Is it really time for school already?! If feels like just yesterday we were leaving for summer break screaming "We're free! we're free!" (Just kidding-- kind of)
In all seriousness, the planning for the 2014-2015 school year pretty much started a week after school ended. (Sure, I gave myself a week to play with my babies and relish the fact that I didn't have to wake up at an unreasonable hour-- although baby Nora made sure that I got up at least 2-3 times a night for the first month... but that's completely off topic.)
Anyways, planning. Yes planning. It has to be some kind of teacher gene. Teachers are constantly planning. Planning for something by pinning, googling, flipping through teacher books, searching google images..etc. I've been planning all sorts of things for the 2014-2015 school year from common core stuff to art projects to how I'm going to decorate my classroom for the year. Since it is the beginning of the year and teachers get all hyped up about classroom set-up, let's talk decorations, bulletin boards-- you know all the stuff that (secretly) makes teachers' hearts flutter and skip a beat. (stop lying to yourself you know you love bulletin boards-- even if it's a love/hate thing)
I promise I'll get to the good stuff-- curriculum, common core, reading, math, science, etc- you know the nitty gritty how can we help our students succeed. But, since this IS my very first post, I thought that it'd work best to keep it lighthearted.
My classroom.
It's great. It has all sorts of neat things. A smartboard, classroom library, computers, a u-shaped table... 4 white plain cement walls. Seriously. If I could, I would paint the walls lime green. School needs to be fun & it should feel exciting...but really...what's fun about white walls? Nada. But.... since my administration probably wouldn't go for the whole "let's paint the walls lime green" thing... I have to improvise. A lot goes into making a classroom comfortable, fun, exciting, homey, safe, & enchanting.
This year I went with the whole chevron & polkadot theme. I'm really, really into the chevron. I bought the chevron border back in May.... and had to resist putting it up right then and there. My school provides paper to use for bulletin boards & it's nice and all... but I want more. My room & bulletin boards need to POP! So, a few years ago I discovered something called WRAPPING PAPER... HELLO!! Genius, right?! I did it for a few years, got a ton of compliments and other teachers followed suit. (little trendsetter right here!) This year I got a little crazy (watch out!) and I bought wrapping paper with patterns-- polkadots and chevron. Seriously!? How stinking cute.
I've discovered one thing though-- when using a patterned background, stay away from a crazy border. I either didn't use a border at all, used a plain one, or only bordered a few sides. One of my co-workers had asked me if it wasn't cool to use border anymore-- since I wasn't using it on all of my boards & she had noticed someone else wasn't either. I say border is still totally in, but if you're going to use a crazy background paper, the border should be plain Jane or non-existent. Just my personal preference-- I'm not the classroom fashion police or anything.
In my classroom, I'm a little obsessed with my reading corner (student library). I love how the space is designated strictly for reading-- there's a rocking chair so someone can cozy up with a good book. I also have cushions, pillows, foam mats, and blankets to use for independent reading time, too. Notice the little chevron and orange thing hanging from the ceiling-- it's made from table cloths. I actually pinned that idea for Nora's 1st birthday but thought that it'd be just the right amount of fun for my library area. It kind of defines the area a little more... and chevron-- need I say more?! For the record, my classroom library's books are divided in bins of genre. (science, social studies, realistic fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, etc.) This was not a simple project but was the best thing for my students and classroom... Especially when we are working on common core Reading and need a specific book, genre, or topic.
As far as my outside bulletin board goes-- this baby is my pride and joy. Each month I stress about what I am going to put up. It absolutely has to top the previous month-- and repeating anything? Yeah, not like me. Last year I did a minion thing. I hand made each minion at 8m pregnant (nuts, yes.). (I'll post a pic of that too) This year I went with the idea that less is more. The theme is "2nd Grade is Scooper" (get it? Super/scooper-- nice play on words ;) )It's an ice cream theme. For the first art project (yes I teach my homeroom art-- woman of all trades? yep!), I am going to have them make their own ice cream cone. The kids will be able to pick out what color scoops they want. They'll trace and cut and glue and all that fun stuff-- and then my board will look complete. I'll post a picture of it when it's all said and done. For now, enjoy what I have now. The little hanging pennant is from Target--clearance for $1. The ice cream thing-a-ma-bob is from Target, too. All in the party supply aisle. The border is made of wrapping paper-- accordion fold/ruffle then staple...and voila.
With all that being said I just have one final thing to say (for tonight anyways)
The beginning of the year is always full of mixed emotions. I'm overwhelmed but bursting with ideas. My mind is literally running 100 mph trying to think of the next thing I have to do or should do. It's stressful but exciting. The first day scares me to death... You'd think after 25 first days I'd be used to it by now. Nope, I still get butterflies in my stomach just like I did years ago when I entered kindergarten. Somehow I think preparing my room so that it's perfect just gives me one less thing to worry about. Maybe that's the case for other teachers as well. That's why the majority of teachers spend the week before school starts agonizing over what should go here and what should go there...or putting up paper on one bulletin board to take it down 5 minutes later because you "absolutely hate it." It's one less thing to be stressed about. Or perhaps classroom setup distracts us for a second so that we forget about the first day jitters. Or maybe it's just part of that teacher gene I was talking about earlier.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my first post :) I'll be back for more! I'm sure I'm missing something-- but check out the pics and feel free to ask questions or critique me (be nice)
xoxo
Kaytee
this was last year's theme! (Hudson was "helping")
Word wall-- they are window clings. Best invention ever.
Also-- note the IKEA magazine boxes. They work great for Daily 5, Read to self. Every student has their own box (labeled by numbers). Each week I go to the school's leveled reader library and put new books in each student's bin. Little bit of a pain to begin with but towards the end of the year, the kids can help out with the sorting.
Here's the link for the table cloth backdrop: http://rainonatinroof.com/2013/05/diy-party-backdrop-tutorial-cheap-easy/
See the cupcakes? At the end of each month we make a list of everything we've done in that particular month. At the end of the year, I make a copy of each cupcake and make a memory book out of it for the kids. I let them sign each others (like a year book) and that way they can remember all the awesome things we did in 2nd grade!
calendar pennants? 97cents from walmart in the party aisle. Just stapled the letters to it first.
Star Cards ^^^ It says fill me up--students can write out a star card for one of their friends. At the end of the week the star card gets delivered to whomever earned it and then I pick from those who got a star card for the student of the week.
