End of the year....almost!!!

WOW, is it just me, or has this school year flown by??  I am wrapping things up in my classroom, and trying to get ready for summer.  I have been teaching at the same school for three years, however, next year I will be transferring back to a school I taught at years ago.  I am excited to get back to my old site, and with some great friends, but I will really miss the wonderful friends I have made at my current site, along with the great students!!!  I am not big on moving rooms, and packing things up, so we will have to see how it all goes!

I find this time of year to be a lot of fun, but also a bit difficult at times.  We have made it through all of the curriculum, and I want to do the fun things, things we may not have had time for throughout the year, but the kids are ready for SSSSUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMEEEERRRRRRR, (sung in the voice of Olaf!).  Quite frankly, I am ready for the summer too.  I am not looking forward to packing and unpacking my classroom, but I am ready for a new change. 

What are some ways that you wrap up the year?  Do you have any fun things that you do each year with your class? I would love to hear what you do, and share ideas!  Let the countdown begin, 5 more days!

Helping Hands

Every year I struggle with students having jobs in my classroom.  I love the concept yet I have never felt like I had a good system.  I have tried all sorts of things, many jobs and students names switch through them as the year goes, a few jobs, and assign students, you get the idea.  Well this summer I came across a great way to manage jobs somewhere on pinterest!  The job system is called "Helping Hands", and each student has a hand with their name written on it.   I put all the hands on a ring, and hang them above some jobs.  I change the names weekly, and when we get to the end of the list on each side, we change sides.  The students LOVE this, and I do as well.  At the end of the day, there are two kids out of their seats, instead of 30, and when I need my office assistant, they know exactly who they are so there is no raising of hands and choosing.  I love this easy way to manage jobs!  Here is a picture of what my jobs look like.  Below each job is a brief description as to what is expected of the student. 

What are some ways you manage the different jobs in your classroom?  I would love to hear new, fresh ideas!

Open House 2014

Every year I both look forward to and dread open house.  I am just being honest, it is a lot of hard work, but it is fun work!  The kids enjoy showing off some of their hard work to their families, and watching them explain what everything is, is a lot of fun to see.  I don't have a lot of wall space in my classroom to display work, so we improvise using the whiteboard, etc...  This year we had some "Postcards" of the regions of CA that we made, our personal narratives, a huge map of CA that the kids worked really hard on, and a foldable that labeled the different parts of Kelp - we studied it while reading "Island of the Blue Dolphins."  These are the things we were able to display on our walls.  As for our desks, my students had their Island work, a CA folder that has all sorts of information, and activities we did to learn about our state, writing from throughout the year, and some art that we had done.

Overall this years turn out was pretty great!  I was happy to talk to all of my students and brag about them to their parents - always nice to be able to do, and it makes them feel so good.  The day after our schools open house, we have a half day of school, which is nice, but even better, we get a chance to look at other classrooms.  Some of the teachers got together and put a map out and if you want to participate just open up both of your classroom doors and snake through them!  Talk about fun!  As a teacher, we don't get to go around and check out what our coworkers have done, and how hard their students have worked, so this gives us, as well as our students a chance to do that.  It's neat for the students moving up a grade to see what is coming, and to look back and remember some of the things they did prior years.

Here are some pictures of some of the things we did in our class.

Parts of Kelp

Some of the students Personal Narratives - underneath the final draft is the rough draft, and graphic organizers that we used to write our narratives.

The CA maps that my students did.  They had MANY things listed to label, and we used our maps in our books to help us do that.  They REALLY enjoyed working on these, and put forth their best efforts!

Each student wrote down their favorite book that they have read this year!  I love this, because they see it multiple times a day, and they read what others are reading.  

And there you have it, another fun year in the books for Open House!  What are some things that you do in your classrooms?  I am ALWAYS looking for fresh ideas, and new things to do with 4th grade. 

Sick Days and Subs.... Part II

As promised here are the pictures of my Substitute Binder and Sub Box.  I keep this box on a counter in the back of my room which makes it easily accessible for my coworkers to access and take things out of for those emergency moments! 

This is the cover, isn't it cute?!  As I stated in my previous post, a coworker found all of the fun pages on Pinterest, and sent them to us at work.  I took advantage, printed them out, and got myself organized!

The first tab is all important procedures, a map of our school, dismissal times, etc... 

The next tab holds my class lists, and seating assignments.  If any student has any health issues, this is also where the information would go.

This is where I put times for things like P.E., Music, Computer Lab, Library, Lunch, and Recess.  I also put in here if I have any duty that needs to be covered. 

The all important "Behavior Management" tab!  Clearly this is where I put how I manage my classroom.  I know many subs often come with their own ways to manage a classroom, but I like to include how I use my "turn card" chart, or in years past, "Clip Chart"  It also makes it easier if they can follow the routine. 

The "Lesson Plan" tab.  I like to put my lesson plans on this page if I know that I will be gone.  As for the "Unexpected" days, well that is what the "box" is for.  It has many, many different plans, as well as worksheets for students to do.  This tab in the binder is more for the days that I know I will be out.

The final tab is just for the substitutes!  It is a page for them to fill out at the end of the day.  I like that it is organized, and it is easy for them to just fill in.

There is one final tab after this one that has "extra work" in case the things that I have left, are not enough.  Always a worry for teachers!

Now on to where this is all kept!  The Sub Box!  As I stated I keep this "box" on the counter in the back of my room so it is easily accessible to my coworkers.  I have weeks worth of lesson plans for writing, and math, and Ela.  I also have enough copies for every student in the class.  It makes it very easy for my co-workers to just come in, and pull things from it.  This is what it looks like:

As you can see there are directions taped to the front, along with file folders with different lessons and worksheets for the kids to use.  At the very back is where I keep my Binder.

I hope this is helpful, and inspiring to you to use in the future in your own classroom.  It took some time to make all the copies, and get things together, but in the end it pays, off big time!

Sick Days and Subs.....

Well it has been a lot longer than I had anticipated between posts here, but I was out sick with strep throat for 2 days, and through the weekend, and then I had my annual family camping trip to Yosemite the following Friday through Monday!  What a whirlwind.  As any teacher can tell you, it is so much harder to take a day off, be sick, etc... than it is to just be at work sick!  I was out for  Friday and a Monday with  strep throat as I stated, and that was rough.  I am so grateful for an amazing team that I work with and that they were able to help get things together for the Monday I was out. 

At the end of last year, I put together a "Sub Box."  I know many teachers use them, and they come in great handy!  I was out for six unexpected weeks of jury duty last year, and was only able to work on Friday's - AWFUL!  Teachers should NOT have to have jury duty in my opinion, it was so difficult for my kids to have a sub for so long, as well as plan properly for someone you know nothing about.  Anyway, at the end of last year, I created a sub binder and box.  It has come in GREAT handy!  I have plans set up for each day of the week - multiple plans that anyone could go in and teach.  Things the kids would know how to do, along with new things that a substitute would be able to easily handle teaching.  The binder has many different tabs and sections making it easy for the substitute to find what is needed for emergency's, classroom management, seating charts, etc....  I will post pictures tomorrow.  A coworker of mine had shared the pinterest site with us last year, and I decided it was just what I needed.

What are some things that you have stashed away for the days that you are unexpectedly out of the class room?  I am always looking for ways to better the systems that I have in place, and for new fresh ideas!  Please feel free to share in the comments section below.  I will post pictures of what I use here tomorrow.