It is the last day of Teacher Week 2013 atBlog Hoppin and I have had a great time sharing my ideas, and learning from all of you. I have met some new friends, got some new ideas and even begun my first free product - keep reading to the end to grab it! :) But first, my tip of the week. This is something I have done since my first year student teaching. I am not sure where I got this idea, so if anyone knows where it originated from, please let me know. It has worked wonders for me and it is so simple. Note: For the purpose of this post, I am using my son's "friend," Sulley Monkey, as my puppy friend Silent Sam (not the 'drink') is at school taking care of my boxes, but you will get the picture. Introducing my friend Sulley Monkey!He goes everywhere with me. So I will need your help to keep him safe and happy.
Sully is very friendly and likes to make new friends. So he will be hoping to spend time with each of you today. Also, there is something very special about him. What is so special about him is his ears. He can hear even the smallest noises. Since his ears are so sensitive, he likes it quiet! He will be looking for a friend who is sitting quietly and listening, so he can sit with you!
So, as a supply I would bring my friend with me and introduce him at the carpet, or during whole group instruction. He worked in all of the primary grades and usually up to grade 4. When I noticed most of the kids working hard to be quiet and listen, I would give my friend to one student to sit with. Then it was that child's job to find someone else who is sitting quietly to pass my friend along to (after a little visit). I thought I would have a problem having him hanging out with only one student, but remember, he wants to meet as many new friends as possible, and the students took that on as their responsibility. In fact, he became so popular, my grade 3 students wanted to eat lunch with them, even though he normally only visited during work periods. It doesn't matter if your friend is a monkey, doggie, elephant, etc. As long as it is cuddly, friendly and not too big (you still want them to be able to see you and listen).
Now, I mentioned yesterday that I was creating a freebie. If you read yesterday, I discussed my Time-In Station. My first freebie is a Feeling Chart to post at my Time-In Station. If you would like a copy, you will find it here!
Please note that this is the first time I have shared, and when I was viewing on Google Docs, the colour was distorted. Please try to print only one page and check before printing the entire thing. I am off to get a new printer this afternoon and won't know for sure how it will look. If you do print this, please send me a message and let me know if it works. Thank you!
I hope you enjoy this freebie, and if you love Melonheadz as much as I do, then you may want to continue this theme in a Behaviour Clip Chart, created by Bridget at Literacy Without Worksheets.
What's even better, is its free! I know I will be using this beauty. If you would like a copy, visit herhere. Don't forget to leave her some love!
Thanks Bridgit! They are sweet!
That's all for now! Thanks for a great week! Now go check out the other trips and tricks at Blog Hoppin'.
I am linking up withBlog Hoppin again for Teacher Week 2013 - Taming the Wild. I know that there is going to be a lot of posts about reward systems and variations of the clip chart, all of which I love, and will use! So, I am going to try to discuss something else I am going to try. Have I mentioned that I am new to kindergarten? ;) Just once or twice? Did I mention that it scares me? a little? Well, this is a bit of an aside, but I met the DECE (Designated Early Childhood Educator) that I will be working with this year and she is FAB-U-LOUS! Seriously! Talking about the year with her, although no official planning occurred, was a huge weight off my shoulders. I am now feeling excited (and only a teeny, tiny bit scared). So, I have been butting heads with my 4-year-old lately, and being as though we are so much alike, we have both left feeling frustrated. In fact, at one point he told me he was moving to the forest. He walked out into our backyard, but since he isn't allowed out the fenced area on his own, he came back home! Phew! After the latest episode, I felt like the worst mom EVER! So, I have been putting a lot of thought into Classroom Management, that will work at home too! Here is the plan! Time-In Stations! Since self-regulation is a focus of kindergarten, I will focus my classroom management around self-regulation. There are various components, such as brain breaks between transitions. When I taught grade 2/3 we often did dances for brain breaks, like this one (a favourite):
However, after doing this one, the kids were pumped. It was great before lunch/recess, but not so great if you wanted them to get to work. So before transitioning to quiet work, such as centers, you may want to consider something like this:
Responsive Classroom has a variety of Energizer Videos, if you are interested! I also like this one:
Valerie at All Students Can Shine has a great pack of brain breaks, that you can see here, or purchase here.
