2014-2015 Classroom Tour

Happy Sunday ya'll!

So I'm a tad bit late, but I figured I'd go ahead and give you all a tour of my classroom. A little bit of background: This is my 2nd year of teaching in this classroom. It is about 1/3 the size of a normal classroom at my school. I'm on the "connections" hallway (where students go for their electives classes). I teach math resource, ELA resource, and reading resource in my room. Then I go to the 7th grade hallway for math and ELA inclusion for 5th and 6th periods.

I actually love my tiny classroom. The only problem is that I don't have much wall space or space for activities. But it works for us (me and my kids).

Be prepared for lots of pictures :)

My filing cabinet message board.

My pretty painted bookshelves, courtesy of my fiancé, Chad. He spent two days during preplanning painting this beast.

I like for things to be orderly and matching. These data/info/lesson binders are the first step in my quest for organization.

A little piece of me on the bookshelves. I love the ocean and the Georgia Bulldogs. And then there is a picture of me and Chad at Disney World.

This is my calendar/Meet Ms. Haler board. Pretty much, whatever I need to see daily (schedules, memos) plus some things that make me happy (UGA stuff, cards from friends, a picture of my dad [who passed away in 2006] and my autographed Jason Aldean picture--LOVE HIM!!)

Materials storage. I actually like having class materials out on the bookshelves so this is the easiest way to display them without the kids being able to have too much access to them.

This spot is still a work in progress. I keep bottled water and paper towels in the milk crate. The egg cartons in the WalMart bag are for a math game I have yet to make. And the posters on top of the microwave will eventually get up on the wall.

My desk. It's a little beat up, but I love it. I'm thinking about painting it next summer.

Ticket Out the Door spot. 

A huge standard in 7th grade ELA is learning and using Latin and Greek affixes. So my resource students have five vocabulary words per week.

This is also a work in progress. I'm not happy with the current agenda/daily standards set up I have. But this is where students can always look for info.

This is a new addition to the classroom this year. I always had these books but they were in washtubs and milk crates and totally annoying. So I brought stole an old bookshelf from home (Chad wanted to use it for DVDs...although all of our DVDs wouldn't even fit on it). I'm also storing markers, tissues, cap erasers, pencils, the pencil sharpener, digital clock, and the "I'm Not Finished" box.

This pocket chart is where I let my reading resource kids know what they need from the materials shelf each day.

This is the materials shelf. Last year it was an entire table but this little bookshelf is much more space-efficient. The tubs on the middle shelf are for the reading resource class. Then the tubs on the bottom are for each class period's materials.

I had a HUGE problem last year with students not writing their names on papers. So this is a Pinterest idea I'm trying out this year.

Class Rules.

My unfinished bulletin board. I've still gotta get some standards and student work up. Remind me to do that!!!

This is my Math standards wall for the first chapter. 

The entryway to my classroom. It's a little dark because I took these pictures at like 5 PM when there wasn't much natural light coming into the hallway.

My Wayne County Yellow Jackets-inspired wreath :)

A reminder for all students....plus my Uga head. :)

Welcome sign and room number. This year, our school theme centers around what's next for students. We want them to make good decisions now so that they will get to college once they graduate from high school. So the administration decided to post pictures of where all the teachers went to college. Since they didn't want all four of my colleges posted up, I settled for UGA, since that's where I had my "college experience" at.

August Currently

It's that time again to link up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for this month's Currently. I'm not feeling too well today, so I'll make this short and sweet.

1.) Listening...You know I love me some Jason Aldean! I have the Music Choice channel on and my favorite country artist just happens to be on!

2.) Loving...Chad, my fiancé, painted my built-in bookcases at school Thursday and Friday. I happen to think they look AMAZING. Look for a post about them soon!

3.) Thinking....I have so much left to do at school. My room is a complete disaster. I also need another beach day before the school year officially starts. An old friend from Memphis happens to be at Jekyll Island this weekend so I might see if I can meet up with her tomorrow!

4.) Wanting...Seriously, what has happened to my amazing tan I had this summer? This is another reason I need another beach day.

