Books! Books!! and more Books!!!

Well now that I have the opportunity to return to my favorite curriculum... if you haven't picked up on it yet it's 6th grade, it is time to refresh some of my teaching resources.  I get so many of my resource books from this wonderful business here in Arizona called Treasures 4 Teachers.  It's a non-profit organization which collects donations from businesses which can be recycled and repurposed by teachers for classroom use.  There is a section of resource books as you enter the facility and you can put as many as you can desire or select in a bag which you fill and it only costs $5 upon checkout.  Way in the back of the store is a section which is filled with items for free these include 3 ring binders in a variety of sizes, empty shoe, and tissue boxes, magazines, and other items.  This is a wonderful place for teachers here in Arizona to get their classroom set up and the resources we are in need of for pennies on the dollar.  I LOVE THIS PLACE.  It does require a $35 membership fee to be paid annually but, the savings is well worth it 5 times over!!  Because of this wonderful group, I have almost 2 cabinets full of teaching resource books, and not to mention the electronic resources I purchased from TeachersPayTeachers I am inundated with options of creative ways to teach the expected content.  Even with this abundance of resources I still find myself buying more.  I hate textbooks so I do everything in my power to find resources which will be engaging but not found within the permabond covers of a textbook which here in my district are at least 15 years outdated.  Here are pictures of the new treasures I purchased through Amazon and Carson Dellosa to help revamp and rejuvenate my curriculum.

Here are some of the new books for my collection.  These will be used for my Social Studies curriculum because here in Arizona we focus on Ancient Civilizations for 6th Grade.  This content is why I love 6th grade so much.  There are so many different projects and ideas that come from this content which is rich in content, history, and culture it is really engaging for the students.












I am really excited to use Interactive Notebooking this year.  I have already asked my administration for 6 composition books for each of my 35 students because we all know they will not buy enough or the ones you are expecting no matter what you put on the back to school supply list.  So, to appease my Type A issue, I made sure they had exactly what I wanted to ensure success upon utilizing this strategy to learn the expected content.

Finally, I want to use more differentiation since students show their "What I Know" different ways.  So, in turn, I am planning on using the option of Menus for performance assessments.  I plan on using a lot of performance assessments next year.  This allows a lot of integration, cross-curricular, and problem-solving strategies to come into play.  Along with my wonderful opportunity to create a paperless classroom with Google Chromebooks next year I cannot wait to get started.  I know I am going to drive my teammates crazy with everything I want to implement.  I know I need to do it in steps and little chunks at a time but, I think by mid 2nd trimester we will be in a great rhythm and the students will show wonderful growth and retention of the expected content.

I am so excited for this next school year to get started... now if I could just get my Donor's Choose project funded I will have an amazing year to the wonderful start so far...

The Countdown Begins

Well there is only 1 week left until teachers have to report to school, but the overachiever I am I have been working in my classroom since last Monday.  This past week I have been focused on painting my classroom and getting my stored stuff into my classroom to unpack.  Here is what my classroom looks like thus far....

Facing the front of my classroom walking in from the door.

Closer look at the wall color, called Sea Glass, and the desk/office area I created.  This will be so needed due to advising the Student Council this next school year.

This is my personal bulletin board in my desk/office area.  I love the hot pink against the light blue/green wall color.  The black border is sparkly/glittery as well.

So, I have at least 4 more bulletin boards to finish and then get all my resources and beginning of the year activities filed away I believe I will be ready to face my parent on "Meet the Teacher" night.  But, before I can meet my parents I need to finalize my math syllabus and get my welcome letter translated along with my supply list for my students so they can be set for success at the beginning of the school year.

I have to say a humongous THANK YOU!! to my mother.  Because I am switching curriculum this coming year getting resources for Math and Science have been priority one.  Upon looking at the curriculum map for 6th grade Math set by the school district I saw they are incorporating EngageNY's Math Modules.  My wonderful and dear mother took the time to print each of the six modules set by EngageNY - all 3 segments for each module; teacher material, student material, and copy ready material.  All this information was put into 3 5" 3-ring binders, and then each element separated behind a tab for each module.  I am very set when it comes to being able to utilize this amazing resource.  So, again THANK YOU MOM!!!

On a side note I was able to spend the morning alongside my sister and 2 of her daughters as we perused the aisles at Treasures4Teachers.  This company is a non-profit for teachers of all kinds to get supplies they need for the classroom at next to nothing.  It costs $35 to join and then you get a bag & everything you can fit in it only costs you $5.  There is also an area that has supplies like pencils, pens, markers for $0.50 - $1.00 for almost everything in the room.  Not to mention the plethora of free items for the taking.  All the products are donated to the business so that the teachers can get the necessary tools to help guide their students success.  If you want to learn more about this wonderful organization/non-profit check out the link below.

Because I have so much to do & so little time I am off to continue to get my homework completed and get the school year off to a great start.