Nearing the End

3 days.  That is all I have left in my first year of teaching.  It amazes me every time I think about it.  Items are coming off the wall, desks and cupboards are being cleaned out, and the natives are growing restless.  Today was board game day in our classroom and tomorrow we have a busy day with the Talent Show and Movie & Popcorn Day.  I've been trying to think of a few special things to do for my students as the year ends.  I went to Pinterest (as always) and came up with these gems!

Today I put all my students' names in a hat and had every student choose one name.  Then they had to create an award for that person.

They turned out pretty cute!  And some of them got more creative than others with the award names.  On Wednesday we will roll out the red carpet (also know as the red butcher paper) and have them walk down to receive their awards!

Throughout the past week and a half I have been doing this little activity with the kids. To start out I wrote every child's name at the top of a paper and placed it at their desk.  Then the kids rotated through to write 1-3 words that described that child.  Positive words, I reminded them. Throughout the past few days I put the background up on my Promethean Board, have a child sit in the chair, and write the traits from the paper before taking a picture.

I love how they turned out!  Although the board makes it a little bit fuzzy.  I might just use the whiteboard or chalkboard next year.  I printed them at Walgreens (which has a 40% deal on prints right now!) and pasted them onto a blue piece of paper big enough for a 1" border.  The front has our school's name at the top and 2013-2014 on the bottom.  On the back I wrote "In the eyes of Room 44 I am..." in purple marker.  Tomorrow I will add the compliments onto the back so they can see what everyone said!  I think they'll be a cute little keepsake as well as a great confidence booster as they end the year.

Lesson Plan Books and Forts

Well, it's 8 school days until the end of the school year and the husband is out for a boys' night.  As much as I enjoy time with him, I try to enjoy time when I get to relax at home by myself.  Tonight, that means building myself a fort to sit in while I watch Criminal Minds, blog, and *possibly* do school work.  I am addicted to crime shows!

Today I wanted to show you my latest creation!  I wrote last time to share about how I'm trying to focus on my time with the kiddos I have and not channel all my energy into preparing for next year.  It's been a struggle, but I'm getting better.  I don't want to miss any time with my students this year.  However, I do want to come back prepared in August so that the beginning of the year can be a million time less stressful!  Remember that first year?  Walking into an empty classroom with about one sixteenth the supplies you need and NO idea what you're doing?  Yeah.  Been there, done that.  And I am so glad that I know a bit more about what I am doing!  (Notice I didn't say I know everything!  I'm still a work in progress.)

In preparation for next year, I was looking at lesson plans online.  I've had difficulty finding anything I really like, and my lesson plans this year were a pain!  They tore out of the binder, and I typed them on my computer which seemed like a good plan but ended up being double the work because I wrote them up first!  I kept looking at different lesson plans and decided to take all the aspects I liked to create my own!  Then I looked at lesson plan books that had a variety of sections and came up with this beauty!

The front of my book!

 

I decided not to put specific times in my lesson plan book.  It just took up lots of space and made them more difficult to alter.  This way I just have the specific subjects!  I'll put a schedule at the front of my lesson plan book, but it might change depending on the day.

I created a calendar section as well.  This year my calendar was separate from my lesson plans and I kept losing it!  Having it all in one place will *hopefully* help me keep everything together.

 

Okay, I know this will show my OCD side... but I color coded my gradebook pages.  I was WAY more excited about this than I should have been.  It gave me such joy to see those pages matching!

Since we do reading and math tests three times a year (DRA for reading, Math ADDvantage for math) I made a records sheet for the gradebook section.  This way I won't lose that sheet when it falls out of my binder!  All my grade pages look the same, but have a different heading and a different color depending on the grading term.  My gradebook was VERY sad this year, so I'm excited to change it up this semester.

Lastly, I created a meeting notes section at the end.  This way I can keep track of everything we discuss at staff meetings, PLCs, and Goal Teams.  PLUS, I have my calendar in the same book, which means I can easily add events while I'm at meetings!  I also put a page in the back to keep track of my Professional Development and training as well.  Since I'm a new teacher, I have to do a lot of these and will have to turn in documentation.  That page will let me keep track of the date, training, and where the certificate is stored.  I took the section title pages and laminated them, then bound them with a comb binding at my school.  This will let me easily add things if I realized I forgot them.  

Well that's it!  I am SO excited about this lesson plan book and can't wait to try it out next year!  My next project is a Sub Tub so that I don't keep typing up and losing all those papers.  It will hold a binder with important information, 2 emergency sub plans in case I have to call in unexpectedly, and extra activities just in case.  The nice thing about being a new teacher is I don't have much so it makes organizing everything for next year much easier!  

I hope you all are having a happy end of the year!