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Saturday, November 17, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Remembrance
Today was our school Remembrance Day assembly. It's my yearly job. Well, one of them. Remembrance Day is a really important day to me. I've had some wonderful opportunities in my life to learn about and from our Canadian veterans, and as the number veterans living begins to slowly dwindle, I think it's so important to make sure that future generations know, understand, and appreciate the sacrifice and difference that was made years ago.
I always try to keep our school ceremony brief but meaningful. I use a few videos including Terry Kelly's Pittance of Time, Astronaut Rob Thirsk's Remembrance Message, and one last video focused on the Highway of Heroes. This year was no different, and I used all of these. The one that seemed to hit home the most was the Highway of Heroes video. It really got to some people, and even a few students teared up. It was immensely touching to see the heartfelt emotion come from students, but also the way that others around them came together to support them. In one such case, a boy in my class began to cry. As soon as others noticed, the students sitting on either side of hime (who were not even in his group of friends) scooched over and put their arms around his shoulder. It was a moving scene to witness and I was overwhelmingly proud of my kiddos in that instant.
The second display was essentially one large "Parking Lot" activity. I posted some chart paper in the lobby of the school with a message attached asking "When you close your eyes and think of peace, what do you see?" I left a variety of Post-It notes on the table in front of the display (I went on a Post-It buying rampage over the summer, so I've got quite a collection of styles and colours) and asked the staff of my school to send their students down a few at a time over the last few days to leave their answer. Again, pretty happy with the result!
When all is said and done, our assembly was pretty successful and I think the key ideas made it through to at least a few students. Everyone was respectful, and I'm hoping that the more interactive displays and presentations made an impact.
In an effort to make our assembly a little different this year, I put together a couple of displays (thank-you Pinterest for the inspiration) which turned out pretty well. The first was a display titled "Working Together for a Better World" which featured a large image of the world (drawn and painted by two of my amazingly artistic Grade 8 students) surrounded by hand cut-outs. I asked the other teachers in my school to have every student trace and cut out a hand and then send them down to me. I then took the cut outs and used them to surround the world, and voila! I have to say, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Podcasting
I've got to admit -- sometimes technology is infuriating. My grade 5-8 language arts students have been working on the first of their monthly book review podcasts for the last couple weeks and we've really been blocked at every turn. First, the website we were using for file conversion was blocked by our board. Then, Audacity wouldn't open. Then, Audacity wouldn't allow them to edit their mp3 files. Then, Audacity would allow them to edit, but wouldn't allow them to save their work. It was a never ending list of technological glitches and I was starting to lose hope.
Then, the weekend happened. I stepped back. I relaxed. I played with my amazingly sweet 15 month old. And I had an epiphony. "Try something else" I told myself. So, I did. I started scouring the internet for information on podcasting, on voice recording, on programs and apps, and anything else that could be helpful. Slowly, a new plan started to form in my brain and today I put that plan into action. The results were immediate!
So let's rewind a little bit. Let me tell you a little bit about this project I've taken on.
I am a sucker for technology. I'm not really a techy, but I really believe that technology in MANY forms have a very important place in the classroom. I've seen first hand how engaging it can be, and I've seen how the quality of work rises when the kids buy into it. So, I decided that I would try out podcasting this year. I thought and thought about how I'd use podcasts, and I came up with the idea for monthly book reviews. I didn't like the idea of the podcasts being a one-off assignment, and I really liked the fact that in June the students would be able to look back over the course of the year and have a record of their work. Thus, the monthly podcasts were born.
I told the kids about the podcasts during the first week. They seemed pretty jazzed. Over the month of September we talked about things like oral fluency, writing for purpose and audience, and making connections. About half way through October, I gave the students a template for their book review podcasts to help them plan. It was essentially a large scale fill-in-the-blanks worksheet and it worked wonders. Once the students had planned and written their first podcast they were required to practice reading it out loud 3 times...once to themselves, once to another student, and once to a second student or a teacher/EA. After they'd practiced reading their work aloud, they were permitted to start recording.
