Happy Fall

Do you decorate your classroom for the different seasons and holidays?  I sure do!  Living in Florida, the trees don't change and I really miss the different seasons.  I try to incorporate the change in season into my classroom decor.  I added some fake fall leaves over my essential question board.  I use to go along the whole length of my white board, but I just don't seem to have time to go staple crazy these days!  

I have put cobwebs around my apartment, draped around my art and spiders over my doors for years, this time I decided to put them up in my room.  The kids got a kick out of it, and asked me when was the last time the classroom was cleaned!  Haha!  (I did not cover the fire escape window!)

Dollar Tree has these cheap foam pumpkins right now.  I was going to do an elaborate project with them, but I came up with a more focused writing activity to do than the vocabulary activity I was going to do with these!  I decided to cover them in glitter instead and use them to decorate the classroom.

 I have seen variations of these "Where Are We?" displays all over Pinterest.  I decided to create one that goes along with my classroom color scheme and added a little monster holding a sign that identifies our current location.  I put magnets on the black strip.  SPA is what we call Recess.  I joke with my students the first few days that I think that's when they are suppose to let me relax while they do my hair and nails.  Surprisingly, a couple of them always agree that it would be fun!

This are "Common Core Talking Stems" that I found on Pinterest.  There are tons of conversation starters and questions that get the kids thinking about why they answered a question the way they did.  I put them on a ring and placed a set at each table group in their supply tubs.  A big focus at my school this year is Collaborative Pairing.  I incorporate it into as many lessons as I can.  It is very easy to have them answer a question independently and then turn to a neighbor and talk about it, or have them complete work together.

Last year, I made small versions of this math problem solving pencil that I pass out to my students when they take a math test.  I recently decided to make a bigger, poster sized version to hang up in the classroom.  This way, they can reference it during class and also when we take clicker tests on the computer.

Well, these are some of my more recent projects.  This week we will finish our Haunted House writing project.  I am so excited to share that one!! It is a version of a Snow Globe writing project I came up with last year.  It's on my Pinterest because this was long before I created this blog, but I will share it on here at the beginning of December!  Happy Fall, Y'all!! :o)