Fall Time

First, since I'm behind, here's my October Currently, thanks to Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade.  Click the pic below to join the linky.

Listening - had a busy morning, so just sitting blogging while my computer fan goes off, no other noise.  

Loving - spent the morning with my parents at a craft fair and am getting ready to busy circus tix to go with some siblings and nieces/nephew.  

Thinking -  about everything I have to do for school: conference goal sheets, art of the week project, grading...

Wanting - So conferences start this week and the only goal sheet I have done is for the conference I had early, this past Thursday.  The other 24 are waiting for me...

Needing - to get off the computer and get everything mentioned above done!  

Trick or Treat - A freebie is down below if you would like it!  :)

This is my favorite time of year.  I just love it!  I love the leaves turning colors.  I love that it's apple picking and pumpkin patch time.  I love the cooler weather.  I love that fun holidays are coming up: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  It's just the best.
We have been busy in my classroom with fall.  We have done the projects that I do pretty much every year: the build your own ice cream cone (for the first ice cream cone patent on September 22nd),

This pic is from last year, but it's the same idea.  Students build ice cream cones and then have to write about them.  

and also our fall tree craft with tissue paper.  

Students write about what they love about fall and make a fall tree (this pic is also from last year).  

We also did a great Johnny Appleseed activity from Mandy Gregory (Johnny Appleseed Common Core ELA Lesson and Craft).  

I read the students different books about Johnny Appleseed and then they watched the Disney Legends short about Johnny Appleseed.  I told them that they were going to be writing about Johnny before we did this, so they were going to need to pay attention so they would be able to think of things to write.  Then I gave them the great brainstorming web that's in her pack.  They wrote the main idea and then a fact in each apple.  Then they wrote up their little biographies and made Johnny Appleseed holding their paper.  The pics above show the wide range of abilities in my classroom.  I loved that it was a fun activity and it was very common core with having to write about what they learned.  

All of these are hanging up in the room for parents to see this week for conferences.  We do goal setting conferences so we always have them the week before Columbus Day, so we can have a 4-day weekend to recuperate.  The first 2 projects were part of the Art of the Week I do as one of the choices for Work on Writing for Daily 5.  They were optional.  This week I am going to have them do their first Have-To Art of the Week and we are going to do a Jack-o-lantern glyph.  I found a ton online and I liked components from a few of them so I made my own using the great ideas.  

I'm going to draw in the mouths before I copy it.  

Since the Art of the Week is part of Work on Writing, there is always a writing component with it.  This writing component is going to be a PUMPKIN acrostic poem that I do every year with my class.  I thought they would look good next to each other.  You can find tons of those online too.  I added the pictures for my class because I have a lot of LOW readers this year and I am hoping that it will help them.  I have to make my example today so they can see it.  My plan is to give each of them a copy of the direction paper and have them circle what is true for them.  Normally I wouldn't do this, I would just hang it up, but with this class, I think this will be better.  I'm also going to have them fill out the Pumpkin acrostic poem as we think of ideas for each letter too.  Again, normally I don't do that, we just brainstorm some ideas and when it's their turn for the art of the week, they write things down, but with this class, I'm going to help them along.  lol  

I'm joining up with Classroom Freebies Manic Monday to give the above to you for free if you would like it.  

Have a wonderful week!  :)

Monthly Monday Made-It September

So I'm joining in with 4th Grade Frolics to show what I've been up to since the last Made It.

I've actually been pretty good with blogging lately so you can see what I've been up to in my previous posts and see some classroom pics.

So I finally did what I have seen floating around the web and what I pinned from pinterest last year and did the above.  I know.  My "h" in lunch fell off.  Of course I did not notice that while I was taking the picture.  lol  I could not find it either, so I have to make a new one.  Did I remember to do that this weekend?  No.  So we still have Lunc.  lol  I used $1 clocks I got from the Target Dollar Spot last summer I believe and my adhesive vinyl and cameo.  I'm happy with it and it beats the kiddos asking every 5 minutes if it's time.  It is definitely helping with that, although they still ask for recess.  I didn't have a clock for recess and since we only have it 2 days a week, that's the clock I didn't do.  

You can see more things I did here and here.  I also finished up the Grammar Game activity pack that I have been working on to go with Unit 2 of my reading series.  

