Neat Desk Awards

I don't do the whole "desk fairy" thing. Sure, some 4th graders may still like the idea of a magic fairy coming in the classroom at night and looking through their desk, but I think it's a little weird. I want my students to know I'M the one that thinks their desk is neat, that I'M the one that's proud of them, and that I'M the one recognizing them. Call me selfish - whatever.

So, today after school, I went around the desks to find the neatest ones. Yesterday, I actually gave them some time to clean out their desks, so most of them were neat enough (i.e. no random papers stuffed in there). But yesterday I also told my class that I don't like them leaving pencils sitting in their desk - I like pencils to be kept in their pencil bags so they don't get lost or stolen.

I have no idea what made this picture look so weird. Must be the ghosts in my room again.

I waited until today to check for this to see who remembered. Five of them did. So five students got a little reward. And interestingly, 4 of those 5 students were boys. Who would've thought?

We're not allowed to give out candy, so I gave each neat desk a pink eraser and a pencil top eraser. Sometimes it may be a pencil, sometimes a red pen (those get lost a lot!), sometimes a pencil sharpener, or maybe something fun like a mini-slinky or play-dough.

I decided to open up a Teachers Pay Teachers seller's account to keep my freebies. I don't plan on selling anything, it's just a place for you to go to download what I have. I think it's easier than using Google Docs like I have been.

You can click here to get my Neat Desk Award. And this link will take you to my seller's page (aka freebie's page). I'll put more stuff on there whenever I have a chance, but for now, it's off to play hockey!

Science Websites

Kids Know It Network : kid friendly science songs
I've played some of these songs for my class before, and they enjoy it. My personal favorite is called Sir Isaac Newton for teaching about forces and motion. The songs are appropriate for all of the elementary grades and cover topics from astronomy to physics, and even non-science topics such as language arts and math.

Gamequarium : science videos (like Bill Nye!)
This website has free videos on a very wide range of science topics. There are also full length Bill Nye videos! It does not require a sign up, has no ads, and is completely free to watch. Longer videos, such as Bill Nye, are broken up into 3 parts, but it's easy to go from one to the other, it gives you a chance to question students on what they've learned.

Bitesize : science videos and games
This website is produced by the BBC for all grade levels and subjects. Of course I use the science section the most. You can select a topic, read a passage, play a game, and take a quiz. I've done this on interactive whiteboards, and even in the computer lab as part of science tutoring. The games are pretty fun. I just spent about 30 minutes playing some with my husband. :)

Memory Lane: My First Classroom

Yesterday I was looking through my old portfolio where I had pictures of my very first classroom (a whole 3 years ago, lol). My first year, I taught 6th grade science, and two 8th grade science intervention classes, in an inner city middle school. Our building was previously a high school, so my room was an actual science lab - not just a regular classroom. As ghetto as it was, I loved having the huge space, and having sinks in my room. Here are some pictures of my first year teaching in 2008-2009. Nothing fancy - I was still learning.

Beginning of the year bulletin board, and our daily warm up on the chalk board.

The front chalkboard. Heading, frayer model, daily objective.

The entrance, front chalk board, and beginning of the year bulletin board.

"Never leave your numbers naked." Great way to remind students to put a unit with their answers. They thought it was funny. :)

The entrance to my room.

Word wall, pencil sharpener, school info, etc. Basically our information center right inside the door.

The information center again next to the fume hood. Since we didn't use fume hoods in middle school, I used mine for storage and to post posters. :)

Bookshelf, aquarium, student work about properties of matter.

Bookshelf, globe, fire blanket, elephant pelvis. The teacher who had this room before me just left this bone there. Looks like an elephant pelvis to me, so that's what I tell the kids.

Students who did all their homework the entire 6 weeks got their names put on the Homework Heroes board for the next 6 weeks.

The back shelf was set up for a tools performance test. After that, I kept their science journals there, separated by class.

The exit (I had 2 doors to my room), and my filing cabinets.

The side chalk board behind my desk. This is where I wrote the activities and homework for the week, our 5E's, and the bell schedule.

The weekly agenda. We had a block schedule which is why I have the same activities written two days in a row.

We were required to post the 5E's for every lesson we did. With science, one lesson usually took two classes (and classes were about an hour and a half each).

Bulletin board with students work of bar graphs. We graphed the colors of our jelly beans.

On my strategies bulletin board, I posted winners of the science fair that were in my classes.

Students wrote a story from the perspective of a snowman for our water cycle unit.

