Supporting those fighting for their lives

Today, I am taking a break from my teaching posts to post in support of this wonderful and amazing young woman battling for each day remaining in her life. 

Please share the information and donate if possible.

Classroom Design

Classroom design is a huge component of successful learning, classroom management, and overall atmosphere within a class. I have spent hours rearranging, going to garage sales, sewing/painting and crafting, and researching the best practice for classroom designs. Here is a peak into my classroom.

Each student is assigned a clip and after publishing a piece of writing they can post it to the author's at work board for others to read. Students love to post for the class. Each Friday, students are chosen to share their published work aloud with the class.

Time bubbles around the clock to help develop their skills with telling time. Reminder anchor charts are posted next to the clock and reviewed throughout the year.

The CAFE wall from the 2 sister's book. Students draw on index cards to represent the reading skill we have been working on. Below the board is attached decoding books that hang on rings. Students can borrow these during reading to help them remember decoding strategies. (I use flippy the dolphin etc.)

Some students are asked to use these everyday during our conferences about reading goals.

Above my desk is our Iowa Core/Common Core standards board. Students can see it, and it is directly in front of my desk as I lesson plan and create assessments. 

A number line with negative numbers is always present in my room so students understand that there are numbers beyond 0. It also is great for our economics unit when talking about debt. 

Above that are posted prayers for the end of the day since I taught at a Catholic School.

These are a few of my most critical bulletin boards and displays in my classroom. More to come in the following days. 

Teaching Style- Full Week 1

When I first started teaching, I was so nervous about dressing appropriately that I wore a uniform of basics almost every day: black pants, dress flats, various solid colored top and a jacket/ sweater of some kind. Then into my 2nd and 3rd year, I began to ease into a more casual uniform of khaki pants, sketcher brown shoes, and a solid colored top (typically a cotton long sleeved shirt). This year my goal is to take time to dress like a young professional. Here are the pictures of my first week of style effort.

Easy newsletter

Weekly newsletters are a critical aspect of parent-teacher relationships and communications. I have spent hours on newsletters either because I have so much information or not enough and I felt like I needed to fill a certain amount of space each week. I would type in nice neat paragraphs and read it over and over again looking for any mistakes or better ways to rephrase items only to hear a parent tell me later they didn't read the newsletter often.  That is why I developed the following format that you can find here.

(This is only the top half of the newsletter)

This format allows me to type in information quickly and over lots of interrupted periods of time without needing to reread my letter or get in "writer's mode." Parents have also expressed a preference for my new format through parent surveys. (which you can find here.) It allows them to see the important information at a glance. (I think it is all important of course, but at least they are reading parts of my newsletter now.)

Parent Input

Making parents a part of your classroom is crucial. It is not teachers vs. parents. It should be teachers and parents working together on the same team. In order to let parents know that I welcome their feedback, I send out parent surveys. (If you are very sensitive or insecure about your teaching, think twice before doing this.) 

I find it very beneficial to send these out a week prior to conferences and then discuss results with parents at conferences. At times, the surveys show a misunderstanding or miscommunication between parents and teachers. At other times, it demonstrates a disgruntled parent or two so that you can begin to repair the parent/teacher relationship before a problem arises. Best of all, this survey allows parents a chance to know their voices are heard and are important because they are an integral part of their child's educational team. I send the survey out 3 times a year. Once right before fall conferences, again right before Christmas break, and finally one last time in May with an emphasis with what I can improve for next year's parents. 
You can find a copy of my parent survey here.

Communicating with parents

As we approach the beginning of the new school year, I am once again thinking about building relationships with my students and their families. One of my favorite tools for communicating with parents is through my weekly information sheet.

 I staple this sheet into my students' take home folder and then I quickly go through the checklist while students work on their morning bell work on Friday. It allows me to communicate with parents frequently, briefly (a great time saver), and both positively and negatively. Parents initial that they have read the information and send the folder back on Monday. Click the following link to get the Weekly Information Sheet