Meet The Teacher Night

Tomorrow evening I will get to meet my new class!  I return to work tomorrow with a full day of teacher inservice at our local board.  I will then leave there at 3 and drive straight to my school (about 20 min) and finished preparations for our "Meet The Teacher" Night.  We begin at 5 with a Title I  School Information Meeting.  After the meeting parents and students are able to roam the halls and find their child's teacher.

It is not that hard.  All the second grade is on one hall, blue hall.  Parents just have to walk down the hall and read our class roll to determine whose room their child is in.  This year we have 3 second grade classrooms.

Once you enter the door you see the table with all the sign in sheets.  All the sheets were made from a pack sold by ARTrageous Fun.  You can find the pack here. 

Parents will need to sign in.  I am required to turn in these sign in sheets.  Check with you administration because you may have to turn these in also.  I then have parents write down how their child will go home.  I teach second grade and most children know the answer to that question, however, there is a few little ones that don't know how they go home.  Last, I ask if anyone is interested in being a parent volunteer.  They will leave their name and a contact number.



On each child's desk there is  zip-lock bag containing all the back to school forms.  All the forms that need to be filled out and returned to school are clipped together with a note listing all forms.  I ask that all these form will be completed and returned to school on the first day (Thursday).  All other forms are placed in the bag.

Parents and students then work together to put away supplies.  Individual supplies are placed in the student's desk. All community supplies are placed around the room.  I will put them away later in the week.

I have a "Donation" board or a "Wish List" placed on the white board.  This year I listed any items I wanted donated on a shield.  If parents wish to donate an item they simply take a shield and send the item listed back to school. With a large class I hope many of the shields will be taken. 

Last I give my students a "Welcome Back" bag.  This is not by original idea.  I just modified it to fit with my 2nd grade team's theme which is Superheroes.  If you would like a copy of the "Welcome" Letter with a Superhero them you can find it HERE

I have these bags placed in a container.  I had thought to personally hand them to the students right before they leave.  Now, I am wondering If I should place them on the student's desk.  Just in case one child leaves before I can give them a bag...or....wait and hand them out on the first day.  What would you do?   

Alabama Blogger Meet Up

 (photo courtesy of Jennifer White)

Yesterday I had a blast at the Alabama blogger meet up.  I am sure you have read several other Alabama bloggers account of the day.  It was so much fun.   I was not able to stay for the “after party”.  I missed the trip to Hobby Lobby and Steel City Pops.    I assure you it was a bummer for me.   However the lunch was great and the conversation and fellowship of dedicated teachers was phenomenal.  

 (photo courtesy of Jennifer White)

 

 The bloggers in attendance were some of the nicest people you will ever meet. These are just a few of the ladies I was able to snag a photo with.

 I hope we can all stay in touch!  Please check out the blogs of the other Alabama Bloggers in attendance.  There are several other Alabama bloggers that wasn’t able to make it.  Hope we can all get together soon. 

 

 

Thanks to Jennifer White  for organizing the meet up.  She is a rock star!

SLANT Box Reveal

 

This June/July I was able to participate in the SLANT BOX exchange.  Not sure of what a SLANT BOX is?  Head over to Lessons With Coffee and get the 411.

  




I received a box from my new friend Lisa. Lisa is over at 4th Grade Buzz.  Lisa was so much fun to get to know.  I received a great box of goodies. 

In the box were beautiful postcards from Canada.  After looking at these a trip to Canada is on our bucket list.  A magnet, bookmark, candle and card complete the awesome box!
 

I sent my box to Janine, over at Faithful In First.    I was so excited to send her this box. 

Sorry for the lack of pictures.  Somehow all pictures from my Nikon has been deleted.  I  was only left with my pictures from Instagram.  Are you on Instagram?  Leave me your user name so I can follow you.  I can be found @barrowshodgepdge.

I can’t wait for next month.  The theme is Home Town Pride.  Oh  Boy, my area has lots of that!  It will be so much fun to put that box together!

Stop back by tomorrow and see what fun I had today at the Alabama Blogger Meetup!

 

Monday Made It

Today it is time to get down to business.  I return to work on Monday.  We have a system wide in-service day with a guest speaker.  Everyone in my small county reports to our local board and we have a day of professional development.  Does your system or district do this?  More on this later....

