A New Direction

I have finally figured out what I want to accomplish with this blog! I realize that as a special ed. teacher, I should be really good at implementing goals. I can write and make a plan for my students, but for me, I struggle! I have decided that I need to share more of my experience with teaching students that have emotional and behavior disorders. I can find very helpful blogs that deal with elementary students, students with autism, students with cognitive disabilities, but not so much with behavior disorders. My students typically work about 1/2 to 1 year below grade level, in reading and/or math. Some of my students have been 3 years above grade level! My students just need extra social skills training and coping skills training.

I run my classroom like a typical 3rd and 4th grade classroom, for the most part. I teach to the common core standards, we use grade level texts (when appropriate and when we have access), and I use centers along with direct instruction. The school that I teach at is kindergarten through 12th grade and all students are on an IEP for an emotional and/or behavior disorder. We have some students that are diagnosed with autism, attention deficit disorders, post traumatic stress disorders, oppositional defiant disorders, traumatic brain injury, and hyperactivity. The difference in my class (and school) from the typical room is that we are a separate facility and self-contained classrooms. I teach everything to my students, except for physical education. We have a wonderful p.e. teacher that comes in twice a week. Also, my students are referred and have to go through a process to get placed into my room. I work to get the student back to their home school. In the school, we are the last resort for the students before incarceration or residential placement. So for the most part, I have the students that have the most trouble sitting still and following directions. I have been cussed out, called all sorts of names, spit on, kicked, hit, bit, threatened, had items thrown at me (desks, chair, stress items)and thrown-up on! Even with all of that, I love it. I see the potential in my students and keep trying. Some days are harder than others to see the potential, but I have kept going back! This will be my 19th year teaching at my school, and I can't wait to get back!

So, with my new focus for my blog, I'm hoping to blog about my room and how it's going throughout the school year. If there is anything you are wondering about, please ask me. I don't always have all the answers, but I can try!

New Year, new goals!

Last year I decided not to make the usual New Year resolutions. I made a 2015 bucket list. I included things that I wanted to see, create, and places to visit. I'm glad to say that of my list of 12 items, I crossed off 9! I organize my home office, left school at most days at 4:00 (setting my alarm on my phone helped with that), having my lesson plans completed by Thursday the week before, visiting family, and started a herb garden. I got the idea with seeing people create bucket lists for summer with their kids and thought it would be fun to try to do in a year. Some things will go back on 2016's list- like losing weight, creating something once a month by knitting, re-purposing, refinishing, paper-crafting, or on the computer. So here is my bucket list for 2016:

 1.  Visit my hometown's botanical garden. I haven't been there in over 15 years and live only 5 minutes away!

2. Lose weight. I want to lose one pound a week. I have motivation as my son is getting married in 2017!

3. Create and complete a project a month! I have supplies to make sensory items, scrapbook pages, and a camera that needs to get out of its bag!

4. Leave work at 4:00. I need to set my alarm everyday at work- it forces me to work smarter and not get distracted!

5. Save $10 a week for next year's Christmas.

6. Blog twice a month.

7. Organize my kitchen cabinets- I swear there are items I haven't found since we moved in 2 years ago!

8. Travel to New York City to see my youngest son.

9. Go to an auction this summer- I love the action and looking at all the items for sale.

10. Journal.

11. Take time for myself- I focus so much on everyone else and especially school that I neglect taking care of my emotional and physical well-being.

12. Try at least 4 new things in the new year. It may be a type of food, a craft (we have several wine and paint classes and a local garden shop has several classes over the winter), game, or place to visit.

What are your plans for the New Year?

New design, new motivation!

I'm loving my new blog design by L. Paull Designs. Lindsey did an awesome job with it, don't you agree? I love the colors and the little schoolhouse, too. I once lived in an old  one room schoolhouse that my grandfather had attended. My father also had been born in the house (after it was converted to a house. I'm hoping that this new design will give me the motivation to blog on a regular basis. I have some ideas for topics in the coming weeks. I have been going on full steam with my class this year. In one week, I gained 3 new students! I now have a total of 10 students- all with severe behavior and emotional disorders and 4 of them are girls! I have never had that many girls in my classroom before!

Have a wonderful week and stay tuned for more posts!

