New Year, New Ideas, New Certification, New Classroom

Well, blogging got away from me last year. I had an extremely difficult challenging great group of kids! On top of that, I was in the middle of trying to pass SAFE-T (or ADEPT). I also purchased my first home at the beginning of the school year (never again). I had an emergency appendectomy in November and then exactly one month later, I had another surgery. Let's see, I'm sure I could think of hundreds of other events that happened last year that made it an interesting one. Needless to say, blogging was the very last thing on my to-do list.

I passed all aspects of SAFE-T and now have a professional certification and a continuing contract (can I get a "HALLELUJAH!?)! My home is beautiful and I love it! I'm doing quite well without my homicidal appendix! And my students are all safe and sound at home and all having a wonderful summer! Oh, and today is my 3 year wedding anniversary (Woot Woot)!!! :)

So, with all of that out of the way, I would like to make my first post of the 2015-2016 school year.

Today was only my second day back in my classroom, but I feel like I've been there much longer. The list of things that need to be done continues to grow no matter how many things I cross off. It doesn't help that I was a genius and decided to completely change the look of my classroom. The past two years I have had bright green, blue, and yellow. As pretty and cheerful as it was, it wasn't doing me any favors. After reading several article on the subject, I have come to the conclusion that my brightly colored classroom gave my already energetic students even more energy. This year, I will be going with Earth tones and subdued colors (Ex. navy, brown, tan, olive green, etc.). 

Sadly, however, the classroom rug that has been so generously provided for me at my school (absolutely no sarcasm intended, I promise!) is super bright and has icky colors like red and orange that just completely throw off my groove. I know my students don't notice (or care), but I do and it drives me nuts. That is my sad segue into the introduction of my calendar area. 

There it is! Right back there in the back corner. Attempting to be hidden by bookshelves, cabinets, and (eventually) student tables. I know to some it may seem like a silly thing to care about, but it's just how I am. Now I chose to put calendar back there because I haven't really put much emphasis on the greatness that is calendar math. This area will solely be used for calendar, word wall, morning meetings, real talk (my version of "hey listen guys, this has to stop…"), and possibly read alouds. I haven't decided yet.

In the midst of my genius, I decided I would make my own calendar and all other things that go along with it. The last two years, my calendar has been on a flip chart on my polyvision board. Not only was it difficult to do calendar when the board/pen would mess up, but I was neglecting the fact that there was 0 hands on going on during calendar! So, now I have this...

This is right on the window. My magnetic numbers are in the blue tub on the left. The days of the week, and the things for place value are in the basket. The chips for the ten frame are on top of the owl and the numbers for the calendar are inside the owl. There is a hundreds chart on my cabinet that you can't see. I have a few other things left to add, but I'm pretty proud of what I have so far!

 Here it is in all it's glory. I have four baking pans: place value (top left), ten frame (top right), addition/subtraction area (bottom left), and a ten/one less/more thingy (bottom right…nice terminology, huh? ;) ). The actual calendar was made…by me…from poster board and paper clips…NEVER AGAIN! It looks beautiful, don't get me wrong, but this thing had better last me the rest of my teaching career *cough* about 25 more years! Hmmmmm, now that I think about it, I could probably sell these things and make a fortune from teachers like me who like things to be all matching! *ding ding ding* Million dollar idea!




This picture shows the baking pans in use.

 And there is my beautiful calendar! The numbers, month labels, and the yesterday/today/tomorrow posters were purchased from teacherspayteachers. Here is the link! Owl Themed Classroom Set
This purchase also supplied me with my word wall letter, name tags, folder covers, and soooooo many other awesome decorations! You should check it out!





That's all for now. I'm going back to my room tomorrow and hopefully won't be changing too many things! :)

Pinterest Project

I'm not sure who the genius person is who originally came up with this idea, but I am in love with my new bucket seats! I already had 3 of the crate seats that are great for storage and plus I use them in my reading corner. These, however are going straight to my guided reading table. Partly because they are the correct height, partly because they are so adorable, and partly because I get tired of watching students lay back in their chairs all lazy like while I'm trying to do small group reading or an LLI lesson!
Anyway…
To make these, all I got were 4 buckets with lids (from Lowe's- buckets were roughly $3 a piece and lids roughly $1.50 a piece), fabric (one yard (doubled) at $3 from Hobby Lobby) and ribbon (two kinds- both on sale for $1 a roll at hobby lobby. I bought two rolls of each kind). I already had the poly-fill (fluffy stuff as I call it) to make the cushions that someone had given me. So, I'm not sure where to get it or how much. I'm guessing any craft store would carry it and it wouldn't be much. Oh, and duct tape! Can't forget that duct tape!
Alright…

First, I folded out the doubled yard of fabric and cut into fourths. Then, I laid out the poly-fill on the back side of one of the fabric pieces until I felt it was enough. Next, I laid the top of one of the lids on top of the fluffy stuff and started bringing in the corners of the fabric and taping it to the bottom of the lid. (Right about now, Mrs. Strutton is kicking herself for not taking pictures of this process to make it easier for everyone.) Then, (after taking the handle off of a bucket…you may leave on if you wish) I pressed the lid onto the bucket. Once you get that thing on there, it will be extremely difficult to get off. I suggest that you fold the little pieces of fabric under the lid that may be making "bubbles" (Hey, it is hard to make a square piece of fabric fit a circle, ok?). Once all of that is finished, it is time to tie the ribbon. As you can see, my ribbon is layered. You may do as much or as little ribbon as you want. While you are tying the ribbon, it would probably be a good idea to  hot glue it to the bucket so it doesn't slide.
Well, that's it. That's how I made my bucket seats. I'm not sure if this is the best, correct, or original way to make them, but it was my first attempt and it was a success!
I hope you enjoy!

