Wow, I just noticed, it's been a while since I blogged! I promise there is good reason for it! The paragraph above sort of alludes to the fact that I've been a BUSY girl, unfortunately and sadly for me, not enough time for blogging! :(
Well, I'm back.
Our school is a private school for students with learning disabilities, and for the last 20 years, we have been a K-8 school. We added preschool last year, and this year, we added a ninth grade! Exciting stuff! We're expanding and growing and providing services for our community that not many other schools around offer! I was assigned to teach 9th grade literacy, math, and technology. Let me just say, I am certified to teach K-5, and in some states K-6. I have been teaching middle school literacy for the last four years, which wasn't a huge step up from 5th (or 6th). But man, I was nervous and took a lot of preparations this summer to make sure I knew what I was doing come August 13th. I want to treat these students (whom I've taught for the last 8 years) like they are high school students, but let's face it, I'm geared towards teaching about....5th grade! Most of my students are on varying lower levels, so the material I'm teaching is stuff that I'm familiar with. I did have to make some changes though, including simplifying classroom decor.
Oh, and did I mention that I have two classrooms? LOL. I know I did. You're thinking that I didn't address that above. Well, here goes. I have the same classroom that I have had for the past six years. It is set up exactly how I want it. I know where things are and this summer I cleaned it out and organized it even more than it already was. Mary, from Teaching with a Mountain View, recently featured my classroom on her "Peek of the Week" series! SO exciting! I follow her blog and buy all of her stuff on TPT - you should too. I know that's a little off-topic, but seriously, check her out if you haven't already! You can click here to go see detailed pictures of my classroom on her post!
All of that said, it brings me to classroom #2. Technically, it's the high school teacher's classroom. He has his homeroom in that classroom. It's where all 14 of our high school students report in the morning for homeroom, and they all return there after literacy to spend the afternoon with health and career instruction from Ben, our high school teacher.
However, I am in there ALL morning - for math and literacy. I haven't taught math in over five years. I wasn't nervous about teaching it again. I actually like teaching math, despite the fact that I was terrible at math in school!
Anyway, I couldn't look at bare walls all morning every day. Plus, my classes need anchor charts and posters to refer to about current learning, etc. So here are SOME pictures of how the room is turning out now.
(P.S. Did I mention that I couldn't decorate this classroom until 2 days before school started because we were waiting on the carpet to be replaced? Aaaaahhhh!)
Closet door - posters were freebies on TPT!
Noggle - idea from TPT, numbers came (free!) from A Cupcake for the Teacher
our awesome new TV/Mimio/computer screen - it's completely like an iPad - all touch, but I use a pen to write with, even though it still looks a little messy!
small shelf from Target - I keep my students' math supplies on this shelf
I had to buy some pencil boxes for my math students to keep their pencils, calculator, and other miscellaneous supplies. They sit at tables and don't have anywhere to store materials like their GIGANTIC binders while in class. I hate them on the tables. It's a mess! This is still a work in progress!
Math word wall - vocabulary cards were free on TPT, I will add notes, vocabulary cards as we cover each topic!
I got this idea from Mailbox magazine. This week, we are reading a current events article about potential Oscar movies. I "polled" the students about which movie they saw this year that they feel should win an Oscar. "Jurassic World" and "Fantastic Four" were at the top of the list!
All of the high school students have Chromebooks this year. These are so nice. We are converting our stuff over to Google Classroom this year. This, too, is a work in progress. I'm learning right along with the students! :)
Student textbook and materials shelf
This is my "teacher area" - again, this is not my classroom so I am having to work OVERTIME to be more organized and only have out the essential materials. It's hard when you're a hands-on, teaching-with-engaging-games kind of teacher!
I read about this idea on Pinterest this summer. I belive Erin from I'm Lovin' Lit has mentioned it before, but it's a great way to connect with students and encourage the love of reading. I put up this poster, and I added one for Mr. Ben (the high school teacher) to show students that we are reading for pleasure all the time! Hopefully it will inspire my students to read for pleasure as well!
I will be back soon and I will add more pictures of how the room is arranged with our large round tables. Hopefully I will be adding that we have chair pockets or some type of organization for my kiddos who need it desperately! And for me to stay sane with all of our STUFF!
Check out Blog Hoppin' for #teacherweek15. Come on over and link up too! I LOVE looking at everyone's classroom!
