Teacher Week 2013 - Day 2

Today for Teacher Week - we are going on Classroom Tours!  If you still want to join, it's not too late!!  Check out the list for every day this week.

Classroom tours!  I know that it's tough to find a lot of Middle School classrooms, so I'm happy to share mine.  This is so exciting too.... because I'll quickly remind you at what I started with:

Gross - right?  I'm pretty horrified still and I had to clean up all this crap the other teacher left behind.  (And the teacher before him and the teacher before THAT!)

Pictures of my overall room.  I know a lot of people commented on my high ceilings - which are very nice and create an open space.  However, I wish my room was a little bigger.  I have 39 students in my second period and it's a PACKED HOUSE.

I place my students into groups because I manage behavior by using table points with Class Dojo.  It helps and leaves me the option of going into rows when I'm super angry!!

My fun tree that I made after seeing a few posts on Pinterest.  It was really easy to make and I was pretty impressed with myself. (haha)

I spend 98% of my life talking about Plot Charts in my first semester, so I figured I would put one up!

I liked keeping the STAR theme together here.  The table below is where my students turn in papers, staple, sharpen all that good stuff!

My library is there in the corner.  Its a close fit next to table #4, but remember 39 kids in second period. There's no where else to go. :(

My KINGS corner!  My desk is next to the microwave/fridge.

My sentence frames on the board.  I used magnetic dots to attach EVERYTHING this year.  Just a great deal at Lakeshore.

Stick them on the back of your border and make your OWN magnetic borders!

Table Numbers!

Finally, the view from my desk.  That's my smart podium cart that I WILL NEVER PART WITH.  They were on our "Surplus" broken furniture website through our district and I cannot believe someone wanted to get rid of it.  It's the best invention EVER.

Thanks for taking my room tour...  I might have missed a few areas, but that's pretty much the whole thing.

Next year... I'm definitely going to...

Whew.  My school year ended on Friday after what I could only describe as Middle School "Hell Week."  It's our last week of activities, movies, end of the year ceremonies and just general madness.  I'm usually snippy at best because everyone has simply lost their mind.

Even on Friday, and school was OVER, we had a massive fight to just cap off the year.  I was in the office as the aftermath of the fight came rolling in and it was not pretty.

My assignment change and classroom move are official.  I'll post the pictures of my new room - it's a M.E.S.S....  That's a whole post on it's own.

On the happier side - I'll be back to 7th grade Language Arts next year.  My heart, while sad with leaving my computer lab, is very happy to be back in a Language Arts setting.

Which means I can join my sweet friend, Kim over at Joy in 6th Grade, for her 1st Linky Party!

Here's my list:

1.  Interactive Student Notebooks

Miss OCD, our non-blogger friend and I have been discussing how to do these for next year.  We're all pretty excited about them.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll see that I've been pinning a lot of Interactive Student Notebook ideas.  It will probably be another post I'll make over the summer - I've got a lot of ideas.  I love foldables and I've been making my students take notes (with COLOR) for awhile, so it seems like a good road to travel down.

2.  Read Class Novels

I've always wanted to teach Language Arts with more novels.  My students hardly ever read full novels with our textbook series, I think it will be a great challenge for me (and my students!)  I have one project posted over at Donors Choose and I'm hoping for some success there.  I want my students to read the Hunger Games this year because it's such a good novel to foster classroom discussions.

3.  Create a Clean, Engaging Classroom Environment

My new room is a total mess.  It probably hasn't been cleaned since 2000.  (I'm not joking.)  Apparently, the old teacher never even put bulletin board paper up.  Yes.  I'll wait for you to gasp in horror of the thought of a completely white, dull, classroom.  

4.  Updated the Bulletin Boards

So, along that vein... That room needs bulletin boards with fun anchor charts.  I love all the anchor charts up on Pinterest, so I'll be taking some ideas and working with that.  

I think I'll be busy making a lot of different Language Arts items all summer preparing for my next year, I'm really excited about it.

5 for Friday

Whew - what a week!  I'm just so glad it's Friday and here's the 5 for Friday that I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

{1.}  This week, for only having 4 days, felt insanely long.  Maybe it was because it was just one disaster after another!  My neighbors classroom was broken into and vandalized this week!  They didn't steal anything, just sprayed the fire extinguisher all over EVERYTHING and covering her books and tables with chemicals.  I've been lending her my classroom and whatever I can, because that just sucks.

