Chapter 3 Teaching With Intention

OK OK - I'm late this week! I don't know what happened - well, yes I do- LIFE! I needed to take my 88 year old mother food shopping, visit the in-laws with my kids cause DD got home from study abroad and wanted to see them, and I HAD to go buy new adriondack chairs for the patio! They are very comfortable as I sit here and type! ;-) 

You will all forgive me won't you?!?!?

And the worst part is - I read the chapter early and LOVED IT!!! It is what I am thinking the most about this summer- ENVIRONMENT!!! I felt just like Katy did this year! I wanted to start all over with the arrangement and organization mid year! I tried here and there but it's busy and hard! And can be expensive! You know that right? I have 2 kids going to college this year!   

I  want to get better at this this year! I want to start with a clean slate in that room. It's a great room. I just need to make it mine. I have lived in it for a year and I think I know some more about it and that will help! 

• Meeting area - this is super important for us! It needs to be around the smart board. I need to move the computer to the other side of the room for this. Not a hard fix, but I think know it will make a difference. Why did I have to keep walking across the room to bring something up on the computer?? 
• Small Group Table - I have this! :) I have the write on circles. I have a alphabet strips on it. It's ready. That was pretty good this year. The teacher who retired from the room left a low bookcase that housed all the guided reading goodies. Well, most of them. ;-) This was fairly handy. This year I want to do more guided math, so it's going to need to house some more!  What I need to do is to come to the conclussion that I don't have the room like I did in my other classroom to display all the pretty apples, sayings and chotskies that I have gotten over the years. :( Well, I will need to find a new home for those. They bring a smile to my face when I think of the little ones that have given them to me over the years. I'm moving this to the back of the room, I think. That way I will look at the entire room ahead of me while I'm working with a small group. 
• Library - Yes, this needs some work too. I wasn't happy with where it was or how it was set up. Again - needed to live in this space. I also inheriated some more low shelves that I was using, but I need more(?) or better organization of it. I have my books all seperated and grouped! That is done! Now to make it accessiable to the kids and me! I love the idea of having the whole classroom be a library. I want to figure out where and how to put all the baskets of books so they look orderly and are easily assecciable to the students. 
• Student display place/Anchor chart display - more organized and better use of the bulletin boards this year. They are in some weird areas of the room and I need to think how it is best to use them. And what to do with that chalk board!!! I want to use it for the kids, I want to get rid of it, I want to cover it?!?!? Still thinking! 

This I am happy with! I divide the tables into 4 parts using colored duct tape. That helps show them where their space is. I have a can for each student. It was a baby formula can that I saved from my babies and covered in the same color as the tape. Inside it has their pencil, scissors, highlighter, expo marker and sliding pencil box ( yes, same color as the table!) that holds their crayons. I like this because they can take it with them if they move around the room to work. They also have a chair pocket - you guessed it! - in the same color as the table. That keeps their poetry folder, writing folder and their TIDE folder. The TIDE folder is their take home folder. Totally Important Daily Essentials. We are the Crimson Tide! I think I will add a white board in there this year also. I have kept those seperate before but think it would be ok to be in there. I have given out index card cases before that hold alphabet, number and sight word cards. They tend to get squished in the chair pocket. I think I might try pencil pouches this year. Think I can find them in 6 different colors?!?! :)  Although, I have toyed with the idea of getting rid of the tables, I'm thinking of moving them to the sides of the room for centers. We'll see how it goes.

The coat closets in the room definatley bother me. They are just the rolling cabinets with doors and hooks inside. They take up a lot of room but they need a place to put their coats. So what is a person to do!

I feel like I answered these together! SORRY!

My goal this year is to really go through things and purge what I don't want, need or like. You know we keep stuff just because. If I haven't used it - it's going. If it's old and outdated - it's going! If it's not complete - it's going. You all some stuff that isn't completed don't you? You just put it in the drawer to keep it cause you ARE going to finish it one day!

I really like Debbie's ideas in this chapter! I want to do the self eval with my teaching buddies. That should be fun! I hope what I value comes through. I hope there is evidence of what we are learning about . I hope they can figure out about the kids too. This is important. We get so caught up in the crazy school stuff, I agree with Katy - there are those voices in my head - Do this. Do that! Slow down and do what's right. I need to keep reminding myself to slow down and no sweat the small school stuff.

 I would LOVE for Anne Goudvis and Debbie Miller to come to my room/school  and help us with room arrangement! Wouldn't that be awesome?!?!?!  I really like the idea for an area to swap furniture  - especially in August when we go back to school and all start rearranging. I'm thinking of suggesting it at school this year. I know I have a piece or two that I would like to get rid of and I'm sure that someone else could use it or want it. I also like the idea of making a wish list for parents. Oh and how COOL would that be to get $125 from the principal to spend on the classroom!

Well, there are my thoughts. More questions than answers as usual! That's the best part though - so thought provoking! This is a great book!! I'm so happy to be part of this book club! Let's keep it going!