Prepping for a New Month in the Classroom

One of my favorite things (when I'm in the classroom, that is!) is to change things out for the new month. I love changing the calendar, the literacy and math centers, and I usually change out table cloths that I have around the room with themes for each season/month. I love it! Something new for me and new for the kids! Well, with the new month approaching, I wanted to share all of the NOVEMBER goodies that I have and LOVE to use in my classroom! Plus, I'm putting my whole store on sale this weekend, so now is the perfect time to stock up and get ready for the new month!

Here are a few pictures of how I change out my table clothes around my room. I don't put them on tables that kids actually have to work because I feel like that'd make life difficult. I put them on some tables that I have made into more of a "counter" to keep my small group materials, etc. on, then under the table I store things, so the table cloths cover up those items! Also, I put one over the table that I have my projector, doc camera, etc. on. I always purchase them after the holiday for the next year, super cheap and they have all lasted me years! I love them.

Here's how I prepare my centers. I do this once, and they have last through two Novembers, hopefully they last through this year too. But if not, the time it takes to put them together and prepare them is worth it to last at least two years! It just depends on your class, I've found, and how they are with materials. Some classes are much better than others. Also, I find that if you have A LOT of centers/games to choose from, instead of just a few, the wear and tear isn't so bad because they "spread the wealth." {Haha}

I have a lot of people ask how I put my stuff together. After printing, the only thing I cut before laminating is the cover page, to put on the front of an envelope, and I don't even glue it on, I just stick it on the envelope, and slide them both in between the laminating sleeves. Also, another common question is about the metal prongs on the manila envelopes. Yes, I leave them on and sent it right through my personal laminator. Works fine! I've probably put hundreds of them through and no problem! Here are some pictures that show me preparing my Thanksgiving centers a few years ago! These are totally RAW pictures, taken at my kitchen table and in my classroom. Real life, nothing special! :)

Slide envelopes into laminating sheet. (these are larger envelopes and I have to cut the top off, so they don't close, the pieces will later just slide in the top, no big deal!)

Laminating!

Laminating, I only put them in Ziplock bags to transport to school, otherwise they just stay in the envelopes and are nice and sturdy!

Here is an example with the smaller envelope, you can see how I put it through. This cover I just left full size and lay the envelope on the back in the laminating sleeve. Again, I don't even take the time to glue it. The lamination will hold it all together. No wasted time! :) 

When it comes to the game pieces/cards. I DO NOT cut those out BEFORE laminating. No way! No extra work for me! I laminate the WHOLE sheet, then cut afterwards. They all stay together just fine! I see a lot of teachers post pictures that have cut out each piece, then put in lamination, then they have to cut that all out again. NO WAY! Call me lazy...but I only cut once! I've never had a problem w/ the lamination using this Purple Cow laminator or the Scotch Brand one. (I like that one better!)

Here's a good shot of how I just slide the game pieces into the envelopes (I slice the envelope open with the end of scissors after laminating is done.) The envelopes don't close, but the pieces stay in! You just have to teach the kids to put them RIGHT SIDE UP in the bin/baskets when they put them away!

At my last school, here's how I would set up the envelopes on display for kids to choose. Math one one side of the shelving unit, reading on the other.

I've BUNDLED all of my FAVORITE November items. That way, you can purchase one thing and have everything that I use from my own store in my classroom in November! I honestly love all of these products and this is my FAVORITE month when it comes to centers and activities that I pull out of my NOVEMBER box. :)

If you already have some of the products in the bundle, or if you just don't want all of them. See each products below individually. Also, some examples of pages from each product!

  

Coming soon*** A blog post about my newest literature companion pack that goes with the book Bear Says Thanks. It will include a freebie! Stay tuned!

Break a Leg! {Personal Update plus some DOLLAR DEALS}

Hello everyone! It's quite the week around here...full moon, parent teacher conferences, and of course HALLOWEEN! Although it's on a Saturday, I'm sure many of your schools are having parties earlier in the week. My school does not have school Friday due to parent teacher conferences late on Wednesday and Thursday, so the Halloween parade and celebrations are on Thursday, then teachers stay until 8pm for parent/teacher conferences! All of these Facebook posts that I have seen say they are glad Halloween is on a Saturday...I'm not sure that matters around here because now it's just a LONG and extended Halloween celebration, as I'm sure it is for many of you too! However, kids will have some time to rest over the weekend!! Whew!

