Classroom Photos...its coming along!

I popped into my classroom today just to scout out where I wanted to put my new math station tubs. Since space is limited in my mobile, they ended up on top of my taller book cases. I think third graders will be able to reach them pretty easily still. Take a look...I have cute labels that I printed out but I forgot to bring them today. As you can see from the picture, I have settled on having 6 math strand tubs rather than the 10 or so that Debbie Diller suggested in her book, Math Work Stations. I decided to do the 6 strands because I am going to be doing a standards based grading study this upcoming year and these are the math strands from which major grades are taken.

I love how the tubs I found for my math work stations (Target Dollar Spot) totally match my book tubs! My only gripe is that they don't have lids because I liked the idea of posting "I Can" statements to the inside lid. I will be easily able to fit math materials and laminated math talk cards in these tubs though.

This next photo is of my self created storage space. Being in a mobile, I realized I really needed some storage space for my unit tubs and strategy lesson materials. I purchased this tall chrome shelf from Target for approximately $35.00. I have to say that yes, I have spent too much money on storage for this move into a mobile and I'm not thrilled about it. On the flip side, the chrome shelving is extremely sturdy and will look lovely in my garage when I am able to move back into my school building. On these shelves you will see my green unit storage tubs (where I store materials by unit). I only have about half of them here at school. I plan to tote the other ones to school as the unit approaches due to space limitations. You will also see two clear storage totes on the top shelf. I house my files here by month. I have the first four months of school files at school currently, two months per tote. The wicker basket on top is empty but I thought it was pretty. I'm sure I'll find a use for it. The black magazine holders are extra large. I got them from Walmart years ago. They are perfect for organizing my mentor text collection by writing trait. I also have some extras for content/supplemental texts. I had a parent go through and take a book inventory of each mentor text and content text tub for me. The inventory is in clear plastic sheet protectors which I tucked in a binder. You won't even believe how easy it is for me to locate texts I need for a lesson! I love this system and wasn't willing to give it up this year due to space. I made it happen! My only gripe with this area is that the chrome shelf is pretty wide and there isn't much space between my desk and the shelf which means I need a desk chair without big bulky arms on it so I can slide in and out easily. You can't see it in this photo but my desk is right in front of the chrome shelf. After looking at this shelf in the photo, I think it looks kind of industrial but in person the shiny chrome looks somewhat modern...its not so bad.

You might notice the photos of my boys and the extra ribbon laying around on the shelf. I am going to thread that ribbon through each shelf. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. The ribbon has various sports themes on it to correlate with my team theme. I'm going to get two plain white frames to replace the current ones and hang them on the small patch of wall next to the shelf and window. Oh, I forgot to mention that metal filing system on the shelf. That houses my most often used multiple copies such as spelling papers (link to past post and spelling printables), Super Book Project rubrics and calendars (another link for some printables), field trip info., etc. I am going to make a nice sign for the front of it.

Well, it certainly is coming along! My next step is to hang my curtains and shop for new fadeless paper and borders-always a favorite thing of mine! I can't wait to see all of your rooms this Fall!

I've got this idea...what do ya think?

I've had an idea floating around in my head for about a year and I've finally done something about it. I am looking for some thoughtful feedback about my idea before I present this information to my administrator. Thanks for your time blogging buddies!

Here goes...

I wanted to create a blog for the teachers in my school to use as a tool for teaching students how to write about text. I created a prototype blog that I would like to present to my administrator and hopefully the staff at my school. Obviously I'm not too attached to the title, etc. but its a start.

I called the blog Meridian Book Bits (my school name is Meridian Elementary). I chose "book bits" because the summaries or recommendations will be "bits of info. about books". Too corny?

I wrote a sample introduction and created static pages along the sidebar defining the various genres. I also included a page for teachers, listing some possible ways to use the blog with their classes. I think that at this point, teachers will have to be the only ones with login access, meaning students may post from school only. They will be able to comment from home though. I thought parents would like to be able to comment as well. I envision primary kids creating a written recommendation or summary as a class and then having the teacher post it. Intermediate students can post on behalf of their class, small group, or as individuals. Teachers can then use the posts as formative learning or use a grade level rubric if they desire. I wouldn't want this to replace any required classroom work, just be an additional publishing format with an authentic audience.

I created this by myself but if this sounds like a good idea, I'd like to present it to my admin. and then go from there. Hopefully, if I can get teachers on board, they will have their own amazing ideas to lend to the blog. Please let me know what you think. I really could use some feedback so I don't embarrass myself. Is this something you could see your self using, regardless of grade level? Do you think teachers would view this as a neat tool or just something tedious? Any suggestions? Thanks so much!


Here is the link to the blog prototype:

Meridian Book Bits Blog

Been searching for these all my life!