{2.}  I am still in love with Edmodo.  It tells me who turns in things and who is still missing work.  That usually would take my TA an hour to sort through everything - Edmodo does it in seconds.  LOVE.

{3.} Hooray!  I was chosen by Classroom Friendly Supplies to review one of their sharpeners!

I have been wanting to review a sharpener for awhile now, but I've been waiting for when I passed 200-ish followers to email the owner.  I'm eagerly awaiting my sharpener in the mail!

{4.}  Today, I was busy working in my classroom trying to set up my 3-point lighting setups for shooting video in the upcoming weeks.  I love that I get to try and experiment with new things in my classroom.  I've also been busing googling Filming Resources to try and get my head around what I need to do.  (Hint:  It's a lot!)

{5.}  And finally... I'm so glad that I'm home and not at work because... it's raining!  I know the song goes, "it never rains in Southern California...but when it rains.... it pours...."  Or something like that and it's SO TRUE.  Our students are always nuts in the rain because it just doesn't happen all the time.  This California girl doesn't do well with cold/rainy/yucky weather.  I'm just not used to it!  

How was your week?  Join the linky over at Doodle Bugs!

First Day of School, Internet Woes and a Linky!

(Note:  I wrote this post yesterday before my internet suddenly disappeared.  Since then, I've spend hours on the phone with Verizon, threatened to cancel my services three times and still don't have any internet.  UGH.  So, if things are behind... just know that I'm battling over here to get the services I should have.)

Today was my first day back at school, but I’m going to hold that off for a post tomorrow! 

I’ve been thinking about how much time and effort everyone at my school and all schools put into their classrooms.  I mean, I spend the time and effort papering, printing, arranging pleasing colors and my middle school kids don’t really appreciate all the time I put into it.  Also, I know that I always feel like I learn SO much by looking at other teacher’s décor and styles.

Did you take your classroom from drab to fab?  Show it off!

So, I wanted to host a linky party that allowed everyone to share their classrooms for the 2012-2013 school year!  Hooray!  Please join up!

Here are the rules:

1.  Write a blog post about your classroom!   How did you decorate?  Any fabulous pinterest ideas?  Pictures are encouraged!

2.  Link up to the party!

3.  Share the graphic on your post and encourage people to join in!

4.  After you join, please follow the Rule of 3 (copyright Farley!).  Please comment on the 2 people in front of you and 1 person behind!  That way everyone gets a lot of blogging love and new visitors to different sites!

I can’t wait to see what everyone did for this new school year!  I’ll post my link in here too.  (I didn’t want it to clutter up this info post!)

Summer Bucket List!

Ahhhhh....  Summer.  I love you so!  I can go back to my pre-teaching slacker ways of staying up late, sleeping in and lounging about the house.

However, I do have a "Bucket List" of things that I'm going to accomplish over the summer.  Miss Kindergarten is holding a Summer Bucket List Linky Party!

I'll be......  Moving!

I'll be going from my current classroom to the computer elective room.  This will involve a lot of cleaning, packing, setting up.  Lots of opportunities to organize!  This means I'll be making lots of stuff from Pinterest.  Also, with moving, I'll be taking a look at the Computer Curriculum and modifying/changing what I need to.

I'll be.....  Making!

I'm in love with this idea and I'll try to come up with something that will work in the computer room.

I'll be...... Visiting!

I'm signed up for the 2012 ISTE Educational Technology Conference.  I'm SO EXCITED.  I love conferences and this is a four day San Diego conference.  I love visiting San Diego and I love conferences about technology, especially this one I'll get to wander around the conference halls with my iPad and go nuts.  My goal is to bring back some great ideas that I can use in my computer elective class.  I'll also be blogging my days there - so look forward to it!  June 24th through June 28th!

I'm also a season pass holder at Disneyland and as of June 15th, they are FINALLY re-opening all of California Adventure to Guests.  I can't wait to go (and fight through the other millions, but that's okay.  I'm a Disneyland junkie.)

I'll be .....Watching! 

 I don't talk about it too much since this is my teaching blog, but I'm an diehard LA Kings fan. This is the first year since 1993 that they've made it to the Western Conference Finals and they are dominating. So, I'm planning on watching a lot of Kings Playoff Hockey in June.  WHOO HOO.

Teacher Appreciation Week

I'm linking this post up with the amazing Caught in the Middle Blog - it's her first linky party!  (You should participate!  And in mine too! heehee!)

