Monday Made It - August 10th

It's my last Monday off. I am making the most of it. My family and I are at Six Flags over Texas in Dallas. It is hot and we are all cranky. (this is just a prediction because I am writing this on Friday night before we leave for our mini vacation) 

Have to share my Monday Made Its, I have been B-U-S-Y! 

I spent a few hours everyday in my classroom. It is a wreck still, but all in due time. I am not revealing everything but I do want to share my helpers board. I decided to do team jobs and I love how this turned out. I got the idea for the tissue paper here. 

Next, I made a place to display student work. 

First I spray painted some clothes pins

Then I glued them to 12x12 paper. Know anything about E6000? 

Those bad boys are NOT coming off! 

These are the front of my room. There are enough for every student. This is where their work will be hung inside the classroom. I love how they turned out. 

The next 2 are things I have seen on MMI. 

Tara and my bloggy buddy, Alison from Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin' both made these. 

Book Buzz from 

I snatched it up during the BTS sale and put it together. SUPER EASY! 

And Farley shared these. I got wood letters for each of my new team members. 

Painted them and hung pretty ribbon from the top. 

I bought gold pens so we could have our students write their names on them. 

They will hang in our classrooms or outside ours doors. 

Super easy as well! 

I made these number labels from Tara too. Love the colors. 

And I have begun making brag tags. I lots to print, laminate and cut this next week. 

I made my own for Meet the Teacher. 

The template is from Fifth in the Middle. 

I received my box from Amazon Friday and can't wait to fill it up! 

Super excited to try this form of classroom management. 

We had an off to college party for my son this past Saturday at my parents house.  

He leaves in 6 days!!!! 

We couldn't have a graduation party so I decided to do this before he left. 

It was simple, just sandwiches, chips and cupcakes. 

I made cups for the future Aggies. (My 2 youngest and my 4 nephews) My 9 year old already told me he wasn't going there. No worries, there is plenty of time for brainwashing. 

I made former student cups for my sisters and their husbands. I am the only one who didn't marry an Aggie. I always take the harder road traveled. 

My son's cup is the Class of 2019 cup! 

My husband made cupcakes. (Yep, he bakes. He's forgiven for not being an Aggie) 

I made these cupcake toppers since I live near Austin and finding something here was not going to happen. I love how they turned out.

Instead of presents for my son. (he received graduation gifts earlier in the summer), we gave my parents AGGIE GRANDMA AND GRANDPA shirts. 

They were over the moon. (again, I am predicting their reaction here, I am sure they loved them) 

They put four kids through A&M, DEBT FREE. 

They deserve this and they are super proud of their grandson. 

Thanks for making it to the end, I know it was long. I told you I was busy. 

Tis the season  though, right? 

I know this week will be no different. It just gets worse from here! 

Be sure to check out all the MMI's over at Tara's blog. 

And stay cool for me, it's over 100 degrees here in Dallas. 

(at least that was the prediction as of Friday!) 

Our Teaching Tribe August Challenge

Super excited to participate in this blog hop with another tribe I recently joined. 

This month we were challenged to trade a product with another blogger. We were asked to make it and decide how we would use it in our classrooms this year. 

I was partnered with Lessons with Coffee.

 I have already worked with Jameson in the past, so it was comfortable.

 I feel like she's a good buddy of mine. 

 I made her show what you know board for exit tickets.

She was super sweet and actually made this bright version for me because she knew that was my theme. 

I can't wait to hang it in my classroom. It just needs to be laminated and stapled to the wall.

I already have the exact place in my room ready and waiting. 

Exit slips are great ways to find out what misconceptions and errors your students might still have after a lesson. I have used them in the past to plan my warm up for the next day. 

This chart is perfect size for students to take a post note and "Show What They Know".

Be sure to check out her other versions as well. 

She's done all the hard work for you! 

Show What You Know Glitter

Show What You Know Bright Nautical

And her latest one too

Show What You Know Black and White

Now check out Jameson at the next stop by clicking on the picture.  

Tried It Tuesday- TpT Store Slideshow and Banners

If you are a regular follower, this will  be a repeat. I am kind of cheating here, because I am going to share two things I tried, but I shared them yesterday for Monday Made It. 

I just love Tried It Tuesday with Holly though and I didn't want to rewrite the whole thing, please forgive my laziness. Remember though, it's summer and I am moving schools and grade levels, I need some slack! Plus, I know this can helpful to some of you who want to try this. 

