You've Got Questions, I Have Answers!

Since i am getting in the Back to School routine and I am getting my Principalship underway, I thought now would be the perfect time to do a Q&A post with my lovely readers. Some of you have asked some really great questions lately, but I have been unable to respond to your comment via email because you do not have an email attached to your name when you comment. 

So ask away! I am willing to answer just about anything that is school related. :) 

I will start answering the questions on Monday of next week.

Wonderful

Today was absolutely wonderful. Maybe it was due to the fact that I did not have the nerves of a first year teacher, or possibly just because I knew how great this group of kids was going to be. If today is any sort of indication of what the school year is going to be like, I am going to be one happy teacher! 

One way you can tell that it is the first day of school is the amount of school supplies that occupy your room.

 The sad part is that I actually will end up with at least twice the amount of tissues that are pictured because at least half of my kids did not even bring their supplies today. Unfortunately, on my campus the ELA teachers are supposed to house the tissues for the entire grade level, but too bad I do not have anywhere to put all of them. You can bet I will be passing these out to the others rather quickly. 

After we got all of our housekeeping things take care of in my classroom, I knew that I wanted to do an activity that I saw earlier this summer over at Dandelions and Dragonflies. I think it was a big hit and I was able to learn a lot about my 6th graders. We did go through 600+ sticky notes today though. 

I am pretty sure this is going to be my go-to BTS activity from now on. 

How was your first day of school?

And so it begins...

It is hard to believe that I am getting ready to begin my second full year of teaching at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. My classroom is ready, I have my copies taken care of for the first three days, all I need now is my 108 6th graders to come walking through my door. 

It seems like just yesterday that I was working in a first grade classroom with an amazing teacher while I was still in high school, and now I have my own classroom. Where did the time go?

There are so many things that I am looking forward to about this coming school year:

1. Implementing Whole Brain Teaching

2. Having more students whose lives I can influence

3. Having a Scope and Sequence (it is amazing what a difference this has already made!)

4. Being part of my campus leadership team and helping to influence the other staff members to always be doing what is best for the kids.

5. Implementing my Interactive Notebooks from the beginning of the year

What are you looking forward to this school year?

Where I Teach Wednesday

I have been looking forward to this day for so long because I am finally ready to share my classroom with you all. Last year I went with a Hollywood theme and it looked a little something like this. I liked it last year, but I knew I wanted something more bright and colorful this year. 

Let me give you a little background info about my classroom during the past 4 months. We were told back in April that we would be displaced from our classrooms for the last 3 weeks of school because they wanted to get started with our construction that was approved through a bond package during the past school year. I was so glad that they were going to get started early because I was wanting to get in my classroom in plenty of time before school started to get it all set up again since we had to pack up every single thing. Well, this is what the state of my classroom looked like August 4th, the day I got back from camp. 

To say I was freaking out would be an understatement. At this point I was pretty sure that there was going to be no way possible that they would get this finished before school started. 

Last week Wednesday, this is what I walked in to. 

What a difference some time made. It is hard to believe that this room once looked like the picture above. With the bond, in our 6th grade building we received new AC units (we can now control our own classroom), fresh paint, a complete ceiling redo, new carpet (that was a surprise), and updated wiring for the technology in our classrooms. 

Well, are you now interested to see what my room has turned out to be? After spending all day up there Sunday with my parents and sister, we got it finished!  Here is where I teach each day!

This is the view as you enter my classroom. You will notice my new air return system on the wall. I am not too thrilled about the amount of space that it takes up, but I am so grateful that it is at least magnetic! My anchor charts are going to have such a great home now!

This is my whole group area. I saw so many of you mention the Chevron rugs from Big Lots and I knew I had to have some for my classroom too even thought I teach 6th grade. The easel was also something I got this summer and I am so excited to use it when we are meeting as a whole class. Thanks to my sweet dad who strung my lanterns for me. The blank wall will also have a whiteboard on it when it comes in sometime after September 1st.

This is one of my newest additions to my classroom. I had a family friend who built several book shelves for me this summer and I absolutely love them. I had to paint them, but it was so worth it because my baskets really pop now. The bigger crates will be home to our Interactive Notebooks while the black crates will be where students can pick up their graded work out of their number folder. I hate passing back papers, but this makes it so easy! This shelf is also home to our turn-in drawers and my mentor text books.

Another view of my bookshelf and material tower.

Who says you can't use markers, crayons, glue, and scissors in middle school? We do every day!

a closer view of our Interactive Notebook homes

Pick Up Crates

This is the view from my chevron rugs and easel. I wasn't exactly sure about how I wanted to organize the desks, but I love how much room this arrangement leaves me with. Don't mind the missing ceiling tiles, they are not 100% finished yet.