Awhile back the fabulous Deanna Jump from Mrs. Jump's Class posted about these awesome markers that she uses on her anchor charts. If you've seen any of the photos of her anchor charts then you know they are outstanding. She really knows how to make a great visual for her class. So, needless to say I've been on the lookout for Elmer's Project Popperz for quite some time. I've looked in all the usual places, Target and Walmart office supply aisles to no avail. I was beginning to think that my local "go-to" shops just didn't carry them.

But alas, I found myself browsing the student school supply section in Target, the aisle with all of the materials kids might need to make a clasroom presentation and I spotted them. Right next to the large poster board! What a score! My kids were like, really mom? You are that excited about markers. Yes, yes I am!

I can't wait to take them for a spin in the Fall!

Also, in case you missed it...Ms. Voss from Voss's Vine shared a great tip with me! These outstanding and super cute organizers (in all shapes and sizes) are available online at Joann Fabrics for a very reasonable price. Believe me, I've shopped around. If you've been thinking about some new storage for your classroom, take it from me you will LOVE these.

My "must haves" for Fall

Let me set the scene in my house this evening for you all...

My hubby walks in the door from work with a stack of catalogs. I ask "anything good come in the mail?" He says "Nope. Just a bunch of catalogs." Hello! Those are the bomb-dot-com in my opinion. Every time my Really Good Stuff catalog arrives I pour over the pages with such intensity, hoping to find something reasonably priced that I just have to get for my third graders. I know I'm not alone.

With all of the reductions school districts have had, I have received a few emails from teachers who are moving up or down to teach third grade for the first time. I thought I'd share my "must haves" for the fall to help give them some ideas. Every now and then I included a link for you to check out a related post or photo. I hope this helps!

1. Making Words Kit-this kit is pricey but do you even know how many times I've created letters to go with my Making Words lessons? I'm willing to fork it over for this bad boy. Perfect for use on the document camera and then so portable, the kit can be thrown in Daily 5 or literacy work station tubs. Links: Daily 5, Literacy Station Organization


2. Letter Tile Stand-OK I just want the set of stands, not the letters. Last year I was lucky enough to find a company that collects and distributes old scrabble tiles. I got a set of 400 scrabble letter tiles for free, all I had to do was pay for shipping which was less than $3.00. They are awesome and just begging to be used with these stands in my spelling and/or word work station.


3. 10-Drawer Mobile Organizer-I purchased this organizer last year (much cheaper from Amazon) and it was so useful. I have some 3-drawer files near my desk for my own copies to hand out to kids, but I kept this tall organizer right next to my media station. It held large quantities of extra copies for the year that student helpers could access such as spelling tests, math homelinks, Mini-Mustang notecatchers and rubrics. My kids got in the habit of grabbing what they needed from the drawers without my support. Glorious freedom!


4. Borders-Cute borders for your bulletin boards. I probably didn't need to even mention that but honestly, look at the cuteness!


5. Oriental Trading Book Baskets-Baskets, baskets, baskets. A teacher can never have too many baskets. No really, that is a true statement. Link: See my new baskets getting all set up for this coming fall


6. Binders, binders, binders. A teacher can never have too many binders. De ja vu! Links: Team Binders,, Guided Reading Binder and Reader's Notebooks


7. Zenergy Chime Trio-OK so maybe this isn't a must have exactly, but all teachers must have some way of getting their kiddos attention. When my kids are on the carpet, I use a little bumble bee maraca but when they are at their desks or working in groups I use an old restaurant bell (ya know, of the "order up!" variety), however what I really want is this Zenergy Chime Trio from Really Good Stuff. I imagine it must sound similar to the three chimes that are played in the movie Grease before the principal makes her announcements. That makes it a must have for moia.


8. Supportive/cute shoes-A great pair of shoes. Ya got to have a great and supportive pair of shoes when you stand all day long. Literally. All. Day. Long. I love my Danskos. I have lots of them. Might I suggest this adorable tapestry clog for the Fall?


9. Water Bottle-Finally, a huge refillable cup o water. This needs to sit on your desk. You might want a second for your reading table. Possible a third for your easel and carpet area. I'll leave that one up to you.


I hope you found some of this helpful! Happy weekend! I'm off to watch Fantastic Mr. Fox. One of my third grade book club groups chose this text this past year and we all loved it. It had been a while since I read it and I've been dying to see the movie. I don't know why, the books are always better!

A few changes to my classroom...photos

I went in to my classroom today for the last time in June. I am officially taking a break until end of July(ish) before I go back to complete my set up. If you follow my blog, you know that I made a big move to a mobile before school ended and I have been fretting about space and setting up for some time now. Finally I just went in to school and some ideas just started flowing. Take a look at my last post (click here) to see some before shots.

