Visit the Mayflower

I am finishing up my graduate class in technology and students with disabilities. My final project was to create virtual filed trip - take my students somewhere they couldn't actually visit. I decided to take them back in time - back to 1620 to be exact! They will learn all about the journey the pilgrims made getting to America. There are lots of interesting things to do with the students - measure to actual size of the Mayflower to get a true feel for just how small it was. Watch some videos that "take" you on board and recreate the trip. Finally we are going to pack up. The students will pretend they are going on the journey along side the pilgrims. What will they bring? They need to keep in mind the conditions on the boat and decide what they might truly need. First graders can be so insightful! Last year most wanted to bring water. Several wanted books to make the voyage less boring. One wanted medicine. Another wanted to leave her little brother home (ok so first graders can be funny too!)

Click here to visit the glogster I created with several activity links:

QR Codes

I love this quote!

All of the students in my technology class created Prezis on various technology for classroom use. It was a great way to see different ideas - a jigsaw assignment for teachers. The presentation on QR code readers was very intriguing. I would love to create QR codes for centers directions. The students would have fun getting the directions, but most importantly it would support my firsties who aren't ready to read the printed directions yet. Check out the QR Code Prezi here.

Prezi on Promethean Boards

I took last week off from everything and enjoyed a great vacation with my kids! They are growing so quickly - I am cherishing every moment we still have altogether. I am taking graduate classes towards my special education endorsement. This summer I am taking a technology and students with disabilities class. I am learning about some great technology. My class presented Prezis on different areas of education technology. It was wonderful to see some high tech and even lower tech products in use. Here is a link to my Prezi on the Promethean Board.

I am fortunate enough to have a Promethean Board in my classroom - as you can imagine it gets quite a workout! The students love to interact with the board, I love how many hands on educational activities you can use the board for: Instruction with flair, games, modeling, reinforcement of directions, brain breaks and even a few educational videos. How do you use your Interactive White Board?

Teacher Binder Time

I have been on summer vacation for a few weeks and I am already thinking about next school year.  My first project is a revamp of my Teacher Binder.  In this binder I keep all of my important non-assessment school papers. I carry my trusty binder back and forth each day so all my papers are always at my finger tips.  In here you can find my class contact info, faculty contact info, school calendar, monthly calendars, class schedule and instructional charts from my text book manufactures of what skills are covered each chapter.  I also kept tabs for each day of the week - the intention was to put any pages that I would copy for each day of the week for quick reference.

This year my binder will still house all my important school papers, but I am organizing it a bit differently.
Section 1 - Calendars
My binder will still open up to my master school calendar, monthly school calendars and my class schedule.  I need these for quick reference all the time.
Section 2 - Instructional
This turns out to be a greatly used section.  I start by photocopying the table of contents from any student workbooks I use.  As I plan, I put a check mark next to any pages we use.  This way I always know with a quick glance any material I have skipped or what review materials are still available. Next I like to keep the instructional charts from the book manufactures. My school uses the Treasures reading program so I have the print outs from Treasures.  At a quick glance these lists give me the spelling and vocabulary words, the phonics pattern, the grammar skill and the writing trait. Talk about easy reference! This year I am going to divide this section by program that I use in the classroom - reading, phonics, math...
Section 3 - Procedures
This is the section that I keep reference copies of all the school emergency procedures, but I also keep some of my own procedures. I also have one page with general classroom procedures and how to help students that I give to in-class support or student teachers.
Section 4 - Contacts
This is the easiest section! In here go all class lists, parent email addresses, class birthday list and faculty contact list.  This way I can always get in touch.  Speaking of contacting parents - at the start of the school year I create a class list in my phones contacts. (I title it with the year so I can delete the numbers and emails at the end of the school year.) This lets me make a quick call home easily! I can also email parents from my phone. I have found this to come in handy when I have had places to go after school with my own children.

Student Home-School Folders

Have you ever found yourself needing emergency copies because a parent has accidentally recycled a paper you are still working on? or homework? Here is how I solved this in my classroom -

I attach Left at Home and Bring Right Back labels to the inside of my student's take home folders. This isn't a new idea - I first found this idea years ago on Mrs. Meacham's website. She describes her BEE books and even provides files you can print. Check it out here.

I use a Mac and have a love/hate relationship with Pages for creating labels.  Enter Avery Design and  Print.  It is a free download and allows you to create labels easily in any of their products sizes. Check it out here.  Be sure to print out extra labels the beginning of the school year - folder tragedies happen!

Drowning in Paper?

Some days I feel like I might be swallowed up in a sea of papers. Here is a quick tip to organize the madness.

  

I used my handy Scholastic points to order a set of teacher binder clips. I love using my points for books on tape, but I splurged on these clips. Scholastic Book Clubs is down for the summer - but I will link when they are back up! (I also found this set of binder clips on LTM's Learning Depot).  I use these clips to organize the paper into manageable stacks.  I find the SEND HOME and TO BE GRADED clips to be the most useful for me. No more am I searching for the papers I need to take home and look through.

These clips helped tremendously, but I still had a few stacks left. Washi tape to the rescue! I added Washi tape to my own binder clips and made clips for papers that are already copied and for papers I am pulling to use next week. I only keep the originals in these clips for reference when I am planning. More on where I keep the student copies in another post.

Where is the Dining Room Table?

Am I the only teacher who has a dining room full of teaching resources? My kids want to know if we will ever eat in the dining room again! I personally think it is an occupational hazard.

I am trying to create a master list of all my personal teaching resources. When the resources are so neatly put away in my classroom - I sometimes forgot them until after I finish teaching a topic. 

 My guided reading resource sit in a bookcase right next to my guided reading table - are they always used? Sadly no.

So far I have created a master list for my short vowel resources and my addition resources.  Several items will be listed on more than 1 list. Anything that is stored out of the way has it's location next to the name.