Classroom Tour 2013-14

Well, I am totally exhausted from the first three days of school. However, I am really excited. I can tell from Open House that I was blessed with amazing parents and students!!! As many of you know, I was excited to be doing pirates this year but once I saw it coming to life in my room, I became even more excited. Everyone seems to think I am super artistic. I really am NOT. I cannot draw, sketch, or paint to save my life. Even cutting a straight line can be challenging for me. However, my Silhouette Cameo has helped me become...crafty. I am great at looking for ideas and copying them, modifying them, or getting new ideas from them.

Anyways...my first big decision for setting up my room this year was to get rid of my desk and use tables instead. I got tired of students pushing the desks all around and using them as their own personal trash cans. Those who know me know that I am a neat freak and VERY organized (almost to the point of OCD). This only occurs at school, so if you tell my husband that I am OCD he may look at you like you are crazy because he picks up my messes at home.

Here is what my room looks like...let the tour begin.

The inspiration for my classroom came from Dandelions and Dragonflies (who happens to be another Gwinnett County employee). I have always loved red, black, and white as a color scheme which is what initially attracted me to her classroom. However, I am IN LOVE with the bookcases and the space I have in my classroom. 

The book boxes will be used to hold their browsing books and folders. I am also going to put tubs on the bottom (if needed) to hold their journals. I also have their dictionaries handy as well in case they need to look up any words. 

 I really loved the idea of every table having their own personal trash can. I am hoping this will limit them getting up and being distracted or distracting to others. I figure I will just use left over shopping bags from our weekly grocery shopping trips as trash bags. I have always used supply bins and done community supplies. So this is nothing new. I just created a tag on my Silhouette and added ribbon to make it cute. Note: Chevron Baskets were $2 at Wal-Mart!!

Here is a close up of the book boxes I got from Really Good Stuff. Like the pirate tags? I will be adding them to my TpT store soon. I plan on writing a blog tomorrow just about my pirate decorations. You can find the link on that blog. 

The bookcases were bought at Wal-Mart for about $18 a piece! What a steal! I hope they last. 

 Here is my guided reading/small group area. I try to centrally locate it so I can see every area of the room. I am here most of my day so it is critical that I see everything from here. I like having my little easel handy for our lessons and word work. In the bookcase, I have magnetic letters, leveled books, leveled non-fiction books, and bins organized by group so I can quickly pull their book for that day.

 I use this area to hang up anchor papers we create together as a class. This was my favorite addition to my classroom last year. It was very easy to trade out anchor papers since I used clothes pins. This wall can fit 6 anchor papers! Not sure where on Pinterest I found this wonderful idea, but whoever you are...THANK YOU!

 Whole group area. My one must have for my whole group area?...MY EASEL! It was the first thing I bought when I got hired as a teacher and it is the one and only thing I do not let my students play with. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it and would recommend it for any new teacher. It is expensive, but worth the investment.

My desk area could use some work. It just isn't cute enough for me. Any suggestions?

 Hall Display (cannot wait to add their pictures to it, I am going to have them dress up as pirates!)

 Writing Center (sort of blah right now, but it will get better as we learn some things)

 Welcome Banner for Parents

 Where is Mrs. Tansill's Class?

 School-Wide Behavior Plan with a Pirate Theme

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PART OF OUR ROOM...the Library! <3 our Pirates Cove!

I didn't want this blog to be so long, so I will write more about the pirate decorations and where you can purchase them tomorrow. I hope you are as excited about your room as I am about mine! I would love to see yours! Please share!!!

Ahoy Matey!! FREEBIE Journal Labels

I hope everyone is having a fun and exciting summer. Can you believe we only have 22 more days of summer and then we are back at work?! Eeeekkk. I know for me that I do not even feel as though my summer has begun. I have been super busy between teaching Math Institute (a staff development in our county), taking care of my son, and unfortunately attending funerals. It has not been the best of summers, but I am hoping that July will be filled with a lot more FUN!

In school related news...
I have picked my classroom theme for next year! I am so excited! I decided to keep my black, red, and white theme from last year. However, this year it will have a twist....PIRATES! Honestly at first I was a little nervous about picking pirates. I wasn't sure that the parents would approve, but with how cute the clip art is and me trying to limit the skull and crossbones, I think it should turn out to be acceptable.

Here are some cute journal labels I have already created to match the theme. You can get them here at TpT for free!!!

I have also begun to think up some wonderful ideas that I need to work on making happen. I am thinking about having the students go on a treasure hunt during registration. I need to create a map that will lead them to very important areas in our rooms, but then at the end they will get a special treat to take home. You will have to read about that one later. I still need to develop the graphic for it. Hint: It involves confetti and if you follow me on Pinterest you can find it. :)

I am also in the process of making certain things in my room pirate themed. Example: my jobs are going to be labeled "The Captain's Crew" this year. Then we will have Pirates Cove (the reading nook). Also have PIRATE folders which will be explained to you later. Behavior will be "Don't Walk the Plank." I wish I could take credit for all these marvelous ideas, but I can't. I am just really good at finding ideas on the internet.