The recording process is where we started to have problems. In order to keep this assignment as engaging as possible, I've been allowing students to use their own devices (iPods, etc.) to record their work (using the Voice Memo app). About half the class has taken advantage of this. The recording itself was pretty simple, but getting the recording to a computer was difficult due to wifi issues. Plus, once it was on the computers, the files had to be converted from m4a files to mp3s. We ended up using a free online file converter which was very quick, but it took a while to figure out the easiest solution. Fortunately, I have an awesome administrator who is extremely supportive of my efforts to make use of technology, so we've been able to score ourselves a class iPod (and word on the street is that another 8 are on their way). So, with such an abundance of apple technology in my classroom already, I thought I should look into iOptions for this assignment. That's when I discovered (or, re-discovered) GarageBand. I won't go into too many details other than to say that it's already solved a variety of our problems, and the kids are totally into it. They can record, edit, and insert background tracks of drums or guitar all in one place! Bing, bang, boom! I downloaded it into my iPhone, iPad, and iPod and did a brief demo with my kids this morning over the data projector. A few of them already had the app and most of them went home planning to beg their parents to download it. Score!
Meanwhile, students who don't have their own devices were given a microphone and a school laptop to record directly into Audacity. Luckily, it wasn't glitchy for these students and we were able to have 95% success with it.
Now, after about a week of wading through a variety of technologies, various hitches and glitches, and more than a few frustrated students, we've finally had success. Nearly every student has recorded and posted their first podcasts. Some are excellent, and some leave quite a bit to be desired. But they're done and online! It took me a little while to figure out what platform to use to host our podcasts and after some discussion with the people over at K-12 Handhelds, I settled on Podomatic.
I knew the first month would be the hardest since it's a brand new project. I won't say that it wasn't maddening at times (it absolutely WAS), but I will say that the final products absolutely justified the twists, turns, and about-faces throughout the process. I definitely think that next month will be much smoother, and I really can't wait to see how they improve over the course of the year!
Check out this fantastic example!
Then, the weekend happened. I stepped back. I relaxed. I played with my amazingly sweet 15 month old. And I had an epiphony. "Try something else" I told myself. So, I did. I started scouring the internet for information on podcasting, on voice recording, on programs and apps, and anything else that could be helpful. Slowly, a new plan started to form in my brain and today I put that plan into action. The results were immediate!
So let's rewind a little bit. Let me tell you a little bit about this project I've taken on.
I am a sucker for technology. I'm not really a techy, but I really believe that technology in MANY forms have a very important place in the classroom. I've seen first hand how engaging it can be, and I've seen how the quality of work rises when the kids buy into it. So, I decided that I would try out podcasting this year. I thought and thought about how I'd use podcasts, and I came up with the idea for monthly book reviews. I didn't like the idea of the podcasts being a one-off assignment, and I really liked the fact that in June the students would be able to look back over the course of the year and have a record of their work. Thus, the monthly podcasts were born.
I told the kids about the podcasts during the first week. They seemed pretty jazzed. Over the month of September we talked about things like oral fluency, writing for purpose and audience, and making connections. About half way through October, I gave the students a template for their book review podcasts to help them plan. It was essentially a large scale fill-in-the-blanks worksheet and it worked wonders. Once the students had planned and written their first podcast they were required to practice reading it out loud 3 times...once to themselves, once to another student, and once to a second student or a teacher/EA. After they'd practiced reading their work aloud, they were permitted to start recording.
The recording process is where we started to have problems. In order to keep this assignment as engaging as possible, I've been allowing students to use their own devices (iPods, etc.) to record their work (using the Voice Memo app). About half the class has taken advantage of this. The recording itself was pretty simple, but getting the recording to a computer was difficult due to wifi issues. Plus, once it was on the computers, the files had to be converted from m4a files to mp3s. We ended up using a free online file converter which was very quick, but it took a while to figure out the easiest solution. Fortunately, I have an awesome administrator who is extremely supportive of my efforts to make use of technology, so we've been able to score ourselves a class iPod (and word on the street is that another 8 are on their way). So, with such an abundance of apple technology in my classroom already, I thought I should look into iOptions for this assignment. That's when I discovered (or, re-discovered) GarageBand. I won't go into too many details other than to say that it's already solved a variety of our problems, and the kids are totally into it. They can record, edit, and insert background tracks of drums or guitar all in one place! Bing, bang, boom! I downloaded it into my iPhone, iPad, and iPod and did a brief demo with my kids this morning over the data projector. A few of them already had the app and most of them went home planning to beg their parents to download it. Score!
