Setting Up the Classroom

I still love my classroom. It just takes me more than 1 day for me to set it up. I usually need 3 different occasions to tackle it, since each time has a different mental outlook. 

First Day:

It's moving all the furniture.  

All the desks, tables, carts, chairs, bookshelves, bench find their home. I check spacing. 

**Brand new teachers - please pull out the chairs as if a kid is sitting there, make sure they can easily sit in their desk and see the board.  

I have had different arrangements over the years.  With this space, there is a lot more walking room if I can put them into 3 table groups.  I hope I can. This is my starting off place for the year.  Pods of 5 or 6 work well too. If I have to change to rows I'll do that, but it's hard since all walking space is gone.

First days are always more of the physical effort.

Second Day:

It's about unloading the cabinets, fixing the walls, and prepping the white board.

This is when I think it starts to hit me that the classroom comes to life.  When personality goes back in.

This is the day that I get easily distracted and start puttering around the classroom - placing items as if I don't remember what I did last year, or what I've learned from the past. I know this bulletin board is always better at this spot, why did I want to change it? 

I bring a Swifter duster to tackle the walls, and check to make sure the bulletin boards have another year of life in them.  

Third Day:

This is when I'm making sure that everything is ready for the first day of school.  Any copies that need to be made? Everything on the desks that should be on their desks? Things written on the board. Lesson plans ready to go, read alouds pulled out... Class list finalized? Time to write names on name tags and participation sticks, and go through my first day plans to make sure I've pulled everything.  I try to think of everything I'll need and get it in easy reach.  

Today I'm in the classroom, day 3, prepping for Monday.  Final push... The kids are coming!!! 

I hope this helps,

Goodbye Summer

Anyone else have a pile of stuff in their dining room, ready to head back to school? Today is the last day of my vacation... and I have yet another doctor appointment.  Yeah, it is what it is...

Summer... what a blast it has been. 

A relaxing blast.  

A stressful blast.

A life changing blast.

This summer was the one that we pretty much stayed home.  We didn't have any big trips.  We stayed close to home.  It is what it is... sometimes autism and anxiety limit our family adventures. It is our life.

My oldest chauffeured me around a lot and then got his license.

We tackled well child checks, eye appointments, dental visits, etc...

We visited multiple colleges.

My youngest had a dental procedure which required general anesthesia. Kind of a stressful mommy moment...

I read a lot of books - none of which were professional development.  The Kindle Unlimited membership came in handy.

I watched TV shows and movies. 

I met up with friends. Adult conversation is the best.  

I did a lot of miles on the bike.

I walked a ton. When it got hot, I found videos on Youtube that helped. My kids joined me.

My husband quit his job and is transferring to a new career.  

I found out I'm diabetic. 

I'm learning a lot. I'm being stretched. There have been a lot more appointments to fit in before school starts.  

But now school is starting. Year 22. It's hitting me that I was 22 when I got my first classroom.  Half my life I've been teaching... That makes me feel old.  

And my own kids now being a senior, sophomore, and sixth grader aren't helping either. I'm almost the shortest one in my house.  Getting ready for an emotional senior mom year. 

I'm hopeful though.  It has to be easier than last year, right?

So on this last day of summer, I'm trying to relax and do one last thing for me. I hope you are able to do something for you too.  

Hope you have a great day!

Prepping Freezer Meals - Summer Project

In July I tend to start thinking ahead to Back to School season. When life gets crazy again and I’m back to being exhausted. Over the years I’ve done different things to help the future me by prepping some meals. The week before I have to head back there are certain things that I always tackle... this is one of them. 

I love a good crockpot meal, so for a few years I would make up the different sauces from the Six Sisters and freeze them. Then I could just toss some meat into the crockpot with a sauce packet on top and be done. They now have freezer recipes too.  :)  

I made up some dump meals for the crockpot too. Just freeze them in plastic gallon bags, dump them out, and cook.

Then I started making up freezer casserole type meals after seeing some Freezer Friday Lives by PPP. Laurie is super motivating. Using disposable pans, plastic wrap, and foil make it easy. It’s just a matter of planning in advance what day to eat, and then defrosting a couple of days before. 

