It's that time again...

Wow, where did summer go!? It's that time of year again...time for school to start! I've been busy the last couple of weeks getting the room ready for another exciting year of learning. This year I've decided to go with an owl theme in my classroom. One of our first writing projects we are going to do is "Owl" About Me!  There's a few preparations left to do before our first day on August 21st but for the most part the room is ready to go. Here's a sneak peek:

 Welcome to Our Room!

 The front of the classroom...

 Our Reading Corner:

 reorganized with books in categorized bins this year to make it easier to find/replace books in the bookshelf.

This idea comes from Scholastic:  http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2013/01/simple-solutions-organized-classroom-library

 The back of the classroom...

 The standards we will be covering every day will go in this pocket chart so students will know what we are learning and why we are learning it. These standards are written in kid friendly language and I found on TeachersPayTeachers.com:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Standards-for-Second-Grade-144965

 Our door...

 Spelling Incentive Chart:  Everytime a student passes a spelling test they get a star up on the chart.  Once they have 4 stars in a row, they get to pick a treat or a prize out of the prize box.

 Pickles and Ketchups:  Students who have completed all their assignments stay on the "Pickles" side and get to pick an activity to do when we have free time...students who need to catch up on work go to the "Ketchups" side and have to complete their work during that time. This was also found on TeachersPayTeachers.com:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pickles-and-Ketchup-Printable-128469.

 Math Facts Incentive Chart:  We do "Rocket Math" in our classroom which is a program that helps students learn/memorize their math facts by taking timed test and progress monitoring their achievement.  It moves students through levels of addition and subtraction even to multiplication for any student who can get there in 2nd grade.  Again, every time a student passes a math level, they get a star on the chart and after 4 stars in a row they can pick a treat.

 Our lockers...with Owl Themed Classroom Rules on them.  These were found at:

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Rules-Owl-Version-with-Chevron-Accents-312462

Accelerated Reader Tracker:  Our owl themed AR tracker keeps track of students AR points they receive throughout the year.  Students keep moving their magnetic backpacks with their names on it to the owls (which have numbers on them) to keep track of how many AR points they have. I also found this on TeachersPayTeachers.com:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Owl-Theme-AR-Point-Tracker-274926

Only a couple weeks to go!  Enjoy the last of summer vacation and here's wishing everyone a great school year!