A Peek into Room 5! And FREEBIES!

I am linking up with a Class*y Collaboration to share a tour of my classroom!  Even though I am WAYYY late!

 

This year, I am teaching a first and second grade split class!  I have 9 first graders and 13 second graders.  Take a peek around our classroom!

Reading Station Tubs 

Students get a Reading Station Map on Monday that explains their stations for the week.  There are three maps for differentiated learning!  Check out an example here!

 Each student has their own Read to Self tub with books on their independent reading level.

  

Word Families Board

During small groups, students work on adding their own illustrations and words to the word family disk.  You can find this product here!

Daily CAFE Strategies Board

You can find these here at my TPT store.  The illustrations of each strategy are student created!

Today We Will...

We fill this in with our daily goals during morning meeting.

 

Teacher Work Area

 Small Group Teaching Area

Math Stations 

There are two maps for math each week as well.  Students work at their own pace to complete the map!

Math Small Group Area

Academic Vocabulary Wall             I am done.  

                                                     Now what?

                                                                                                                  Get this freebie here! 

This is my first experience with teaching a split classroom.  I absolutely love it, but it took quite a bit of work to get parents to "buy in" to the idea.  Has anyone experienced this before?  Questions like..

How are you going to meet the needs of my child?

What will your day look like?

Is my child falling behind?

AND THE LIST GOES ON!

So, I decided to give parents a peek at what our classroom looks like on a daily basis.  Check out the book I sent home with each child!  I received a TON of positive feedback, and we all know that parent support is CRUCIAL for success!

  

SHE'S Alive!

It has been way to long...  I'm sure you know how it is - The first 9 weeks of school is crazy, to say the least.  I am currently on fall break for 2 weeks and my "to do" list is a mile long!  Ahhh... the life of a teacher and mother.  Check out "Miss Cheese!"

I can't believe I am just now posting about the Extraordinary Educators Conference in Chicago this past summer.  I walked away with so many ideas that I have implemented in my classroom.  Cara Carroll presented about the math activities that she implements in her classroom.  One of my favorites is her Math Mission.  This is for students who finish their math tubs or activities early.  It is purposeful practice!  Check it out here!  She also implements Math Mouth in her classroom as a way to teach academic vocabulary!  TOTALLY LOVE IT!

 

Cara Carroll, Abby Mullins, and Kim Adsit!   

       My teaching partner 
Samantha and I downtown Chicago!

 This is my husband, Nick, and middle school teachers from his building.  Don't we look so excited and DRY???  Yea... That changed pretty quickly as we RAN back to our hotel in the pouring rain.  GOOD TIMES!

Another fabulous part of the conference was meeting Abby Mullins, from The Inspired Apple.   Her presentation was all about making your activities POP for students and how to effectively collaborate with teaching partners to create lessons that will WOW your students.  Here is one strategy that I use weekly! 

So... Let's say you walked into Barnes and Noble and found the CUTEST read aloud!  In your head you are thinking... "Now what?"  Here is a way to plan your strategy lessons.  Be sure to have your Post-its ready!

As you read through the text mark the following with your Post-its:

Red - Literacy Ideas

Yellow - Higher Order Thinking Questions

Purple - Art, Social Studies, and Science Connections

Green - Hands on Learning Opportunities (acting out)

Blue - Numeracy Connections

Orange - Vocabulary

Getting ready for common planning time with your teaching team?  Have everyone bring a read aloud to share!  Read the text, jot notes on the Post-its, and pass it on to another teacher.  By the end of the session, your team will have mini lessons to last ALL WEEK!

I have also begun taping the standards that the text meets in the back of the book!  Well... when I remember to!  HA!