Classroom Theme Galore!

Hi friends :)
When I had a classroom, I used to start going to my school to put it together in the middle of July... I used to start early, but not all day like crazy, just little by little.. I am sure most of you, if not all, are back into your classrooms decorating and maybe some even have finished with decorations (because we all have seen them on Facebook and Instagram!)... Anyhow, whatever your case is, I hope you are having a great time and that you are looking forward to a new school year! :)

I want to take some time today to share with you some of the classroom themes I have done in the past.  

This is my most favorite part of what I did on the year I decorated my classroom with a Jungle theme. It took me several hours and a few days to finish it, but I loved every single thing of that door! :) I have different blog posts, if you want to read these and see more of my classroom on that year. Please click on Classroom Tour to take you there. I also have some goodie bag labels to use as a welcome snack that goes along with this theme, so click on Snacks. 

I have a Jungle Theme classroom decor product, so if you would like to see it on my TPT, please click HERE. I also have a FREE welcome banner that goes along with it and it comes in Spanish and English.

The year after my Jungle Theme, I created a Circus theme classroom decor, but sadly I don't have any pictures of this theme. This theme was when I had just given birth to "Pollita" (my daughter) and I just couldn't think of taking any pictures or posting anything about it.. I only had the energy to get my classroom ready, breastfeed, and if I was lucky, I was able to sleep at night... lol, So I am sorry about that. However, there is a post about it, so check it out HERE!!
If you would like to see the Circus Theme classroom decor product on TPT, please click HERE.


Last but not least, I want to share this theme... If you are doing a superhero theme this year, you might want to check it out!! I am so excited about this theme. It is so colorful and fun! I really had a great time creating it...

If you would like to see this product,  please click HERE to take you to my TPT store :)

I took some pictures of the sheets so you can have a better preview of what comes in it.

1. Name tags: These come in 3 different styles for boys and 3 different styles for girls. You can edit this document by typing the student's name on it :)

2. Calendar: This calendar comes with numbers, days of the week, months, cupcake pictures for those special birthdays, and cards to point out what day is today, what day was yesterday, and what day will be tomorrow :)

3. Material Tags: I have also included blank cards so you can type in words :) 

4. Word Wall: It comes with all letters in both English and Spanish with four different styles. It comes with blank tags so you can write or type the words.

5. Behavior Chart and Subject Signs (ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies).

6. Table Signs in both Spanish and English. My favorite is the Laser Eyed Heroes!! :)

I did not include pictures of the banner, but you can see some of the sheets on the product preview picture (the first picture I posted).

You might think I am crazy for decorating a door in my house, but when I did this, I still had one child and therefore I had a "me time"! LOL I am telling you, this makes me happy! Just to decorate and create stuff for the classroom.. I just love it and I can't have enough of it! Now I have two little blessings at home that love being with her mami and mami loves being with them as well :)
Anyhow! If you are looking for a fun decoration, check out my door! It is very simple and inexpensive to do!
I used a roll of blue paper for the background and black paper for the buildings. I used yellow construction paper to make the windows and bought the letters and borders at a teacher store.

I am going to be honest, I was going to stop there. But it looked so empty and sad!!! :( So I used a picture of my face to use as an example. I got some masks and some lighting clip art, print those on color cardstock, and whaalaaa!!

Before I go, I would also like to share with you a Snack that you can give to your students on the first day of school or Meet the Teacher Night. It is so simple and inexpensive! The yellow cereal is "Kix." I have never heard of this cereal before, but I saw it on a "healthy school list snack" and I tried it; it tastes pretty good! If you do not want to use that one, you can also use Corn Pops. I also used this with a colorful cereal, which is the Cap'n Crushs Oops all berries, but you can also use Trix or Froot Loops Loopers.

Click on FREEBIE, to grab yours now! :)

Alright friends, that's what I have for classroom decor! Hope you find something good for your classroom and you get to use it as well! :)

Thank you for stopping by today and have an awesome upcoming weeks before you get back to teaching those little ones (or big ones, too)!

2017 Spanish ebook, free Spanish lesson plans, games, activities, and teaching tips

Whether you're new teacher or a veteran teacher, the 2017 Spanish ebook, is a definite must-have for your school year.
What is the Spanish ebook you ask?  It's a downloadable document with teaching tips and free resources from 25 top teacher authors.   Yes, you heard that right!  You get 25 free Spanish resources for your classroom.  And trust me - these lesson plans are really good!  We created 2 versions, one for K-5 Spanish teachers and one for Grades 6-12.

