Classroom tour

School has been going for a couple of weeks now, this week is our open house. I thought it would be a good time to share how the classroom came together!

The red, black and white theme is going well. Really, these are classic colors, why wouldn't they work?!

I found this door idea on Pinterest and tweaked it to match the colors. I also got lazy and used a variety of stickers, it turned out great!

This area is our math group place......

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I initially planned to have our calendar board on the promethean board, but chickened out.....I think there are advantages to having it displayed all day. The promethean board is used for many other subjects through out the day.

Here is a closer shot of the birthday graph. I purchased it in a packet from First Class Teacher Resources-in the teacher pay teachers store. It has proven to be a wise buy!

This area is the area for our child who uses a wheelchair and a stander, the book nook is next to it in the corner.

The listening center....old tech card reader and a TAPE player. The kids love the card reader!

Saw this in pinterest!

Task stations

My desk area....already getting messy!

I am still learning how to post from my tablet so all my pictures aren't here. Oh well, it is long enough! Think its time to close it up! Thanks for dropping by! 

Paula

Binoculars Art Project

This is a quick and fun art project, every kid loves binoculars and the price is right on these!

Materials:

• empty toilet paper rolls (2 for each student)
• stapler
• duct tape (it comes in many colors and patterns!)
• yarn or string
• stickers
• hole puncher

Prepare in advance:

• Staple toilet paper rolls together.
• Make dots where the holes for the string/yarn should be.
• Cut string or yarn a length that will go over their heads. Tape one end so it is easier to thread through the holes.
• Make a demo model to show off

Procedure:
1. Give each student a pair of stapled TP rolls.
2. Instruct them to hole punch the dots for the string. Give each a hole puncher. Depending on your hole puncher and the student's hand strength, you may need to help them.
3. String through the holes. Tie together.
4. Give each student a piece of duct tape that will wrap completely around the pair of TP rolls.
5. Apply stickers.

Suggested Activities:

• Indoors or outdoors, take a walk around and take turns announcing "I see a ____". Great expressive language practice!
• Call out something such as "I see the letter E". Everyone looks through their binoculars and repeats it as they find it. Skills: shapes, letter names, letter sounds (I see the letter that says /b/), numbers, high frequency words, classroom vocabulary......
• Call out "I spy with my little eye something (color word)". Take turns with students.

Star Gazing in a Camp Theme Classroom

Put some stars on the ceiling, program them with whatever you want to practice....

 

Cover windows to darken the room, my awesome assistant provided black sheets and the big dipper...

 

 

hand kids a flashlight, turn off the lights....

a fun and motivating lesson!

 

The first week we wrote individual letters and basic sight words on the stars.

The second week we added pictures with the words from our camp words. We discovered that some of our kids needed help recognizing letters by name and we wanted to give them something to call out that they knew independently. Other skills: naming shapes and numbers.

 

 

Many of our students are working on verbal expression, so an expectation is to have them shout out what they see as they point their flashlight beam on it, I write it on the whiteboard as they say it. EVERYONE can participate, the child with the communication device can push a button to share his finds!

Each student has a pencil zipper bag with a flashlight, pencil and crayons. I found the flashlights in the Target dollar aisle! The most expensive part was buying the batteries, but it has been totally worth it!

Paula

Five for Friday(Saturday!)......June 28, 2013

Whoa! It is Saturday night and I am just now getting my Friday post in! I'll be making it quick since I am feeling the need to sleep!

Here I go joining Doodle Bugs Teaching on my five for Friday! Doodles is taking July off so I don't want to miss out on this one!

1. We had another awesome week at summer school! Attendance is good and we pretended to camp in Wrangell Alaska this week. This happens to be a place I have lived, so I had lots of objects to show and tell with the students. We made a totem pole out of paper towel rolls that turned out so wonderful. I made one with Velcro, so the animals could be removed and replaced as I read the book, Totem Tale A Tall Story from Alaska by Deb Vanasse and illustrated by Erik Brooks. It is a story about a totem pole where all the animals on it come to life one night, they have a grand time, at dawn they begin to climb back on the pole but cannot remember how they were sequenced. They are reminded that they tell a story and so figure it out as the sun rises.

 

The students loved it! and did a very good job with their own totem poles.

 

Alaska has many fine children's book authors, I love all of them, but this one is especially inspiring! By the way I googled the animals and printed out free clipart to make the totem animals.

 

2. I finally purchased a tablet! I have been playing with it for a couple of days and although I opted for a very inexpensive one, I am not one bit disappointed, it does everything I wanted it to do.

