Five for Friday - A Day Late

So the last two and a half weeks have definitely kicked my butt!  I finally got my classroom moved - except for a filing cabinet and a few boxes that I'll be going in to unpack tomorrow.  My colleagues and I survived the first week of school in spite of broken air conditioners and new administrative mandates. And I'm loving my new class of second graders. I've missed posting to the blog for the last couple of weeks, so here's a bit of what's been going on.  Thanks always to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting!

My classroom!

I love the way my reading center turned out. It's already become the workspace of choice for many of my students!

I worked hard to make it look welcoming for my kiddos. I was disappointed that I wasn't completely finished before Open House, or even for the first day of school. However, after 19 years of this, I know the most important thing is not how your classroom looks or how much you got done, but how you make those children and their families feel when they first meet you. Any new teachers out there, don't worry about perfection. Your room will always be a work in progress!

Speaking of Open House, one of my families surprised me with a gift - a basket full of teacher goodies.  How nice is that?! What a great way to start the year!

My Reading Center bench!  I've been eying these with envy on Pinterest for over a year. I finally made my own.

I started with a piece of shelving. I bought 2-inch foam from JoAnn's Fabrics and glued it to the shelf.

I also got the fabric from JoAnn's. I laid it over the top of the foam and then turned the whole thing over.

I hot-glued the fabric around the shelf. The hardest part was pulling it tight enough so it wasn't wrinkly.

It wasn't perfect, but it worked!

I zip-tied the crates together to secure everything 

It fit perfectly under the window in my reading corner.

I think it came out well. My kids are already enjoying it.

Lakeshore is a very dangerous place for me. I went there for three things: nametags for my desks, wooden people shapes for my helper chart, and cardboard people shapes for my class promise display.  An hour later, I walked out about $80 poorer. #teacherproblems
Never fails.

I got some great stuff!

We got our class promise written this week. I wrote about how I work with my class to create it in a previous post. You can read more about it here. I think it turned out very well. It always surprises me (in a very good way) how thoughtful the students are when we do this. They have very clearly defined ideas about what's right and what's wrong. They may not always make good behavior choices, but in their hearts, they want to.

Each class I teach gives me hope for the future. :)

So that's it for now. Stay tuned this next week for Math Tip Monday. On the first Monday of each month, K's Classroom Kreations and I host a Blog Hop filled with great ideas for teaching math. Next up: Number Sense. If you're a blogger and you'd like to join our hop, let me know!

Until then,