Creative Teaching Press Inspired Classroom Reveal - Decor and More!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Yes, we may be already missing the carefree days of summer, but the the lure of seeing those happy faces in our classrooms is pulling us back.

One of my favorite things about back to school is prepping my classroom to entice my new learners.

And luckily Creative Teaching Press provides many colorful, inviting products for doing just that.

To welcome my students to my classroom, I send them letters before school starts. 

I love the computer paper I found for the letters!

I include letters that students from last year had written to my future students.

I love the chevron accents in this paper!  Find the paper here.

We have hooks and shelves in the hallway for students to store their belongings and hang up their gear.

I like to assign hooks because I believe you are inviting "horseplay" if you let students pick their own spots.  

There are times you send kids out in the hallway to get something, and they are gone for 15 minutes.

Anyway, here are the cute nameplates I made for assigning hooks in the hallway.

Find these cards here.

Here are the pennant pieces I put above the hook areas.

I used a banner and letters from CTP!  The banner pieces reversible, and have patterns on one side, black on the other.

And now for some of my bulletin boards.

Last year we were able to Skype with scientists from ExxonMobil, do a valentine exchange with classes around the country, and do Skypes with two other classrooms.

I love the idea of global classrooms.

We are already matched up to be pen pals with a class from the Bronx, NY!

The border and letters are from Creative Teaching Press!

Here is my math focus wall.  We use Math Expressions, and start the year with multiplication and division.
I cover the facts chart with the sticky notes so its not so overwhelming.
I love the 5 star mathematician chart from CTP.

I am a huge supporter of STEM activities and inquiry learning.

Our first science unit is on Earth Materials.

Thanks to Educlips for that fun arrow!

The letters are from Creative Teaching Press.

I've been seeing boards like this on other teachers' Instagram accounts.

I like to model my love of books for my third graders.

I am part of an adult book club, and in the past my readers have been eager to hear about our book choices and discussions.

The border and letters are from CTP!

The small letters on my signs are stickers from CTP, too!

Now, go and check out the amazing ideas from Angie at Lucky Little Learners!

Angie is also hosting the 2Gether We Are Better Linky this month on Classroom Reveals!

I'm an Exclusive Blogger with Creative Teaching Press and I've Got a Giveaway for YOU!!

I am honored to be one of an amazing group of bloggers who are ready to share with you some of 

Creative Teaching Press's latest and greatest products for decorating your classroom (and more)!

Creative Teaching Press is proud to be celebrating 50 years of teachers helping teachers. It was 50 years ago that a veteran school teacher named Luella Connelly got the idea to make her creative ideas for fun and effective teaching available to other teachers. And with the success of her “Recipes for Creative Writing,” CTP was born! Since then, generations of teachers have looked to our family-owned, teacher-managed company for the supplementary materials they need to help their students learn and make their classrooms a positive learning environment.

I have loved using products from Creative Teaching Press for years.

This set of Inspire U Posters happens to be one of my absolute favorite items.

I used them this past year as part of my PBIS lessons, and my students have eagerly watched for the messages that promote positive behaviors and relationships.

Most of the time I place the posters in a prominent area of my classroom near our weekly poem.

This poster was paired with our class picture early in the year.

I decided to share these posters all over our school building.  This one was perfect for greeting 

students and staff each day.

Teachers need some inspiration too!  This one can be found in our supply/work room area 

in plain view over the copier.

The message on this poster was perfect for right outside the gym.

Of course a quote from Albert Einstein needed to be placed near the science supplies.

Common areas are a good spot for helpful hints to students.

Some of the posters in the pictures are from this set of Inspire U Chalk Posters.

And now, how about sprucing up your current classroom decor with some bright new eye-catching colors??

My current color scheme includes a mix of black, gray, and lime green accents.

This picture shows the side of one of my bulletin boards where I used the BW Chevron border from Creative Teaching Press.

I hope to update the look of my classroom by layering new borders from the Painted Palette Collection with  the BW Collection from CTP.

Yes - I am a chevron addict.  It looks fantastic with the.....

Painted Palette Ombre Lime green Scallops Border!

And how cute is this border called BW Collection Posies paired with the...

Painted Palette Ombre Yellow Scallops Border ??

I also love this BW Doodles and Dots border layered with the very pretty...

