Five for Friday {May 1, 2015}

12 comments Back to School, End of Year, Return of the Nerds

It's Friday! And, oh how happy I am about that. Today, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share some random glimpses into my week.

This time of year, I'm always gearing up for the fall. This means that I am busy prepping the materials that I know I will use when we go back in August. It also means that I'm decluttering my room of all the build up that occurs throughout the year. You know, all that stuff that gets thrown into files, cabinets, and containers. On Wednesday, I was able to get my cabinets completely cleaned up. I'll be honest, I don't let them get too messy. #neatfreak However, that doesn't mean that things don't get tossed in there along the way. Now the cabinets are nice and clean and ready for a new year. This is one of my cabinets.

Speaking of back to school prep, I also got my first week materials all ready for our return in August. I am so excited to use these materials!!

I was ready for some new back to school resources, so I created my own! This pack is called Return of the Nerds, and I'm so excited about it! You can check it out {here} on TPT.

I made some major changes to how students access books in my classroom (inert sad face). It's that time of year when the students are ready for school to be over. They know that summer is only 25 days away, and they can feel it (since summer like temps have officially arrived). And, they are getting on each others nerves. Our library area (a bookshelf) was quickly becoming the "let's make poor choices" zone. Long story short, my kiddos are no longer allowed to freely get out of their seats to get a book to read. So, I decided to put the book tubs at the table groups. I plan to rotate the tubs at the end of each day. Let's hope this gets us through the end of the year.

My classroom library isn't leveled or organized an any particular way. After years of organizing the books by category only to have the students put them away in the wrong tubs (like, ALL the time), I decided to just put them in tubs without specific designations. This "system" works just fine for our purposes. :)

The other day I walked past a student's desk and noticed that his pencil box was impeccably organized. I mean, look at this! He recently got a new box of crayons. Maybe that motivated him to makeover his entire pencil box. Anyhoo, this sight makes me happy. I mean, seriously, he did a great job. Now, let's see how long it stays that way. Hehe.

I made my first Stella and Dot purchase. When the order arrived, I fell in love with the packaging and didn't even want to open up these adorable little boxes! Don't worry, I did, but only after I stared at the cute boxes for forever and a day.