Well, my own interesting news is that I'm NOT actually AT SCHOOL through all of this. I'm currently off for an undetermined amount of time due to an unfortunate accident. I'm having a hard time being away (although I'm not sure I feel too bad about being gone during this crazy week! LOL!) I'm missing out on all of the fun!

If you follow my on Facebook, you've probably already seen a few posts about my accident and staying home for awhile. Long story short, I was hit by a car on September 30th. (I can't believe it's already been a month, it will be 4 weeks on Wednesday!) I was leaving a meeting downtown in our city, crossing at the crosswalk with some other teachers from my district and I was struck by the car about halfway through the crosswalk. It was an extremely scary experience, but I'm SO LUCKY TO BE ALIVE! The bumper of the SUV hit my left leg right below my knee, sending me straight down to the pavement on my knees. SO THANKFUL that I didn't hit my head, go onto the hood of the car, etc. At first, I was in such shock that I was just SURE that I was fine, just a bruised leg...as I laid on the street corner, unable to walk. (I can laugh now!) I was taken to the ER by ambulance and we soon (well, not so soon...hours later) found out that I had a fracture on the plateau of my tibia. Sounds kinda fancy, huh? Well it is fancy alright, fancy as in it will require a very LENGTHY recovery time because of the location of the fracture. I had surgery to reconstruct everything and I am now the proud owner of two metal plates and four GIANT screws inside of my leg. (I got to see the x-ray of it this past week...OOOOO MMMM GGG!)

I have to give a shout out to my school, my school district, my neighbors, friends, and family! I have had a constant flow of people here at the house, willing to help with anything we need. My husband has become Mr. Mom/Dad/Housekeeper/Cook/Chauffeur/EVERYTHING. I'm so fortunate to have him! He is seriously amazing!  Mentally, I'm getting better and laughing more about it all, but physically, I'm still restricted to the couch all day, everyday. My favorite thing is when I get to move from the couch to bed for the night! (Sad, right!?) I start PT this week and hopefully I will beat the odds and be back on my feet in LESS than the 3 months that my ortho has restricted me too. We shall see!!! :)

Although I know it could be worse, and I'm so thankful that it wasn't.... Please just never take things for granted... Life can be TOTALLY FLIPPED UPSIDE DOWN in seconds...literally. 

Now...for the SPOOOOOKTACULAR part! The Indiana Bloggers have planned a dollar sale! I have four items that I have marked down to ONE DOLLAR. They are all honestly a great deal for one dollar! Check them out! (I can't wait to shop myself!)

Click on my pictures below to go directly to my product and add it to your cart for one dollar, then at the bottom of my post, you will see all of the other products that are posted by other Indiana teachers for ONE DOLLAR each!

An InLinkz Link-up

Need Fresh NEW Materials for the NEW School Year!? {Freebies included!}

I just thought I'd share some of my products with you today that I think would be great for BACK TO SCHOOL time! I've been back in school for a week, but I know some of you are just getting into that mode. Actually, I'm still getting into the mode too! :) I'll give a short explanation, then just click on the picture to find it in my store. Some are freebies, others you may want to add to your wishlist! :)

 A FREEBIE that I love. I had been creating this chart for quite a few years, but I finally put it into a digital format so others can use it too! Check it out! Essential for the beginning of the school year, so your students can get to know the difference between fiction and non-fiction right away. 

Another FREEBIE! I use these in workstations and to start small groups to get kids warmed up! This is a small FREE set, but I also have full sets of all 6 Fry's Phrase levels available in my store (later in this post!)

These are my VERY POPULAR fluency phrase games. I have multiple sets of these. All of them have the same Fry's phrases, but in different format/clip art. My students like to see things changed up, even if it is just different clipart. This first one is a Super Reader (Superhero Alligator) themed set. I also have a "Back to School" themed set with school supplies as the clipart. There are 6 games that can be played as a workstation/center or in a small group. My favorite way to do this is to teach them in the small group and play on and off for a few weeks, then later put it out in an independent center/workstation for them to play on their own. I'm sure they might even have fun playing these games for indoor recess and would they even know they are practicing reading? Maybe, maybe not. :)

 