Painted Palette Poppy Red Herringbone Border

You can win $50 worth of products from Creative Teaching Press by entering my giveaway below.  

Entries will be accepted until June 7, and winners will get their pick of $50 worth of amazing products from CTP.  What a great way to get your classroom decor gears turning for the coming school year.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And guess what???

You can earn even more chances to win Creative Teaching Press cash by visiting the sites of other exclusive bloggers!

Visit my friend Jessica's blog at Tales of a First Grade Teacher to see more inviting products from Creative Teaching Press.

What I'm Loving Wednesday - Math Focus Wall With CTP Products

Hurray!  For the second week in a row I am linking up with Jessica at Covered in Glitter and Glue for her What I'm Loving Wednesday Linky!

Let me just say right off the top that I'm loving my summer!

Last weekend I had my family up for a get together.

We had so much fun eating, laughing, eating, lounging, reminiscing, and eating some more.

I also am loving that the football season has started.

We went to a Packer training camp practice yesterday but unfortunately I forgot my camera and my phone so go no pictures - ugh!

But, what I'm most excited to share this week is my math focus wall!

I was lucky enough to get score some items from Creative Teaching Press, and love how the board is all coming together.

We begin the year with multiplication so I always use flashcards as part of my border to get them thinking about the facts.

I love the colors of the calendar set from Creative Teaching Press.

You can find this set on their website here.

I also love the GNOMe set of cards that CTP has put together to display math standards.

GNOMe is an acronym for Geometry, Number Sense, Operations, and Measurement.

As you can see, I am starting the year posting the standards under the "Operations" heading because we begin the year with multiplication facts.

I plan to add the other areas as we get to them.

I think the visual display of the expectations will be important for my third graders.

Check out more info on GNOMe here. 

On the bottom left side of my focus wall is a legal size review board that I created.

We start our daily math work with a review of concepts on these boards that I change monthly.

I laminate the legal size sheets, and each day fill in a portion of the board.

For example on this board I write a number like 152 in the standard form section.

Then a student helper leads the class through showing 152 as requested in the other sections.

We show 152 expanded as 100+50+2, 

the word one hundred fifty-two,

the Roman Numeral CLII,

and then in the bottom sections students write numbers less than and greater than 152.

After school I erase the date we entered with a vis-a-vis pen, and change the number 152 to another number.

This process provides the students with a good review of basic math vocabulary.

At the beginning of each month, and new board replaces the current one.

I am convinced the daily review of third grade skills helped my students to make significant growth last year.

You can check out these monthly math boards in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.

What are you loving this week?

Word Work Pouches, PBIS Bulletin Board, Launch Readers Workshop - Monday Made It

Happy Monday!

I seem to be working the late shift each week as I add my post to Tara's Monday Made It Linky.

I'm in awe of the number of great ideas that are added each week (and early in the day, too!).

First up - these are pouches that I plan to have my third graders use for word sorts.

We use Words Their Way, and the students need a place to store the words they cut out each week.

I think these will work great!

I got the pouches at Office Depot this week for a quarter each!

You can only get 6 at a time, so I made a couple trips.

The chevron washi tape was on sale at JoAnn Fabric and Crafts, 

and the blue washi tape was also on sale at Office Depot.

I love these posters from Creative Teaching Press!

They come in a pack of eight different designs, and I hope to use each one to kick-off  PBIS lessons.

In my school we do a half hour PBIS lesson each Wednesday, and sometimes I am need of inspiration for the lessons. You can see all the posters here.

I plan to ask the students to discuss the quotes on the posters in small groups first.

Then they will dramatize a real life situation in our classroom that fits the quote.

Since my third graders are often big fans of Minecraft, I thought they might be

 intrigued by my play on words.

The letters are also from Creative Teaching Press - aren't they eye-catching??

I recently did an update to my "I Can... Statements for Launching Readers Workshop". 

These posters are perfect for establishing focus in your lessons as you begin the school year.

Below is an example of my focus board.

Also included in the pack are smaller copies of the I Can.... statements that are the perfect size for adding to Reading Response Journals.

I ask my students to write a reflection on the lesson to summarize the concept.

The posters and smaller copies look great when printed in either color or black and white.

You can purchase this product in my TpT store for $3.00.

Click here to visit my store.

Thanks for checking out my blog!