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?   

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.

 

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.

Worksheet Wednesday

Thanks to the Teacher Tribune and their weekly linky parties I am slowing getting back into the blogging routine.  Today I am participating in "Worksheet Wednesday"!

Today I have posted a time to the hour worksheet.  It will remain as a free item in my small store.  I hope that you can find it helpful to you.

8 States Neeeded, Currently, Where are we cards

Happy Sunday.  Are you ready to start a new week?  Might as well be, it is here!

I am hoping that we have a complete postcard exchange.  We only need 8 states.  If you live in Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Rhode Island, or Vermont.please consider being a part of our exchange.  All you have to do is email me your school name and address and  mail about 50 postcards before your Thanksgiving Break.  I look forward to hearing from you.


Now this month's Currently.  I am linking up with the famous Farley from Oh' Boy, Fourth Grade.

My B2s must haves are very basic.  I wanted to share why I included Teaching Buddies on the list.  I think it is important that we have friends that are teachers.  Sometimes, they are the only ones that can understand what is happening with you and they can offer support and help.  It is very helpful if you all can work as a team.
  If you will remember, Amy from The Resource(ful) Room and I collaborated on the Schedule Cards based on some themes she has created.  You can find these here.  I used the black and red theme and created some cards I can hang outside my door to show where the class is.  I will try to post a picture of the finish product tomorrow. Here is the red and black set.  If you are interested in any of the other color combinations to match the schedule cards let me know.   Where Are We Cards (Red Black)   Be sure to check out Amy's blog for additional resources.  

Schedule Cards...Freebie

Did you use the Daily 5 and Cafe Headers from Amy at The Resource(ful) Room?  I did and I wanted my schedule cards to match the headers.  Amy and I worked collaboratively to created these schedule cards to match.

Blue Green Schedule Cards

Jungle Schedule Cards

Red Black Sign Schedule Cards

Yellow Black Schedule Cards

I hope you enjoy these!  Please leave a comment on which schedule cards you can use.  Please check out my new facebook page.  Don't forget to follow me here on my blog too!

Remember you can find matching Daily 5/Cafe Posters over at The Resource(ful) Room.

I am linking this post up with:

 

101-200 Number Chart

This year I wanted a number chart that went to 200.  I looked everywhere and I couldn't find one.  So I had to make my own. 

I had two 100 pocket charts.  I hung them together and made number cards from 101-200.  I even made multiple colors like the chart orginally had.  This is the result.

 

101-200 Numbers for Pocket Chart

I am slowly getting everything ready for the start of school.  Teachers return on August 13 and students return on August 20.  It will be here before we know it.

Monday Made It

It is the last Monday of July!!  Only two weeks left of my summer vacation.  Thank goodness for Tara and her weekly Monday Made It.  I feel as though I am getting back into the swing of things and getting some stuff done.

My first "Monday Made It" inspiration this week came from Stories by Storie and her Parent Communication Binder.  Inside the binder is a tab for each student in the class. I am going to copy her management by numbering my tabs by the student's class number.  Behind each tab she keeps a parent communication log page, student information sheet, and permission to photo.  There is also a section for volunteers. My binder cover and spine came from Amy over at The Resourceful Room.


Parent Communication Log

Next, I turned two old Pop Tart containers into my "Stamp It" Word Work Stations.  The idea to use containers came from The Meek Moose.  I am just thrilled that I didn't have to purchase a container.  Loved that I found something at home I wasn't using.  I just "modgepodged" the container to cover up the Pop Tart graphics.










Last, I used my cricut and made the Welcome sign that is to hang in between my room and my teammate.



The Winners of the giveaway were Mrs. Peggy P and Dana C.  Congratulations ladies.  Mrs. Peggy, please email me about the giveaway.

Something New...

I am not much for reinventing the wheel, so I am always hesitant to make something for my class for fear of failure, copyright issues and a host of other things. I am normally content to purchase my things from Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook. I also love the freebies other bloggers have offered.

However, I recently make a sorting activity for my second grader's word work center. We studied silent letters with gh, ph, kn, and wr. I hope this is something someone can use.

Please click on image to download.

Please email with with feedback. I would love ideas on how to make things better, suggestions for graphics and the like.