This year I found this really cute site that makes these "brag tags".  My students LOVE them!  They love wearing them in class and around the school.  They are a must do "school wide" one day when I become a principal.  They all started the year with the same brag tag to welcome into the new school year!

This is our welcome brag tag!  

Sept. perfect Attendance!  Yay!!!!  

 September's Student of the Month!  

September's Homework Club! 

Oct. Homework Club!!  They started liking the different designs here so I had to get more creative! 

 They really LOVED how fun this one was!!  

 Here goes November's Brag Tags.......

I can't wait to share December's Brag Tags in a few weeks!!!  

Stay tuned to see what they will look like!!  

What's Your Opinion?

We listened to the two stories: the Three Little Pigs, and the True Story told by the Wolf.  Next, the students had to pick who they believed, and defend their opinion on why they believed them.  Our big skill we wanted to focus on was writing paragraphs and using transitional words.  Overall, it has been hard for my kids to understand the concept of paragraphing.  But, they are getting so much better at it.  Check out what we just did!

I am really excited about our daily 5 this year.  The kids really enjoy Daily 5.  I just ordered timers for each student in the class to keep in their book boxes.  Now when they read to self they can set goals and set the timers to help them reach those goals as they build stamina.  The kids are loving it! They are also graphing their progress to see their growth.

Community Projects

Our class did a social studies project to go along with our Communities Theme.  My students had to create their own community and explain how the community met the needs of the citizens that lived there.  The outcome was amazing!  The kids really worked hard and came out with some amazing work!

This is adorable!  Up in the center is an airplane.  As this student explained his community has an American Airlines Office so that his citizens may explore the world to learn. 

This one was huge!  But what an awesome project.  This one has so much detail in it!  I really love how she put the American Flag with the Post Office.  Such a real detail!  Lets look at her buildings. 

The Church

Every community must have a Bank!  

I love the little homes, and the trees in this one!  And the park is just great!!  

I love the creativity of this one!  All the little details that are included are just great!  

I love love the grass here!!!  The crosswalk sign is such a great little detail!  

I am really proud of the hard work that was put into their projects.  Great job! 

Today, I finally finished my room!!!  I am so excited, because it is finished & it looks great! I am so ready for the new school year to start!

Here are some pictures of the finished room!!

This is the view from one corner of the room.  I like how this year, I got rid of stuff, and it really opened up the floor  more.  The room looks so much bigger.

This is the view from the opposite end.  I know my boards in the back are empty, but I can not hang up my charts without teaching them first!!  I think I will add some cute welcome back pictures on them to help them look not so empty.

This is my whole group instructional area.  I am in LOVE with the new rug I inherited this year!

I really was excited last year, when I got the two blue book carts from Donors Choose.  This summer I ordered one more, and now I am in love with my library area.  This is really the best its ever been.

The guided reading table.  I want to replace the green table skirt with a bee one, but I am still looking for one that I really like.  I saw the seat boxes on Pinterest, and made them this summer.  They are great to store student supplies.  

So after reading and reading and reading some more....I liked how the Two Sisters described CAFE as the FACE of a reader.  So, I switched my signs to FACE.  I want to thank the wonderful Lisa Wagner for helping me with this! 

My Daily 5 stations.  I love the Bees!! 

Last year, I used the hanging shoe holder to hold my buckets.  I was not happy with the way it looked. This year, I thought I would utilize the space under the board for them. I am happy with the way it turned out.  Just missing the kids' names.  Can not WAIT to get my roster! 

This is my second year using the FRY System.  Thanks to my long distance grade partner Braun, for helping me set this up last year.  My kids loved it.  It was also so much easier for me to keep track of students.  I use to use the red, yellow, green system.  The problem was that I always forgot to change it,  I like that with the fries I can just look down and see who is where.  As soon as I get my roster, I will add the students' names to the pins.  Each student gets 4 pins.  You can easily go to a Mc.Donald and ask them for the empty fry containers.  Thanks Donna! 

I love love love that I took the time this summer to organize all my Read Alouds!  I am really excited to have them so nice and neat and at a hands reach! 

This another great design with the help of my long distance grade partner!  My kids loved this last year!  It was so great to hear them teach new students how to use it!  Each spot has reminders for them.  They just move the pins as they work in each stage.  Here are my captions on the large pencil: 

I am ready to start the school year!!!  

Today I went in to begin setting up my room.  I could not get everything out but it was a good start!  Now, my room looks like a HOT MESS!!!  Can not wait to get it finished.

Here are some views of my room....

This is the view from my door.  I have unpacked all my closets!!!  

The view from the front corner.  I have all my boarders in another closet that I could not get into today. I share with another teacher, and she took the keys for the summer.  Tomorrow!! 

I keep all my books in containers by topic, I got a new book cart this year, so I am reorganizing my book bins.  I also, do not think I will need my lower level books this year, freeing up a ton of library space for NEW BOOKS!! 

My new system.  I hate loosing my cute hallway passes.  They leave them everywhere!  So hoping this year I can make this work.  

I have to finish it, with some boarder and a nice sign, but...I can not wait to use our new Fill a Bucket board.  I hardly have any walls in my room.  So, I used the small space under the board.

I have not decided if I will leave my computer center, and listening center like this.  Still working on this area.  

All my math activities sorted and ready to go!  

I'm really excited about adding this to our room this year!  I usually do the colored baskets, but now I can have students categorize all folders and notebooks by table colors also!  I will use the trays for work that needs to be collected.  

Last picture of today!  My library books are all being sorted.  Tomorrow I can build the carts!  

Lot of work still needs to get done.