Center Organization

Happy Cyber Monday! If you are anything like me then you just bought a bunch of new and amazing products from TPT. I can't stop buying centers and I'm not sorry about it...until it times come to organize. I have a ton of math and language centers and I've finally found a organization system that works pretty well for me.  5th grade is the only grade I've ever taught and let me tell you, they've spoiled me. I have a similar rotation for my math and reading centers and students know my expectations. Each week I just take my centers and put them in their corresponding basket. 

When I'm I'm organizing a new center, I always laminate and cut out each part first. Then, I hole punch the top left corner of every item in that center. I usually use task cards as my math centers or sometimes games with different pieces. This helps me attach them with a book clip to keep them all together. 

Keeping all of the pieces together really helps me from year to year. I love being able to go into my decimal or fraction bin, quickly grab the center I want and I'm done. I've also found that it works well to include all pieces when I hole punch, even the answer key and recording sheet. It makes is so easy for me to make copies of the recording sheet and then take the answer key off for quick grading.  I don't have to go back to my TPT account and re-download to print the recording sheets again. 

The book clips that I use to hold all of the pieces together came  from Amazon for $7.00 for a pack of 100. After I purchased these I've found a million uses for them and repurchased them several times. 

When I'm not using the centers i store them in bins that I got from the Dollar Store. I found similar ones online for $2.75 each and I feel like the ones that I have aren't that much more expensive. I would recommend getting the bigger storage bins if you are anything like me and have a center buying problem.  

Each storage bin is labeled with the type of centers that are inside of them. I am currently working on organizing these bins more specifically, but as of right now it works pretty well. I would love to see how you organize your centers and if you've got any tips for me! 

Happy Cyber Monday Shopping! 

All I Want for Black Friday Wishlist!

I don't know about you, but I cannot believe that Thursday is Thanksgiving and Christmas is right around the corner! This year has flow by.  Today I am linking up with Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching from the The Primary Pack  to share my Black Friday Wishlist!  First off is my personal wish list. My birthday is in December too so its difficult for me to choose so many things that I want but these are the must haves for me this year. 

-Plaid Blanket Scarf - J.Crew Herringbone Vest -Kendra Scott Rayne Necklace is Opal I feel sure that these will be my most worn items this winter! 

As for TPT there are is a looooong list of things that I want need this Black Friday. These are just a few of my top priorities.  - 5th Grade Common Core Morning Work Daily Review  - Christmas Carols Math & Literacy Task Cards  - Merry Christmas Just Print - Christmas Coordinate Graphing  - Edge It Ultimate Pack 


And finally my most wish listed, top purchased and newest TPT products. Keep an eye out for my Black Friday Sale! Also, all of my Thanksgiving and Fall items are currently 20% off until Tuesday!  -Leadership Quotes -Leadership Notebook -Homophone Pack  -Christmas Spin and Solve -Decimal Interactive Notebook  Don't forget to link up and share your Black Friday Wishlist! 

Thanksgiving Activities

This is my favorite time of the year! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas there it is so easy to add fun into teaching with all of the holidays. Teaching the bigger kiddos you might think that they don't love doing holiday related things in the class room, but let me tell you they love it just as much as the little kids. 

I have been working really hard this year on trying to motivate my students by trying to add some fun into every day. One way I have been doing this is with incorporating technology into as much as the day as I can. One way I've been doing this is with my Daily Five centers and my new Thanksgiving Themed Spin and Solve language center. My kids love using the QR code scanner as a self check and I love that they are practicing so many skills! 

In math we have been working on decimal operations and my kids have been loving this Thanksgiving Dinner task card set that is in my store. At first we use these as a write the room and usually we don't get completely finished, so my kids begged me to put them into our RTI math centers so they could finish up. You wouldn't believe how much more engaged they are when the task cards are themed and have cute graphics. 

Finally, it just so happened that we have been learning about explorers and colonization in social studies. Cute things just make students more engaged, I am a firm believer in that!

We all know that classrooms have a wide variety of abilities, but everyone has to learn the same things. The Mayflower Compact is a difficult document for some of my kiddos to read, so I find that close reading really helps them dig deeper into the text, and by providing abridged texts all of my students have the same chance to understand the importance of this document. So for my class I created a close reading pack for the Mayflower Compact. 

