Thinking Like Scientists

 If you've followed my blog for a few years, you may remember my post "Power of the Pod" where I shared an idea about naming your tables or pods after material you wish for students to remember. Read more on that blog here.  

To kick off the year, I decided to create new table names for each of my groups. This year, we're starting our year with units of measurement. In 5th grade, we hit the metric system in science and math and this is an area where my kids struggle. They can remember the various tools we use in science (balance scales, thermometers, meter sticks, etc.), but struggle to remember the unit they are measured with. I'm hoping the repetition of the terms will help students remember the units. 

If you wish to download a copy of the posters to hang in your classroom, click here! You can access the docs via Google Drive. If you do use these posters in your classroom, I would love to see photographs! Please email me a picture and I'll post them on my blog as well. 

Welcome to 5th Grade 2012!

The countdown continues until the official first day of school! Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting several of my new students. They were so excited to come in and drop off their new school supplies. I had to convince a few to wait until the first day to completely unpack! 

When thinking about organizing my classroom over the summer, I knew I wanted to adjust the look and feel of my library. Last year, the books were all over the back wall and it was kind of a hot mess. I wanted to focus on one corner of the room and make it the hot spot of the classroom. I talked a little more in depth about my library here. 

I swapped out my desks for fancy TABLES! The tables open up the room tremendously. 

I'm very excited about all of my back to school bulletin boards this year. 

My first bulletin board illustrates different types of maps - a nice combination of science and social 

studies. 

Of course, I had to include Spiderman. YOU are destined for Greatness in 5th Grade!

The calendar area has our daily schedule, date, Captain's name, and a helpful reminder for me. :)

Do you notice that big blank wall? I'm reserving it for our soon to be made anchor charts. Right now, I have our procedures hanging proudly to practice. 

My cabinets are filled to the brim with extra school supplies, dictionaries, construction paper, and some junk. This is the area of the classroom where students turn in their homework AND tally points for our seat cushions. 

Similar to last year, I left a large open space in front of the SmartBoard for group time. I am a big fan of rallying the troops to the front of the room and then breaking out to our tables. 

 Here's another little hub of the classroom. Students can drop off notes to me in the blue basket, grab band aids and nurses passes, find lunch envelopes and whatnot in the white basket. 

I have rain gutters to hold brand-spankin' new books I bought for the classroom. Many of them were recommendations from the awesome literacy conference I attended. 

I stuck magnets behind scrabble tiles and let the kids spell different things throughout the year. I just noticed the nice little message left from May! I'll keep that one up for awhile! 

 This is real life: my desk is ALWAYS a mess. I can't even pretend to disguise it. 

This is by far one of the BEST ideas a friend gave me. Stick all of the extra copies in an "Extra Copies Basket". Then, if students need an extra - they know exactly where to look. 

In addition to the heaping piles of papers for students to pick up, I left everyone a little treat!  

My door is full of delightful little apples with names from my homeroom kiddos! 

Have you posted a tour of your classroom? Leave me a comment and let me know so I can check it out.

Enjoy your weekend! 

Peek Into My Library!

This week, I started revamping my classroom for a new school year. I still have loads of work to do, but after three days I was pretty excited about my progress. Now, before I scoot over to Columbia (the greatest city) for the Wittenborn wedding... take a peak at my classroom library!

Here we have the nonfiction shelf. My nonfiction books are separated into categories and/or authors.

This poster is making it's grand debut in my room. How about that for motivation? You're in good company!

Oh, Abe. 

This year, I wanted more of a "nook" feel. I angled the bookshelves a tad and viola!

 I must add, by "I", I mean myself and the lovely Mrs. Musick across the hall moved bookshelves. It took a couple tries! 

We have a nook. 

These little chairs were the best investment. I just bought the red one to add to my collection this year. My kids love them. Plus, the inside is a great place to store stuff. 

Notice the angle? The TIGERS banner is on the end of one shelf that closes the nook. 

Take a few steps back and you now have the supply shelf with an awesome view of Alaska. 

I jumped up on the computer desks (shhh! don't tell) and snapped a photo from above. You can see we have Alaska to our right, clouds straight ahead, and a library that is ready for day one.

Remember these clouds? They are hanging out above the apple tree until we're ready for them!

Happy Friday! Linking up with Lindsay!