parent communication

I went to school today to shove furniture around. 

This is what greeted me when I opened the door.

Hello stuff.

This room is different shape than my room last year so I had to do some figuring out and extra furniture manhandling to figure out where I wanted to put things. Our rooms are so, so small!

Today I managed to finish moving the furniture around (I think), but there's still so much more work to do. That's for another day. I couldn't take the heat any longer ~ no air in our building yet.

I recently came across a parent communication tool that I think is going to be really helpful this year.

It's called Remind 101. Using this free website/app you can send parents text/email messages. I know what you are thinking ~ you don't want parents to have your cell phone number. No worries, they never see your number and you never see theirs. 

From time to time a Monday rolls around and passes that I don't manage to get the homework packet copied and stapled. In these cases I tell the kids their homework is to read a little extra for the night. With Remind 101, I can send a quick message letting parents know not to expect a homework packet that night. 

I can remind parents about book orders that are due or other special events in our room. 

It's super easy to use. You can even schedule future message to be sent. You can use the computer or your phone to send the message. 

At our Meet the Teacher before school starts I'm going to give the parents our class code so they can sign up to get messages right away. My first message will be the night before school starts letting the kids know how excited I am for school to start (I'm working into that attitude.)

I think this is going to be a great parent communication tool.

        

a finished room still in progress

Here's a peek inside my finished room, which isn't really finished after all. We are really never finished with our classrooms because there's always something to add or change. 

But this is how it looked when I snapped a few quick pictures after our Meet the Teacher night the week before school started. 

My door gives the kids a colorful welcome. I forgot to take a picture of the owls just outside my classroom. Too bad because they are pretty adorable.

For years, I have had only three rules. Simple. Easy to remember. Just about any behavior you can think of, good or bad, can fall into these three categories. I saw this idea for the rules in frames on Pinterest (can't remember where) and knew it was perfect for making my room a little more homey. These are just dollar store frames that I painted the colors I wanted to match my class.

This is the view from the door. See that brown paper on the pink bulletin board that's totally buckling? I'm not that sloppy! It's very humid around these parts in August and everything in the classroom buckles and waves. It will straighten out as soon as the air dries up. 

Most of my bulletin boards are bare because either student work or anchor charts we make in class will be put up soon.

See that wavy border?

I'm completely in love with the paper lanterns! Funny story ~ I ordered those over the summer online. I was having a really hard time imagining how big they would be, even with the measurements given, so I ordered many sizes of each color. Many. Then I only used three of the smaller ones. Hmpf. Stephanie and Heather are excited about that, though, because they both want one in their bedrooms.

This is our "carpet" area. It's not really big enough and some kids spill into my library.

I didn't get a chance to get name tags on the desk before the Open House. Gotta keep them wondering for the first day, right?

Now that school has started, I'm really glad I ditched the kidney table in favor of the rectangular table. It gives me more room in the class. This week we had our grade level meeting there and it was plenty large enough for five adults, so it should be fine for a reading group of small people.

This is the view from the sink. I caught my favorite visitors coming in at the end of the night.

I saw this on Pinterest too, and made one to match my class ~ again with a dollar store frame. I created the print on the computer and had a photo printed at Costco.

My first week of school was a good one. I have some very noisy boys who will learn this year the value of keeping your random, off-topic thoughts to yourself. Either that or I will become very acquainted with each of their parents. BFFs if I have to talk to them too much.

Remember we were getting a new principal ~ and assistant principal ~ and office manager? That feeling of the unknown is never comfortable. Thankfully that feeling is over and a breath of fresh air has been released into our school. With the addition of three new people in our office, the morale of the school has improved drastically in the matter of weeks. So far, this change has turned out to be just what we needed.

This is going to be a great year!

Next week I have a fun project from our apple unit to share with you when the small people are done with it. We've been painting and it's turning out so cute.

         

art for the classroom

This year I wanted to incorporate art more in my classroom ~ both visually and in the activities we do. When I was still deciding on the theme for my class, I was inspired by this photo on Pinterest.

(source)

I love the paintings these kids did. They are all the same, yet so individual. Don't they look happy about what they have created? I knew this would be the perfect painting for my class. 

By the way, this is a really popular picture. It has been repinned 65 from my boards alone. I wonder how many other people actually made an owl painting.

Here's my version. The main colors I used in my class this year are pink, orange, turquoise, and green, with the neutral of brown. I incorporated most of those colors into the painting.

It was fun creating this and thinking about the kids who will be in my class. I thought about the atmosphere I want to create for the kids and how I want them to feel at home. I put all of my positive teaching energies into this painting.

Heather made one of her own, but she's not quite finished yet. Hers looks wonderful so far ~ the same as mine, yet so very different.

