Spring Cleaning is...

FINISHED!!! Yay, yippee, hooray!!

I have a spotlessly clean classroom and - even better - I know where everything is!

And - and this is the best of all - I can SEE my desk!! Huge big smiley face!! :)

So since everything looks so awesome I am going to show you some pictures :) Bear in mind that my desk was inherited from someone else and is ancient. It also weighs a ton but I kind of like it anyway. I never sit at it so it's usually just a piling place but... no more!

This is the new and improved desk!!

The new and improved reading corner/carpet area/meeting time place:

Those pretty learning behavior posters on the white board are from Meg at Fourth Grade Studio - I love them. You can find them here - she has different styles available so just browse her store.

And just so you can totally appreciate how much STUFF I got rid of:

Piles of ancient files from equally
ancient metal file cabinet

Cabinet gone and all files
reduced to these 2 neat little
boxes that fit under my desk :)

And finally: the awesomely clean classroom ready for children on Tuesday :) I still have one window to finish but I am pretty pleased with myself :)

Mind you, I shouldn't have started to write this blog post while my husband was home for lunch because ... he is now wondering why our house doesn't look like the classroom :) Sadly (hee hee) I have run out of cleaning time. Well, maybe I'll tidy up a little bit tomorrow...

... or... maybe not :)

  

Clip up or clip down?

Class management is not my forte I'm sorry to say. :(

I have a very laid back attitude in the classroom and like it best when my class is inquiring and creative... but sometimes I find that this leads to controlled chaos in the room - well, let's be honest: sometimes it's less-than-controlled chaos :)

I have been feeling very blue and inadequate about this lately so in an effort to improve my management of 8 year olds I will be trying a new system next week. My co-teacher swears by this (it used to be used in her old school) so I am cautiously optimistic.

The chart looks like this:

I've seen it all over the internet so am guessing lots of people use it. The idea is you get the kids to "clip up" or "clip down" depending on behavior. (I think our charts have reversed the colors - we have red at the bottom) Every day the chart re-sets to green.

 I really only have a small core group (about 4 children) who will probably ever "clip down" but boy, they can liven up the whole class in 30 seconds flat. In fact, they are the reason for the change!! Apparently after a few times of clipping down, so everyone says, everyone stays on green or goes up. This would be wonderful!!

So...I have to think about what Teacher's Choice consequences there will be (I hope that no-one ever gets to the Parent Contact section. Highly unlikely - I have some rambunctious kids but they're good-hearted). Staying in at recess or lunch is not an option because my class love to do that - they ASK to do that!! Demerits don't work and having noise offenders leave the class to work in a quiet place doesn't work either (I've tried all of these). I need some new ideas! Help please?

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever tried this method and did it work?

Classroom Cleanup...

... is totally EXHAUSTING!!

I have now spent 2 (practically) entire days in school taking everything off shelves and out of cupboards, sorting through a mass of stuff that appears to have been there since the 1960s and generally getting tired, dusty and sore. I have used muscles I didn't even know I had!! I've staggered into the house each evening intent only on eating junk food and collapsing on the sofa :)

Yesterday I cleaned the shelves behind my desk - which hitherto have been shrouded in a sheet of black fabric so that no-one could see how disgraceful they were. Now, clean and streamlined-looking, they have been allowed out into public, looking very trim with Math center activities in little boxes (will label them later) and all resource books grouped by subject. No longer will I panic because I can't find the Language Assessment book or the binder that has the entire term's Project work master copies!!

Before

After

And here's my newly tidied Math shelf - see the little boxes of counting gems? :) And I have 2 empty shelves - will have to find something to put there :)

Today's project was to empty a 5-drawer filing cabinet (that has stuff in it from the teacher before me - years and years and YEARS of STUFF!) I am pretty sure that practically everything in it is obsolete but naturally I can't just assume that and toss the whole lot so... tomorrow I will be sitting surrounded by piles and piles of papers trying to decide what to keep and what to toss.

I haven't been able to find any 2-drawer legal-sized file cabinets on the island so tomorrow I will buy (assuming I can find them) 2 of those nice solid heavy plastic file containers as a temporary measure - and stuff them under a table once I've transferred the essential papers to them. Not ideal but it'll have to do :)

What else did I do? 

• I gutted the class library. We have a brilliant Primary Library and my kids hardly ever look at the books in the classroom so I kept a small selection for rainy days and packed the others up for the Spring Fair book stall.

• I got my husband to come and collect the tortoise habitat. I know this will not be a popular move on my part but it is going to take up too much room once we start building the Aztec civilization. (I may reassess the whole class pet situation next year anyway - it's a bit stressful always worrying about the tortoise!!)

• I cleared every bulletin board :)

• I shrouded all the windows (except one) with lengths of blue fabric and then rolled it up halfway (sort of like roman shades) so that we can actually use our Smartboard this term. (There's so much light at this time of the year that the mini-blinds just don't make the room dark enough to see the board.)

• I cleaned out the art supply cupboard - disturbed a lot of daddylonglegs and 2 cockroaches - this is another area that hasn't been touched in years!!

• I carried countless bags of rubbish down to the dumpster area - down three flights of steps and across the courtyard! At least 6 trips in total. A great workout - hence the reason I'm allowed to indulge myself with french fries tonight :)

Well! Having just re-read all this I feel extremely self-satisfied :) A very productive 2 days (although I should have taken pictures of it all!) Hopefully I'll finish everything tomorrow and then can relax on Thursday and Friday, secure in the knowledge that I will be ready for the kiddies next Tuesday :)

Bloggy Friends

I love my bloggy friends!