This a Back-to-School set that I JUST finished putting together! It's geared more toward third graders, but if you feel like some of your 2nd graders need a challenge, check it out! I actually created a unit of centers to go along w/ the first unit of 3rd grade Treasures. These centers are the ones that I pulled out of that unit that I felt ANYONE could use! (Not just limited to the Treasures teachers!) I just HAD to do this because some of the centers turned out SOOOO cute that I didn't want to only limit it to the Treasures teachers! One of my favorite sets! There are SIXTEEN centers included here. You just print, laminate, cut out some pieces and GO! Hopefully they will last you a few years if your students are nice to them! :)

This is my 2nd grade Back to School Mega Pack set. Similarly, I pulled these out of the 2nd grade Treasures sets. I didn't want those centers to just be limited to the Treasures teachers. So these centers can be used by anyone at the beginning of the year. Print, Laminate, Cut, Go! :) 30 centers are included! Huge set! 

This is another of my BRAND new products and I just used it in my classroom this past week! If you have the book Wemberly Worried, this is a MUST HAVE companion pack. There are graphic organizers, activities, and printable hands-on centers included in this pack!

Similar to Wemberly Worried, here is a pack to go with an all-time favorite, Chrysanthemum! We did this last week too, the kids loved it and stayed very engaged!

I also have a companion pack for First Day Jitters. Graphic organizes and hands-on centers included! Check it out by clicking on the picture below!

I love using these math problem solving tasks for my 2nd graders. I have a set for every month of the school year. We do one each day to get warmed up and ready at the beginning of our math block. These could also be used for morning work or homework! I have created them three to a page so they are more printer friendly! If you like them, I have the whole year bundled in my store! Also, if you use Envisions Common Core, you will really like these because I pretty much followed the skills being taught in that series each month when I made these.

My mClass print and go packets are very popular! MCLASS is an assessment that we use here in the state of Indiana (and I'm sure others use it too!) But, these sheets can be used by anyone and I know a lot of people have commented that they have no idea what MCLASS is, but they love these! Ha! It's true, they are good practice for morning work, homework, and extra seat work. You can print them and copy them for your kids or you can put them in a sheet protector with a dry erase marker and have them used in a center. These are also available as a full year set if you fall in love with the September set! :) 

Here is another set of fluency phrases, but this time it's in a roll and read format, not the cards like the previous ones. I print these, put them in sheet protectors, then into a three-ring binder. I pull out a sheet per child for them to practice with during small groups to get warmed up. I also have a "Snow Princess" (Frozen!) version!

Fluency posters that I hang up behind my small group table to help each my students how to be fluent readers. We focus on part of fluency each week! 

I just finished this FREE bulletin board set and added it to my store! They are iPad templates that I added a picture of each child reading a book on, plus they wrote "I like reading because..." on the bottom of each iPad. Pretty quick and easy bulletin board for the beginning of the year! 

Last, but certainly not least, I also use WONDERS in my classroom and I have created resource sets to go with all of the 2nd and 3rd grade units. They are broken down by the week, but you can purchase a full unit at a time too. If you have looked in my store before, you will see that I have Unit 1, Week 1 available for both 2nd and 3rd grade for FREE! This is a huge value because even though it's a sample, it's a FULL sample of one week and you will quickly see how much is included in these full sets! Check it out if you use the Wonders reading series! You won't be sorry! I'm going to link the pictures below to the FREEBIES, but please note that you can click on "Wonders" over on the left hand side in my store and see ALL of my Wonders resources! They are very popular and as you can see by the reviews, they are used by many and LOVED by many. I love using them in my own classroom and after print and laminating them, this will be my third year using them in my room. They are still in good shape! 

I hope this blog post wasn't taken as me bombarding you with products to purchase from my store. I really just wanted to take some time to explain some of my favorites that I think are essential for back to school time. My 2nd grade classroom pretty much RUNS on many of the products mentioned here I authentically USE all of them in my room (even parts of the 3rd grade Wonders sets, I have printed and laminated them for extra stations and for my more advanced readers!) Again, not just trying to bombard you with BUY THIS BUY THIS BUY THIS. I have included many freebies that I hope you will find helpful as well. Good luck in your new school year and please continue to follow me here on my blog, Facebook, and my TPT store. I'm always creating things and throwing freebies up that I have created for my own room! 

Three Quick and Easy Math Games

Hello! Wanted to let you know that I'm blogging over at Classroom Tested Resources today about Three Quick and Easy Math Games! Click on the picture above to check it out!