Anyway, here are 3 family favorite recipes on the Passionate Penny Pincher website, there are tons more favorites in the meal plan:

*Pesto Tortellini Bake

*Cheesy Spaghetti Bake

*Cracker Barrel Grilled Chicken Sandwich

I own the freezer meal plan, but there are tons of others out there for free as well.  Pasta casseroles always have multiple steps, which take time that I don't always have after a school day.  These seem to freeze really well.  

Just wanted to encourage you to help your future self during the summer. If you can plan and prep some easy meals for the first couple weeks of school, it can help with the stress levels.  

Some friends are making big batches of soup and freezing for easy lunches.  Others are making casseroles, freezing meat with marinades, and making some dump meals. I need to catch up and at least make something for the freezer.  My motivation has been pretty low lately.  I've been in denial that school is starting soon.  

I hope this helps,  

Summer Prepping... Random Classroom Projects

Today I wanted to share some randomness of old Instagram pictures of projects that I do at the end of summer to prep for the new year.  Super simple stuff, that I can handle when my brain is starting to ramp up to stress levels. These are old pictures because I still need to prep them for this upcoming year... when I have motivation to head to the store...

I like making a new set of these participation pencil sticks each year.  Do I really need them? No, not really.  But they make me smile every time I use them to pull a stick.  They are really easy to prep.

Items to gather: popsicle sticks, mustard yellow craft paint, rose pink craft paint, and a sharpie.

Paint the middle of the stick yellow, then go back and do one end pink - leaving room for the sharpie detail.  It takes maybe 15 minutes when I get going.  I add names and class numbers later on when that is ready.  

I also like to do this to my sets of new markers.  I only buy markers for groups to use, one set for fall, another set for spring.  I take all the markers out of the box, and then use duct tape at the caps to tightly hold them together.  See how the tape is attached? I LOVE doing it this way, because the tape makes the set stick together all year long... and it's very easy to know if the markers aren't tightly closed.  

Another project that I do while watching TV is making up my new Book Bead pipe cleaners.  I only need black pipe cleaners and black pony beads to prep.  I stick the pony bead about 1 inch on an end, then twist the cleaner so it's attached. I fold over tiny address labels around the stem with class numbers.  This helps us to figure out what pipe cleaner belongs to which kid.  Then they are ready for my mason jars at school.  

Okay, one last thing that I do when I'm daydreaming about the new year is create a basic template of my classroom.  The things that I can't move around - like the counter, doors, whiteboard, etc... After I have the things that I can't move, or that I know I don't want to move, I make copies of the plan so I can draw my different desk, table, and bookshelf arrangements without having to redraw everything.  

I haven't done much on Instagram in over a year, but at least the old pictures remind me of what I have done.  Here's my IG link if you want to go through my old feed.

 

Hope this helps, 

I Love Lamination...

It's that time of year, the chance to cover all the paper with plastic... again... At least they will remain durable over the next year.  :)  

I wanted to share what I've been busy laminating.  I still need to cut them out, but I do have some shows recorded to watch over the coming weeks.  i.e. It's a boring job...

For this coming year, I have those whiteboard signs, I showed them to you last week.

I also have prepped some Game cards by Katelyn's Learning Studio  for quick access.

And a set of Bloom's Questions by Kim Miller. These are for me to use as a reference. Sometimes I need a little help making sure my questioning goes deep.  

  

I grabbed some Math Sentence Stems from Keep Your Chin Up to add to my bulletin board.

I'm still waiting on my class list, then I will update name tags, and laminate those as well.  

There are other things in my classroom that were laminated long ago that are still in perfect shape, hanging on my walls and ready for a quick dust when it's time to head back into the classroom. Wanted to share, in case you were looking for ideas of things to prep...

I have pictures of all the covers of my read aloud novels laminated to hang up as we read them throughout the year. I shared how to do it back on this post.  

I use these Voice Levels by Fourth Grade Flair on my board at the beginning of the year.

I have these Class Dojo growth mindset signs by Whale-come to Elementary right inside my door. My students seem to always like Class Dojo animals...

I have used these Job cards by Lindsay Flood for years - I have them taped on the side of my file cabinet, and we change out the jobs weekly. 

I have all these Math Anchor Charts by Teaching and so Fourth prepped, as a quick reminder.  As a class we also come up with our own anchor chart to review our strategies for the units. I have the kids copy these into their Math comp. books. I hole punched on a corner, have a binder ring on them, and then hang them up on a magnetic curtain rod near our math board. 