Finally, I know that this time of the year can be CRAZY for everyone! One the last day of school before Thanksgiving break I like to do a review with math and you know I've got to have something themed as well! Kids love this Thanksgiving word problem review! Grab it in my store for FREE until Thanksgiving! 

What do you do in your classroom to get in the holiday spirit and help your kiddos learn? I hope that maybe some of these products will help you the way they help me! 

Peek at My Week

This year seems to be flying by! I can't believe its already November and I'm in full swing of using my November resources! I am linking up with Mrs. Willis Kindergarten to show you a peek at my week! 

This week we are using my Thanksgiving Spinners for morning work. My kids really love this for morning work because they get to use their phones, tablets or iPads to use the QR self checking sheet and I love this resource because it hits so many 5th grade writing standards, its a win-win for everyone! 
In reading we are working on idioms, proverbs and adages. We will have our unit test on Thursday and I LOVE this  Close Reading Passage resource from the ever so talented Jennifer Findley. I just these passages as open responses for my unit assessments. Writing we are working on the dreaded on demand writing and conferencing with our pieces. 

 In social studies we are working on exploration and we will begin to look into the first official colonies in the New World. My students have a wide variety of background knowledge on this topic so these differentiated passages really come in handy for me.  

Math is my FAVORITE subject to teach and I find that adding and subtracting decimals is one of the most important skills that I teach because students will need to have this skill for the 'real world'. I recently found a new teacher blogger that I LOVE. She has some awesome ideas on how to keep students engaged during math which I love. I will be using her Game of Life resource on Tuesday to have my students practice their decimal skills. Also, I will be assessing my students on Friday with an oldie but goodie from my store. This workshop model resource challenges my students thinking and I love it.

In my math RTI I actually have two groups. One of them we will be working on multi-digit multiplication with my Fall Themed Multiplication product. These are some of my more struggling students who need continual review. I am also going to be working with another group on decimal skills with my Fallin' for Decimals resource.


I hope you have a great week and can't wait to see what you are up to this week.


Update: I have made changes to my workshop model resource for adding and subtracting decimals. I have added it as a freebie in my store until 10:00 p.m. when Castle comes on! Hope you enjoy!

November Currently

Another month has come and gone and it just doesn't seem right that its already November! As always I am linking up with Farley from Oh Boy Fourth Grade for the November Currently. This link will always be one of my all time favorites! I just love to read what you are up to!

Since Ruger is my fur baby and an only granddog on both sides of the family, he was spoiled on Halloween and got a ton of new toys and treats. Right now he is laying on the floor beside me chewing on his newest and most favorite squeaky toy. 

I am loving that I have a 4 day weekend and it is making this Sunday very enjoyable. The long weekend is well deserved since I survived a week of field trips, Halloween and pizza parties, oh yeah plus that pesky full moon. 

With Halloween over I feel like Christmas is in full swing, don't get me wrong I love Christmas just a much as anyone but I feel that Thanksgiving is important too. There are so many things that I am thankful for and I just feel like Christmas must wait until after Thanksgiving is over. 

Why does 1 hour make such a huge difference?! Its 8:00 here in Kentucky and I feel like it is midnight. Even though I don't have to work tomorrow I still feel like I should be in bed by now. This has been the never ending day. 

Sundays are one of my favorite nights of the week for one reason only, The Walking Dead. Last week there was a HUGE cliffhanger and this one hour time change is making me feel like 9:00 will never get here! 

I. Love. Fall. and with that being said, potato soup is one of the things I love about fall the most. You just can't cook soup if its 90 degrees outside so fall weather means soup weather. My husband doesn't really like potato soup so I have to make it when I know there will be more people here to eat it even though it is one of my favorites. I have really been enjoying the crockpot potato soup recipe off of pinterest! 

I can't wait to read what you've been up to so far in November and read about your yummy foods! 

Just as a reminder, if you leave feedback on any purchased product from my TPT store between today and November 3, 2015 you will receive a freebie of my newest Thanksgiving product! Be sure to check this deal out.