As you can see it just works on grammar skills and it doesn't HAVE to go with a particular reading series.  It doesn't go with any of the stories or anything.  I just did a grammar pack of games that go with the skills we learn in that unit.  I thought it would be a handy thing to have for review and for Word Work for Daily 5.  It has 5 activities in it: a noun sort, noun scoot, plural noun match, proper noun scoot, and possessive nouns silly sentences.  I am very happy that I got it done.  You can go to it on my tpt page by clicking on the pic above.  Unit 1 I finished before school started.  You can find that pack by clicking here.  

Well that's it.  As I mentioned in previous posts, it's been busy but we're starting to settle in.  This weekend it was nice because I didn't have to go anywhere and the piles of papers to grade haven't started yet.  Monday starts Day 13 for us and my students will start spelling tests and homework packets so the grading will begin!  lol  I hope it's going well for everyone else as well and I hope you'll take the time to check out my other posts (they only have a sad 4 views).  Have a great day everyone!  

Getting into a Routine

This is the last chance (thru 9/8) to have Donor's Choose double your donation using the code INSPIRE.  I'm really hoping to get this project funded so my students can have these resources to use in the classroom.  I have a lower group this year too.  We took the NWEA MAP tests this past week and I got the lowest scores I have ever gotten.  9 kiddos scored in the 150s or below (and they were NOT my sped kids) and the target for beginning of 2nd grade is 176.  I really think that the iPods would get my reluctant readers reading.  If you are able and willing to donate, here is the link to my project.

So things are slowly starting to get into a routine at school.  We started our first story in language arts, David's New Friends and we got everything done with it, we needed to.  Of course since I haven't started guided reading groups, we have extra time to fit everything in, even with the day off on Monday.  I won't start guided reading groups (book clubs as we call them) until October when we are finished building our stamina on all of Daily 5.  Otherwise it is a disaster.  You really DO need to take the time to do it and practice it.  My co-teacher usually rushes it and she has more problems with the students staying on task because of it (I don't tell her that though).  So we have been working on Read to Self and we are up to 10 minutes of stamina, although to be honest I have 3 boys who are probably at 1 minute of stamina.  I just didn't want to make the whole class stop when the other 22 ARE at 10 minutes.  These boys are my low boys, get reading help, and don't want to sit and read.  I get it, it's harder for them, and let's face it the books they CAN read are not that interesting.  We did I-PICK and I  had them pick 4 books at their reading level and 4 books using the I-PICK strategy, however as I mentioned before, they did not do the I-PICK strategy.  One of my boys that I mentioned above, picked Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, my fattest chapter book with the most words.  They are tiny and a ton on a page.  I think that book is a level U and he is reading at a level H.  There are no pictures nothing.  That's what I'm saying.  Just picking a book because he thinks it makes him look cooler, even though he can't read it.  I just let it be because he does have 4 books in there that he can read.  We need to practice I-PICK some more.  This upcoming week I'm also doing the idea I saw on Pinterest of a "Shopping Schedule" for trading out the books in book boxes.  I made my cute little posters and will introduce it to them on Monday so they can start trading out their books and hopefully do a better job of picking books since they have to last a week before they can "shop" again.  It will also be good training for making sure they are putting the books away correctly in our book nook.
We also started Work on Writing this week.  When I mentioned how we were going to be doing Work on Writing, what it meant, and showed them my writing center, they were not all that excited.  lol  We made our i-chart and got started and they LOVED it.  They were very sad when they had to stop at 3 minutes!  I said, "See, I told you it was fun!  That's why it's on our chart!"  So they have been excited every time we have done it and are up to 7 minutes of stamina on that.  My plan is to introduce Listen to Reading next week as only 4 kids can do it at a time, so the others will practice 1 of the other 2 while they are working on that and we will rotate so everyone gets a turn 1 day next week.  I also need to take their headshots so I can add them to the check-in sheet I made for my Smartboard.  The students will drag their picture to the activity they are doing.  My goal is to start book clubs and full fledge Daily 5 by the week of October 14th.  That gives us time to learn all 5, build up our stamina, and practice how changing between them will work.  Have to practice that quiet transition time too.
I will leave you with some pictures of our classroom from this week.  :)
Read to Self

My Writing Center

My poor "h" fell off the wall for Lunch.  I can't find it so I have to make a new one!  My writing center has the kit from A Cupcake for the Teacher, the topic cards from Teaching with Love and Laughter, and the Common Core prompt Cards from Falling into First.  

