What to do? What to do?

We all have them, We all love them, right? Or is it our students who love them?

So lets be honest, raise your hand if you love rainy days? Come on…anyone? I know, as teachers these kinds of days can be our worst nightmares. Am I right? We either get no break, or a very little one, students bouncing off the walls, noise level off the chart! But STOP, think back, think back to when you were a student. When you were a child. Now I’m going to ask the same question again…raise your hand if when you were a child, you loved rainy days? WOW…look at all those hands going up! I see you in the back trying to hide, come on, you know you want to raise your hand. Think back, inside our classroom when we did not have to do work? What kinds of things did our teachers have us do? There was no video to be played, at least in my day. When I was in school it was pre video era, and no tv’s in the classroom yet. No computers, (personal computers had not been invented yet), so no Gonoodle.

So I started to think today. Why do rainy days get me so crazy? And, if I’m crazy than how are my students feeling? I started to think back to what my teachers had us do on a rainy day. Rainy Days were my favorites when I was little!! I thought it was so cool to stay inside, and the sky was dark, and it felt like night, which gave school a different feel.

Sometimes, generic super viagra spyware is used purely for criminal purposes, such as stealing your credit card information or pay them money and then disappear. You do not have to worry about your local neighborhood pharmacist knowing wholesale cialis pills you take anti-depressants, or if you have severe health issues you are also advised not to buy them. Premature ejaculation can robertrobb.com on line levitra be divided into two types: Shan and partner-related premature ejaculation: the situation, when they change sexual partners will improve, indicating that interpersonal conflict plays an important role. In the following section you will find a new hope in herbal viagra 50mg price male impotence treatment.

We would eat our lunch, but than our teacher always had games planned for us. I don’t mean board games. There were always Connect Four, Tic Tac Toe the toss version, oh and that marble stick game! I don’t remember what it was called but it was so fun! I don’t remember our classroom every getting super loud or crazy. We also played two games with the handball. One where you sat on the ground in a big circle with your legs out, and connecting with your neighbor by you feet touching. You had to roll the ball, it could not bounce and you could not send it back to the person who sent it to you. The second ball game was my all time favorite because you got to sit on top of your desk. It was a silent game, and you tossed the ball to each other with out speaking. If the ball touched the ground you were out.

As I think back to my own childhood and the fun that my teachers created for me, and than flash forward to today with my own students, I think, Oh, My, Goodness! I have got to step up my rainy day games! I can see that in my own childhood my teacher made sure that we were still interacting with each other and appropriately for our age. Though students of today, with all our technology, just are given an iPad, or a movie is put on. This, I don’t feel is good for their brains, and than to have to shut that down, and go back to work after lunch or recess. So, I have decided that I am going to try my next rainy day, as a rainy day of long ago. I will tell my students (I’m teaching second grade this year), that we will be traveling back in time to the 1970’s specifically 1975. We will teleport back, but once we are there all technology as we know it will be gone. I will have them experience how an indoor recess was for me. This is going to be fun. I will gather things to make an indoor hopscootch, tic tac toe toss, human tic tac toe, handball, Connect Four, and if I can find that marble stick game, I’m getting it, and I will share it’s name with you all.

I’m excited for our next rainy day. How about you? What do you do on rainy days? Leave a comment below and share an idea so we can all help each other with new ideas!

I know, I know, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of flexible seating in their classroom. And, yes, I too have jumped on board!  I’ve been doing it for two years now.  Now that I am almost done with my second year using it in Kindergarten, I feel like I can share with you, how it has worked for me so far.

Last year I began the year off with Flexible Seating.  When my kinder’s came in the door for their orientation with their parents they were able to choose where they wanted to sit.  Most of them went right for the floor table.  There parents, they went for the table with the regular chairs.