What? They Never Taught Me How to Work With a Para in College!

In all of my special ed. studies in college (Go, Falcons!) I was never taught how to work with a paraprofessional. Crazy,, right? Of course, for the first few years of my teaching career, I taught students with learning disabilities and didn't have any paras in my classrooms. When I started teaching at my current position (17 years ago, yikes!), I gained my first para, Mrs. B. Mrs. B. quickly became my teammate, mentor, and friend. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started teaching students with emotional and behavior disorders! Through the years, I have had other paras, good and bad in my room. Some have talked during quiet work times, read the newspapers that I brought in for student work, and sat on their phones!! When the paras are older than you, it is hard to correct their behavior, besides you have to deal with students and paperwork! So here are some ideas that I have learned through the years.

1. Decide what your para is to do during the day. If he/she is a one-on -one aide, are they to meet the student as he/she comes in the school, or can should the para sit next to that student or in general quick access to the student? If the para is for the whole classroom, what will their responsibilities be? In my room, my classroom para is in charge of making sure students that ordered breakfast get breakfast- we eat in the room, take orders for lunch, take attendance, and give all paperwork (breakfast, lunch orders, and list of names that are not riding the bus). All of our students ride the bus- we do not allow students to walk to school, due to behaviors. Most of my one-on-one paras have been able to greet their student in the room and have not had to sit next to the student, unless that student really needs them.

2. Make a list of tasks and responsibilities for each para and write it down. I type up everyone's tasks so that everyone is clear about who does what. This helps when there are more than 2 or 3 paras in the room. One year, I had 5 paras! It was a nightmare- too many cooks in the kitchen! Of course, on everyone's list is that they all could cover for each other- some of our most neediest kids will burn you out if you always have to handle their crisis-es!

3. At the beginning of the school year, sit everyone down and go over all the lists of responsibilities. I also go over the rules of my classroom- no phones, be observant of working times, side conversations with each other, how we talk to our students and each other, break times, and my discipline policy.

4. Make a plan to meet up each day either before or after school for a quick 5 to 10 minutes to go over what went well and what could be improved in the classroom. Several times, my paras were able to point out or give me great ideas to improve my classroom management, flow, or things that needed to be changed- like our recess time wasn't working, because another class was in the gym or outside. At first, I meet with my paras everyday, but then as we get into the groove we meet together at least twice a week. We still talk with each other everyday before and after school, but it's more informal. When there has been a crisis or meltdown that day, we go over what happened, how we reacted, what could we have done differently, did we act quick enough, and how it was resolved.

5. Also make sure that all of your paras are getting a break for lunch and make sure you also get a break! Some years I thought that I had to be with the students every minute of the day to keep the behaviors under control, but I made myself CRAZY! Everyone needs some time away, even if it's just 5 to 10 minutes, due to behaviors that are happening in the room.

6. Listen to your paras. Remember, you are a team working together for the students. If a para isn't comfortable in leading a small group in science or math, find something else they can do during that time. I have my paras work with students during centers and give each para a lesson plan so they know what exactly to work on. I have had paras that just couldn't help the students with math (when I taught high school ED) so they sat back and worked one on one with a student that was working way below grade level or sat at my teaching table with me to help keep kids on task. Sometimes my paras have told me that they didn't feel very effective with a certain student and we talked about what could be done and brainstormed ideas together. I have even asked for advice about lessons and what my paras thought of the ideas.

7. If you are having trouble with a para, and you have met with them, talked with them about the problem, and nothing seems to be helping, get your principal involved. Have everything documented- yes, it's one more thing, but important. Talk to your principal or director or supervisor about the problem. One year, I had a para that kept falling asleep in class, came in 15 to 20 minutes late everyday, yelled at the students, and just wasn't working well in my room. Nothing helped. I met with him, went over the school and my classroom rules and procedures- he would tell me that he would do better and the next day it would be the same. I talked it over with my supervisor and she came to observe "the room" and saw some of the problems and then she talked with him and it was decided that he needed to take a leave of absence and then be placed in a different position.

Wow! I didn't realize how much I had to share about working with paras! I hope that I helped. How do you deal with paras in your classroom? Do you have any other ideas? Let's share!

