Organizing Table Groups

Each table group in my classroom has a "tower" next to it. In the "towers" students keep their personal art supplies, test taking tents, and any books they can not fit into their desks. Last year, I had big plans to make each tower a little prettier. Did I do that? No. It was not a priority. This year still not a priority, however, yet here I am, decorating towers in my classroom.

A fake sunflower, green pencil holder, and yellow basket have made their homes on each of the classroom towers. The only difference between each tower is that on each yellow basket I have put a different type of owl. That way I'll be able to call each table group by their owl name. Notice I tied this bow on the outside of the basket, you don't want to know how many times I had to try this.

Classroom Library: During

Here they are, the empty shelves that will become my new and improved classroom library. I love how they are built into the wall (I think they are a part of the radiator?), because I don't feel like they are taking up a lot of space.

Here are the book baskets that will live on the classroom library shelves. I bought the baskets in brown and green, and went with yellow labels/ribbon. I really like how they turned out. I would like to reiterate how non-crafty I am, even this was a challenge.

This is about 70% finished. I filled up the rest of the shelves with book baskets. Some baskets do not have labels on them yet because I forgot about some of my genres and my school doesn't have a color printer, so tomorrow morning before I go back in, I have some printing to do. My dad is building more shelves for me that will fit underneath the chalk board in the classroom library. I can not wait until this all comes together and is finished!

Classroom Library: Before

Behind these shelves lives an ancient chalk board (its magnetic, which is more than I can say for my other chalk boards), I will be using it during reading mini lessons.

Here they are, the shelves I fear will crush a child. They are out! Now, where exactly they are going, I'm not quite sure (its surprisingly hard to get rid of furniture), but I don't care, I need them gone!

I have to admit, I am a little embarrassed to show this picture, not just because of the shaky shelves, but because of my lack of library. Of course I know how important it is to have a phenomenal classroom library. I read about it all throughout college, I am lectured about it at professional development, and I read up on it in education books, but I have a secret weapon....my school librarian. OK, she may not be a secret, but she's the greatest. If I shoot her an email letting her know the genre or topic we are studying, she shows up to our classroom with an entire cart full of books! Students enjoy this because they love leafing through the new books every two weeks or so.

These built in shelves are what will become my classroom library tomorrow. I invested in book baskets from Really Good Stuff, so that I can organize my library by genre.

This is a picture facing the back of the classroom. Classroom library/guided reading corner.

By Sunday afternoon, this will look completely different! I can not wait!

Classroom Mascot

Harold. 

Meet Harold. Our classroom's newest member. He will spend his day watching us from the classroom garden on the window sill. Welcome Harold.

The 90 Minute...errrr 150 Minute Reading Block

Where to even start?

The state of Indiana, passed legislation that THIS school year 2012-2013, schools across the state would be expected to implement 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction for students in elementary schools. The school district I work for, decided to jump the gun and mandate our 90 minute reading block last school year. Although it was stressful, first year teacher, 90 minute reading block, new math, science, and health curricula, I am grateful I got to "practice" (for lack of a better word), how to manage what at the time, seemed like an insurmountable amount of time. 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading instruction? How to fill up that amount of time? Fill up time? Ha! I wish! Now, I wish I had more time! Our school district has encouraged teachers to utilize The Daily Five and utilize it I have. The only problem now, is that I think I could teach reading for hours, hence the title of this post. In a perfect world, my reading block would break down somewhat like this:

Mini Lesson (Based on Basal Text and District Curriculum Map) 20-30 Minutes
*Teacher Time (Working in leveled/strategy groups with short texts) 20-30 Minutes
*Daily 5 Choice (Working through the week's Daily 5 Tic Tac Toe Menu) 20-30 Minutes
*Computer (Students will work on Study Island or RAZ Kids) 20-30 minutes 
*Content (Students will work on Science/Social Studies) 20-30 minutes

The asterisked items will all be going on simultaneously.The kiddos will rotate, completing every activity every day (pending school conflicts). The problem I ran into last year with Daily 5, was not being able to hold students as accountable as I'd wanted to. Yes, we checked in and students denoted what they would doing on the Daily 5 board, but I still didn't feel great about it. I found something similar to this, made it my own, and hopefully having this on the smart board throughout the entire reading block will help to keep students on task.

30+20+20+20+20=110

30+30+30+30+30=150

Either equation...I would like more than 90 minutes to teach reading. I could always take out content, stick to 15 minute rotations, something, it's just going to be another year of figuring it out. Definitely more to come on this subject.

Project Numero Uno: Desk Arrangments

Yesterday, I spent a good 3 hours at school (I was the only one there as school doesn't start for another month) adjusting my student's desks so they were all the same height. (Aren't teachers known for being OCD?)

The goods. 

