Classroom Setup: It's Not All Glitz and Glam (Day 7)

Today my goal was hang fabrics for my bulletin boards with my husband's help, get some bins sorted, assemble mailboxes, get containers put away, and sort the last 2 shelves in my closet.

I always underestimate time!  At least we always end up productive that way.

It felt like so little got done that I didn't even want to take photos.  But I didn't want to skip posting because this sort of setback is the reality of classroom setup.  For my readers who are going through what I'm going through, know that it's normal and you are not a failure, haha!

The first thing that we (my husband) got done was to set up the Fundations letter tiles properly.  This.  Took.  Hours.  Note to self: make the kids do it themselves, every day.  I mean...by the end of first grade, with the alphabet printed there for the tiles to be moved onto...they can do that independently, can't they!?  I hope?

I set up the mailboxes in under an hour, pretty easily.  I was proud of this find; it was through Amazon (so free shipping with Prime) and because it had "damaged packaging," I saved about $30.  Then I figured out how to use some sort of points (Discover, maybe?) to get it for free!

I filled the rest of the time by cleaning.  The sink, the heater, one of my shelves; the Magic Eraser was my friend.  Toothpaste too; if you didn't know, it cleans whiteboards perfectly.  Just be sure to use plain paste with no colored gel strip running through (I made this mistake once and it made a mess).  It cleaned the laminated letter tiles as well!

Finally, I did find nice hiding places for the bins I wasn't using.  So there aren't huge upgrades, there isn't much to see for our efforts, but it was stuff that needed to be done.  So although I don't have pretty pictures of color coordinated walls today, I feel a sense of accomplishment. 


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Setting up my New Classroom: Storage Problem Assessment (Day 6)

On day 4 of my classroom setup I was feeling confident about how I defined each area of my new classroom.  I had a shelf of recess items, a library, a reading area, a math shelf, and stationery.  I'd sorted through all the materials, my own and the ones I "inherited" from the previous first grade teacher, so I knew where everything could or could not fit.  Today's tasks involved using the storage containers to get materials as organized and attractively laid out as possible.  What I couldn't fix will need to be noted so I can shop for better storage solutions.

What you don't see pictured is the mountain of plastic containers that are piled onto 2 groups of 4 student desks.  There are bins of every size and shape.  As a result, I was able to tidy up the sink area pretty well.  I'd like to label the utensils, paper goods, and cleaning supplies once I start laminating, and it could use a little color, but it's not bad for now.

Next I worked on the reading area.  Last time the kidney table was pushed way back.  Adjusting the position of the groups of students' desks freed up more space; the kidney table fits fine now.  I also adjusted the computer desks (some rotating/stacking helped use the space better).  The leveled book baskets need new labels, but the area is organized.


The stationery table is nearly finished.  After the Fundations workshop I attended earlier this week, I got a better sense of the materials involved, and found that two bins of materials should actually be consolidated (one contained boards that belonged in pouches, the pouches were in a separate bin).  The only thing that I'll change tomorrow is the caddies.  I knew I wanted them in this area for ease of access, however the photo is misleading.  Those caddies are hanging off the back of that shelf.  I realized that I can put them on top my mailboxes, which will be on the floor, once we put them together.

The math shelf still looks a little overwhelming, even though in my eyes it makes more sense.  The reason it actually looks a little more cluttered than before is there were a few more large bins of math materials in other areas of the room.  For example, the tens blocks were in two different locations, so now the pile of them is unwieldy.  The baskets I have available won't stack neatly here; I will need to purchase a few shoe boxes with lids to make this section neater, just as I did last summer for my old fourth grade room.

What I was especially proud of today was the fact that by getting more of those math materials onto this shelf, I freed up a set of crate shelving.  I mentioned last time that I wanted a space for math center materials, and realized, this is perfect!  It's open so the kids will be able to get them and not have to look at the whole wooden shelf to find them.  It holds 4 large blue bins that are currently empty, and I can refill each week.  

The bookshelves are one of those areas that I'm a little torn over.  I would so love to get all matching baskets, just like I bought last year.  I would so love to paint those shelves yellow, green, or blue so they don't look dingy.  But part of me is saying, "Devote your energy and summertime to more important things!  Learn curriculum and take time to have some fun!"  So I'm trying to at least save these projects until later while there are bigger fish to fry.  I will, however, update the labels.  Currently they are falling off and peeling.  I found a few redundancies (such as two science bins) so I feel it is a worthwhile thing to make sure they are organized. 