I also have a pre-made set of ELA strategy anchor charts by The Stellar Teacher prepped.  These stay up on my board as a reminder, and they do copy them into their notebook as we go through them, but we do make our own anchor charts as well.  

I have all my the Root cards by forkin4th prepped. Then it's easy to throw up the certain ones that we learned that week in our spelling.  

I also have the Grammar circles by Hello Fifth to use with our Mentor Sentences by Jessica Ivey.

I have this entire math task card bundle from Jennifer Findley prepped and in task card holders. It's a lot easier to prep this kind of thing (my opinion) during the summer.

So, yes, this year isn't at all as much as past years' prep.  There's something to be said for finding things that work well that you can prep once and use a long time. A personal laminator is by far one of the best investments I've ever made for my classroom.  

I personally like the Purple Cow one the best.  :)  It has lasted the distance.  

What have you been laminating lately?

Whiteboard Signs - Easy Summer Project

After the 4th of July, I always start getting excited about the next school year.  Not that I'm ready to go back, but I start tackling some classroom prep.  Helping my future self, and all of that... I start going through my files of back to school items, and seeing what I need to print out for this coming year.  

One easy project is printing out a new set of whiteboard signs.  Easy right? Some years I get lucky and my old set is still good to go, but some years I don't know what happened and they are a messy mess.  Like this past May.  I knew I would need to redo them for this year.  

I wanted to update the font, and they just felt grimy, so I printed out a new set to use. Print, laminate, and ready to go...

The headings I stick on the board have different purposes. Here's what I have and why.

Focus board: I make a grid on the board with washi tape. 

Subjects go on the left side vertically, and Headings are on the top horizontally. It looks like this (here's my digital version from last year's distance learning):

Subjects: Math, Reading, Writing, Social Studies, and Science

Headings: Essential Questions, I Can... I Know I Can Because...

Must Do: This area is where I keep the running list of weekly in class work to accomplish.

May Do: I use this area to jot early finisher options.

Color Teams and a list of colors: I use this area to keep track of group points using tally marks. It's a great job for a kid that needs to get up often. I cut the colors apart, and they go on the board vertically under the Color Team heading. I give color points for participation, cleaning up their area, doing certain tasks, etc.  It's a competition... End of the week we tally the points and the winning group gets a prize.  

Voice Levels: I start off the year going over the different expectations, and jot down the number so there is a visual reminder.  The goal is that eventually I don't have to update the board anymore.

Book Talks: This area is where the kids jot down their name when they are ready for an afternoon conference. They jot their name down sometime before lunch, and then I go through as many as possible directly after lunch during silent reading. The goal is that everyone signs up by themselves by Thursday, or else I start calling them over to check in.  

Reminders: Yeah, reminders. :) 

Homework: In a normal year I give out homework on Monday - due Wednesday, and Wednesday - due Friday.  Last year I gave it all out on Monday - due Friday.  I don't like doing nightly homework, I used to do that and it was just too much paper coming in each day.  Comparing it all, I like breaking it up a bit so I don't have as many stragglers and have as much to correct on Friday.  But that part of the board is where I keep our list.

Help: Every kid in class has a job to complete to help the classroom run smoothly.  That's in a different area that we change out every 2 weeks.  This area is for those things beyond our normal helpers.  I jot things on post it notes, and if time the kids can come up and grab a note to complete. Things like paper book orders unclipped, or art projects taken off the wall... stuff that kids can easily do that isn't part of the normal routine, when I just need an extra set of hands. 

There is a lot that I stick up on my board.  Other than the focus grid, which takes up a large portion, it's mainly on the outer edges of the board so there is room for me to write during our lessons too.  I do mainly use the doc camera... 

Anyhow, here is my file in case it can help you. The font is KG Summer Sunshine if you want to make your own headings.  :)  

Hope it helps,

Pacing Binder - Easy Summer Project

When I start thinking about the next year I always head over to our staff portal to download and print the next batch of pacing guides. I know some of them get updated yearly with new dates. I know I don’t have to print them, but since I’m such a paper/pencil kind of person that I need this… 

I have a binder with sheet protectors for all the papers. I use sheet protectors since it makes it easier to flip and find the pages.  I got the binder from the Get Your Teach On conference last year.  :) This has everything in it for the year. It's basically my brain and keeps me on track. 

Here's what I have inside:

*Overall district yearly plan for ELA (includes our STEM units too) and Math. These have specific dates on them for my district.