 

 

I realize how ridiculous this sounds, adjusting the height on 30 desks? Well, even though it was a pain (I smelled like WD-40 for hours), I think it was totally worth it. In my classroom, we do a lot of group projects, where my students use their table groups as a work area. Students may be working on posters, researching with the netbooks, conferencing about their writing/reading, the list goes on. But in order for them to be able to do all of those things(without getting into brawls with table group members), they all need a level work area. And I might just think its more aesthetically pleasing. 

These puppies aren't moving.

I have made the decision this school year that when I switch up seating arrangements, it will be students and the contents of their desks moving, not the desks themselves. In my room, I like to switch up where the kiddos are sitting at least once every quarter, sometimes twice. I always dreaded those days, desks and children and chairs everywhere, students wanting to clean out their desks before they made the big move across the classroom, stray papers and glue sticks strewn all over the floor...just an absolute nightmare. So this year, students will be only moving their locations, not heavy desks and chairs. I hope hope hope this will be a more efficient system. I also hope this will make for more tidy student desks and a feeling of classroom community. The first time we make the move, I will make sure to blog about how it went.

Preliminary Classroom Set Up

Welp, I got response today from the principal, and no paint this year. And I quote, (or rather copy and paste) "Maybe Christmas break but don't hold your breath." I did ask him , if I could come in with putty and sandpaper to fix the holes in the wall, still waiting on that response. The giant holes in the wall are a direct result of taking down maps/overhead screen and installing the smart board, which I am very grateful for as I don't know what I would do without it. However, that process was about 365 days ago. But of course I will make due.

One of my awesome co workers sent me this link today for Owl Appliques. I think this will be a great solution to help brighten up the walls in my drab classroom. I was also thinking in order to cover up the wall directly behind the smart board, turning that part of the wall into a 3-D tree, with the smart board "inside" or part of the tree. In order to do that, I'm really going to have to think back to my high school theater/stage craft days...or enlist the help of some of my friends who are still involved in that! More to come on that :)

After some extensive thought the other night when I could not sleep, I think I have come up with a basic floor plan for my classroom. Not a lot has changed, except my classroom library/Daily 5/guided reading corner has gotten bigger. No, I did not knock down a wall, but I will using shorter bookshelves in order to maximize the space for mini lessons. Behind the bookshelves, there is an ancient chalk board, that I am actually excited to use this year!  Last school year, I was always afraid my towering bookshelves would crush children. Not only were they too high, they were also not kid friendly. I'm pumped to get rid of them, as they were a hand-me-down from the teacher in the room before me. Who was I, the first year teacher to say no to furniture in my classroom? Well, I'm a second year teacher now and I'm ready to make this room totally my own! 

Here it is! Real pictures to come as I get to work next week!

Back to School...

It's that time of year again. I'm re-reading books like The Daily 5 , The Cafe Book , and Reading with Meaning. I am thinking about a new classroom theme (switching from Hollywood, I decided it was too shallow; to Owls, I think it will be a very WISE decision). I've spent hours scouring various teacher blogs, Google image, teacher supply websites, and Pinterest; trying to find the perfect way to organize my student reading/writing binders, cutsey labels for the genres in my classroom library, word work activities, guided reading tips galore, ways to maximize space, classroom decorations that I can purchase or print (I am so not the DIY type). I've finally made a few decisions about what my classroom will look like and how my day will unfold.... Unfortunately, I still have a ways to go before August 22 (the first day for students).

Although I'm kicking myself now for not taking enough pictures of my Hollywood theme (My kiddos were the Stars of the 4th grade), it will be nice starting with a blank slate. This year I will be teaching 5th grade and my students will be the "Insert Something Clever Here About Owls" of the 5th grade (the title is a work in process). I would like to get started in my classroom ASAP (like last week), but it is currently in a "will I get painted this summer" limbo. If I don't hear from my principal by Friday, I will either guerrilla paint it over the weekend or (the more likely choice)  begin on bulletin boards and keep them covered up with sheets in anticipation of a painting crew. Here I have a few photos of my "blank slate". Oddly enough I took pics of the sides and back of my classroom, but did not take any of the front of the room. Looks like I'll have to drop in later this week. Maybe I'll see a painting crew.....

This one's blurry, but you get the idea.

                                                        

                                           
You can see the remnants of my "Reely Good Work" Board. Also, behind some of that butcher block paper is my CAFE board, hence my guided reading table. I call it my guided reading table, students called it everything from; kidney table, bean table, kidney bean table,  horseshoe table, "please don't make me whisper read to measure fluency again" table, Daily 5 Table, Daily 3 Table (My Dailies fluctuated throughout the school year), small group table, and many more.

                                    
Classroom library and my desk. Which frankly, I am considering getting rid of this year (my desk). I am never at it! I do everything from my guided reading/kidney bean table (please see above) and everything in my room is wireless, so it's really just taking up space...Also (in terms of the classroom library), I hate the tall shelves, I hate them! I need to hit up garage sales for more kid friendly sized shelves or hit up dear old dad to build them for me.

Until next time! Maybe I will have made more decisions by then!