Once again, I let feeling like things are coming together and I have an increasing sense of ownership of this room.  Tomorrow (Friday) I plan on having my husband help me hang bulletin board backgrounds and sort some items (I learned about the letter tile boards in Fundations, and I plan on having him number every board, pouch, and tile, as well as set up the letters correctly.  That will keep him busy!).  I'll put together the mailboxes, go through the last half of the last closet, and start getting the extra containers put away.  I hope to be pretty much finished organizing the "stuff" so that next week I can focus on sorting through the math and ELA files.  The following week will be about printing, laminating, and labeling.  After that meetings will begin so I will just put finishing touches on my room.

I think I can, I think I can.

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Fundations Training in Cape Cod

Back in May, when I was told I'd be moving from teaching fourth grade to first, my principal told me, "We'll need to get you Fundations training."  A colleague pushed me to find one right away so that I'd feel more prepared.  So I found two available, about equidistant from me, and chose Cape Cod.  Being nearly 100 miles away, my husband and I decided to make a mini-vacation out of it.  We would arrive at the hotel on Monday, I'd finish training at 3 on Tuesday, and after checking out Wednesday we could explore just a little more.  So I'll sprinkle vacation photos throughout this post since I wasn't allowed to take them during the workshop, haha. 

JFK Museum

I was really looking forward to this training, because I thought it would give me some confidence.  The other teachers at school (other than my grade level partner) had only received a short overview that did not impress.  My grade level partner said her training (one day at a conference) was fantastic.  So I was eager.

Five star Gelatto!

In the end, as far as trainings go, I thought it was average.





Our presenter talked a lot about why Fundations is important.  You know, the evolution of phonics instruction, the research, and so on.  Preaching to the choir.  That was at least an hour.  Then the parts I was most interested in, such as developing a lesson, she was so rushed that she told us, "Here are the answers; copy them from the board."  Hmmm.

She told us that there are 3 activities for a total of a half hour of Fundations per day, which makes sense.  We use Journeys in addition to Fundations, so that will bulk up our reading block.  

For our Wampanoag unit!

The strength of this lesson was to get a sense of the materials involved.  I had seen them during my visits to kindergarten in May, as well as these past 2 weeks as I set up my new room.  I had seen the posters and "trick word cards."  I saw the large alphabet cards with the pictures and kindergarteners doing their drill.  She walked us through the handwriting.  I had seen the kindergarteners use the letter tile boards in May, but she explained how each row intentionally ends with certain letters, like f and l because in one syllable words they are doubled (bonus letters).  And how the blends that only appear at the start of the word go on the left side of the board, while those that only appear at the end of a word go on the right side of the board (with the others in the middle) to reinforce position.  I thought that was interesting!

Found a tiny beach in Yarmouth

I got a review of syllable types that I hadn't had since college, and a sense of where the kids should end up by the end of the year in terms of reading.  It seems that they need to have one syllable, phonetically regular words really solidly.  They will have a certain number of sight words.  They will be starting two syllable words and compound words, and they will learn some affixes.  I couldn't help thinking about all those book bins arranged by genre.  What are those even for; there is no way they can read them if this is where they are at in their literacy development!? 

She showed us Echo and baby Echo, but I was kind of hoping she would model a part of a lesson with the larger puppet.  It sounds silly, but as gorgeous as it is, I feel like it will be a little cumbersome to hold it and a letter card.  I tried searching YouTube for video demonstrations but couldn't find any.

Yarmouth House was excellent for dinner!

I also regretted not looking at the manual before the training.  I felt like she was rushing through and I didn't have time to really digest what she was saying.  She had told us to write questions we had, but there was no time to go over them.  Maybe if I was familiar beforehand it would have helped? 

So overall, I'm glad I went.  At least I can look back and say one, I tried, and two, I have had some training for this new position.  But as with anything else, I won't really feel comfortable until I actually start implementing it.


Is there anyone there who likes Fundations and can talk it up for me?  Or even better, link to a blog post?






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Switching Grade Levels: Assessing Needs and Shopping Spree(Setup Day 5)

On the fifth day of classroom setup, I had to pause the actual organizing and do a little pre-planning.  Because you see, the Teacher Pay Teachers Back to School Sale was only days away!  I'm linking up with I'm Blog Hoppin' to show off my new loot. 

I was traveling on Monday, (Fundations training 90 miles away) so I HAD to go in Friday.  However when my lunch date with a friend changed the day before, I decided I'd go in early (before 10 am in the summer is early).  Then my car decided to act up.  So I walked from the shop to the school.  This sounds really dedicated except that the garage is about a 15 minute walk.  In any case, I spent time assessing my needs for September, October, November and December.