Behavior Management

Last year, I did a clip chart for my classroom behavior management technique.
First of all, it got old for some rather quickly. Most could not have cared less if their clip was moved down. It didn't seem to phase them (even with the consequence).

Second, I had three boys that got very emotional when they had to move their clip down to just yellow (warning). One would even almost hyperventilate. Another would turn red and the other wouldn't do much for the rest of the day because he was pouting.
So, it got old for students and it also got old for me. I never intended my behavior plan to make students cry (on a daily basis too since these particular three really struggled with their behavior).
I'm trying something new that I saw in a classroom when I was subbing two years ago. The teacher talked about above the lines, top line, middle line,
and bottom line behaviors. For each type of behavior, there is a space for the students to have their magnet. I made more of the same magnets that I use for breakfast, so if you like them and want to know how I made them, you can look in the "new breakfast procedure" post.

So, there are only four spaces (which is nice). The top is for the best of the best behavior. One down from the top is where everyone starts the day. The next one down is when consequences begin (since I will be giving 3 specific verbal warnings before magnets are moved). The bottom one is where...well, let's just say a student will have to hit, threaten, push, spit on, cuss at, or do other unspeakable things to another student, teacher, or himself to go all the way to the bottom. My intention is for the students to stay in the green space for as long as they need. Ex. If they get 3 warnings and still don't correct the behavior, their magnet will move down and they will receive a consequence. If the behavior continues or other misbehavior arise, the 3 warnings will be given again and another consequence will be given. Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule.

Students will always be able to move back up from the green space, but not the yellow (bottom line). It's like hitting rock bottom, if you will.
So, I will be giving this a try and I have my fingers and toes crossed hoping it will work!

New Breakfast Procedure

I know. I know!
My very first post was about my breakfast procedure and here I am changing it.
Oh well!
So, no my breakfast 'display' is out in the hallway. This way, my students can move their magnet before they come in the room. This will save time and it will keep my doorway free of traffic first thing in the morning.
The place where they put their magnets if they want breakfast is still just a plain cookies sheet (you can get them for $0.97 at Walmart).
The magnets are something that I am SUPER proud of! I bought the glass gems that you put in flower vases from Hobby Lobby. I painted the flat part (the back). Then, I added a magnetic dot to each one (also purchased from Hobby Lobby) once the paint dried. Then, I wrote the numbers on the curved part (the front) with a black Sharpie. Woo Hoo! I now have pretty magnets!

Classroom Jobs

Now that I am actually able to get into my classroom, I should be posting a lot more! I had to move rooms from last year, so I get to start from scratch (scary, but wonderful)!

Well, I had a beautiful classroom jobs chart on my wall in my last classroom. (Pictured below) Oh my goodness! I loved it! The birds had the students' numbers on them and were attached to the wall with Velcro. Each week I would switch the birds so that the students would have a different job. I had every intention of using it again this year since I had put so much effort into making it. Well, my new room has white walls and the colors of this chart just looked so bad on a white wall. It was too bright, too shiny, and just look cluttered. So, being the worrying person that I am, I paced back and forth in my room today saying to myself, "OK Sarah, you can do this! How in the world are you going to display classroom jobs? Think woman!"

So, after many trials and even more errors, I decided to not display the jobs at all...

If you like my job chart, here are the circles I made and printed out to use. you will just need the ribbon to attach and some way of showing which students has which job (I used birds with numbers. You could use other dye cuts or clothespin). Also, once you download the file, you should be able to change the font.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1lsBxbCfYipZEJ6bHVsOWx1MUE/edit?usp=sharing

Instead, I chose to write the jobs on clothespins and then clip them to the supply crates on the tables. They are clipped behind where the supplies will be, so they won't be in the way. Also, it doesn't look cluttered and I can have one less thing on my wall. The picture of my clothespins on the crates is below.

Writing Center

This is something new that I will be trying this year. So...introducing my....da da da daaaaah.... Writing Center! There are two desks, so two friends will be here at a time. I have a supply basket (pencils, colored pencils, story starters, etc.), writing paper, and a writer's handbook on top of the  bookshelf. There are also dictionaries on the top shelf. The rest of the shelves hold all of the manipulatives and early finisher things that my students will need to access. I am so excited about giving this a try. Writing is something that many of my students struggled with last year, so this year they will get extra practice! Woot Wooooooot! 

Breakfast

Alright, so my first post is my breakfast procedure. I did this last year and it worked like a charm! 

As soon as my students come into the classroom, they need to make their breakfast choice (yes or no). Breakfast is posted by my "Early Bird Breakfast" area and if the student wants breakfast, then he moves the bird with his number up to the "Y" section. If he does not want breakfast, then he can just walk by the area and leave the bird in the "N" section. This way, I can easily count the birds and mark my breakfast roster according to the numbers I see. While I was subbing, there were many teachers who would announce breakfast and ask who wanted breakfast. Then they would mark the roster based on the hands that were raised. That can get so confusing! Especially in the morning when students are coming in at different times. So, that is my breakfast procedure!