Today I feel very accomplished. I set up my book shelves and switched out my old white book tubs for some new colorful ones. It brightens the whole room up.

Here are some photos...remember, my classroom is still in transition mode (BIG TIME). It looks so bland without any bulletin boards!

This first photo is my chapter book library. Isn't it pretty all dressed up in its new colors? I'm loving it. I just need to label the tubs now and they'll be ready. The shelves on the far left house my multiple copy books for reading groups. You may remember that in my old classroom I had mega storage near my reading table so this is a serious downgrade but I still have what I need.


This shelf houses my students independent reading tubs and reader's notebooks. I had my kids store these under their cubbies in my old room. That is not an option in my mobile. How perfect is this shelf though? I'm pleased with the way this worked out.


This tiny shelf houses some of my extra supplies such as rulers, glue, scissors and my Daily 5 bookmarks. It just fits so perfectly here. Not sure how I feel about the light brown wood next to the dark brown wood of the shelf though. Maybe that problem is too little to worry about for now. Maybe some spray paint?


I had major issues with my reading table set up today. I moved it about ten times before I settled on this. Luckily a friend of mine was at school today as well and she set them up for me in this way-Thanks Shelly! I got these cute cube chairs at Target to add color and whimsy to the space. Also, sometimes I have up to 6 kids in a reading group and I didn't think I'd be able to stash 6 regular chairs around this table. The cubes slide underneath and out of the way when not in use, creating a tad more space for readers to spread out on the floor. Pardon the messy table.


Last photo of the day...I need to get one more of these chrome shelves to store math tubs and I'll be all set. Three will fit just perfect on this wall. Right now I have math tool kits and math manipulatives on them. The blue tubs against my desk house my literacy work station materials.


Lastly, I created and purchased these on Vista Print today (thanks for the idea Miss. Powers). The first one is a large car magnet to place on my metal door to welcome students. The second one is a small car magnet to place on my whiteboard, where I record homework for kids to copy into their planners each day. Can't wait to get them!




I love the personal touch these signs will add to the classroom. I hope everyone is resting and enjoying their break in the midst of all of your professional reading and teacher projects. Happy early Friday!

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. ~Chinese Proverb

Classroom in Transition

This past May, I moved all of my stuff to a mobile before school ended. I recently went in (with my two boys) just to check out the space and I couldn't help myself...I just started moving shelves around and unpacking some of my bigger tubs. I absolutely love peeking into other teacher's classrooms so I thought I would share my "classroom in progress" pics with all of you. I snapped these shots so that I can document the major transformation that will take place by mid-August on my classroom website as well. If you want to check out my classroom tour from this past year, click here.

So that you know what you are looking at, I wrote little captions under each photo. Here are the shots I took:

This first shot shows about half of my stuff. The size of the mobile is obviously smaller than my classroom so I had to take some tubs home. I labeled them very specifically though so that I could find things I needed at home and bring them in during major units.

My lovely easel. I'm going to create my group area over in the corner you see in this photo, near the window. That big kidney reading table needs to go though...I'll be using trapezoid tables this year to conserve space. I can't wait to show you all the finished product, I have some fun space saving ideas my kids are going to adore!

Desks stacked on top of each other...you know how that goes. You can also see my little red desk caddies that I relabeled in May to prepare for the Fall.

These hooks are going to work for backpacks, but does anyone know where my kids should put their jackets in the Winter? Anyone? Bueller?


These two tall brown shelves came with the mobile. I positioned them to create a reading nook. The tall one on the right will house my students independent reading tubs. The other will house the start of my chapter book collection. Notice the bland white tubs? Yeah, they are going to be leaving soon!

These shelves are mine, purchased from Walmart a few years ago for $15.00 each. I lined them up on the back wall to house my reading tubs. I haven't put the middle shelf in yet though.

Ahhhh, the teacher desk. It is a good size but has less storage than my old desk. I'm going to put one computer on my desk and try to keep it relatively clear so kids can work there as well.

Three storage units. Not too bad as far as storage. I'll dedicate one entire unit for student use. We'll store our math materials and text books here.

I got this chrome shelf at Walmart to store my math games last year but this year I am adding another unit (this time from Target) beside it to store some math manipulatives. I put the one shelf in front of my desk but ended up moving it before I left. Decisions, decisions.

Lastly, look what came in the mail for me today! Fun and colorful new book tubs! I've had my white tubs for so many years and to be honest, they held up fine but I wanted a consistent color scheme with all of my tubs. My IR tubs are the same colors-purchased two years ago. I debated whether or not I should buy the book tubs from Really Good Stuff or not. They were so pricey for as many as I needed. I found these at Oriental Trading. I am thrilled with the quality and payed way less. Woo hoo!


