Back to School

I seriously cannot believe it is time to head back to school tomorrow! The good news is that my classroom is all set up and ready to go. This year was SO much easier compared to last year. It is amazing the difference a year makes. I feel like I spent most of last year getting down my own personal routines and finding the perfect spot for things. At first I had so many things spread out and eventually everything found a "home" that was more useful. I believe I blogged a bit last year about organization and boy did it help. I spent most of the summer on Pinterest. I am more than slightly obsessed to say the least. This year my classroom is Pinterest based. It has been so wonderful to virtually peek into classrooms and see how other teachers do things. This year in my room the good things stayed and I improved (or tried to) others. Here's a little peek into my classroom :-)

The "Smart Cookies" board is the same as last year. You can find better pics in my organization post. It is my "What can I do, I'm all through" board where I put worksheets and activities that can be completed once they are done with their classwork. My Twitter/Facebook (I haven't decided what it is based on) board is new for this year. Throughout the year I will post questions for students to answer. I laminated the word bubble cards from Walmart (88 cents!) so they are dry erase. On the left is a section for birthdays and the blank spot on the bottom will be the lunch menu. The blue oval to the left is a "no name" paper holder that is conveniently above the recycle bin. I've decided this year that I am NOT hunting down the owners of no name papers and after they are up for a few days in the recycle bin they will go. After that they will just have to do it over. My thought is that after re-doing work so many times names will be put on papers! In September we are supposed to be getting tables, hip-hip-hooray! Bye bye desks, I cannot wait to see you gone :-)

 

This bowl is on my bookshelf, I think you can barely make it out in the last picture. I decided this year to really try to reward positive behavior so I am trying a ticket system. Students can earn tickets for good behavior and they go in the bowl. I plan to pull 5 tickets each Friday for my reward earners. Rewards this year are coming in the form of coupons that I found on, you guessed it, Pinterest! They are everything from homework passes, lunch passes, stinky feet passes (no shoes) and basically other things that cost me nothing.

Luckily from my summer job I had a million plastic containers like you get out of candy/toy machines so that is what they went in.

I managed to bum the bookshelf from another teacher who no longer had use for it and I am working on turning it into my math game station. The small bags will hold card games and the bottom will be other file folder games. Around my window I added some signs from http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com The website is AMAZING and I wish I had room for each and every one of them. My TV cart also houses my inside recess goodies. Seeing this picture reminds me that I have yet to go through it to see what's left. Let's just hope it doesn't rain tomorrow and we don't need to use it. My clip chart I also talked about in a previous blog and is now set up for both classes.

 

I finally made curtains for my windows. Once they were up and suspended by fishing line I realized one panel was put on backwards so the pattern is wrong. It is not worth the hassle to take it all down and switch it. I am pretty happy with them for the 15 dollars worth of fabric and 10 minutes worth of sewing they took.

 

OH OH OHHHHH! I almost forgot to tell you about my amazing FREEBIE! Our school bought us electric pencil sharpeners that are AMAZING and soooo QUIET. It doesn't take much to make me happy. Haha.

 

One last thing... I updated my mailboxes to make them more fun and colorful.

I have a few more things to share but didn't think to get pictures of. I seriously cannot believe that tomorrow is the first day of school. Hopefully this year will go just as well, if not better, than last. I look forward to meeting and getting to know each of my 43 (10 less than last year!) students tomorrow.

To everyone else who is about to or has started the 2012-2013 school year I wish you the best!

Ms. J

Finally!

We made it! Actually now we are past it but lordy be we finally made it to the one year mark! I am just so excited to actually be able to plan and be crafty. After waiting a year and a half to be able to do anything I am just so ready to begin and I know the time is going to fly by! I have collected all of the jars that I need to make my favors now I am just waiting for peaches and blackberries to come in so that I can get started. I have also gone Pinterest crazy! If you haven't checked it out yet you should! I am going milk glass crazy. I just love it. At first it just started as collecting for center pieces but now that I am getting to know the patterns I would like a collection.

I suppose that it all for now I just wanted to yell WOOHOOO we are getting married in less than a year!

And They Flew

How bittersweet endings are... Today was the last day of school for my students and it was one emotional roller coaster ride for us all. I cannot even begin to say how amazing it is to think of how far they have all come and how hard they worked. That in itself brings tears to my eyes all over again. The willingness to learn has such an impact on a child's education and while I did have to poke and prod some along the way I am confident that they are all going on to 6th grade prepared for the challenge.

We celebrated with ice cream floats and a movie. We talked about our favorite adventures together and how proud they were of themselves. Finally at the end there were so many tears that it all has become a blur of my wonderful students hugs and I'll miss yous. When last bell finally rung I walked out with my 3rd round students and it really hit me that it was all over. I would never truly have a "first year" again. Yes, I may end up teaching different subjects or at new schools but I know that I will never have an experience quite like this again. I really could not have been more blessed this year. Don't get me wrong, we had our share of ups and downs. There were times when I wanted to throw in the towel and quit. There were even a few seconds of "Why did I choose teaching, isn't there something easier?".  All of those things have been replaced with happy memories and student success's. I suppose it's similar to how they say once you have a baby you forget the pain, you revel in their beauty and the world is right again.

For a fleeting moment this afternoon my world was perfect. I was basking in the glow of success and pending summertime. Reveling in the fact that I HAD done it. Somehow, I had survived my first year with no major battle scars. Then changes started happening and before I knew it I was being told that I just might be moving to language arts/social studies. Same grade but different subject. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy language arts but I sooooooo want to stay in math and science. I HATED, yes capital HATED, math until this year. Teaching it has been so wonderful. I love the rules and steps to reach a calculated answer. There is one right answer but so many ways to explore to get there. Science, well I have always enjoyed science. The projects and hands on experiments are so much fun and of course my students love it. More than anything it is heartbreaking that all of my hard work and hours upon hours of diligently planning are about to be thrown out. My ideas of how to build upon what I have and improve lessons. Plans for experiments and hands on math lessons.... Potentially all gone. Not to mention that I have spent thousands of dollars on math and science books and supplies. Luckily those things are mine to keep but it's dreadful to think that they were only used for a year.

I suppose the sensible side of me is trying to reason with the overly emotional side of me and is trying to say that it will be okay. That in light of all that is going on with the economy I do have a job. That in itself is a blessing. In the end I will do whatever I am asked to do. If it means regrouping and re planning then so be it. I can learn to love language arts and social studies as I do math and science. I CAN do this....

The teacher
said to the students:
"Come to the edge."
They replied: "We might fall."

The teacher again said:
"Come to the edge,"
and they responded:
"It's too high."

"Come to the edge,"
the teacher demanded.

And they came –
and the teacher pushed them,
and they
Flew.

Almost There

She held her grief behind her eyes like an ocean and when she leaned forward into the day it spilled onto the floor and she wiped at it quickly with her foot and pretended no one had seen.

Oh What Fun!

Whew! What a whirlwind weekend it has been! Friday my beautiful cousin Rebecca got married, Saturday my cousin Katie had her graduation party, and Sunday Grant and I hiked Mary's Rock. Busy busy but so much fun!

Here are a few pics from Rebecca and Hunter's wedding. Unfortunately I didn't take my big camera so the pictures turned out blurry/dark

 The very pretty ceremony site

 How cute is the table setting?!

On Saturday we went to Katie's graduation party at the river. It was quite a busy weekend for the Williams family, one getting married and the other graduating. We are all so proud of Katie and all of her accomplishments at Virginia Tech. While we were there I had the opportunity to take some pictures of Ruby. She is just soooooo very cute! See for yourself!



Those are just a few of the pics. Silly blogger is having a difficult time loading tonight. The next activity of the weekend would be hiking Mary's Rock in SNP on Sunday with Grant. It was fun. The climb is a bit rough but then again you are climbing a mountain! The trip down was much more enjoyable. Haha. Here are a few pics from that.

And I am luck enough to call this beautiful place HOME!

Oh, one last thing.... WE ARE FINALLY IN THE 300's! 397 to be exact. Yippie!

Making memories

I cannot believe that there are less than 30 days left of school! Crazy, crazy... where has the time gone? While I am excited for summer I am really going to miss my students. They will be big middle schoolers next year! It is really amazing to see how far they have come and how much they have learned. I must say I have learned a lot as a first year teacher. There are so many things that they never tell you in college. Trial by fire has been my theory of the year. *Knock on wood* it has been a wonderful, wonderful year!

Here are a few additions to my last post of things to remember for the future:

 It took me all year of saying "I wish we had mailboxes" to finally find something that worked for me! One of my favorite things about teacher work days is getting the chance to stop by other teachers classrooms and go to other schools for meetings (scoping out other teachers ideas while visiting is the best part, duh). While in another school I noticed a teacher using shoe organizers as mailboxes and poof, I now have mailboxes! The downside is that our Walmart only carried one that had 24 slots, my homeroom has 26 students so we just doubled up on some. Because I have 50+ students I wanted to make sure that whatever I chose did not take up precious surface space so this was a great solution. I plan to hang these a little better next year but for now they work just fine. The best thing about this is that I no longer spend ANY class time handing out papers. Students are to collect their work in the morning, between classes, or in the afternoon. No one may get their work during class so that cuts down on the unnecessary up and down trips that 10 year olds like to make. It is also wonderful to be able to see who has collected their papers and who has not. I have found that papers actually go home now instead of ending up on my floor. You may be asking why I numbered each one. That is because we use a code system for grading. Each student gets a code, it goes in alphabetical order, at the beginning of the year. This makes it super easy to see who is missing work and to put them in order to be graded. Numbering the spot also makes it super reusable for next year! Next to each section I have students name and code number so that filing is easy when someone forgets to put their code number on a paper. I wish I had come across these earlier in the year but I am super happy to be using them now.

 Area and perimeter project:
Last week we worked on area and perimeter so the other 5th grade teacher and I decided it would be fun to create a math lab for hands on learning. We used painters tape to create shapes that were to be measured by the students. I was on the naughty list with the janitors for the day because they were sure that it wouldn't come up cleanly but it was worth it. In the end everything came up just fine and my students had so much fun learning more about area and perimeter. Also, here's a tip that kept them straight between the two terms. To find the perimeter: You have to take the dog outside of the house to potty. Perimeter-potty-plus (addition) our 3 P's of perimeter. Haha. Perhaps it's crude but it worked. Area is like an area rug in a living room, it's on the inside.

 My room is a wreck but one of my favorite quotes is "Please excuse the mess, the children are learning." I would rather have a messy room and happy students who are having fun learning than a neat room with boring bumps on a log.I do believe that's enough for now. Time to prepare for the week ahead! We have a field trip Thursday and a teacher work day Friday so this will be a quick teaching week.

Spring Cleaning

Yet again, WOW! Time flies, does it not?! This whole time change still has me thrown off. While we have more daylight I feel like I get less and less done. I suppose part of it is that I want to be outside in the nice weather instead of doing school work. I've built up to walking 7 miles a day and I LOVE going farther each time. The walks give me time to make long lists of "to-do's" in my head. Somehow the things on that list rarely get done but I suppose it is great to lay them all out. One thing that I keep thinking about and forgetting to do is blog. I have come up with so many things that I want to remember for the future. Most of the stuff has to do with organization. I have been trying very hard to be more organized, in turn that makes me more efficient, which is never a bad thing. Here's my list of classroom things to remember for next year:

1. Planning Binder:
I cannot even begin to tell you how many lesson plan layout's I have been through in order to find just the right thing for me. I have tried numerous great plans that I have found online and created a dozen templates myself. It did not help at all that halfway through the year our daily schedule changed in the afternoon. I went from teaching 2 45 minute science classes to an A-B schedule with 90 minute classes. At first the "extra" time sounded great. Then I realized how much of an adjustment this would be for both my students and myself. Being that I only saw them every other day due to the rotation they really had to learn to study on their own, this is huge for 5th graders. I also had to learn how to effectively use the 90 minutes. You would think it's simple, just squeeze two lessons together, but it isn't. Anywho, we are adjusting and it is getting better as time goes on. Here's my binder which has really helped. I just love it.

My pretty tabs! Eek. I love the simple numbers and that there is no card to keep sliding out of its place. Each tab is pretty self explanatory. It's set up so that pretty much anyone could come in and find the information that they need. This has been especially helpful when I have a sub. I have tabs for the following things: 1. Our schedule, including encore rotations, bathroom breaks, class/locker switches, early release times, late day schedule and a calender with important school events/meetings. 2. School information has a map of the school, school policy book, and other important school information. 3. Student info includes my class roster, birthday lists, who can participate in classroom guidance/family life/other extra things as well as the parent contact sheet. 4 & 5 contain everything I need to know for our SOL's which are convenient to be able to flip to when planning. It also contains my pacing guide for each and other subject related resources. 6 is my favorite which I'll post another picture of:

 Each month has its own tab. Within the tabbed sections is the corresponding monthly calender for long term/goal planning and event reminders. Yes, I know, I have two places for events. Repetitive but it works for me and it's easier for me to see when long term planning/pacing. After that are my lesson plans by day. Most days do not need much detail, just the basic SOL's, goals for the day, etc. At the end of each week, sometimes day, I jot down notes about lessons for next time. Since I teach AB days for science this really helps for the next day. I also use the notes section on my plans to jot down upcoming meetings, phone calls that need to be made and other important information. Here lately I have used this part as a place to jot down student behaviors. I keep a clipboard but it's also nice to have a place for more detailed information.

The last two tabs are for my two grade books. One set for my homeroom and on set for Mrs. Janneys. While I use PowerSchool online I frequenlty print out grade sheets just in case something would happen.

2. The next thing I want to remember is my crate. This is not such a great view but you get the idea. Each day has a hanging folder. In the hanging folder is a vanilla folder which I use to separate math work and science work for each day. Inside the folder I put unfinished work that we need to do that day. I also have a section for multiplication chart grids. It's an easy resource for students to pull from and they can choose to make a multiplication chart in their down time, you'll see where this comes in when I get to my back board. Then I have tabs for make-up work, extra papers, papers to return, behavior forms, and the pink folder holds extra lined paper. Students can pull from this as it is needed. It's bright and easy to spot from anywhere in the room. Inevitably students pull out the folder and leave it lay somewhere. Finally, I gave up with the lecture "put it back in its place" and changed to my bright pink folder. Most of my students get after each other for leaving it out now that it is so easy to spot. Basically I love my crate. It helps keep my front counter organized and it is always within my reach. It does take time to put everything in the correct spot but I try to do this at the beginning of the week, or the Friday before and convince myself that it is way easier to take the 10 minutes that it takes then verses scrambling for papers later which means in that minute all you know what breaks loose!

 A view of my front counter. Blue crate, pencils and other necessities and my newest idea: seat belts. They are the red strips hanging up. I was having a huge problem with several of my students up wondering around when they shouldn't be so in a moment of desperation seat belts were born. Basically when someone is having trouble staying in their seat they get a "seat belt". The paper just lays across their lap and serves as a reminder to stay in your seat. They are laminated so they slide off pretty easily. This works for us because it is a constant reminder to stay seated. I have only ever had to use them twice in the past 3 weeks. I leave them hanging up front as a reminder and all it takes is for me to say "do you need a seat belt?" for someone to have a seat and stay put. Perhaps it isn't the best technique but it works for us.

3. SMART COOKIES! You know how it goes, students get done and they think they can talk and distract others. This makes it hard when I am trying to work in small group with other students. Because of this I created folders. The original folders were kept in a crate and had work for students to complete and their math madness workbooks. They were to grab those when they finished. Well, let's just say that didn't always work so well. Because they had a million different options right in front of them at all times I found that students were working on those instead of following along in class. We still have the folders but they are saved for times when we have more than 5 extra minutes, like after a quiz when students are waiting for others to finish. I decided I needed something easier to track thus the back board was born. It's pretty much a bulletin board covered in folders with plastic sheet protectors on the front. The sheet protectors serve 2 purposes. 1. It shows students what the folder contains without them needing to pull anything out. 2. Once flipped up the other side contains the answers. This is a blessing for those who attempt the sudoku puzzles and need help every step of the way. I do not mind helping but they are supposed to chose things on their level so that I can work with my small group. I have a variety of skill levels and different looking worksheets. I have math puzzles, word problems, detective math problems as well as other things. It's a great place to put worksheets that we ran out of time for and other review work. Students can also choose to make a multiplication chart or grab math madness (if time allows). They have plenty of options so usually they are excited to choose something. Because of my air conditioner I couldn't go much higher with the folders. I would have had liked to add a few more but it just wasn't possible. I still need to make an "I'm all through, what can I do?" sign but here's what it looks like.

I suppose that will do for now. I have some more things that I will add later. I am already planning my room for next year. I CANNOT wait to clean out some junk and paint my walls. They are looking pretty nasty. I'm also hoping to get tables instead of my cumbersome desks. On a side note, if I do get these next year and complain please kick me and say "this is what you wanted". Our desks make it really hard to do anything but rows. BORING. Also, my smartboard wasn't centered so the rows have to be all wonky. I suppose I can deal with it all because i love having MY own classroom. Somedays it does still feel weird to be on the other side of the desk! Year 1 is flying by!