However, even with incentives, clip charts, brain breaks and other classroom management strategies, you are still going to have those times when a student's behaviour make you want to run for a time-out yourself. This is where the time-in comes in!
In an attempt to maintain a positive learning environment, where behaviour management isn't used as a punishment. I plan to have a quiet spot in the class, where I will ask students to meet me to have a talk, or just to take a break. I plan to have a feeling board, to monitor how they are feeling and to help begin the discussion on what can be done in this situation. Children struggle to understand their emotions, and this will help to teach them about their emotions and how to express them and deal with them (as well as direct social skills teaching in class). There is a great post on Simple Kids on this, which you can read here.
Also, supplies will be available to help them calm down and relax, before returning to the regular routine. These will include paper and crayons, music (with headphones), books to read, stress balls and/or silly putty, and sensory bottles, and bubbles. Check out Ausomely Social for more breathe box ideas.
Faith-Family-Food-Fun has a great post on sensory bottles and bags, that you can find here.
I plan to have comfortable seats and make this area as welcoming as possible to help kids de-stress and deal with their emotions.
Walmart is having a great sale! Yahoo shopping!
Hopefully this is useful to others. Keep checking back, I am in the midst of making some freebies for my Time In Station!
Don't forget to head on over to Blog Hoppin to see other great ideas.
I am so enjoying participating in Teacher Week this year and I am wondering why I did not start blogging a long time ago! :) I am especially happy, that for me, Teacher Week occurs before school starts (sorry to all those already teaching) because I have less commitments (the house cleaning can wait, right?). So, here is the funny thing. When I receive notes from supply teachers, they often thank me for being so organized. This makes me laugh out loud, "Boy do I have them fooled!" I am so far from organized, it is embarrassing! I do, however, have dreams of being organized though! And, this is my chance. In June, I worked very hard to purge and organize (having everything from grade 6 to grade 2, and a beginning collection of kindergarten supplies). I only have a few boxes that I had to just dump things in (because I was down to the wire of being kicked out of my school) and I got rid of A LOT! What scares me is how much I have left! Yikes! Being new to kindergarten, and not having a lot, my plan is to organize (especially the paperwork) right from the beginning. Recently we had to get rid of our 4 drawer filing cabinets (apparently they are a safety hazard). So, after seeing how this worked effectively for a colleague, I am going to binders. I have a wonderful, fantastic, fabulous, outstanding friend who is going to take all of my grade 5/6 files and grade 2/3 files and organize them by subject and strand/unit, making it easier to share with my fellow colleagues. I refuse to get rid of them because you never know what grade you are going to teach from year to year. I had a fabulous student teacher who started this for me! They look similar to this:
I also keep a Substitute binder, Parent Contact binder, Student assessment binder, which I will continue to do, but wondering how this will work for me, while using technology for these tasks as well. I will get back to you on that one! Last year, I purchased this binder set from Little Lovely Leaders (check it out here):
But now I am loving this set of binders by Little Lovely Leaders and thinking it may be time for an update.
If you are loving this, like me, you can get your own copy here. I also love this idea from Orange Polka Dots for making tabs using sticky notes! Seriously, you can use a sticky note for almost anything!
Previously, I used a Monday to Friday file folder organizer to keep copies of worksheets I planned to use, but after visiting my son's Kindergarten teacher and watching them in action. I see that they will likely be doing the same thing for at least a week, this organization strategy is not as useful for me. So, I have other plans (thanks to all of you wonderful bloggers out there)!