Work on Writing

Have a wonderful weekend!  :)

September CURRENTLY

I'm going to TRY and keep up with this in the blog world this year.  I'm linking up with Farley's Currently for the 2nd time ever I think!

Doing this reminds me that I need to print out the ones for my students to do!  That's another goal I should have put down!  lol  It will be a good way to kick off their writing binders this year.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!  I was happy with all of the stuff I got done this weekend, which you can read about in my previous posts.  I also had a great day with most of my family grilling out and hanging out.  We tried a pinterest recipe of taking sugar cones and filling them with mini marshmallows and different baking chips and cut up fruit (strawberries and bananas), wrapping them in foil, and putting them on the grill.  They were really good!  Definitely a keeper!  

I'm also excited because my Donor's Choose project is one of the projects featured on Mrs. Fultz's Corner Donor's Choose page!  Woohoo!  You can check out my project here.  

Well I really DO need to go to bed now or I will be really sorry in the morning.  Have a great day/night everyone!  :)

Donor's Choose & More

I have been lucky over the years to have 2 projects funded through Donor's Choose.  Both projects were for 2 iPod Nanos for my listening center in the classroom, so I now have a total of 4.  This is great and has worked out well for Listen to Reading as part of the Daily 5.  I also had CD walkmen that I bought from overstock.com, these did not work so well.  The students had a hard time working them, the batteries died a ton, and we had a heck of a time finding headphones that would work AND actually stay on/in their ears.  So I just posted a new project (first time in 2 years) to get 2 more iPod Nanos so I can have a total of 6.  You can check out my project here: http://www.donorschoose.org/project/ihelp-ipods-for-fluency-accuracy-and/1060017/.  Through September 8th, you can type in the promo code INSPIRE when making your donation and Donor's Choose will match it.  That's an awesome deal!  I'm hoping this project will get funded too.  The last 2 times I was lucky because big corporations came in and ended up funding them for me so I didn't have to rely on the few donations I got.  If you would like something for your classroom that your district can't afford for you and you don't want to bankrupt yourself, I would definitely recommend going on Donor's Choose.  It never hurts to try!  :)
So I was very happy when that went through this morning and then I worked on school stuff today since my colored ink and lamination sheets came in the mail and I printed and cut out Common Core - Writing Galore - August/September by Stephanie Stewart over at Falling into First.  Love that it has all 3 types of writing students need to be able to do for Common Core plus a creative one that has to do with the theme for the months and that students can choose the topic they want to write about.  I'm putting this in my writing center as some of the choices for Work on Writing and even Writer's Workshop time.  Can't wait to get started!  I'm introducing Work on Writing this week.  Writer's Workshop will have to wait until next week due to NWEA MAP testing.  I also actually printed out my own units I have on TPT too, which I have never done!  lol  It was always about getting them done and ready for others!  I am very excited to use them this year and am so happy I had the time to get it ready to use this week!  I printed out my unit for our 1st Treasures story, David's New Friends.  I won't be starting guided reading groups yet, but I'm excited to use all of the whole group things I made to go with the story.  I also printed out my 2nd Grade Grammar Pack to have all of the games and activities ready to go for Daily 5 Word Work so the students will have extra practice of the skills.  So I was very happy with what I got done.  I just need to put on my shopping list that I need to pick up another ream of card stock!   lol
One last thing I just have to say.  So I'm watching the MDA telethon and it's great that it gets more attention now and they have bigger acts involved, but I was a little sad that it was only on for 2 hours and that Jerry Lewis can't host it anymore.  That was always a huge part of Labor Day weekend growing up, having the Jerry Lewis telethon on and seeing him stay up the whole time, over 24 hours, fighting hard to raise money for "Jerry's Kids."  I donated using the text donation tonight and I hope that they are able to raise a ton of money now that it's down to 2hrs.
I hope everyone has a wonderful day off tomorrow in honor of all of your hard labor!  :)