Teacher Appreciation Week is always a mellow affair in our school district.  We get a small thank you token in our box a few mornings during the week, but it's sorta terrible that it's not publicized more!!

Our Principal went out and bought the entire staff (and I mean EVERYONE) a brand new staff work shirt that we wear on Fridays.  It's a really nice present that I really appreciate because it's SO nice not to worry about what I'm going to wear on Friday morning!

How was your teacher appreciation week?!

Open House Linky Party!

It's that time of year again - Open House time!

In my school district - Open House happens about two weeks after state testing.  So, you have to totally tear down/cover up your room, only to have a miraculous turn around into an awesome learning environment in two weeks.  It always makes me a whole lot frazzled because I need to make sure that I have some awesome student work to display.

This year, I thought about it and I had my students create an Animal Project, complete with cube display. Each student had to research one animal with their appearance, habitat, food/heart information, classification levels and much more. They basically became an "expert" on their animal.  I am going to have all their animals on display for my Open House, so parents can see all the animals that were researched for the project.  It's going to be like going to the Zoo - all the animals are going to be grouped by their Animal Classification (Fish, Reptile, Mammal, etc).

I know that every year, I always struggle for some great Open House ideas.  I thought that it would be awesome to see what everyone else out there does for their Open House (or Parent Night?).  So, I set up the Open House Linky Party!  Whoo-hoo!

Open House Linky Party!

Rules:

1.  Right click and save this picture to add to your linky post!
2.  Write your Open House post!  Pictures and other forms, ideas would be awesome!  If your Open House has already passed, tell us what you did or would do next year.
3.  Come back and Link Up to this post!
4.  Come back often to check out all the great ideas from great Teachers!

Due to lack of interest... I closed this linky!  No worries, I have lots of ideas for another one!

Day in my Shoes Linky

Katie over at Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher is hosting a very cool linky party - tell your blog readers about a Day in YOUR Shoes in your classroom.  Great idea!

1. Right Click and Save the above pic to add to your linky post.  Katie also recommends making the picture a link, so people can use the picture to easily link back.
2. Tell everyone about your typical day in your classroom.  You can include as much/as little as you'd like.
3. Come back and Link Up!
4. Visit all the other Teachers that have linked up!

A Typical Day for Me:

5:30am - My alarm goes off.  I will hit snooze once (okay... twice!) and then drag myself out of bed at 5:55am.  My wonderful husband has already been up for a while, since he's a morning person.  I help get my son dressed and ready to go to his Grandparents for the day.

6:30am - I am dressed and ready to be picked up by my wonderful carpool group.  This is our 4th year carpooling to work and it saves us SO much money!  It has also become our therapy/discussion/school spirit discussion times.  I would be LOST without my carpool friends.

7:05am - We arrive to work, cruise through the front office and check our boxes.  I always peek into the staff lounge to see if there's "anything interesting" going on today.  My friends tease me when I am disappointed daily.  My SH (severely handicapped) teacher friend and I chat while we walk up to our rooms, then separate for the day.

7:10am - I arrive in my classroom.  I have first period prep, so that means I have until 8:25am to get my day prepared.  This includes - running copies and prepping future copies, setting up my board with the date, lessons, homework, grading papers, straightening the room for my 7th graders.

7:25 - 8:25am - (Period 1)  My prep time.

8:25am - 10:15am - (Period 2 and 3) 7th Grade Math & Science with SEI, Sheltered Language Students and Regular Ed students.  This is a tough crowd of 32 students.  I remind them as they walk in that it's not time to chat, but they need to sit down, open their planners, copy their homework and start their warm ups.  We'll review the warm up, check in homework and then get started.  Some days, we'll do whole class lessons or others we'll break into rotations.  I'll do full class Science about 2-3 days a week.  I also receive 2 RSP kids for science.

10:20am - (Period 4) 8th Grade Science  Ahhhh, the "Class from Hell."  Some of the rowdiest kids on campus, I have to meet these guys at the door and wait patiently for them to be quiet and walk into the classroom.  Sometimes, we have to practice this skill several times.  (Sigh)  Once they are in and quiet, we start 15 minutes of absolute SILENT reading.  Then we'll break into some Science (chemistry - gasp) and then I have to encourage them to follow along, take notes...  These guys, disliking school, is a complete understatement.  It doesn't help that 5-7 of them are also RSP kids that I've taught before.

