I MOVED!! Come Visit!

I MOVED!!

Hello everyone! I have moved and started a NEW Blog! I wanted to take the time to PERSONALLY invite you to come visit! Visit me at 

www.shesteachermom.com

I want to share so much as I continue on my journey as a Teacher and a Mom! You're invited! Hope you visit soon!

-Gervase

she'sTeacherMom

Creative Bulletin Board Fun!

Whenever I am preparing to put up a new bulletin board display I like to think creatively. If I am stuck trying to generate an idea, I often go online and search for ideas that may inspire me :-)

A few months ago I created a fun tree to highlight a Fruit of the Spirit series that my church did for our children. I definitely had help putting this together :-) I think adding 3D elements to a bulletin board can be very fun!

Donor's Choose Project

Donor's Choose is a great resource for classroom teachers! It allows teachers to submit projects based on things they need in their classroom. To set up a Teacher profile is completely free! Donor's Choose is user friendly when Teachers are setting up a project. It allows you to create a creative title for your project, describe your needs, and explain why someone should donate towards your project.
 Once your project is reviewed, it gets posted to the Donor's  Choose website and you will receive a link to a website page for your specific project. You can use social media to share your project for people to get involved and donate.

I created my first project and only need $254 more dollars for my project to be fully funded! Please help. Click the link below and find out more about my project!

Donors Choose Project- Oh The Places We'll Go with an LCD Projector

Mrs. Meacham's Classroom Snapshots

Mrs. Meacham's Classroom Snapshots has totally motivated, inspired, organized, and helped to launch my classroom management. Jessica Meacham created a website that gives you snapshots of her classroom. She is what I would call a "veteran teacher," with 14 + years of teaching experience.

Mrs. Meacham's website is organized with a main page that has letters of the alphabet A to Z, making it easy for you to find tools that you are looking for. When you select a link under a letter of the alphabet, you are re-navigated to documents created by Mrs. Meacham to assist you with becoming an organized educator. She has links covering the following topics: 

• Assessments
• Alphabet
• Anchor charts
• Bee Books (student take home folders)
• Book Bins
• Behavior
• Calendar
• Class Blog
• Dr. Seuss
• Delicious
• Emergent
• Forms
• Fine Motor
• Graphing
• Homework
• Handwriting
• Igloo
• Jessica's Faves
• Literacy
• Leveling Books
• Mini Offices
• Math
• 100th Day organizing

And much more! Mrs. Meacham shares worksheets, forms, charts, and documents that she created and gives you the ability to edit them to suit your needs! She also shares her favorite organizing supplies and tells you where you may be able to find them. To put "the icing on the cake," she has cool videos that shows you how she sets up her classroom, and explains why she made the set up decisions that she did from year to year!

Everything is FREE. If you have extra time this summer, and you are looking for ways to become more organized, browse through one of my favorite websites and get inspired, as you "click" your heart out downloading amazing tools! Yay!

To visit Mrs. Meacham's Classroom Snapshots click the link below:

Mrs. Meacham's Classroom Snapshots

FREE Phillip Martin Clip Art!

Hello Everyone!,
So... I came across a great website that has free clip art! What makes me excited about this website is there are so many fun categories of clip art for you to choose from, and they are free of water marks, and copy write text.
Clip art comes in handy when you are making worksheets, letters to send home, when looking for images to add to power point presentations..., ect. To view this fun clip art click on the link below

FREE Kids Clip Art By Phillip Martin 

Once you get to the website:
1.) Scroll down to view the different categories
2.) Choose a category and take a peek at the cool images
To save the image:
1.) Put your mouse over the image
2.) Left click the picture
3.) Select Save Image As
4.) Decide where on your computer, you want to save your image
5.) Create a name for your image
6.) Press the Save button.

Now your picture will be available where you saved it on your computer! I hope you like the fun FREE clip art!

"A Person's a Person.... No Matter How Small!"

At the end of March 2013, right before our Spring Break, my co-worker came up with the idea to read "Horton Hears a Who" with our 2nd Grade students. We would then have the students compare the book to the "Horton Hears a Who" movie that was produced in 2008 starring Jim Carey and Steve Carell.   This was approved by our administration! 

