Summer School

Summer school begins on Monday!  The room has been arranged, the plans are written, and I am excited to begin.  This summer I am working as an AmeriCorps Tutoring Member, which is a new position for me. I already know a lot of the kids I will be working with.  Unlike most summer school situations, I will be meeting with students one at a time.   In my volunteer work, I have really enjoyed working with kids individually or in small groups.  It is a much different situation than being a classroom teacher with 25 or more students, and it gives a teacher the opportunity to connect and get to know students.

I have a lot of people who tell me that when they retire, they won't be going anywhere near school. That's the cool thing about retirement, you get to decide for yourself. I feel very blessed to be at a point in my life where I can choose my own path.  I love being able to connect, teach, and learn with kids, because I am always learning something new.  This is my idea of retirement, at least for now.  I am very grateful for this new opportunity.

Welcome Back

I started back to school on Wednesday, after being on sick leave for five weeks.  This wonderful banner, made by my students, was hanging on the front board.  It was a great welcome back.

Brainy Kids

We are studying the human body in Science and Health, so we made brain hats on Thursday.  I have some very brainy kids in my class.

Clean Classroom

Today was my first day back to school after being home three days with a foot fracture. I was fortunate to have my very favorite sub.  When I walked in this morning, I thought I was in the wrong classroom.  The room looked fantastic!  Everything was neat and clean.  I haven't seen the top of my desk in ages.  My classroom hasn't looked this good since the first week of school.  On top of that, the kids were learning and doing a great job.  Thanks, Julie!

Election Day

Today was Election Day at Phillips.  This was made possible by two of our teachers who set up this amazing day.  They thought of every detail.  All of our kids registered to vote a few weeks ago.  The polling place was set up with everything from voting booths to a table to check in and pick up your ballot.  The fifth graders were our poll workers.  Students even received an "I Voted!" sticker after casting their ballots.  It was amazing.

The results were compiled on a chart.  We even had an Electoral College.  By the way, Obama won!

Before voting, my kids watched this fun video which explains the whole election process.

School Stuff

It's another two weeks before teachers need to officially report, but like most teachers, I am already working on school stuff.  Over the weekend I made my Welcome to 4th Grade cards and dropped them in the mail.

Today I put together these Whole Class Journals.  I found the idea on Pinterest. 

Putting Together a Classroom

I worked on my classroom for a few hours on Monday and then again on Thursday.  I am making progress.  The desks have been arranged. I will have 26 students this year.

I spent time organizing and weeding out my classroom library.  If a book is twenty years old and it is still in good shape, you can assume that NO ONE IS READING IT!  I need to make some additional labels for the tubs, but things are in pretty good shape.

Last year I made curtains for my library book shelves. I liked the clean look so much, that I decided I wanted to curtain off the shelves that hold my teachers manuals and other resources.  I remade these denim curtains from curtains that used to hang in my son's bedroom.

My class rules poster is up and so is my welcome sign, but I have no idea what I'm going to put on my bulletin boards.  There is lots more work to do, but I still have two more weeks until teachers have to report.

Classroom Rules Poster

I've seen a lots of clever ideas for classroom rules posters on Pinterest. Some are painted on wood, some are hand lettered, others are designed with a computer.  I used scrapbook paper, my computer, and stickers from my scrapbook supplies to make this poster for my classroom.  Then I framed it with a poster frame. I'm really pleased with the way it came out. I wonder if my students will be better citizens with this artsy approach to classroom behavior.

Welcome Sign

School thoughts have begun, but I'm doing the fun stuff, like making things.  I used the computer, scrapbooking paper, stickers, and a dollar store frame to make this sign to hang outside of my classroom door.  I was inspired by things I saw on Pinterest.  I like the way it came out. Now I have to figure out how to hang it so it doesn't end up on the floor.

Stripped!

It's hard to believe, but the 2011-2012 school year has come to an end. The classroom has been stripped of posters, bulletin boards, books, and name tags.  Summer vacation has officially begun!

25 Years!

I am about to complete my twenty-fifth year of teaching in the Des Moines School District.  During that time I have taught first through fourth grades, and I have spent twenty-two of those years at Phillips.  So what do you get for teaching 25 years?  A glass paper weight!