I'll keep you posted on the progress that I make throughout the summer, although I can't promise I'll be going in to school too many times, I am supposed to be on break (hee hee hee).

Math Work Stations...for 3rd grade

First off I would like to thank whoever nominated my blog as one of your favorites in the Really Good Stuff classroom blog contest. I am thrilled to know that you find my blog useful! I am so very thankful that I found this tremendous community of educational bloggers who continue to inspire me every day.

There are so many great book studies going on right now but I couldn't be a part of them as I am working my way through a rather technical book about standards based grading-which by the way is extremely interesting and changing the way I've thought about grading for some time now! I did order The Book Whisperer and Math Work Stations and I read them in no time flat. I thought I would focus today's post on my reactions to Math Work Stations. I hope you find it useful, especially if you teach in the intermediate grades.

I have been reading Debbie Diller's Math Work Stations book for the past two weeks. I read her Literacy Work Stations book when I moved from first grade to third grade a few years ago and I loved it. I loved the idea of adding to stations rather than switching them out on a weekly basis. One of the key elements that Ms. Diller mentions in both of her books is that teachers must use the materials they put in their stations in class either as part of a mini-lesson or direct instruction prior to placing them in a station. The more we model, the better our students are able to practice with the materials appropriately. This also makes it very easy when you add materials to a station because the kids are already familiar with it and typically need a brief reminder (at least in third grade).

I use the Everyday Mathematics 3 program in my classroom (the 3 stands for the third revision of the curriculum). I have used it for many years and I am very aware of how much time I am going to be able to realistically devote to math stations...so I am making some adaptations to make it work in my own third grade classroom as I dive in this Fall. With all new things that teachers implement into their classrooms, much tweaking and change undoubtedly occurs as the school year progresses so please just take this post as my initial thoughts on how to integrate math stations as a useful new tool for my kiddos.


Storage and tub contents:

Debbie suggests approximately 10 stations, give or take some depending on your class size. I plan to start the year off with six, one for each mathematics strand. I am learning about standards based grading and plan to move towards grading achievement in each strand of math and reporting that out to parents in lieu of a traditional letter grade for an entire test. This makes sense to me as the checking progress tests (end of unit tests given in Everyday Math) test students progress and mastery on skills within these 6 strands. I am in the process of moving from a giant new classroom to a not so giant mobile and so making new tubs fit is going to be a challenge but one that I find necessary. I made these simple labels (grab them below if you use Everyday Math curriculum at any grade level) for each tub. The first unit of math in third grade is a complete review of all second grade skills in each strand, therefore I think I'll be able to add to each station tub quite quickly during the first weeks of math. I have lots of math books that I was worried about finding a home for in my new mobile but Ms. Diller suggests adding them right into the math station tubs...all I will have to do is determine which "math strand box" to place my book in after I read it to my class. Finally, if you are familiar with Everyday Math you may know that the program offers so many outstanding games that are built right into the main lesson. After I teach the games, they can be stored in the appropriate tub for future use. This is a change from how I have previously stored math games (see photo below) which I actually loved as well. Due to space, I've decided to relocate the games to the "math strand tubs" I am creating when appropriate. I'll let ya know how this idea works out. As the year progresses, I will make math talk cards with key vocabulary and "I Can" lists to tape to the inside cover of each tub (suggested by the author).

How I stored my math games last year:



Labels for my "math strand tubs": You may think these are simple labels and you'd be right! I am trying to redo my labels so all fonts match and are clearly visible without super cute clipart. I am going for a cleaner look...also I think due to space and clutter overload in my new smaller space.



Time frame:

I've decided that doing math stations only on Friday is simply not going satisfy me, however I just can't imagine being able to get to them on a daily basis. So I plan to use them on those days when the math lesson is shorter or when the cooperative group work doesn't take as long, or when students are asked to play a math game that I have already taught. If I've done a good job including other activities throughout the units, then I think I'll be able to use them often enough (2-3 times per week). In her book, Debbie provides amazing colorful photos of sample management boards teachers can use to show students what math stations to go to or if they will be meeting with the teacher on a specific day. These type of management boards are fabulous and work wonders with early primary kids but I moved away from them last year during literacy stations to give my big kids some freedom and choice and they loved it! I did create bookmarks to ensure students moved through my literacy stations rather than continuing to go back to the same one day after day. I may need to do something similar or perhaps use some magnets on my wipe board for those students who I want to meet with....still thinking this one through.

I don't have any photos yet of my tubs as I haven't been back to my mobile other than to take a few photos of the space and move some heavy shelves into place. I am very visual though so I will post some pics when I have some available. I would love to hear your thoughts on how you plan to implement math stations in your classrooms this Fall!