A Few of My Favorite Things 2024

There are a few items in my classroom that I must have to function well, a few that make my life easier, and a few that just make me happy.  We'll start with the essentials. 

1.  A clock right next to my books on my teaching table.  When teaching multiple grades, a good schedule is a must, and staying on that schedule is imperative.  This helps.  

2.  My new stacker!  When my teacher daughter got one of these, I told her she was splurging.  She happily put it together while explaining how the 4th grade papers went in one slot, and the 5th grade papers in another . . . I was sold.  

Since I've gotten mine, all the math is separate from the English, all organized by grade level, ready for me to grab a stack and grade without sorting.  Eureka!  

3.  Plants on the window sills.  On ALL the window sills.  Especially in the winter.  Cheering.  Yay.   Double yay if you have a high school student who loves to take care of them.  

4.  Student art on the walls.  Folk art, pastel resist art, Alma Thomas art, name art, any art.  I love it all and it makes the classroom walls look happy.  

5.  Marimbas!  I got one for myself for a piece I was playing in the Anabaptist Orchestra and loved it.  Then my husband said, "You should have a marimba ensemble," and I was on a quest to find nine marimbas.  I've got six now and am looking for three more.   All the junior high and high schoolers play them and the sound is delightful.   

Related Posts:  A Few of My Favorite Things 2023 

 

Wednesday

 

    We are enjoying a snow day today, so I'm catching up a little bit here.  I snapped all of these pictures on a Wednesday a week or so ago.  I believe that seeing snapshots of one's classroom is interesting.  I visit every classroom I can when I have the opportunity.  So, here is mine, along with some explanations. 

     Above, a student was diligently working on finishing her art project, a barn quilt square.  

     Below, I found these crocheted fruits and vegetables, and the younger students love them.  They are in the reading teepee.  

      I encouraged the seventh graders to complete the challenge in their math books which resulted in a picture formed from mapping out coordinate points.  Most of them did it! 

     From left to right:  the February Fun Days schedule (we give every student a copy), an A on a pre-algebra test (that deserved a BIG sticker thingy), fabric for lunchtime placemats we are making, and a helpful Spanish-English dictionary for Spanish class.  

Science experiment supplies are above, fabric for placemats below.  

And a vintage trumpet case next to a vintage clarinet case.  

Maple Grove Mennonite Academy Virtual Open House 2023

    I pondered what to do with the big black splotch on the wall right at the front entrance, and then I remembered all those letters I'd been collecting.  I put them to good use.  

       We moved to a new location this August--to Trinity Church in lovely downtown Terre Hill.  The largest room is for the fifth through ninth grades.  The computer for our Rosetta Stone Spanish lessons and our practice keyboard are also in there.  The full kitchen is a nice bonus, too.  

      Adjacent to this classroom is the third and fourth grade room.  The hinged door divider from our very first year of school was brought out again to separate the first and second grade room from the third and fourth grade room.  

The first and second grade area -  

To learn more about Maple Grove Mennonite Academy, click HERE.  

What's at the Back of Your Classroom?

   I snapped this picture sometime near the end of the last school year when I walked by our 

"free time area"-- the place where we keep all kinds of interesting books, educational items, brain games, etc. for the students to explore once all their school work is completed and turned in.   One of the teachers and three of her students were busy playing with geoboards.  They were making stars of David (which we had learned about in history), and different geometric patterns--all perfectly symmetrical I might add.  One student even made layers of similar patterns.  (See photo below.) 

     It is so important for students to enjoy learning, and everything from nature hikes to good books to "playing" with educational stuff helps us acheive this goal.  Part of learning should be creating and experimenting, and we teachers should present to our students many opportunities and the supplies to do them.  Having a free time and reading area with educational games and puzzles in the back of your classroom is a wonderful way to achieve this.  A small rug, a book shelf, a chair, and a few good books, games and puzzles are all you need. 

     Of course, all the normal rules apply.  They must not talk; they should keep their hands to themselves, etc.  I often require students to have finished all their work with an acceptable grade (usually an A or B) to be able to go to the area.  In the beginning of the year, I will let them take a book or game back to their seats to use until the quiet and behavioral rules have been well established.  In about two weeks we will let them stay in the area and carefully observe to make sure that it stays quiet and that the rules are being obeyed.  

     When there is an area like this in my classroom, I've observed that motivation to do well and finish on time goes up, learning goes up, the classroom culture improves, and it becomes a win-win situation for everyone.  Thrift stores are great places to find these kinds of things if you are looking for them and working on building up your stock.  I've collected enough stuff over the years that I can rotate my supply about every two to three weeks.  That way there is always something new and interesting to explore.  

A Peek Inside Our Classroom

     I love to visit schools and see different teachers' classrooms.  I almost always get a new idea.  So, here's mine.   A picture is worth a thousand words, but I'll explain a little anyway. 

     We had been studying the Dead Sea Scrolls and had made some scrolls ourselves with Hebrew letters, and then I found this lovely book.  It was the book of Ruth written in Hebrew with beautiful block prints.  The watercolors were being used for another art project, and the wooden puzzle folds completely into a square.  One of the students earned that by getting ten As on tests and quizzes.  

Twice a week we sing, and twice a week we play our instruments.  

The astrobrights were for our iris paper folding.  The jar was our chicken-bone-in-vinegar science experiment, and I always have several brain games like tangrams out.  

In the background are our Europe map for history and a keyboard for students' daily piano practice.  (Last year we had a real piano; this year this will suffice.  Next year's goal:  a real piano again.) Also on the table are a model of the lighthouse of Alexandria (another history project), a hanging spring scale and weight for an elementary science experiment, and a clock and linking blocks for the second graders math class.  

 

How to Make a TeePee Classroom Reading Center

We had so much fun making the big teepee outside that I thought I'd try to make a little one for an inside classroom reading center.  First, I got the little 1/2" x 1" boards I'd used for the grape arbor I had in my classroom few years ago and tied them together at the top.  

Then I found that $7 bolt of fabric I'd bought a few years ago to make mob hats for our colonial party.  

Next, I just laid the poles on top of the fabric and cut out three triangular sections about five feet at the bottom by eight feet tall.  I sewed them together on the edges, leaving the front open, and then sewed a sleeve on each seam like on a flag.  It's easy to fold up and take down, or to set up and move around.  And it's fun to read inside it.  My students love it!   

 The poles fit inside the sleeves. 

Open House and My $2 Door

     My open house was today.  The other teachers in our home have theirs next week.  So, it was fun to get the classroom all decorated and almost ready to go.  It's also fun to add more as the year goes on, but we're off to a good start.  

    And, when one is using a literature based history program, this is a wonderful place to enjoy some great history stories.  My son and I made the partition out of some old doors I've been collecting.  I found all but one of them for free, and only paid $2 for the not-free one.  

Science in Room 102

Our son Joseph is in his second year teaching high school science.  This year he was planning on his room having a mining theme.  We were talking about building a mining tunnel and painting huge rocks with gold-colored paint.  Then things went a bit awry.   It all started when he asked his dad about redneck stuff.  Things digressed from there.  He kept the pick axes and hatchets but added a life-sized cardboard Jeff Gordon and a taxidermy bobcat.  

He replaced the Tesla poster from last year with one of Isaac Newton and added another hatchet thingy on the wall beside the giant periodic table of the elements wall poster.  

And recently, he had two more articles published in two different science journals.  They were on some of the research he had done when he worked in the science lab at West Chester University.  Not bad for a science teacher with redneck room decor.