Friday Favorites (5/30) - Books for Differentiation

One of the biggest things that they stressed in my teacher education preparation program was differentiation. In fact, while filling out job applications this summer I've been putting things like "I can differentiate with the best of them." Differentiation is something that I feel very confident at, and it's one of my strong points as an educator. It's pretty fun too. It allows not only your students to be creative, it allows the teacher to be creative as well.

I was thinking about the books that I have read in my teacher education preparation program and in my spare time. These books have definitely made me a great differentiator: 

How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms : The first edition of this book was required by my teacher education program. It is a great primer for differentiation, and it has many great ideas on how to differentiate content, process, and product.

Differentiating Instruction With Menus for the Inclusive Classroom : This book is one of my absolute favorites. I saw this randomly on Amazon and decided to buy it. It's a whole series, so although the link is to the middle school science one, chances are there's one specific to your classroom. This is just the one that I own and that I have read. In this book you will find multiple types of menus, ideas for activities to put in your menus, and ideas on grading menus. My favorite happens to be the baseball themed menu. I actually tried that one in my classroom, and it worked wonderfully! 

Layered Curriculum : I am currently reading this one, and I absolutely love it! This is a lesser known gem that takes the idea of menus and amplifies it. Students get to choose the activities that they do (including whether or not they participate in lectures, or even recorded lectures). They also get to choose their grade basically, because the activities are tiered into an A, B, and C level. It's pretty awesome! I can't wait try a layered mini unit. 

Thoughts from a Substitute

After completing my student teaching, we were allowed to sub for the school that we interned at. This is definitely a great way to get experience, while applying for teaching jobs.
As a substitute teacher, you see so many strange things haha! I have a ton of stories to tell! First though, I want to share with you some tips for that rainy day when you need to call in a substitute for your classroom.

Thoughts from a substitute:

1. "The early bird gets the worm." - If you have a particular substitute teacher in mind that you know does a great job, call them as soon as you know you need someone. Chances are, this person will get many calls from other teachers for the same reason. If you call them asap, chances are you can get them! If you wait, then someone else might snap them up for the same day. I cannot tell you how many times I got multiple calls for the same day. It was always hard to tell a teacher that I'm already taken too. 
2. Leave your materials in an easy to find spot. - One time, I subbed for a science teacher, and it took me forever to find the plans and materials. In that time, the 8th grade class got a little crazy. If you make the materials easy to find, then your substitute will be able to start class promptly without distractions. 
3. Leave a schedule for the day. - At the end of the year, when things are crazy and you use different schedules.. it is difficult for the sub to know what is going on. This leaves them to rely on other teachers that may be on different schedules, or on the students (if they are older). 
4. Make your plans extremely clear! - If the sub has no idea what you want for them to do, then don't expect for it to be done right. There were a couple of times that I had to wing it because the teacher didn't leave anything for the students to do or the plans were unclear. Provide step-by-step plans with specific details. There's no such thing as too much information! Not to mention, the students can sense when the sub is unsure, and they will take advantage of that. 

Friday Favorites - Summer Fun (5/23)

Summer is nigh!

My school gets out this Friday, and I am super excited! I'm thinking about all of the fun things I've seen on Pinterest for the summertime. Here are my 3 favorite summer activities and ideas from Pinterest. 

As a kid, I always found myself running out of bubble soap. I was always sad when the bubble blowing ended. It doesn't have to end though with this awesome pinspiration! 

Summer is also a great time to get involved in nature. This is also a great time to teach small children about nature. Here is a simple pinspiration for a bird feeder. 

Lastly, why not do some science during summer?! This is a cool experiment for younger children. Watch what happens!

Sewing in the Works

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Yeah, I'm kind of a fabric hoarder... and this image doesn't even skim the surface...

I've been thinking about what to do with all of it lately, and I have so many ideas for this fabric. I'd love to share them with you.

Idea #1 - This is a skirt I'm working on presently. I've got it all cut out and figured out. I just have to sew it together. I want to make a voluminous skirt with a wide belt that I can tie into a bow. I just love the umbrellas! I keep telling people that one day I'll be like Ms. Frizzle, cause she's the hypest! I guess this is a step in that direction.



