A 9/11 Lesson

I am a 2nd year teacher now, so tht means that I have to step it up & put in some extra special lessons. Today is the 11th anniversary of 9/11 and while I still find it weird that I am teaching people who weren't even born yet I created a pretty awesome lesson.

First, we talked about what we've heard an watched a mini-movie on brainpop about what happened. Then, we took a virtual tour of the 9/11 memorial and talked about why we build memorials. We explored the different symbols the designers used throughout the space such as trees and water. Then, we decided what WE would have added to the memorial and why.

Here is our 4th grade memorial to 9/11
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A Fervent Prayer

Dear God,
Please help me have patience this year. I know You have given me a class that will help me grow as a teacher and I thank You for not giving them to me as my first class! Help me to be the type of teacher they need and one that will help guide them to following in Your ways. I am scared that they will get out of hand and that I will not be able to teach the way I would like to. Please help me teach them self control this year.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Sneak Peek

This is the computer table in my room. It used to be a little station, but now it's pushed against the wall because I have no room to spare :( oh well! My bulletin boards look awesome this year! Here's a sneak peek...

Rules Schmules

Last year I had TOO MANY rules. I didn't go over them with the students and I didn't make it a priority. I feel like this was on downfall of my classroom management. Don't get me wrong, there were rules and the kids were good for the most part, but I could've done better.
Sooooo... This year we're going to have a class motto as our 2 rules:
WORK HARD & BE NICE TO PEOPLE
easy. simple. catchy.
Hopefully this works better. I even ordered a poster :D I let you know how it goes.
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29 + 6 more= chaos

My perfectly spaced room has now gained six more desks. SIX. Six more students to add next year. Do I even have that many spaces in my grade book?? It is going to be crazy having 35 students. I'm not even sure how I'm going to incorporate the desks into my room, let alone 6 extra students. That's like a whole new row...they're going to be so far away :(

Okay. Everything will be fine. Just freaking out.

Check back soon to make sure I'm still alive.

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Pinterest A.K.A. Internet Crack

It started with a "Hey! Check out this new site," and it ended with me staring with bloodshot eyes at the computer screen until midnight. This website is like a drug for teachers, moms, athletes, fashionistas, and well...everyone else. Even my hubby is addicted to pinning.

I will say that I have gotten about 100 new ideas for next year already. It's amazing. It has everything. I'm not joking... there are resources for math, literature, science, classroom management, organization, social studies projects, classroom set ups, and lots of free stuff (and who doesn't love that?).

So, are you on the pinterest bandwagon yet?

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Summer Plans? What Summer Plans??

To the general public, a teacher's summer is filled with trips to the beach and vegging out on the couch. *le sigh* If they only knew what really happens behind the scenes.

So far this summer I have totally revamped how I will teach math this year, set up a reader's workshop for my class, wrote 60 mini lessons for writer's workshop, and went to a 2 day conference. After the conference I had to go add all of these new ideas to my previously completed lessons. yikes! All of this is in addition to the hours I've spent researching new ideas online *cough, pinterest, cough*

I still have to look up new ideas for historical novels seeing as my students didn't really like Island of the Blue Dolphins last year :( bummer. There are really a thousand things on my to do list except the summer is half over and I am running out of time!!

Here's to the new school year
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