Who's Watching? A new way to connect on Periscope

How many of you have joined the Periscope revolution? I just happened to find out about it last week when Angie and Ashley periscoped from Vegas last week. I have been watching others jump aboard and it looked like it was something I could try. So I did my first scope today. It wasn't too bad, there is definitely a learning curve! At least now I know how to flip the camera on me!! If you want to replay my broadcast, just search for me Teaching Special Kids, I'm also on twitter as teachnspeckids. My old twitter name was catherder79, because sometimes it feels like I'm herding cats! I'm trying to change my display name on periscope to teaching special kids, but can't as of this moment. Anyways, we all need to connect with each other and collaborate for the better of our profession and for our students! Just do it!!

Communication

Sometimes my students don't like to talk. I have one student that when he is upset, frustrated, anxious, or angry he completely shuts down. He doesn't say a word and just looks at me. I have tried asking him questions, but I think this makes him more anxious and he can't get his words out. I've had some success in asking him yes or no questions that he can nod or shake his head no, but this can be exhausting and frustrating for the both of us. When he is in a good mood, he is able to talk and let us know if he needs something, so it's not like he can't talk at all. I decided last weekend to make a communication type board/folder for him when he is in his shut down mode. We practiced using it while he was in a talking mood, just so like fire drills- it's important to practice what to do when in crisis while we are calm. I had to change a few things- some of the emotions/moods/feelings he didn't think were necessary, like happy or calm, and I had to add hungry and annoyed. He and I came up with the coping skills together also. I also explained that if he was unsafe, he may have to wait to use some of the coping strategies until he was safe. My goal is to use this folder before we get to that, though. I like to catch them before they start hurting themselves, others, or me- but sometimes it happens (more to me than anyone else).

I laminated the questions and answers and then hot glued them on the folder. I only have access to a personal laminator, but maybe I'll go to Office Max over the next week to laminate a full folder for added durability, especially since he ripped off the questions the other day.

In case you can't see, the questions are on a flap that open up to show the possible answers. All my student has to do is point at his answer. It has worked 5 out of 8 times, so I do think it's worth keeping with him. I just have to make it stronger!

My Daily Schedule, take 2

This time I'm linking up with a fun monthly linky party with Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd for
                                
My daily schedule is quite different from the norm. I teach in a separate facility for students with severe emotional and behavior disorders. Every classroom has a behavior specialist that comes in the room to teach social, coping, and life skills to the students. In my 3rd and 4th grade room, the behavior specialist comes in twice a day for one hour each time (yes, a total of 2 hours per day!). It is the most difficult time of my day! My students don't like to talk about their choices, feelings, or habits, and they REALLY have a hard time sitting through an hour long lesson! I've tried explaining this to the specialist, which I would think would realize this, but they are still expected to sit and listen. Next year, it is changing to just one 30  to 45 minute session- I'm so excited that I get to teach more! Anyways, I'll stop venting and get on with my schedule.

As you can see, this year I don't have a lot of instructional time and with those pesky new assessments- it is making it difficult for my students to pass them. I know that I give them 2 free times, but with their behaviors they need sensory breaks to keep them motivated. I also use my science and social studies time to teach reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. In my math, because I have students ranging in skills from a first grade level to a fifth grade level, I start out with whole group, then meet with smaller groups while the other students are completing individual work and/or centers. My students also come from 9 various home schools and ride the bus anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to get to school or back home. 

I have enjoyed seeing other bloggers schedules for their classrooms and how they manage various groups and students. Hopefully, someone can also look at my schedule and gain some insight for their classroom!

I guess I need to get back blogging more, since I totally messed up my post the first time!

Monday Made Its, on a Tuesday!

This summer has flown by! I will be starting back to work next Tuesday, August 5th for meetings! I'm not sure when I'll get into my room, but I know I have 2 weeks at least of meetings before I step back into my classroom! I finally found time to complete some home projects that I wanted to for Monday Made It. I've gotten so many great ideas from Tara's 4th grade frolics linky, my pinterest boards run over!

