Organizing for Instruction

Well it is day three of this week's linky party.  I am still working on my classroom so i will post pictures and give a tour of my room when I get it done.

So today's topic is organizing for instruction.  I am not sure what to say on this one.

How do I organize myself for instruction.

1.  I have 5 folders of different colors that I place needed materials, papers in for each day of the week.  I just have to grab that folder at the beginning of the day and they are usually in order of how I am going to use them.  I place the items in the folders on the Friday before.

2.  I make sure all my copies or materials are gathered on Friday the week before needed.

3.  My lesson plans have all objectives posted as well as I prepare my objectives to be placed on the wall for those who walk in and observe can see them.

4.  On Mondays, I explain to the students their centers.  I model to them the expectations for each center.  I remind the students of procedures as well as them state them to me.

5.  My instruction is based on student data that I have collected each month.  My lessons also show differentiated materials for those who need it.

Let's Talk about Me!!!!!

 I am so excited about the coming school year.  My school is going through many changes one of which is a new Pre-K teacher.  I am so excited about working with her this year.  Change is always good especially if it is for the good of the children.

I am excited as well to join this weeks linky partying from the ladies from Blog Hoppin  and from Primary Graffiti so check them out plus get to know other teachers and their blogs.

So let's talk about me then.
1.       I teach Pre-K in a Title One Urban school in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I have been at this school for 7 years now and I am beginning my 13th year of teaching. (So excited just as my first day and year)

2.      I will be working with a new team member to Pre-K.  It is her first year teaching in Pre-K.  We both have no more than 20 students and we have two amazing TAs (teacher assistance)

3.      I am a single mother of two teenage boys ( 17 and 15) who will be starting their Senior and Freshman years in high school.  I will try to keep my crying to a minimal this year too lol

4.      I love gardening.  I got my love of gardening from my grandmother.  I have many memories of her roses and tomatoes when I would go visit her.  I would spend many an hour outside smelling the roses and playing in those gardens. My cute chair planter is below.

5.      I have always had a dream to have a garden or outside classroom at my school but never knew how I would get it funded.  So about 4 years ago my BFF found me two guys who had a grant to fund gardens.  So guess what, I got a garden but not just one I wanted one for each teacher at my school.  So they helped our students build over 25 raised garden beds.  Yes the students built each bed, moved the dirt to fill them, and then each year they plant.

6.      My sister and I participate every year in the Alzheimer's Memory walk in honor of our grandma and grandpa and great Aunt.  This will be our 7th year walking for them and to end this terrible disease.

7.       I love music.  I can play the piano and the viola.  I received a music scholarship to go to college. I love listening to all kinds of music.  My sons and I attend concerts when we can.  Just two days ago we went to the Rascal Flatts concert.

8.     I LOVE FOOTBALL!!!!!  My oldest son plays (#76) and this will be his senior year to play.  I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan too.  I love all kinds of football.

9.   My favorite color is purple.  I wear it a lot.  I am not a pink girl but I do have some pink but I love purple.

10.    I love to read.  Every summer I read as much as I can.  I also read throughout the school year but not as many as I read in the summer.  I am currently reading about a true story called IN COLD BLOOD

Made it Monday

Made is Mondays .....yes I know it is Tuesday but going to do this one anyway lol.  My best friend is trying to connect with others and I am too.  One of the main reasons I started to blog was to document what I was doing in my classroom for my own personal use.  (A good way to prove what I am doing for my TLE too)  I wanted to think about what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong as well.  But I have been checking out other blogs and learning so much from all the awesome teachers out in blog land, so I thought I need to get connected to these blogs as well as people connecting and following me.

So today I am participating in the 4th grade frolics.Made It Monday linky party Last night I was thinking I really want to make a new behavior system for my Pre-K babies.  So I already had this one pinned and I started making it last night (I just need to laminate and assembly)

I am hoping my students will love staying above the green this year. 

 I made these mini sensory bottles or calming bottles. I hot glued the lids to keep little fingers from opening them and making a big mess.

This summer I did a lot of making bread.  I got a bread machine from last Christmas and had not used it yet.  So I got to thinking I need to try it out.  Well let's just say I am addicted to making bread.  I started using the different recipes in the book that came with my machine and then I started getting on Pinterest to look for recipes and BINGO!!!! tons.  This is one of them I found and pinned.  But this bread wasn't for the machine.  So I made it and lots more different ones.  My friends and family were getting hungry every time I shared a new picture of what I fixed.  I was thinking of making breads and selling them for extra cash.  Hmmm you never know.  SO I hope I didnt make you craving some bread and hope you have a great day.

Saturday Snapshots

Run! Miss Nelson's got the camera Is hosting a linky party as well as a give away.

I love using the camera to capture my boys as well as my students.  I use the camera in my classroom to document student progress as well as pictures of them through out the school year that I put together in a slide show for the parents on our promotion day.  Photography you can say is a hobby of mine.  My own boys sometimes run when I have the camera out trying to capture them in a snapshot.

 This picture represents my family walking in the Alzheimer's Memory walk for the last 5 years.  This August 24th will be our 6th year in participating and walking in memory of our family members who passed with the disease.

 My boys and I took a small road trip to the panhandle of Oklahoma.  We were on our way back from my sister's house and stopped by a few stops to check them off our list.  We are traveling to all the locations from a book I purchased about weird places in Oklahoma. So I told my sons we will be checking out these places and reading about them as we do. 

 Of Coarse at stop had to be Beaver, Oklahoma. (Our last name is Beavers).  But Beaver Dunes are known for UFO sitings.  Each time we visit a location from the book we take a picture with the book on that particular locations page.

 My youngest son just ran up this dune and back down. He wanted me to take a picture of him crawling in the sand like he was stranded in the desert LOL (picture isnt included)

 On the drive back we saw many things you don't see in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  The above picture is a working windmill in the middle of NO WHERE.

