Bead Spelling

I blogged about Word Work activities a week or so ago.  I mentioned our Bead Spelling and the fact that my kiddos love it.  I wanted to find a better way to store our beads for the activity so that students could find beads more quickly and be able to complete more words.  Here was my solution:

First, I bought four of these containers.  Each one has 12 compartments.  I was originally thinking that I would use two of them so that almost every letter could have its own compartment.  I changed my mind and decided I would consolidate letters so that more students would be able to do this activity.  They will be happy. (Walmart did have bigger organizers that would easily fit all of the letters, but they were $9/each and these were only $2.  Cheap wins.)

Then, I bought some letter stickers- only $1!

Then I sorted and sorted... and.... 

Voila! Bead Spelling is ready to go!

I got both sets of beads at the 'ol Walmarts- I like the top set better, but they didn't have any when I went back to get more, so I got the wood bead set. (below)

I have another fun Word Word idea to share soon- stay tuned.

Here is something else I'm going to be working on.  This scary area is getting a makeover (I hope!).  

Share some pics of your Daily 5 organization- I need some inspiration!!!

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My students eat crayons!

Well,  at least that is the only explanation I can come up.  I always keep baskets of extra crayons on a shelf so that students can borrow what they need instead of asking me for them.  In past years I have keep the extra crayons separated by color families like reds, blues, greens, etc.  Like this:

This works okay, but when I ask students to use a red crayon sometimes they color it red violet or some other reddish color. 

That.

Makes.

Me.

Crazy.

I know it seems silly, but on our math tests sometimes I ask students to color one shape green and something else yellow and they grab a yellow green crayon for both.  So when I grade it I'm thinking  "what is that supposed to be?  Surely my little darling did it correctly and just thought they were using two different colors, right?  Right.  Well...."  And it goes on and on.  Maybe I'm too picky, or nuts, but I can't stand it. 

Anyways, back the story.  I decided to sort out the ACTUAL colors into smaller containers.  So, only "red", not scarlett, red violet (or violet red- seriously, is crayola trying to make teachers go crazy?)  This is what I ended up with:

So, obviously, the only logical explanation is that my students eat crayons.  
Okay, maybe not, but geeezzzz!  What am going to do now?  Two black crayons and some little brown fragments.  Do I buy the cheap packs of 24 crayons for the 7 or 8 colors I need or buy the more expensive 8 packs. Bummer.  I decided to leave them on the floor of my classroom and decided what to do another day.
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I did manage to get some other things accomplished today.  Here is what I did to my white board today.  The Rockstar section will have a cutout (maybe guitars or stars, I haven't decided) with each students name.  This is where they will start each morning. 
Our school-wide behavior program has paws that students start with and they lose if they make unfortunate decisions during the day.  At the end of each quarter, we have a party for students that have enough paws left.  That is what the paws lost section will be used for- students will have to move their paws into the corresponding box when they lose paws.  I also made a box for the date and day of the week, obviously.  
I used the decorative tape I got from Walmart (for $.88) to make the boxes and then cut out the words with my silhouette machine.  I'm really happy with how it turned out, except I think I might make the "paws lost" bigger, but maybe not.  

Oh yeah, and see the border?  I put magnets on the back of it so that I can easily move it or take it off. 

Here is my headphone storage idea.  I was going wait to blog about this until it was finished, but I won't be able to finish it up until I get pictures of my kiddos, and I thought someone might want to do something similar before school starts.  I use my Silhouette machine to cut out iPod shapes (because we're rockstars, remember?) and I plan to put a picture of each child inside of the rectangle and then laminate them.  I bought magnetic chip clips at the Dollar Tree to hang them.  Students will drape their earbuds over the clip to keep them tangle-free.  Last year, I was ready to pull my hair out because every time students got out their earbuds they were a tangled mess.  And guess who got to do the untangling??? 

I'm really hoping this will keep them accessible an ready to use at all times.  They are on the side of my filing cabinet- I put some on each side.  

Do you have a brilliant idea for headphone storage?  I would love to know how others stay organized.

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I also want to say a big THANKS to Courtney from Teaching in Paradise for my prize.  I won her 100 follower giveaway and it came today!  I was so excited to get some mail.  Thanks again, Courtney, and congrats on 100 followers!

