Monday Made It: November

Hey there! I've loved keeping my travel blog this past year, and am now joining the lovely community of teacher bloggers! For my first post, I'm linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It, a linky party that I've been spending Monday evenings stalking for a year :) Anyways, here goes!

After seeing The Teacher Garden's "Scientist of the Month" bulletin board, I wanted to create my own! My students last year loved learning about Isaac Newton during our energy unit and about different inventors before our Invention Convention. My plan is to have our "Class Decorator" (one of the favorite class jobs) switch out the materials each month. I introduce the scientist at the beginning of each month and borrow a few books from the library to have for my kiddos to read.
What I'm really excited about is the QR codes! I've been looking for new ways to use my school's tablets in the classroom, and this should be a lot of fun! I'm not 100% sure of when I'll have my students access the board, but maybe during Daily 5 Read to Self or for my early finishers.  Students will be able to grab a tablet, a pair of headphones, and explore the different resources.
Last year one of my little guys had a tough time finding his strengths as a learner. He was the first I ever went to the Child Study Team for, and ended up loving having a 'team' focused on just him. Anyways, he LOVED nonfiction, especially anything about scientists like Thomas Edison. He loved that his idol had trouble in school just like he did, but that didn't mean that he wasn't smart. I love that this will give the kids exposure to different people who have done some wonderful things and inspire them to keep learning :) I've posted it on my TPT site!

We had some boring unfinished-work type things on the board that day but I keep forgetting to take a better picture!

I am OBSESSED with Daily 5, but didn't love how I taught math last year. This year I'm using a similar model for teaching math (we use TERC Investigations at my school). This was the first thing I put onto TPT, and am SO happy to finally have it all set up! I'd like to do a post soon on how I'm teaching it in my class, so be on the lookout! The background of my board is actually made from pillowcases that I found on sale at Walmart for a few dollars last year (what I would give for a Walmart or Target here in Italy... *Sigh*). 

At least the iron's getting some use!

I had a slight problem when setting up the board; I was more excited about my new laminator than anything else I bought this summer and was so pumped to start using it at home, creating teaching materials I could use every year. While in the USA, it worked WONDERFULLY on a new set of task cards, but when I plugged it in here in Italy, it started smoking and stunk up my whole apartment with a horrible burnt plastic smell! I knew not to use an American blowdryer or straightener in European plugs, but it didn't even cross my mind not to plug in my laminator. Drats :( Anyways, I still wanted to laminate my new materials, so put them into the laminator pouches, the pouches between two tea towels and ironed the whole thing! It definitely didn't work as well as my beautiful laminator, but still, mission accomplished :)