Day 2

Today was Day 2 of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade! I have been blessed with an amazing morning aide! WONDERFUL! I'm also thankful that I decided to go ahead and use Whole Brain Teaching this year. It's going really well! I was leery about using the scoreboard because I didn't quite understand it. But after a crash course via youtube videos right before school started, I've been using it, and it's been working MARVELOUSLY, especially the mighty oh yeahs and mighty groans!

Today I handed out some Roll and Cover Addition from Journey of a Substitute Teacher (see here). My 3rd grade boys LOVED it! They treated the dice like a bowling ball and who knows what else, but it was MATH. So I found a bunch more roll and cover game boards tonight to use as extra-finisher assignments.

Our new administrator has been encouraging us to use technology in the classroom. Before school started, one of the highschool math teachers did a mini-seminar on different websites. I'm excited to show my 4th graders two Khan Academy math videos tomorrow! I know they will love it, and I'm hoping it will really help them grasp the concepts.

Off to get rested for Day 3!

Appropriately, albeit unintentionally, blurry, purposefully color-inverted because, right now, my book situation is similarly horrific.
I'm hoping to try Lowe's tomorrow for some book bins as featured on today's The Brown Bag Teacher post. :)

 To laminate or not to laminate the construction paper history vine, science garden. That was indeed the question.

I took the plunge. I didn't realize the plunge would be as deep as $60. (Yes, lamination costs THAT much.)

But the lady at Staples was so nice, and she combined as many items as possible onto the pages, and, in the end, despite the price, I am very glad I did laminate it all.

So! Here it is! Ready for chapters to be studied so plants can grow!

I've been tutoring a 2nd grade boy in reading since last August. Today was our last day. -sad face- Yesterday we wrote a take off from this used book I got at the homeschool convention.

What my room looked like on Monday

I altered my ordinary, blah-to-me border by painting on some polka dots--my fav!

The dandelion (that's what it's supposed to be at least) I made last summer in preparation for the next school year. Thanks to God's plans, I at last get to use it! The fly-away seeds go along with our first couple science chapters on living things and plants.

stressed and overwhelmed, with a dash of excitement

The last several days I've left my classroom a mess! Stuff is strewn everywhere and my #1 problem is I don't know where to put everything. I'd love to put it away! But where?

On a positive note, I haven't been the only one on campus this week! The gate is open, and people are everywhere! Today all the elementary teachers just happened to be there at the same time. It's good to be part of the team again.

Stinky computer won't let me upload photos here or even on my e-mail. Weird. What is a teacher blog without photos? That I do not know. :) *reaches into recesses of the last decade for how we used to post pics* A solution might be in hand! If so, stay tuned!

Homeschool Convention and Kinesthetic/ADHD Students

This weekend I had a blast at the Valley Home Educator's Home School Convention. I graduated from homeschool high school ten years ago. I still enjoy dipping back into that world.

I also went to the conference to learn! I went to sessions like "Your Child May Never Be Normal, But They Can Be Extraordinary!" and "Active Child? ADHD? Laying the Groundwork for Solutions," both by Dr. Stephen Guffanti, who was apparently a horrific child with ADHD and dyslexia who eventually made it through medical school. :)

I learned that kids with ADHD have great potential if you can discover their passion and let them chase their passions, like the risk taking, not-thinking-ahead, builders of the Eerie Canal.

I learned that kinesthetic learners are not learning when they are looking you in the eye. They are focusing so hard on looking you in the eye that they are not listening! Instead, they have to be allowed to move. (One homeschool mom who is ADD has had success with giving the students she tutors a rubberband to quietly play with. Or she suggested letting a child use a pilates ball as a chair because it requires them to put their energy into balancing.)

I learned that centering exercises like ballet or karate can help the ADHD child.

I learned that for a kinesthetic learner/ADHD child, sitting still is physically painful.

I learned that cardio exercises like jumping jacks heightens the adrenaline. So instead of telling a misbehaving boy to do some kind of cardio activity, instead you should have him do a cross-over exercise (example: windmills) to help him focus. On the flip-side, if the boy is struggling with multiplication and is about to cry from frustration, jumping jacks or running is just the thing to bring back the adrenaline and energy.

Corollary: Punishing a boy by having him do a cardio exercise does not work. Give him something very boring to do.

Everything I learned confirmed my decision to try out Whole Brain Teaching this year! Reading the chapter summaries of those who are reading the book really helps!

because cleaning = fresh start

 

Freebies galore! I'm catching up on the intro posts at the new blog Owl-ways Be Inspired. I'm excited about this blog because it is a conglomeration of teachers talking about 2nd and 3rd grade--what I'm teaching this year! And what's cool is that as each contributor introduces herself, she provides a freebie. That's enough motivation to keep reading right there! :-P

Yesterday I began moving furniture around now that the carpet is dry. It's hard to decide how to set up the room!

I didn't visit my classroom today, but I did go to Staples and laminate a few diddlies. I also went to WalMart and bought some crates. Two years ago when I taught, I set up my bookshelf like you would do it at home--books standing upright on the shelves. This year I really would like to try putting the books in baskets according to difficulty level.

Oddest thing. I made a photo collage of classroom cleaning shots on picmonkey, and now, for the last three days, Blogger (or my computer?) hasn't allowed me to upload it! Hmph. Well, here goes a bunch of pix then!


what I get to work with!

lotsa scrubbin'!

before

after

before cleaning--yuck!

after--2 scrubs and paint!

before cleaning (I think I'm getting obsessed with cleaning)

after -- because clean = fresh start



my dad shampooing the carpet

starting to move stuff around--and putting paper on my bulletin board!

working on a Pinterest project I've wanted to do for awhile!