Our students used a Venn Diagram to compare the book to the movie. I also decided to create questions that accompany the movie, so that my students would be actively engaged. The moral of the movie and book is amazing! My students responded to a writing prompt after reading the book. They wrote their response on lined paper, and colored a picture of Horton for this bulletin board display.

To make listening to the story more creative, I found an amazing YouTube video where someone reads the book in a children friendly format.

"Horton Hears a Who"- Audio Drama- YouTube

To show the connection to the Common Core standard, I type or neatly hand write the specific Common Core standard and what is says, so that viewers will understand what concept my students practiced.

Dr. Seuss Month March 2013

To celebrate Dr. Seuss's Birthday this year, my 2nd Grade students reviewed their favorite books. They retold their favorite parts of the books, described characters, setting, plot, and how the major conflict in the story was resolved.  I encouraged my students to draw a picture that reminded them of the book.

I printed off a "open book" coloring template for the students to write and color on. This turned into one of my March bulletin board displays. 

To show the connection to the Common Core standard, I type or neatly hand write the specific Common Core standard and what is says, so that viewers will understand what concept my students practiced.

Animal Research Projects

This year I did an animal research project with my 2nd Grade students. 

I divided my students into groups and had them draw for animals to research. I provided my students with information from national geographic kids to learn more about their animals. Using a 2nd Grade friendly report layout, my students answered questions about their animals. 

Using their research, they drafted a report onto lined paper. 

I found nice animal templates and used them to add a fun flare to my bulletin board.  

My students published their animal reports on a "fill in the blank" report form.  Students were able to cut out their animal template and color them prior to adding glue to attach their report form to their animals. To show the connection to the Common Core standard, I type or neatly hand write the specific Common Core standard and what is says, so that viewers will understand what concept my students practiced.

SnowETRY Bulletin Board 2012

 In December I worked with my students on writing Snowman poetry. They were able to go through the steps in the writing process, and write a poem that had rhyming words. For the "publishing" step of the writing process, I allowed my students to write their final draft on a fun Snowman and add decorations to the background. It was fun to see the final result. I love to publish my students work on bulletin boards. To show the connection to the Common Core standard, I type or neatly hand write the specific Common Core standard and what is says, so that viewers will understand what concept my students practiced.

Leelou Blogs Free Design Templates

Hello World!!
I wanted to share a fun resource that helped me with the design of my blog. I wanted to have a creative layout, and I began researching free layouts. I was led to Leelou-blogs.com This blog has thousands of blog templates and graphic prints, created a few digital scrapbook kits. This blog contains Freebies and things that cost money. Here is a direct quote from the blog:

"Whether it’s your family journal, recipes, an upcoming wedding or a business you’re sharing, custom blogs are the way to go! There are over 175,000 blogs created every single day. Make yours stand out!!!If you’re looking for a free blog template, custom blog layout, logo design, invitations or even just some free printables…whatever you need, we’ve got it! All your graphical needs in handy one place. The best quality for the cheapest price around  :)"

One thing I love, is how the blog gives you either picture or text only instructions on how to add them to your blog settings properly. For more information visit the link below.

http://leelou-blogs.com/type/blog-header

Welcome to Classroom Creations!

Hello teacher's and future teacher's. My name is Mrs. Owens, and I have been teaching for 5 years.  In 2006 I graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education. I would like to share with you my experience thus far:

2012-2013      2nd Grade Teacher (Public Charter School)- Tulsa, Oklahoma [Current]
2011-2012      4th Grade Teacher (Public School)- Tulsa, Oklahoma
2010-2011      2nd Grade/ 4th Teacher (Public Charter/ Private School)- Tulsa, Oklahoma
2008-2010      Break from teaching to pursue Master's Degree in Education Administration
2007-2008      5th Grade Teacher (Public School)- Kentwood, Michigan
2006-2007      5th Grade Teacher (Public Charter School)-Grand Rapids, Michigan

As I complete my 5th year of teaching, I realize that I have learned so much over the past 4 years. I have used resources coupled with my creativity, to organize myself in my classroom.  I think to myself... like would have been easier 4 years ago, if I knew then what I know now. The purpose of my blog is to expose you to the resources and materials that I have stumbled upon over the years, with hopes that it will empower you and inspire you to become the best teacher that you can be! Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Owens