A Part of the Whole: August 2011

August 23, 2011

Teacher Talk Tuesday

I'm Blog Hoppin' again to give some advice to new teachers! Since I am two days into being a second year teacher, I think I have some pretty good advice that is still fresh in my mind so here it goes....

1. Sleep... A lot. Because if you were like me you will be at school all the time
2. Don't stay at school all night like I did.
3. Make connections with your students quickly! They will be more likely to do what you ask them.
4. Think about how you would like your lesson if you were a student
5. Don't beat yourself up... there is a lot I wish I could have done but couldn't fit it all in.
6. Be organized! It will save your life and keep you sane.
7. Communicate with parents! If they have an issue, let them talk & get it all out before responding.
8. Go with your gut.... you are usually right
9. Ask questions! Most teachers will be more than willing to help
10. Try and have your lessons ready to go at least the night before-copies & everything. I couldn't always do this, but when I did I felt so much relief.

As always... HAVE FUN! If you are having fun, chances are your students will be too. They will like and respect you more when they do have to do the "boring" stuff because let's face it, we all have to one time or another.

Link on up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week!

August 22, 2011

Top 10 Teacher Must Haves for Back to School

Today I'm also linking up with The Teaching Thief to share my top 10 teacher must haves for back to school! I'm sure it's going to be hard to narrow it down to 10, but here it goes!

10. A good sweater that you can always have with you. In my building it changes from hot to cold all the time. Always be prepared!

Sweater from Old Navy

9. A good lunch bag.

BYO bags found here

8. A good large water bottle & a coffee cup

Camel Bak

7. A brand new pack of dry erase markers

Love the colors! From Quill

6. A good neutral pair of flats

5. Stickers!

From United Art & Education

4. Binders & Lots of them!

I have a binder for every little thing. Life saver right there.

3. Sharpies

Who doesn't love a good sharpie in every color?

2. Sleep!

Sleep is a MUST HAVE

drum roll please......

1. Passion for teaching. ( yeah I got all cheesy. Deal with it)

I would like to hear about your top 10 must haves! Be sure to check out The Teaching Thief & link up your top 10!

Meet the Teacher Monday!

Today I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Meet the Teacher Monday!

How fitting since today was the first day of school! It was fabulous by the way... I was so nervous. I don't know why I stress myself out. Oh well! On we go.....

I just love this picture! I have it on my edline page :)

Tell us a little something about you...

I'm Jenna. I teacher 7th & 8th grade math this year. I just got home from my first day of school & it was GREAT! I love fireworks, the beach, and a good book. I went to Miami University, and I'm currently in graduate school there as well. I have a boyfriend named Brad & we've been together for 3 1/2 years. I love my family very much. I have one brother who is 21 but still wishes he was a kid. I have two dogs that I am in love with. Moose is a 13 year old black lab/golden retriever mix, and Bubba is a 2 year old black lab/german shepherd mix. Random fact about me: I've had over 14 teeth pulled & I have broken my nose 5 times. (Yes I stumped my students with those facts today)

How long have you been teaching?

This is my 2nd year teaching! Last year I taught 7th grade math. I had three classes of regular 7th grade math, and one class of 7th grade honors which is 8th grade math. This year, I am traveling around the school on my fun little cart that is difficult to steer. I am a specials teacher for a class called Interactive Math. This is offered to 7th & 8th grade students who need a little reinforcement in their regular math class. I also teach the 8th grade math curriculum to students with support ed's. A bit change from last year, but so far I'm loving every minute of it :)

You might not know...

My first major is college with High School Life Science Education.... Then that changed to Middle Childhood Math & Science which is what I have my license in. When I was applying to colleges, I almost went into Pharmacy. It would have been a good job, but I'm SO glad I didn't make that decision. I love my kiddos too much. Something else you might not know.... well I just used that random fact in my about me so I've got nothing...

What are you looking most forward to this school year?

Being able to use new ideas I learned over the summer in grad school. Being a first year teacher last year I was surviving. After this summer, I was able to regroup & think about what I really want to do. Yes this year is something totally different, but what I learned in some grad school classes can be applied much easier now. I'm also looking forward to not being the "new" teacher anymore!

What do you need to improve?

I need to improve my assessment abilities. I need to be better about tracking the progress-especially with the group I have this year. A lot of my students feel very unsuccessful in math & it is my goal for them to see success. I also need to plan more than one day ahead. Again, last year being my first year I was stressed and sometimes didn't have everything ready. This year it is my goal to have everything planned & copied at least a week in advance. So far so good!

What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?

I'm a bullet list person so I'm switching it up now....

