A Few Pics of the First Couple of Weeks

Cannot believe that tomorrow is the beginning of our 3rd week of school! I have a great group of kiddos this year...27 kiddos to be EXACT! I've never  had that big of a class before...17 boys and 10 girls and I LOVE them to pieces ALREADY!!!

Thought I'd share a few pics of some of my room and a couple of things we've been up to...

The first is the chalkboard I created from an old easel that was headed to the dump...I rescued this sweet lil piece and now it sits outside my classroom door ready to welcome the kids and their parents. It will also be posted with reminders as the year goes on!

The next two pics are our "Self-Portraits" the idea came from a pin on pinterest...one of my team teachers found it and we decided to tweak it for our 4th graders...the students created their self portraits from construction papers...kind of layering the colors they needed to create these mega cute self images:) They completed an "All About Me" sheet and attached them to their creations.

I made the cute little chalkboard clothespins after seeing a post here. My classroom is the old high school computer lab, so it is MASSIVE, but has tons of metal poles on the walls...I decided to create "clotheslines" between the poles to display student work and the clips were the perfect touch for them:)

The next picture is my birthday board!!! I am IN L <3 VE with how it turned out!!!! I bought a frame at Hobby Lobby for $3 and spray painted it Ocean Breeze...added wire to the back of the frame with my staple gun and found the cute little birthday months poster at a local teacher store...laminated the pieces and clipped them on with some clothespins.  After we created our line plot of birthdays I transfered the information to the months and the little board sits next to another Pinterest inspired creation...balloons on Pixie Stixs...4th graders totally love the getting to choose their pixie stix on their birthday:)

First Full Week Starts Tomorrow!!!

We started school this past Thursday! I have 27 kiddos this year...17 boys and 10 girls! I have a sweet new bunch of kids and am very excited to get into the swing of things this week! It is always so nice to have those first couple of days out of the way, so that the jitters kind of subside and we can really dig in to the new year!

I am working on implementing Daily 3 in my classroom this year with CAFE. I am SO thankful that one of my team teachers is going to implement it in her room this year as well...we will work our way through it together...which is always so much nicer than going at it alone!!!

Have a great Monday! When do you start school???


Mrs. Ille {LaKeta}

Right Now I Am...

Love the idea for the Think Write Share linky party over at Oh Boy 4th Grade...

So I had to participate!!!

Currently I Am:

LISTENING: to my husband explain the in's and out's of the oil field as it pertains to him in between the ding of his phone notifying him he has a text.

LOVING: That my classroom is almost finished and ENTIRE week and TWO days before school starts

THINKING: That summer has once again flown by and that my babies are growing up way too fast

WANTING: A Kitchen Aid stand mix in aqua... That cute little iphone 4 case from etsy...

NEEDING: A rainy day before school starts that I can stay in my pj's and enjoy

&&&

STALKING:
A Bowl Full of Lemons

Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss

Create Teach Share

It's Almost that Time for Me...

So I am working in my classroom today...I've been several times already in the past 2 weeks and am about to get it all finished...I think....is it ever really finished??? Not for me! I always find new ideas that I want to add to my room. I'm going to grab some pics today as I work and will be back later to post some:)

Have a great Thursday!

Check Out 4th Grade Frolics

Super cute giveaway is happening over at 4th Grade Frolics....check out the Sophie's Beads Dr. Suess bracelet she is giving away!!!

Hurry on over and enter before the 27th!~~~~

LaKeta

From Snow Days to Sizzlin' In The Sun!!!

So this poor little ol' blog sure seems to get put on the back burner...I am going to try very hard to utilize it more this year. I think now that the whirlwind year that was my life last year enduring and {hopefully} conquering national boards is behind me I will have a tad bit more time for blogging...

This will be my 3rd year in 4th grade {self-contained} after teaching 5th and 6th grades for 5 1/2 years before that!  I am excited about the upcoming school year, but would still like to squeeze in as much summer as possible in the next four weeks...eeekkkk we start back with kiddos on August 11th!!!


Summer Projects:
Paint barstool- check
Find dresser to redo for storage in the classroom- still searching Craigslist
Chicken wire memo board- frame found...just needs wire

Snow Days!!!

I cannot believe how many snow days we have had this school year!!!

I have never seen anything like it!!!

February News:

Valentine Party will be Monday at 2:oo...hopefully the snow will be melted by then...lol! Students have been asked to bring in $3 to pay for the cost of pizza. We could also use canned pop for 24 students and if anyone wants to send in a sweet treat that would be amazing!!!

Students don't forget to make a Valentine card holder

Study Club Thursdays will resume next Thursday...

AR TEST #2 was due on the 9th...I am extending it until the 15th!

Parents progress reports will be sent home next week!!! If you need your password to check your child's grades online please send me a note and I will get that information for you:)

Stay warm and enjoy our {last}snow day!!!

~Mrs. Ille

January...

This month has flown by...

Please remember that AR test #2 is due on February 9th. Students who complete their book and test get to use the FLIP camera {donated by US Cellular on donorschoose.org} to do a digital book talk...so cool right?!?!

Pleased as Punch is on our agenda this week...thank you to the parents who sent in juice boxes.

We will be reading chapters 3/4 of "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" this week.

STUDY CLUB THIS THURSDAY 3:00 - 3:45

Have a great week :)

Mrs. Ille