Third Grade Classroom 2007-2008

This is my first third grade class room. It is hard to tell from the pictures but my classroom was just outside of the playground.

Hollywood Theme

Third Grade Classroom Photos

This is my hollywood theme from last school year.

Organization for the teacher

I use one of those pocket chart organization stations like this.

I organize all my stuff using this and I keep my desk completely clear except for a spiral bound notebook that I keep a running to do list written on along with my grade book. I use the planning pages in the back as a calendar and write down important due dates and stuff on there. On my to do list I jot down the date I completed something next to it.

I keep that organizer behind my desk labeled with the following things for papers: memos, turn in, to do, and to file.

My in boxes are not on my desk and students know from the first day to never ever put anything on my desk. If they do, I give it back to them and tell them to find the right place.

My lessons are in a large binder that sits on the corner of my desk. I type and print my lessons and put them in there every week. As I see a change needs to be made I write in the lesson with a red pen. The beauty of using a brightly colored binder is when I have to be out administration or a sub can find my lessons quickly.

The calm before the storm.

This is my last week of break before going to work in a new (to me) school. My experience in charter schools is that the summer time means construction. This new charter school is no different and I can't get into my room until August 2nd. I have seen my room already and it is about twice the size of my last classroom. I'm excited that there is a lot of space and I can create appropriate work centers. I also have a chalk board and a white board. My students will also have lockers in the hallway. The room is a big square from what I could tell.
I have a feeling that my school expects community supplies of pencils and paper for my grade level so I need to start thinking up some kind of organization for these.

Absentee Kids

I always have a hard time keeping up with who was absent and when from day to day. Of course I take attendance and keep good records. I'm just not the kind of teacher that takes pleasure out of chasing kids down to give them missing work to make up. It isn't my priority. I have better things to do on a day to day basis. I'm all about what makes sense and is the most practical solution. The less effort for me, the better. My solution: The "While you were out" board seen in my last post.

I keep a blank calendar template from one of those teacher sets. Next to the calendar I keep a stack of post it notes. It is a student job to fill out the post it note with assignments we did that day and stick it on the calendar. The beauty of using the post it note is that I can arrange them as needed and I can stick them onto sheets of paper and store in a file in my cabinet just in case. In the folders next to the calendar I place handouts, worksheets and copies of notes. Originally I labeled it by days of the week because I was only teaching science. After tweaking this idea for awhile I realized that labeling the folders by period number and the handouts with student names worked better. A third way you could label those folders is by subject area if you are a self contained teacher in elementary.

My first classroom (part 2)

My first classroom (part 1)

A flashback to my first years of teaching. A single wide trailer that was rotting from the inside out. Some of these pictures are actually from my second year after I had scrubbed the entire trailer and it had been painted.

Why this blog was started.

I started this blog on a whim after viewing all the other teacher resource sites and blogs and forums. I thought maybe I could put my ideas out there and share them too. I'm pretty much known as the creative teacher within my school. You know how every school has that one teacher who seems to have every resource known? That isn't me. But other teachers have looked to me for ideas about all sorts of stuff. I spend the majority of what little free time I have either cooking or reading. Sometimes that reading includes teacher forums, blogs, and books. I've been in three different school settings. Each one unique and found teachers that were accepting of my creativity. So here I am, going tech for the sake of sharing freely.