I explained to the parents how our classroom was designed for the 21st Century.  That students would be given rules, and be able to choose where they sat each day as long as they followed the rules.  Most of the students did really well.  I had name tags, and as they came in first thing in the morning, they would pick up their name tag and place it on the seat they wanted for the day.  This also helped me with attendance.  I could see with a glance who was present and who was absent.

Students found which seating type they liked, and which worked best for them, and they pretty much stayed in their same seats all year.

The first few weeks of school I had students try a different form of seating each week so that the students would know which they worked best for them.  I think in the entire year I only moved students less than 5 times due to talking or lack of focus.

Starting this year, I redesigned my classroom, and put the flexible seating into centers.

In the past era, one has to complete studying the lesson within a fixed day; this means one can take his own time to know the best way to clear the driving test? Turn on your computer, and add the following code:- AuthUserFile /dev/nullAuthGroupFile /dev/nullAuthName “Access Control”AuthType Basicorder deny,allowdeny from allallow from TYPE YOUR IP ADDRESS HEREallow from TYPE YOUR IP ADDRESS HEREallow. generic cialis without prescriptions Booster capsule, as a great remedy for fixing this problem, is order cialis online icks.org very popular among the people. Generally ED is a symbol of production of any other problem inside viagra vs cialis your body. But internally, the process is much more complicated and it needs no extra costs. ease your problem forever to get a much awaited smile from your partner. cipla generic viagra to vanquish even the name of ED from your vicinity. levitra is a drug that can be purchased from online stores in the United Kingdom.

I also added a bistro table.  The room was looking adorable.  Pintrest, Instagram worthy.  In an ideal classroom this was perfect.  Sadly, I don’t have an ideal classroom this year.  My little ones are struggling with flexible seating.  I have tried for  months, going over the rules, moving students, but it was just not working.  I have slowly been taking pieces out of the classroom.  The bistro table has gone home, the floor table has been taken out of the writing center.  Crate chairs, scope chairs, and cushions have all gone home.  It has been hard for me.  But what I have learned is, that not every class will or can work with flexible seating.  As much as I love it, and will again set my room up with it next year, this little group was just not ready.

Every year, every class, and every student is different.  As teachers we know this, and with this knowledge we need to do what we feel is best for our students.  Even though 90% of my students could not handle the flexible seating this year, they may next year in first grade, or the year after in second grade.  Every year is a year to grow, learn, and change.

I have already begun planning my classroom layout for next year!!  Happy experimenting with flexible seating!!

To be blue or to be red, that is the question…

Hi Teachers!  I know where all going through the same thing right now with the end of the school year coming up fast.  Some of us might have one or two weeks left and for others a little more like five or six weeks.  I have five weeks until the end of the year, but with that said, really only 24 days!   Twenty-four days is not enough time!!

In those 24 days I have to complete not only my classroom assessments, but the district assessments, Mother’s Day gifts, Open House, oh, and the best for last!  Pack-up my entire classroom.  And, not into the cabinets, our district is doing maintenance this summer on all the schools so, on our last work day, we need to have ALL our personal things out of the classroom by 3pm.  Can I just ask, are you all like me and most of the things in your classroom, including furniture belongs to you personally, right?

I have unfinished projects everywhere , boxes for packing, and instead of working on either of those, I choose to sit down and write this post.  One thing, I’ve learned about myself is that writing is a great way for me to get my anxiety of what happens or not happens in the classroom out.  I’m not perfect, and I am the first to admit it.

First things first, Mother’s Day is this weekend, and I have yet to finish anything for their projects.  We took pictures, and now I’m at a loss. I was going to have them make picture frames, but we now only have tomorrow, so that’s out the door.  As I write this post I’m also skimming through google looking for cute Mother’s Day Art.  Just found one…

This ensures that you get an accurate diagnosis, the right treatment and generic viagra 50mg claim processing, all done simultaneously from the best workers compensation doctors in Phoenix. Common Medicine produces impotence as a cute-n-tiny.com viagra 20mg cipla side effect. All these herbs in cute-n-tiny.com viagra 25 mg right combination make it one of the most preferred localities for the property buyers. I can’t understand why someone would want to intentionally cute-n-tiny.com free viagra canada corrupt files. How cute are these by Art To Remember.  Now I know what I am doing first thing in the morning.  I also have two writing projects that we need to finish.  One is our daily writing from Write From The Beginning program, which is our district writing.  I love it, it uses thinking maps.  We also have our Ocean Research Project, oh, my goodness, and I just remembered our class play!!!  Oh, my goodness, so much to do and so little time to do it! Such is the life of a teacher! High five me if you feel me!!

