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Back to School

Best Year Ever Sale – August 1 & 2

Back to School July 31, 2016

It’s that time of year again….time for the big TPT back-to-school sale.  The sale deemed “Best Year Ever Sale” (love this) will take place Monday, August 1 and Tuesday, August 2.  Every item in my TPT store (Jordan Johnson) will be 28% off if you use the code BESTYEAR.

Thank you Glitter Meets Glue for this cute banner!

Happy Back-to-School Shopping!!!!

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Monday Made-It – July 25

Back to School July 25, 2016

I’m finally linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for a Monday Made-It. It’s been forever since I’ve linked up!!!  Link up here.

For student birthdays this year, I decided to make little birthday goodie bags filled with some things they can use at school.
These cute bags from Container Store inspired my goodie bag idea. They were too cute. I had to buy them and use them for something.  Little heads up – buy one more bag than you need. They were supposed to have 8 in a bag and definitely did not, so be careful with that!
Here’s what I included:

The above items I purchased at Lakeshore Learning. I got each student a birthday pencil, bookmark, and a birthday sticker they can wear.
I got the Mr. Sketch markers and mechanical pencils from Target. Each student gets one to use.

I got these awesome birthday passes from Primarily Speaking. You can download the homework passes on her website, here.   I printed them on bright Astrobrights paper!

Here’s what they looked like all put together! So glad to have this done and out of the way!
I also recommend putting the extras in a bag. This way if I get new students I have supplies ready if I need more birthday goodies.
Thanks for stopping by to see my Monday Made-It!!

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Five for Friday – August 21

Back to School August 21, 2015
The first week of school is complete! It’s been a great week, but I’m feeling exhausted and can’t wait to sleep in tomorrow. I’m linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to show you my week in Five for Friday. Link up with her here…
 
 
Today I finish my first week of our new school year – my 9th year teaching. Even though I’ve been doing this for nine years, I still forget how the first week goes – the routines, procedures, expectations. And, don’t get me started on unpacking and pack up at the end of the day – I get anxiety just thinking about.  I love order and routines and I always forget how painful it can be to start over. I saw a few of my kids from last year in the hall and I pleaded – “please, come train my new kids.” They have already improved with everything since Monday, but there is nothing like having your class trained in how you run you room…we’ll be there soon…hopefully. 
Andy was so sweet and surprised me with flowers for the first day of school.  He even got sunflowers which are my favorite! He also took me out for Outback to celebrate the first week and I can’t live without Diet Coke. Love the special little treat for the first day!

I will do a large, very large post on this later, but wanted to give a sneak peek. I’m so excited – we’re working our very first project based learning project.  I took that class at the DI Conference in Vegas and with a friend’s help from another school came up with this first project.  The kids are helping me create Johnson Elementary from the ground up – classes, maps, rules, procedures, etc.  I know this is vague, but I’ll post more once it’s complete.  This has been one of the best things I’ve done teaching. My kids are so excited and engaged and ask every day – “when are we doing PBL?”

It’s the little things that excite teachers.  Last year I had two trapezoid tables that I configured to make it work for pulling small groups. My HR director was kind enough to purchase me a kidney table for this year and it arrived this week! It’s so pretty lol.  It even has a white board top. It’s funny how excited a teacher can get over a piece of furniture!
Oh how I’ve missed kids over the summer – I love this response above to “What do you want to learn in second grade?” One student responded – I want to learn more education. That makes me smart. Too cute!  I’m enjoying my new group of 2nd graders.
 
Hope everyone is having a great first week, first few weeks back, or last bit of summer!  Happy Friday, too!

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Survived the First Day

Back to School August 18, 2015
Oh boy, that first day is a doozy. We had a great first day and I have a great group, but I’m exhausted! 
 
The biggest challenge today was getting used to my new name. I’m so used to Miss Veenstra or Miss V and hearing Mrs. Johnson all day was a little weird. Not to mention former students called me by my maiden name and I even referred to myself by it to my new students.  I’d catch myself saying “When Miss Veenstra says this…” and my new students are all looking at me like who is that. I’m a little worried they think I’m confused lol. 
 
Anyways, besides that the first day went smoothly!  I guess by the time it’s your 9th year you start to get the first day down to a routine.
 
Here are a few things we did today…
 


Our first Morning Meeting Activity, I found on the blog Who’s Who and Who’s Knew by Michael.  It’s called Finish the Picture. What I liked about this activity and Michael mentions this on his blog is that all students can do it.  It doesn’t require much direction and it gets them busy those first few minutes of school or the activity. I took this time to go around and talk with the kids and get to know them a little better right from the start. The other neat thing about is that they share their pictures with their table when time is up. I loved hearing their little conversations starting and seeing them work as a team a half hour into class.  I highly recommend you go to his blog and grab his freebie!

