A look inside....

The first three weeks of school have been crazy!  Getting things setup, meetings, helping plan a lip dub, open house, and back to school night....oh yeah...and some teaching!!! :-)

Anyway, as promised, here is a look inside my classroom.  You will see several pinterest-inspired ideas in my room this year and I am very excited how it turned out.

bulletin board outside my room

view from the door

Promethean board (my fav) and the front of the room

bookshelf (dictionaries, thesaurus, ActivExpressions, deskmaps, etc)

student cubbies

back counter

rest of the back counter

student work

reading corner

reading table

my desk

side of my desk w/ my teacher toolbox (and LIFE PLANNER!)

Getting Organized

Teachers officially go back in one week...which of course means I have been to my classroom several times already.

I wanted to start the year off  organized, so I turned to pinterest for inspiration.  I decided I wanted a teacher toolbox and a better system for turning in papers.

I made my teacher toolbox like so many of you have already done.  Mine is not as amazing as some of the ones I have seen, but I love it anyway.  (I just wish the drawers were deeper!)

I used the "Stack-On 22-Compartment Storage Cabinet " from Home Depot.  The labels were made by Kristen Doyle.

I also decided to make 2 sets of drawers for students to turn in papers, for me to place work in when they are absent, and to hold other papers I need.  

The drawers are from Target. (I got 2 sets.)

I made the labels using legal size paper and powerpoint. I am happy to send you the file if you want it.  (Just send me an email!)

Monday Made It

I am so excited to participate in my first ever Monday Made It Linky Party with 4th Grade Frolics!  I love Tara's site and I have really enjoyed seeing all the great posts people have linked up.

For my summer school class this week I made some reading strategies posters that we will use the next two weeks as we round out summer school.  The four strategies we are focusing on are: Inferring, Predicting, Summarizing, and Visualizing.

You can download a copy from google docs here.

I also FINALLY finished a ribbon wreath I started a while ago.  It's not perfect, but it is cute enough for now.  (Had to have lots of polka-dots in it, of course!)

Thanks for letting me join in this wonderful edition of "Monday Made It!"

~Alissa

Great Giveaway

Lauren over at Life in Middle School is celebrating having 100 followers with a giveaway! Click on the button below to check out all of the GOODIES you can win!!! :)  Also, don't forget to check out her posts!

Happy Girl

Today my life planner arrived.  I am so super excited that it finally got here. I am slightly obsessed with the life planner and everything else on the erincondren.com website.

I LOVE my new planner and cannot wait to use it.  It is the best thing ever and I am so glad I treated myself to it.

Fractions, Decimals, Percents, and Ratios

Spring break has now come to a close and tomorrow we go back.  I have had a wonderful Spring break filled with fun times, a new niece, and a couple day trips around Virginia.

Tomorrow we start our new math unit.  Figured we need some notes on the topic and thought some of you might want a copy too.  Enjoy!!  Now I just need to make a flipchart and I can go to bed!

You can download a copy by clicking here.

Upper Grades Linky Party

Lorraine from Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies is having a linky party for teacher-bloggers, grades 3, 4, and 5!! If you have an upper-elementary blog, be sure to visit Lorraine's blog and link up!  I can't wait to check out all the amazing blogs that will be listed!

Writing Tests

This week our fifth graders took their state writing tests. They worked very hard the last couple months and I know they gave 100% on their tests this week.  I wanted to give them a little something the morning of the short paper test.  I had an eraser, a stick of gum, and some mints on each of their desks the morning of the test.  I also had this note on each of their desks.

You can download the file below.  Hope you can use it!
Writing Ninja File

Awesome Giveaway

Lindsay at My Life as a Fifth Grade Teacher is having a great giveaway.  Check it out at:
http://msnoren.blogspot.com/2012/01/parents-sometimes-apple-doesnt-fall-too.html