I don't know why it is sideways.  I give up. 

Have a great evening!

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Before Photos,Listening Center Ideas, and Freebie

Today was the first day of work in my classroom..... and let me tell you- it's a mess!  I wish I would have taken some pictures before I did anything, but that didn't happen, so I took some pictures before I started working today.  My first order of business was to paint my file cabinets.  They were ugly, really ugly.  They were seriously the worst color brown ever.  So, I decided they needed to become black.  They were moved outside (by our super nice P.E. teacher) and I went to town spray painting them.  Of course I chose a super windy day- I ended up with it all over me.  My hair was a little sticky...ewww!


I also gave my two bookshelves a coat of black paint.  One was a baby blue color and the other was just stained wood.  I think the black will look great with my Rockstar theme and also be neutral enough to blend in with other themes I might use later on.  


I'm a little embarrassed to show these pictures to you all.  Things are really a disaster at this point, but that will make the "after" pictures that much better, right????  Well, here goes nothing.....

The view as you walk in the door.  Guided reading table and lots of junk stuff piled up. 

You can see my bookcases back there before I started painting.

View if you turn right at the door.  I just got rid of one computer (it only worked part-time and I didn't feel like messing with it anymore).  

Another view of my desk area and back of room.

My SmartBoard and open shelving (I have a serious love/hate relationship with these shelves).  I love that the students can easily access stuff, but it always looks messy.  I think I'm going to invest in some matching baskets/bins to help it look a little nicer. 

So now I have to decide how I want to rearrange my furniture and start cleaning/decorating.  My husband will be gone at some training all next week, so I plan on getting some good work time in at school.  Tomorrow, though, the pool is calling my name.  It is summer break, right? I need to enjoy it!


On another note, I've been working on getting some Daily 5 things ready, too.  For the listening to reading component, I have decided to use a couple of different things.  I am going to utilize my old school tape player because I have a TON of books on tape that I inherited.  I am also going to use my iPods and iPads.  I have this super cool little thingy.  

You can click here to find it on Amazon.  I actually bought mine at Kohl's with a coupon, so it was even cheaper.  I plan on purchasing two more to use with my 2 new iPads.  My students have headphones or earbuds on their supply list.  Last year, I bought all my students their own earbuds from the Dollar Tree.  I chose to have them bring their own this year 1.) to save me a few dollars 2.) to make sure they are comfortable for each child- some of the kids had trouble with my cheapies last year.

On my iPad (and iPods) I have all of my listening books in 4 folders.  They are all labeled Listening so they are easy to find.  I keep these folders on the second screen on my iPad.  I try to make sure that my screen setup is very similar for all devices to keep it easy for students to navigate.  Most (maybe all- I can't remember) of my listening books were free apps.  One of my little darlings from last year gave me an iTunes gift card on the last day of school, so I might actually buy some licensed books, too.  

Apps Gone Free

I have this app and I highly recommend it.  It features apps that are free only for a limited time- I have used it to download a lot of my free books.  You can also check momswithapps.com on Fridays- they also features limited time free apps.  


Here are some screen shots of the apps I have in each folder- remember, they might not all be free now, but if you use Apps Gone Free I'm sure you'll find some soon.  I downloaded books all year, so it took awhile to collect all these.  

This last folder is full yet, but I'm working on it! ;)  On the last row here, see the one that says Tumblebooks?  It isn't an app, but I included this shortcut for students.  If you haven't ever heard of Tumblebooks, you should check it out.  They have iPad videos, but also offer even more videos that are available on the computer.  So, you could use Tumblebooks, a computer, and splitter to make a listening station.  Tumblebooks is free for me by using my library card through my local library.  

Now, students do an awesome job with the iPads and iPods, but I also modeled a lot before I turned them loose.  I had to teach them how to to safely handle the iPad/Pods, how to attach the splitter and headphones, how to find the folders, and how to start stories.  We listening to several books together so they could see me turn pages, adjust volume, etc.  This will save you lots of interruptions and wasted time later.  

I have used these sheet before during my listening stations.  I'm not sure I will use them with Daily 5, but I might put them at a writing station in case students need an idea.  

You can grab them for FREE here. 

Wow, if you are still reading this post- I'm really impressed!  

Do you have any great listening station ideas?  Please share them with me!  

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