I will keep my current centers in buckets, ready to use and when they are not being used, I will store them like this:
It's a start, right? Just one last thing! Looking around others' classrooms yesterday, there was one thing that stood out that I really liked and wanted to mention! I loved the idea of collecting the books you plan to use for teaching by your reading chair! So simple, but a great idea! The kids can still enjoy them as well (I know my kids always liked to read them on their own, especially right after sharing a book) , and they are all there at your fingertips!
Thanks for joining me! Now please head over to Blog Hoppin' and check out all the other organizational ideas! Remember to share the love and make some comments. It is nice to hear from people! A special thanks to Desiree at Kinders on the Block for linking to my site yesterday! As I said to her, it is nice to know that someone other than my mother is reading! ;)
Come back tomorrow for Classroom Management ideas!
I am very excited about today's topic for Teacher Week 2013 - the classroom reveal! I love taking a look around everyone's classrooms and seeing how they decorate, the different themes and "embellishments." Unfortunately, mine will not be that exciting, because this is how my room looks right now:
Construction is behind, but there is still hope for September Start Up! Keep your Fingers Crossed!
This is how it looked when I had to drive into the city to help out a friend and decided to drive by to see the progress. It didn't look encouraging, but I have to tell you that the gentlemen I met from the construction crew were such nice guys and I know they have been working tirelessly to get this all done for us!
However, that doesn't mean the back to school preparations haven't begun (at least in my mind), so today I am going to share with you, some of the items I have chosen to create and decorate my new, fabulous plans (going by the blueprints I saw last June...I will have to use my imagination)!
Before I make a final commitment, and begin the printing, cutting, laminating, cutting process. I plan to meet with my new teaching partner. I can't have her spending all year in polka dots if she dislikes polka dots! In Ontario, our new Full Day Kindergarten (every day, all day) consists of a Qualified Teacher and a Qualified Designated Early Childhood Educator (DECE) working together to implement the program. FDK is new to our school this year, and I am new to kindergarten after years in grade 2/3 and in grade 5/6, so my DECE partner and I will be doing a lot of learning together. Starting with how best to set up the classroom.
Here are some of the things I will be presenting to her when we meet for the first time this week, thanks to so many of you and your great ideas and wonderful creations:
Also, she has created a set of Shapes posters, that you can get for FREEhere!
In my "window" shopping, at Scholar's Choice, I liked these and think they would go nicely with Marsha's posters (J.W. if you are reading this, here is my visual shopping list).
I also love Hope King's Decor Galore and I think I have narrowed it down to Patterns Galore (on black), but I have to tell you, it was a difficult choice. Her decor bundles are all beautiful. You can check them out here or purchase here.
But I am a little torn because I also love Amy Lemon's Get Your Chevron On Bundle. You can check it out here and purchase it here.
So, now I need your help!!! Please comment below and tell me which one you think I should get!
Then I thought I could tie it all together with some material for the bullentin board backgrounds (thanks again to Amy Lemons), some paper lanterns and some of these, just because I think they are fun!
Check out Meredith at Keen on Kindergarten, for directions on how to make these. She also use paper lanterns to create the Very Hungry Caterpillar too! So cool! I may have to create that as well!
Hope this gives you a sense of where I am going with my classroom. Come back tomorrow for organization ideas!
I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week 2013. Mostly because I enjoy so many of the ladies involved, and I enjoy finding and following new blogs. But also because I have a ton of housework waiting on me, and this seems like more fun! So here we go, 10 fun facts about me! 1) I have a unique, and long name! Ready? It is a mouthful! It is Jackie-Blue Mary Catherine. Jackie-Blue is a song that my mother loved when she had me. It is by the Ozark Moutain Daredevils and if you listen to the words, it is kinda depressing. But the tune is nice, and I can see why she liked it! Mary is my god-mother's name, who was with my mom when she delivered me and Catherine was her best friend when she was young. Jackie-Blue gained me many nicknames growing up, including Miss Blue, JB, Blue and Blueberry to name a few! I tend to just go by Jackie now ;)
2) I live in a small town in ONTARIO, Canada, where I grew up my whole life. My son goes to the school that I attended from kindergarten to grade 8.
