End of SY 2013-2014

I didn't keep up with my blog as I had previously planned.  This school year was actually my most trying year yet.  I had ALL of the behavior problems in my class, which called for tons of suspensions and referrals.  I even had five of my boys suspended on the last week of school for tagging up the boys' bathrooms in two of the wings. 

With the huge stress of testing and WASC this year, it was difficult for me to put a lot of what I wanted to do in place.  However, I've been on Pinterest like crazy the past few days trying to find things I can use in my classroom for next school year.  I'm also going to be teaching summer school, so I plan on using some of the ideas during the summer and seeing my students' reaction  to them. 

Wish me luck since SS starts bright and early tomorrow.  So much for a summer break!

Math Properties

I've been trying to do interactive Math notebooks like the teacher at http://www.rundesroom.com.  I've really enjoyed looking at her site and using her ideas with my students.  Please check out her blog!

So I've started working with different types of multiplication and addition properties.  I wanted to create a "cheat sheet" for the students to refer back to in their notebooks.  I looked at some things online and created my own foldable for the students to glue into their notebooks.  It was really easy to create and you can use your own textbook's vocabulary.  

I love that the kids refer back to it while doing their work.  I don't know why I didn't think of this before.  I could see how these different things could have really helped my former students with the same concepts. 

Class Stuff

I'm now on Day 3 of the new school year.  I found this awesome idea on Pinterest (thanks to http://2ndgradesandcastle.blogspot.com/) and decided to try it with my students this year.

I purchased a box of heavy-duty manila folders and taped it to the fronts (and sides) of the students' desks.  The kids love their pockets.  I think this is a great idea since it provides a place for them to stick their incomplete work and not get lost in their desks.  It's also easier for me because if students don't know what to do next, I can just say, check your pocket. 

There are so many other ideas on Pinterest that I want to try.  I'll have to see what I can do next.

Open House

I had posted some photos the other day of the state of my room.  I was worried I wasn't going to get the room ready for Open House.  Fortunately, I was able to get everything cleaned up.  I do plan on staying a little later during the first week to finish "cleaning."

Out of all the years at my current school, I think this Open House was my busiest.  I had 20 out of 26 families come to meet me and drop off supplies.  As I spoke with parents and the students, I felt that they were just as excited to start the year of as I was.  I'm  hoping for a good year.  Will keep you posted on how things go!

Workday #1

I've tried starting off the year on the right foot.  I've tried to be more organized with my classroom library and papers from our 2-day workshop.  Open House is already tomorrow night and here are some photos that show the state of my room.

I originally had the desks in rows, but I found that it took up lots of space, so I decided to move them around and create three groups that kind of look like Cs.  As you can see, I've also put tons of stuff on the desks.  I didn't take any photos of the floor, but there are boxes strewn all over the place.  The desk with all the baskets and the dish rack is my work desk.  Who can work with all that clutter?  Sorry the text and drawings on my photos are kind of childish.  I only started learning how to use the Paint feature to add stuff on to photos.

I'll be adding my "after" photos sometime this weekend to show you how it turned out for Open House. 

Fresh Start for the New School Year

After being on Pinterest for a few months now and getting different ideas from various pinners and blogs, I was somewhat motivated to restart my own teaching blog. I think sharing ideas and experiences will only help me improve my teaching and possibly help others in the same situation. 

We start school with meetings and workdays next week with the students coming in the following Monday. I have that nervous feeling I always get when the school year starts. My room is nowhere near ready and my ideas that I came up with this summer have not come into fruition yet...but I have this weekend and a few more days next week to really get started. 

I'm hoping that this year will be one of the best ever!

Reflection

It's been a while since I've typed anything in this teaching blog. However, something happened today that I want to remember... I was out at track practice in the afternoon and I saw a bunch of older kids walking towards us. They looked familiar, but I didn't really stare at them since I was trying to focus on the kids running. The older kids ended up being some of my former students from the first year I taught fifth grade. One of them was JCL. He was my favorite kid...smart, personable, and funny. He tells me that he ran for president for his grade level and was voted in. I was so proud of him. He continued to say that he was getting good grades and going to school on time (he was always tardy with me). He kept calling me Miss, so I wanted to make sure he remembered my last name. LoL He did! Oh and he looked genuinely happy that I had gotten married. I hope that in the future, I'll have more kids who come up to me and say hello. I love hearing updates about students. Fortunately, I can still recognize the students for the most part. I know as time goes on, I may not remember names as much.

So Much for Consistency

I thought I'd be able to keep up with my new blog, but as always, I come back a few weeks later than expected.

I lost my voice yesterday and sounded like I was talking with a frog in my throat for most of the day. Surprisingly, the kids were very sympathetic and pretty much behaved for the entire day. Working with the microphone and using facial expressions/gestures really worked. I have to remember to give them free computer time tomorrow as a reward for good behavior.

One of the things that I want to start working on is a research paper. I know that I always think about doing some kind of project every year, but it never happens. The only reason I wanted to do that is so that the kids don't go blind into researching da Vinci for the Curriculum Fair project. That's another thing I have to worry about doing as well.

