My summer project

Most teachers are spending the summer doing professional development, reading teacher books and planning for next year. Not me! I'm planning my wedding :)

Just ordered these :

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

So excited! Everyone says I'm on top of things, which is true. But then I say I'm a teacher and they're like "that explains it." Gotta love my organizational skills!

Behavior Management

One of my big goals for the 2012-2013 school year is to have better behavior management. I know it'll be better because I'll be at a different school with (generally speaking) better behaved kids. But kids in the suburbs have meltdowns just like inner city kids! And I need to be prepared.

I came across this on Pinterest:

Source: via Clare on Pinterest

However, the link doesn't offer any source or download or anything. So I just looked at it and did what teachers do best- copied it! I changed a few of the choices to make it fit my classroom, and here's what I came up with:

I love the "I can" statements and the choice that it offers kids. I'll probably laminate it and hang it somewhere in my room. Then when I can sense a meltdown coming on, I can just direct a child over there and tell them to make a choice. Hopefully it works! 

(you can click on the picture above and it'll take you to my Google Docs where you can download your own copy!)

Winner!

Well, my first giveaway didn't exactly go as planned. I only had 3 comments and one was from my former 2nd grade teacher (hi Jan!). I guess I'm still working on getting a big blog following. Oh well!

The good news for Megan, Jan and Summer is that you're all winners!! It just didn't seem right to only pick one of you. Megan, I already have your email address. Jan and Summer, if you'd like your pdf copy of my standards list, leave a comment with your email address.

Hopefully the next giveaway will be a little better than the first!

State of the Classroom

Ever wonder what an entire classroom looks like in boxes in someone's house? Well, it's your lucky day! Here are some pics:

This is my main living area. Behind all this stuff is my fireplace. The crate at the bottom corner is on my coffee table.

And my living room. Can you find the table? Guess who's been eating meals on the couch for the past week!

Hopefully soon I will hear from my new principal about moving into my new classroom. Because not only is all of this stuff taking over my house, my classroom rug is taking over my car. And I clearly don't have any more room in my house for it!