A little DIY!

So I was thinking...craft projects are such a good way to de-stress, and I needed that break this summer! My classroom got new cabinets this summer so I wasn't allowed into my room until about a week or so before school started. So after I got back from the Philippines, I had some extra time on my hand and needed to focus on something other than school. I moved into an apartment when I got back and started the adventure of living by myself. I worked hard to make my apartment feel like home and wanted to share a few fun projects! 

I searched pinterest for a fun coffee table and came upon this pin.

 I loved the idea but decided I wanted mine to be a little bit bigger. So I headed to Michaels and bought six of these wooden crates. They are only about $14 and did you know Michaels honors Hobby Lobby's 40% off coupons. This thrifty crafter loved the good deal. 

I took a couple of days to sand and stain these crates before combining them into a fabulous table. I used Miniwax Jacobean stain to give the perfect color. I used 1 inch screws to connect the 6 crates together into the design shown below. 

I added a rectangle frame to the bottom made out of 2x4 for durability, then added 4 furniture legs from Lowes. Ta Da, what do you think??

 My next project was a photo wall. I had frames from previous projects and display to use. They all started with a coat of spray paint primer. I matched the colors in my throw pillows to give the room more color. After painting the frames I laid out the frames in the design I found suitable. I placed them on a layer of newspaper and traced around each frame. 

 After measuring and marking the hanger of each frame I taped the paper to the wall making sure it was level and centered. Then I simply placed a nail in each marking. After removing the paper, I hung the frames on the wall. 

 I loved how it turned out! Now I just need to add the pictures of my precious Filipino kiddos. 

A as in Apple! Anchor Poster Happy in Grade 1!

I hope everyone has gotten back into the routine of school. My kiddos are working hard each day to remember our expectations and daily routines, as well as learning lots of new skills. We started our phonics skills progression two weeks ago. We focused on short a the first week and then short a word families the next week. Each new vowel I am making an anchor poster to display in the room. The kiddos came up with all of the words and then I added the pictures. Anchor charts are such a great visual for our kiddos to remember all the skills they learn each year. 

Last week I let the firsties make their own anchor charts using our short a word families. They worked in groups to come up with words for their posters and then added pictures to match. They really enjoyed getting to learn these word families in a fun and interactive way! 

 

 Our next chart focused on text-to-self connections. I borrowed some ideas from my Pinterest board of anchor charts and helped the firsties learn how to connect what they are reading to themselves. My class is doing Whole Brain Teaching this year, so we "Mirrored and echoed" that a text to self connection is when I connect a text to something I've done, something I've felt or something that's happened." My kiddos love earning the points from the Whole Brain system. I would encourage all teachers to look into this fun way of learning. Look out for another post centered on WBT. 

I changed up our "Me on the Map" unit activity this year, and with the help of some examples from Pinterest I created this one page flip chart activity! My kiddos loved getting to find their place on the map and draw them holding the world! 

We also learned about the community we live in and who all helps out. I passed out these cute photos of community helpers and let my firsties discuss what each person did to help our community. We then recorded our thoughts and added some more helpers that were not pictured! 

Check back soon for our short i anchor chart and tips for Whole Brain Teaching! 

~Miss A 

Back to School I Go! A Look at my Room!

School's back and I am done with day 2. Only 178 more to go!! Just kidding, I am so excited about this upcoming year. I've already gotten some chances to share my faith through some great books and our All About Me time. The Lord has blessed me with a great job and a chance to mold young minds. I hope that I can share God's love to them daily and to the parents. 

I had a fantastic time in the Philippines this summer and was not ready to get back, but after meeting my new 15 kiddos I am reminded how much I love my job! I have some precious new friends, and was excited to show them my classroom over the past few days. This summer all the classes on my hallway got new cabinets. We had to take EVERYTHING out of our room, so when I came back in July I got to change up my classroom a little bit. See what you think! 

 I added my three metal shelves to my classroom library in order to make a more secluded reading area.

 New reading area, meant new book box labels. I made these with some fun, free fonts and graphics. I have my books divided by genres, characters, and guided reading levels. 

 Meet the teacher was on the Tuesday before school started and I was just "BUBBLING" to meet all my new friends! 

I found this great box rack at the local thrift store for $7!! I added it to my math section to hold all of the manipulatives! I am going to use the clear cart for Math games/centers and the three drawer cart for extra math storage.  

Making their debut are my new cabinets on top and cubbies on the bottom! I am also starting using book baskets this year. I'll store them all on this back counter! The cubbies hold all of my ELA and Math games as well as craft supplies.  

Calendar is not part of first grade Common Core, but I still enjoy doing it daily so I kept this board up and added my big bookshelf in front to display unit books. My favorites are ready to share this month: You are Special and Because I Love You by Max Lucado, First Day Jitters, The Giving Tree,  and Berenstain Bears Go To School! 

 This fun pinterest idea was made possible by my find at Tuesday Morning! Although I did find out that you can find them at Really Good Stuff!! They are dry erase marker ready and we will use them for making words as well as math problems. 

I moved my job chart closer to my table this year, so I would always know which helper I needed to call. I made the name tags out of paint chips. I cut them using the paper cutter and just wrote their names on top. They are hanging on 3M hooks. 

 Another Pinterest idea was this fun Birthday hanger. The one I saw was made of wood but I just used cardboard and foam! I think it will also be a fun way to talk about graphs too! 

Last, but certainly not least, I got RID of my FILING CABINET! I was really nervous at first, because of the amount that can be stored in these cabinets, but I love how the shelf turned out. I put everything in binders. For the items that wouldn't fit in a binder I put them in hanging files inside the plastic crates on the left wall. 

I hope everyone else has had a great start to school, I can't wait to share all the fun activities we are working on!! 

~Miss A