Thanks for understanding. 

So here's what I tried. 

I will  be honest, this first one I tried before and it didn't work so I gave up. 

Have you seen the slideshows on people's TpT store fronts. They are so adorable. 

I wanted one too. 

It took two tries this time, but it worked and I LOVE IT!!!!

I followed the tutorial here. It was really great and easy. I am somewhat technologically challenged, but thankfully can follow most tutorials. These are the four I made for my store. See them in action here. 

Secondly, I updated my TpT Banner by following this tutorial. It was super easy! I have done this before, but it is way cuter now. 

There you have it, my tried its. I repeated blog post (partially).

Thanks for understanding. 

Now go link up with Holly at 4th Grade Flipper and share what you have done too. 

Monday Made It- August 3rd

AUGUST 3rd? Seriously, June and July flew by.... 

This week I was not as productive as I should have been. I found out on Tuesday that all my prep for 3rd has been in vain, I am moving to 5th grade. 

Hmmm... semi panicking. I think that's why I haven't been as productive. My mind is racing and so many thoughts of what I need to do. I need to start some new lists. 

Here's what I did get done though: 

I made those cute banner slide shows for my TpT store. It took two tries, but it is DONE! 

I followed the tutorial here. It was really great and easy. I am somewhat challenged, but thankfully can follow most tutorials. These are the four I made for my store. See them in action here. 

Secondly, I updated my TpT Banner by following this tutorial. It was super easy! 

I spray painted this: 

 to this: 

(the wet is condensation. I left it outside all night) 

 It needed a fresh coat and a color change. I can't even remember how many colors it has been over the years. 

Lastly, I made some PURCHASES this morning. It was not even 8am and I was shopping! I forgot to enter the code though, DO NOT make the same mistake!!! 

I am sure I will be making more purchases before the sale ends!

be sure to check out all the great sales and 

DON'T FORGET THE DISCOUNT CODE! 

Be sure to go check out all the great made its at 4th Grade Frolics. 

I am off to make, make, make... I only have 1 more Monday off, I need to get busy! 

2gether We Are Better- Bulletin Boards

I am linking up with Angie and Ashley for this #2getherwearebetter. Super excited to be a part of this fabulous bunch. These two changed my summer, drastically. (All in good ways) 

I am not back yet. My room is being used for staff development this week so I can't really share anything with you yet. But here's how I think bulletin boards should be used in classrooms. 

I think bulletin boards should show off student work. I have been missing that in middle school. I would hang stuff up in the hallway, but not often. I can't wait to do that this year. This year I plan to  display their work inside the classroom and allow students to select what they want on the board. I want the classroom to be more about student ownership than my decorating attempts. 

Can't wait to share with you what I am doing this year!

 I love interactive bulletin boards. 

I have a Sudoku bulletin board, Math Boggle and  Number of the Day that I cannot wait to incorporate this year. Some will be early finishers work and some will be part of my Daily 5. 

Source: Lessons with Coffee

Super excited for my black pocket chart to store this activity!!!

My plan this year to have a Science Interactive Board as well. Here in Texas our 5th graders take a state test for Science as well as Reading and Math. I think this will be a great addition to my class. 

If you aren't going to use the bulletin board for learning then its just a pretty picture.  

Word walls are great, but if you don't have students USE them, they are just space fillers. 

I have had this in my room for several years. 

I refer to it often. Even for unit tests but for benchmarks and state testing as well. 

Test Taking Strategies 

Something I did with my middle school students is create the bulletin board with them. 

The school year would start off with a large bulletin board like this: 

As we learned a new concept, I added notes and it ended up like this: 

Disclaimer: These are two different years, had to find pictures I had on my computer. 

This is a Brain Dump. I have blogged about this several times. You can read about it here and here. 

It was extremely successful with my sixth graders because we created it together and used it ALL THE TIME. 

One year I did this: 

Super easy for me,  but not as effective for students. 

The following year I went back to filling it in. (That's the big yellow paper one, just not filled in yet) 

I am super excited to get started on my classroom this year because I have given a lot of thought as to what type of environment I want to build with my students. I have some great resources I have found and I can't wait to share the classroom reveal with you. It's quite a challenge for me this year because I am teaching all subjects now, not just math. 

Be sure to check out the other link ups and come back because next months linky will be CLASSROOM REVEALS where I can show off my completed bulletin boards,