I haven't done much Science with them either. I'm also going to be sending home packets for the first time in a while on Monday next week. I have to remember to compile everything that I want to make copies of for Monday so I'm not running around like a crazy person that morning.

Camera Shy

One of the things that I've been working on for the past few days is the work I'm going to be showing for the Literacy Night that's coming up next week Tuesday. I guess I've always been one of those people who work best under pressure, so I was able to come up with some decent things in the past couple of days. Having different sorts of technology at my school is really helpful since there's always so many different outlets for the students to come up with presentations. I've been taking photos and recording the students doing their work and talking about their pieces. It's funny how many of them seem to clam up once they know they're being recorded. I'm nearly done with one of the Imovies and will need to start up the second one tomorrow.

With Math, I think the kids are really beginning to see how to do conversions! I'm going to try and teach a new concept tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes and hopefully they'll able to understand it.

Today during Language, I had the students working on character charts for Mrs. Frisby for the Literacy Night project. I have the students leveled off by ability and it's amazing to hear how the different groups talk about the importance of main characters vs. secondary characters. I have to remember to type out the questions for the Response Questions out for tomorrow's work and I also have to do the Comprehension Questions. Oh and we have the Awards Assembly tomorrow. I'll probably end up pushing the Dangerous Crossing test to Monday. I don't think the kids will do too well if I rush them and give them the test on Friday. I have to remember to send an email to the parents or have the kids write the change in their planners.

Fresh Start 2012

January 17, 2012
I decided to start an online log of the daily happenings in my life as an educator.  I have other blogs elsewhere, but wanted to start off fresh during this first month of 2012.

In the past, my blogs were always about frivolous things...like my love life or troubles with school.  Now, it seems more important to take note of what happens since time just goes by so fast.  I've always felt that it's important to write down my thoughts and concerns, but haven't really made time for it since my boyfriend (now husband) got more serious.  I should have realized that it was even more important to write everything down...well I guess now is a better time to start than never. 

Didn't mean to get to deep there...anyway...

Since today was the first day back after a 3-day weekend, I assumed the students would be tired and focused on doing their work.  Today was also the last day of our parent-teacher conferences (second round).  Got through the morning okay.  Everyone was able to focus and finish their journal prompts.  I forgot to take note of their Kidbiz articles.  I need to remember to do that tomorrow.  Ended up doing a correction party for Math class today for the majority of the students who finished their work.  I'm debating whether to continue tomorrow or actually move on to the next lesson.  I'm probably going to do metric mass...grams, kilograms, etc.  I'm wondering how they will do with that.  Then I'll finish off the unit with time.  I have to remember to find something to give them an assessment.  Maybe doing something online.  I'll have to remember to check the server out to see what kind of questions are available for them.  LH never seems to have his Math books.  I guess it's good he's not in my homeroom..partner needs to deal with him.  You know, in the beginning of the year, I always dreaded having Math since I've taught the high group for so long, but teaching this group is not that bad.  I think having to teach them has really helped me hone my skills and make me a better teacher having to come up with different strategies.  I'm kind of learning along with them.

During Language, I had the students do their vocabulary for the textbook and their WW assignment.  I also had the kids posing for still shots for the LN activity coming up next week.  I was happy to get the display boards done today.  One less thing for me to worry about.  I was also able to record some of the kids for the IMovie as well.  I hope that the movie is still saved on the computer.  I had tried doing a history lesson on the IMovie program last week, but it seems to have disappeared.  I don't know what happened.  I wonder if the file was just too big...I have to figure it out or just start from scratch. 

One of my students, GB, has been really out of it for the last couple weeks.  I ended up having to move her next to my desk so she wouldn't get distracted and talk to her neighbors.  I wonder how long I should keep her there?  I also hope that helps solve my problem and that she gets her work done sitting by herself. 

I also booked our grade-level field trip to the capitol this afternoon.  I hope the coordinator can fit the days I want in.  I need to check my email tomorrow. 

Christmas Projects

The first day of December is on Wednesday. I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. This is the first year where I've started my Christmas projects early. I usually rush to finish them during the last two weeks before break. I'll be at workshops for most of next week, so I decided to get as much done this week. There will probably be some that we can do when I do come back to teach, but I know there will be a lot of "academic" catching up to do as well. Speaking of which, I need to do my sub plans and start running off copies.

I ended up spending most of this afternoon shopping for supplies for the kids' projects. I still forgot some things, but I think I got most of what was needed. I realized I was missing some things as I drove away from Wal-Mart, but I didn't want to go back into that madness, so I guess I can go back tomorrow if anything. I need to start the kids on their puzzle wreaths tomorrow. That should be oodles of fun.

Desks pt. 2

The kids LOVED the new arrangement today. I even got a compliment from one of my co-workers. The only downside of sitting where I was at for most of the day was that my behind hurt since I didn't have my comfy teacher chair. I'm thinking of moving it to my new area instead.

