Classroom Reveal

Linking up with

I don't know about you, but it has been a whirlwind since school started on September 3rd.  Thursday night was Back to School Night, and since I had my room all spiffied up (again), I thought I would take my classroom reveal shots.  I have used quite a few strategies and decorating schemes that I originally found on Blogs.  I am not sure where I found most of these ideas, but you will notice some chevron fabric which I LOVE and the NOISE sign.

This is the area behind my desk.  I love my letters lamp that I got from Kohl's a couple years ago, even though the plug behind it is an eye-sore.  I also have my Read Chart here.  I made it this year, instead of buying it, to save a buck.  I think it turned out perfectly.  You can almost see one of the lines already has twenty stickers...that student read all those books this summer!  I count their yearly reading from June-May, so that they can have an accurate total of how many books they read in a year.  Here are some other fun things- an electronic hole puncher, which was a birthday gift from my husband a few years ago,  a Jack Russell Terrier calendar in honor of my pup, and my stuffed animal corner with my favorite...BEES.   Under my Work Expectations poster you can also (sort of) see a collage and birthday card that a student made for me.  She made numerous copies of my picture from the yearbook and collaged it with pictures of Beyonce, because we share a birthday.  Isn't that fun; I feel so loved!

  
This is my sideboard.  It is right across from the bulletin board that you just saw.  You can see that I had some fun with clothespins.  My NOISE sign I made with clothespins and ribbon because I thought it would be easier to turn the letter around.  I have only had to turn letters three times so far.  Hopefully this trend continues!  At the top of the board are comma posters that I made.  Even though they are a little hard to read from students' seats, they are still a good reference.  You can also see the film photo frame.  Inside, I have put pictures of my advisees and their interests.  Two of my purchases from VistaPrint are also displayed on this board: Absent Postcards and Agenda Magnet.  To read more about my VistaPrint finds check out this previous post.

I also decided to do jobs this year.  Here is a close up of my signs.  I use Rick Morris' student number concept, so that is why the clothes pins have numbers, not names.  This will make for a more seamless start to next year.  Other than adding a few clothespins to account for a different number of students in each class, they will already be made.  And a quick shout out to my wonderful mom and sister who helped me color 60 clothespins :)

Interested in these signs?  Let me know, I'll email them to you.  

I also used clothespins for my passes.  How simple and less germy for sure.











For the front of my room, I have decided to show before and after photos.  I think that this is the most significant change I have made.  I love the cohesion between the two chevron covered boards.  I got the figurative language signs from TpT.  Check them out here. All the other posters I have made.

These 6+1 Trait posters are in my TpT store. Also, don't miss my fancy hot pink pencil sharpener.  So far it totally lives up to the hype!

Now I am off to enjoy a lovely weekend.  Make sure to take some time to relax and rejuvenate on your days off.

Liebster Award!!!

I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by Heather over at Middle School Shenanigans.  I am so excited!  I have seen these posts going around, and I can't wait to get in on the action.  

In order to accept this award, I have to do the following things: 

1. Link back to the blog(s) that nominated me
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers
3. Answer the questions posted by my nominator
4. Create 11 questions for my nominees
5. Share 11 random facts about yourself
6. Contact my nominees and let them know I nominated them

Heather asked me:

1. If you could describe your teaching personality in three words, what would they be?

Creative, Caring, Motivated

2. What/who inspired you to be a teacher?

I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I remember, but my true inspiration was my 10th grade English teacher.  She was so supportive and caring.  No one wanted to leave her class!

3. What is your biggest pet peeve?

When I'm not in the moment of teaching it is hard to think of what my pet peeves are.   Off the top of my head, I'm thinking that it is kids purposely ruining school supplies (pens and pencils for example) for no reason. 

4. What is the one school supply you can’t live without?

Only one...

I definitely can't live without my computer and projector.  I use these everyday.  I also really love fun pens and markers. 

5. If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I have been seeing a lot of pictures of floating bungalows in tropical islands.  I want to go here!  Why?  Ummm...warm breezes, cool waters, beautiful scenery.  

6.What is the best piece of teaching advice you have ever gotten/given?

Never give up and try your best.  I went through some rough times and this advice helped me get through.  I am so happy I stuck it out because I feel like I have finally found my stride. 

7. What is the best teacher book you have ever read? Why?

I think the top book I've read is Rick Morris' New Management Handbook, and all his related books.

