New Kid on the Block

This was my first week in my new job. 

It was weird.

This school feels funny because it's the same building as my old school, even though they're across town from each other. Both buildings have been remodeled, in different ways, but the majority of the school is the exact same building. It feels like I'm still in my old school but all the rest of the staff has been replaced by pod people. Except that they're much nicer and more excited to try new things than pod people would be. I think. I don't really know very much about pod people.

I'm lucky that everyone was nice to me because I spent a lot of time walking in several different directions before actually figuring out which direction I wanted to go. And trying to figure out what my job was. It's so different to be out of the classroom. I hope I'm ready for that.

I'm not going to have little baby bops on Monday, the first day of school. Instead, I'll be supporting teachers. I will prepare materials for planning and model lessons. I'll plan trainings and assessments and analyze data. And no little faces will follow me into the classroom every day. And no little fingers will make pencils write on paper scritchy-stratchy. And no little people will give me special hugs like I'm so important.

Boohoo.

But I'll deal. Because no little naughties will give me dirty looks. And no little naughties will give me heart attacks on state assessments. And no little naughties will make me drown my sorrows at home in a box o'wine. But it's still sad.

Speaking of box o'wine... that's totally happening right now. It's been a busy week. I kind of lost track of days and just lived day to day because I am still learning what is expected and how to manage my time in this new position.

This week, I helped train for the district in writing. I'm also part of something called (oh gosh) a leadership team at my school. Yikes. On my campus, I provided training in balanced literacy with a focus on the shared reading component. I'll share those materials below in case you'd like them. (It went very well. It made me feel a little better in a new place. The teachers were so kind and receptive. An aside, bloggers and readers: if I wasn't a blogger and inundated by your constant great ideas, I don't think I would have had as much to share, so thank you thank you thank you for being inspiring.) I'd like to help teachers try new ways of doing things they already know how to do. I'm excited to share Reader's and Writer's Workshop with teachers at my new school (3-5. K-2 is doing Daily Five).

Tomorrow (I promise) I'm linking up with Lindsay at My Life as a Third Grade Teacher for her Must Haves for Reader's and Writer's Workshop. 

And today, you can grab my training materials for shared reading. I included a balanced literacy overview, schedule, and some shared reading planning documents. Hope they're helpful!

Clipart from KPM Doodles

Pin It

Stick a fork in me! My Classroom is Ready!

Cause I'm done! Well, you know. "Done". Not DONE, like I won't have to change it but "done" like good enough for now.   Except that as I wrote that sentence, I thought of two two things I still have to do. Oops.   I took a bazillion pictures. As a blog reader, classroom organization and layout one of my favorite things to read about, so I tried to be thorough.   

This is the view from the door to the far corner. The large "U" (which I'm not super crazy about, actually) is for teachers to meet and plan. I'm toying with separating the tables, but I don't have enough chairs for four separate tables anyway, so for now, it's a U. 

My sink, with my fridge (so excited to have one) and my cute little birthday balloons on top!

This is the corner where business gets done. Or will get done. It's making me crazy that the printer is off-center, but that's the only way the cable will reach the jack! I may have to purchase a longer one, because every time I look at it, I cringe. 

The boxes (also cringe-worthy) are full of materials for my filing cabinets, but the drawers don't have racks to hold files. This means my files are still in limbo. That's one of the things I remembered I have to do!

This shelf holds planning materials for teachers and me. The binders are for the three grade levels I'm mostly responsible for planning with (third, fourth, and fifth). I have the first nine weeks of curriculum printed, the state assessment released questions and tested items, planning documents, and some other miscellaneous planning materials. The tubs say "Teacher Materials" and they're full of materials for planning and making samples. Markers, post-its, etc.

More blank bulletin board space and the scanner for scanning benchmark assessments. Still not hooked up! I don't know what I'll do on the spaces. Maybe some assessment information, so teachers can see how their kids are doing? What does your literacy lead have?

Back wall of the room. I just noticed two things. That's a double-cringe. *cringe cringe* 

One is that my student made book basket (on the floor next to the brown shelf) is awfully messy. I think I just crammed them all in there! So I need to straighten them out a bit. Two is that I forgot my basket o'cords on the floor under the computer table. LOL! That's getting shoved in the closet on Monday!

My mini-library and part of the word wall. I used the word wall letters from my bee themed classroom set, and the library labels, too. I added a few of specific series books I had.

Zoom in.

My featured back-to-school books on top, and nonfiction baskets below.

Cozy.

This is my guided reading space. I'm going to borrow small groups of kids, and I'd like to model strategies and structure of guided reading here for teachers as well. I left a space to add a reading strategies chart once I start working with kids On the back wall are decoding tools and strategies.

Here's my teacher tools. On the bottom are word work games and activities and the top is organized for groups. I also have dry erase boards and supplies.

From the other side, my student space.

This space is for teachers to check out picture books for their classes. I placed my favorite read-alouds for the beginning of the year in the basket on top.

This shelf holds teacher resources. I organized them into resources for reading, writing, thinking maps, old school data, and lots of English Language Learner resources. On the bulletin board, I made some sample reader's workshop charts that teachers might want to use with their kids to start reader's workshop and independent reading.

Who's Responsible During Reader's Workshop chart

I-PICK to choose books

What is reading chart

Independent Reading Expectations

The whole teacher tools section

Cozy window!

On the opposite side from the picture books, I have chapter book sets that teachers can check out for shared reading. On the wall is a list of the titles I have available. I love my owl rug, but I'd kill for a bee! Haven't found one (cheap enough) yet!

More chapter book sets!