 These produce wind power.  There are tons of them in the panhandle.

 Then we have these mountains that just pop up here and there.

 My sons and I got to see several planes visit the Tulsa area.  This plane of coarse has a beaver for their logo and was originally a company  from Tulsa.

 This is a World War II B-52.  This is the second working B-52 that came to Oklahoma.  I got to see both and get to see the insides as well.  It was really cool to see a piece of history.

 Another thing that Beaver, Oklahoma is know for is this large beaver.  They host a cow chip throwing contest every year.  This is the largest beaver.  (For those of you who don't know what a cow chip is....well it is dried cow poop that can be used for fertilizer)

 This was a school in the middle of the No Man Land.  It burnt down.I can't remember what caused it.

So many of the snapshots I take mark things we have done, where we have been, and to just capture it in a picture forever.

10 Things I've Learned From Teaching (Linky Party)

10 Things I've Learned from Teaching {Linky Party}

 

Miss Kindergarten is hosting a Linky Party about the 10 things I've learned from teaching.  I have been teaching now for 13 years this fall, I've learned many things good and bad but here are my Top 10 things I have learned in the past 13 years.  And I will continue to learn every year about myself and my teaching.

1. www.donorschoose.org This site became my new best friend about 3 years ago.  I learned about it from a workshop I was attending and heard the key words FREE and they had my attention.  This site will walk you through step by step in creating a project of a need for your students.  Businesses, individuals, and cooperation donate to your project.  When it gets funded, your students receive the materials you were asking for for FREE, in return your students will need to write thank you notes and you will have to photograph your students using the materials.  I have received many projects funded to help my students.

2.  Data:  Last year our school was really focusing on student data as well as our school data to drive our instruction.  I have always documented their progress but never really "looked" at my data from assessments.  Each month I tracked their progress and BINGO!! The students and I both got to see their growth.  I got to see how excited they were to see how much they knew.  (Now keep in mind I teach Pre-K)  I was really excited to see who had the largest growth, who still needed work, and the best of all who was most improved.

3.  HUGS!!!!!! Yes I said hugs.  The greatest thing about working with Pre-K four year olds.......they love to give hugs to you every day, every hour, and to everyone else in your school.  You can be having the worst day in your life but that cute snot nose kid gives you the biggest hug and tells you, "I love you Ms. Beavers."  AHHHHH.  I love that and my day gets better.  They can sense your bad day a mile away.

4.  Race:  Four year olds don't see color or the hate that sometimes goes with a person's race.  They see the person.  Yes sometimes they see that I am white and they are black but they never judge each other but only love each other and yes hug each other and be the best friends.  I just wish the world would see each other through the eyes of a four year old.

5.  Organization:  Be organized!  Have all your materials ready and at hand or your students will eat you alive when there is dead time from you trying to find what u need.  Also being organize has many benefits.  You know where things are and so when you have a meeting or your principal asks you for a certain documentation you will know where it is out.  I am a little OCD about my paper works, data, and other things. 

6.  Field Trips:  At some point you will take a field trip, those can be fun or chaos.  My first year teaching I took my 20 head start kids with my co-teacher to the zoo by ourselves in May(when all the other schools go keep in mind lol).  Never will do that again.  I had a hard time keeping track of all of them and was afraid to lose someone.  So now I have parent volunteers meet us there and I break my students into groups of 2-4 students per parent.  This is so much easier and less stress on you. And always count your students many times during a trip.  Trust me on this one.

7. Have fun:  You students don't care how bad you sing, draw, or dance but they love seeing you do those things.  I have different hats I wear throughout the school year on different holidays or occasions.  I sing crazy silly songs every day.  I dance and I am a big girl and can't dance.  I add voices to my stories and use puppets.  Where in the world can I act like a kid and change a child's life but through teaching.  I love my job.

8. Let them see you are human.  Teachers make mistakes and let them know it is okay to make mistakes.  My favorite thing I say "If you can't make a mistake, you can't make any."  It lets the kids know teachers even make mistakes.  It is how we learn from them that matters.  I make lots of them and not afraid to let them know I did or that I don't know the answer but we will sure learn it.

9.  Professional Development:  Teaching is a job where you will always be learning.  Each year I take a look back at my year and look at what I need to do to improve myself as a teacher to help my students.  I attend lots of professional developments through out the school year and especially the summers.  I read books after books from books for fun to ones who teach me something new for my profession.  I love to read about other teachers.  My favorite is Ron Clark.  I just finished his third book The End of Molasses Classes in less than 3 days.  I do most of reading in the summer but I read all year long too.

10.  Take time for yourself.  This one is hard for me.  I am a single mother of two teenagers and bring my work home everyday with me.  I am always looking for new ideas, making something I need for a lesson, and much more.  In the past few years, I have had to learn to take time for myself and not to feel about about me doing so.  I always feel guilty that I am not doing my best as a mother or a teacher and I forget about myself.  So take a hot bath, go out with the girls (and don't talk about work lol), see a movie, take small road trips, whatever you decide take care of yourself so you can be at your BEST

Hot of the Presses...check it out really cool blog

The Teaching Tribune

I came across a interesting new blog that will be connecting with blogs from all over the world to give teaching advise etc. So check it out.  I sure did and looking forward to learning and connecting to others.

Favorite Pins Friday

 Here are some really cute ideas for bulletin boards to highlight your students' reading or meeting the teachers. Did you know? bulletin board

This board is super cute and the kids would love it.  iRead

The dress I want to wear at my 40th Birthday party. Little black dress

I will be doing Chicka Chicka Boom Boom the first week of school and this is a good idea I am going to try hand trees

Another idea I will be trying. chicka letter sort