One of My Favorites

I just finished my school's open house. I had 20 firsties enrolled, and gained another two before the evening was over! Since I've moved back to 1st grade I dug out some of my favorite units and revamped them a bit. To celebrate back to school, I decided to upload my thematic unit on apples. It's on sale at my TpT store from now until the first day of school--August 26. I hope you have as much fun with it as I do! You may also like my letters and sounds assessment FREEBIE...

Click on the picture for the link to my TpT store.

I love surprises...but not this kind!

All summer long I believed I'd be teaching 3rd or 5th grade this year. A few weeks ago it was 3rd grade for sure. Just last Wednesday, I was switched to 1st! Talk about a change! Of  course, this is after my room was all set up for 3rd grade. It only took 3 days to take down everything and start over. All I'm waiting for is a reading group table, then I'm ready for the kiddos!

Here are some before and afters:

My room as I first got it. Yikes!

All ready for 3rd grade!

Calendar math wall

Carpet area--my wonderful principal bought the carpet at Home Depot for me, vacuumed the rug underneath, arranged the carpet, and then vacuumed the stray fibers! 

job chart

library

Something new for my reading strategy display. I've tried the CAFE in the past, and it just didn't work for me. I saw positive results with some kids, but not all. So I'm picking and choosing the pieces that work best for me. We'll see how it goes!

cute little tables instead of those big, bulky desks

another view of my tables

word wall

And I'm through!

Back to School Survival Kits

My official start of school is next Wednesday, when I get to go to meetings, and trainings, and more meetings before the kiddos come back on August 26. I've always made "survival kits" for my students to take home on the first day. This year I updated them with a super cute border from http://surfingtosuccess.blogspot.com/, but the first time I printed them off they were way too small! So I updated them once again. You can find them at my TpT store by clicking on the link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Survival-Kit-835227.  See what you think...

Number of the Day

At a 2nd grade teacher friend's request, I've made Number of the Day activity sheets. All activities meet math CCSS for the Numbers and Operations in Base Ten domain. The 3rd grade version also includes a few standards in the Operations and Alegbra domain. Best of all, they're completely free! Click on the link for the grade level you want.

 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Number-of-the-Day-1st-Grade-821094
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Number-of-the-Day-2nd-Grade-821138
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Number-of-the-Day-3rd-Grade-821188
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Number-of-the-Day-4th-Grade-821220

Back to School Menus

It's time to celebrate setting up a classroom, writing welcome letters, getting new class lists, and revised class lists, and more revised class lists, hunting down enough desks, decorating bulletin board, and all the other stuff we never have time to do. August just isn't long enough! To help you out a little, I have created a spelling and writing menu freebie for back-to-school fun. Click on the link to get a copy.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Menu-Freebie-817433

          

Enjoy!

Oops, another freebie!

Here's one I forgot. In an earlier post I promised to let you know how to get these classroom labels. Last year I had a small magnetic white board that I didn't have much use for, so I made it my daily schedule board with these labels. To get this look, just cut, glue to colorful card stock, and put a self-stick magnet on the back. I also have owl-themed labels on my TpT store.

It's That Time Again!

It's time to start getting ready for the new school year, and I don't even know which grade I'll be teaching! Can you say yikes?!

Even so, I've made lots of back to school freebies for my TpT store. Enjoy!

 A blank newsletter template with the cutest owls I got from http://the3amteacher.blogspot.com/.

A reading wish list for kiddos to pick their favorite fiction and nonfiction genres with a cute border from  http://frompond.blogspot.com/

 Literature Circle Posters (for some reason I couldn't center the circles, but they're meant to be cut out anyway). The circle graphics are from http://www.talesfromoutsidetheclassroom.com/. I love this blog!

 Binder labels (yes, it is sideways). It is a Power Point Presentation. For some reason, switching from PP to PDF messed up the layout.

 My September math meetings on Smart Board Notebook software--these are completely editable.

And, of course, some fun clip art:    

Check out my store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Natalie-Trouten