Five for Friday...I'm back on track!

My first week of school is OVER! Made it through getting to know my kids. Beginning of the year assessments. AND OPEN HOUSE! Yes! We did have it already...the third day of school. I'm actually happy it's over and done. I have to say my 18 little kiddies are quite cute. I have a couple I have to work with on calling out and following basic procedures, but it won't take long...I hope!

I'm so happy to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the fabulous...

 I created some classroom decor for my classroom. (I wrote another post about it here.) I decided to display it in a pocket chart. I'm not sure I'm happy with this way yet. It's different from the way I've displayed the agenda in the past. I'm am moving to an integrated unit approach this year. I did this years ago, but it has been difficult to teach this way due to ability grouping for reading and math the past few years. We've had to switch classes and that just doesn't lend itself to integrating the curriculum. On my agenda board you can see that I have a clock next to Literacy Block. We will start this block at 8:15. I didn't put clocks on the other subjects because they are all included in this block. My plan is to bring in more science and social studies into the reading block and hopefully create a seamless day. I don't want a chopped up schedule! I also plan on including more writing mini lessons into this time. I use the Daily 5 approach which I think is going to work great this year with integration. I have a straight 2.5 hour block of time to work with, so I'm very excited. I'm moving math to the afternoon from 1-2. I love my schedule. Just hopes it works out as well in real life as it does on paper!

 Click HERE to see this set on TpT.

Another part of my beach theme decor products includes this behavior clip chart and reading goal clip chart. We use Accelerated Reader as a goal setting tool. I like the kids to see how they are doing by tracking their goals at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. I use AR, but I do not focus on their books being only AR books! A mom at Open House asked, "How many AR books do they have to read?" I told her I don't call books "AR books". There are no AR books, they are just books! I want kids to read because they love it, not because it's for AR points! The students help me set their goals and I check in often with them on how they are doing. I think the goal setting aspect just helps them to stay on track.

Click HERE and HERE to see these two sets.

ANOTHER part of my beachy decor is this Classroom Helpers set. This board is near my desk, so I also keep some teacher stuff on it as you can see. The kids decorated surfboards and I use those inside the pockets. It really came out cute.

Click HERE to see this set.

I had these on the kids desk on Monday morning, the first day. They were so appreciative and really loved their little treat. 

This is my favorite new addition to my room. It's an Exit Slip chart! I created this 4 ft x 3 ft vinyl banner on Vistaprint and I just love it! It came out so cute!! I ordered one for my sister and my teammate, too. I plan on having the kids use Post-its to write comments, questions, wonderings, new learning, etc. They will stick the Post-it on their number which will be an easy way to see who has completed one and who has not. I'm not sure if I will give them a sentence starter or stem to complete or let them choose what they want to write each day. I would love to hear how you might use something like this in your room. Do you require a slip everyday or just a few times per week? I think the kids will be ready to try this out next week. I attached it to the door with heavy duty Velcro. 

So that is a quick glimpse into my room. I have more pictures from the week and much more to share. My teammate and I have come up with a cool new homework idea for reading and I will be sharing that real soon!
Enjoy your weekend!!