Meanwhile, students who don't have their own devices were given a microphone and a school laptop to record directly into Audacity. Luckily, it wasn't glitchy for these students and we were able to have 95% success with it.
Now, after about a week of wading through a variety of technologies, various hitches and glitches, and more than a few frustrated students, we've finally had success. Nearly every student has recorded and posted their first podcasts. Some are excellent, and some leave quite a bit to be desired. But they're done and online! It took me a little while to figure out what platform to use to host our podcasts and after some discussion with the people over at K-12 Handhelds, I settled on Podomatic.
I knew the first month would be the hardest since it's a brand new project. I won't say that it wasn't maddening at times (it absolutely WAS), but I will say that the final products absolutely justified the twists, turns, and about-faces throughout the process. I definitely think that next month will be much smoother, and I really can't wait to see how they improve over the course of the year!
Check out this fantastic example!
Classroom Jobs
This year I decided to try something new. I'm running a classroom economy, and so far, it's going really well. I've got a variety of jobs for which my students apply. Each position is a month-long contract and has a specified weekly salary. They are also eligible for bonuses based on their efficiency and performance. With their classroom currency, they can do a number of things including pay rent on their desk (they can even be evicted if their desk is not tidied up after receiving warnings), purchase the deed to their desk (a few students are already saving to purchase their own desks as well as others so that they can then lease them to their classmates and begin to generate their own cashflow...clever, I tell ya!), purchase items in our term auction, loan money to friends, etc. One of my students has even hired another student to become their 'butler.'
When I created the jobs, I tried to give them all really professional sounding names. My career captains are essentially my assistant managers. They're responsible for keeping track of everyone else, and completing the jobs of any employee who is absent or who has forgotten/slacked off/quit. Because it's a job that requires a lot of responsibility, it's also got the highest salary.
Next comes my banker. They are responsible for tracking all of the finances for the class. Students can request an appointment with them to make deposits, withdrawls, and transfers. When students are paid, they are paid with cheques that are fairly accurate in composition, and the banker tracks finances with a spreadsheet that is very similar to a real-life bank book. Again, this is a position that requires a high degree of responsibility as well as some math skill, so it's a high paying job as well. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that competition for the career captain and banker positions is fierce!
Below is a shot of the job application my students have to complete in order to apply for any position. I tried to model it after real-life job applications so that students would be able to become accustomed to the format and information required. I keep a stack of blank applications in this orange binder which is always available at the front of my room. Once they've completed an application, they just place it in the matching blue binder (marked "Completed Job Applications") which is kept in the same place.
When I created the jobs, I tried to give them all really professional sounding names. My career captains are essentially my assistant managers. They're responsible for keeping track of everyone else, and completing the jobs of any employee who is absent or who has forgotten/slacked off/quit. Because it's a job that requires a lot of responsibility, it's also got the highest salary.
Next comes my banker. They are responsible for tracking all of the finances for the class. Students can request an appointment with them to make deposits, withdrawls, and transfers. When students are paid, they are paid with cheques that are fairly accurate in composition, and the banker tracks finances with a spreadsheet that is very similar to a real-life bank book. Again, this is a position that requires a high degree of responsibility as well as some math skill, so it's a high paying job as well. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that competition for the career captain and banker positions is fierce!
Below is a shot of the job application my students have to complete in order to apply for any position. I tried to model it after real-life job applications so that students would be able to become accustomed to the format and information required. I keep a stack of blank applications in this orange binder which is always available at the front of my room. Once they've completed an application, they just place it in the matching blue binder (marked "Completed Job Applications") which is kept in the same place.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Learning about Value
I'm so excited to post about our first big art project...we've finally finished them!