 My first made it was inspired from a pinterest pin that I saved a while back. When we moved into our new house, I couldn't decide what to do with my bathroom- it's pink! I still haven't decided, but the pink tiles and floral wallpaper are growing on me! I knew that I wanted to display some of my old photos of my parents, grandparents, and my sister and I, but didn't like the look of a gallery wall in my bath. So I found an old picture frame, painted it, strung twine on it and then I could clothespin photos on the twine. I decided to copy the photos and then laminated them so that they wouldn't curl from the steamy environment.

 I think it turned out really good. I love that I can change up the photos, too!

My second made it is tie backs for our bedroom curtains, also inspired by pinterest. I was getting tired of trying to pull back the curtains in the morning and then closing them at night (for some reason they seem to stick to the curtain rod when I wanted to move them). Plus during the day, they would blow around and close by themselves!

I used twine and painted wooden heart shapes a color that would contrast with the walls. I hot glued the hearts on the twine. I then put the twine on little metal hoops and put a cup hook on the wall to hold the curtains back.













I hope that next week I can get some things done for my classroom, I've pinned some more great ideas!

Introducing myself, a special educator from Ohio!

I'm joining up with Tales of a Carolina Girl for the Get to Know a Special Education Teacher. I love reading how others set up their classrooms and deal with various situations, makes me think I'm not so alone in this!

I currently teach 3rd and 4th grade students with emotional and behavior disorders in a self-contained, separate facility. My goal is to get them back to their home school! My school has 6 teachers that serve students from kindergarten to grade 12 from all over Wood County and some of the surrounding area schools. We are unique in that we are located in a children's mental health agency and have therapists and behavior specialists coming into our room for different students and therapy groups. 

My advice is to always have a back up plan. So many times, my lessons don't work because of a melt down, interruption, lack of time, or simply the blank stares from my students so I have learned to switch it up and try a different tactic. Sometimes I give them a brain break or if I'm trying to use partner groupings, I might have them work alone to prevent those meltdowns! I've even told my class that I can tell the lesson isn't working and that I'll change it up overnight and try again tomorrow. I feel it's important for them to see that I make mistakes and that I can handle it without throwing a tantrum!

I also teach every procedure in my classroom. I start on day 1 with the classroom rules. Last year I implemented the Whole Brain rules and my students loved them. We talk about why the rules and procedures are important, how it will look and sound like, we role play the procedures for time outs, entering the room, safety drills (fire, tornado, and intruder), needing help, etc. We go over these everyday for about the first 2 weeks and then review them once or twice a week after that. I especially go over how to walk in the hallways to lunch and the rules of the lunchroom before going to lunch!

I hope that this little post helps someone, I know that I've come across a lot of good advice and new special ed. bloggers with this link up!

Meet Me!

I decided to pack more boxes for our move link up with The Teaching Tribune for their meet me linky party.

I'm so glad I have my priorities set, right?! Anyone can link up and everyday of the week there is a new linky! Fun in the sun!

It's so nice to read about other bloggers and find out a bit more about those that I follow and find new blogs to follow! Have fun! 

I'm having a great day!

Once again, I need to apologize for my lack of posts this past year. I have had many changes take place during the school year and just never took the time to post or even knew what to write about! My mom passed away after fighting with cancer for the past 9 1/2 years- she had stage 4 lung cancer which spread to her spine, brain, throat, and bones. While I still miss talking to her everyday, I realize she is in a much better place without pain and worry. I am grateful that I was able to spend the last week of her life with her at the hospice facility. On a funnier note, the first night she asked if I would spend the night with her- I said yes, but asked if I could borrow her nightgown- she said no! She kept asking the doctor when she would be able to get to go play dominoes with her friends at the local tea shop, too! She gave me so much courage and the ability to have a positive outlook on life.


Anyways, my school is done, as of last Thursday. Everything went smoothly this year. My student that always wanted to go home after 30-45 minutes, ended up kind of liking school (he still kept telling me that he couldn't come everyday to school). One day his mom was picking him up from school a little early and was amazed at how many teachers and staff he went up to and told them "I'm having a great day!" This was something that occurred at least 3 times a day, whenever he saw anyone! She was so happy that all the staff genuinely greeted and said good bye to her son with such caring attitudes. She mentioned that she never thought he would be a popular kid at school. It still makes me tear up to think of how much that meant to her. My goal for next year is to have each student in my room feel that special and good about themselves. I mentioned to my principal that we should greet every student in the building (there's approximately 60) with a high five or fist bump.