Catching Up

So it's been a whirlwind this past month.  I was gone on vacation at Disney for 8 days, then went right into setting up my classroom, and then right into school starting, and I can now catch my breath for a bit for a 3-day weekend and tell you what's been going on!
So Disney was of course WONDERFUL!!  It was HOT, but we had a great time and didn't let that stop us.  We took afternoon breaks everyday where we could relax and cool off in the pool before heading back to the parks.  We also took a day off from the parks, and were able to sleep in.  Doing all of that definitely helped make our trip better.  We were also happy because we pretty much got everything done that we wanted to get done and had all of our MUST DOs done.  I think we also met every single character that there was to meet.  I think my niece got autographs from 50?  Our homemade autograph book was a hit.  All of the characters and handlers loved it and we actually got special treatment because of it.  One handler told us when the character was coming back so we could be near the front and many other characters were excited that they had their own page!  Goofy was uber excited and even wanted his picture taken with his page.  Naveen from The Princess and the Frog couldn't get over it and was funny.  Buzz who only stamps his autograph actually had his handler give him a pen and he hand wrote a note to my niece.  Phineas and Ferb danced and spent a lot of time with my niece.  I also think it helps that my niece is super cute AND everyone liked the outfits we customized and made that I showed on previous posts.  So it was definitely a hit!

Day 1 at Epcot.  I have a Disney VISA and they have a special meet and greet for card holders.  We probably spent 30 minutes with Minnie and Goofy.  They were dancing with Brynn and Minnie was very excited about my purse and mickey hair bow.  We got a lot of special attention.  

Day 2 Magic Kingdom, in front of the castle with Walt and Mickey.  

Day 7 Magic Kingdom, posing with the Fairy Godmother

Trying out the hyped up Dole Whip.  I enjoyed it, but didn't go nuts over it like everyone on the internet!  lol  

We came home on a Sunday and I took the Monday off from going into my room to relax, unwind, do laundry, and catch up on things at home.  Then I went into school on Tuesday and went in every day.  I was very thankful for getting the big stuff all done before my trip so I was able to get everything else done in less than a week.  

My revamped job board for this year.  I had green clothespins and I just used sharpie to write the kids' numbers but I didn't like it.  I had these tree frogs, so I glued them on and added the numbers and I like that SO much better.  In the past I had kids fill out job applications for the jobs they want, but they don't do a good job filling them out and they complain when they don't get the job they wanted (I can't have 18 board cleaners, I'm sorry).  So I went back to rotating the jobs.  I figure I'll rotate them bi-weekly (if I can remember!).  

I had Office Max print out some of the inspiration posters I found and framed them and put them on the top of my cabinets for something different.  I used the free birthday posters from THAT'S SO SECOND GRADE and decide to do the idea I've seen around of taking the kids pictures for that month.  So I made numbers for each kids birthday for them to decorate and then I called the students up by month and took their picture, then printed it out and put it on the birthday poster.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I usually just do an 8 1/2 by 11 chart of all of them, but I thought this was more fun.  I decided to put their number cards up too since they had spent time decorating them...

My reading area with the book boxes filled with "Just Right Books" for the students, that I had ready for them based on their reading levels from last year so they could practice Read to Self before I taught I-PICK.  Let me just say, I wish I could have the 2 Sisters come teach I-PICK.  I do the shoes lesson.  I model.  I explain.  I tell why it's important to take the time to do it, and they still just grab books based on the cover and do not do the I-PICK strategies or the 5 finger rule!  Oh well.  I try.  

You can see in the bottom picture my Daily 5 rubric that I made that you can find as a freebie in my TPT store.  I had Office Max enlarge it to poster size as a visual reminder for the class.  

Here you can see my CAFE board on the left.  Under it I plan on doing like a "parking lot" kind of thing where I will have students put index cards in the pocket that matches their number to show me their level of understanding on topics.  Kind of like an exit ticket.  I saw a pocket chart online that you could buy, that gave me the idea to do it, but I thought I'll just create my own with what I have and save money.  So I took 2 Target $1 pocket charts I had, put green masking tape down the middle to create 2 columns of pockets on each chart and then used my Cameo and adhesive vinyl to put their numbers on (Tip if you want to do something like this, use the outside vinyl.  I used regular vinyl and it did not stick very well to the pocket chart, so I put clear packing tape over it so the numbers wouldn't fall off).  There is also my WHO AM I? activity I do on the first day every year.  Students give clues about themselves on the top page and then on the page underneath, draw a self portrait and write their name to reveal themselves.  I also tape the pics I take of them on the first day on the self portrait page too.  These end up going in their writing portfolio and I love looking at them again at the end of the year.  Then on the far right is the pencil from TEACHER'S WIFE I believe, that I had Office Max print out for me along with the Be-GUMing Great Writer's, Writer's Workshop system Facebook freebie from SECOND GRADE SHENANIGANS.  That table and items to the right, not pictured, is my writing center area.  