Since September, my Grade 5/6 students have been learning about the elements and principles of art. So far, we've focused on colour theory and value. For this assignment, the students were first given a piece of black construction paper and asked to divide it into thirds. They were to fill in the top third using a combination of chalk pastel colours. Once they were happy with these, I took them and applied a Krylon spray to help keep the chalk from flying and smudging.
After this, they were asked to design 3 different city scape silhouettes on paper. I explained to them that larger shapes would work a little better than small details, and then they went to town. Once all 3 were designed, they cut them out so they had a stencil of their city scape.
Next, they were given a piece of dark denim and asked to trace their first city scape onto the back of it. Once this was done, they cut out the cityscape and set aside the first denim piece. Then, they were given 2 more pieces of denim (in decreasing colour value) and were asked to do the same thing with their other 2 city scapes.
Once all was cut out, they used white glue to glue the city scapes onto their black construction paper just above the chalk line. Once this was done, they glued the whole thing onto a piece of foam core board (to give their piece of work more structure).
Finally, once all was dry, they were given two little pots of paint (I just used the bottoms of styrofoam cups)...one white, and one heavily tinted yellow...and asked to provide detail to their art. The white was intended for the sky (moon and stars), while the yellow was intended to be used to create the looks of lights in some of the buildings. Before they completed this step I did a sample to show them what I was looking for. The tools they were given to complete this step included tooth picks, and small pointed paint brushes.
All in all, they turned out pretty well. It took a lot for me to resist the urge to rush in and "correct" the kids on their painting style - the inspiration for this project had tiny stars that looked like constellations and varied shapes for the windows, and that was what I was expecting when I started the project. But, in the end, I reminded myself that art is art, and there is no right or wrong. The kids should enjoy the process of creating and shouldn't have me breathing down their necks to conform to some idea that I had.
I'm pretty happy with this project, and I'm definitely looking forward to starting our next one in the coming week!
Since September, my Grade 5/6 students have been learning about the elements and principles of art. So far, we've focused on colour theory and value. For this assignment, the students were first given a piece of black construction paper and asked to divide it into thirds. They were to fill in the top third using a combination of chalk pastel colours. Once they were happy with these, I took them and applied a Krylon spray to help keep the chalk from flying and smudging.
After this, they were asked to design 3 different city scape silhouettes on paper. I explained to them that larger shapes would work a little better than small details, and then they went to town. Once all 3 were designed, they cut them out so they had a stencil of their city scape.
Next, they were given a piece of dark denim and asked to trace their first city scape onto the back of it. Once this was done, they cut out the cityscape and set aside the first denim piece. Then, they were given 2 more pieces of denim (in decreasing colour value) and were asked to do the same thing with their other 2 city scapes.
Once all was cut out, they used white glue to glue the city scapes onto their black construction paper just above the chalk line. Once this was done, they glued the whole thing onto a piece of foam core board (to give their piece of work more structure).
Finally, once all was dry, they were given two little pots of paint (I just used the bottoms of styrofoam cups)...one white, and one heavily tinted yellow...and asked to provide detail to their art. The white was intended for the sky (moon and stars), while the yellow was intended to be used to create the looks of lights in some of the buildings. Before they completed this step I did a sample to show them what I was looking for. The tools they were given to complete this step included tooth picks, and small pointed paint brushes.
All in all, they turned out pretty well. It took a lot for me to resist the urge to rush in and "correct" the kids on their painting style - the inspiration for this project had tiny stars that looked like constellations and varied shapes for the windows, and that was what I was expecting when I started the project. But, in the end, I reminded myself that art is art, and there is no right or wrong. The kids should enjoy the process of creating and shouldn't have me breathing down their necks to conform to some idea that I had.
I'm pretty happy with this project, and I'm definitely looking forward to starting our next one in the coming week!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Reader's Notebooks
For my second post, I thought I'd share a big part of my language arts program...Reader's Notebooks. I know that many teachers use these, and everyone's got a different method and style. Here's mine!