These books have helped me with my classroom management plan.  Last year I implemented class cards and music cues in my classroom routines.  

8.  What was your favorite thing about this past summer? 

I am happy to announce that my summer won't be over for another month!  So far my favorite thing has been spending lots of time with my friends and family.  This is something that I don't get to do as much during the school year, and I thoroughly enjoy it.  Oh, and going to the POOL!!!

9. Why did you start blogging?

Originally I started blogging to bring more traffic to my TpT store.  Now, I just like to share ideas and learn from all the amazing bloggers out there.  I get so inspired and it creates renewed excitement about teaching.

10.  If you weren’t in education, what career would you want to have? 

I would hopefully stay in education in other ways like curriculum writing or tutoring.  If I was totally out of the world of education I would want to be a realtor.  I really like looking at houses, so selling them wouldn't be that different, would it?

11. Which blogs are your favorites to follow?  Why? 

I like following LOTS of blogs (there are 98 on my list right now).  I like lower education blogs for their creative classroom decoration ideas, and I like upper school blogs for their curriculum ideas.  

11 Random Facts:
1.  I am a reality TV junky, but I just started watching Big Brother this year.
2.  I have a Jack Russell Terrier named Lexy.  Isn't she sweet!

3.  I don't eat Red Meat.
4. I got married on the day after Christmas, 2010.
5. I have been teaching for five years, and I have worked in 3 different schools.  I am hoping to be in my current school for a very long time!
6.  I love to read, and I'm not that picky about books.
7. My favorite kind of ice cream is Turkey Hill's Chocolate Peanut Butter.  Mmmmmmmm!  I might just go get some right now.
8. I have recently been having trouble falling asleep due to thoughts of decorating my classroom.  I have a problem!
9.  I have worked at Kohl's part time for four years...while teaching.  Gotta love the discount.  Don't worry, I only work on weekends during the school year. 

10. My favorite restaurant is Olive Garden.
11.  I wish I had an unlimited budget for PD books and classes.  I love to learn more about techniques for teaching, technology, etc.  I have three books in my Amazon cart right now, but the $75 price tag is scaring me.


I have looked high and low for blogs that haven't been nominated already, and I think I have succeeded with the seven blogs below.  And the nominees are...
Juggling ELA
Middle School Matters
Teach it Write
2 Peas and a Dog
Life in 6th Grade with Ms. V
Keeping it Fresh in 6th Grade
Sliding into 2nd

Questions for my nominees:
1. What is your favorite professional development book for teaching reading, writing, or grammar?  If these aren't your areas of expertise, pick any PD book that you love.
2.  What thought inspires you to continue through the tough days?
3.  What is your hobby (i.e. what do you do when you aren't teaching, planning, grading, etc.)?
4.  What is your favorite book to teach and why?  If you don't teach books, pick your favorite topic.
5.  Explain aspects your classroom organization system that help your classroom run smoothly.
6.  What is something new that you are going to try next year in your classroom?
7.  What is your favorite store and why?
8.  What type of technology do you use most in your classroom?
9.  What's your favorite teaching moment?
10. What advice would you give to new teachers?
11. What is your teaching style?

Thanks everyone for your participation.  I can't wait to read your responses!

Monday Made It- VistaPrint

My very first...

I am excited to report that I have used my Vista Print groupon.  I found this deal on Ms. Potter's blog, and I jumped at the opportunity for this great deal.  Through perusing blogs and Pintrest, I had tons of ideas for my classroom.  Two blogs in particular gave me inspiration, Ms. Potter's blog (see above) and Mrs. Finley's blog.  I pinned my favorite ideas from their blogs: check out my pins!

Update:  For some reason, some of the images in my post are gone!  I have updated the information below based on which images are still showing up.   I have used all of my custom Mrs. Smith sticky notes (not pictured).  They were probably my favorite item that I ordered.  I also still use a magnet that I made for my agenda which I made from a car door magnet.

Here are some other things that I made:


Ideas from Middle School Minions:
made from a postcard

  On the back of this card there is a place for the names of the missing assignments and additional notes.

Ideas from MSKCPOTTER:
made from a loyalty card

One of my biggest complaints during the school year is students forgetting items that are required for class.  I didn't want to say that they could never get their supplies from their lockers, because it negatively affects their studies.  I think this is going to be a good solution.  I will give the students five freebies.  As long as they have their punch-card, they can go and get their required supplies with no consequence.  Once the card fills or if they lose their card they will owe a detention for forgetting supplies.  I am really excited to try this!