*The report card plans with unit and score explanations. We are switching from academic and standards based to ONLY standards based for next year.  Its going to be an adjustment.  :) 

*Our spelling plan (we skip some lists), the weekly focus, and the actual words. 

*Our states/capitals lists and answer key. In past years we’ve alternated states/capitals one week and spelling list the next. Flip flopping to give kids time to memorize.

*I have the list of Mentor Texts in there from Jessica Ivey (Jivey).  I do use Mentor Sentences on a weekly basis.  Since I skip around and use texts based on the units that we are studying, it makes it easy to keep track of what I still need to cover.

*Math plan has each lesson in order for the year- we skip around in the math book as we go through the standards. This also has the essential questions that we’ve decided on as a grade level. 

*Social Studies has the units, lessons, and essential questions, and projects. I need to go back and update with the different tech links after this year. 

*Science unit planners have the lessons, essential questions, and materials lists. 

*I have my list of novels tucked in there too. There is a certain order that ties into the learning of our units and standards. For example we read a lot of historical fiction that ties into our SS. I keep more information for each novel, with activities and specifics, in a file folder in my cabinet.

*We have a social emotional curriculum, and I have a list of the different lessons in there as well. We skip around as well, since a lot of them are covered during our DARE lessons.  

I'm also considering typing up the normal STEM projects and Open House projects to add for this next year. I really like having as much information as possible together for an easy flip.  My brain keeps getting more and more forgetful when stressed, don't know if it's an age thing, or a mom thing, or whatever... so I'm learning that I need to have more things written down to refer to. 

Do you have a binder too? What’s inside?

Hope this helps.

My Student Conference Binder - Easy Summer Project

I'm a binder girl. Tons of binders for different purposes, this one holds the info. for my student conferences.  I know I could do this on the computer, but once again- I’m old school and like paper/pencil. I think it helps me to remember things more if I just write them down. My binder has seen better days, and maybe I should get a new one, but I really love it. 

In my binder I have dividers for each kid in class. Each divider is labeled 1-32. Yep, 32 is our max. The class numbers let me reuse them from year to year. During the school year, I keep a class sheet in the front with the numbers and names to help me remember until I get that info. memorized. This is a July project for me to tackle since I was not in any mind space to tackle it in May.  I need to update each tab of the binder with the new sheets for next year, ripping out the old pages. Then I'll be ready to go. 

I use this binder for a few different things as I conference with the kids. I just flip to their section when it’s time to meet. Years ago I used a spiral notebook, one page for each kid - I just flipped to the correct page.  It doesn't have to be fancy. :)  

I call them over for our Book Talks and I keep track of their genres under their specific tab. They have a list going in their ELA composition book too. Book Talks usually happen during silent reading or independent work time. Kids sign up on a list on the board that they are ready to share with me. After they share their completed book, I give them the appropriate book bead, and they go update their pipe cleaner. I didn’t get to do book beads this last year, and I missed it!

In my binder I have the Reading Conference sheet that we are currently using from Joanne Miller - it has made it easy for me to remember the specific things I want to go through with the kids. Different focuses for different parts of the year. I try to meet with everyone during the week. If they don’t sign up for a time by Wednesday, then I start calling them to check in, even if they aren’t done with the book. I just jot their answers on a piece of binder paper that is tucked inside their section.

Another thing in the binder are the rubric sheets. I call them over when it’s time to update with new scores- usually after tests and before retests. They do the shading in my binder when we go over scores together. I have rubric grids for Reading, Writing, Math, and Science.  The little grids are printed 4 per page (little), but it’s big enough to do a quick highlight. I write the test/formative title on the side with the date, then they highlight their score. It's an easy way to show growth. It is so awesome to come back to the visuals after retests and update with the higher scores. They feel so good! 

I also put their goals in the binder so we can reference when it’s time. They make goals at the beginning of the year and then we review at progress report time, update again at the beginning of each new trimester. They have their copy in a sheet protector in their folder, and I jot them down in my binder as well. It keeps us on the same page.

During our conferences I love to go over compliments that I’ve noticed for them. Things I’m proud of them for, and things that I think they can work on. How can they improve if they don’t get feedback?  It helps me remember to spot the good. It also makes it easy for me to send a quick Class Dojo message to parents. As a parent, I love those messages. 

Hope this helps. Do you use a binder to keep organized?