Creative Weekend Projects

This past weekend I got my creative on and put together three easy projects. Thank you Pinterest for some inspiration.

Homemade Dry-Erase Calendar
(Inspired by this and that.)

I think the calendar turned out quite nicely, nice bright colors. I feel happy when I look at it. Got the poster frame for $6.00 at Target (16x20). The paintchips are from Menards (about 2.5x2.5).  The black plastic frame comes in 4 pieces and slips onto the sides of the cardboard back.  The frame has a plastic front cover which is kind of flimsy. Build to last next time. Next time I will splurge and buy an actual picture frame with glass front cover. Cost: $6.00. Time: 1 hour.

Daily/Weekly Objectives Frames - dry-erase 
(Inspired by this and that.)

These frames add some much needed color to the chalkboard. It is very important for students to know the learning objectives in my class. These are my four main subjects since I teach ENL. I will write the weekly objectives on the frame with dry-erase marker or visa vi pen. Can be wiped clean and changed for each week. Frames are from Dollar Tree ($1.00/each). I downloaded some free fonts and printed the words on textured card stock that I already had. I used magnetic tape on the back so I could hang them on the magnetic chalkboard. You could also hang them with ribbon like one of the examples above. Cost: $5.00. Time: 2 hours (downloading fonts, designing, and printing).

Class Norms 
(Inspired by this and that.)

I like to use class norms over class rules. These are simple principles to live by and they cover pretty much any issue that may come up in a classroom. Frames are from Dollar Tree ($1.00/each). I downloaded some free fonts, picked out some clip art and printed on white card stock.
Cost: $4.00. Time: 2 hours (downloading fonts, designing, and printing).

I had a lot of fun putting these great projects together this weekend. Thank you to my wonderful husband for helping! I wonder what fun project I will work on next! :D

First Week!

What an amazing first week! The staff, parents, and students at Parkside are awesome! I am so glad I have the opportunity to be a part of this community. Monday night we had our Open House. We are estimating that over 85% of families came to meet teachers and tour the school. What a great turnout!

The rest of my week has been filled with lots and lots of paperwork. I learned that ENL is part of Title III under the No Child Left Behind Act. There are a lot of federal and state regulations I have to follow in order to be in compliance. I compiled my master list of students who will be receiving services under ENL. Now I am working on scheduling pull-out times with teachers. I am looking forward to when all this busy work is finished and I can start teaching! I have a lot of cool ideas to use in the classroom to help my students become fluent English speakers, listeners, readers, and writers. I can't wait!

First Staff Day

First staff day today at Lakeland School Corporation. Started off with a staff breakfast at the middle school. I was officially approved by the school board and then back to Parkside for our first staff meeting of the year. Got to work in my classroom a bit more and then Open House this evening. Whew, I am tired! Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring! :D

School starts Tuesday!

Summer is coming to a close and the beginning of fall is right around the corner. I love this time of year. The days are becoming shorter and I can feel a hint of coolness returning to the air during the nighttime hours. Most importantly, school is starting back up and that gets me excited! Not only am I excited about teaching this year, I am excited about being a student again. I am starting online classes at MSU this fall for my Educational Technology Certificate. Over the summer, I have been learning about a lot of interesting tech tools and am excited to incorporate some of them into my lessons this year.

Tech tools to try:

Jing - make screencast/podcast tutorials

Skype - video chat with authors

Another year means another chance to use all those ideas I have been wanting to try but never got the chance to.  I want to incorporate more Whole Brain Teaching methods, as well as SMART goal setting into my lessons. I love having students create learning goals for themselves. They take ownership of their own education and are motivated to succeed. SMART goals will offer more of a focus to our goal setting.

SMART =
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-Bound

Here is my SMART goal for this blog:

I want to add a post to this blog each week of the school year. It will include student objectives, methods and resources used, as well as what could be improved for next time. Is my goal a SMART goal?