Classroom Reveal

Well, tomorrow is "meet and greet" where I will meet some of my students for the first time! My room is FINALLY ready (with the exception of a few things.) I can't believe that I worked all summer and still didn't finish everything I wanted to do by the start of school.  That just shows you that this job seriously never ends!! I am going to do a couple of last minute things in the morning and I will just add those pictures to the post tomorrow.  

So, here is the finished product of my summer work :)  Please leave any feedback/ideas/comments that you may have! I am always open to learn more from my fellow teacher friends!


Here we go!! (I totally can't take credit for my door.  My mom is amazing!)


I'm going to try to have my lunch count outside of my room this year.  Student magnets that I made (you can find the tutorial on my blog post- Magnet tutorial).  The choices will be posted with little labels around the outside (one of those last minute things to do in the morning!)


Ready for meet and greet! Sticky note wish list found on the table outside of my room for parents to take with them for donations.


Trying something new this year... Student name tags are found in the basket.  Each student will find his/her name tag and place it on the desk that they choose to sit at on the first day of school (knowing eventually they could be moved.)  Then, the parents will fill out the "Student Information Sheet" found on the student's desk.  You can find this sheet located in my Teacher Binders and Dividers (editable) pack found at my TpT store.  



View from the back of the room. Student Information Sheet found on desks!
I've also decided to do mini trash cans for interactive notebook scraps this year to save time. We will see how it goes! 



Math and Reading rotations board! Students will check in before each round for accountability purposes! Again, find the tutorial for the magnets on my blog! 


Here is the back wall of my classroom! The front boxes are their "book boxes" for Daily 5 and they also have another box in the back for extra school supplies. (We are a little tight on space in my room so I'm trying to make the best use of it!)  The tubs are for coats/backpacks in case they fall because they often have a hard time staying up on the hooks. 


I added this at the end of last year and loved it! It's such a good visual to have the numbers around the clock!


Behavior Chart.  I use this chart in addition to Classroom Dojo and I use them simultaneously so that it flows together.  Clip chart measures behavior for the day and Classroom Dojo measures behavior for longer amounts of time (like the week.)  I found these ADORABLE clips that I numbered at Tuesday Morning! You can also find this behavior chart here at my store!


My file cabinet isn't in the best of shape but the labels are just too darn cute not to share!


Reading corner is ready to go! Futon was an addition this year that I was lucky enough to get from a very generous friend.  I wanted the kids to have a cozy spot for "Read to Self" each day!


My wonderful (and patient) boyfriend even came up to help me get the futon in my room! Isn't he so sweet?!? Let's just say he has been asked to do a lot for me since I started teaching and he is (usually) so willing :) 




My classroom library is continuing to grow! I still need to print a few more labels (on the to-do list) but you get the idea! You can find these labels in the Classroom Organization Pack along with MANY other things found here at my store! My library is continuing to grow but it is the main thing I am working on trying to improve.


Kidney table with my adorable crate seats that I made this summer! You can find the step by step tutorial with pictures included on my blog! I can't wait to have reading groups here!!


Quite possibly my favorite thing about my room this year :) I wish I could take credit for these adorable CAFE letters and strategies, but I got them from Rachelle Rosenblit's TpT store.  Go check it out! 


Things that make me happy behind my desk. As some of you know, my grandma passed away this year.  She was a fourth grade teacher for many, many years and had this pink apple.  My mom thought it was absolutely perfect and brought it for me after she passed.  So thankful for this happy reminder of her in my classroom each day.  I can't wait to see her again! 


Bulletin boards! On the left are classroom jobs, in the middle is a twitter feed, and on the right is what will eventually be my Calendar Math.  I am still looking up ideas for exactly how I want to do it but I have a start! All of those books on the bookshelf need to be leveled and added to my classroom library so that will be my ongoing project throughout the school year. 



Up close shot of the twitter feed! I'm going to use this as an exit slip when I want to quickly formatively assess the students! (I totally can't wait to see the hilarious #hashtags that I see!)


Since we are implementing Guided Math this year, I knew that I needed a place in my room for students to easily access manipulative materials.  I have each drawer labeled with the SOL strand (Virginia's standards).  In each drawer are manipulatives that fit within that strand.  I'm hoping this will be a good way for students to find what they need during Math rounds.


Sharing this because I am obsessed with it.  I did a marble jar this year but I just couldn't pass this up because of how colorful it is! Whenever the class gets a compliment I will add some fuzzies to the "warm fuzzy" jar. When we fill up the jar, the class will get a treat that they vote on!