Grades K-5 Free Spanish lesson plans, games, and activities:

*Take Home Binder Labels *Los sonidos iniciales *Llama coloring sheet *Back to School Pennant in Spanish *Trabajo de palabras *La araña pequeñita *Scoot Numbers to 5 *Los Pescaditos Poem *Colombia Minibook *Adivina Quién Game *Los días de la semana reader *Transition Video *Repaso de sonidos *Goal Planning Worksheets *Back to School Games Sampler *Unit 1 Los Pollitos Dicen

Grades 6-12 Free Spanish lesson plans, games, and activities:

*Scavenger Hunt Activity *Present Tense Summary Chart *Interactive Notebook Flash Cards *School Supplies Vocabulary Puzzles *All About Me Infographic Activity *Reward Coupons *Imperfect Tense Task Cards *Readings for MovieTalk Extension *"Fotografía" Song Activities *Student Profile Sheet *Para Empezar Daily Bell Ringers *Transition Video *Interactive Reading Activity for Hispanic Heritage Month *Categories Game *50 Culture Project Ideas *Clothing Google Drive Activity *Preterite vs. Imperfect Graphic Organizer *Interactive Activities for September *Todo acerca de mi Build-a-Book *Spanish Adjective Bingo *Comic Strip Activity *Instagram Activity *"Paraíso" Song Activities *Digital Breakout Activity *Conjugation Game for -AR Verbs *Classroom Management Strategy

Not only do you get the free resources, but each of these veteran Spanish teachers shares a pro teaching tip.  Even though I've taught for many years, I always learn so much when I read these. Our K-5 2016 ebook and Grades 6-12 2015 ebook and 2016 ebooks have been downloaded over 14,000 times.  And guess what? Each of them has additional teaching tips and free Spanish resources.  Triple the fun! So you can get 80 free Spanish games, activities, teaching tips, and lesson plans for your class.  Amazing! Still not sure?  Here's a sneak peek at my page.  You'll need to download the actual ebook to be able to click on the resources.  

And for those of you who also teach French, be sure to check out the French ebook.

Hope that all these tips, tricks, and resources help you have the best year ever!

THANK YOU MY FRIENDS FOR STOPPING BY MY BLOG TODAY! I WILL BE BACK WITH MUCH MORE GOODIES!!! 

Take Home Binders... a more Sophisticated way to be organized :)

Welcome back everyone!! It is time talk about back to school!! I know this might sound a little bit early, but it is good to start a little early!! Especially for these binders... believe me.,.. they might be out at the stores already!

(I love this guy!!)

Anyways, I am back with an idea that has been put in practice for a long time already, but I never thought about blogging about it because I figured most teachers have it down and this might not be something new to anyone. HOWEVER, I was going to Walmart and I saw all those BTS materials (and yes, that was on July 11, "What the heck Walmart?"). So I started thinking of things I could write about (since I'm trying to write once a week) and what new blog post that could be helpful to others... and then, the light bulb turned on!

So I purchased a three ring binder, three hole punched pocket folders, some labels, and some clear sheet protectors.

I just want to clarify that this was not my original idea. When I was student teaching, my mentor teacher (who is amazing, by the way) showed me this binder that the students had as a take home folder. She also got this idea from a previous teacher that she taught with... Anyways, I loved it so much that I implemented the same system when I started teaching. I have changed the name of the binder and maybe taken a thing or two out since it wasn't working for us. These binders had hole punched folders inside with labels to organize papers and a zipper pocket to keep their pencil and eraser when taking it home.

The binder was always a present from me to my students. There were so many of them that coulnd't afford school supplies, so the binder was something I purchased for them. Yes, it was a little expensive if you had about 25 students (which was always the case). However, it was so great to keep the papers organized, that it really didn't matter to me. Now, if a part of the binder broke or got lost, then I did NOT replace it. With this gift, I always pointed out to my students about being careful and responsible with their supplies, and this was definetely not an exception. If they did break something from there or lost something, they were responsible to replae it (I always had at least one student each year who did, but I was always happy that parents never took too long to keep this binder with all materials needed). I only added the labels for the folders or the label in front with their name on it.