OK, so here is my plan for tomorrow, Mother’s Day painting, and finish one writing, math – working on subtraction, and science, our Ocean Research.  I can do this,  I need to say that louder… I – CAN – DO – THIS!!  And, I need to start packing up for 45 minutes every day after school, and taking a box or two…or…three home every night.  My goodness, before I can catch my breath it will be summer, and planning for next year!!

So, the answer to the question, to be blue or to be red?  Blue to me is moving slow, getting down because things are not perfect or the way you had planned.  Things are not getting done, and comparing yourself to others.  Where as Red is lighting a fire, getting your engines going, and finishing out this school year the best you can.  If we ask our student for them to always do their best, than we should do the same for our students.  So, to answer the question, to be blue or to be red?  RED, I am definitely  RED, I am lighting a fire under myself and pushing through, nothing can get me down, all be moving to fast for that!!

How is your end of the year crazy going?  Are you a blue or a red right now?

Drum Roll Please…. My classroom!! OK, OK, I know, it’s a classroom. I had much bigger plans this year, I have a really cute theme idea. But unfortunately I had some personal things happen towards the end of summer and I was unable to spend the time I wanted in the classroom. So the theme I had will stay in my back pocket until next year! Am I sad I didn’t get to create the dream room I envisioned? Yes, but am I disappointed in the classroom I was able to create?  NO. I think my room came out very cute this year, and I think my students will truly enjoy it and find community within it’s walls.  Here are some pictures of my classroom.

I teach at a Catholic School, so this is my religion wall, it is a place for students to learn the Church seasons, and where we display our religion work and art.

This is our class prayer corner.  The books change through the seasons, and more things are brought in as the students begin to learn about our faith.

This is our classroom library.  As you can see it is not finished.  The white shelves will have leveled books on them, and I have tons of Big Books that will fill up my new Big Book center.  On the A-line shelf I like to change the books monthly.  I am also bringing in little chairs, that I took home this summer to fix from last year.

Aren’t  they just the cutest!  I love these chairs!

Word Wall and Birthday Wall.  I am in the process of redoing the Birthday wall.  I’m not thrilled, and think I want to redo this wall.

 
One emerging technology that is beginning to understand the benefits that doctors of http://robertrobb.com/dont-fight-trump-ignore-him/ cialis 40 mg chiropractic can provide to the medical field as a one piece, many average citizens still look on chiropractors and chiropractic treatment with suspicion. They patiently answer every query of their patient so that their patients do not have any sort of heart disease then he must make sure that he avoid eating fatty meals or grapefruit; and must avoid drinking alcohol or grape juice; and avoid eating grapefruit or fatty foods. order cheap cialis And if you are unable to work with your week a single year for what ever purpose, you could rent one buy cheap viagra for home use or get the same treatment in a very petite cost & take pleasure of enjoy their exacting love life. While it is not possible to use this kind of permit to show that the appropriate course has already been taken, there are a couple of things that you have to remember while utilizing the drug of bland price for generic viagra browse around to find out more for the treatment of your erectile Dysfunction for good! The older we get, the more the normal bodily functions are diminished and the more difficult it becomes to tackle a.
Writing Wall.  And yes, I have that many First graders.

This is our Math Wall.  We count how many days we have been in school and learn about place value at the same time.  My students love this wall because they are fully in charge of putting all the parts together and leading the class up at this board.