First, I decided that my focus was going to be on Science and Social Studies only.  The reasons were:

1. My husband helped me organize all these files using the tabs I created.  I could easily look into each file, determine what looked thin, empty, or outdated.
2. The district bought Math in Focus not long ago.  They adopted Fundations around the same time.  And not long before that, they bought Journeys.  That's not to say we're covered when it comes to these areas.  However, the district does not buy ANY materials for first grade science or social studies.  The need is obvious, and so is where my opportunity is to be creative. 
3. My feeling is that as I teach the required programs in math and literacy, needs will arise, and I will supplement.  But I need to start to get a feel for the program before I start buying items that don't fit.  One thing I can't buy is more time to do "extra stuff."

I bought a FEW materials that were not for science or social studies, but they definitely comprised the bulk of my purchases. You'll see them scattered throughout the rest of this post!

After making notes on my curriculum calendar, a nice lunch out, and picking up my car, that evening I finished my search on Pinterest.  I have my boards set up to mirror the sequence of topics we cover.  I checked off topics on my list that were well represented on my boards (and yes, I actually LOOKED at every link.  Not every link on Pinterest goes to a quality website!).


On Saturday, I scoured TPT for those topics I needed materials for and added them to my wishlist in anticipation of the sale.  Some topics had multiple resources, so my wishlist grew uncomfortably long, but at least now I had options.


With fresh eyes on Sunday, I weeded out my wishlist.  I opened a new window and put each product in a new tab, then pinned each one with notes such as "good price, specific, attractive design, geared for first grade, I liked the sorting activity."  Then I read my notes on all the tabs and removed the ones I sounded least excited about from my wishlist.  I kept the pins for future reference if I need more/different activities.


Because of an appointment, we didn't leave for the Cape until Monday afternoon, so I was free to stay up late for the start of TPT's Back to School Sale.  As a result, I got all my shopping done in the very first half hour!  I was relieved; when I first heard the dates I thought I was going to miss out, but it worked out in the end.

All the products you see sprinkled throughout this post are what I got for 28% off.  I'm feeling a little more prepared now.  :)  I finally know how my buyers feel when they thank me for my hard work; we buyers feel relief.  We see things laid out clearly and attractively.  We know that it has saved us hours of time (for each unit, so multiply that by over a dozen).  This is time I need to set up my room, learn new curricula, and rest.  I don't want to burn out before the year begins!  This website, teachers paying teachers, and teachers being able to supplement based on their own individual needs really is a beautiful thing.

What did you buy during the sale?  

 




















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Teach Like a Pirate: Birds, Snakes, and So on

I thought I finished the Teach Like a Pirate chapter on passions last time, but apparently it continues.  And my last couple posts are long enough so I decided to start a new post.

In this section, Burgess talks about how captivating it can be to watch someone who is involved or talking about their passion. 

It reminds me a little of a book I read over a decade called "Flow" by (let's see how long it takes me to Google this name for correct spelling*) Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.  Flow is about how true happiness is a state you enter when you are doing something you love.  Sounds like common sense, except that it goes beyond the idea of hobbies are great to have.  It is about the fact that working, as long as it's work you love, is more pleasurable than veg-ing out on the couch, comfort eating, smoking, and other vices that tend to be addictive.  Work > lazing around.

So when Burgess wrote, "light yourself on fire with enthusiasm and people will come from miles around just to watch you burn," it seemed to me that what Burgess is saying is that "second-hand flow" exists.  And teachers need to use it in our classrooms.

Wow.

I do believe in Flow.  When I am doing art, I can forget to eat all day (and as a big snacker, that says a lot).  The question I have is, when I really get into that state, I tune everything else out.

The ability to tune out a room full of 6 year-olds for a few hours is probably not a desirable skill in teaching. 

So how does a teacher bring that passion to a room full of little ones, while also tending to their needs?  Is is possible for primary teachers to do?  Isn't a million interruptions normal for 6 year-olds?  It's one of the main reasons I'm so scared of moving from fourth to first.  I think Burgess teaches high school; is this applicable to first grade?  Or do I need to do have a million little tricks to get kids excited, that I'm not actually passionate about, but I act like it's the coolest new thing?  That seemed to work when I was a paraprofessional in a second grade classroom.  I need to think more about this.

