Five for Friday Linky Party August 23rd

I can't believe that today is officially my LAST day of summer vacation!  We have been so busy trying to get last minute things done.  This week we had doctor's appointments two different days...just to get all the back to school forms ready.  I have been in my room a lot trying to get ready.   I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five For Friday Linky Party.

1.  My son started football last week.  He has practice 3 nights a week for 2 hours and games on Saturday.  I love watching him play...but wow...is it time consuming!  He had his physical today and is falling in the size range of a 15 year old...and he's only 11.  Crazy.  He's bigger than most players on his team.  :)  At 5 feet tall myself...he's got me beat.  

2.  I have been in my classroom a lot.  I made some fun read fans for my reading area.  I love how they turned out.

1.  I took some 12X12 sheets of paper to start.  The first fan I made was huge, so I made a smaller version using 6X6 sheets of paper.

2.  I rolled paper into cones.  I made 8 different cones for each of the three colors of paper that I used.  For the bigger fan I had 24 cones.  For the smaller fans I ended up with 6 different cones for the each of the 3 colors of paper that I used, totalling 18 cones altogether.

3.  I glued the cones into a circular shape.  After the first fan, I figured out that it was easier to staple them together and then glue a circle background on.

4.  I alternated colors and glued them together.

5.  I took some letters to match my room and glued them to 2 circles.

6.  I glued the circles to the middle of my fan.

7.  This one turned out HUGE.  So I made a smaller version below.

I loved how they turned out and how they look in my classroom.

3.  My son is going to be in 6th grade.  We had 6th grade orientation this week.  We spent a long time trying to figure out his locker combination.  After several attempts and a blister, we learned his locker is sticky.  He eventually got it.

4.  Companies to Classrooms is a place in MN where businesses donate items that they no longer need.  Teachers from certain school districts can go in and pick out 15 items per month to use in their classroom.  Each line on a piece of paper counts as an item.  Some items you can only take 1 of...and you write that on your line.  Some items you can take an unlimited amount of and that counts as 1 line.  I did pretty well on Monday and got some great things for my classroom thanks to generous people for their donations.

I got 75 binders.  I am going to be doing the Rise and Shine binders that you can find out about here.  I also got 100 pieces of big card stock for my Morning Meeting messages.

I got plastic envelopes that I will use for our sight words. I also got lots of stationary for our writing center.

Some of my items on the counter.


5.  I spent tons of time in my classroom this week.  I still have quite a long way to go.  I am feeling like I have a plan now.  :)

Items that I got rid of from my room.  I am a hoarder.  I admit it.  I have a problem.  All the things above were given to other teachers who wanted them.

I lowered the legs on my kidney table.  I put my new crate stools under them.

While lowering the legs on my table...I accidentally knocked it over.  It knocked all my shelves and containers over and created a mess.

I got my meeting area somewhat set up.

Baskets are ready for their round trip folders, library books and Monday folders.

I still have to get rid of the red containers and put my new containers on the shelf.

My book bins are set on the shelves.  I still need to label them.

I got containers for each group of desks.  I absolutely hate desks and have been begging for tables.  I feel tables create more of a sense of community.  Kids at this age have a hard time keeping things organized.  I am turning the desks backwards this year so they can't be opened.  All our journals and supplies will be kept in these bins that I have yet to label.

My writing area.  I still have to put charts up in the back.

My group meeting area - the reading board which is now finished.

I made some valances by using some cute scarves I found that match my classroom. I also made tissue paper pom-pom balls.

I still have TONS to do. I have lots of labeling yet and have to get ready for open house.  I'll be spending all day Sunday at school.

Finally, I wanted to share my winners of my giveaway.  I emailed everyone twice.  For some reason the emails did not send the first time.  After not hearing from anyone, I figured something went wrong.  Here are my winners at the bottom of this link.  Your prizes are in the mail!  Thanks for entering. Congrats!


Fianlly I am going to share two pictures of me and my boys.  I enjoyed staying home with them this summer and am sad that our fun has ended.

Us at the hospital waiting for my sister's kidney stones to be blasted.

We went to the MN Vikings training camp.  It was a great day!

Have a great weekend!  I hope all of you that are back in school are enjoying your classes.  I am exhausted and haven't even started back yet!
Sara