Bulletin Boards and Buckets (ok it’s a crate, but it didn’t start with a B :)

First I have to say I learned about blog buttons today, brushed up on my hyperlinking, and learned a few new tricks on live writer (I’m not patting myself on the back - just in awe of how much I have to learn and how a little messing around with buttons can help you learn a lot.)

Bulletin Boards -  I totally got the bulletin board idea for Thanksgiving and I’m pretty sure for Christmas too from the wonderful Cara Carroll at …

She started my blogging venture and opened me up to a whole world of wonderful blogging ladies who I will be constantly referencing because they have made me, what I call “cutesy with a cause” . They have helped me become a teacher who constantly looks for those great hooks to make my students learning more memorable.  I always had that desire just didn’t always know what to do.  Plus, as my team could probably tell you- I am an idea junkie – I’ll try to implement most anything once if I think it will benefit my students .

Sorta started rambling but what I meant to say 500 words ago is that Cara Carroll has once again inspired a bulletin board for our main hallway – I think we should do a New Years themed one like hers where they write their goal for the New Year!

Buckets – How do you make great do- it- yourself stuff for your classroom?! The answer is ask your sis and bro-in law to make it for you for Christmas!

 

I originally saw the idea over at …

Printed off the tutorial and then gave it to my bro-in-law!  So, excited they did this for me!  So functional too!  I mean they are already holding my Christmas presents I’m taking home…pretty soon they will be both a storage of materials and cute seats! (my classroom theme is jungle-hence zebra ribbons to pull off the top- and I have a lot of jungle green color in my classroom if you couldn’t guess).

Now I just need to find a new chair to sit on to read books to my kiddos…cuz well I’ve sorta broken two in the last two years!  I had a short kitchen stool that was covered in leopard print that I got at a craft fair, but the top broke off last week and it was kinda getting a little wobbly.  The one before was metal and bent while I was sitting on it! (I did buy it at a garage sale for a $1).  I was tempted to buy one at Hobby Lobby tonight that was Zebra covered but it was $40 bucks! So…I’m gonna keep looking.  I need ideas on chairs that will last!

Signing off for tonight…enough rambling…

2 Posts in 1 Day = I Just Downloaded Windows Live Writer!

 

Hmmmm…I was just getting used to the normal Blogger (ok I’ve only been playing with it for one day!) and now I’ve gone and done this!  This is my test to see if it works .

Bulletin Boards with Teamwork!

For my first actual idea post I'm sharing about some bulletin boards my team and I did. Ha! :) That's kind of funny because I am the type who does not change out bulletin boards!  Not in my room or outside of my room, unless you count adding words to the word wall or phonics patterns under their correct heading.  Outside of our rooms we don't have bulletin boards so we hotglued up clothespins to hang student work (so tehnically I change out a bulletin board when I change out their work). I can share that pic later, but I don't currently have it on my new computer (plus I'm not home yet from Christmas to get pics from my old deadbeat computer:) but I did email myself the other pictures from my phone. 

The other pictures I have are from the main hallway in my school. The first picture is from a rainforest unit my whole team did (all five of us!), we each took a different animal to learn about, but all talked about the layers of the rainforest.  

The animal my class did was the scarlet macaw.  We got the pattern for the Scarlet Macaw from an Evan-Moor book Theme Pockets: June...I think that's where we got the Blue Morpho Butterfly pattern, the wood cutter ants, and the Wooly Mouse Opossum patterns too, but the boa constrictor pattern one of us just had.  We put this up right before special person's night at our school...we also did lots of other rainforest type activities, but I'll share those later.  Everyone who passed by exclaimed how pretty our rainforest scene was and they were all kind of sad when we took it down and left a blank bare wall :(...so I decided we just HAD to do something for Thanksgiving! :)

You can't read the hands, but each student in First Grade wrote something they were thankful for on two hands.  We got a lot of moms and dads, a few were thankful for their teachers, and one was thankful for grass :).  I stole the idea from someone's blog that did this just for their classroom...I think they put it up on their door...we just spruced up the hallway. Thanks to whoever this was...I'm going to have to look back at some blogs to give proper credit.  We got lots of compliments on this too!

So, of course we had to follow up Thanksgiving with something for Christmas!  It took us a little while to think of what would work as a big scene that wouldn't be too busy (we do have 110 First Graders!)  We came up with...

We read the book Christmas Trolls by Jan Brett to get them thinking about gifts you can't buy at the store.  My class had already been doing Random Acts of Kindness during the month of December, so some of their responses were precious!  We gave them folded construction paper and let their creative juices flow making their wrapping paper for their present on the outside (the only other piece I gave them was the red bow).  On the inside we stapled in lined paper where they filled in the prompt  the best gift of all is..Voila! Lift the flap books.  When I go back to school I am going to take a picture of some of their precious responses! 

Now what is going to beautify that hallway next? Hmmm....maybe something for Valentine's Day?  Something sooner?  I can't wait to find that great idea!  I'll have to go to my trusty sources... my other addictions...Pinterest, Teachers Pay Teachers, and my favorite teacher blogs! :)

(I put pictures in today!  That's a step up!  Now what will I learn to do tomorrow ?! :)

Finally Starting My Blog!!

I am so excited and oh so clueless as to how to start this little old blog!  I have been following some wonderful bloggers since last spring and have been itching to converse and share ideas with them, but needed to wait for a new computer for it to be possible.  Christmas came and now it's possible! I can't wait to actually post and share stuff and not just be a blog stalker and stealer of ideas :)!  Isn't that the teacher motto though...beg, borrow, and steal ( ideas mainly)...that's how the good become great - never thinking they have all the answers.  I'm going to be sharing some things my team and I do in First Grade and how we've used the ideas we've taken from other fabulous bloggers.  Before I close my first blog post I would like to say thank you to those bloggers who inspired me to do this, I will be giving you guys lots of credit!  I will share your buttons as soon as I figure out how :).