Bloggy Blessings

I meant to post this yesterday, but the picture I wanted to post with it would not upload...and still won't! So I'll have to post cleaning pix later, when the computer's less finicky!

I feel like I've learned a lot about classroom teaching lately, even if it's just what WBT is or the Daily Five. But, not having a degree in education, I know there is still a lot for me to learn.

My classroom is now shampooed, my furniture dusted and freshly painted, I can start moving in tomorrow. My goal is a fresh start. I taught two years ago at the same school, my first year in a classroom. But that was then, and this is now, and by God's grace, I am determined to have a fresh start implementing what I have learned in tutoring this last year and through Pinterest and blog ideas.

Still, it is so nice when one of the teacher blogs you follow posts something other than a TpT buy for a money counting learning center or a picture of her latest Pinterest-inspired Target buy.

Teaching Maddeness actually posted, for all the world to see, her long range plan for the school year, broken down into subjects and dates and blocks of units. It's awesome. I have a similarish plan already in a Word doc, but I like how hers is at once definite and yet not a micromanage of every day or detail. And how it's broken down into dates!

Thank you, Amanda, for sharing something so practical!

of keys and clipcharts

So last week my classroom was being used for VBS so I had marked on  my calendar that this was the week I could START ON MY ROOM!

I made it in yesterday and *drumroll* GOT MY KEY!

It's kinda funny though. I worked there the year before last and had a key chain that I had kept my school keys on. When I got my keys from the office yesterday, I searched around in my person and I was still carrying around the same key chain. :-P

Anyway, it's officially official, ie. I've got me a room!

But, boy, does it need help.

Today my PLAN is to take a scrub brush and bucket and clean the shelves and whatnots that are just grrrrrrungy!

And then on Saturday methinks that my wonderful dad is going to shampoo the carpet for me. Yay!

I was also excited to find that the teacher before me left me some pillows, clipboards, the rest of her easel pad paper (not cheap!), and even a dust buster!!

Well, I have a lot to do today, so I'll just add one picture...

Me, Monk, and my newly constructed clipchart (going to try it for the first time this year) based off of 3rd Grade Thoughts' FREEBIE (I made my own tho because I didn't want to use all that ink).

Toodles!

Opinions and Hamburgers

There is something very motivational and inspirational about using junk food to teach academics.

My dog Bella already senses that a long evening is before her.

If you search for persuasive or opinion writing on Pinterest, you'll find a very cute pink and blue What is Your Favorite Ice Cream chart, a Persuasive Writing Oreo, and the hamburger graphic organizer you see on my floor in the above picture. All yummy, right?

My goal is to do a writing triboard with labels and illustrations for each writing chapter. I would have straight up used the hamburger graphic organizer or the Oreo organizer, but our curriculum specifically tells the kids to use a reason, fact, reason, fact format. I thought I better stick to what they're actually being taught! Thus, out came the construction paper, and my own burger anchor chart emerged!

Today's Blue Plate Special!

My burger makes me so happy! Please note that the green is lettuce and the yellow is cheese--no pickles or mustard for me!

Here's another version someone made out of a placemat.

I'd like to someday do something with the French fries idea too!

Nouns, verbs, adjectives...and ICE CREAM!

Isn't Pinterest wonderful? I found a pin for Speech Time Fun's Ice Cream Parts of Speech Sort.

With a template from DLTK (linked also at Speech Time Fun), I now have ice cream cones ready to be loaded up with scoops of nouns, verbs, and adjectives as quick as the kids can write in words and color 'em!

As you can see, I also had fun drawing my own ice cream container! Yum, yum!

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to somehow store the blank scoops inside the "container" . . . probably not. Maybe I could draw an ice cream scooper from which a baggie full of scoops can hang? I don't know, but anything with ice cream has got to be good for morale!

Science Garden/History Vine

What happens when a teacher and her uber-creative friend begin brainstorming?

 

crackers, salami, gourmet cheese, apples, and chocolate chips to keep up our strength

 

A construction paper science garden and history vine for my classroom wall!

 

In the beginning of the year, I will put up dirt mounds labeled with the science chapter titles and a pot and pole on which a history vine will grow!

 

Every time we start a new chapter in history, a new section of vine will go up with the title of the chapter written on the leaf. Construction paper fruit can be added with pictures from whatever we're studying. While we're studying science, I will slowly add an already-cut stem, leaves, and flower middle. My students can make their own flower petals, and we'll put a picture from the unit in the middle.

 

Those leaves? My artsy friend cut out all of them!

 

At least, that's the plan.

 

I'm excited about it! It will help hold me accountable to keep us moving along. Parents will be able to see what their children have learned. And hopefully my students will get motivated and anticipate the garden growing more and more till it is all filled and summer is here again. Besides all that, it's just cool.

 

And it's all cut out already! I told my friend when she/we came up with the idea, the problem is

 

I won't do it unless everything is already done.

 

Thankful for free time and friends.

Vroom, vroom

Starting a new blog is like starting a new journal. It feels momentous. You feel like you have to set the stage for the rest of your writing. If you mess up here, it will always be here.

I look around at all the awesome teacher blogs out there and think, "I want somewhere to record all my implementations of their ideas!" So I venture out and start my own school blog. For better or for worse, welcome to

LadyM Goes to School!

 

or is it

 

LadyM at School

 

I don't know yet.