Our New Friend!

Our class has a cute, new, little friend!
Meet our new class pet! A chinchilla!

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Petsmart who wanted to give my class a gift card to pick out a class pet. After a lot of thinking and research, I decided a chinchilla would be the perfect pet for my class.


(Click here to learn more about Petsmart's educational programs and to learn more about how you could earn a grant to get a pet for your own classroom.)

Chinchillas are not cheap, but luckily my gift card was able to cover the entire purchase of the pet, the cage, and many of the start up materials. Amy, my local Petsmart manager, was able to help me through the process, answer all of my questions, and give me the information I needed to take care of my new friend.


Thank you to Petsmart for everything!! My students LOVE her!!

I told my class that they could name her. After narrowing down the list, we are voting between the names Cupcake and Chimichunga (Chimi for short) tomorrow. I will let you know what the class decides. :)

If any of you are considering getting a class pet, please feel free to use this questionnaire I made to help assess allergies and to get feedback as to which pets your students would be interested in.


Any advice for me? What tips do you have for caring for a class pet? Anyone had a chinchilla before?

Management Monday: Classroom Jobs




I like jobs and I understand how necessary they are in a classroom. It teaches students responsibility, time management, and to take pride in their classrooms. I used to only have about 4 jobs. The rest of my students were *BORED* at the end of the day and our routine was LOUD because the other 20 kiddos didn't have anything to do! Some students don't have a job in my classroom, but they are considered "for hire".  If someone is absent or isn't remember to do their job, I'll hire them to fill in!

 I included what each job does, but you can have them do whatever you want!











I made the job cards so they fit in this {from Really Good Stuff}:
Mine looks like this:





I put velcro on their names and velcro on the outside left of the schedule chart {I want to be able to use it every year, so the names are removable}. The actual job is what I rotate/move each week.








How do you manage your classroom jobs?

*clipart and or fonts by DJ Inkers (djinkers.com)


It's calendar tiiimmmmeeee!!!

I'm linkin' up with Blog Hoppin'!  Here are my freebies!


Can I just say, I actually love calendar time in my classroom [it takes about 15 minutes, maybe a little less each day]? I know, weird. My calendar is set up to be totally student led, fun, and engaging. I've modeled it after MANY classrooms I've been in. From my practicum in college, to my student teaching, and all the way back to my first year of teaching. It's definitely evolved. So thanks to all those who've helped me!



 months of the year and the calendar
Days of the week





Weather
Money and Time


Days of School


I got the calendar from Scholastic
Piggy Bank is from Scholastic
Judy Clock is from Carson Dellosa
Weather cards are from DJ Inkers
Place Value Straws are from ????



If you want to know about my calendar routine and use my freebie printables, 
just download them {here}!




Here are some of the items included:







When a student loses a tooth, I give them a toothbrush and they can take home the "Dear Tooth Fairy" writing stationary! :)




Clipart and/or fonts used with permission from DJ Inkers and Scrappin' Doodles

Three For Thursday!





Hi friends! It's Rachelle here.
I'm linkin' up with Blog Hoppin'!
 I didn't even ask Natalie to add to this post because it's her first week of school and she's SWAMPED! So here are my 3 for Thursdays!!!



My favorite fonts {click on each font to see its source}:












My favorite blog(s) {UM...I love about 1,000 blogs....just look at my sidebar.....----->}
I have about 996 more blogs that I LOVE and I promise I do love you, but my post was getting out of hand!!!!


You have to go over to their blog and see how Ericka and I met! I love First Grade and Fancy Free!


Kristen always has the best tutorials and ideas! She even designed our blog!

Doesn't their name say it all?  Anytime I'm in a lesson crunch...they're always there to save the day.
PLUS, we've become blogging friends!

I know this isn't a blog, but I love all of Dustin's  ideas {can I call you Dustin?}
Plus he's funny to boot!

Oh and go visit my friend Malarie....she has a CUTE blog too {she doesn't have a button yet}.
You can Make the Sunshine Anytime!


My favorite online resource(s):

I love ESGI. It's basically an amazing website that I've been loving my first week of school {I'll post more about it soon}. 

Our Sponsors

And I also love.....