I'm hoping that we'll be able to keep this arrangement for a while...I'm just going to have to think of a way to mix it up again in a few weeks...

Desks

I've been rearranging the desks in my room every two weeks, so the students are always anticipating the changes. I usually keep the layout the same and just switch them around, but today, I decided to really change things up.

My teacher desk has always been like a fort. My desk is facing the windows and is between two longer desks. I decided to take one of the long desks out and move it into a spot where the students are always complaining about the coldness of the AC. I then moved another desk that was in the back and put it with the other long desk. Now, I have a place to work with small groups that is in front of the room where I can keep my eye on everyone. I ended up making the students sit in two larger groups. I was kind of hesitant to do that, but we'll see how it goes.

Halloween 2010

Looking back to the beginning of the SY, I did have a hard time adjusting to this class, but I've found that over the past few months, they've really grown on me. They were pretty good this afternoon despite there being a Halloween activity going on outside. I complimented them on their behavior. I do think that my class is pretty well-behaved compared to the others although I do have one of the more playful ones with me.

The quarter will be over before I know it...which reminds me. When I was teaching with the ELMO during Math, one of the girls asked me if I was married. I guess she finally noticed my engagement ring. Then I mentioned that I was GOING to get married. All the girls started asking questions and we got off-task for a minute or so. Fortunately, they were able to get back on-task pretty quickly. I had one of the girls teach me something today. There was a problem on the WS I had assigned to them. I knew the answer, but wasn't really certain on how to explain it or how to make a diagram for it. She was the one who was able to come up with the diagram and was able to explain it to me. I will definitely need to give her an ME for the probability strand this quarter.

HOT cards

This year has already started off in an interesting way. It's only been three weeks and I've already started having problems with some of my kids and homework. I used to do sticker charts with my previous kids. I'd leave the charts up in front of everyone so the students could see each others' progress. I'd seen these things called HOT cards in the Scholastic catalogs and decided to try to use these things to see if they'd work for my kids. One of the pros of this is that it's helping me stay on top of collecting and checking the homework. I have one of the students collect the cards and I stamp the cards as I check the homework. With the sticker charts, I didn't really keep up with them and would forget to give the kids stickers to put on.

I was thinking of adding a checkbook incentive program as well. I'm going to try and read up about it online and see what I can find out.

Survival

I survived the first week of school. It was hard having to go in today since most of the Fridays last year were furlough days. I think it's better with this group though since they need lots of attention and help. They are so chatty and can't seem to focus on whatever they need to do. I shouldn't say that about all of them though...there are a handful who are good and usually finish all their things on time. It'll be easier once I put them in pods since I'll be able to zigzag through them easily to see what they're doing.

New Year 2010-2011

It's that time again...new school year! I can't believe that it's already the beginning of a new year. I'm not as excited this year, but that may change in a few hours. There was a mistake on my ESIS roster and I know that the office is going to be swamped. I guess all I should do is redo my list so that the other child is on there as well. Wheatie woke me up around 4 this morning, so I missed an hour of sleep. Hopefully I won't crash and burn this afternoon since I work at WK too. :(

Back to the Grind

The school year is quickly looming back into my life. I can't believe how quickly the summer went by. I feel like I got nothing accomplished. I've been meaning to do some of the things I normally get done before the school year start, but I always seem to find something else to do instead.

I went into my classroom yesterday to grab some borders to help KN do his bulletin boards and found that all of my furniture was pushed to one side of the room. I was thinking, "What's the reason I had to do a classroom map if all they were going to do was push all of my stuff to one side?" I hope it'll all be moved by the time Monday comes around since I plan on spending my day in the classroom then. I'll probably go and exercise in the morning and then go straight afterward. I could even go to evening class as well since I took off work that night.

I can't even remember what my class count is either. I really should get on the ball...

Four-Day Week

Fortunately, we have Friday off this week for Admissions Day. I remember this time last year, I went up to see BFC on the Big Island. I'm looking forward to a three-day weekend.

This week, we have our first grade-level artic day of the year. That should be fun and exciting. We're going to be getting our class scores from the HSA that they took last year. I'm not really looking forward to seeing how my students did, but I am curious. I'm just hoping it's not a total bomb.

We also have DIBELS testing this week, so that will be a good time-killer. I didn't do any of my correcting until today. I got a few papers done and recorded. I should plug on and finish more after I get off the computer, or I could just go to sleep. I'm probably going to pick the latter option.

Less Than Two Weeks Left

It's hard to believe that the summer is nearly over. After getting my keys last week, I had painters come in and got my locks changed on my place. I will be officially moving in next week. I'm looking forward to being on my own and being somewhat independent.

On the other hand, after the move, I need to focus on doing stuff for work. I haven't even touched my Social Studies text and I brought home the Science text in hopes of creating some type of organized curriculum for this school year. I've been so much more focused on the move more than anything else.

I've been at my PT job for a little over a week now and things have been running smoothly with that. I'm still getting used to the routines, but I know after a little more time, I'll get even better at it. I hope I can hack it during the regular school year...