Here was our Morning Meeting Message today. I always love to see what the kids want to work on in 2nd grade. I quickly found out today that many of my kids are advanced and some already are working on their multiplication and division. I’ll definitely have some differentiation plans in my future!
Can’t have a school day without GoNoodle. Today we picked our first champ and did Pop Se Ko and Push All the Buttons. I love GoNoodle and the kids enjoyed the brain breaks too!
Here’s a math activity that we did today. We had CGI training last week and I had been trained in a prior school.  One of the big focuses of CGI is being able to compose and decompose numbers.  So, I thought I’d see where the kids were at. I’m so glad I did this activity because it told me a lot about the kids.  We did a few examples together with the number 20. I then let them pick their number to work with – 30, 40, 50, or 100. It was interesting to see what number they chose.  Some chose well for their ability and some probably took the easy way out. It was also interesting to see what operations they were using to create their specific number. 

This is another first day favorite. I made these frames last year and we again took first day pictures today. I love to give these to the parents at back to school night and also have students put them in their portfolio so we can see how they grow throughout the year.

That’s it for me today! I’m off to bed.  Gotta get ready for Day #2 tomorrow!

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Classroom Reveal 2015-16

Back to School, Classroom Set-Up, Organization August 16, 2015
I’m so excited to share my classroom for the 2015-16 school year. This is my 9th year teaching and my 2nd year at this school.  It is so much easier decorating your room when it was the room you had last year.  We have summer camp at our school so we do have to pack up everything in May, but it was so much easier setting up this year since I had been in that room all last year.
 
Let’s take a look.,..
This bulletin is out in the hallway right next to my classroom. I had seen many different variations of Instagram boards on Pinterest and used those for inspiration. My goal is to take many pictures throughout each month and post them up for everyone to see. We will also create hashtags as a class like we do on Instagram. I think this will be a neat way for us to capture a timeline of our year.
This bulletin is also outside my classroom. For back to school, it has all of the names of the students in my class.  Throughout the year, I will be posting student work on this bulletin. The clothespins make it easy to switch out work.
Here is a view of the front of my classroom. I like students to work in groups and have 19 so I have 3 groups of 5 and one group of 4.
This area is my math and work area.  The blank space on the bulletin will house the anchor charts that students and I create together.  The empty bins in the first cubby storage that have numbers on them, will be used for Math Stations.  The bins in the other cubbies will hold all the math materials that we use.  On top, I have a turn in bin as well as pencils, etc.  This will be a much-used area.
I shared these frames last year in a Monday Made-It. I use these for posting the essential questions we are working on in the different subject areas. The nice thing about them is I can move them and hang them on the white board to make them more visible.
This is the writing area. It will be used for writing station and also houses the folders for Writing Workshop. The folders go in bins that have the different writing processes labeled. This way I know what stage the students are in.  For writing station, students will use the I Can list and the items in the two white storage units on the desk. (I’ll post more on Writing Station later).
I still use the Clip Chart. I know there are a variety of thoughts on the Clip Chart, but I find it works for my students and many of the other grades use it at our school so it helps for consistency. These bins hold all of my teacher books that I use when modeling and doing read alouds. The bins up top need to be labeled, but they hold games and activities for different subject areas.
I love having a storage closet in my classroom. It is quite full, so no picture of that! On the door, I have my I’m Done activities listed.   I also have moved my Bucket Filling area to this wall.
Here is my classroom library. I don’t think I’ve done a post on how I organize it, but plan to do one soon. I’m very OCD about my library and have found a system that works for students to quickly find books, but to also keep them organized.
Student cubbies and my classroom jobs chart
Here is our meeting space. I use the rug for students during Morning Meeting, but also throughout the day. We have short throw projectors so I like to have the students up close when I’m projecting things but also like proximity when teaching to help keep students on task. I use the three pocket charts for vocabulary. One for reading, math, and social studies.  I like having it accessible so students can see it and use it throughout the day.
Here is my area. Now, I have been free from a teacher desk for awhile, but these were brand new and we have to have one in each classroom so I decided to use it as a desk and actually like it.  The table by the window actually fits on the end of the desk and can be used for many things. 
I use the board as our homework board. Each student has a planner divided into the same subjects on the board. I write the homework up here for each day and students can then copy it in their planner.  I love washi tape!
Here’s a view of the back of the classroom.
Here’s a view of the side of the classroom.
And, one last view of the front!
I’m loving my new bulletin labels. I use three boards in the classroom – reading, math, and writing. I got the idea for the pennants from Sarah a teacher I taught with back in AZ. I saw she used them on her bulletins and loved the idea! She found them Target in the party aisle. They have them in many different colors. I then used big stickers from Michael’s. I’m pretty excited with how they turned out. Now, I need some class made anchor charts to put on the board!
We are big on growth mindset at my school. I saw this board on Pinterest and it was made by Sarah from Math Equals Love. I loved it and my teammate and I made a replica on one of our hallway boards for all parents to see. 
 
Thank you for stopping by to take a peek in my room.  Excited for our first day of school tomorrow!

