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! :)