Textbooks

First of all, I just want to say that my DonorsChoose project (digital microscope) has been fully funded! I'm so beyond excited and grateful to my donors. Thank you!

Now, moving on to textbooks.

When I taught 5th grade science and language arts, I did not have my students check out their own textbook. We just didn't use them enough for it to be worth it. Really, the only reason I had them for for a quick and easy activity when I had a sub. I checked out a class set of textbooks that I kept in my room just to use as needed.

This year, in fourth grade, we still don't use the books a whole lot. I have a class set of science books, but the students have checked out their own social studies and math books. Looking back, I would have preferred a class set of social studies, but I went with the preference of the team.

To try to keep desks neater, my students keep only their math book in their desk. I have collected their social studies books to keep on the bookshelf with the science books. I have two "book managers" to pass out the books when we need them.

I switch classes with another teacher. It's pointless for those students to carry a huge textbook back and forth everyday, when we only use them once or twice a month.

To let my students in my switch class know if they need to bring their math book or not, I post a sign on my door. I actually got this from a 5th grade math co-worker, and it works well. On one side of the sign it says "No math book" and on the other side it says "Bring math book today." In the morning as students arrive, the sign is posted on my door letting them know. They're learning to take responsibility, and I don't have to interrupt my partner's class (or even remember to!) to let the kids know to bring their book.

Donors Choose

Donors Choose is a wonderful philanthropic website that allows teachers to post projects they need funded. The requests vary from basic school supplies to technology to field trips.

My first project was posted this morning. I am trying to fund a digital microscope to use in the classroom next year (or even this year if it gets funded in time!).

Some companies will match donations, making it easier to get the funding you need. You don't have to apply separately for this - the companies let Donors Choose know the type of projects they'd like to fund, and if your project meets their criteria, then it automatically applies the "Double Your Impact" offer. I am lucky that the ECA Foundation is able to match donations made to my project.

Hopefully we'll be able to get the $92 needed to fund my project. If you know of anyone able to make a tax deductible donation, I'd appreciate you passing my project along!

Sub Binders

Since I will be out tomorrow for a dentist appointment, I figured this would be a good time to post about my sub binder. If there is one organizational thing that I'm proud of, it's my sub binder. Let's face it - subs have a tough enough time as it is without going into a classroom where they don't know the daily procedures and expectations. So I try to make it as easy and painless as possible for my guest teachers.

I keep my sub binder on the chalkboard near my desk so it's visible in case of an emergency. My kids also know where it is. When I know I'm prepping my room for a sub, I put it on my desk.

I recently made my binder nice and colorful.

My intro is just a welcome with basic information such as which teachers can help with lessons, and which students are helpful. After that starts my daily procedures.

My Daily Procedures section is several pages long. I want to make sure that the information is there in case they need it. But I think with the font size, spacing, and sub-headings, it's not too overwhelming.

My Classroom Management page explain my attention signal, rewards, and consequences. I also have a quick run-down of the daily schedule.

Emergency procedures for fire drills, etc.

I include a list of which students are pulled on each day (for academic support, speech, etc), as well as a map of the school. On the map I highlighted important room, and drew arrows showing how to get inside the building from our portables.

In rare circumstances, I may be so sick I am unable to get to my classroom to prepare for a sub. Though it is unlikely to happen, and I haven't ever had to use it, I have emergency plans laid out just in case.

At the back of the binder I have time fillers such as word searches just in case my class finishes their work early.

I also have a form that I leave for the subs where they can leave notes for me and tell me about their day.
 

This is a link to get to my sub binder word document. As with the sub plan template, I took out some identifying information for privacy's sake, which is marked in red.

Yup, I'm proud. :)

Dollar Store Finds!

I wasn't planning on shopping today, but when I drove by the dollar store near my house, I saw that they were going out of business and everything was $0.19, so I absolutely had to stop. I love a deal! I could have gone crazy in that store, but I decided to behave myself. I bought only things for my classroom, and I only got things that I had a use for - I did not buy things on the chance that I may find a use for them later on (I do that sometimes too). I got all these goodies for less than $5.

I felt like I won the lottery. :)

Stickers.

Pencil grips to use as a reward.

Can always use magnets.

I think I ended up with about 20 containers total to organize my drawers.

Six place mats. Now this one I don't have an exact idea for, but I'll be putting paper on them and having the flowers as the border. I just don't know exactly what papers will go on them yet.

This is a makeup case I'll be using for paperclips, push pins, etc.

If I didn't have somewhere I needed to be, I'd have walked through the store a second time to see what I could come up with.