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Meet the Teacher Treat

Back to School August 16, 2015

I always love to give my new students a little treat for Meet the Teacher. I found this idea on Pinterest and recreated it with fun tags to fit my room theme.  There are many different variations on Pinterest, but I used Fourth & Ten’s blog for inspiration.

 
We had Meet the Teacher yesterday and the kids loved the treat!
 
Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

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Packing Up Tip

Back to School, Organization August 30, 2014
I’m not sure about any other teacher, but the end of the day always drives me a little crazy.  Especially at the beginning of the year.  Packing up has always been a chaotic time no matter how much routine I try to put into place.  The beginning of the school year is even more chaotic because they have no idea about the routine and listening skills need some work as it is. 
 
So, this year we did our super slow motion pack up 2-3 days.  Slow motion meaning – open your planner – stop, write in your planner – stop, have me sign your planner – stop, get your folder – stop, etc…  I won’t bore you with the rest of this.  This year since I have a small number of students they definitely picked up the routine faster.  However, I have a few kiddos who seem to be in their own world at times and move quite slowly to do many things.  These are the kiddos that think they are packed up and are sitting and in reality their backpack is still hanging, lunchbox in the cubby, planner out, and more. 
 
So, instead of driving myself totally crazy and losing my voice continuing to call out the routine, I wrote it on the board.  Simple and to the point. I’m sure many of you have thought of this, but if not try it.  It helps because instead of me continuing to repeat the routine or repeat it to certain students, they can look at the board or I can “remind” them to look at the board :-).
 
Here’s my routine on the board…
 

 
 
Sorry for the lack of blogging. I always forget how the first few weeks of school leave you so exhausted.  I have a handle on things now and many blog posts to share so I should be back at it this week.
 
Hope everyone has a great long weekend!

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Survived the First Day!

Back to School August 19, 2014
Every year without fail the first day of school flies by.  And, even though it seems like it went so quickly you were only there an hour or two, you feel like you worked a 24 hour shift by the time you were done. I love how adrenaline kicks in that first day…but  man am I tired now.
 
Here’s one of my favorite things from our first day (I’ll share more as the week goes on, but my bed is calling my name). 
 
My new school starts the day with Morning Meeting for 25 minutes every day. I love that they have time built in for this and that they really want us to focus on the classroom community.  Today was our first one and the kids did awesome. They all had done it last year in first grade but for our first one together it was neat to see.
 
For Greeting, we all introduced ourselves and then we said good morning to the person after their introduction.
 
For Share, I read First Day Jitters (a favorite and must for the first day).  Then, I had student share how they were feeling about the first day. I loved hearing many of them say how happy and excited they were.
 
For Activity, we played Guess My Number. I thought of a secret number between 0-100 and then 0-200 and they had to guess. I’d answer their guess with either higher or lower and they’d have to narrow it down with the clues.
 
For Morning Message, I had them share with me what they wanted to learn in 2nd grade. I loved seeing them take ownership and turns while writing on the board.  Here’s a picture of it below…
 
 
I’m so excited for this year.  I have a great bunch and can’t wait to see all we accomplish by the end of the year.
 
Hope everyone else who started today had a great first day. On to day 2 tomorrow!
 

Also, make sure to check out the TPT Back-to-School Boost Sale.  My whole store will be 20% off on Wednesday, August 20 and if you use the code “BOOST” you’ll get 28% off!

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Classroom Reveal 2014-15

Back to School, Classroom Set-Up, Organization August 17, 2014

I’m so excited to share my photos from my new classroom. I’m going to warn you, there’s a lot.  Last Sunday I moved into my new school and new classroom. And….I….love….it! There are windows.  Not just one – but four! It’s amazing how having windows makes the room so much brighter, warm, and more inviting.  The other cool thing is that I’m on the 2nd floor and out two of my windows I have an awesome view of the Las Vegas Strip. 

Here we go….

Outside Bulletins in the Hallway

Welcome Bulletin for Orientation

Now, the inside…

 
Love that kids can each have their own cubby and there are also hooks for backpacks.
 
 
My classroom library space
 
 
 
 
Classroom supplies (in the cubbies)

My teacher workspace/desk and small group area

I’m super lucky that we have extremely small classes.  I have only 16 kiddos. I’ve always had 20-24, but this school keeps them very small, which I’m going to like!

Essential Questions boards – can use an Expo marker to write the essential questions and change them as needed.

White board with projector. I’m going to use the pocket charts below the white board for our vocabulary words.

Writing table area. I’m going to eventually use this for a writing station.

Math Area – Math Bulletin board (blank spot is for anchor charts created as a class). Bucketfilling area below…

My teacher books that I use for lessons organized by skill or topic.

I also love that we have a closet here with shelves. Nice to have storage options. 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my classroom space. I met my kiddos yesterday at Orientation and they are so cute! I can tell we’re going to have a great year together!

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