3) My "husband" also grew up in the area, and we first met after I graduated grade 8 and he was my first boyfriend ever! We went our separate ways, but remained friends and then reconnected; hanging out, as friends, for over a year before dating again. We are not officially married but we have been together again for 7 years!
4) My principal has encouraged me to begin making my own clip art! She suggested I start a collection of it and she would help me set up a website. I have been distracted with new ventures, so I do not have a website as of yet, but I have started some of the artwork. I am still trying to figure out the program and how to make the background transparent (it isn't working the way I have done it), but I am determined! I will continue to create and someday I will have the site available to share, hopefully sooner than later!
One of my first pieces!
5) I am the reason for one of the greatest love stories I know. ;) My grandmother came from Manitoba for my birth. The day after I was born, my mother's friend took my grandmother out to celebrate my birth and she met my grandfather. They dated for awhile and soon after my grandmother moved here. Recently my grandfather passed away, but even at his burial there love story held true...my grandmother found a love poem in his wallet that she had sent him a month after dating and he still had it! *sigh* She had no idea, until she found it after his passing! *tear*
6) The name we chose for my son before he was born was Alexander. His father had suggested names like "Six" and "Seven" (I wish I was kidding!) but I flat out refused to name my child a number, even if I did watch Blossom as a kid. I agreed on Xainder, if we could name him Alexander and just shorten it. However, when he was born, he was born with a head full of thick blond hair and my "husband" said, "We should call him Hayden (my first pick); he looks so much like you!"
Introducing Hayden Xainder...minutes old!
7) I am known for being the "Survivor Day Teacher." Seriously! One of the YMCA Before- and After-School Program Coordinators at my school told me the kids were talking about it during snack time one day. The one student (who I had 2 years ago) said to a grade 1 student, "Wait till you get Ms. M, she does Survivor Day, it is the best day ever! You are going to love it!" The year I began at the school I teach at, I wanted to plan a special day to celebrate a great year. Based on the show Survivor, I planned events similar to Survivor...without anyone being voted off. With the help of my grandmother, I sewed bandannas and the kids came up with team names, flags, and cheers. Some years, we even made torches from tissue and paper towel rolls. Well, the first year was such a success that would got around and it continued each year.
8) I do not have a traditional family (a long story to explain), but nonetheless, it is a family that loves, supports and celebrates each other. I grew up an only child. But when I was a teenager, I gained a stepbrother, who was still a baby when our families joined together. Since I am 13 years older, I was always babysitting and would have the kids at our house and of course, bring him along with me. Unfortunately for him I treated him more like my own child (and probably still do).
Love both these boys!
9) I have a lot of great friends and feel very, very blessed! Some friends I have had since daycare and then elementary school. I have picked up new friends along the way - high school, university, work at Tim Horton's, Teacher's College and at the schools where I have worked. What is the same about all of them, is their importance to me! Today, I am just going to feature one of these special friends. My friend and past residence housemate, Dawn!
I love this girl! We met when were placed in the same house in residence our first year of university and we have been BFFs since! ;) Following our undergrad, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life (unlike myself who was there specifically to become a teacher). She thought she wanted to be a teacher, but wasn't sure if she was choosing that because people said she was going to be good at it, or if that was what she wanted to do. Well, after trying out various routes (all of which she is great at) she is headed back to Teacher's College this year to become a teacher! She is sometimes to hard on herself for not doing it 10+ years ago, but I think she is brave, ambitious and strong and I think the teaching profession will be lucky to have her be a part of it!
10) I love a variety of music, movies and tv shows. My interests are so varied, that I spent one Monday night a few weeks back. I was watching the finale of The Bachelorette and then catching up on episodes of the Sons of Anarchy during commercials. Opposite ends of the spectrum right? But I am guilty of loving both shows!
Well now that you know more about me than you ever wanted to know! Head on over to Blog Hoppin' to check out the 10 Fun Things About Me posted from other teacher/bloggers. In fact, why not create your own?
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