Phillips Pride

1. The Book of Knowledge, 2. Phillips Pride Polo, 3. Phillips Rocks, 4. Phillips Staff, 5. Home of the Tigers, 6. Light Blue Tiger Paw, 7. Tiger Pride Zip Hoodie, 8. Right On Target, 9. Core Knowledge Polo, 10. Med Blue w Yellow, 11. Phillips Arch, 12. On the Right Track, 13. Phillips Tigers, 14. Tiger Paw, 15. Core Knowledge Denim, 16. Plaid P, 17. Phillips, 18. Phillips Rocks on White, 19. Walk on the Wild Side, 20. The Phillips Arch

This is my twenty-second year as a teacher at Phillips.  While I have not purchase a school shirt every year, I have purchased quite a few over the years.  Recently two of the PTA moms asked me if I would photograph my shirts.  They were looking for ideas for future shirts.  I have to admit, even I was surprised by how many I have acquired over the years.

A Carpet of Petals

Each spring I look forward to the time when the big Magnolia Tree in front of school begins to bloom.  It is right beneath my classroom windows, and it is a beautiful sight after a long winter.  This year I almost missed the entire experience.  Because of the unusually warm weather, it began blooming while we were on spring break, and by the time we came back on Monday, the petals were already carpeting the lawn.

New Desk Arrangement

About once a month, or sometimes more often, I need to rearrange seating.  I was trying to figure out something new to do when I saw this website, called Classroom Desk Arrangement.  You enter how many students you have, and it gives ideas.  It did make me wonder how big those classrooms on the website are, because our 28 desks take up a lot more space than that.  I did come up with this new arrangement. We are in groups, but for the most part we can all easily face toward the front of the room.  The arrangement by the door still needs some tweaking.

Extra Recess, Just Barely

I have decided to stop numbering my photos.  I'm always behind, and I decided I might as well remove the pressure and stop worrying about it.  I still plan to take photos daily, but if I miss a day or two here or there, I'm not going to let it bother me.  So this is still a 365 Photo Project, more or less.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are having beautiful weather here in Iowa. In fact we reached record breaking temperatures today with a high of 65.  The kids came in very wound up and chatty.  Let's face it, my kids are chatty most days.  Knowing it was going to be such a fantastic day, I gave the class an opportunity to earn an extra recess at the end of the day.  I wrote the word RECESS on the board.  If we had any letters left by 2:45, we could have the recess.  I would remove a letter when we had problems staying on task and following classroom rules.


We earned our recess, but just barely.  All we had left was this lonely R, but that was enough.

PGD Day

Today was a PGD Day; a Perfectly Good Day to leave early!

Kids at Phillips earn paw prints for good choices.  When they have 20, they turn them in to get prizes including a special catered breakfast in the conference room.  The teachers get a chance to earn rewards, too.  We earn these little PGD certificates for arriving at meetings on time or going the extra mile. When we want to, we can turn one in to our principal and leave right after the kids do, no explanations necessary.  I have a whole collection of them, because I rarely leave early.  I did today though.  

We reached a high of 65 degrees here in Iowa on January 30th, and you can't get PGer than that.

Day 11/366: Deserted Hall

Wednesdays are always early release days. This afternoon many people were required to go to meetings away from the building. I was lucky and got to stay in my room and working on math instruction.  By 4:30 I was the only one on my floor. I'm there by myself lots of times, but with the wind picking up outside, and the cold drafty hall, it felt little creepy.

Day 10/366: New Name Box

Our name box was missing, so I had to make a new one.  I use the name box a lot to group kids for activities, partners and sometimes to pick who goes first.  I looked for it for a couple weeks, before I gave up and made a new one.  These little sample tiles were in the cabinet of my first classroom here at Phillips twenty-two years ago.  I had boxes and boxes of them.  Now I'm down to the last two boxes.  When I use them up, I guess I'll have to retire.

As I knew would happen, I found the old name box, just two days after I made this one.

Day #3/366: My Head is Full of Children

Day #3/366: My Head is Full of Children
Originally uploaded by BarbaraLN

This wall hanging is hanging outside the artroom, which is right across the hall from my room. I think the Art Teacher must have busy over winter vacation.

Photo #335/365: Clowns and Balloons

We had an after school celebration this week that included clowna, balloons and snacks.  There were lots of smiles to go around!