11:10am (or 11:15am... 11:20am) Lunch  Depending if my 8th graders "owe" me academic time, or if some of them decided not to work... finish their work during lunch...  I'll start my lunch.  Some days I'll get something from the Teacher Cart in the lounge, other days my SH teacher friend has her aide pick up McDonald's and most days, it might be a yogurt or crackers and gatorade.  Either way, I tend to enjoy my 10 - 20 minutes of quiet time.  If I'm feeling chatty, I'll bring my lunch to my friend's class.

11:40am - (Period 5 and 6) 7th Grade Math & Science  Repeat my morning lesson with my afternoon class.  This class is a delight - everyone works, it's smaller too!  28 kids!  Be still my heart!  I'll get 3 more RSP kids for Science at 12:45pm.

1:30pm - Dismissal  The bell rings and my school day is over.  I think our day is short...  but my it's my school district.  (It sounds like something my union would fight over.)  Sometimes, I have meetings (Wednesdays) detentions (Tuesday/Thursdays) or tutoring.  I'm usually packed up and out the door by 1:50pm because carpool has to leave to pick up kids, take them to dance, etc.

2:20pm - I'm home... quickly run in to my house, change, get the mail, etc.  Then I'm back in the car to go off to pick up my son from the grandparents.

3pm - Finally home to spend the rest of the evening with my family!  I'm usually in bed by 9:45pm to get some rest for the next day.

So that's my day!  I hope you enjoyed reading about it!

EDIT:  A lot of people are amazed about my short day.  Here is a link to our School Bell Schedule.  Also, my Math and Science classes are 54 minutes each, so it's technically periods 2 and 3, periods 5 and 6.

January Currently

Things have been crazy this week... but a GOOD crazy.  My 8th graders from HELL are making progress and my 7th graders did a pretty good job with their rotations this week.  I feel like I'm making my way back to my usual style of teaching.

Also, here is my January Currently from Oh Boy 4th Grade!

Go to Books Linky Party!

Stephanie over at Teaching in Room 6 is running a really great linky party - "Go to Teaching Books" which is a great idea. I know that a lot of teachers have a variety of books in their bag of tricks, so to speak.

I have three books that I simply adore and are my "Go to" whenever I feel like something is just not working in my classroom. Honestly, this year I've had to pull out all three and start over from scratch. Switching schools in October is a difficult job.

Instruction for All Students - by Paula Rutherford

Instruction for All Students is a great book that has easy ideas that you can quickly implement into the classroom. The idea for having the students complete a daily learning log is in there, also a great list of products that you can have your students produce. It's also cross referenced with the standards, so you can always correlate your lessons to the National, State, Core (whatever it's moving to these days) Standards.

Teach Like A Champion - Doug Lemov

What I adore about Teach Like a Champion is that you don't have to do an entire overhaul to your classroom, lessons, etc. It has 49 strategies that you can implement to make your classroom run smoother. It's as simple as saying that you're going to focus on the strategy of "No Opt Out" for that day with your students. It's a great read and I highly recommend picking it up.

Tools for Teachers - Fred Jones

Finally, the classroom management guru other than Harry Wong (who I love too... but he's been widely represented in this linky party!) that I stick to. What I like about Dr. Jones is that he's a stickler for the classroom set up portion of the classroom management idea. How you arrange your desks determines classroom successes. (I was ready to pull out his book if people were going to give me a difficult time getting rid of my classroom single desks.) Also, his ideas revolving around PAT (preferred activity time) are genius and something that I'm going to have to do with my very unruly classes this year.

Middle/High School Linky Party!

Thanks to Kristen over at Secondary Solutions, she personally invited me to join up at her Middle and High School Linky Party! Based on the fact that I have my devoted readership of... 10 people (Waves! Thanks loyal, yet small following!) maybe I should you know... blog more... link up more...

Maybe that should be a 2012 resolution. (heehee)

I'm seeing some favorite blogs of mine already signed up...

Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher

A Teacher's Treasure

Middle School Math Rules!

Runde's Room

But... There are still a few that I know need to be signed up... I'm looking for Kim from Joy in 6th Grade and Middle School Survival Guide. You guys are awesome!

Facebook Linky Party!

Okay - I'm trying to get out there in the world. I hope that people will link me - I promise I'll have more things, ideas, pictures soon!

The very fabulous Lesson Plan Diva is having a Facebook Linky Party! I'm joining up to make sure I start to get included with some other educational blogs. (Afterall, blogging to no one isn't very fun!)

So, - please follow my Facebook Page! Life in Middle School - Yay!