The next piece of art I created was inspired by Farley. She did this project with her 4th graders last year. Check it out on her blog ~ here and here.

I looked at her students' projects a bunch and a bunch, but when it came time to do mine, I forgot to let the rays go off the side of the canvas. Hmm. Oh well. I still really like how it turned out. All along I was going to have the sun at the bottom until all the rays were done and it happened to be sitting on the table sideways. I decided I like it that way better. Good thing it was before I put the letters on.

She had her kids use a Sharpie for all the black. But, I'm really comfortable with the brush, so I just used black paint and varied the thicknesses a little.

Here they are hanging up in my class. I think they look lovely together. Hopefully they will inspire the students to embrace their creativity, remind them to shine & do their best, and make them feel our class is a homey place to be. The canvases are not huge (11" x 14") because I didn't want them to be the focus of the classroom. But they are just enough.

My art is certainly more "tight" and more controlled than the examples of kid art I was copying. At first that bothered me that I wasn't able to let go and let it be more loose. But then I realized I love what I created and that's all that really matters. I made the art the way I wanted.

Soon I will give you a tour of the whole class ~ including the bubbled paint from a leak from recent rain storms. See it above the bulletin board? Awesome, right?

School starts tomorrow.

I'm nervous.

I'm excited.

I'm ready to get back to work, but not ready for summer to be over all at the same time.

I won't sleep tonight.

I will stay up really late so I will be exhausted enough to sleep.

But I will have nightmares and won't sleep well.  Happens every year.

But tomorrow will be a great day! And this is going to be a great year! I can feel it in the air.

 

monday made it

I'm liking up today with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It.

Although I've been thinking, surfing the net, and pinning all summer long, I haven't really starting making anything for my classroom. Come on, actually making it might bring the summer to a close far too quickly.

I went to work in my classroom three mornings last week. Well, it can be counted as only one and a half mornings, because there was a lot of time catching up with the office ladies, my 2nd grade buddy, and my next door neighbor. I've hung fabric and border on my bulletin boards. My furniture is mostly in place. And there are books strewn out everywhere being sorted & checked for the class library.

I did finally get started on a few things at home and have several things in progress.

I finished the signs for my CAFE board for the Daily 5. I used a modified-to-my-taste version of the CAFE and Daily 5. Having the strategies on the board for the students to reference is a great tool. This year I am aiming to remember to post all the strategies we talk about.

I am doing an owl theme for my class this year. I bought some premade items, but I really like to give my class a custom look.

This little baby helps with the custom look. My Silhouette was whirring away the morning cutting out more things for me to glue together.

I'm not sure where this little darlin' is going yet, but I couldn't resist making her. So cute!

Here's a sneak peek at a project that's about half finished. I'm hoping to get it done this week to share with you next week. It's turning out great! I'm so excited!

What did you make this week?

   

monkey see, monkey do

Normally, I don't step foot back into our school until August. When the office staff returns from their month break on August 1st is the time when I feel the need to shove some furniture around.

Never July.

Until last week my friend, Suzanne, texted me and said the rooms in our area were done being cleaned and she went in to move some furniture. Then I couldn't get it out of my head.

Dang!

I gave in.

Monday morning, on a whim I decided to go in for just a couple of hours until the public library opened because Heather wanted to go to the library.

The carpets have been shampooed, the walls washed, the tile waxed, and the furniture shoved to one side of the room.

I took some before pictures standing at my door, then at the sink. These two pictures side by side make my room look kinda big.

It's not.

More like kinda tiny.

You can see my little helper (and her oatmeal breakfast).

Did I mention there was no air? It was h.o.t!

Here are a few after photos standing in the same places. I am moving back into the room I had for two years before my brief interlude in 4th grade, so I pretty much knew where I wanted the furniture to go.

I do have a small table with the Mac on it that I didn't have before, so my guided reading area is proving to be problematic. Remember? Tiny room. So I experimented switching out my kidney table with a smaller rectangular table for guided reading.

What?! I know. That's primary teacher blasphemy!

I didn't move the kidney table out of my room just yet. I was feeling wishy washy about getting rid of it. I couldn't figure out why this was such a hard decision to make until it dawned on me that I have taught for 16 years with a kidney table for reading. It is just a part of teaching.

Well, I'm 99.9% sure that my 17th year of teaching will not include a kidney table. Plus, I can always get it back if I need it.

My intention was to leave after two hours, but after I took these parting shots, the air came on and it wasn't entirely miserable. So we moved the desks into groups and did a little more work for a couple more hours. It's looking more like a classroom.

I'm going with a new theme this year, so I have some crafting to do to get ready for it. I'll show you more pictures later.

In August.