Literacy Centers. Here's my plan! What is yours?

Hello! My, this summer is buzzing by so darn quick! I have been very busy creating resources this summer to help ease my transition from K into second grade this fall. One nice thing about my new class will be that I'll be lucky to have a very small class size (14) and also another teacher in the room! I feel very spoiled :) I was so excited to be able to plan for literacy centers this summer because I will be able to devote more time to individual reading groups and my students will also be slightly more independent due to their age. I toyed around with A LOT of ideas people. A LOT. I scribbled all over notebook after notebook coming up with possible plans. I did, eventually, decide that I wanted to be meeting with all three of my reading groups every day...well...four days a week. Here is my plan!

The bee hives move down each day Monday-Friday (like my deck photo?! enjoying the summer sun while it lasts!)

I like using a pocket chart to show the kids visuals for where they'll be going. This helps them to be more self sufficient.  I have 8 literacy centers set up (see above). We'll be doing centers 4 days per week. Each day, we will do 3 rotations. Students will visit two centers... And their third center is my reading group! My differentiated groups are bee themed. The three teams are shown on the hive cards. They go to the two centers beside their card... In that order. However, they also meet with me each day for small group reading. The honey bee team always meets first, the yellow jackets second, and the bumble bees third! I am really hoping this schedule works for us and I expect that I will be tweaking it over time. Do you have different ideas about how to run literacy centers? I'd love if you'd share some in the comments! I am always looking to improve! 

P.S. I absolutely adored Cara Carrol's series of Write On write the room centers for my Kinder class last year. You can now buy them as an {amazing} bundle! Click here if you are interested! 

I searched and searched for something to replace them for second grade and I couldn't find anything that was just right... So I made my own! 

Introducing the first installment of my Write The Room packs for Second Grade! Back to School Edition! You can head on over to my store to check them out! I am super excited to use them in my own literacy and math centers very soon! 

Blast off! Back2School Sale!

Hi all! Be sure you head over to TpT Monday August 4 to Tuesday August 5 to take advantage of the Blast Off Back 2 School Sale! My entire store will be 20% off!



 Rainy day here... I'm off to get a manicure! Happy shopping!

Classroom Decorating Fun!

Last year in K, I used a "bee" theme in my classroom. I am a bee keeper, and I love bees (obviously). However, I am also the type of person who tires of things easily! {This means that I redecorate my bedroom 5 times a year!} I was already needing a change this year in 2nd! Last year, I used a lot of turquoise and yellow with grey. It was adorable! But I was ready for something new. Here are some pictures from my classroom last year...

Amazing hand signal posters--also a freebie, which I can no longer find! If you recognize them, let me know where they are from! 

Don't mind the horrible quality! Taken using my phone camera!!!

Common Core Posters!

Classroom job signs and behavior clip chart (freebie from Whitney--you can get it by clicking over to her TpT store here!)

Attendance chart with velcro bees! I actually did save this and will use it again this year. 

This summer, I decided to update my classroom, making it much more colorful and less "theme" oriented so that I could enjoy it for longer! This inspired my Colorful Chalk classroom decor set!
I spend much of this summer re-creating the elements and decor of last year's room updated with a cute and colorful flair! I LOVE color. I also LOVE chalk. Chalk art, chalk paint, chalk clipart, etc, etc, etc. Can't get enough. As of today, my Colorful Chalk Classroom Decor set is for sale in my store! Click the picture to head over and check it out! I will be back soon with pictures from my classroom tour, so you can see it in action!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Colorful-Chalk-Classroom-Decor-Pack-1363644

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Wait...it's July!?

When did this happen?! I feel like this summer has flown by! I have been very busy the past few months due to the fact that i'll be at a new school and in a new grade level! After spending a {wonderful} year in Kindergarten, I will be moving to 2nd Grade at my new school and I am super excited! I have spent this summer making changes to my classroom management plans, homework system, and classroom library. It has been fun! However, I still don't feel completely ready.

So in 2nd grade this year, obviously I decided I would have to ramp up my ELA homework to include a spelling aspect (as opposed to various word work homework in K). I do have memories of boring, traditional spelling homework when I was in 2nd Grade...you all know what I mean, i'm sure. Monday: Copy your words, Tuesday: 3x each, etc. etc.... So boring! I knew that would not work. In Kinder, I used a tic tac toe system which I LOVED because it allowed choice! It is amazing how students become excited about homework when they have some ownership or some choice in the matter! My second grade version of the tic tac toe choice board is Tic Tac Spell! A monthly spelling choice board which includes fun, engaging ways to practice spelling words for each month! The boards are free of specific words and can be used with any word lists, making it super easy to have differentiated word lists! Say goodbye to 3x each and say hello to Tic Tac Spell! You can head over to my store and get it on sale until tomorrow night! Click here to head over!

On to October!

I realize that I am posting about Halloween in June! However, I have decided to slowly give a recap of the fun we've had in Kindergarten over the past year! It would have been better to have posted this in October...but who has the time??!

Here are some of the fun activities my little ones enjoyed in October!

Sorting spooky AB, ABB, and ABC patterns!

Roll and cover pumpkin center-- a quick and simple way to build number fluency for 1-6! 

In this center, a freebie from Cara Carroll at TheFirstGradeParade! She is the BEST! It was adorable and also a very good practice for making 10. Kids roll a number, put the eyeballs onto the ten frame, and then count the number of spaces left and use that to help them write a number sentence for 10! My kids loved this one so much that they still talk about it now in June! It was a favorite. You can find it at her blog here!

You can find some of these fun October spooky centers by heading over to my store! Click here to go! 

Whew! At least we're getting a LITTLE closer to June, right?! Not really! 

First Year In a Nutshell!

Well...this year flew by! It flew by without me even having a chance to post about what were were doing in Kindergarten this year! This being my first year in the classroom, I was VERY busy this year! Busy as a bee!

We had so much fun. It was amazing to see my little ones grow into readers and writers over the course of this year! Just incredible. Now that we are nearing the end of the year, I am crazy busy with DRA testing and Summer birthday parties and graduation rehearsals! However, I promised myself I would be better about on this blog! I think there are cobwebs forming...

To start...Here is a little recap of the beginning part of our school year...
We had tons of fun in the Fall, playing apple games in our math tubs! Here is a peek inside of our math tub bins! These math centers are available in my TpT store by clicking here!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Apple-Math-Centers-1262176

I borrowed a lot of ADORABLE apple ideas from Cara Carrol's adorable blog: TheFirstGradeParade. This included her apple tasting "graphtivity." as well as her "Great Apple Investigations" packet, which you can find in her TpT store! How cute is this little apple man!? The kids used our current sight words (I, like) and sounded out the word to fill in the blank for their favorite apple food! 

We then filled in our choices on a life-sized apple pictograph! 

I'll be back soon (before more cobwebs begin to form) to give some more updates from this past year! 

Happy Teaching!

Meredith