View from the front of the room.  One good thing about my tall ceilings is all of the room that I have for anchor charts! I will add pictures throughout the year of how I arrange and organize my anchor charts to make it easy for the students.




Flip Book information for parents to grab on the way out of the door along with a little treat :)  You can find your own EDITABLE version of this flip book at my blogger friend Lindsey's TpT store


Well, there it is! I hope that you enjoyed :) As always, you can find me on Facebook and Teachers Pay Teachers.  Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave some feedback in the comments below.





















Celebration Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wow! Words cannot even express the love I feel from this past week, especially yesterday! My Facebook page has been rapidly growing, and also my sales! Yesterday I reached 2 personal goals and I couldn't have done it without you! I beat my record high for sales at my TpT store in one day AND I reached 1,000 "likes" on my Facebook page! I am so thankful for everyone who follows my page/store and supports it because I am so passionate about what I do! Because of all of these wonderful things happening, I have decided to do a GIVEAWAY and I even had a friend join in with me to celebrate! My friend Ashley from The Teachers Treasure Chest has donated one of her amazing products (Forms and Binder Mega Pack) that will work for ANY grade level and I am giving away the winner's choice of any product from my store :) You can enter here in a variety of ways but must be following my blog to enter! (Can also follow on Bloglovin'.) The giveaway will end on Sunday so enter quickly and don't miss out! 

Again, THANK YOU x 1,000,000 for all of your support! Don't forget to thank Ashley for her donation by following her Store and Blog. 

Last week of Summer!!!!

I wanted to jump on here really quickly and introduce my newest product before I leave for my vacation tomorrow and enjoy my LAST WEEK OF SUMMER! I know that the beginning of the year is crazy and we are usually scrambling to get everything finished! Place Value is such a big "beginning of the year" Math focus, so I made some Place Value Task Cards that you can find at my TpT store. As a fourth grade teacher, I sometimes have such a hard time finding cute and engaging materials that meet the rigor of fourth grade curriculum. These task cards include numbers that range from the ones place to the millions place! The product also includes a recording sheet for students to record the place AND value of the underlined digit! I hope you guys like this product and have a GREAT start to your year!!! 






Thanks for reading!!! 






Making Progress

As some of you may know, we don't start school until September here in Virginia so I am feeling a little behind when I see all of the super cute classrooms that are already put together. With that being said, I decided to go in and begin doing some serious work and I'm starting to FINALLY make some progress! I changed my classroom arrangement A LOT this year because of all the wonderful lessons I learned in my first year of teaching! I am going to still be implementing Daily 5 structure for reading and I'm going to begin to implement Guided Math which will be new to me this year. I also found out that I NEVER used my desk so I had that removed from my classroom.  Here are some progress pics so far! Feel free to leave some feedback if you have any suggestions.  (Just keep in mind that I am extremely cramped for space, even though the pictures don't really show it!) I promise to do a full classroom reveal when it is all finished (even if that isn't until September!)


My classroom door with my EDITABLE "Where Are We?" FREEBIE sign that you can find here at my TpT store!

Daily 5/Guided Math groups for accountability.  Children will check in at each round.  Magnets are a DIY that you can find the tutorial for on my blog!

Reading corner so far with my fabulous new futon and crate seats! Also find the tutorial for the crate seats on my blog!

Kidney Table~ Crate Seat Tutorial also on the blog!!

Twitter board with iPhones to be used as exit slips and formative assessments. iPhones are attached with velcro so that students can take them down.  iPhones are laminated so that we can use dry erase markers.  Can't wait to teach these 4th graders how to #hashtag!

Finally, here is a new organizational method I'm using for Math manipulative storage. Drawers are labeled with SOL strand and have specific SOL's on the labels (Virginia's standards). Since I'll be using a Guided Math structure this year, I wanted students to be able to access manipulatives whenever they need them.  Hoping this will do the trick! Manipulatives are stored in large gallon sized ziplock bags or the boxes they came in.


Lastly, I want to take a moment to talk about my newest product that I hope you'll go check out! It's a 4th Grade Math Interactive Notebook that includes Common Core Standards AND Virginia SOL's.  It is an August-December bundle and is currently on SALE! Great price for a great product! I hope you'll check it out! The full description and product can be found here at my TpT store! Leave me some feedback if you like it!! 








Also, don't forget to "like" me on Facebook and follow me on Instagram (bnlangford) for more ideas/giveaways/etc.

Happy Back to School!!









Back to School Giveaway!




