Laying the foundation from the start

Laying a strong foundation for your classroom culture, whether you're a homeroom teacher, a specialist, or an interventionist, is a significant task.  No matter how long you've been teaching, you definitely map out those first few weeks of school to cover your expectations, procedures, and the ethos.  All your read alouds, morning meetings, and activities revolve around building this important foundation so that the school year can run more smoothly.

1. Simple guidelines with specific acceptable behaviors

For my students in grades 3-5, I begin with the foundational classroom culture statement: I want everyone to grow and succeed.  Which means we need to agree on certain expectations so that all learners have the opportunity to reach their goals.  This leads to the presentation of 4 simple guidelines: 

• Be respectful to the teachers, your classmates, and the school.
• Be responsible for your learning and your decisions.
• Use kind and polite words and actions.
• Make safe choices.

Character Traits List & Vocabulary Support

As we have entered the month of August, every teacher, whether she likes it or not, starts thinking about school.  Some of us have dreams (or nightmares).  Some of us go on a Pinterest spree.  We walk through Target and ask ourselves "What do I 'need' from the dollar section?"

You don't do this?  Okay, maybe it's just me.  Anyway, we are also thinking about what were some of our students' challenges last year, and how we will address them this year.  My third and fourth graders had difficulty with vocabulary and making inferences, which was evident in how they would describe their characters:

Nice

Mean

Sad

Oh my.

Stress and TpT sale :)

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely feeling the crunch, and school doesn't start until after Labor Day.  All the things that are floating in my head:  the new reading and writing curricula, how can I improve on my math strategies, how can organize and maintain my anecdotals...how many pennies until I fill my piggy bank so I go cash them at TD Bank.  All this stress!

Supply List

I know that most of you in teacherland have already set up your classrooms, have started off the school year, made your to-do lists...but I just couldn't help but to post this great supply list from Mimi.

It's Not All Flowers and Sausages: Ready, Set, SHOP: Back To School List Del Mundo via kwout

I just discovered her blog, and I really believe she is saying what most teachers are thinking but are afraid to say out loud.  I haven't read her book yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list now.

Setting up the classroom

Because of my new position this year as an academic intervention specialist, I did not have the opportunity to set up a classroom...and I missed doing it a lot.  I am hoping for the chance to go back to the classroom, and this blog is an opportunity to remember what I've done and what I might tweak in the future.

Ahh, the word wall.  According to the literature (for example, here and here), the word wall should be accessible to the students, and the white board is a perfect place because the words can then be magnetized (magnetic tape is one of my many best friends).