The front of the room. I really wish I'd done yellow paper instead of white, but I had planned on using a different border and it didn't work out. I kind of hate the little projector cart. I want to put a pretty fabric skirt on it, but I haven't done it yet. Obviously.

From the part of the room opposite the door. Teacher workspace.

Calendars and important upcoming dates for district and campus. I'd like people to know where I am when I'm not in my room in case they need something.

I'm pretty darn happy with it! Especially considering this is how it all began:

Ack!

Aaargh!

Waaaah!

So... what does your literacy leader/instructional specialist/ whatever they call my position at your school do or have? I'd love ideas on how to make my room more useful for teachers. 

I think that's my job now.

I'm linking up! I couldn't help but link up to every single classroom linky party because I love classrooms so very much. You should link up too, so I can see what your classroom looks like!

Pin It

Monday Made It: Birthday Balloons!

Finally, I've made something! And this one was oh-so-easy. 

These birthday balloons were on my summer bucket list! As soon as school let out, I purchased the cute little crazy straws because I knew I had to make these for my kiddos next year. And then, I became a literacy lead. Now I just have to find some kids to give them to! So I only made fourteen. Surely I can find fourteen kids with birthdays.

Want to grab them for free? Check them out at TPT and TeachersNotebook! And while you're there, check out my 15% sale at TPT (last day today) and 15% at TN too! I know! What a day!!

Pin It

It finally looks like a room.

Just a few quick pictures of things I got done today.  Ok, so thank you for all the suggestions on what to do about the border! In the end, I cut some snippets from each corner and covered them with these flowers from a notepad. Then I stuck all the pieces together to fill the gap. 

I put white paper and border around the top skinny bulletin board. I also added up our little signs: Bee a Writer, Our Library, and Bee a Reader!

 Still need to label my library. 

 Put up the paper and border across the top of the front boards. I wish I had done yellow instead of white. I had planned on using a different border and then I ran out! So I had to change it up but I was far too lazy to take all the white down and put up yellow. I'd rather have it bother me for the next ten months. The boxes aren't mine- they are waiting for a new teacher to come look through them and take them away :)

Brought in the fridge! Yay! I may cover it with contact paper - it's an older model. As in it's been in my mother's garage for twenty years.

I have a few things to do - print out my letters for the word wall, my word wall sign, my library basket labels, and lists of books available for teachers to check out. Some of these things are from my Bee Themed Classroom Set at TPT and Teacher's Notebook.  I'd also like to cover my AV cart, because it's pretty beat up. But right now, it's still loaded up with materials for the math room. I haven't been able to get over there because the custodians have been waxing the floors. Not too much left :) super happy.

Pin It

Second Full Day: More Progress!

It's starting to look like a room now. I spent several hours making crucial choices about which books to keep in my mini-library and which to box up and put in the garage in case I'm back in the classroom someday. (I seem to think that will happen.) When that was finally done (sorted, not labeled), I put up my bulletin boards. Some of them. I still have the skinny little strips on top, because I'm indecisive. I can put construction paper on them and then border around, but I'm also getting pretty tired of standing on a stepladder. So I may just do border around and pretend that the bulletin-board center was intentional. Then it was the hunt and peck method for several hours.  1. Wander over here.  2. Pick up a paperclip.  3. Try to remember where I'm keeping paperclips now.  4.Walk over to opposite part of room.  5. Place paperclip carefully in designated container. 6. Pick up rubber band.  7. Repeat. After that, I realized I needed a better system to organize junk in my closet. So I spent a few hours dumping, sorting, and re-shoving.  When I'd re-shoved as much as I can possibly fit in a closet also holding random GT materials that I pray I'll never have to use (sorry - I'm not super crazy about building bridges made of straws), I hunted and pecked a little more and straightened up. This meant I sorted through stacks of weird papers and dumped 98% into the recycle bin. Here's some pictures, because I know that's what I want to see on your blogs! Remember, I'm a literacy lead this year (ack!) so my setup is a little different!

Guided Reading area (my favorite). I'll be able to work with small groups of RtI kids and 

model for teachers, too.

Mini classroom library. The word wall will be on the right board and I'm not sure what will

be on the left board.

Checkout for novels against the wall and professional development books across the bottom shelves.

Checkout for picture books! And a side view of the guided reading space.

From the yellow bulletin board that has missing border across the top. *waaaah*

Front of the room. Obviously, the coatrack and cart full of math materials will not be 

randomly hanging out in the middle of the space.

That's the wall opposite the door. Do you notice something about the border around the top? Well, I was humming right along, staple-staple-stapling a happy little bee border around the edges of the board (because I have no idea what is supposed to go on here) and I got down to one last chunk. I reached down for another piece of border. There was none.

I RAN OUT! 

I have about eight inches left to fill and no border! What do I do?!

Cause buying a whole pack for eight inches, with the amount I already spent on fabric, is not an option. Unfortunately.

My sink. Supplies for teacher meetings will go in the green tubs (four tubs=four tables for teachers to sit at) and on the little yellow-covered table to the right will be a printer. 

PLUS! This year I get a fridge! YEAH!! YEAH!! Yogurt for breakfast!! Diet Dr. Pepper in the afternoon! YEAH!!

I'm very excited about this. My friend recommended this book to me: Becoming a Literacy Leader and I ordered it yesterday from Amazon - only 7.50 for a used copy- and it's supposed to arrive on Monday! She said it's full of good ideas to use space in a literacy leader's classroom (when you actually have a classroom! I thought I'd have a closet, but I'm lucky). So I can't wait to get it and read what neat stuff I need to do.

Check it out at Amazon. Now I'm going to sit around and nurse my sciatic nerve. Pin It