Groovy Educator

 Here is where I save some of my chart teacher toolbox and teaching supply KThis is how our desks were arranged for the first week of school Here are some pictures of how my room is decorated and organized.  I haven't been posting as much because I have been doing eBay in addition to all the beginning of the year activities. I've organized my classroom library into numbered bins.  Bin 5 has books with the number5 on all of them.  Each bin has a theme (e.g.  Bin 17 has nonfiction animal books).  Also I have my AR board on the wall.  In the crates are centers/learning stations.  Under the rug the rug is a cord for the SmartBoard.  I have taped the rug down with some of the decorative duct tape that you can find at Walmart.  In the green bins there are stuffed animals to be used as reading buddies.  Although it's kind of hard to see, there is a green grasshopper board with our science word wall. This is where our whole br...

This is just a random post... I've finally decided on a theme for my room after thirteen years of teaching!  In the past I was a cow fanatic and had some cow decor (not enough to "cow up" the room).  After many years loving cows, I starting adding owls.  Last year my board read "Who's in the Mood for Learning?" Who - Owl and Mood - Cow.  As you can see I couldn't let the cow bit go... mycutegrapics.com Well I've decided to slowly revamp my room and do it all in stars !  I even plan to put some glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.  If it wasn't for the fire marshall, I would have sight words on the ceiling too.  I've always wanted to secure a bunch of high frequency words to the ceiling and make a game of turning out the lights and shining a flashlight on the words.  When my daughter gets older I might do this in her room! I am so excited!  I will post pictures as the transformation occurs. Next year I want to make goodie bags ...

Tomorrow is GO time!  Summer vacation is over.  The next week will be full of meetings, planning, and decorating.  On Friday I get to meet my new class family for the year.  It's an exciting time.  The next few days will be a flurry of activity. At my school, we have a wonderful PTA.  They really spoil the teachers.  It is the first time I have worked in a school where the parents are so involved.  Tomorrow the PTA puts on a welcome back breakfast.  It will be a time when everyone comes together and celebrates the new school year.  We share about our summers and wrap our minds around all the things we have to do. After the PTA breakfast, we will have out first meeting then we work in our rooms.  I'm glad that I came in before school started.  All my furniture is placed and most of my boards are up.  When I get into my room tomorrow, the first thing I am going to do is make a list of what needs to be done.  I will ...

Every year I begin the year by reading Hellen Keller's biography to my students.  Her story is about overcoming adversity.  It was not her fault that she lost her abilities to both see and hear.  It was not her fault that she could not talk.  This book is a springboard for teaching tolerance.  Over the next month the class and I have several deep discussions about how it is important treat others the way we want to be treated.  We talk about how we do not know what other life experiences have shaped the other person.  We discuss how our experiences change us and how to reach out to others.  We learn to stand up for other people and how to handle bullies.  We also learn that there are NO EXCUSES why we cannot learn.  If Hellen Keller can learn to talk without being able to hear and learn to read without being able to see, there is absolutely no excuse why you cannot learn to read.  We discuss how everyone learns at his or her own pa...

It is getting close to the beginning of a new school year.  New ideas flood my brain about this time every year.  I always like to change things up.  In order to organize my thoughts I write lists.  Usually I write my beginning of the year to do list on a piece of scratch paper.  This year I am adding it to my blog so that I can refer back to it in years to come.  Right now this list includes a lot of items that I need to think about and decide upon before jumping into action.  I'll probably be adding to it in the days to come. Room Arrangement (Think about the placement of the following) desks circle time/calendar area teacher area supplies (storage and accessibility) writing station reading station listening station inside recess toys bulletin boards reading table technology (computers, projector, document camera) lunch boxes homework box where the children will turn in their work Supplies pencil cups (sharp/need to be sharpen...