5.) Needing...Obviously, I need to get my room finished. But more importantly, I need to meet my coteachers. I'm pretty blessed this year to have two amazing math coteachers, one of whom was my SPED mentor teacher last year. He switched over to regular ed, but I think we are going to be a great team. I don't know either of the language arts teachers I'll be working with, though. They're both new so I really have to get down to their classrooms to meet with them and come up with a plan for the year.

6.) 1st day...My first day of preplanning was yesterday, but luckily we have three more days before the kids come back on Thursday. School seems to start earlier and earlier every year!!!

Tip #2: Don't be afraid to make mistakes

As a first-year teacher, you will make A LOT of mistakes. Hopefully they won't be too terrible. Hopefully they won't be detrimental to your career or to the education of your students. But you'll mess up some on your classroom management plan. Some of your lessons won't go exactly as planned. You'll probably have a mini-freak-out on a student a time or two your first year.

But, repeat after me..."It'll be okay. I am not perfect. I am human. I will make mistakes. But I will also learn from them, exactly like I tell my students to do."

The gist: Don't be afraid to make mistakes. But always, always, always...make sure you learn from them. And if you make a mistake that affects a coworker or student, own up to it. Apologize. And next time you are in that situation, remember "that time you messed up," and take a different approach.

Monday Made It (on a Tuesday)

Well, I wasn't exactly expecting the end of the summer madness that I've had recently. My parents came down to Brunswick for a couple days in the middle of July and I decided to go up to Atlanta with them to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and best friend. Then I traveled "home" to Memphis for a few days, with a stop in Nashville to see another one of my best friends (yes, I totally embrace the "best friend" status like my middle school students do). I came back home last weekend and it has taken me a full four days to get back to a normal, non-traveling, me. I've put at least a good ten thousand miles on my car this summer with all the trips to Florida and Tennessee I've had. But it was a good first "teacher summer," nonetheless.



For my Monday Made It, with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics, I'm actually just going to show you my new bulletin board. I put these up when my parents were here, but I was traveling to Memphis last Monday so I didn't get to show them to you. I absolutely LOVE my new color scheme, and don't worry, there is MORE TO COME. I haven't been back to my classroom since this day so it's still a complete MESS!!!

That's all I have for this week, but I will have MUCH MORE to come, once I actually get back into my classroom :)

Tip #1: Coworkers or Life Buddies?

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with going to work from 9-5 (because teachers do the whole 9-5 thing, right?), then having zero contact with coworkers from 5 PM-9AM. But, I promise you, you will have a much better time, in and out of school, if you try to make friends with some of your coworkers.

I live the next county over from where I work. I drive 40 miles to school and 40 miles home every. single. day. And luckily, there are some other people that do the same. We're pretty much known as the "Brunswick crew." Those crazy people who would much rather make the 80-mile round trip every day than live in WC. For me, when I moved back to Georgia, I was more interested in Chad being able to find a job easily than me being close to work since he didn't have a reliable car at the time. Plus, being only 10 miles from the beach rather than 50 miles is a pretty good deal. :)

Having said all that, I've found some pretty great people who share my despair over leaving home at 6 AM just to make it to work on time. One of these people was also a first-year special education teacher (first-year in WC, but a 15-year teaching veteran). We shared so many experiences during our first year, both good and bad. We commiserated over the lack of true inclusion classes in our school, and we went to all kinds of professional development together. Because of, or maybe despite, the fact that we shared so many experiences together, we became inseparable. We had administrators, other teachers, and even students ask us if we were sisters. Our principal even told us one day that she thought we'd known each other for years, instead of just meeting each other a few days before the first day of school.

Me and Stephanie at Florida Country Superfest in June, 2014. I don't know what I'd do without her!!

I know that not all first-year teachers will find someone who they click with as easily as I did. Sometimes it is really hard to fit into a school where everyone knows everyone but you know no one. But my advice is to really try. Invite your co-teacher out for a drink after work on Friday. Trust me, she will need it just as bad as you will. Volunteer to help out at the basketball games and chat it up with the computer teacher who always runs concessions by himself. I truly believe that simply putting yourself out there and not waiting for other people to ask you out to lunch is the best way to meet people. And even if they don't become people you go on vacation with, at least you have someone other than your husband or girlfriend (or cat) to talk to outside of school.