I am so excited to be linking up with my fabulous 2nd grade bloggy friends!  Even though I'm moving to third, 2nd will always have a big place in my heart.  Today we are bringing you a fabulous blog hop!

Our goal with this hop is to share 2 ideas to help you make a smooth transition back to school and 1 wish that we want to improve on.  

My first star idea really helped me stay organized this past school year.

Any bag can work for this, but the awesome organizational tool is the open file organizer inside!  This allowed me to put hanging files in it to keep all of my papers organized.  It worked like a charm and I will continue to use it this year.

The 2nd tip is also about organization.  Many teachers number their students alphabetically.  This number can be used for almost anything.  I also use these numbers to organize supplies.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of this, but I provide my students with most of their supplies (pencil box, crayons, pencils, pens), and I number each of them.  I just take Avery labels and cut them to about 1/2 an inch and number their supplies.  I do this so when kiddos are walking around doing work (we don't stay in one spot too long) and accidentally leave their materials behind, there is not confusion as to who it belongs to.  This saves a lot of time and a lot of things from magically ending up in someone else's desk!

The area that I want to improve on is assessment.  I have let a lot of my assessment data come from tests.  This year, I want to focus on building relationships with students and having that personal interaction to help in assessment.  To do this, I will be utilizing a conferring binder.  

I picked up this awesome binder from Target and I love it because it can bend backwards like a notebook!  

  

As a lefty, I have such a hard time writing in binders so I didn't want to have an excuse for not using my conferring binder.  I snagged some pocket dividers and numbered the tabs.  This way I can reuse them for years to come.  

I also made this set of conferring pages.  I've included a mix of pages to record each student's progress as well as labels to use during small group work.  My plan is to copy the same forms on colored paper for different subjects (math, reading, and writing)

 I will post about this binder in action once school is up and running!

If you enjoyed this bright idea, please consider following my blog, Facebook, and TPT store.  And for more star ideas from over 40 different bloggers, please check out the link-up below and choose a topic that interests you.  Thanks for visiting!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Brandi

Are you done shopping?  I had such a blast looking at different products figuring out what to buy.  Since I'm changing grade levels, the B2S sale came at a perfect time.  I filled my cart up with some fabulous 4th grade goodies.

 

When I saw Erin's linky party over at The Open Door Classroom, I knew I had to join.  Here's a peek at some of the things I bought:

 

Math Moves by Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B:

 

 

I can't wait to use this as part of my morning work.  We haven't transitioned over to Common Core, but I love the set up and the fact that it truly spirals and increases in difficulty as the year goes on!

 

Interactive Math Notebooks by CreateTeachShare:

 

I purchased the Number & Operations in Base 10, Geometry, and Operations & Algebraic Thinking sets.  I can't wait to really get into notebooking with my 4th graders.  I've had my 2nd graders take notes for the last 2 years, but they never really had ownership of them.  I know that these products will help with that....and they're cute!

 

The Ultimate Interactive Notebook Template Collection by Lovin' Lit:

 

I'm really jumping on the notebooking bandwagon so I purchased this set that will allow me to create my own pages for my language arts notebooks.  Like I said, we haven't switched to Common Core, so I'll be creating things for the current California standards.

 

Homework Club by Christina Bainbridge:

 

I'm super excited to use this product as a way to motivate my students.  I love that it's all set up with awards, invitations, and editable labels to add kids to the club.

 

Task cards:

I'm not going to post pictures all of the task cards that I bought, because there were a lot, but here are the titles:

 

By Teaching with a Mountain View: Monthly Creative and Critical Thinking, Converting Fractions and Decimals, Adding and Subtracting Decimals, and Multiplication Division Differentiate Cards.

 

By Rachel Lynette: Word Root, Ordering Decimals, Informational Text Structures, Idioms Bundle, Rounding, and Sentence Types.

 

Boy that's a lot!  I plan to use them to play Scoot and put them out as early finisher activities.

 

Science Cootie Catchers by Creative Teaching Press:

 

 

I used this book last year for second grade and my kiddos loved it.  When I saw it I snatched it up, hoping my 4th graders will love it too!

 

Three Ring Circus of Idioms by Molly Maloy

 

 

Idioms are a big part of our state standards and I'm exctied to teach them.  So many different ways to incorporate them into the day.  I also purchased Molly's C is for California Alphabet book and Colorful Genre Posters.

 

Place Value Block by Fourth and Ten:

 

 

I loved doing craftivities with my 2nd graders, and I'm bringing it up to 4th!  We're starting the year with place value so I will be doing this craftivity and putting it up on the walls!

 

And finally

Pencil Strategy for Word Problems by Oh Boy 4th Grade

 

 

I'm excited to use these as a reference for solving word problems.  I also love that the kids can use the color coded parts to code the problem.

 

So that rounds up my buying for the sale.  I'm not going to even get into the freebies I found and downloaded.

 

Now I feel more ready to start the year in 4th, but.....my classroom?  Well, that's a different story.  I will be spending tomorrow moving into my new room and hopefully beginning the set up process.  Luckily the kids don't come until September 4, but we're in meeting starting on Thursday.

 

I can't wait to see what everyone else bought.  If you want to stock up on some more things, my store is still on sale!

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Brandi