Currently and Monday Made-It

Thank goodness for Labor Day weekend!  I got tons of work done and still took half a day completely off from anything school related (except, of course, blogs!).

As my kiddos excitedly pointed out to me on Friday, it is now September.  This is exciting for them because at the end of each month, any unused bathroom passes become raffle tickets.  With only eight days of school in August ... let's just say we have a very full raffle bin!

So, first up .... Currently!

Thanks Farley for hosting!

First off, I have to say that I LOVE this month's currently template.  I am all about bright colors right now.  Let's hope that lasts since my classroom is covered in them! :)

I absolutely adore my class this year!  With the exception of two (aren't there always), they are so well behaved and so excited about what we're doing!  I have quite a few space cadets (Student #1: "Is this social studies or math?" (holding up a worksheet full of addition problems).  Student #2: "Uhhh ... I think we did that one during social studies." No. We didn't. We did it during math).  I prefer space cadets to naughty kiddos, though.

Favorite Things:
1.  I got a Kindle this summer.  I am reading so much more now.  I used to read constantly.  Then college happened.  I was a Literature/Creative Writing major, and I stopped reading for fun.  Being able to instantly get new books on my Kindle is making me love reading again!
2.  Last year's plan binder was plain white (that is, except for the stains on it...).  This year's binder is pretty and that makes me happy every time I take it out!

3.  No, I don't have a new couch.  I just didn't appreciate it all summer like I do at the end of a day of teaching.  So it makes the list!

And now ... Monday Made It! (with freebies for you)

Daily 5 Board
So, I'm not quite done making these, but I created, printed, cut, laminated, and cut.  All that's left to do is arrange them in the pocket chart!  I'm going to post more later about how I am adapting Daily 5 to fit my classroom, but basically I'm doing Daily 4, calling it Reading Workshop, and giving some must-do and some may-do activities for each choice. Here are the labels for you!

Noun Sort
My first Word Work activity!  Students will sort the sentence cards into the four categories, then record the nouns on a recording sheet.  Lots of laminating and cutting here! Here are the sentences and recording sheet for you!

The sorting page.
Their recording sheet doesn't have the "not nouns" category,
 but there will be cards that go in there!

Card baggie is stapled to the back of the sorting chart.
Each set of cards is also a different color.
Crossing my fingers for no supplies lost!
They sort by the underlined words.

Writing Wall Name Tags
Lots of typing, printing, coloring in the parts where my printer was running out of ink, laminating, and cutting.  I think they are going to look great next to the black backgrounds for their writing!

California Regions Fact File
Most of the first chapter of our social studies textbook is on the four regions of California.  The textbook takes three lessons to do this and each lesson talks about all four regions.  By the end of it, I even have details about the regions mixed up!  This year, as we read those lessons, the kiddos are going to organize the info by region.  Here is the document, if you want to use it!  They need to be printed double sided and then folded into a booklet.  Note:  There is one page that I am doing some old fashioned copy-pasting, so it's blank now!  You can put your own map of California there!  Font from Kevin and Amanda!

The page on the right will have a map.

That's all for now!  Have a wonderful week!