As he concluded this section, he said something else that really got me fired up.  He started preaching to the choir a bit to say that teachers are all different, and copying another person's style will not work.  We need to:

Resist any movement that attempts to clone teachers and lessons and instead rejoice in the fact that it is your individuality and uniqueness that will always lead you to become the most effective teacher that you can be.

*Takes a deep breath*

 
I'm going to speak in generalities for a moment here.  This can be a challenge for a number of reasons:

1. Sometimes, parents compare teachers.  "Why does this teacher do this but my child's teacher do that?"
2. Sometimes, districts adopt curriculum maps that are set in stone.  "Falling behind in the pacing guide" is frowned upon.  District-wide and state-wide tests have a "window" in which they must be administered.
3. Most states have a set of standards that teachers must follow.  Standards are, by definition, the standard.  Not to be deviated from.

As much as teachers would love to bring in some activities or content, it's just not always appreciated by parents or administrators as being something that works for them.

This is something else I need to really chew on for a while in order to elevate my teaching in a way that is well received next year.  If you haven't read this book yet, you can get Teach Like a Pirate with my affiliate link. 

*By the way, if you're wondering, Google and I got it in less than 10 seconds.  Typing in "Flow Mi" caused Google to figure out the rest right away.  Technology is awesome.  :) 

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Organizing my First Grade Classroom: Defining Spaces and Cohesive Color (Day 4)

On my fourth day of setting up my new first grade classroom, I had a few new ideas in terms of defining spaces.  In my old fourth grade room I had the space to put math manipulatives in the same vicinity as recess games.  However, after putting them all on one shelf in this room, I realized there wasn't room.

So my husband moved all the math materials to their new home, at the rug area.  Now, when we do calendar at the rug, the materials will be right there.

He moved all the recess materials to the shelf opposite the rug area.  I'd rather have my math items and library all right there. My next task will be to get these items organized into more appropriate containers, and hopefully end up with space for math centers.  I'm jealous of those classroom setups that have center materials all organized in shoe boxes.  Sadly, I just don't think this goal is attainable by Labor Day, but I can start thinking in terms of a "go to" space for materials that will be used that day/week. 

He also moved all the stationery to the very front of the room onto the nice low shelf.  It will be hard to miss for anyone coming into the room.  I wanted my mailboxes on this low shelf, but that would mean losing some bulletin board space.  I noticed in kindergarten the mailboxes were on the floor, so I think I'll do the same.  I might move the other materials (such as crayons) closer to it.  I also want to get my group caddies on this shelf.  I don't love having the Fundations pouches in that black container.  I'll have to come back to this.

As you can see, I also started bringing in my classroom colors.  I know, I know, decorating before organizing is like having dessert before finishing my veggies.  But if I feel happy in my classroom I'll relax, and if I relax I'll be more productive.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  My closet doors are a big, colorful blank slate amid what is still an organizational work in progress.  And I love the clip chart from Pink Cat Studio.  Once I get a title for that door I can check that off my to do list.

Now, in the bottom photo, did you notice that the teal is not long enough for the bulletin board?  I fretted over this, and my ever practical husband basically told me get over it and let's think of a solution; what can we hang there instead.  I thought  using a roll of paper there, taking it down and cutting the teal to fit two smaller bulletin boards.  I told him, "I'm just scared that if I cut it, I'll find another scrap that would cover the space and then be annoyed that it all could have fit."  So I decided to pin it up quick and dirty, and hope that as I went through the rest of my things, one more panel would show up.

The final space I've defined is the reading area.  Now, there will be some spill over to the rug area, of course.  But the rest of this space was defined by one thing that could not be moved: the word wall.  It's magnetic; the cards are magnetic, so I'm not messing around with that.  Other than the fact that I printed all new, froggy letter headers for our words!  A little more eye candy for me the kids.  I just stapled them onto the old letters that were already magnetic (I tested one out first to make sure they weren't too heavy).

I've put reading group materials to the right (where the teacher's desk used to be) and leveled books on the left (not shown).  I have to admit, it doesn't all fit perfectly.  That kidney shaped table is a BEAST.  Those computers can't be moved too far.  I think it is workable, but it might need just a little tweaking still. 

So at the end of Day 4, things are not looking very organized.  However, I have pretty well defined spaces for recess items, reading materials, and math materials.  With defined areas, I am starting to get a feel for the "flow" in my room.  Next week I will start fine tuning each area to look less jumbled and the week after I will prepare for what we need specifically for September.  The task of preparing the room feels much less overwhelming.  The prospect of "what (/how)" am I teaching is still looming.

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