And here is my team and myself with the awesome shirts I ordered for us from TEACHER T-SHIRT.  They loved them and it was fun to wear them all together.  We got A LOT of compliments.  

So those are all of the pictures I have taken of my room.  We started on Monday the 19th with inservice and actually had a really great speaker, Dave Weber.  He talked about how relationships are what cause us and the students to excel or fail.  He was funny, enthusiastic, and held our attention the whole 2 1/2 hours he talked.  I usually can't stand inservice speakers, but he was great and really got you thinking.  Definitely look him up.  Then it was meetings, meetings, meetings.  Wednesday the 21st was the first day, half-day with kids.  I have 25 second graders this year.  Two are autistic, but very high functioning (the highest I've had in a while) and I got THE CHILD from last year.  I knew I was getting him.  He got on meds at the end of last year and was a little better so I'm hoping for good things this year.  So far (8 days) we've had no issues, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  As we move from review to things getting harder though I'm a little more worried.  He has shown extremely short flashes of what could come over the last 2 days when we started moving on a little.  I love my students and they are mine the second they walk through that door and they are mine forever.  My students always seem to love me too, but I do not put up with disrespect and am very strict when it comes to correct behavior because it's not fair to the other students if "little Johnny" can do whatever he wants because otherwise he has a meltdown and they can't.  So because of how well I work with the students (and it's not always easy) and get them to learn they can't do what they used to do, in my room, I always get THOSE students.  It can give me the reputation from some parents of being mean, but oh well.  They're not in my room so they don't realize I'm not mean.  I'm sticking up for the other 24 students.  I'm hoping that this year is a break and it stays fine.  As of the 8 days I've had them, I LOVE them.  They are a WONDERFUL class.  So sweet and polite!  I have 15 girls and 10 boys, and my girls are the best girls you could ever hope to have.  My boys are typical boys (sweet but squirrelly), but my girls are angels.  I think they built the class that way to give me some relief from the craziness they thought I might have. 

To start the year we did a lot of class building and getting to know you activities.  We've done a lot of partner activities and my students have loved the iPartners cell phones for picking partners.  There have been some kinks to work out each time I've told them to get with a certain contact (I have so and so, but so does this other person, and that other person), but we have been able to work it out each time so far.  It does help that I have to have a partner since I have an odd number of students, so I'm usually able to switch out my partner to make it work.  This past week I did my tattling vs. reporting lesson and read A BAD CASE OF TATTLE TONGUE and we did an emergency/not emergency sort.  I also had the social worker come in to remind them of how to handle situations besides tattling (SWAT, Stop, Walk Away, and then Tell).  We also did our germs lesson where I read GERMS, GERMS, GERMS and did the apple experiment.  Put a quarter of an apple in a container where only I have touched it, put a quarter of an apple in a separate container, this time where all of the students have touched it.  Then we leave them out.  I did this last year and let me tell you, the Germs apple got extremely gross so it really is a good lesson on germs.  We also did our Start Smart unit from Treasures and I used my TPT resources to help with it. 

Also this week, I had Back To School Night (BTSN).  20 of my 25 families showed up.  It went very well.  I got through everything I needed to in the short amount of time I had. Hopefully I didn't talk too fast and they were able to understand me.  I got a smart board (3 days before school started) so I was able to show them what my spelling lists look like and how I do them, what my homework packets look like, and our classroom website.  It was nice being able to show them that on a big screen.  I told my students how I'm new to the smart board and they have been patient with me and have even given me suggestions (myself and my teammate were the last ones in the school to get them, so the students have always had them).  

Next week we start our first story and spelling pattern for Treasures.  We also have NWEA MAP testing.  At least it's a short week!  

Today I pretty much vegged.  Tomorrow I have grocery shopping and dessert baking to do, and I think I'll print and laminate some more stuff now that my ink and laminating sheets have come in again.  Monday family BBQ.  

Hope everyone else has been doing well and if you have started school it's going great!  :)

Monday Made-It and IN Disney!! :)

So when you are reading this I will actually be on my Disney World vacation.  With planning this trip for about a year and a half, it's hard to believe it's actually here!  I love all of the planning of the trip and the anticipation of the trip and then it gets to a few days before the trip and anxiety soars sky high as I make sure everything it packed, I have all of our tickets and things, and my suitcase isn't too heavy!  We're gone for 8 days so that's a lot to pack!  Hopefully it will be smooth sailing while we're there and coming back!
Now onto Monday Made-It with Tara!