Hey everyone! I can't believe it is August already!!! Some of us are probably getting those anxious feelings about going back to school (I know I am)! I have already had some back to school nightmares about my classroom not being ready.  AH! With that being said, I learned ALOT in my first year of teaching and I can't wait to get back to school and implement new ideas that I've learned and change things that didn't work last year.  As you know, this summer I started my Teachers Pay Teachers store and began my Facebook page as well as this blog.  Blogging is something that I have really loved and I want to continue doing it.  Along this journey, I have joined forces with my blogger friend Lindsey from Thriving in 3rd to do a Back to School giveaway.  The giveaway starts tonight at midnight and will end on Sunday August 10.  At this time, the lucky winners will win ANY 3 products from my store and Miss Johnston's TpT store!!!

See below to enter.  It is mandatory to be following my blog and Thriving in 3rd.  You can also enter additional entries by "liking" us on Facebook (if you already like us on Facebook, you are eligible for an additional entry also.)  The winners will be notified next Sunday! Please share with your friends! Happy August!!!

Bloglovin

Trying out bloglovin!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/12577909/?claim=8fwvdwyj97m">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Magnet Tutorial


I hope that everyone has had a fabulous summer! I know that so many of us are in "back to school" mode, especially those of you starting school in a few weeks.  I wanted to share a tutorial for these super cute magnets that I made :) I saw the idea somewhere on Pinterest and tweaked it for myself to make it a little easier and cheaper.  Here is what you'll need:

~Flat glass stones (I got mine at the Dollar Tree but you can also find them on Amazon)
~Scrapbook paper of choice (I used a pack I had already purchased from Michaels that I keep for crafts)
~Black Sharpie
~Hot glue (any craft store, Wal-Mart, etc.)
~Round magnets (I found mine at Handcock fabric and used my teacher discount!)

Total price= $13.00 to make 100 magnets.  (I needed 3 sets of 30 and then had some left over) I purchased everything except the scrapbook paper and hot glue since I already had those.  

(The cookie sheets pictured are not necessary for this project.  They are just what I'm using to put my magnets on in my classroom!)

Step 1: Choose your scrapbook paper and lay it out on the table.  Using a sharpie, write student numbers on the scrapbook paper (no larger than the rocks). Make sure to spread the numbers out so that you can glue the rocks on top.  

*** Skip this step if you are not numbering your magnets.  I numbered mine with student numbers but if you are just using them for decoration, move on to Step 2.  


Step 2: Next, take your flat glass rocks and hot glue them on top of the numbers (or on top of the paper if you're not numbering your magnets) as shown in the picture below. I put a circle of glue around the number and placed the rock on top of it.  I learned quickly that I can't see where I put the glue through my rocks which is a huge plus!  Make sure to center your rock over the number so that it is even.  WARNING: The rock will magnify your writing slightly so make sure you don't write your numbers too big.


Step 3: When you're finished gluing down your rocks on top of your numbers, you should have a row of rocks as shown below.  Next, simply cut them out making sure to neatly trim the edges so that you can't see any access paper from the front.





Step 4: Lastly, turn all of your magnets upside down.  Using the hot glue gun, glue a magnet to the back of each rock.  I bought self adhesive magnets for that extra support.  I peeled off the back to the magnets and then hot glued them.  I'm hoping this will make them more durable.  



I totally should have gotten a manicure before doing this tutorial! 

Now, this is what the finished product should look like! (This finished product is another set that I made with different paper.  I can't seem to find the picture of the polka dot papered magnets, but same thing!!)


Some of you may be wondering what I plan to do with 100 magnets?? Well, I saw a super cute bulletin board on Pinterest where you use cookie sheets as magnet boards and students can move their magnets for groups, centers, etc... Since I do Daily 5 in my classroom, I plan to have a bulletin board for Daily 5 rounds (Read to Self, Read to a Buddy, Word Work, Work on Writing) to hold students accountable for their choices.  Following the Daily 5 model, students are supposed to check in before each round.  Magnets will be a super fast way to do this.  

Next, I plan to do have a Math bulletin board for Guided Math groups (which I don't completely have planned out yet since this will be my first year really implementing Guided Math). 

Lastly, I needed a third set of 30 magnets for students to check in each morning by doing lunch count.  A cookie sheet will be hanging on the back of my classroom door with different sections.  Each morning, students will use their magnet to their lunch choice and this is also how I will take attendance.  

When I begin to set up my classroom, I will be sure to add pics to the blog so that you can see the final product! I'll also be adding a lot of other cool organizational tips that I learned my first year of teaching! 

Please follow me at my TpT store and "like" me on Facebook to see all of my posts, products, and giveaways!!!

Thanks for stopping by!