New Classroom Pet

Thanks to a grant from PetSmart and Pets in the Classroom  (http://www.petsintheclassroom.org/), I was able to get a new classroom pet this year.  I typically just have goldfish and then I raffle them off at the end of the year.  I was bored with that, so I decided to apply for this grant over the summer and I GOT IT! 

Before bringing the new pet to the classroom, I set up the tank and have the students do some inferencing about what the new pet will be.  I used the follow activity sheet that I created to go with this lesson: New Pet Inferencing.  We then tallied all of our guesses and created many different kinds of graphs using The Graph Club software that is on my school computer.  After we were done graphing, we discussed what each of the animals we guessed would need and decided whether or not our habitat would be able to provide that for the animal.  Surprisingly, the students did a great job making their inferences and had it down to 3 possibilities: fish, turtle, or frog.  The most votes were for turtle.  That's when I revealed that it was a TURTLE!    They were so excited.

So, today was the big day.  We had off from school yesterday and today due to the Rosh Hashanah holiday, but I was able to go in today to get some work done.  I picked up our new pet this morning before going in. 

 

Meet Sheldon

 

He's an African Sideneck turtle.  When I first put him in his habitat, he was a bit scared.  I placed him on his basking platform.  He promptly slid off backwards and went to hide underneath the platform.  I then placed some food inside and he came out to grab it.  After a while, he began exploring more of his new home.  He loves to swim around and dig in the rocks.  He also enjoyed laying under "the waterfall" (aka the filter).  The kids are going to be so excited when they meet him tomorrow! 

Classroom Set Up

Last week I continued to work on the set-up of my classroom.  I am trying to incorporate more ideas for my garden theme. 

Here is the view looking out at my room from my desk. 

 I bought some cheap vines from Dollar Tree to use as group number signs.  I simply attached cut-out numbers from the pack that I bought for my bulletin boards and attached them with a stapler to the vines hung from the ceiling. 

 My Math bulletin board with some basics for the beginning of the year - number words and a hundreds chart. 

The beginning of my "Reading Grove" bulletin board.  I bought some new poster sets that are in the pile to be laminated that will go on this board as soon as they are ready.

My writing center board - "Writing Blooms Here"!  Love it!

And here is the "Reading Grove" area, complete with artificial flowers!

And, not that I did this, but I was so happy that my new faucet and water fountain spout got installed while I ran out for lunch one day last week.  I've been without a working sink since the end of last school year.  So happy to have it back!

The Daily 5

Last year my grade partners and I set out to learn The Daily 5.  Midway through the school year I attempted to implement some of the components.  This year I plan on beginning right away at the start of the school year.  Any suggestions for how to make this run smoothly with my firsties?

I've been in my classroom off and on the last few days putting it back together.  There is still a lot of work to be done, but here is a sneak peak so far.

This is my new and improved book nook area with my super cute new adirondack chairs in the shape of a bee and a ladybug! 

Here is the writing center area.  The old bulletin board is still up behind it.  I am going to be changing it out to fit my new garden theme and to reflect some aspects of The Daily 5. 

And here is the main area that has yet to be tackled.  That will be my project tomorrow along with the long counter top area that is holding everything that doesn't have a home yet. 

I will be going in for a few hours tomorrow morning to tackle some more projects.  I am also hoping that they install my new faucet and water fountain spout tomorrow so I can put everything back in the cabinets under my sink area. 

I am also still working on ideas for my new garden theme.  Any suggestions are appreciated!  

2012-2013 School Year Mission: Become a Blogger!

I have set out on a mission to create a blog of my classroom ideas, projects, etc. for the 2012-2013 school year.  I am very excited to join the blogging world.  After following so many wonderful teacher blogs over the last 2 years, I thought it was finally time to join the world of blogging.  I am hoping to be able to post at least once a week.