At the start of the year, the kids were told that we'd be using Reader's Notebooks during our Reading Workshop time every day. They were given the option of using the notebooks that I provide or purchasing their own spiral bound notebooks. They're a collection of notes from mini-lessons, personal notes from their reading, and reading response letters (addressed to me) which are due every other week. I'd like to collect them every week but I've found it really difficult to get them all read, responded to, and returned fast enough (I teach 2 classes of language arts, so that means I'd have about 60 letters to get through every week).
This is the inside of the front cover. The first thing they see when they open their books is the rationale for the notebooks.
Next comes the proofreading page. It outlines what I'm looking for in their notes. Below that is the weekly schedule. The student who this belongs to has cut out only the schedule, but it was originally distributed with a list of the group members attached.
Next comes my Reading Notebook rubric. I believe it originally had another category for assessment, but I tweaked it to my own needs. I've got to apologize for this one...I got it from another blog and for the life of me, I can't remember which one.
Then we come to the Thinking Stems. Again, found them on another blog (perhaps Runde's Room?) and liked them so much that I borrowed them for my own use.
Then I've got my model letter. I found a letter I liked on Teaching My Friends and was inspired. So, I used that letter as a model for my own which then, in turn, was used as a model for my students. We went through it in class and discussed the issues of the friendly letter structure as well as the content. They were asked to make notes in the margins so that they could later refer back to them. I also made a point to provide it on green paper...I like being able to simply refer to the "green sheet." Makes things a little easier.
Finally, I've got my self-assessment slips. Students have to complete one for every reading response letter they submit. I think I'm going to tweak them a little bit for future use. I didn't include anything about capitalization (at least, not explicitly), and that is an area that many of my students are struggling with.
That's it for now! Check back soon as I will be posting our most recent completed art projects. I'm pretty excited about these...they were an awesome Pinterest find that I was so looking forward to recreating. If our works-in-progress are any indication of the final products, they will definitely be something to behold!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Welcome to my new online home!
My name is Gill (pronounced Jill, but with a G) and I'm a teacher. More specifically, I'm an Ontario elementary school teacher. This year I've been granted a fantastic grade 5/6 class and I've got to say...I'm lovin' it! It's my first year teaching a grade 5 group but I've had grade 6 's in the past. I wasn't sure what to expect this year. I worried that the 5's would be needy, and whiny, and generally too immature for my liking. Fortunately, the group of kids I've got are the exact opposite. My class is such a wonderful collection of personalities and so far, I've had an absolute blast.
This is my first year returning from maternity leave. My precious baby girl was born in July 2011, so I ended up with just over a full year away from work. It was wonderful to have so much time home with my daughter, but I've got to admit that I was certainly ready to get back to work. When I first found out that I would be teaching a 5/6 class this year, I immediately hit up Pinterest for some creative ideas, and did I ever hit the jackpot! My classroom is littered with ideas that I've found online, and most of those ideas came from blogs! There are so many fantastic teacher blogs out there, and I've got to credit them with providing me the inspiration to start my own. Some of my favourites are The Clutter Free Classroom, Lessons from the Middle, Teaching my Friends, and A Teachers Treasure.
I've been intending to get this blog started since early September. However, life seems to have gotten in the way. Between back to school crazyness, weddings on weekends, and chasing after a 1 year old, I haven't managed to find the time, until now! So, here' goes nothing!
I thought a good way to start off would be to post a few pictures of my classroom, and some of the things happening in there right now. Let's start with "my" areas of the classroom.
I think it's pretty easy to tell that this is my desk area. Behind my computer table I've got my "Help Wanted" bulletin board. The background is made of classified ads. Each month, students apply for "jobs" such as Clutter Controller, Distribution Director, Emissary, Substitute Liaison, etc. They fill out an application (which is formatted just like a real life job application) and get it signed by their parents, and then I "hire" employees. Each job as a salary to be earned every week and students are paid with cheques from My Classroom Economy.
This is my guided reading area. All of my guided reading texts are kept on the shelf behind the horseshoe table for easy access.