Good pretty dry erase markers!
My big purple coffee cup
Post-it notes of every color
Organized binder with my teaching life/student info
Sharpies in all colors of the rainbow
Individual dry erase boards for students
Music
BINDERS-I have a binder for everything
Smartboard/airliner-I use this everyday for agenda, homework, brain busters etc. Pretty much a necessity.
Fun paperclips & binder clips
Stickers! Yes 7th & 8th graders still get excited over a sticker :)

* * * * *

Happy first day of school to all you teachers out there! Link on up with Blog Hoppin' to share your Meet the Teacher Monday!

August 16, 2011

Salsa Anyone?

I really love any type of salsa. I like mine pretty spicy, but my family does not. So when I came across this pin on pinterest, I knew I had to try it. The recipe came from here. I HIGHLY recommend this if you like salsa. It has a good level of spice to it, but is still mild for others. The recipe gives you a few different options, but this is what Brad and I did....

A produce bag full of roma tomatoes
15 serrano peppers
2 yellow onions
8 cloves of garlic
2 TBSP salt
2 bunches of cilantro (I like a lot of cilantro in my salsa)

This makes a very large portion fyi

1. Halve the tomatoes and onions and place them on a baking sheet. Add the peppers and garlic also.

2. Bake the ingredients at 375 until the onions start falling apart and the tomatoes are starting to look soft.

3. Let it all cool very well! We made this twice and the second time we were in a hurry to eat it and forgot to let it cool. It didn't taste very well at first until the whole thing cooled down.

4. Put all the ingredients in a food processor or a blender. We used a blender, and we took the seeds out of the peppers.

I don't have an after picture probably because we started eating it right away & it didn't last too long. :)

August 12, 2011

Busy Bee

As I sit here writing this, I'm telling myself I will get up in 3 minutes to go into school and lesson plan. That's right... the office is complete, cart is almost finished, so bring on the lesson plans. I've been at school everyday this week except Wednesday, so I've been very busy. Notice some new changes to the blog? That's what else I've been doing. I started googling some tutorials on how to change around your blog. I like this one for now. I was just really happy I could figure some of it out! There are still some things that I was unsure of so I just left it be the way it was. Ok... clock says 10:00, I need to get into school so I'm not there all day. Have a great Friday!'

pssst I'll post pictures later today of my completed office & cart!

August 8, 2011

It's that time of the year!

I'm so exhausted today. Today was the first day we were allowed in our classrooms. I had a lot of stuff at home that I had to get together so I didn't get to school until about 10:30ish. I think my parents are happy that their dining room actually looks like one again. I was overtaking it with school supplies. Well if you have been reading here you know I do not have my own classroom this year. It was a challenge going from a HUGE classroom with tons of storage to an office which is in-between two classrooms. It's shaped like half a hexagon for all you math people out there.

As soon as I got there, I had boxes everywhere. My desk goes all the way across the room and it was stacked with boxes. The first few hours I spent unpacking my boxes and finding a place for everything temporarily. Then, I could see everything I had and how I wanted to organize it. I didn't get any before or during pictures, but I did take after pictures. I didn't leave until about 8:00 when it started storming, and I was the only one in the building.

Here are the almost completed office pictures! It's actually not a bad size, but I feel like everyone can see what I'm doing so I need to cover up the windows on the door. It's in the 8th grade hallway so I don't want my students from last year walking by and knocking on my door.

My computer area. The door to come in is to the left.

The corner of the desk

The other side of the desk

Wider view

From the other side

Looking at the back wall from the corner in the desk.

Cabinet 1

Cabinet 2

I have a lot of stuff. I will take more detailed pictures once everything is finished. I don't have my cart yet so that will take some time to get ready. I have set aside everything I want on my cart so it's just kind of sitting around right now. I spent the last our labeling everything as you can see from some of the pictures. In such a small space I really need to be organized. I'm a pretty organized person anyway, but this will end up being super organization. Let's just see if I can get it there.

I'll post more once I get it complete!

Jenna

August 5, 2011

Classroom Show-Off

I'm teaming up with Leslie today to show off your classrooms! This year I sadly will not have my own classroom. I will be traveling on a cart which I still need to decorate. As soon as I get that done, I will be sure to post pictures! So instead of showing my classroom for this year, I will leave you with a few pictures of my room from last year which was my very first classroom!

This was a 7th grade MATH classroom so it needed to be a little more functional.

This was the first day I was able to get in my room

Another before picture

Before

Looking towards the door from the back wall

From the back corner

My desk area that wasn't completed yet when I took this picture

From the other side of the room

From another corner

I tried to do my best with what little funds I had! Something that helped me out was an organization called Crayons to Computers which I encourage you to check out!

Hopefully I gave you some ideas if you are a new teacher for a higher grade level!

Jenna

It's been two weeks since our vacation to Hilton Head Island SC and I am missing the beach so much! With summer quickly coming to an end, here are some favorite pictures taken in HHI. Can you tell I'm trying to hold on to what little is left of summer? Only 17 days until the first day of school!