Getting There!!

 Well, I went to see my classroom today. I wanted to get ideas for my room. There are currently no desk in my room and there is just furniture. 2 big book shelfs ( I do not want either one), my desk, two computer desk, a filing cabinet (I do not want it either), a kidney table, and a little hexagon table. Oh, and enough little trashcans to fill the school. haha.

This is the wall for my students computers and where mine will be. They do not want any wires showing so all computers will be in this area.

This is my door and obviously the wall. There is a good space to put anchor charts and some decor on top of the white board. This window is the only window in the room and it looks out to the hall. It will be open 100% of the time during school hours.

This is the main wall. This is where my projector faces and is has the bigger white board. I think I will utilize both boards as much as possible. With teaching just math and science I won't be to overloaded with things on my wall. 

This is the back of the room. This wall is facing the door and the first thing you see. That is my daughter coming to see mommy's room. There are 4 cabinets back there with 2 doors a piece. One is a lockable door with a small filing cabinet and a coat hanger rack and shelves. This will be my personal cabinet (It is to the far right). The cabinet next to it (on the left) Will be my students backpack cabinet/lunch cabinet. They can choose to put things in there, if they want. I will put their supplies in there as well. Of course you can see the kidney table for small groups. There is a small hexagon table behind Emily. I think it might be my resource table for the students. I will talk about that at another time. It will go right next to the door, as of now I am thinking. I don't want the bookshelves. There is one on each side of the wall. I also have a little sink you cannot see. That white thing is a  moveable dry erase board. It will be used as a station, I think.

I am excited of course and getting a little more anxious. I need to slow down and focus more on my Spanish I am taking. Plus, enjoy the summer. Me and my bestie yesterday made some crafts for our classroom. I made a pencil holder that I saw on Pinterest and station dry erase boards.

This is one of my new utensil holders. I still want to add a ribbon around the holder. I think I will add my name as well with paint on the ribbon. Not sure if it will be the ribbon around the top or the one I will put around the crayons. I used a cleaned soup aluminum can, 5/8 ribbon for top and bottom, 1 1/2 boxes of crayons, and a hot glue gun. Bam cute!

I saw this cute personalized dry eraser boards from another teacher at a PD. She said they work great. All you do is get sturdy page protectors ( I am using the 4.8 mil thick protector. It is more expensive but I got 50 in a pack for $14 at Office Max. I will definitely be using them), duct tape of your choosing, and scissors. Apply the duct tape to just the edges. You should have duct tape on both sides of the protector. It will make the projector more durable and cute!

My friend and I then were like, "What do we do with them to keep track of them?" I said lets hole punch them put them in a binder for the center. When they are ready to use them they just pull them out. 

I also mad a ziploc bag with duct tape at the end and I hole punched it to put in the binder.  It is to add the stations materials that go along with the dry erase boards. 

I am going to do some research on rooms that look like mine and see if I can find some room arrangement that I like. I just have to make sure I have plenty of space for stations. I am taking my kiddos swimming again today. I took them yesterday and we are going to go back for a bit. This will allow me to study for my Spanish class.

Until next time,

  -PFons-

I'm Officially The 3rd Grade Teacher!!

     Today I signed everything for my new job and was overloaded with crazy crazy information. I should have my new email and access to the district in 72 hours. Crazy!! This just makes it feel so real. I also went to a training over NUMBER TALKS. I love this and have actually seen this on YouTube a while back and thought how cool. I will show what I have learned as I learn it. Today was just an overview of NUMBER TALKS.
 
     I should hopefully see my room again tomorrow or Thursday. It depends on the time I can go. I am going to take pictures so I can plan for my room. I have already bought things for my room. Not decorations yet.

   This is my 1st Dollar Tree run. Haha. As you can see it is simple things. I bought the little containers for my dice when students are at centers and need them. They are real quiet and are just the right size. I will need to put tape on the sides so the lids will not accidentally come off.  Excited about those. 

                                                                       

The next thing I think is really neat is this hanging picture holder. You put a number on top and have students answer different concepts. I made this quickly to show what I did. Definitely will be nicer in my room. $1 at the Dollar Tree!!! This can be at a station or to help students when they are finished with their work to keep them busy until it is time to move on. One suggestion, is for students to write in the back of their math journal the answers. I have been looking at a lot of blogs and got these two ideas. Plus, many many more.

Another thing a blog has made me do (They did not twist my arm, but hey they were pretty convincing) is to get this teacher planner. It is by Erin Condren. I am a very organized person and I was going to make my own "Teacher Binder" but why now. This has everything that I want. I bought it!!! It was mad money but it is worth it I am sure. Of course my name is different then on here and the school. But it will look like this color wise. Click the picture to go to Erin Condren's website. Check these planners out that are just for teachers and to see how you can get them all personalized and in different designs.

To wrap up from last time, I was able to see my beautiful niece for the first time since she was born March 28th. She was born at 27 weeks and has to be in the NICU. Brooklyn will hopefully be out by July 28th. I am praying that she will be out.                       

 I will continue to work at looking at Blogs to help prefect my room and come up with my own ideas. The other interns (use to be interns) and I are going to have a Pinterest party and this is a time to catch up and share our ideas.

Until next time,
      -PFons-

What A Crazy Semester And I Am Back!

    I am back. Yes! Will I keep up with my blog as I plan, WELL probably not, but will try try. I had a pretty busy spring. Here is a list of things I have done and accomplished.

1. Finished Intern II.
2. Became the full-time substitute for my mentor. Did a lot from scratch. Great learning experience for me to kind of know what to expect. 
3. Graduated as one of the top of my class. Not sure where my number was but there was only 17 out of over 200 students who were recognized. 
4. Got a job! 3rd grade math and science teacher.
5. Started a Spanish class. Buenos Dîas! Learning basics. haha

   Now that I have a job and the crazy semester is over, it is time to plan plan. I have been a little stressed out about how to plan. What do I plan for and being only a math and science teacher can I do some of the things I have planned? In addition, I am not teaching reading and that takes a lot of the fun decorating away, maybe we will see. 

   On that note, decorating has not been number one to me. It is, do not get me wrong, but I am more worried about being organized and having everything ready for the first day and week of school. I have training starting August 12th, but is that enough time to prepare? I want to decorate my room with the under the sea theme. I think it brings nice bright colors and I want to have everything bright and inviting. Here are a few things I have planned that I want done by the beginning of the school year, August 26 to be exact. 

1. Make my teacher binder - what all goes into one. haha
2. I am making each one of my 44 or 48 students their personal folders. These folder will be with them for the entire year. It will consist of:

• A calendar for their homework to be written on. Got a calendar from a fellow blogger.
• The school districts calendar 
• The student's standards for the year
• My expectations for the year 
• A student contract saying they will achieve my expectations and make it their own and add two of their own. They will sign it!
• Then their demerit block. I am not sure if I will do it like the calendar or weekly yet. Still debating.

      3. A letter to the parents welcoming them to a new year

      4. Plus, decorate/set-up my room

      5. I want an interactive bulletin board

      6. Buy my storage units for my classroom. They would like for all manipulatives to be visible.

      7. My students personal folders for teacher-parent conference, IAT, etc. 

   

     I think the point is put across. I have been using my friendly Pinterest to help me with this and found some great resources. I have also been to one training for my school district and it was AWESOME. I have several things I will be using from there.

    I have my work cut out for me this summer. I have a new hire orientation Tuesday and will definitely be updating about that. I hope I can keep up with blogging. It is a nice release and I want to post pictures all the things that I have done. It was my intentions when I started the blog originally. 

Until next time,

    -PFons-