Lights, Camera, and Action (Luces, camara, y accion)

Wow! Can't believe it is the LAST week of August.  July was nice and slow but August flew by!!!! I have spent the last few weeks relaxing with friends, play dates, trips to Port Jeff, reading (I am ADDICTED to Fanfiction...I know..I know...), doing work for my literacy masters classes (already and classes do not start until Wednesday!), and of course.......WORKING IN THE CLASSROOM!  Not only have I been creating and translating anchor charts to use for the first few weeks of school until 1 am, but I have been trying to finish my classroom as well!  I would love to spend every day there for maybe 2 hours or so but because of baby sitting issues, I am there about 2 days a week for 5-6 hours a day!  I try to finish all of my projects but I am often distracted by something else and then something else, and you know how it goes! =)

My focus board-1 side English/1 side Spanish-I plan to put their spelling words/sight words, etc. on here

 Colors and art supplies (Art supply labels I found from pinterest!)

Number line and future writing center area

 Job and Birthday boards

 I hope to be able to eventually get short curtains to cover this shelf area with-this is all of our anthology books and math supplies. We are using the treasures/tesoros program and there are 6 units for English and 6 for Spanish-what you see is units 2-6

 My library-need to finish labeling the book boxes

 I needed an area to hold all of my supplies for Treasures/Tesoros...there are workbooks, anthologies, letter tiles, cards, etc. This is my first time ever using it and I hope that it goes smoothly.  (Oh and I know the tablecloth is uneven-my husband pointed that out to me-I have to cut it because everytime he sees it, he flips out...my OCD guy...lol)

Calendar/Read aloud area

 My "Have you filled a bucket?/Has llenado una cubeta hoy?"-I have little popcorn bags that I am going to put up there that they can fill with pom-poms for prizes. 

 I put a table here because this is where I have to keep my work laptop...the computer hookup is no where near my desk so I set this little table up and put some seasonal read alouds here too, the pom poms for the popcorn baggies, and markers/reading supplies for whole group instruction.

 My popcorn "Counting to the 100 days of school"!

 My door! I plan to, once I get my finalized list, put the names of my students on stars and place them on the door in between the Spanish and English phrases.

 My "David va a la escuela" anchor chart for the first day of school.  (idea from pinterest)-thanks to my dad for holding the chart up for me!

 I found this anchor chart from pinterest and translated it into Spanish using the vocabulary from Tesoros.  I am not sure if I am not a fan of using "desarrollo" for middle and will probably also add "Medio" as well, that way they are exposed to other words.

 

Here are some pictures...it still needs work and organizing but I am hoping to go tomorrow to get stuff done! 
I still have a lot to do and will hopefully get some work done tomorrow! I am also trying to add some of the worksheets and back to school projects I have made onto my blog but for some reason it is not uploading it correctly, leaving out the graphics or changing the font so I am sorry! :(  Maybe my technology savy brother can help me out!
I start school on Thursday with lots of trainings and workshops!  To those of you who have started, have fun this week and for those of you who start this week, good luck!

Thanks to all of those great bloggers who have been sharing their ideas!
Until next time,
Alyson

I am moved in!

So, my husband and I braved this disgusting humidity and heat to empty out our storage unit into a u-haul truck (yes, we had to rent a u-haul truck) and moved all of my boxes into my classroom!  I got a few chuckles from other staff members when they saw the truck!  Hey, I told them I was bringing a truck's worth of stuff-they thought I was kidding! =)
So, it is still a work in progress and a HUGE mess but I got a lot done today!  I was able to get some of the bulletin boards done, including my "Main Stage" wall, both Word Walls, and my calendar.  My library right now is still in boxes and bins, my center area is a mess but it is coming along.  With the new reading program we have, I need a lot of storage space to keep things organized but also storage space that my students can easily get to.  We have workbooks and readers that I need to find space for! Hopefully as I finish my room, I will figure out where to put all of the books and workbooks!

View from the back

 My word wall-I have to print out popcorn kernals for my spanish "Palabras famosas"

My future library

My future writing center

 My future center/independent activity area

My desk!

Okay-that big yellow bulletin board is on wheels so the yellow side that you see now is my "Main Stage"-found the idea on pinterest!  I will flip it on Spanish days to the other side.  That table (you can't see the tablecloth but I got it from party city-it has film, popcorn, director boards on it) will have my seasonal read alouds, my markers, and my computer.  I have to cut the tablecloth-it is a little too long on the sides!

My calendar (I have the month titles in both languages that I change and the days of the week are two sided-one side English and one side Spanish) . I am going to try and print out and blow up a large "MOVIE DIRECTOR" to put on the side of the calendar. 

I plan to go back next week to keep organizing everything.  I can't wait to finish the bulletin boards!

Keep cool everyone!

Hasta luego

-Alyson

Okay, change of plans!

So I went into my classroom today just to see about setting up the furniture and to drop off some stuff.  I go down to my room and find about 20 boxes piled up in there with 2nd grade materials (we are starting the TREASURES program in my district). I go down to the office just to make sure that they know I have 2nd grade stuff in my room.  Good thing I did because the room that I thought was my room is not my room! Good thing I didn't move anything in yet! LOL
I love my room and can't wait to get started on fixing the bulletin boards and setting things up. I did A LOT of organizing today and moving things around (getting rid of materials that we not longer would use, putting all of the math manipulatives together, etc.).  Here are the pictures!

 View from the door

 My sink/future art supply area

My shelves in the back-I plan to make it more organized as I bring in my materials

 My future word wall/guided reading area nook

View from the back of the classroom

My desk/storage space (there is a similar closet behind my classroom door-It has a file cabinet inside, shelves, and a hook for my jacket-I have never had an area to hang my jacket-I have always put it on my chair but now I can actually put it away!)

 My computer table and computers will go here!

I love it!

I am going in again next week and will post more pictures!

~Alyson

I love the $ bins at Target!

It is hard shopping when you have 2 2 year olds screaming and trying to pull everything off of the shelves. Thankfully the Fisher Price APPS on my iPhone works wonders and keeps them distracted as I look through the $ bins.  They have amazing things in those bins!   I know my other post talked about the great Spanish stickers that I found there last time but today I hit the motherload!  =)
I didn't buy any because I have a TON but they have bins and baskets for $2.50.  They had more stickers, dry erase boards (lined), Dr. Seuss flash cards and stickers (I stocked up because I do a big Dr. Seuss author celebration!).
So what am I soooooo excited about????
So I am doing the Hollywood theme and they had popcorn bins for $1 a piece! I got them for pencils and pens!!

They also had the cardboard magazine holders for $1-these are great for guided reading books!

And here is what I really loved...

I have seen these going for almost $3 a piece but I got them for $1!!! I was very excited about this!

In addition to having fun shopping at the Target $1 bins, I went to a new teacher product show today, hosted by "Island School and Art Supply" (or what I call the Teacher Store!).  I was able to get a popcorn theme 100 days of school counting bulletin board set, Hollywood themed behavior incentive charts, popcorn name plates, and other fun things!  The store hosts this every year and it is always a lot of fun (plus you get 10% all purchases and an additional 5% if you pay with cash!) 
I have all of my big stuff in storage but tomorrow, I plan on brining all of my bags of goodies that I have been collecting as I go shopping to my classroom tomorrow to try and get some things set up.  I want to move the furniture and make a list of things I may need.  I had the girls with me last time I went to my school and it didn't go so well so thankfully Daddy will stay home with them for a few hours tomorrow!! And next week, Grandma will watch them so that Daddy and I can get all of the stuff out of storage and moved in!