Today I am going to link up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics.  This week I have a mix of school and home related projects.  I should point out that my hubby helped a great deal in my home projects.  These small projects are supposed to make my life easier when I return to work next week.         

I am finally starting to organize my kitchen.I started with the area above my stove that usually stayed cluttered.  I searched pinterest and found this idea and loved it.  I had my hubby add in vertical shelves.  I loved how it turned out and how these necessary items have an organized home.

I then went to Lowe's and purchased two of these Rev-A-Shelf.  We put them under our cooktop.  Now my pots and pans are organized.  YAY!!!

 

I am sure many of you have seen or even use the Homework Club idea.  I think it may have all started from Molly at Lessons With Laughter.  I am planning on incorporating this into my room this year.  I have decided to use an extra calendar chart to hold the homework club.  I have it located near the "turn in cubbies".  I have this as a free item in my store.  These numbers can be used for many different things.  The possibilities are endless in you need super hero numbers.

 

Alphabet Letter Exchange

Hey Friends,

I received a lovely email from Sheri asking if I would host an Alphabet Letter Exchange.  I love exchanges and I thought it would be fun!  Are you interested?

 

If you are interested just leave a comment with your email.  I will then compile a list of all participants.

 

This is how I see the exchange working:

• Once 26 teachers have agreed to participate in the exchange I will compile a list of all participants.  Each participate will be assigned a letter of the alphabet.  
• Together with your class you will decorate your given letter anyway you like.  You will need to complete 26 copies of your given letter.  Each letter should be able to fit on a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.
• You will them mail out 25 of the letters to other classes.  Keep one letter for your class.  You are responsible for all postal charges.
• In addition to your letter you will need to send a short letter describing your class, school and where your live.
• The project will run for the month of September.  All alphabet letters should be mailed by September 30, 2014.

Once you receive all letters you can display them, place them in a class book or a host of other ideas that will fit your classroom needs.  If you have any other questions please send me an email.

July Currently

Hello July!

Where has the time gone? It has flown by.  It is now time to get started thinking about getting in a routine to start thinking about school.  I return to work in only 34 days.   Yes you read that right.  I return to work the first Monday in August.  {Insert frowny face}

Tonight I am linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her July Currently linky party.

Listening:  I love listening to my daughter play the piano. She has become quite good even if I do say so myself.  She is currently working on numerous patriotic pieces because she has been asked to play at an event.

Loving:  My youngest daughter has created an Instagram account for this blog after I talked with her about a teacher summer challenge.  She thought it would be fun.  I think she will be my biggest fan.  If you are interested you can follow me.  My user name is @barrowshodgepodge.

Thinking:  I have spent the last month thinking about this blog and its purpose.  I like to blog and share the experiences in our classroom.  From today on I am going to try my best to write about our classroom and the learning that is taking place there.  I have realized I was a better teacher when I was blogging.  I don't know why.  Maybe I was just more thoughtful?  I don't know...

Wanting:  My car is a hot mess!  No explanation necessary.  I just want the inside of my car cleaned.

Needing:  I have many things I want to get done and it seems like there is not enough time in the day.  Have you ever washed your sheets and left them in the dryer and did not remember to get them out until you thought about going to bed?  Yep....the story of my summer.

4th Plans:  We have a family reunion in the morning followed by lunch.  We usually get home about 2.  My dear husband has invited a couple of families over to grill, swim, fireworks, etc... Basically just hang out with some friends.

I hope you all have an awesome week!  Be sure to hope on over to Oh' Boy 4th Grade and see what everyone is "Currently" up to!

Monday Made It

 

I am so exited!  This is my first "Monday Made It" of the year.  Thanks so much to Tara for hosing this each week. I have a long lists of projects that need to be done and hopefully this will keep me excited about accomplishing all that I want to do.

My first "made it" is for the home.  We are having a few people over on the 4th and I wanted to have something new to hang on our door.  I searched Pintrest and settled on our initial painted like a flag.  I love how it turned out!!

Next, I made a Superhero Scoot Game for my classroom. This game was created as a way to teach the students how to play scoot.  There are 24 cards in this game.  Seven cards have general back to school information such as teachers name, student name and grade.  On five cards students must identify a color.  Five cards have a picture of an item that students will have to name.  All pictures follow the CVC pattern.  On four cards students identify a basic shape on the remaining cards students solve a basic addition fact.

If you would like this game it is the facebook fan freebie.  You can find my facebook page HERE.