In July I shared with you the first official pictures of my classroom. Since then I haven’t done too much in regards to decorating, as I’ve been more focused on my curriculum planning, but I did spend an entire day their today! While I did begin to rearrange some furniture (I’m still playing with layouts) my primary focus was the GIGANTIC bookcase that was previously blocking the rooms bulletin boards. *Before*This bookcase was screwed into the wall, the floor, and covered all of the bulletin boards in my room! *After*The bookcase is now dismantled & my bulletin boards havebeen freed! ———————————————————————————-… Read More
Classroom Website Feedback
Last month I asked whether I should create a separate classroom blog and website or if I should create one comprehensive site that housed both. Here are some of the responses that I received: After playing around with a few different options, I decided to take the advice and create a separate Classroom Blog and Classroom Website. While the classroom blog will, obviously, be empty until school is underway I have been working a lot on my classroom website. There is still a few blank places without any information, as I am still working… Read More
Symbaloo Love!
My current task on the to-do list has been putting together my classroom website. One of the pages that I am including, no surprise here, features Online Resources! I’ve spent almost two years curating online resources through my Resources To Start Off Your Week posts but have really been having a love-hate relationship lately in regards to how they are organized. While I really like completing the annotated bibliography, it seems like the page is getting a bit unmanageable with all of the scrolling involved. I really wanted to create something easy and streamlined for my… Read More
Classroom *Before* Pictures
If you follow me on Twitter you know that yesterday was a super exciting day for me as I received my keys and could get into my classroom for the very first time! Now this classroom wasn’t completely new to me as I completed my last two student teaching placements at “S-School” and had been in that classroom multiple times. In fact, the teacher that was in this room before helped me out TREMENDOUSLY in regards to planning resources and support! Got my classroom keys! So excited 🙂 This was the first time, however, that I… Read More
Classroom Library (Almost) Open for Business!
An important job for any teacher is not only developing literacy skills but also attempting to build a love of reading within their students. One tool to help achieve this monstrous task is through your classroom library. While all school’s have (or should have) a central library, a classroom library provides easy access for your students and is often utilized on a daily basis. I absolutely LOVE reading (for pleasure and for work) and often complete 10-12 novels for pleasure each year. As such, I want to try to instill this love of reading within my… Read More
Blog, Website, or Both?
Our school year begins in less than two months and I am spending this summer trying to get as organized as possible. In addition to the million-and-one things that are required of teachers, I know that I want to have my students blogging as well as have a classroom website. I have two science classes, Grade 7 & Grade 8, who I want to start blogging projects with. These are two of my smaller classes as I am nervous that I will get too overwhelmed if I tried to get ALL 7 of my different subject-area… Read More
Resources To Start Off Your Week 63
It is Monday and a kick-off to my busy weeks of substitute teaching! I am officially finished my student teaching placement but have been very lucky to have been booked EVERY DAY for the next three weeks for substitute teaching at various schools in “T-Division” and “M-Division”. I have also started prepping for my first classroom(s) which will start in the fall. As part of that, I’ve been finding some great resources that I feel go towards creating a culture of respect and safe learning environment. As always, I will be adding these to my lists of resources… Read More
What To Order/Create/Find?
Even though I don’t have my confirmed teaching schedule quite yet (I should have it within a few weeks) I can’t help but begin to plan out my classroom for the fall. So even though I can’t really begin planning curriculum aspects, I’ve started planning some of the organizational aspects for my classroom. Right now, the teachers at “S-School” have started making their orders for next year’s classes and I’ve been fortunate enough to be included in the ordering! Here are some of the pictures that have been inspiring me so far. Classroom Supply Organization. Pinterest. http://media-cache-ec3.pinimg.com/originals/71/dc/3a/71dc3acb6d29f17eb4e6ed91896a0e7d.jpg Lets face… Read More
My Thoughts on Headphones
Last week I read a blog post over at The Spicy Learning Blog that really got me thinking about some of my thoughts on classroom procedures and what type of policies and procedures I would have in my future classroom. During my student teaching placement at “S-School” I was told by many teachers that the school policy was that students were to not be wearing headphones while in the classroom. There were some specific students, however, that had permission to wear headphones to assist in their attention while working on projects and assignments. What I found though was… Read More
Science Course Outline
The following is a theoretical course outline developed for my Science Methods class. It is designed around the Senior 1 (Grade 9) Manitoba curriculum. Available on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bwf6KR9URrBaeGFVWEpTTHlvTWc Some things I tried to incorporate while creating this outline: – “Backwards by Design” planning – Assessment breakdown that follows the new MB Provincial Report Cards – Incorporating information that speaks to views similar to those in the division I am student teaching in – Creating a culture of respect in the classroom This is the first course outline I’ve created so I would love feedback! ** It is important… Read More