School has begun!!

Sunday, August 26, 2012 No comments
Can you believe that school has begun? Well...it has in Palm Beach County, Florida so naturally I assume that it has everywhere else! My first week has been truly amazing! I have a great group of students and we have already started working on WBT. We worked on some great ideas and I will be sure to post about WBT in two days! Today..I want to show you my classroom. I mentioned in a few posts, that my classroom will be Dr. Seuss. I did not take that lightly. So here are pictures of "Seuss"ian classroom!!!!! (Can you tell I am excited?)
Here is 2 of the 3 backboards. You are also looking at the back of my library (which I forgot to take a picture of). The back board will be used for Math Vocab words. Above these boards, is the alphabet with Dr. Seuss characters. (Oops..I forgot that too!!)

Here is 1 of the backboards. I also put the classroom jobs in this picture, These jobs are for my classroom and not the afternoon class. The students will also  use this door to get to the restroom.

Here is where I have the math vocab words. I made this document, and  you can find it here! It's only $1.00 here!!

This is the Writing Center. I downloaded the pencil from Pinterest. Thank you to the The Teacher Wife for supplying such an amazing document!! I printed it at Office Depot and had them laminate because I couldn't print such beautiful colors on my printer.


This is is my favorite corner of the classroom. I made these amazing mailboxes for my students because it drives me nuts seeing paper on the students desk when they aren't in class. They check their mailbox every morning. I bought this awesome box from a thrift store in Davie, FL. I then bought a ton of scrapbook paper from Joanns and then I used ModPodge to attach it to the mailbox. I don't know if you can see, but I have my WBT signs above my board. Every morning, I review it with my students. The students look at it and say "OH!!! Ms. Margolin! I want to teach this one!!!!" Of course, they all pitch in and want to teach it.

Our "Seuss"tastic schedule.

Here are all of the WBT rules. I follow all of the signals but I wanted to have a "Seuss"ian sign. On the  left, you will see the color chart that the students have to follow. This is a school clip chart by RIck Morris. There are many things you can do. Google (or search on Pinterest) for Clip Chart. It is awesome. My kids understand the difference from good to bad and will even get upset if they are on a lower color.

Another fantastic idea from Pinterest. I have seen so many variations and this is the one that I have chosen. It has some awesome balloons that are like Dr. Seuss.
All of my students have a number but instead of calling them #1, #2...I call them Things! My principal came in and saw this and was shocked and thought it was a great idea! So they each know their thing number and will keep track of their number. The picture above shows where the students need to stand during line. They have done a great job using this to line up.


Outside my classroom, I have a bulletin board. It is to be updated at least once a month. On the top, I write You are o"fish"ally a 4th grader. This was taken before i put their names on the fish. When they came for Meet The Teacher, they were ecstatic to see their names.

For Future Work.


This is the newest addition to our house. Her name is Penelope. We got her in June and we moved 20 days later. Here is the new apartment with her watching the weather channel. We were watching the Tropical Storm Isaac pass us on The Weather Channel. I have never had a dog that watched TV, but she does. 
 I hope you get some awesome ideas from my classroom. Have a great year, and Happy Pinning!

Calendar Math

Saturday, August 4, 2012 2 comments

Last year when I created the morning “work”, I always did a worksheet. It was to basically make them sit and get ready for the morning. I tried to make it so it was geared for what they were to learn through the day but most of them just shoved it in their desk. It was a very upsetting time because they just didn’t care. This year...will be different! Mark my words! This year, for morning work my students will be doing Calendar Math! Hooray! I have always been skeptical about it because I thought it was for the younger grades. I found a couple of ideas from pinterest (amazing website!) and wanted to rearrange things so it would suit the students that are in my class. Lo and behold the newest {frankenstein} creation...MY CALENDAR MATH!


I did not put it as an entire page because we have a limited amount of copies that we can make throughout the year. Therefore, it is only half a page for each day. I only collect the Calendar Math on Friday's but it is a grade. I put these in a folder and then I have them keep it there all year long. This will help them see themselves grow. As we get further into the chapters of the books, I will change it so that the students can gain more experience on that particular subject.

This document is a freebie on my TN's store and use it as much as you would like. Happy shopping and happy pinning!