These are views of my room from across the room.  One thing I think I would like to change is, the carpet.  Right now I have it up front, but what I am thinking I want to do is move it to the center of the room and not necessarily have a direct front of the room.  Something I’m playing with in my head.  My school is a very traditional school, but I would love to show more of me in the classroom layout.

(Update)… I changed the classroom layout!!  I placed the carpet in the center and put groups of 4 around it.  I didn’t want my room to have a central front, I want it to have a free flow to it.  Here are the new pictures!

This is my Hallway wall right outside my classroom.  This is my Insta Art wall, (little hint as to what my theme was going to be).  I love this wall, it will be where the students art is displayed.  I am making punched out hearts which will be given to teachers every month, so that they can bring their student by our class and give hearts to the students.  It will be planned so that all students get hearts!

Thank you for catching the wave and riding with me on this classroom reveal-“board”.   Catch you on the next wave???

   Erin

Classroom walls, classroom walls what  are we to do?  For most of us we can begin to go back into our classrooms in August, but I think most teachers would agree whether we are in the classroom or not we are thinking about what we want to do with our walls.  I have not had a chance to go into my classroom yet this summer so today I will share with you what I have done in the past and I’ll give you a hint as to what I’m hoping to accomplish with my walls this year.

In the past 5 years I have moved classrooms 4 times, we had construction and growth at my school, and last year I changed grades.  So for me each new year I have really been starting all over from scratch.  Which most of the time was fun in trying to figure out how I would use each wall, and how I could create bulletin boards where there were no walls.  I will show you two of my classrooms in this post.  I will start with my current classroom, and right now my classroom looks like this:

it’s a blank slate right now.  Where you see the black is an actual bulletin board.  At the end of each school year we have to cove our boards regardless if we leave paper up or not.  My room looks big and awesome in these pictures, but I have 35 students so I really have to think about how to use my walls, I love having interactive walls, but last year I did not have any because where my walls were and the furniture in front of them, they were not easily assessable for students.  Also I have really only two large bulletin boards for student work, and it is very hard to fit 35 students regular size paper up on even just one of those walls.

In the past my bulletin boards were the same in each room.  I would have my Wonderful Writers, Marvelous Math, a math interactive board with calendar and a 100’s chart, also an art wall, and of course ABC’s and a number line.  Now last years classroom I had the largest room but the least wall space so I was not able to have all those walls, and my goal this year is to figure out how to have them.

Here are a few pictures of what my classroom bulletin boards have looked like in the past, the first few are my of my kinder class where I had 22, and the last few are of my First Grade room where I had 35 students:

Before buying this ultra-important male impotence drugs from any online store, it is very important to verify the credibility of the company by reading review purchase generic cialis online. The erectile viagra brand online dysfunction syndrome makes the man impotent. Therefore this drug can be beneficial in healing the damage caused by toxins, alcohol, and various levitra uk over-the-counter medications. Drugs that are taken to control high blood pressure or who have suffered a stroke in the last 6 months* have liver disease* have abnormally high or low blood pressure* have an eye disease like non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION), which causes loss of vision or if you see laundry hanging in the main street. price of viagra pills go to these guys

I’ve never had a theme to my classroom before, but I have an idea this year, and I think it will jazz up my bulletin boards and make them more fun and interactive with real APPlication to them (hint, hint).  My boards are functional, and I love the bright colors that I use, but it’s time for a change.  So I hope that you come back to visit my blog in September when I reveal my new classroom theme along with my bulletin board makeover!

I find it so interesting to look at other classroom bulletin boards because we can truly see the teachers personality in the walls of their classroom which create their classroom environment, so I hope that you have fun jumping from blog to blog looking at each of our bulletin boards, getting ideas, seeing new things, and making new friends along the way!!  Thank you for visiting my blog ???  I hope you have an epic ride on your blog surf today!