Google! HA! I'm serious...I google EVERYTHING {Google is a verb, ya know}!!


Ok one more, I promise. I love PINTEREST {or as my hubby says "pin interest"..hahah}! Follow me by clicking the icon below.




P.S. If you aren't on our sidebar, and you wanna be...just comment here with your blogs URL. Loves!

Cupcakes!

Most of you know that my theme this year is centered around cupcakes and the phrase "5th grade is really sweet!" 
Well... a wonderful and delicious bakery named Dippidee donated cupcakes for my entire class for back to school night!!
THANK YOU DIPPIDEE!
 I shared some of the extras with my cute team members! Of course, everyone LOVED them!
 Look at these beauties!
 And they looked so good sitting on top of my students' desks. Each new student was so excited to be welcomed by a colorful cupcake.

Outside in the hall I made a display of cupcakes with each students' name on it. My friend helped me cut these out on her Cricut.
And in case you're wondering, my class is officially open for business! Tomorrow is day numero uno!
(Here's a sneak peek into my classroom.)

Good luck to all my friends in blogland that are starting soon! 

5th Grade Read Alouds

Well, I started meetings last week and school starts on Tuesday. I am still doing lots of last minute things to get ready, and I'm seriously doubting if I can get it all done by open house on Monday night...

I was blog hopping/stalking tonight and ran across this cute blog called, Love 4th Grade. I liked that she shared her beginning of the year read aloud, and I thought I would do the same.

For the past 3 years {this will be the 4th} I've read the same book: Loser by Jerry Spinelli.
I love reading Loser at the beginning of the year because it opens up a great conversation about being kind to each other and gives a strong anti-bullying message. My students think it's hilarious to read about all of Zinkoff's crazy adventures. I love that I can refer back to it all year long and remind students why it's important to say nice things and not hurt anyone's feelings.

And for my second read aloud of the year...
5th grade teachers - This read aloud is a MUST!! It tells of the true story of Pocahontas. It goes along great with our social studies curriculum and is fun and interesting for students to listen to. I will be reading this for my second read aloud of the year (and it will be my 6th year of reading it aloud to my students - even I love it!)

Okay, now I REALLY want to hear....

What is your favorite read aloud? 
Which book will you read aloud first?!

I would love to add new books into this year's schedule!

What's Cookin' in Mrs. Smith's 1st grade?

I'm linkin' up with Blog Hoppin'!  This is where is ALL GOES DOWN!

I've been in school for almost a week! It has been so crazy busy right now that I feel like I've neglected you all! I promise I think about you all while I'm dozing off on the couch at 7:00pm while watching *Teen Mom*. I'm just exhausted! :)


Well friends...here it is...my cookin' classroom! :)  I pretty much have gotten all of my ideas from all of you fabulous bloggers! So, if you see something familiar-make sure you click on the link to see where I got inspiration from!


My reading corner is inspired by {this} website 
(Thanks for all of the ideas Mrs. Blankenburg!)




Here is my CAFE Menu.  I made the letters on my computer, but with the polka dot borders from {this} author on TpT for free. I got the CAFE posters from {here}.
The little chef kid in the corner of the board is from Scrappin' Doodles.



This is where I display my students' work. Those are tin foil cookie sheets! 
Today we hung our "first grade dolls" up.


First grade is SO SWEET! I have my birthday balloon sticks {that post can be found here}. I haven't hung up my VIP poster yet because we haven't started it {you can find the VIP poster here}.


Beginning of the year bulletin board inspired by {this} post!
"Ant"icipating a great year!



Calendar {look for an upcoming post about how I conduct calendar!!!}


Table points {inspired by this}, schedule {found here}, and Brownie Points {found here}. 



Daily 5 board!  The polka dot border can be found {here} and the Daily 5 posters can be found {here}.


I love the numbers above my alphabet! I got from Mrs. Lemons {here}.


My kiddos LOVE the crate seats that I made {click here to see how}.



Well, that's that!  Hope your appetites are all satisfied! 
{Get it?  I have a cooking themed classroom...hahaha}



Oh and P.S.  Have you seen my downloads on Ladybug's Teacher Files today?  
Yeah, I made a guest post on her FABULOUS blog! :)  Check it out {here}.


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