Alright, we were the Gators at my school. So I named the binder as "Gator Binder". Let me tell you that these binders did NOT make it to their hands until the second week of school (or even the third). You might wonder why ??? Well, on my first year I got too excited too soon and gave these on the first week. Then I had not one, but TWO students changing schools by the end of the first week of school. So I, of course, was not going to ask for the binders back! So lesson learned, do not give them out too soon!!!
Anyhow, these are the following things the binders have inside:

• I purchased a three ring binder. You can find them at any office supply store. I try to buy the ones that have a flexible material because they cost less and believe it or not, they are more difficult to get damaged. The first year I bought them at an office supply store, but then I found them at walmart. I realized I had to buy them from Walmart AS SOON AS THEY PUT THE BTS SUPPLIES. Why?? Because these babies get sold out like hot bread!!! One year I waited for a little longer and I had to buy two different colors for my students because there were NOT enough! Most of them were gone, gone, gone!!! That year I almost had a heart attack (not really, but almost), because if you know me, then you know that I am NOT ok with having things that missmatch! Anyhow, the binders are like $0.50 so it's not bad at all :) Since we were the Gators at my school, I had a label with a clip art of a gator and their name on it. The labels are 2x4 and I tape it with clear duck tape on the front cover of the binder to it doesn't peel off.
  
  
  

• We had daily spelling homework. So I had a clear sheet protector for each folder so students could keep their Spelling Sheet in there. We were a bilingual classroom, so when we started inctroducing English sight words, we had two lists. Here is how the lists looked like in the sheet protector front and back :)

        

• The binder contained three hole punched folders inside. There are two ways you could get these folders. Either you buy the folders without brads (which are the cheapest to buy) and you hole punch them OR you could always buy those already punched (which are a little bit more expensive than the others I mentioned). I also used white labels and they are 2 x 4 as well.
  
  Inside the folders we had:
  • 1 folder for Calendar: This folder had our behavior calendar.
  • 1 folder for Stay Home and Bring Back to School: The stay Home side was any paper that needed to stay home, like flyers and graded papers. The Bring Back to School side was any paper that needed to be signed and be returned to school, like field trip permission slips or report cards.
  • 1 folder for Homework: We kept our math homework or any unfinished work in this folder.
  
• The folder also had a pencil bag inside. The pocket was useful so students were encouraged to keep a pencil and eraser there AT ALL TIMES so they couldn't say "I didn't do my homework because I lost or didn't have a pencil". However, after two years of buying them, I decided not to use those anymore because they were very expensive (when you had to buy 25 of them) and I spent most of the time reminding students to keep a pencil in there (because I saw them constantly empty). To me, that was not worth the amount of energy and money I had to spend on those bags. So when I stopped buying them, it was like nothing happened. I did not see a big deal of not having one :) 

Well friends, that is it for me! I honestly would like to say that I have freebies for you, but I honestly do not have any because these binders were based on my school mascot and the labels were created based on the size I purchased them. However, I hope this post has given you an idea of maybe creating your own binder based on your school mascot and based on what you would like for your students to have in their binder.

HUGE UPDATE MY FRIENDS!!! :)
I decided to create a general binder for FREE in both English and Spanish!!!, I was so happy on how people commented on my facebook and how they liked my post. So thank you very much to all of you! :)
Before I continue, if you don't think this binder is a good fit for you. Don't worry! Please see how I created the labels!! Maybe you can use these in a way you choose to do your take home folders! Maybe you can use some of them :)

Here is a peek of what I have created:

The freebie is in a Zip folder my friends! You may wonder why... Well, after I finished the whole document of the labels by just inserting cells, I tried it and everything was missplaced! :( I hated it so much and I tried everysingle thing to make it work, but I couldn't. So when I tried only one page with the original document of the labels, everything worked just fine! So I know you will have to open the labels individually, but hey! They will all work and be aligned with the 2x4 label sheet! :)

Anyhow, I have included black and white labels for Calendar, Stay Home, Bring Back to School, and Homework. Of course, all these are also in Spanish :)
I have also included color labels for the front cover of the binder. One version for boys and another for girls. THESE FRONT COVER LABELS ARE EDITABLE! Yes! You heard me right! I would hate for you to handwrite your students' names, so I made it editable and you can even use the pretty font! Or if not, I gave you access so you can change it to whatever font you have :) Read the instructions on the sheet so you know how to do that :)

If you would like to download this freebie, please click HERE. Also, if you get a chance, please leave me your feedback! I would love to hear what you think of it!! :)

If you have BlogLovin', follow me! so you don't miss the fun and latest posts!!! :) Click on the picture below to take you to my BlogLovin' page :)

Thank you for stopping by and I hope to see mo