The last big change in my life is that I'm moving to my parents' house, where I grew up! It will mean a longer commute for me to school, but the benefits are worth it! I will be living in a bigger house and in the country! No more barking dogs or sirens during the night to keep me awake! My husband and I have been working on the house for the past 3 months, getting things cleaned up, repainted, repaired/updated. I still will have a pink tile bathroom, but I can deal with it! I will have an office for all my teaching items- it was my dad's old workshop in the basement, but it has three walls full of built in shelves! After 4 carloads of boxes I'm amazed at how much I have for teaching! I have declared that I can not go into or look at any catalogs for teaching supplies, decorations, books, etc. for at least a year- unless I get rid of something!

A long overdue posting

Wow, I just realized that it has been way too long since I last posted. I'm not sure where the days weeks went, but I'm back in school. This year I'm teaching 3rd and 4th grade students with emotional and behavior disorders and they are keeping me on my toes! They really are so sweet. One of my students keeps insisting that he doesn't belong there and that mom will be picking him up to go home (this is after 45 minutes of school). Luckily, he has a one on one aide and she is wonderful with him. We have him use a visual schedule with modified work and a sensory break after each task. After the 5 minute break if he is ready to work within 2 prompts, he gets a star. After 3 stars, he has a reward time. He loves bubbles, Thomas the Tank engine coloring book, and an old Sponge Bob game. So far it's working. He really had a horrible school experience the last 3 years, so we have to break down his work in order for him to feel successful and start liking school. My other students are so tolerant of him too, I think they realize that he needs extra supports.

I've also tried Whole Brain Teaching in my room this year and love, love, love it! I wish I would have tried it sooner. My students really know the rules and hand motions, they love the scoreboard with the mighty groan and the Oh, yeahs! One of my little 3rd graders recites the rule, "Keep your dear teacher happy" after anyone says teacher! We even started the "teach, okay" in class. Several students told me that school is going to be fun this year (and they're learning without realizing it)!

I also have all new staff in my room and adore them! They are all positive and hard working. No one is sitting for very long, unless they are reading or helping a student with their academic work. It's so nice to work with positive and caring people. It makes my day go better and I love going to work to see my students and now also my paras!

Hopefully, I will be able to blog more as I get settled back into the school routine. So far, I've only had to teach for 3 days this past week, so I'm already behind on lesson planning. I always like to plan science and social studies on Wednesday nights, reading and language arts on Thursdays, and math on Fridays, but that didn't happen this week. I do have my social studies, science, and part of math done - it was done while my car was having the tires rotated and an oil change. I hope everyone has a great week!

Monday Made its!

I finally was able to get some things done to link up with Tara and her Monday Made It!


Monday Made It

 Let me tell you, my printer and laminator were getting a work out! I didn't make anything for my home, I hope to find something that I can make for another time. Anyways, here's what I've made so far.

Here is a closer look at all of my creations with credit to those creative people whose generosity is greatly appreciated!

 Calm Tool Kit- From the Tpt store of Lynn Hubbell Each card has a strategy that a student can look at and use when having a hard time dealing with something. I might put this in my calm down box or have on a hook on the wall in my alcove (where students go to cool down) in order to help the student use the strategies.

These are cards for students that need a visual cue to be quiet, use nice hands, stop, etc. I have several kids in my room that will benefit from this. These will definitely be on my lanyard so that I can show the student exactly what behavior I need them to show me. I bought them from Sasha Hallagan

I got all of the words from Mrs. Wheeler's First Graders for the centers on antonyms, synonyms, contractions, and compound words. I printed them out and went to the Dollar Tree to find the cute cutouts to use the words with!

This year, especially since I'm teaching 3rd and 4th graders, I'm focusing on fluency. I found these downloadable cards from I Love 2 Teach they are free to download and look like fun!

I love these line up cards! I got them from I Love 2 Teach I will have them on a hook by the door to use whenever we leave the room. I will be able to mix up the order of how kids line up to go to lunch, gym, recess, etc. Fun things like favorite ice cream flavors, type of pet, number of vowels or syllables in their names, and many more!