 

3. I also purchased my plane ticket for Oklahoma! Wooooo! I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends. I miss them soooooo much.

 

4. In school we had an awesome graphing activity using paper fish with paper clips and a fishing pole with a magnet! First, we took turns fishing for one fish at a time, it went pretty quick, so the wait time was minimal, after catching the fish, they told me what color their fish was (loud enough for me to hear and understand them).....

 



 

Second, they placed their fish on the graph......

 

 

 

and last, I had them read the questions and answer them.

 

annnnnd..... when we had a few extra minutes...we did more fishing just for fun!

 

5. My last random thought will be grandchildren of course! My husband put together what my daughter fondly described as a "redneck slip and slide" for the kids to play on. We have actually had some really warm days lately! The kids had a blast and so did grandpa!

 

 



 

They managed to find a muddy spot. (big surprise)

 

So there is my five! I still have so much to share with you that we are doing at summer school!

 

Paula

Camping Classroom Unit at Summer School...Class tour

Ok, this is how our school district does ESY (Extended School Year): a school is chosen that is sort of a central point for the district, our district is HUGE by the way, mile wise. Then all the students who were signed up for it attend that school with the exception of the more remote locations, they have their own.  We have preschool through high school there all at one time. It is amazing to see, all ages and types of students under one roof!

This year my classroom theme is Camping around Alaska! The Teacher Assistants assigned to my classroom are awesome and jumped right in with ideas to make this the best Summer School classroom ever!

This week we set up the classroom for the 5 week session. The first three days,  the unit is introduced, the routines and expectations are reviewed, we get to know each other.

This year I really lucked out. It is always a surprise which classroom we will be assigned, as well as how much space you are allowed to use. This time, the room is in transition, the previous teacher moved out completely and the new one has not moved in yet...meaning we had practically the whole room available to us!

Campfire area: calendar, counting, story time, whole group activities.

 The Bear Station: meeting with the teacher in groups of 2, working on objectives. (added a small table since this picture)

 The writing tent: writing, fine motor tasks.

 Check in area: turn over tent card and check your job for the day.

Reading Tent: literacy tasks, reading

 

The Cabin: sensory bin, puzzles, and other fun stuff!

 

 

 The Moose Station: independent stations or you might think of them as TEACCH stations.

 

 Science Table: This is where we display and explore what we find outdoors on hikes, also include items related to the week's camping place. Other items not pictured: magnets and a balance with weighted pieces.

 

 

After some trial and error, we came up with the station rotation schedule. There are three adults, and each class session has 5-6 students. We split them up in groups of 2. Each group is assigned to the Bear Station, Writing Tent and the Reading Tent. When finished with the initial station, they can choose to go to the Cabin, Science or the Moose stations. After about 5 minutes, we rotate again. At this time, I have a 30 minute slot for rotating and it is a little short! Our entire session is only 2 and a half hours long. The buses were running late last week, I think they will be on time next week, so we will gain some time.

 

The next time I will share our schedule, routines and an art project or two!

 

Paula

 

More task ideas...simple and fast

This is a continuation of the Creating Tasks segment.  There are a few more I wanted to share that are easy to put together. It also illustrates how presentation  makes such a difference to our kids!

This is the very first one I put together. Materials: oatmeal can, string, beads, duct tape.
First, punch a small hole in the bottom of the can, just big enough to thread the string through. Tie a knot so the string cannot come back out. Use a piece of duct tape to make the string as flat as you can. Second, cut a hole in the lid large enough for a stringed bead to go through. Third, cover the outside of the can with construction paper, laminating it first is even better. Velcro the beads to the outside of the can.

Skills: fine motor, hand/eye coordination, color identification, counting.



Another simple and fast task is setting up a puzzle:

These rectangle shape boxes with a short lip are invaluable! I am always digging these guys out of the trash.... box lids, water flats, ramen noodle boxes, there is no end to their uses! (sometimes at Wal-Mart I load one of these up with cans of vegies or whatever I'm buying) I orignally had a small box  on the left of the puzzle, to place the pieces in.  This format seems to work better because all the pieces can be seen.

I found this magnetic Sesame Street board at a thrift store for a dollar, it was all alone...I got my handy dandy box of magnet letters out and dug out close matches. I like to spread out the letters so we avoid frustration if it is taking too long. A fun variation is to hide the letters in a sensory table or box full of rice. As they find letters, ask them to tell you the name and/or sound it makes and match it on the magnetic board. Kids of all skill levels have fun with this one.

Mr. Potato Head! They love him but are not sure what to do with him. Providing  visual step by step directions is very helpful. They quickly learn how to put him together without them.