I heart organizing!

I'm linking up again today to BlogHoppin' for their Teacher Week '13!  I missed out yesterday because I had already posted all of the super-sweet pics of my classroom!  I am obsessed with organization and I am one of the most organized people in the world, but I don't really have any cool pics to post so I will keep it simple tonight.  I'm exhausted this evening but didn't want to miss out on another day of the linky party so here are 3 things I do in my classroom to organize instruction.

1.  I utilize the use of Daily Folders in my classroom.  This is a folder that has a calendar inside that goes home every day after school and comes back every morning.  I put a sticker or write a short memo for each day for every student (it usually doesn't take long at all because most of them just get stickers or happy faces!) and when the student takes the folder home their parent is supposed to check the folder and initial on the date so I know they saw it.  That is my daily way of communicating with my student's parents.  I also have my students take any homework or important papers home in this folder so they aren't put in their backpacks and lost forever!

2.  I absolutely love how my students manage where they go during their Daily 5 rotations.  I use a really cool sheet that I created with the directions for each rotation at the top of the page and a chart that they put a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 in whichever rotation they went to 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.  I will definitely post a picture of this sheet (when I can get back to my classroom) incase anyone wants to steal it!  It gives the students the choice of deciding which rotation they go to when and it makes them not only feel independent but also in control of their own learning.

3.  This year I am going to begin using S.T.A.R Notebooks (Students Taking Academic Responsibility).  This is a binder that my students will keep at school at all times and put any notes we take or assignments we are working on in it.  One thing I try to teach a lot of is note-taking.  Anytime we practice reading or math I have students write down examples or definitions from the lesson.  In previous years these notes ended up being smashed in the back of their desk or thrown away.  This year we will keep them organized in their S.T.A.R Notebooks for future reference!  I made the cover and two inside inserts for our S.T.A.R Notebook today...Take a look!  I used wording and some ideas from this website.

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I love using my Daily Folders.  My Daily 5 rotation sheet works great for my students and I because it lets them take control of their own learning.  And I am more than excited to start using my S.T.A.R Notebooks this year!

Sidenote***My school had our Meet the Teacher Night tonight and it was absolutely fantastic!  I had 19 of my 25 students show up!  Most of my parents seemed very nice and supportive.  I am excited about this school year and my new kiddos! :-)

Well, it's off to bed for this tired mommywifeteachercook!

I will [try to] link up tomorrow for 'Taming the Wild'!

A classroom sneak peek!

Well it's getting too close for comfort!  Back to school time officially starts Tuesday for me.  We have four days of professional development and then the kids come on the 19th. I am starting to get really excited for a new year, new students, new curriculum, and new learning for me!

I was up at school last week to decorate my classroom and get it in working order.  Here are some pictures of some of the things I've made and decorated!

This is one of my bulletin boards.  We are supposed to display lots of student work so I bought plain black magnets and put colorful stickers on them so we can just hang work up on the chalkboard instead of stapling or taping it everywhere!  I also have my word wall right next to it.  I do some pretty cool things with the words on my word wall.  I explained one of them in one of my recent blogs, Educational Apps.

 This is where I will write my objectives this year! Last year I had frames that I wrote on with expo markers but they were hard to erase and write on and the kids eventually broke two of them. :-(  I figure this will be easier!

This is how I keep track of which student is doing what during our Daily 5 time.  They just move their name card to whichever center they want to do and I can just do a quick look and check they are at the right center!

This is full of rules, our general rubric and a voice levels chart, etc.

I absolutely love this.  I made it last year and it is right next to the door of my classroom.  Students simply move their number anytime they leave my classroom so I always know where they are.  I have had so many times that I tell a student he or she can go to the nurse or the library and then ten minutes later I have no idea where they are!  This really helps to keep me in check!

And this is something new I am doing this year at B2S night.  This board will be hanging up and parents are encouraged to take a circle off of there if they are able to buy the needed supply.  On the circles I have things like headphones (for our iPads), clorox wipes and ziplock baggies, etc.  I always need these things but don't want to buy them out of my own pocket!

This is a little look at my classroom so far!  Hope you enjoyed! :-)
If you did, please leave me a comment!