First Teacher Day

Today was my first official day back at school. It was a teacher workday. Tomorrow is our institute day. Wednesday is local PD. Thursday is a workday and schedule pick-up.  Friday is local PD, which includes CPR training. :)   I am more excited about my kids coming back on the 19th! 

On another note, I remembered to take pictures of my bulletin boards.  Most are not finished yet. My kids will add their information and thoughts to Ender's Game board, Responsibility board, and the Dream Big! board. 

Busy, Busy, Busy

As the title says, I have been busy!  I have been in my classroom getting set up for the new year.  I got rid of a HONKING HUGE desk, and I got a much smaller desk.  (Mental note: take pictures tomorrow to post.) I pushed my desk against a wall, so during my prep (hehehehe) I can look outside while posting grades or reflecting on my lesson plans.  Right now my student desks are in rows, but when my student list is finalized, I will put the desks into groups of three or four depending on the total number of kids I have in my biggest class.

I have my bulletin boards ready. I have five! Two stay the same all year. I leave the information board up all year and change the sports schedules and lunch menus.  I also leave my notes board up all year. It's where I tack all those memos that are important.

The other two boards in my classroom change monthly.  One is for character education.  It changes to match the word of the month and the kids get to add articles, quotes, pictures, and cartoons that capture the spirit of that word.  The other board is inspirational. Right now it says: DREAM BIG! with a poster under it with the quote by William Blake: What is now proved was once only imagined.

The board outside my room changes with the quarterly theme. We add to it each quarter, but it stays the same all quarter. The first quarter we are going to read Ender's Game, so the board is a picture of the cover, symbols for the four teams, and a few teaser quotes. All quarter we are going to read and write about space travel, the use of video games in the military, aliens, and other space related topics.  Our vocabulary and grammar lessons will also be tied into space travel. The kids will be able to add their stories, poems, and project ideas to that board.

(Another mental note: take pictures to post!)

Make-Over 2013-14

Well, I am working on updating my class decor. As my principal was gracious and painted all our rooms, I have an opportunity to update everything. I found out that my floors have not yet been waxed...so my thought was A-HA!! I can paint those ugly hand-me-down file cabinets. :)  lol  I figured that even if I did a horrible job. at least they would all be ugly the same. 

Well, I looked at Pinterest. I watched lots of Youtubes, and thought YAHOO! Spray paint! Let me tell you, spray paint is very ...... hmmmmmm ..... difficult to work with, especially if you've never worked with it before.  Carpal tunnel in one hand doesn't come close to an even coat. I finished two, other than the hardware.

Soooo......

Before: 

After:

Not too shabby. :) 

Free stuff! Really? Where?

I am always on the lookout for things that are free or close to free to use in the classroom. It could be supplies, posters, samples, really anything I think I could use. I thought I would try to put them in one spot so I can find them easily again.

Well, one thing that helps, even though it is not really free, is tax free weekend.  In Alabama, it is the weekend of 2 - 4 August 2013. If you need to see what is included, here is the link: 2013 Tax Holiday.

Staples Teacher Back-to-School is event is also in August. The Staples in my town will have their event on 10 August 2013.  They also start all of their back to school sales on 1 July 2013.

• I go every year. Usually the bag has some needed small supplies. Last year it was paper clips, highlighters, thumbtacks and pencils. Also, they usually have  penny and nickel sales during the back to school sales. Teachers can get up to thirty of each item where I live.

Office Max also has Teacher Appreciation Events planned for August. The one closest to me is 3 - 5 August.


Poetry Month (April) Posters. I have been receiving these since 2005. The kids love to see them go up. Students that have moved beyond my classroom, will come visit to see the new poster. Academy of American Poets Poster

I am a member of Freecycle.org. All kinds of stuff can be found free. It is offered and can be requested. I have been on both ends of this exchange, and I have not had a bad experience.  As with all things, make sure you meet in a safe, populated area to receive any items. Freecycle Main Page

I will probably update this post as I find items that I can use.

From a Pinterest Idea

Well, I was browsing through Pinterest, and found a great behavior management chart (Behavior Management), but it wasn't quite what I needed for a high school classroom. (Our high school is grades 7 - 12.)  So I tweaked it.

The original was for free download, and my tweak is free to print as well. :)

It came!

Okay, I am going to show off my nerdy side. My new gradebook came today. I found a Whaley three line gradebook at my local teacher store, but it was set up for six-week grading periods. My school year consists of four nine-week quarters. So, I went to Whaley's website and found one! I am so excited!

With that said, I also made up two more signs for my class.

If you want them, use them. :) 

Getting Ready

As I am getting ready for the new school year, I am contemplating the changes for next year.  There are some very big changes!

• Teaching only seventh grade, in block format, for English/language arts and reading. Because of this, I will have three groups of lovely students. I will be sharing my lesson plans with the teacher that has the fourth group of lovely students. I also very excited about this change. In my opinion, writing, grammar, spelling, speaking and listening should be taught in conjunction with novels, short stories, poems, articles and such. To me this makes sense.

• Teaching to the Common Core expectations.  In comparing Alabama to the Common Core, there were not as many changes in the expectations of the students in mastery strands. I don't think this will be the biggest change, although I will be working more on teaching students how to track their own successes and areas that need a little bit more work. I think the level of rigor in reading will be stretching our kids a bit too. With this in mind, I have created a tool to help my kids. I plan on Lexile testing my kids monthly and having weekly workshop days for remediation/enrichment. With the block format, this should be easy to accomplish.

I am sure there will be other changes, and adjustments to plans,  as I move through the year. I am going to try post weekly during the rest of the summer and then maybe daily during the school year.  If the above chart will help you, please feel free to use it. :) 

Bits and Bobs

Overhaul is completed, I guess. I may eventually decide on a new background, but purple is my favorite color!  It is a good thing my school's colors are purple and gold! :)  GO BULLDOGS!

I have been teaching at SMHS for nine years (this will be my ten year anniversary!). I taught for two years at CHS before moving to SMHS. I have taught  many classes:

• 9th grade English/language arts
• 9th grade honors English/language arts
• 10th grade English/language arts
• Spanish I
• Computer Applications
• 12th grade English/language arts
• 7th grade Reading
• 7th grade English - grammar/writing
• 8th grade Reading
• 8th grade English - grammar/writing

I have taught 7th grade for the last 9 years (Have I mentioned this will be year 10?) with other classes filling in as needed. My school teaches grades 7 - 12. Luckily we have great principal and counselor that work really hard to minimize the number of preps each teacher has to do daily. With that said, I will say seventh grade is my favorite grade to teach! I request seventh grade kids every year!

Please feel free to ask any questions. I think I left the comment box open! :)  lol