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!