So let's start with my final Disney Movie and a Meal.  We watched Pinocchio for the final movie as the girls hadn't seen it and it's been a LONG time since Jodie and I had.  

It was super hard finding any craft ideas to do for this one, so Jodie and I had to wing it.  I must say I think what we did was super fun!
The first activity we did was Pin the Nose on Pinocchio (Jodie's idea).  So I just printed out a Pinocchio picture and then through a photo software I have I was able to copy just the NOSE of that picture so I could make multiples for the girls to use.  It worked out perfectly.  They each got 4 chances to get it right and they had so much fun!

See a couple were pretty close!

Then it was time to eat and watch the movie.  We went with an italian theme so Jodie and I had Paninis and the girls had Spaghettios.  Jodie also made some cheesy baked tomatoes.  

It was very yummy.  Sadly after eating the movie didn't hold any of their attention at all.  I was pretty much the only one watching it.  Jodie said she couldn't blame them as it isn't her favorite either.  

For dessert I used a recipe that was for Lady and the Tramp.  It was cupcakes that looked like spaghetti and meatballs, but I figured it would still go with our Italian theme.  

For the final activity we did paper bag Pinocchio hand puppets.  I had printed out his hat and they used one of the noses from the game.  They thought the puppets were very fun too and after making them went off to play with them.  We called them back to watch the last 5-7 minutes of the movie.  

So that was our final Disney movie.  It was a fun way to countdown to the trip and also a fun thing to do this summer.  Almost like having a little Disney summer fun program twice a week.  I'm happy we did it!  :)

Now onto my school Made-Its.  

For my first one I took a cheap clipboard and modge-podged it with scrapbooking paper and then added ribbon.  I'm going to hang it by the door and use it for the awesome Bathroom Tally sheet from Fluttering Through First Grade (which I found on pinterest).  

My room is right next to the bathroom, which I like because it's easier to keep my eye and ear on it, but since it's right there the kids can abuse it.  You know how it is, they want a break from what we're doing, so they HAVE to go to the bathroom.  I'm hoping this will help with that.  I'm excited to try it.  

My next Made-It are the READ letters.  I wanted to make them last year and never got around to it.  When I was at Wal-Mart the other day, there were the letters so I thought, I'm going to do it!  

First I painted the sides with some green paint I had and then I just took scrapbooking paper that I only had 1 sheet of and there you are!  I'm going to put it on my window sill that's in my reading corner.  I was a little nervous to modge-podge everything because I know people have had horror stories with is bubbling and wrinkling, but luckily I had no problem.  

My final Made-It is 4th Grade Frolics awesome Facebook Fan Freebie Understanding Rubric that she posted for a Monday Made-It.  

I LOVED the idea of this and am so thankful to Tara for sharing it with us.  I added my green with brown polka dots ribbon that I used on everything and it's ready to hang up in my room.  

Besides getting ready for Disney, I was also trying to do everything I could to get stuff ready for school since I won't be working on anything while on vacation.  So I have a lot of other things ready to go and be made when I get back.  Now technically us teachers weren't supposed to start setting up our rooms until this week, but since I won't be able to, I snuck in early on Friday.  Jodie, Brynn, and Jaslene came with to help me.  We brought all of my stuff I lugged home for the summer back to get it out of my house.  Then they were a huge help as they helped me take everything down from the tops of my cabinets and put my plastic shelves back together, in place, and with the baskets on it.  Jodie always kindly organizes my desk for me before the start of the year so she did that for me too.  Oh!  Which reminds me!  I also did the little table top steralite drawers to organize the crayons by color.  I forgot to take a picture of that and mention it above.  The girls sorted the crayons for me.  I thought it would be good when the kids' desks have eaten their blue crayon and they need it for something, they can just go get one from the blue crayon drawer instead of digging through my mixed up crayon drawer.  We were only at school for 2 hours but it looked like my classroom again by the time we had left.  Once I come back the only things I'll have to work on now are some bulletin boards, personalization of my new class, and better organization of some things.  If I wouldn't have had their help it would have taken me 2 to 3 times as long.  I'm so thankful!  The other good thing was that because I was the only one there, they weren't other teachers to talk to to distract me!  Usually I spend the first 2 days setting up my classroom gabbing with the other teachers about our summers and I don't get as much done!  

So that's it for this week!  I won't have any Made-Its for next week except Disney memories, but I'll probably post a little about my trip if you're interested.  Have a wonderful week everyone!  :)