Ready to Go Back???

Here it is, just days before returning teachers has to report back to school and I feel like I have little to nothing completed.  I haven't even touched my classroom yet.  The items I have purchased for the upcoming school year are still piled on my horseshoe table waiting to be put in their place.  My desk and shelves, refrigerator, and other furniture (i.e. student desks & chairs) are just piled together on one side of the room.  Oh, how am I going to get this daunting task of having my classroom ready for school, let alone meet the teacher night ... next Thursday!  There is a good reason I am not as prepared as I have been these past 4 years ... see my mom had a procedure earlier in July and I have been temping for her job until she gets to return, which will be July 31st.  Don't get me wrong, making some additional money until I get my first check of the school year is welcoming but, yikes I am going to be rushing to get everything done.  I could be managed if I was allowed to only work in my classroom until then but, of course, there are the back to school staff meetings which take place on Monday & Tuesday.  So, that leaves Wednesday & all of Thursday to get my classroom into some assimilation that I am prepped and ready for the impending school year.

While I have been working I did manage to get two big things checked off my To-Do list.  I was able to get my classroom information packet done as well as my syllabus for the 1st Trimester.  I used a program I learned about from Pinterest called Piktochart to create the information packet.  I turned out really nice and quick to learn and maneuver around.  As you can see by my finished product ... it's eye-catching.
To get it to print in PDF format you have to pay $40/year.  But, with a little ingenuity and knowledge of Microsoft programs I was able to get it to go on 3 sheets of paper, quite nicely.  I just wanted to give students and parents an idea what will be introduced this coming year and what content they will be expected to learn.

I also informed students and parents to the new formats which will be introduced in the curriculum like Google Classroom, Genius Hour, and Hour of Code.  I wanted the parents to know their student will be entering into a content rich school year and how all this information will be learned.

Alongside the creative information packet for the students and parents, I also finished my syllabus for the 1st trimester.  My administrator doesn't require one, or they have yet to mention we need to have one, but what I have learned from my previous school it is a valuable tool to help keep parents and students apprised on what they will be learning and expected to know by the end of the grading period.  Just like posting the schedule is beneficial to the students and to avoid the never ending questions of "What are we doing now?" or "When is this subject over?" or my favorite ones "When is lunch?", "When is school over?".  Having a syllabus for the students allows them to track what they are learning and what they will be learning next, and what will be covered the 1st grading period.  Below is what my syllabus look like which I will have available on Meet the Teacher night as well.

Hopefully, these will help avoid some of the questions and allow me to focus on the curriculum and create a more open line of communication between student & parent, as well as parent & myself.

Here's to the new school year !!!  Good luck to us all!!!

Its that time again...

The school year begins in less than 48 hours, and I feel pretty good starting off this year.

Friday was "Meet the Teacher" night.  Here is how I set up my table of information while I spoke with my guests.

My welcome letter, supply list, parent questionnaire, and a bowl of mints with a poem I found on Pinterest.

I had quite a few student come to my classroom and I got the opportunity to meet with them and their parents and chat about my expectations for my students this coming year.  I had my information table all set up with the Cafeteria Menu, Parent Communitation sign in log, Welcome letter to the parents (a letter with clear expectations of the students in my classroom - asking the parents to read & talk w/their student to be clear of what I wan to see), my syllabus along with my colleague's syllabus, and a parent questionnaire.  I put a copy of my questionnaire under my Templates & Printables tab.  I also was greeted by many of my past students, both when I student taught in the 6th grade the year before & my kiddos from last year.  It was fun to see how much they had grown and changed over the summer.  You could see the apprehension in their eyes and uncertainty in their voices.  I just reminded them to breathe and enjoy this time.  Because this event took place I can finally exclaim my classroom is finally finished.  Here are some pictures of the final product.

                                                

My classroom from the outside.  My bulletin board includes all the names of the 6th grade students,

                                                                   

This is a closer look of my bulletin board.  The heading states "Welcome 6th Grade Math & Science Superstars!"

Here is the final result of the inside to my classroom...

This is the front of my classroom.  My tables are in an E shape, all the chair facing forward.  This allows the opportunity for Socratic style discussion.

This is the back of my classroom.  I kept my classroom library I accumulated last year through Scholastic book sales and various 2nd hand stores.  Some of my students last year donated some of their books to my collection.  Even though my content focus is Math & Science I will always encourage reading in my classroom.

This is my desk / office area.  I have my SmartBoard & DocCam on a work table next to me so if I need to pull couple of student for reinforcement, I can keep a ready eye on the rest of the class.  There have been a few colleagues tell me I need to come & set up/decorate their classroom for them as well.

So, with all this in place let the 2014-2015 school year begin.  My first days are filled with procedures & expectations.  Then on Tuesday of next week we have our first Benchmark test (the Pre-test) which will give us the baseline for skill leveling and student placement during our OCR/Math Intervention classes which take place the last 1 hr & 30 mins of the school day.  Its going to be a very eventful year and I am ready to go on this adventure full force.

Also, be sure to check out my Printables & Templates tab.  I added some great resources like the Engagement Wheel, Hess' Matrix, and Critical Thinking Skills which I plan on using in my classroom & I thought it might be beneficial to many of my teaching friends.

The best is yet to come....I will keep you all posted....

My Deepest Apologies!!!!

    My wonderful friends, first off I need to ask your forgiveness for my lack of posting over the past school year.  But, as you can tell by the title of my blog I WAS a first year teacher.  I rationally thought I would be able to keep on top of everything and be able to regularly keep you all up to date, but alas I was not.
So, to aprise you of my status thus far.  I did end the school year wonderfully with signing a new contract for the 2014-2015 school year.     There is one great change, I was fortunate to stay on in the 6th grade, but I will be teaching Math & Science next year.  I really enjoyed teaching Language Arts and Social Studies (especially since I am a book hound and I adore teaching about Ancient Civilizations) -- I am ready for the challenge.  So, with my eyes and mouse constantly on Pinterest I think I am beginning to feel that I am ready to meet the task before me.  I also am going to be working with a new teammate.  One of our 4th grade teachers moved up to 6th grade and I am excited.  We have already begun collaborating and getting things planned for the insuing school year.
Along with having to recreate my curriculum from last year I have also been asked to be the advisor for the Student Council.  So, I have to get things ready to help ensure success for our future government leaders and help raise money to better our school community.

    Now on my enourmously growing to do list...

• Paint my classroom (it is 1/3 of the way done - I am painting it a calming and delightful color called "Sea Glass"
• Finish printing the the rest of EngageNY 6th grade Math Modules...our district has recommended them for a resource and has incorporated it into our Curriculum Maps
• Finalize my Math syllabus (I luckily have finished my Science one)
• Finish completing my bulletin boards for Meet the Teacher night.
• Get volunteers for our Scholastic Book Fairs (we scheduled it for Meet the Teacher night to boost sales and encourage parents to buy their students books to start the year off).
• Finish my schedule for the Student Council workshop that I will be advising the week before school.
• and there is so, so, sooooo much more!!!

So, my friends again I apologize for not making a better presence on my first attempts of blogging.  But, now I kind of know what to expect I will make a better effort on entering my adventures for these first few years of teaching.