Frighteningly Fabulous First Day of School!

Who is excited for the first day of school???  I can totally imagine myself raising my hand and jumping up and down excitedly yelling "ME, ME, ME!!!  While I can't wait for the first day to start (in just 10 more days) I am definitely still nervous about it at the same time, but this year I am the most prepared I have ever been for the start of nervous Freshmen to come through my door.  I have been lucky enough to have a little sister that is involved in Summer band as a result I have been able to spend ample amount of time in my classroom getting things ready to go for day one.  It is often very hard to find neat ideas for a secondary level classroom, but I am quite excited for some of the things that I have implemented in my room.  Here is a peek at what it looks like.......

 When you enter my room directly beyond the door is my bulletin board.  I have found that the best thing to

cover it is to use wrapping paper!

Above it is a set of figurative language posters that I purchased on teachers pay teachers.  They are amazing!  On the bulletin board I will post extra-curricular activity schedules and any information that is necessary for my students to know.  My turn in trays are located on the book case along with my tutorial sign in sheet.  I have these on the way out the door so that they can be used as students are leaving, but it is also close to my desk so that I can keep an eye on it.

As you continue traveling into my room and down the wall you will come to 

the dead word wall.I had a student last year draw the tombstones and they turned out wonderfully!  The concept is that they are words the students are not allowed to use while they are writing.  If they do they must correct it, or re-write the entire essay.

Following that is my what/why/words to know board.

I found magnetic boarders this summer and I can say I am absolutely in love with them!  Below this is my student supply center where I have pencils, paper, sharpeners, a stapler, highlighters, a hole punch, Clorox wipes, and Kleenex for my students when they need them.  I tell my students that I will provide them with supplies at the beginning of each 9 weeks, and it is their job to return them.

The next thing will be new this year and is a quotes wall.  I saw this on Pinterest and loved the idea.  I have written a quote from one of my favorite books To Kill A Mockingbird. 

In the corner is my podium and the lanterns I found at FiveBelow a store in our area.  I then have my rolling cart where my laptop will be placed along with my ELMO.  

The next thing is by far one of my favorite areas, but I mainly just love that I have put it to good use.

I originally had the dark brown paper sorter, but one of my fellow teachers left this year to become a counselor and gave me the bottom paper sorter.  Each column of both organizers is for each of my preps, and I have made all of my extra copies for my classes for the next 8 weeks.  (I had a lot of time on my hands waiting on my sister to get out of band rehearsal)

This year I am going to try and do a better job of keeping up with absent work by keeping them in a hanging pocket file folder for each class.  I am not sure if it will work so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

I also have a horseshoe table in my room that will be my co-teacher's domain.  Next to this is my teacher desk area.  

Behind my desk is an other bulletin board where I keep student pictures and things that I have been given.  The bookshelf at the back is where I keep all of my important books and organization binders.  I then have a fridge and microwave right next to my computer desk that looks out on my classroom door.

I am excited for the first day!  I have my name placards ready to go, along with postcards that I will have each of my students address on the first day.  My rules and procedures are copied for each kid to have and I can't wait for the first day.  I know I will be a ball of jitters the night before, but I am excited that this will be the best year yet!!!

The dreaded "Can I go to the bathroom?" solution

How many of you dread each class waiting for that first kid to ultimately ask to go to the bathroom and then start the rest of the class asking?  This is definitely one of the major issues you face in any classroom, but I always hate letting students go because most of the time they take forever to return and then they miss important instruction.  My first year teaching was a disaster when it came to the bathroom as I did not keep track of when a student would go, how many times they were going, ect.  I would end up with students that would always go during my class and I would let them go whenever.  Last year I did a full sheet of passes for the entire year and each student was given a pass for each 3 week period.  If students did not use the pass they were given 5 points on a test during that 3 week period.  In theory this was a wonderful idea, not so much in practice.  As an English teacher it is extremely hard to always be on top of grading and the passes became such a burden that by December I was done!  Some of the problems I had was: 1) getting the correct points on the right test, 2) many times a test/quiz did not line up with the pass due dates, 3) and getting it back to them on time for them to use the next pass.  It just did not work for me, but one of the things I did implement that I plan to keep is that students could not ask to go while I was up instructing the class.  This was one of the best things and it solved the problem of missed instruction time.  This year I have devised a new pass system that will be a lot less upkeep for me, but still keep the students accountable.

 This will be what my new pass is going to look like, but I plan to run it on colored paper and laminate it.  When I print it I will have 10 on a page so it is going to be business card size.  I will write each student's name on the card in permanent maker and when they want to go to the bathroom (at the appropriate time) I will just hole punch the appropriate number.  Each student will have 8 chances to go during a semester, but they are going to be responsible to keep up with the pass and bring it to class each day.  At the end of the semester I will have them turn in their passes and if the student has 6 or more left I will give them 10 points on their semester exam.  

Every teacher wants this to happen...

but we all know that this is never the case.  If you would like to use this pass head over to my TPT store and you can purchase it for 1.00.  Bath Room Passes
If you have any other suggestions or ideas for battling the pesky bathroom business please let me know in the comments below!

~Whitney

First Things First!

As the summer is winding down and school is about to kick back into gear my classroom got a re-boot over the summer and I was able to makeover my classroom with a pretty clean slate!  When I first walked into my classroom 3 years ago the smell was something that was akin to walking into the Freshmen boys locker room.  I had blue carpet that was new when the building was constructed about 30 years before, and finally after millions of maintenance requests and one major air conditioning leak, I received tile flooring this summer and can I say it has never smelled better in my classroom!  Since the carpet came out and my walls were painted this summer it is almost like an entirely new classroom and that means a lot of work to get the room ready!  So on to the first thing on my list:  getting my classroom ready for students!

Here are some before pictures of my room during the removal process.

You can see the lovely carpet in this photo and the non-attached a/v cord.

 The above board was one of the old style white boards that is not really a white board.  I have always kept it covered with paper because the stickers the previous teacher had put on the board were ripped and did not do anything to help my classroom.

You can see the extremely nasty dry water stain!

Pano view of the whole room about to be torn the rest of the way apart!

The next sets of pictures that I am posting will be of my classroom after the tile has been placed in the room and the Janitorial staff has put things back into my classroom.

This picture shows the tile!  (and yes there is white tile and creme tile) :-(

The blank space is where the yucky board was.

Lots of things to be put away and fixed

This will be my personal space

So now I am in the process of putting everything back together!  This is still an ongoing process, but I did find magnetic boarders for my whiteboard and I am going to upload a picture of what I did with them before I walk you back through my entirely new classroom next week!

Magnetic Boarders

Have a wonderful weekend but first let me know if you are like me and need to have your classroom ready before you even think about teaching.

~Whitney