Finally, Easy, Peasy Prep math center task cards from found at Tpt in the store of Cynthia Vautrot to be used with dominoes, cards, or dice, not with cats- yes, my cat kept getting in the picture! I think she was feeling neglected! There are 10 total cards in the set and the students can use dominoes, cards, or dice and work on the cards.

 

Okay, I think I'm done with everything for this Monday! I've gotten a lot of great ideas from other bloggers this week, so I hope that I can find the time to make more things! I'm not sure where all the time has gone!

 

 

 

An Early Currently and I'm still late!

Once again I'm joining up with Farley and her wonderful currently linky and I'm still one of the later entries! Oh, well, maybe I am always fashionably late!!

 

It is so nice to have the windows opened and the air off again, so I'm listening to the birds (and the neighbors dogs bark, but it's okay). My cats are happy that the windows are open, too!

 

I love Sunday afternoons when I don't have anything to do on Mondays! I'm trying to figure out how I can keep this going even during the school year.

 

I keep writing down ideas, creating materials, and trying to decide on a classroom theme. This week end I went to a behavior conference and learned some great ideas to try in my classroom. One of my co-workers also went and we talked about trying to change our level system and point sheets for the school, so my head has all this buzzing around in it!

 

I would love to take a vacation somewhere this summer, but it isn't looking promising. First, our bathroom ceiling leaked and has to be replaced, so then there will be repainting, and I have to figure out what to do with the border- I'm thinking it will go. Then I have a STEM class for 2 weeks that I signed up for to learn about the standards better since I'm switching grades (again). So, I think that leaves about 2 weeks of freedom for me before school actually starts! My husband is doing the ceiling himself, so there goes all of his free time!

 

I really need to go to the grocery store today! We need food! I have the list made out with the menu for the week, but I just need to actually get up and go! Well, first I should shower and get out of my pj's!

 

My tip is to join linky parties and make meaningful comments. I still consider myself a newbie to blogging (I think my 1st year anniversary will be here soon). I've gained followers from the linky parties and commenting when I have something to say on other blogs. I've learned a lot from other bloggers and always want to share my appreciation for them!

 

So go to Farley's blog and join in the fun!

 



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June Goals, just what the teacher in me ordered!

I love this idea for a linky party! I need to be held accountable and set goals for each month of my summer! So I'm linking up with

I started cleaning, purging, and organizing the dreaded basement today. It has become a dumping ground for everything- not just my teachery items. I'm trying to get rid of things I haven't used in the past few years and organize it all by subject or category. This may take me all month! I also want to spend more time with my mom, sons, and husband doing fun things. We tend to get stuck on what has to be done or think that we can do fun stuff next week, which never comes. I've told my sons (ages 20 and 23) that I will be taking them out for lunch during the summer. 

On pinterest and other teacher blogs, I've seen some awesome ideas for organizing ideas with the common core. Since switching grades for next year, this is a good time to set up file folders with the standard number and description on them. Hmmmm, not sure what happened to my 4, in blog at least 4 times per month! I've slacked off during the school year, so I hope to get back in the swing of blogging!

I want to reread The Great Gatsby. I read it in high school (a long time ago) and with the movie coming out, I want to read the book before seeing the movie. I also have ordered Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids. I like the idea of whole brain teaching, but it needs tweaking for my students! Hopefully, this book will give me a lot of ideas. I've also joined the book club/discussion for this book with others through Chris Biffle's Whole Brain Teaching site, to help me along!

June Shout Out to Vacation Time!!

It's June and everyone here knows what that means... Farley's June currently , school is out (or ending, hopefully) and summer flip flop time!! My school ended on Friday, so tomorrow is my first official day of vacation! I know I will be awake early, as it takes me awhile to turn off my internal alarm clock and retrain the kitties to wake up later!

 

I love HGTV and House Hunters, I love being able to see inside of different peoples' homes! As I wrote earlier, my school ended on Friday- kind of bittersweet as my classroom paraprofessional retired, our wonderful speech pathologist is moving to another state, AND two other teachers are going to other schools - I'm going to miss all of them!

