Classroom Tour

We have been in school four weeks....FOUR! It's hard to get into a routine and THE SCHEDULE (evil, evil, evil thing) keeps changing. There is also the required TESTING.

But now it seems to be settling and I spent today preparing for next week and feeling like those lessons might really happen.

I also am considering rearranging parts of the room. So I better share my tour BEFORE that happens!

Once upon a time I had a self contained classroom, my students were not part of their peer group often, they were happy enough and didn't know what they were missing. My schedule was pretty straight forward, we used themes, modified curriculum and there were 1 or 2 teacher assistants.

Next came the time of "inclusion", my children began to grow socially, I tried to continue themes, but it wasn't needed anymore, my schedule became more and more complicated, more adults were needed to support kids in their homerooms, the district started to introduce "replacement core" programs for students at all levels.

I have been scrambling to understand what my role is in all these changes and what my classroom should provide.

We have 12 students with full time support, two of them spend most of the day in our classroom. The other 10 are in other resource rooms or their homerooms with support. It is a wonderful wonderful scene! Are there bad days? of course, sometimes the homeroom or even a small/big group setting is just overwhelming and they need to take a break.

Anyway, here is what we came up with. 

Our door, I provided the vision, but one of the teacher assistants did the curtains and the sign. 

The Chill Pad hosted by Pete the Cat.
It has been successful so far. It is NOT time out, it is a place to chill, to reset your attitude.

The "Book Nook" is my favorite part of the room. I worked on my books all summer, they are all labeled in categories that can easily be matched to a matching bin label.

I added an ipod shuffle to the "nook" and several students are loving it! It is loaded with kid songs and some old rock and roll like "Rockin Robin".

Students earn points for following directions, being kind to each other....you get the idea. Every 10 points they move the paw up, at the top is the treasure box.

We are the Lynx and our principal created a hand sign to go with that, it is pretty clever and the eye glasses look like the ones she wears!

I decided that all the supplies would be in one place this year. In the past each work station had a tub of basic supplies. The other side has OUR supplies, items like staplers, tape, paper clips. The sharp scissors stay on or in the teacher desk (not that any of our students are a concern with scissors THIS year).

My desk when it was clean. The technology plan is to be wireless, the district purchased us some pretty sweet laptops and those can be used as a tablet. It will be great when everything comes together.

That's not even everything, but this is running too long! I just realized there are no pictures of our group instruction areas!
I love to look at teachers' classrooms, so many great ideas!
We are creative people! LOL

I'll end with a couple of  photos from our garden, this has been a sunflower year!

Later,

Paula

Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs...11/14/14

The weeks are flying by, it is hard to believe that it is almost Thanksgiving ! Time to link with Doodle bugs!

                      

My new glasses really do darken more! I am getting more comfortable with the progressive lenses, and like the frames.

Happy Veterans Day to my awesome husband!

Semper Fi!

I am revamping some of my task folders, this one is sequencing numbers, each paint bucket has 2 numerals with a missing one. The brushes have the missing numeral. I took this photo to be an answer key, I plan on keeping the answer keys seperate so they aren't tempted to peek and they can self check without too much fuss. I'll let you know if that works!

The brushes are kept in a snack Baggie and it is labeled with the folder name and how many pieces should be in the bag when they put them back. I plan on being very annoying about that.

The Velcro piece on the back will ensure that the bag can be attached to the folder and less likely to become seperated from it.

Beginning to organize math centers. This is the front of the teacher desk.

Beautiful sunrise this morning!!

I am missing my laptop! I hope to replace it, but Christmas is coming, children need to go to the dentist and my husband says we need a generator!

Tell me about your tips and tricks when you create and organize folder and box tasks.

Later,

Paula

The Special Educator's Toolkit- Classroom traffic flow and Setting up Boundaries

I am loving this resource for teachers! The Special Educator's Toolkit by Cindy Golden is a wonderful guide to organize your chaos. I feel that I am an organized person, but it takes me FOREVER to actually get it in place. The process that is described in this book really helps to get it together much quicker.

This is the third post regarding this toolkit and I am still in the first half of the book. Previous posts:
Introduction
The Classroom Environment

This is a continuation of the chapter addressing organizing your classroom environment. Traffic flow creates a pathway to follow around the room. When you consider your flow, your student's physical, educational and emotional needs must be considered. Retail Stores use it very effectively. We do the same thing in our classrooms using visual boundaries.

"Classroom flow strengthens the structure of the room's environment".

Cindy Golden

 It helps students to know where and what each part of the classroom is for.  Traffic flow for students with disabilities should be arranged in a manner that makes sense to them. Many students with developmental delays have difficulty reading nonverbal social cues, they need visuals that help structure the unwritten rules of the environment and provide cues to know what is expected from them.

Visual boundaries are created in a classroom by positioning available furniture and shelving.,Students benefit from knowing what the function of the space is, where it begins and ends and the expectations within the space.
The author provides some different ways to create visual boundaries in a classroom. 

Some of the ways we have created boundaries in our classroom:

shelf and a rolling cart

Cardboard! easy to move around, this is a temporary barrier

My husband made these several years ago, he has modified them a couple of times, they are invaluable!

Two file cabinets, back to back.

the other side of the cardboard wall

Classroom Zones and Purposeful Spaces
Each area in your classroom should have a purpose and contain visuals to provide structure for the students. It will make  it easier to find materials. You can go a step further and color code the different areas! The author promises to discuss that later in the book.

 No matter what shape or size your room is, it can function as a classroom when planned and organized to make the most of the space.

"Every classroom will be different and sometimes certain areas may serve double or triple duty. You also need to build on the room's strengths."

Cindy Golden

Suggested areas to consider:

• Individual academic areas
• group area
• coat/ backpack storage area
• data keeping area
• centers or work stations
• leisure area
• transition/waiting area
• cool down area
• staff work area

There is more information and suggestions for each area.

I have been doing this for awhile. I start with a blank piece of paper, draw a basic map of my room minus the furniture, (sketch in the items that are permanent-like the promethean board) I make a list of the areas I want to set up and I make a list of my available furniture. I almost always have to make an area (or 2) have a dual purpose.

Looking at the author's suggestions and applying them to my situation...

• I don't have a waiting area, I would like one.
• My cool down area is also the leisure area which is ALSO the library, is that a good idea? (I think NOT)
• I like my individual stations
• The teacher/staff area works
• ahem....I don't have a data keeping area

This is where we will leave off. Next time, I will share and ponder...creating a waiting area, maybe change my cool down area, organizing the walls, schedule areas, step six, and color coding! 

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