Daily Archives: April 10, 2012

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I have shared pictures of our classroom before, so I figure many of you know what our environment normally looks like.  But now that we’ve officially started our MAP testing, our “normal” is a little different now.  Well at least until the end of next week.

So here’s what our room looks like now:

Remember how we used to have science posters hanging there?

I know you remember the map that is under there.

No calendars allowed here.  Although I’m not entirely sure how that’d help you on these tests…

Ok, so obviously you can’t leave the decimal timeline out for everyone to use.  I get that.

We also had to cover up our little S.H.A.D.O.s that are taped to our tables.  Forgot to take a picture of that.  But you get the idea.  Imagine lots of 4 X 6 inch black rectangles.

It’s a little weird, but part of the process.  We started today and are totally rocking it already!  We are Motivated And Prepared to show what we know!

I’m Just Curious…

We used this as our “Quote Worthy” quote today.  I thought it was pretty straightforward and motivating, but it’s interesting what some kids said about it.

So I ask you–what do you think it means?  How would you apply it your life?  If you could please leave a comment to let us know what you’re thinking that would be great.  I’d love to add some other thoughts to our class conversations.  Thanks in advance!

It’s the Littlest Things…

…that make me the happiest! 🙂

You may remember when I shared my favorite links and when I told you about the new cleaner I found that we’re now using for our tables.  I have had a new inspiration for organization, and had to do another thing in the classroom that would help us save time and keep things clean and green.

So here’s a nice before and after:

Ok, so it’s a tub of colored pencils.  At least it’s a labeled box of colored pencils, but it’s also a big. fat. mess.  And not many of them are sharp.  Oh, and we can’t find a pencil sharpener in our classroom that will sharpen then!  I’m not kidding–we’ve tried every version of crank, hand-held and electric–none of ’em work! So unfortunately, when we want to use colored pencils, we spend a lot of extra time searching for 1) the color that we want, and 2) a sharp version of that color.

But not anymore:

Isn’t it BEAUTIFUL?!  I think I might be in love. 🙂  So sharp and organized and pretty.  I’m excited to see how it works for us.

And again, I can’t take credit for this idea.  My very smart (and very organized) friend next door Mrs. LeSeure has had a tub just like that in her room for years!  Guess it just took me longer to realize we needed one.  🙂