The view from the corner of my teacher area to the whole group area. The bulletin board is going to be the home for our Mountain Language board. I just haven't got it up quite yet. :)

My teacher corner/small group area.

This is how I stay organized without a desk. On the top are my crates that say grade, file, copy, and one for my teacher aide too. The second shelf has a box for each day of the week and this is where I plan on keeping my materials that I will need for that day. The last one is a spot for me to put things for the next week.

View of my room from my teacher corner

The view from the front of the room near our CRAFT board

I shared this earlier this week as one of my must haves, but I figured you wouldn't mind seeing it again. I got the board header from Kristen.

A reading area for my students, but this will also be a great place for my SPED students to go when they just feel over stimulated.

view from the CRAFT corner

Yes, that is 24 feet of bookshelves that fit perfectly underneath my chalkboards. Be jealous! These were built by a family friend too and I am obsessed with them. All of these baskets contain our classroom library books as well as our book club books.

a closer view of the book baskets

the view from the back of the room

my word wall...I got this from Erica

I am implementing WBT for the first time and I am so excited about it! I of course had to make the rules match my classroom :)

a final view from the side of the room

I hope that you have enjoyed my classroom as much as I have! I cannot wait for my 6th graders to see it on Monday since they were unable to go in for Meet the Teacher last night. 

Teacher Week- Tech Tuesday

Tonight was our Meet the Teacher night on my middle school campus and it went so wonderfully! I am so excited because several of the students I have in my classes are ones who were either in the 1st grade class that I volunteered with when I was in college, or they were in my 4th grade class that I student taught in. I think that is going to make a huge difference because I already have such a great rapport with many of them and their parents too. I think it also helps that I do not feel nearly as overwhelmed this year simply because I have done this before. Monday will be the true test! :) 

Once again I am linking up for Teacher Week that is going on over at Blog Hoppin'. The theme for today is technology. I thought that I would share some of my favorite websites with you all that I use on a daily basis.

 Class Dojo- This is a great website that serves as a classroom management tool. I used this for the first time this past school year and feel in love with it. My 6th graders became very excited to see who would get to change their avatar first based on the number of points they earned. This was a great visual tool for my kids to see how they were doing too. 

Spelling City- This is something that I share with my parents at our Open House. We still do spelling on my campus in 6th grade, but often there is not enough time in the week to practice our words in class. I upload our words for the week on Spelling City and then the students can access them at home to practice or in the library if they do not have a computer at home. 

Pinterest- How could I not list this as one of my favorites? What did we ever do before this great tool for the classroom? Th only thing that would make it better was if I could get on it at school! 

Be sure to come back tomorrow to check out where I teach!

Teacher Week- Must Haves

I cannot believe that summer has come and gone already. Like many of you, I started staff development today, and our first day with the kids is August 27th. I will admit though that it feels so great to no longer be the youngest teacher on my campus; we have a brand new teacher who is a year younger than me. :) It has also not been nearly as overwhelming this year either for me which has been a big relief. 

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for their 2nd annual Teacher Week.

Some of my teaching must haves would have to be...

A dedicated whole group area. I did not have one last year and I really wish I would have! I cannot wait to use this area this year with my 6th graders! Plus, you've got to love the chevron rugs from Big Lots! 

My CRAFT board since I use the CAFE strategies during my class. I just love these headers that Kristen made! They go perfectly with my classroom decor!

My Flip Chart markers that I use to make all of the anchor charts that we use. If you have not tried these, they are amazing!

Lots of Diet Coke! I have at least one a day during school, but I am pretty sure that I would not function without it. 

I cannot wait to share my classroom with you all on Wednesday. After spending 9 hours up there yesterday, it is pretty much finished. :)

Sneak-a-Peek

First off, I absolutely love when TpT has a big sale! I already love the wonderful products that so many teachers post, but it is even better when you can save a little on them too! This was my first time to really participate as a seller and I am so happy with how I did! Thanks to anyone who bought one of my products! 

Now I get to share about some of my favorite purchases that I made during the sale. I bought way too much, but those Feedback points are wonderful!

I got several things from Rachel Lynette! I just love her task cards. However, my favorite purchase I got from her would have to be Reading Response Labels for Interactive Notebooks.

I got a Poetry and Figurative Language Lapbook from Fun in Room 4B.

The ZB Cursive Alphabet Line Flipped from Ladybug's Teacher Files.

All 4 sets of Whole Class Writing Journals from Fancy Free in Fourth.

Terri Thorton's Sub Tub

From 3rd Grade Thoughts I bought her Brain Breaks set.

What was your favorite purchase you made? Head on over to Blog Hoppin' to link up and share some of your favorites that you made!