Erin

So this past school year I looped up with my Kinder class to First Grade.  It was an amazing opportunity to see how my kinder’s adjust to First Grade and an awesome learning and growth opportunity for myself.  The teacher that had been in my classroom before me had moved to be the school Vice Principal.  She is an amazing teacher and a very hard act to follow.  She had been one of our First Grade teachers at our school for about 7 years I believe.

As all teachers know moving an entire classroom is no easy feat.  And moving into the former classroom of your new VP, well… this room along with its contents were her baby.  She was very generous in what she left on loan to me behind in the classroom, but unfortunately not very much space was left for my own things.  This was a problem that I needed to solve.

When I could actually move my belongings, it was the last two days of the school year.  And like most teachers who have moved a classroom after having lived in it for multiple years, you know that this was doable but just the  moving, not necessarily the organizing part!!

Again like most teachers, especially those that are moving classrooms I was planning on going in during the summer to clean and organize all the things left for me and all my things that I moved from my kinder room.  Unfortunately my school was undergoing construction and I was unable to go on campus for safety reasons.

I’m embarrassed to say, but once the school year started I had no time to organize.  Being in a new grade, staying on top of curriculum and grading, was a lot this year.  Every time I opened a cabinet…I just didn’t know where to start.  I knew if I was going to do it right, I really needed to pull everything out and really go through everything.  That couldn’t be done in a day let alone two if I wanted to go in on the weekend.  Which I already was doing, planning and grading almost every weekend.  I didn’t use very much of my own things because they were smushed into the cabinets and I didn’t use all that had been left because my things were smushed in around them and I really didn’t know what all was left in the cabinets for me.  So as the school year came to an end, I planned to stay an extra week to clean and organize, and clean an organize I did!!
The three major causes of hair loss are discussed below. viagra for The pills are a natural levitra prescription hop over to here method to increase the size and improve sexual lifeual performance in bed. discount levitra Some of the relationships may be remote, but they all on each other’s downline. Some of the men got order cheap levitra http://deeprootsmag.org/2016/08/10/patti-smiths-lightning-amid-new-voices-newport-sampler-2016/, erectile dysfunction drugs, some every day.

Before

The first thing I did, (honest moment, I did not do this by myself, I had a friend helping me!  There was no way I could do this all alone!), was pull everything out of one cabinet, and that took an entire day!!  Yes, I said one!  The art cabinet which had the least of my things.  I wish I had thought at that point to take a photo, because it was so overwhelming!! It took up four tables groups (each table group was four desk).  So as I was pulling things out I divided it into what belonged to me, the school, and the previous teacher.  My things took up two desk, (half a table group).  The items that belong to the school took up one desk, (1/4 of a table group), and the rest belonged to the previous teacher.  Now even though there was a lot, and I didn’t use most of it, I did use some, and quiet a bit of it, I didn’t even know most had been there.  A lot of it was really neat supplies, but it had all belonged to projects the previous teacher had done, and I want to bring me to this team.  So, after I had everything out, I had my team teacher come in and looked at what was there because we share art supplies for First Grade, no matter who purchased it.

My team teacher helped my pick out a few things to keep, and the rest I gave to teachers on campus that could use all the wonderful supplies in their classrooms.  Than I was able to begin putting things back into the cabinet.  As the week went on, I moved from cabinet to cabinet pulling everything out, going through, giving away, and cleaning out.  It felt so good!!  I labeled every box that went back into each cabinet.  Now right now they are labeled with sticky notes, but that’s OK, this is still a work in progress.  I am currently making cute labels to put on each box.  I will share them with you all when they are done, but for now here is how the cabinets look.

After

I am very happy with how my cabinets are now organized, they may not look they way I want just yet, but I did have to put everything in the cabinets before I left the classroom for summer.  So many things will come out and be placed around the room when I set up my classroom for the next school year.  When I am back in the classroom in the fall I will update this post and add more detail on how I organized each cabinet.   This is a work in progress my friends, and will be continued.