So true - especially in the bloggy world

Meg from FourthGradeStudio is suntanning on an island somewhere nice and warm and asked me to be her interviewee for a post tomorrow (Friday). It was fun to answer her questions even though I know I rambled quite a bit. However, if you want to know a bit more about me you could pop over to the Studio tomorrow :)

Meg does the most awesome work in her classroom so while you're there make sure you read her posts about Fractions! There are 16 of them and they are incredible!!

I also decided to have a "just because" sale - so everything is 20% at my TpT store from the 4th to the 6th April :)

(NB: TpT will be down for a couple of hours for planned maintenance at 1 a.m. ET on the 4th - so just be aware of that :) )

April in the Making

Heya - I found this fun linky while taking a break from TpT-ing :) It's called This Month in the Making and is sponsored by Mrs. Kelly's Klass.

I'm just going to cut and paste the rules right here so you all know what to do should you feel like joining in:)

So... my month in the making...

April Favorite:

Definitely that I'm on Spring break for the first two weeks of it. :) I love having the time to sit around in my pajamas, read interesting blog posts, watch my puppies snoozing on the sofas, watch oldie goldie movies - so much fun!! And I just LOVE the weather at this time of the year - sunny but cool and so spring-like!

    


April in my Classroom:

This term we begin our big unit on the Aztecs so the classroom has been stripped down to nothingness once again and we will begin building the Aztec civilization on the bulletin boards - and in fact all over the room. I tell my children constantly that the classroom displays are their responsibility - they have to produce or we'll have an empty, boring classroom. Without fail they rise to the challenge! I'm still not sure how we'll approach the topic this year - we may build a full-size Aztec house, an enormous temple, a miniature empire... the possibilities are endless :)

April Must Have:

I am totally stuck on this one! Honestly I can't think of any "must haves". I am pretty content with my life at the moment. Perhaps some "motivation" would be nice. Wish it could be sold in pill form so I could motivate myself to get out there and exercise!!

This'll work :)

April Make It:

Aha - now this is easier! I have just finished a Math unit yesterday and it is in my store! I am very pleased with myself. I still have huge plans to work on (and hopefully finish) several other partially completed units but at least I've done one. :)

Find it here

and it has a fun project in it that I blogged about on Money Matters way back in February.

I would also really like to make these as an Earth Day activity. Not sure if I can borrow the PTA ovens but I am going to check into it. These are just so pretty!!

They're melted crayons turned into
new crayons - recycling for Earth
Day :)

April Goal:

I am (and this is a DEFINITE) going into school to clean out the black hole (otherwise known as a resource cupboard) behind my desk. By the time school starts I should have a beautifully organized cupboard with neat little boxes of Math center activities etc. I need a place to store all my glittery Math gems plus endless center activities that right now are sprawling all over miscellaneous surfaces.

These need a home!

To keep myself accountable I will post about it when it's done :)

Head on over to Mrs. Kelly's Klass and read some of the other posts!

Can Fairy Tales be True?

Oh man, I wish we were at school today to do the Wonder of the Day from Wonderopolis!!

It's such a great title: Can Fairy Tales Be True?

and just look at the fabulous photo to get everyone's attention!!

I just adore doors in trees. I used to spend hours as a child looking for fairy houses and doors in trees. Specifically doors in trees after I read The Valley of Song by Elizabeth Goudge.

This book is out of print now and my copy, given to me by my mom when I was 10 years old for Christmas, is sadly battered but it is the NICEST story. A real "feel good" story. Elizabeth Goudge also wrote The Little White Horse which has been made into a (in my opinion) dreadful movie called The Secret of Moonacre. It's totally not what I read in the book! Such a shame!

Anyway this all sparked some fairy house hunting on Pinterest which then led me to one of my other favourite activities - dolls houses. I love dolls houses! There is something magical about a miniature world. I found these two fabulous houses made by a miniaturist in the UK - a copy of Brambly Hedge and a copy of Bag End, Bilbo Baggins house! They are incredibly brilliant - I've put the links here in case anyone else is as fascinated as I am by miniatures. I made a 4 foot tall doll house for my daughter once (which I loved doing - and really, it was my dolls house, not hers!) but it was nothing compared to these works of art!

Brambly Hedge House

Hobbit House

Awesome, aren't they? I was thinking it would be fun to have a dolls house or a mouse house or a fairy house in the classroom but I don't know if my class would actually like it.

Next term we start our big project on the Aztec civilization and they all want to make Aztec houses (last year we made a miniature 4 foot by 4 foot diorama of Tenochtitlan, complete with temple, houses, people, tiny pots, gardens and even weaving looms which was very successful - I must see if I can find photos of it at school!) Perhaps I could introduce them to the art of dolls houses in a different way :)

Anybody else out there like miniatures? Or have you used them in the classroom?

First Day of Spring Break

Well, it's not really the first day but it felt like it because it's a Monday and I was at home all day!

It was a beautiful day - sunny, cool, just perfect spring weather :) And I had a most productive time - slept in nice and late :), had a leisurely breakfast, fed the dogs, took hubby to the hospital for an MRI and sat reading a mystery novel while I waited for him, came home and had lunch and worked (yes, actually ceased procrastinating and worked!) on a TpT unit, played with the dogs for a bit, went Pinteresting and Facebooking and emailed my mom and aunt, had a bag of chips and fed the dogs again...

It was a GORGEOUS day!! Now I'm going to get into pjs and watch Thoroughly Modern Millie ( I  love Julie Andrews!! Has anyone seen this? It's an oldie for sure!! Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing as well!)

Can I just tell you all how much I LOVE holidays?

Tomorrow I'm going to add a walk to all of the above (except I'll skip the MRI and bag of chips :) ) And maybe choose another movie for the evening... Sound of Music perhaps :)...

...and I promised myself I'd go into school and start sorting through Math supplies but I think Wednesday will do for that :)

Ok, off to enjoy the flapper era. :)