Teacher Tuesday... a look back on the 12-13 school year!

Today, I am looking back at some of my creations from the 2012- 2013 school year! I really got into decorating this school year! This post will look at some of my decor and the famed Read Across America Day!!!

Each 9 weeks had a theme this year for AR, so each 9 weeks, the library got a makeover!!

1st 9 weeks theme was "Go for the Goal," and I got to put my Michael Phelps obsession on display :)

front entrance

Side Entrance

Wall Display- their names went on a star when they reached their goal.

2nd 9 weeks we had a popcorn theme, "Pop Open a Good Book and Meet Your Goal."

Their name went on a piece of popcorn when they met their goal.

Christmas

I got busy during Christmas! Got rid of all of the AR decor and went Christmas CRAZY!

The right is my version of the book tree I found on pinterest (on the left).

This is when I decided to get Dr. Seuss CRAZY!

A wreath I made for the front office!

The side entrance was turned into a gingerbread house!

Read Across America Day 2013 :) 

We had a great day! Our theme was "Reading is Our Thing."

We had guest speakers, activities, special visitors, a themed snack section, and a basketball game!

The library door, LORAX, greets the students!

Background

Horton

Cat In the Hat

Office Door

Dr. Seuss Books

Happy Birthday Banner

Thing 1 and Thing 2

A look at the Dr. Seuss area.

Beezelnut Splash  (fruit punch)

The snack table!

Truffula Trees and seeds (cookie sticks and nerds jelly beans)

Butter Battle Crackers and cream cheese

One Fish, Two Fish (gold fish)

Hop on Pop (popcorn)

Go Dog Go (cocktail weenies)

Guest Speakers... Mr. and Miss. Junior at JSU

Kids enjoying the speakers.

Cat in the Hat :)

It was a GREATTTTTTT day!!! 

Teacher Tuesday... Keyboarding Edition

It's summer...Hallelujah!

That means, curriculum planning, poster making, theme developing, and a lot of pinterest professional development. As I mentioned last week, I am going with a pirate theme this year. Thanks to oriental trading, my wall display has been purchased along with lots of incentives. Walmart had a bunch of pirate party decor on a super sale, so I racked up!! 

Today, I am going to focus on second grade. Next year, I plan on taking on a huge task...teaching the second grade students (and probably 3rd and 4th) how to type. Here are some nifty things I've found to help me conquer this task.

I plan to start off with a lesson from Doreen Cronin and the Cows... I am a librarian, so I feel like I have to integrate literacy :)

Then I am going to make one of these for each student. They will keep it in their library folder. We will color the keys according to which finger you use to hit that key. Before we actually move to a computer, we will use this for a month or so to practice locating the keys on the keyboard.

Then at some point, after we know the keyboard, we will use some type of program like this one to begin keyboarding! I just love this particular program!!!

I would love to make this on a big wall in my library; however, I do not have anywhere to actually put this .... I am still thinking about this! 

If you have any ideas for teaching second grade students how to type, I am all ears!

Peace, Love, and Geaux Tigers



P.S. This is my first time to figure out how to embed the pinterest widgets.... so be patient please!

Teacher Tuesday :)

Of course, if I am going to get back into blogging, I am going to need a theme each day! Most of what I am up to is teacher stuff, so let's geaux Teacher Tuesday! 

Anyone else super excited to be out for summer, yet spending all of their time putting a plan together for next year?! I know I am!!!

I'm not in the classroom anymore, but I may as well be. I still teach a reading lesson based on the common core curriculum units established by our district to each grade Pre-K- 8th. I went ahead last week and made a curriculum map and lessons plans for all grades for the first 9 weeks of school!!! I am determined to be super prepared this year! 

In library news, I have decided on an AR theme thanks to this little boy : )

The theme is..... PIRATES!

At BEEMS, we are HOOKED on READING! (with Captain Hook)

The AR slogan is "Racing for the Treasure." On the display wall, we will have a beach mural with "Treasure Island" to the right. Each class will get a pirate ship. For each person that meets their goal, their pirate ship moves closer to Treasure Island.

I am using the Walt Disney quote, "There is more treasure in books than in all of the loot on Treasure Island" to gear the theme more towards reading. It's hard to pick themes that a kindergarten student and an 8th grade student will enjoy, but I think this one appeases to all ages. WIth Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Pirates of the Caribbean, I am hoping this will be a success.

I have retired all of the Dr. Seuss stuff...at least until March...bring on the pirates! 

Here are a few on my pinterest pins for the library (sorry- cannot get the link to work.... grrr. Find the My Pirate Classroom board on my pinterest to find links for these fabulous ideas that I plan to steal from someone :))

I'll do something like this for the door....

Reading Log for K- 2...

My two goals for the upcoming year are......................

#1. Have entire classes meet goals each 9 weeks

#2. Focus on K-2 reading fluently and with comprehension, and meeting their goals.

More to come in the following weeks....

Peace, Love, and Geaux Tigers : )

Door Decor - Dr. Seuss Style

I love decorating my door, as you already know, and I also LOVE Dr. Seuss! Because I already has a newly decorated door for his birthday, I knew I needed to find a time that was appropriate to Dr. Seuss my door! April is the perfect month! For Earth Day, I like to use Lorax by Dr. Seuss as a guide, so I went ahead and used that as the theme of my door! Here are a few pictures!

 Here is a shot of the entire door!! 

 

There are a lot of great quotes in this book, but this is my favorite. 

It can be used for more than just Earth Day!

The Lorax!

MCT2 Madness

If you are working in or around a public school in Mississippi, you know as well as I do that it's crunch. Between mock test, sample test items, missed skills, more sample test items, and more crunching, it's evident that the state test, the mct2, it quickly approaching. 

Here are a few motivational signs that I've created to hopefully motivate and encourage our kids!

This first picture is something I threw together on Friday. The school has taken a "western" theme this year, so the principal wanted to follow that idea with some our test taking motivational signs. We are having shirts made by Southern Designs in Vidalia, LA, and they will be similar to this.

This idea came from some pencils I purchased from Positive Promotions.

This is also an idea I used from some bookmarks I purchased from Positive Promotions.

I cannot really remember where I got this idea, but I kind of like it!

Moor Door Decor- Spring Break Edition

I do actually have other things to blog about, but this is more fun... After spring break, I will blog about Disney!! For March, I wanted something springy, and I wanted to incorperate a little Disney into the door since I will be making magic at Disney World over spring break : )

I am in love with quotes these days... I find that most of the time other people can state think 10 times better than I can, so i have decided to just let them say it best. With that said, I try to let quotes inspire my door themes. For March, I found that easy. Walt Disney once said, "There is more treasure in a book than in all the pirate's loot on treasure island." I used this quote to inspire this little mural....

***i will be the first to admit that these ideas are much better in my head. i am inpatient, so i work quickly. this creates numerous flaws in the design compared to the image i pictured.....

This is a view of the entire door... Treasure Island

The inspiration...

Mickey in our ship... the kids named is U.S.S. Rice, but you can barely see that.

The tree on the island... poor tree. let's just say palm trees are not my specialty.

The treasure chest..... since Walt Disney says there is more treasure in books, the kids made jewels with their favorite book titles on them. So here you have a treasure chest of awesome books.  They had a lot of fun doing this.

A close up of the jewels.

Have a great spring break! I will make a little magic for everyone out there!!