UPDATE:  I have been using this system for three years and it works really well.  I allow students to share a punch with a friend if their friend has run out or forgotten their punch card.  It helps the students become accountable for bringing their supplies to class.  This was a WIN!

The Wonder of Google Docs

I am very new to Google Docs.  In fact, my recent preference for keeping my files has been dropbox.  I love dropbox.  However, I am excited to start using Google Docs to ease the transition to chromebooks.  Our school is doing a chromebook pilot this year.  The seventh and eighth graders will have a personal chromebook that they take to all their classes and home with them.  Like any techy teacher, I am really looking forward to this resource.  Last year the upper schoolers all shared a computer lab.  I imagine this is pretty typical, but it did make it hard to get computer based projects and papers completed due to scheduling.

There are multiple perks to GoogleDocs (which is now formally called Google Drive).  One obvious perk is that it automatically saves.  This is amazing.  You can even revert back to previous saves, in case you made changes that you no longer want.  Of course, there is also a traditional undo button.
Here is what a new document looks like:

I also like that you can easily search for your documents.  Rename your document by clicking the "untitled document" button.  The idea is that you give it a name that you clearly associate with the document, even if it has five words in it.  Then you can search those words and find the document in a snap.  Now, I'm not sure if I can totally eliminate the use of folders.  I love folders and organization, so even though I currently haven't organized my Google Drive, I think it's coming soon.  

A very powerful aspect of Google Drive is collaboration!  Multiple students (or teachers) can be working on the same document simultaneously.  In fact, if multiple people are working on the same document, you can see where the other person is typing.  I can see this working best on a group project that is based in Slides (Google Drive's form of Powerpoint).  Each student can be working on their own slides, but they don't have to wait for one person to finish before they start.  This means they will be more productive during class (and at home- as long as they have an internet connection).  

Since all of our seventh and eighth graders will have chromebooks, we are also going to be using the Chromebook Management Console.  This isn't exactly Google Drive, but a tool for chromebooks that will help students organize their documents...and so much more.  Although I haven't started using this yet and don't know the full extent of all the pieces, it has great potential for classroom use.  It can do things like push-out apps and websites to all student computers.  This will make it easy for everyone to be on the same web page without needing to type in long web addresses.  I am planning on using web based grammar drills at the beginning of class and this will allow the class to seamlessly get started.  There is also the ability for the teacher to see what is on every students' computer and what tabs they have open.  Cha-ching!  Can you say classroom management.  This is definitely one area that I was concerned about, and although I haven't tried it yet, I think this will save us a lot of trouble.  At my school, I think that the students knowing that we will be watching the links they are on will be enough for them to stay on-task.  However, if they do decide to go to an unapproved website during class time, the teacher can CLOSE the tab.  That's right...I've got the power. I am so excited to have this tool, even though I hope to never need to use it.  Also, as I mentioned earlier, this console will provide a folder for each of the students' teachers.  That means that I can put google doc worksheets in their English folder.  No more excessive printing.  No more, "I can't find my worksheet, can I have another one."  Now, I know not all of my worksheets will be on google docs, there are some reproducibles that  I didn't create that I still need to copy.  But, I am very excited about the prospect of being (more) paper-free.  I can also grade the papers right from the management console and still not need to print.  I have yet to figure out how I will motivate myself to grade when I don't have a stack of papers three inches high.  I think I will need to have a system of grading that I stick very closely to in order to not get too behind.  For example, grade all seventh grade Wordly Wise on Wednesday nights, etc.  I have always wanted to have a system like this that I follow, and now it should be easier because I can access the assignments from anywhere I have an internet connection.  Can you tell I'm excited.  I am sure there are other features of the management console that I don't know about yet, but this is what I gained from the overview.  

Here are some links for further reading:

Google Drive Tutorial from Lauren @The Sweetest Thing.  She goes into much more depth than I have.  If you want a step-by-step for Google Drive, this post is for you.

30 Ways to Use Chromebooks in the Classroom from Educational Technology and Mobile Learning.  This post goes into reasons that Chromebooks are the way to go if you are looking at 1 to 1 solutions.

Chromebook Management Console a brief look.