I would love to know what your theme is for this year (if any) or if there is one you wish someone would create?!

HAPPY DAY!

Usually I do my lesson plans on excel. I love excel because it allows me to type as much as needed. However, it is so blah and requires a lot of printing/paper. This year I have chosen to go the old fashioned route. I bought my very first Erin Condren lesson planner and I am in love with it!!! It is so colorful and well organized. They even package it so nicely. Love the chalkboard look, the aluminum spiral, the gift labels, the tabs, the sheet protectors, etc. We will see how well it works since my lessons have to be more detailed for evaluation reasons. With my last lesson plan format, I wouldn't have to worry about that, but I am slightly concerned I will not have enough room to write in detail. Only time will tell if I will buy another one, but today....I AM THRILLED!!

What do you like to use for lesson plans? Do you find it easier to type or write out lesson plans? Are you detailed or a one word type of person? Let me know how you stay organized.

ABC Countdown

Well, we are down to 2 more days of school. I must admit that the last few weeks have been rough for the students as well as myself. The warm weather gets us all excited about the things to come: swimming pools, beach, vacations, etc. However, every year this week is such a mix of emotions for me. I am happy to see the summer come, but I am going to miss seeing those smiling faces everyday. Teaching has its rough days. Let's face it...you have to be "on" all the time, but it is so amazing to see how much the grow in a year.

We have been finishing out the year with our ABC Countdown. I started talking about it in our last post. Here are the rest of the days:

K- Kindness to Animals Day (Bring a stuffed animal to read with)

L - Lollipop Day

M- Mother's Day Surprise (Mother's Day Surprise, I think next year I will make this Muffins with Mom)

N- Nifty Numbers Day

O- Odd Socks Day

P- Poetry Day

Q- Quilt Day (create a friendship quilt)

R- Read/Red Day (I think next year I will do a Reader's Theater Day)

S- Sunglasses Day

T - Twins/Triplet Day

U- Uniform Day

V- Vacation Day

W - Write a letter to my next year class

X - X-tra centers day

Y- Yellow/Year End Cleanup Day

Z - Zip up your bags and Zoom home day

I haven't taken many pictures lately since I have been packing up and completing the numerous tasks asked of us at the end of the year. Here is a picture though of the Mother's Day craft I did with my students. Thanks Pinterest!

EARTH DAY!!!

My Pinterest inspired anchor chart. 

I know I am a week late, but we really enjoyed Earth Day in my class this year. We did not do as many crafts this year (like I usual do) due to my lack of supplies. I have gone through so much construction paper this year, it is ridiculous. Guess you know what I will be spending my money on for next year. Although we did not do many crafts, we still had a blast. Here is a list of some of the things we did:

ABC Order Sort

Syllable Sort

Making Words from EARTH DAY

Sort actions that would make the Earth happy and sad

Missing Addend Equations

Measuring Earth Day pictures with butterflies and bees 

Planting out in the school garden

Earth Day Cupcakes (YUM!) 

You can view my Earth Day literacy centers in my TpT store. You can also find wonderful ideas here.

We have also started our ABC countdown. Every year I do this fun and exciting activity with my students. We countdown the last 26 days of school by using the letters in the alphabet and having an activity that revolves around that letter. So far we have done...

A = Art Day

B = Bubbles Day

C = Caring/Compliment Day (Read How Full is Your Bucket and write each other compliments)

D = Delicious Snack Day (Teacher brings a snack)

E = Environment Day 

F = Favorite Fruit Day 

G = Graphing/Green Day

H = Hat Day

I = Ice cream day

J = Jump Rope Day

I have not done a wonderful job of taking pictures of all these activities this year. I am hoping to get better with time. Still getting used to this whole blogging thing. :) 

Share with me...

What do you do at the end of the year that is special or traditional for you?

A bulletin board I made for our balancing equations lesson which you can read about here.

16 days until summer!!!

It's NOT a Box!!!

In the fall, I somewhat reluctantly began my gifted endorsement class. I must admit, I was not too thrilled about it. I have been teaching 4 years and have never really had a "normal" year. I have been displaced, gotten my Master's degree, taken on leadership, bought my first house, had a child, and now taking classes to receive my gifted endorsement. I have never had a year of just being a teacher with no other obligation. I took the gifted endorsement class to make myself more marketable. I wanted to ensure I would not be displaced or that if I was, I would be a candidate who stuck out in the crowd.

However, today was our last class meeting and I must admit that I was sad to see it end. It was one of the most amazing classes!!! I learned so much and it has been beneficial not only for my gifted students, but ALL of my students. Truly. I know after a long day at work the last thing anyone wants to do is miss out on time with their family and take a class, but I am so glad I took it and I would recommend it to everyone!

