of the matching bins.  I started this project last week... read about that here.

I made cute labels and started taping them on my bins.  

Because these bins had holes on the sides, I also put tape on the inside of the bin.

I made sure the labels tell students what the Accelerated Reader level is, whether it's a picture book or chapter book, and a color dot, so they can easily tell where to put the book back.

For some books, I couldn't find an Accelerated Reader level.  I put these books in a "Special Interest" bin.  I also have a bin for Hmong/English books.  The kiddos love reading in Hmong.

I just love how this library came together!  Every time I look at it, I smile.

What leveling system does your school use?  How did you organize your classroom library?

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Book Box Solution

Do you use book boxes to hold the books students are currently reading?  When I first decided I wanted to use book boxes, I found some nice plastic ones at Target for $3 each.  My idea was that I could use them for a few years.  It added up to get 30 of them!

Here is a MUCH cheaper solution!  I took a trip to IKEA, and found these cardboard boxes.  They came 5 to a set, for $2.  Let me just lay that out for you...

30 plastic book bins x $3 each = $90

30 cardboard book bins (6 sets) x $2 per set = $12

Yeah, I think I made a better choice.  :)  If you don't live near an IKEA, don't fear!  You can buy them online here!

They were super easy to put together!  Literally, about 15 seconds assembly for each box.

During the first week of school, I am going to have my students decorate them.  Then, at the end of the year, they can take them home!

Do you use book boxes?  Where do you get yours? Do you use them with Daily 5?  I am excited to try Daily 5 this year!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Chair Clean-Up

Most of us have those dark blue student chairs that (luckily?) don't show much dirt.  I have six red chairs that I use at my guided reading table.  Let me tell you, they were nasty!  I could see dirt and grime on them that wouldn't come off with a disinfecting wipe.  I decided I needed a deeper clean.

The culprit?  Six GROSS dirty chairs...

The method?  Mr. Clean Magic Erasers... I bought a pack of four and it barely got me through the six chairs.

You just wet an eraser, squeeze out the excess water, and start scrubbing! It took some A LOT of elbow grease.

That's a dirty Magic Eraser next to a clean one.  EW!

Can you tell a difference in the chairs?  The one on the left is clean and the other is dirty.  So glad I took the time to clean these chairs up!

I spent most of the day today just cleaning all of the surfaces in my room.  Do your classrooms get dirty and dusty over the summer?  Doesn't it feel good to have everything clean?

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Classroom Sneak-Peek!

I finally recruited some muscle to help me move furniture in my classroom today!  (Thanks to my boyfriend, Mr. Wolf!)  I love this new arrangement!  I was trying to go for a more of a "center" feel.  

This front corner of my classroom used to have my teacher desk... Now it is a writing center.  The bookshelf on the right holds games and puzzles for indoor recess.  On the far left, you can see a peek of my classroom library... I will show you a better picture later!

This side of my room used to have my meeting carpet.  I moved my carpet to the front of the room, next to the games shelf from the above picture.  I put my guided reading table in the back, and a shelf with kids' book boxes on the left.  I am still working at getting the school to change my chalkboard into one big bulletin board (fingers crossed!).

Here is a closer look at my guided reading area (excuse the mess on the table!). 

This back corner of my room used to be where I kept my classroom library.  Now it is a cozy area for my teacher desk!

Have you been working on your classroom?  What jobs have you gotten done?  I bet some of you start school soon!  

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

Book Organization

I am so excited to get my classroom library organized!  Last year, some of my books were labeled, and some weren't.  Books were always in the wrong bins.  And, worst of all, my students didn't know how to choose a "just right" book based on their reading level.  So, I decided to change that.  Time to get organized!

Last time I was in my room, I looked online and labeled each book with a sticky note with the Accelerated Reader level.

Today, I organized all the books into piles by level.  I had a pile for Level 1's, Level 2's, etc.  Then I put colored dots on each book.  As you can see, all of my Level 1's are bright green.  It was super quick and easy to then write the level on each colored dot.  (This was also a good time to make sure I had my name written on each book.)

Next, I bought these plastic bins at Target.  They were a little spendy... about $3.00 each.  But I am glad I got them!  They are durable, and I think they will stand up to the wear and tear by my little kiddos.

Right now, I have two for each level- a larger teal one for picture books, and a smaller white one for chapter books.  Once I put all of my books into their appropriate bins, I realized that I need more white bins for chapter books.  Can you see them all stacked up on top of the bin?  Maybe I need to stop buying books for a while...

My next step is to create labels for each bin.  I will let you know when my labels are done and listed in my TpT store!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward

I'm Back!

Blogging world, I'm back!

I have finally gotten back into the swing of things!  After a long (and very restful) summer, it is time to think about school again.  For my school, teachers don't have to report back for another two weeks, and school starts a week or so after that.

This week I attended a three-day conference about implementing Core Knowledge into your classroom instruction.  My teaching partner and I got some great ideas and were able to map out our year's curriculum!  What I like about our map is that we are using our language arts block to teach science and social studies content.  It should be (fingers crossed!) a very nicely integrated time of the day.  If you want to know more about Core Knowledge, visit their website here.  I am excited to challenge my students this year!

The conference ended yesterday, and now I am just PUMPED to get back into the classroom and implement all of these new ideas I have.  So.... I spent my day at school today!  My partner and I got a lot done!

First, we copied, cut, and bound 65 of these lovely spelling dictionaries.  It was quite the undertaking!  This is one of my favorite purchases from TpT... check it out here!  

What I liked about this dictionary is that, along with the a-z pages, it included pages for special categories of words, like "family", "pets", and "friends".  I think this book will be awesome for my ELL lovelies to ensure that they are spelling common words correctly.

We also looked at each of our classroom libraries and labeled our books using the Accelerated Reading scale.  I just used a sticky note for now.  Later, I will go back and add colored circle labels that the students will look at to find their "just right" book.

It's been quite a day!  I am excited to start re-arranging and decorating my classroom... but, there is a small chance 3rd grade might be moving to different classrooms.  Crossing my fingers that that's not the case... I don't want to move all of my stuff!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward