Classroom Update

This week I was FINALLY able to get into my classroom! Yay! I am definitely NOT done with my room, but I took some pictures of I what I have done so far.

I ALWAYS start with my bulletin boards. It is easiest for me when I don't have to navigate around furniture. All of my boards, are papered and bordered, but two of them are done. My first completed board was my Word Wall. (Technically, not completed since I will add to it throughout the year.)

The work table by the word wall is our word work station. More to come on that in another post.

The next board completed was my student work wall. For this board, I spray painted clothes pins and superglued tacks to the back, like this...

The completed board has 15 slots for student work, and a dry erase board for my Independent work group. I will show how I use this board in a later post. If you are going to line up clips like this, I suggest putting the paper in them first, to help with spacing.

I will be posting a room tour as soon as its ready!

Let's keep it up for the little hands and START working on those lesson plans!

- Amber 

Departmentalizing Organization: Part 1

One of the biggest challenges I face with my second graders is staying on task. These little ones will find any excuse to get up, move around and get out of some work. Last year, I did pretty well with this battle, until it came time to color, cut or glue something. I WANTED  NEEDED a better way to organize my school supplies so student's wouldn't have to leave their seats. At a school like mine, rules and procedures need to be very structured. My student's do NOT do well with downtime.

Since I am departmentalizing this year, it was even more important because my students will not be able to share desks. So this is what I came up with.

I found these bins at Costco (I think they were $19.99 for all 5). Each group of desks will have one bin placed in the empty center desk. When student's need something from the bin, I will ask the team captain (who changes every week) to pull out the bin.

Inside each bin are 6 pouches, two post-it pads, and a pocket folder. Everything my student's should need is in this box.

The pouches are labeled and hold enough for each person in the group. The students can find glue (stick and liquid), highlighters and pens, markers, scissors and rulers, colored pencils, and crayons in the pouches.

The amazing Yoobi company donated all of my supplies for my students. Working for a title 1 school is pretty hard. Many times we do not have certain materials we need, so this was HUGE! Almost 50% of my students cannot afford school supplies, and depend solely on donations like these. If I can't get my hands on donations for my kids, I usually end up buying school supplies for them. It takes a chunk out of my paycheck, but you will never find someone who appreciates it more then they do.

And lastly, there is a 2 pocket folder in each bin with primary and wide ruled paper, and printer paper.  Post-its are added for when we complete our exit-tickets, post-it parking lot, etc.

You may have noticed that pencils, whiteboards and dry erase markers are not in these bins. I have another organization system for those, more to come later.

You may be asking yourself, "How do you expect 7 year olds to keep this clean and organized?" I mentioned the team captain before. Every week the team captain switches with another member from the group. Each student will have a sticker chart, that looks like this:

If they do their job everyday and keep everything clean and organized they receive a sticker.
Once they fill up their chart they can either pick something from the treasure box or my book bin. I get books donated every now and then and add them to my classroom library and my book bin. Students get to pick books from the bin to keep and build up their at-home library. Again, the majority of my students do not have books at home to read.

I will let you know how this turns out. I am always trying new things and learning how to make it better.

Until next time,  keep it up for the little hands and continue working on those lesson plans!

- Amber

Class Dojo Groups!!!

Is anyone as excited about this as I am?! Two years ago I used Class Dojo as my primary class management system. My kids loved it. Last year, I used a color chart, but still set up my class with class dojo to use the timer and the random feature. 

Since we are departmentalizing this year, my partnering teacher and I decided that class dojo will be the easiest class management for us to use and keep track of behavior. Once we get it all figured out, I will post it. 

If you have never used class dojo, check it out. It's really neat. 

Let's keep it up for the little hands, and work on those lesson plans!

- Amber

It's about that time of year again...

At about this time every year, I start to get super pumped up for the upcoming school year. Since I am not able to get into my classroom until next week, I figured I would show you my classroom last year (2014-2015).

Please keep in mind that my classroom was moved twice, up to two days before Meet the Teacher. I took these photos right after I met my kids during Meet the Teacher.

When you walked into my room, this is what you would see. My school is a STEM magnet, specifically engineering and technology so almost everything we do is done in groups. Therefore it was really important for my kids to be placed in groups.

This was the front of my room. I found this carpet at Goodwill for $30! Unfortunately, the grip on the bottom was falling apart so the carpet would end up crumpled by the end of the day. I am going to add a no-slip barrier this year and hope that it helps. I love it too much to give it up. 

This was our computer area. We became a magnet this year and received a 4th computer, presentation station, and 4 iPads. 

I had my jobs chart, Where are we magnets and post-it parking lot on our door. Funny story about the post-it parking lot, I never got to use it. About a week into school, workers came in and painted the doors, tearing it all down. I was so frustrated I never put it back up. Maybe I will again this year. To the right of the door I have my dismissal ribbons, and to the left our cleaning station and specials menu. 

This was where my kids lined up. Each student is assigned a number (based on alphabetical order). They keep this number for the entire year. They write this number on their papers, line up on it, and have an assigned mailbox. Numbering my student helps with EVERYTHING! I can quickly look through papers to see who did not turn something in, make it a roll call, and even quickly see who is absent. On the counter is an old paper sorter (I have since retired this one) that I use as the students mailboxes. All graded work goes into their box. 

Also, as students came in with school supplies they sorted all of it on the back counter and into specified drawers (less for me to do), which is why they are in the picture. Usually that counter is cleared off.

This is my small group station (or teacher table) and my library. Again, this is before everything got put away and settled. My library is now organized by guided reading level, but I'll post more about that with my new classroom. 

This was another center area. I was very proud of myself this year, in keeping everything pretty organized throughout the year. I expected my student's to keep it up, and they did. 

Last one, is my workspace. Again this changed when we received our presentation station, but I'll show more on that with my next classroom post. I got these glittered letters from Wal-mart for $1 a piece. 

I am so excited about setting up and organizing my classroom for this 2015-2016 school year! It is going to look very different!

Let's keep it up for the little hands, and work on those lesson plans!

Amber