These are my fun unit binders. I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it really jazzed up a bookshelf. My units are all in 3 ring binders (the kind with the clear pocket on the outside). Then I just put pieces of fun scrapbooking paper (mostly animal prints) in the pockets, and VOILA! Fun, animal print unit binders!
Next up are my classroom displays. The two posters below are posters I downloaded from Teachers Pay Teachers. I've got to apologize as I can't remember who created them. However, they're great. Beneath them, I've got a selection of common "Grammar Goofs." They were inspired by THIS infographic.
These are my student mailboxes. Any time they're absent, their missed work goes in here. Right now, they're using them to keep track of their in-progress art, as well.
This is my model Reading Response Letter. I found a very similar one on another blog and used it as the inspiration to create this one. Every other week, my students (both the 5/6 and 7/8 language arts classes) submit a reading response letter. The purpose is to talk about their thinking about the book they're reading. I created this model letter and then broke it down with my students. The pink post-it notes deal with structural issues, while the yellow post-it notes deal with content. I wasn't sure whether writing about Outlander was entirely appropriate (since there are some violent and fairly scandalous portions), but I figured that it would be better to write honestly about a book that I read and loved than to write a fictional letter about a book that is more grade appropriate. In the end, it didn't matter. Not a single student asked me for details or to borrow it.
These are 4 of my 6 First Day of School posters. I had these posters displayed around the classroom on Day 1 and asked each student to add a post-it note to each poster over the course of the day. I made sure to make this extra fun by getting a variety of fun colours and shapes. They turned out so well that I decided to laminate them so that we could look back at our answers over the course of the year.
This is my Fluency poster. It also came from another blog. I liked it so much that I borrowed it! This one stays on display all the time, but the students also created replicas in their reading notebooks. Every day we do read-aloud plays, so we refer to this poster frequently. So far, so good!
Last but not least, I've got to post some of our art. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am no artist. Not even close. In fact, I hated art in school! In grades 7 and 8 I had a teacher who was really into art. He was a great artist himself, but he didn't really make it that fun. He tended to grade student artwork based on skill rather than effort, and since I had/have zero skill, I didn't do so well. So, my philosophy is that art needs to be fun! This is my first year really teaching the subject, and so far it's gone really well. From what I can tell, the kids are engaged and enjoying "my" ideas (almost all are inspirations from Pinterest). This first picture is the first art project we did. We started the year off by talking about colour. I've been using the work sheets from the ABC's of Art to teach the elements, and then we move to an activity that demonstrates understanding. This activity is a warm/cool colour grid. It was super easy, and turned out great!
Next are the Warm/Cool landscapes. We did these on black construction paper. Landscapes were drawn with pencil and then outlined with white glue. Once the glue dried, the kids used chalk pastels to shade in the foreground, middleground, and background. They turned out amazingly!
Finally, this is the project we're currently working on. We're looking at gradients and will be creating them using city scapes made of different colours of denim. However, we needed to create the background first. Each student got a piece of black construction paper and was asked to use analogous colours of chalk pastels to create a background (which will become the sky once we get going on the city scapes). Then, I took the chalk pastel work outside and sprayed it with Krylon Fixatif in order to keep the chalk from rubbing off once the denim was added. Once this was dry, they were glued onto pieces of foam core board. We will add the denim city scapes on Friday. This is an example of one of the works in progress.
That's it for now, folks. I'm hoping to stay on top of this blogging thing and get updates posted regularly. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions, and definitely check back soon!
Ta ta, for now!
Oops! Forgot to post a picture of my whole classroom! Here it is!
My name is Gill (pronounced Jill, but with a G) and I'm a teacher. More specifically, I'm an Ontario elementary school teacher. This year I've been granted a fantastic grade 5/6 class and I've got to say...I'm lovin' it! It's my first year teaching a grade 5 group but I've had grade 6 's in the past. I wasn't sure what to expect this year. I worried that the 5's would be needy, and whiny, and generally too immature for my liking. Fortunately, the group of kids I've got are the exact opposite. My class is such a wonderful collection of personalities and so far, I've had an absolute blast.