There are many topics I could talk about from the gifted class. I really developed a passion for it. But the one thing that really stuck with me was our discussions on creativity. I had always believed that if you were creative, you were artistic. I never felt it was something you could be taught. You either had the talent or you didn't. This class opened my eyes to the fact that you can learn to be creative.

These books are amazing for teaching your students how to be creative. If you have never read them...YOU MUST!!! TRULY! You will not be sorry. I read the book, Not A Box, to my students and then gave them a piece of paper with a box drawn on it. The students then create a picture that incorporates the box and create a creative title or story to match their picture. I forgot to take pictures of my students Not A Box drawings, but I will tomorrow and post them on here. Here is a picture of the one I made in my gifted class.

Now, you may be wondering...when on Earth am I ever going to find the time to teach my kids to be creative? It is not a skill they need to know to pass the test. Well, you are correct in that it is not a standard they are required to learn; however, it opens their mind up to thinking "outside the box." It develops their critical thinking skills. I incorporate it through morning work. Every Friday I give my students a doodle. It can be a box, a line, a squiggly, etc. Seriously, just doodle on a piece of paper. Then the students complete the drawing. As they continue to do it, you will notice their pictures get more and more creative. Their stories get more and more in depth. It is an amazing transformation. A common example of this skill is one you may have seen on Pinterest (see below)...

Try this skill out. See how your class responds and see how those that are gifted perform on the creativity test. I hope you find it as beneficial as I did. 

Spring break is over, let the balancing act begin!

Well spring break is over and I went back to work this week. I had such a great spring break spending time with my little man. We went to the zoo for the first time and to Stone Mountain to ride the train for the first time. Now whenever I say we are going to the park, he says, "Park with train!" Luckily I now have a member pass so we can go as much as we want this summer (Thanks, Mom!). Here are some quick pics from our spring break.

Although it is always difficult coming back from any break because I miss my little man to pieces, we have had a very exciting week in our class. The lesson I was most excited about was a lesson I created for my gifted endorsement class (which I LOVE!). I based the lesson the inductive learning strategy in the book The Strategic Teacher. If you have not read this book...YOU MUST! It is AMAZING! We had to turn in our copy today and I must admit I was sad. I will be buying myself a copy this summer. 

Anyway...back to the lesson. We are working on understanding the equal symbol and balanced equations. Yes, you read that correctly. Balanced equations.  Can you believe it?! I began the lesson with a quick review of the equal symbol. I had the students do a think-pair-share and discuss what they knew about the symbol. Here is the quick anchor chart I made of their responses. 

 ** We did discuss how it does not always come before the sum. Ex. 7 = 6+1.

 

After the students discussed the equal sign, I gave them an envelope that had numerous equations cut up and placed inside. The students were instructed to work with their group and sort the equations. They were given no other instruction that to see what they notice and sort. I then walked around and helped foster discussion through questioning. After they sorted they had to give title to their groups.

A group explaining their reasoning. They sorted into which equations were balanced (true) and which were unbalanced (not true). 

This group struggled a little bit. They sorted in a way I did not expect. They sorted by those that had only addition, those that had only subtraction, and those that had both addition and subtraction. I had to question a little bit more to gear their thinking toward the equal sign and what it meant. 

Another group made 3 groups: true, not true, and turn around. As you can see, they placed 12-1 = 1-12 as a turn around. Most of the class labeled this as true. We had quite the debate about whether or not this was true. When I asked them to prove it, they realized it was in fact false. 

Here are pictures of them using the balance to prove their groupings. 

After proving their groupings, the students completed their critical thinking/synthesis activity. I chose to do a 2-5-8. This particular one was created by a dear friend of mine. They are challenging to make and require a lot of thought, but it is so worth it! It is a great way to differentiate instruction. I highly recommend trying it every now and then. The 2's are the easier problems, 5's are average, and 8's are challenging. Typically, you have the students do activities until they get a sum of 10. Therefore, they could do an 8 and 2, 5 and 5, or five 2's (if you could come up with that many). However, since it was their first time completing one, I just let them pick two activities. The students really enjoyed having a choice and almost all of them chose the correct activity for their ability level. 

I am learning to teach to the high. I think many of us teach to the middle of our class and then meet our students' needs through small group instruction. However, I feel like teaching to the high encourages the others to reach for the stars. I feel as though students meet your expectations for them. If you don't expect much, you won't get much. That being said, I feel you also must not go too high above their level or you will completely lose them and they will be discouraged. Teaching is definitely a balancing act itself. Every student is different. Each child comes with different experiences, learning style, passion, etc. However, no matter what class make-up you have (ESOL, SPED, regular ed., or gifted) this lesson will work in your class.