Prepping for a New Year

Sometimes I feel like a semi-truck...starting up a new year, we have a lot of weight to haul. Most trucks have 9 to 10 gears. This week, I have been in 10th gear... Work Week. However, I sing praises to our principals for allowing all staff to actually WORK in our classrooms. Yahoo!!!!! It has   been a very productive week as I was able to set up, clean out, and rework some things. My center system needed a facelift, so I stripped down the old and started to remodel. I incorporate two types of centers into my schedule....Integrated Centers which I call "Spotlight Centers" for I want these areas to SHINE and Exploratory Centers which I call "Rainbow Centers" because  this is a time in our day when students can choose anything under the rainbow to investigate and explore. I used some of my husband's old wood to construct a simple stand...a few nails and you are good to go. Then, with a staple gun, I stapled laminated poster board on the tall standing wood. Next, photographs of the actual center were taped in place. In the past, I have used cute visuals and graphics for centers, but I have discovered photographs are extremely helpful in learning center locations quickly, simply because the photograph looks identical to the center...easy to find in the classroom and helpful for ELL students. Walgreens, Walmart, CVS...run specials on single prints, so it is not costly. For Integrated Centers (Spotlight Centers), I use a color system (i.e. if you sit at the red table, after you complete your Table Time Work, then you visit the centers underneath the red sign). I rotate the colors daily. With the Exploratory Centers (Rainbow Centers), I use the clip system. To visit the center, you must have a clip. If all clips are being used, you make another choice. The centers in the middle are FREE...no clip needed. Sometimes, I will close a center or add a new one by switching photos out. By using the stand, we can easily spin the stand around to show either side.

Another remodeling project included my calendar board. My goal this year is to work daily on word problems and strategies. I pushed my Essential Questions over a bit to add the strategy of focus and a working area for modeling. My thinking is to "camp out" on a single word problem for the week. Each day, we will briefly revisit our thinking by pulling out math language. My experience with kindergarteners is they can solve the problem, but they can not verbalize their math thinking...that is what I am after...HOW DO YOU KNOW? and WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

 In addition to working on solving word problems and verbalizing math thinking, I am revising my Essential Questions to be "thicker" instead of "thin." I think I will need another notebook and more page protectors.

To end the week, I posted the welcome hall display. Due to the fire code, I have been limited to my paper usage...AW SHUCKS! At the end of the year, I had my students create paintings of things the new kindergarteners would learn...it makes for an easy display and kid friendly. :o)
Now, I have a date with a lawn mower...have a nice weekend!

The Hollstein Herd: My Daily Communication Folders are almost finished...

The Hollstein Herd: My Daily Communication Folders are almost finished...: My Daily Communication Folders are almost finished, stuffed, and ready for "Meet Your Teacher Day" (I am looking forward to scratc...

My Daily Communication Folders are almost finished, stuffed, and ready for "Meet Your Teacher Day" (I am looking forward to scratching something off of my lengthy list). The Daily Communication Folder has been extremely helpful in communicating throughout the year with parents. Many parents email questions or concerns, but I still have many that write notes and our school policy requires all transportation changes to be in written form. Instead of digging around in the bottom of a book bag at bus call, all parents know I will be checking folders each morning. On "Meet Your Teacher Day," I give the each student this folder and explain to the student and the parent how the folder works. The student's job is to take the folder home everyday with their work, Choice Card , and/or notes inside. The student must show
the parent the folder daily. The parent's job is to check the folder and ask questions about work sent home, check the Choice Card (conduct/work habit report), and check for notes/reminders from the teacher. Inside the folder is paper for written communication. Both the teacher and parent use these pages. A Ziploc baggie is used for sending ice cream money, lunch money, checks...It is also great for sending home any teeth that wiggle out at school. :o) These are cheap and very durable. Each morning, as part of the "Morning Warm-Up," students unload their book bags. The Daily Communication Folders are checked upon arrival and then stored in their mailboxes for the day.

So, what am I stuffing inside now?????
For starters, I include a welcome letter telling a little about myself and my experience. I also include my management system, name tag to be worn on the first day, and a Student Information sheet to be completed by parents. The Student Information sheet contains most of the information in our computer system with some additional questions. I keep these sheets in a notebook for easy access.

 

Click for freebies Daily Communication Folder

 

Preparing for a NEW YEAR

What wonderful custodians we have!!!!!!!! I went to school to begin setting up my classroom for the upcoming Kinder Camp (a two day, half day camp for upcoming kindergarteners before school officially begins). I was planning on one day to get the furniture in place and the following day, I would dust before my company arrived. Well, I started moving things around and could not believe it. NO DUST BUNNIES anywhere!!! No dust at all!!! Amazing workers!!! Love, love, love them...

Kinder Camp has been very helpful for several reasons. Mainly, the camp allows newbies to learn where things are located (the nurse, front desk, bus lane, car pool line, lunchroom, bathroom...) if you think about it, we throw a lot of new things at our students on the first couple of days not to mention a new environment with all new faces...you could say strangers. It is especially helpful since I will not be having a paraprofessional. YIKES! Additionally, I can do a fair amount of assessing for my baseline data. Usually, about half of the registered class enrolls, so approximately half of the students get training. These students will be my helpers/training assistants when the remainder of the class arrives on the first day of school. The biggest advantage is getting my teaching brain into drive again and coasting before throwing it into fifth gear...if you know what I mean.

Time for a little shopping trip for.....FOLDERS. Luckily, our parents provide many supplies for the year, but I have my own special things I like to purchase. My favorite thing...Colorful folders. Today, Walmart had paper, brad, pocket folders for 15 cents each. I tend to go with the plastic, brad, pocket folders. These babies will last all year. Walmart has them for 50 cents each. I also purchased school boxes for 57 cents. Pretty good prices and a large selection...not picked over yet. :o)

The Beginning...

June 26, 2013

July 1st is right around the corner and you know what that means? Yep! School supplies will start filling shelves, commercials will flood the television, and the newspapers will start advertising. This is when I begin to shift into work mode preparing for the "new fall." My brain ticks and ticks with plans. So, this year, I have decided to begin blogging. My goal is to share ideas, thoughts, and creations that I find valuable for one entire year.  I suppose you could say I am a "fisher-woman." I fish for ideas. Sometimes they just wash up; sometimes they are small catches. And sometimes...I get some whoppers! I am totally new to blogging, so hang in there with me. Hopefully, we'll have some fun together.

Graphics by Dandy Doodles at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Dandy-Doodles