This is my first year returning from maternity leave. My precious baby girl was born in July 2011, so I ended up with just over a full year away from work. It was wonderful to have so much time home with my daughter, but I've got to admit that I was certainly ready to get back to work. When I first found out that I would be teaching a 5/6 class this year, I immediately hit up Pinterest for some creative ideas, and did I ever hit the jackpot! My classroom is littered with ideas that I've found online, and most of those ideas came from blogs! There are so many fantastic teacher blogs out there, and I've got to credit them with providing me the inspiration to start my own. Some of my favourites are The Clutter Free Classroom, Lessons from the Middle, Teaching my Friends, and A Teachers Treasure.
I've been intending to get this blog started since early September. However, life seems to have gotten in the way. Between back to school crazyness, weddings on weekends, and chasing after a 1 year old, I haven't managed to find the time, until now! So, here' goes nothing!
I thought a good way to start off would be to post a few pictures of my classroom, and some of the things happening in there right now. Let's start with "my" areas of the classroom.
I think it's pretty easy to tell that this is my desk area. Behind my computer table I've got my "Help Wanted" bulletin board. The background is made of classified ads. Each month, students apply for "jobs" such as Clutter Controller, Distribution Director, Emissary, Substitute Liaison, etc. They fill out an application (which is formatted just like a real life job application) and get it signed by their parents, and then I "hire" employees. Each job as a salary to be earned every week and students are paid with cheques from My Classroom Economy.
This is my guided reading area. All of my guided reading texts are kept on the shelf behind the horseshoe table for easy access.
These are my fun unit binders. I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it really jazzed up a bookshelf. My units are all in 3 ring binders (the kind with the clear pocket on the outside). Then I just put pieces of fun scrapbooking paper (mostly animal prints) in the pockets, and VOILA! Fun, animal print unit binders!
These are 4 of my 6 First Day of School posters. I had these posters displayed around the classroom on Day 1 and asked each student to add a post-it note to each poster over the course of the day. I made sure to make this extra fun by getting a variety of fun colours and shapes. They turned out so well that I decided to laminate them so that we could look back at our answers over the course of the year.
This is my Fluency poster. It also came from another blog. I liked it so much that I borrowed it! This one stays on display all the time, but the students also created replicas in their reading notebooks. Every day we do read-aloud plays, so we refer to this poster frequently. So far, so good!
Last but not least, I've got to post some of our art. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am no artist. Not even close. In fact, I hated art in school! In grades 7 and 8 I had a teacher who was really into art. He was a great artist himself, but he didn't really make it that fun. He tended to grade student artwork based on skill rather than effort, and since I had/have zero skill, I didn't do so well. So, my philosophy is that art needs to be fun! This is my first year really teaching the subject, and so far it's gone really well. From what I can tell, the kids are engaged and enjoying "my" ideas (almost all are inspirations from Pinterest). This first picture is the first art project we did. We started the year off by talking about colour. I've been using the work sheets from the ABC's of Art to teach the elements, and then we move to an activity that demonstrates understanding. This activity is a warm/cool colour grid. It was super easy, and turned out great!
Next are the Warm/Cool landscapes. We did these on black construction paper. Landscapes were drawn with pencil and then outlined with white glue. Once the glue dried, the kids used chalk pastels to shade in the foreground, middleground, and background. They turned out amazingly!
Finally, this is the project we're currently working on. We're looking at gradients and will be creating them using city scapes made of different colours of denim. However, we needed to create the background first. Each student got a piece of black construction paper and was asked to use analogous colours of chalk pastels to create a background (which will become the sky once we get going on the city scapes). Then, I took the chalk pastel work outside and sprayed it with Krylon Fixatif in order to keep the chalk from rubbing off once the denim was added. Once this was dry, they were glued onto pieces of foam core board. We will add the denim city scapes on Friday. This is an example of one of the works in progress.
That's it for now, folks. I'm hoping to stay on top of this blogging thing and get updates posted regularly. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions, and definitely check back soon!
Ta ta, for now!
Oops! Forgot to post a picture of my whole classroom! Here it is!
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