Sunday, June 29, 2014

Ladybug Love-Custom Classroom Decor

About a year ago, I made a custom classroom decor set for a wonderful teacher named Kari. She was kind enough to send me the pictures of her finished classroom. She asked for a green, black and white Ladybug theme. I worked hard to meet her needs and make her set to match her style and vision for her classroom. She had a room full of green, red and white baskets and pom poms--which turned out to match absolutely perfectly with the Ladybug love Decor!
As you can see, Kari's bulletin board is meticulously designed. I love how she separates the board with different colors. The simple black border makes it easy on the eye. In front of her board on the table she has baskets labeled with the Editable Chalkboard labels in the set.

Kari asked for calendar numbers and month cards. I created a pattern with the background colors of green, black and white. The red ladybugs truly POP on this calendar! Each month had a matching background to the theme, and graphics to fit that specific month.

Here, Kari has used the editable file to meet the needs of her classroom. I love how she used these!
Kari, made her own custom name Banner. Love it!!

Kari decorated her Wall with hand-painted letters with some more ladybugs.

 I love the how she color-coordinated everything in her room. Even the poms hanging above are matching. Do you see the daisies in the corner of the bulletin board on the left? What a great idea!

Here you can see how all the colors come together in her classroom. Between, the baskets and poms, the bulletin boards, wall decor and labels, Kari has created a beautiful classroom.

The Word Wall was created using the Word Wall and Banner from the Decor Set. Also in the corner, you catch a glimpse of the color cards.

Another view of the classroom, I love how she has organized all of her baskets and bins!
Here is another example of how Kari made the editable file work for her classroom needs.

Here Kari has used the Editable file for a birthday wall.
Here's a close-up.

These are the number cards that match the color-scheme and theme of the room. The backgrounds are green, black and white. The ten-frames are filled with ladybugs.
Thank you so much Kari for sending me these photos. I love how your classroom came out and I'm sure your students loved it too!
You can find the Ladybug Love set here
Baskets came from The Dollar Tree and Walmart.
Poms from Oriental Trading.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Daily 5-2nd Edition Book Talk


I'm linking up with the ladies from Freebielicious to talk about the new 2nd Edition of the Daily 5. I'm kind of behind the game a little, because I got my book a little late. I had no idea that a 2nd edition was out, but I couldn't be more glad that it is. I have been doing Daily 5 in my classroom since 2011. I started halfway through the school year, when I had first discovered their book. I even have a page here on my blog talking about how I got started.  Since then, the Daily 5 has evolved in my classroom from year to year. In the book, Chapters 1 and 2 the 2 sisters talk about the foundations for their book and research. They also, talk about how they have made some changes to their structure, in that as the year progresses and students become more and more independent, they have less rounds of Daily 5--because the children can stay at their Daily 5 of choice longer.
I found that the same thing occurred in my own class. I teach 1st grade so stamina is a completely foreign concept to most of my students when they enter my classroom.  And let me tell you something, it's hard!  But, I've found that if you have the stamina as the teacher to stick with the 10 steps to Independence, your class will be successful. When I read about muscle memory in the 1st book, my thought was "Did I just hear angels singing?"  "Why had no one ever told me to do this before?" The sisters reiterate these step in the 2nd Edition, it is the foundation of making the Daily 5 successful in your classroom.  I know some people, who just want to rush through the process and get it started. But I found patience is a virtue. And the training truly pays off. 

As I read the rest of the 2nd Edition, I will talk about how it differs, or how it can work in your classroom.

Here's a little freebie for you--Some Daily 5 signs that I use in my classroom as anchor charts.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1QNV2NyRAucR0didk9samstd0U/edit?usp=sharing


Monday, June 16, 2014

Tutorial-Printing 2 pages to 1

This is going to be my first attempt at a Tutorial. I am not fancy enough to have video taped it quite yet. However I did snap a few pictures which I hope can help. 
Recently, I've had several people ask me about changing the size of the pages in a few of my decor sets. Not that I wouldn't want to do that, but that is a lot of work.  So, if you are having "size" issues, or want to save on paper, this can be easily remedied by printing 2 pages onto 1.
(I would try this on a document you already own before purchasing a unit or decor set in hopes that you can figure it out. Hopefully, I will have done such a great job explaining it, that it will be no trouble at all.)

Step 1: Click File, then Print

Step 2: Click on the pages button: Type in the page range you wish to print. ex. 3-4 or 5-6 (always 2 pages at a time.)

Step 3: Below Paper Size and Handling Choose: Multiple

Step 4: Next to Pages per sheet type in 2 x 1--Also make sure Landscape has been chosen. On my print screen I can see what it will look like in the window.
Here is how it looks when it first comes out of the printer. As you can see it has printed Landscape, placing the 2 letters side by side.  


Here is how it will look after you cut and trim the letters. (This is the set I did last year when setting up for my own classroom--I used the chalkboard set.)




Here is how it looks on my classroom word wall. I did the same process when printing my Word Wall letters (round circles)
If you don't want the large version of the circle, all you need to do is follow the instructions above to shrink their size. I adhered my letters to the Dots on Turquoise Circles from  Creative Teaching Press.

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