I've decided that I need to plan out what I'm going to do this summer, so that I don't keep putting off what I want to get done, and then not do anything! I just need to make the plan and stick with it as I have several major projects in mind! I really need a space where I can create my classroom plans, centers, games, bulletin board cuteness, and anything else that I may need or want! Right now, I do my creating, printing, cutting, laminating in the living room or at the dining room table, which means I'm constantly getting things out, working, and then putting things away. This leads into my need of cleaning out the basement. It would be the perfect place to work in the summer. I just dread going to clean it out- over the past year  2 years maybe 4 years (yikes!) I've just carried down boxes from each school year to store when I've changed grades or themes. I need to organize it all and purge items! 

When I go on vacation I need the usual books and camera, but it is a family joke that any type of slope or uneven ground that I walk on, I tend to fall- especially if it is muddy. I keep trash bags in the car for me to sit on when I fall in mud, the times I've fallen I was covered in mud!

 

I hope everyone is enjoying their last few days of school, or their first few days of summer!

What would I do differently next year?

It's so much fun to join a linky party, so for my first of the summer, I'm linking up with Kim over at
Finding Joy in 6th Grade

So what would I do differently next year? Well, some of the things are easy to identify- I'm switching grades again going from a 4th and 5th grade room to a 3rd and 4th grade classroom!

This past school year, I used rotations for part of the year, but then switched back to whole group instruction, with different tasks for the students in order to meet their needs. I really like the rotations of working with teacher, practice, and apply skills, so I need to plan this out better for the next year. Some of the problems were with staff- I had 4 different people for one of my aides during the year, with varying experience and knowledge, so it was difficult to depend on them to help out.

I need to challenge my students to do more, take more chances, even fail at times! My students tend to be scared of making any mistakes, so they simply don't do the extra work. I need to keep them accountable and make sure that they are performing at their best level.

Working with students with various emotional and behavior challenges, I need to incorporate more multi-sensory activities in the school day. It may be by giving them a choice menu based on learning styles or through different activities that use their senses and motor skills.

I guess I have my summer planned with all that I hope to accomplish next year. I've kept a reflection journal this year, so I know what I need to change and what worked in my class this year. So what are you going to do differently or the same next year?

Finally May Currently!

It's finally here! Spring has arrived in Ohio! I'm loving the warmer weather and the ability to go outside more with my students! The trees and flowers are in  bloom, along with my allergies! The state testings for my students are done- I have students from 5 different schools, so I had various students testing over a 2 week period! And, last but certainly not least, it's time for May Currently! I'm hoping that now that all my IEP, ETR, and other meetings are done for the year, I can get back to blogging!  So I'm linking up with Farley and the other fantastic bloggers for the May Currently!

I'm listening to Ellen- I love her show, it's a great stress reliever, too!  Today was a day off for my school, because of election day in Ohio! I had a great time shopping at the Teachers Pay Teachers sale! It's so hard to limit my purchases, I wish I could learn how to create cute, creative items for my students, but in the meantime I'll keep buying from all the talented teachers out there! Of course, it would help to have a TpT fairy to print out, cut out and laminate all the items I bought! I wonder how many credits I would earn for renting a TpT fairy?  I have 15 days left of school and 2 of those are personal days! It's getting hard to stay motivated to develop my lesson plans and materials (thank you again to TpT). My students don't want to be in class working anymore than what I do! It really didn't help that we had today off, Mondays are hard enough without having another "Monday" tomorrow! Then on Thursday, we have our fun fitness day, barring any rain! This week is basically a wash to start or complete anything! This summer I'm hoping to paint my kitchen and my bedroom, not totally sure of the colors, yet! I also need to get in better shape- hoping to exercise more now that it is nicer outside! I also want to take several mini-vacations around the area and state.

Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook

 Have you heard about this wonderful resource? If you teach 4th grade and need a good, quality resource for teaching using the new common core standards, this is for you! It has everything organized by subject. This workbook is a timesaver with so many activities to cover the new standards. Included in this workbook are graphic organizers for reading comprehension, center activities and materials to print out, laminate and use, worksheets for vocabulary, concepts, and practice skills. The materials are age appropriate with nice clip art and easy to read font. I just wish I would have had such a great resource like this when I first started teaching! It would have saved me so much money having all the activities offered by this one book, rather than the bookshelf of resources that I've bought throughout the years! Check out the  Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook and if you have a blog, you can enter the giveaway, if you hurry!