Five for Friday 8/23

Slowly but surely trying to get acclimated to the beginning of the school year and all the crazy stuff that has been going on. I'm kinda jeals of all the teacher bloggers that were able to really beautify their classroom spaces...for so many reasons in which I already discussed I still have some minor things to do but we are still in full swing! On to my Five for Friday link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

I promised a few classroom pictures. As I said due to various reasons I have to finish up some odds and ends. For the most part we are all set up and functioning. Here's a small glimpse.

A little blurry but reading and writing bulletin boards

Goals and Book Boxes

Door with "you are loved" mantra

Library, CAFE, D5

Promethean, number line and world landmarks cursive alphabet

My whiteboard with WBT rules above

Magnet behavior chart on whiteboard, I can statements, Marzano rating scale, and word wall

My very rambunctious group is giving me a run for my money! Whoooo! I'm a little spoiled since many of last year's third graders looped up with me from second. It's funny....with a new group you forget that they are still 2nd graders and need a lil coaching to reach a functional level of independence. Work in progress :)

In science we have been working on the introductory unit on science inquiry. We did the very simple bubble experiment in our textbook in order to prepare the students to make observations and ask questions. When I tell you they were too excited....they just went nuts! They're observations were quite interesting too! Great day!

Our social studies introductory unit called for students to discuss conflict resolution and decision making. The students watched a youtube video of three girls that created a conflict rap. Then I allowed my students to create their own rap, skit, song or poem. When I tell y'all cute and hilarious....I mean it. I recorded them but unfortunately the audio is not so great. Great lesson though!

Read to self is going well! We reached 13 minutes today! At this rate I'll be getting ready for their celebration next week! Once they reach 20 minutes we are having a reading celebration in the classroom. I'm thinking big banner, cake, certificates, and bookmarks. Any other ideas?

We had our first activity day today as well! Activity day is a school wide program in which teachers sponsor a fun activity that students can choose such as painting, basketball, cooking, Wii, crafts and so many more! Students have to earn points in Class Dojo in order to be able to attend activity day on a bi-weekly basis. I sponsored painting and the kids has a great time! More on Activity day in a later post!

Evernote Love! <3 <3

I have been using Evernote for all kinds of documentation and I am innnn love! Combining Evernote with Skitch and  KustomNote has allowed me to eliminate so much paperwork. For example using KustomNote I was able to create a template for the San Diego Quick Word Assessment. So awesome! I'm hoping to move to a "mostly" paperless classroom. I have been using Evernote for tracking homework, anecdotals and soon reading and writing conferences so the possibilities are endless. I will definitely do a Evernote/Kustomnote post!

Happy Friday! Off to have some non-teaching related Friday night fun!