Idea #2 - I found this fabric on Etsy a while back, and I decided that I wanted to make a skirt with it as well. However, it desperately needs to be lined. I chose some navy broadcloth to line it, and I plan on making a skirt that has a scalloped hem. I found my inspiration for this on Pinterest, of course!




Idea #3 - I also recently purchased this apple fabric from Etsy. (I know, I have a problem hehe). I think I want to make an apron with it, but I'm still trying to decide. I thought an apple apron would be nice to wear in the kitchen, or in the classroom on messy lab days.

I will still have a ton of fabric left, even when I complete my three above ideas. So I'm asking: What are your favorite projects to use up fabric? 

Check back with me later to see how my ideas turn out!

Friday Favorites - Classroom Management (5/16)

As the end of the year is winding down, it becomes more and more apparent how classroom management can either make or break your school year. It's the work you put in at the beginning so you may reap the benefits all year long.

Here are three of my favorite classroom management inspirations:

The First Days of School

This is an amazing book that almost all educators know about, but if you don't know about it.. then you should! This has helped me so much. It has not only classroom management tips and tricks, it has curriculum and development information as well. I was so surprised that my college professors did not have us get this book. It literally covers everything. The authors are most famous for their classroom management though.

Rights and Responsibilities 

This is a wonderful pinspiration that balances rights with responsibilities. I love this idea! I definitely think I'm going to use a format like this for my rules. This reminds students that with rights comes responsibilities. This is something that they can definitely live their lives by. 

must do, may do

This is something that I tend to do in my classroom already, and it works wonderfully! This sets the boundaries for students, but gives them some choice. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel, because they know what they are allowed to do after their work is done. When you try this out, come up with some wonderful enrichment activities to put on the "may do" side. Your students will love this!

Job Hunt

Applying for jobs is a scary business. It's a huge change, and there are so many unknowns. That, and when you're not getting any call backs... you begin to think "What am I doing wrong?" I know I have great strengths as a teacher, but it is hard to make someone see that just with a piece of paper that shows your lack of experience. There's also that same old... you need experience before we can hire you, but you can't get experience unless someone hires you.

It's enough to make your head spin. 

So when I get scared and start losing hope that I will find a job, I look at a quote that I have taped all over the place. I have it on the inside of my portfolio that I made for interviews, on my calendar, and written on a checklist that I keep for job applications.

"Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it." - Bill Cosby

Friday Favorites - Building Character (5/9)

This week, I was thinking a lot about how to build character in the classroom. I looked around for strategies, etc to help build character in the classroom and here's what I came up with:


This pinspiration reminds students that what they put on social media has its consequences.



I am an Etsy addict as well as a Pinterest addict. Here's one of my absolute favorite things on Etsy. This shop has the cutest posters, magnets, etc with character building quotes. They even do custom products.

Those are a few helpful reminders that we can post so that students remember what good character is and does. However, I started thinking about what I could do in my classroom to reward good character. So I went searching for some ideas on character education...

I came across this blog post. Then I started thinking more and more about this post. 

I love this idea, but it needs to work for my classroom and for my school. 

I think this would be a great idea, especially for middle-level students, if the students nominated each other for a spot on a board like this. As a team, a grade level, or a school the teachers could determine the character traits that would go across the top of the board. Then forms could be developed, just like in the blog post. They could be turned in to the teachers for a "screening," and then posted every week or so. 

What a great way to get students to take responsibility for their actions, and to take ownership of good deeds!

Friday Favorites - Bulletin Boards (5/2)

I've been thinking about this upcoming year lately, and how I want my room to look. I definitely want to have bulletin boards that are interactive and that can be easily changed depending upon the unit we are working on.

Here are my three favorite pinspirations for bulletin boards:

Check out this bright and sunny bulletin board!
This works well for a unit on plants, ecosystems, etc. However, when you aren't working on a unit related to the sunflower, you can just use the pretty blue space for word maps, word walls, student work, etc. This adds a wonderful pop of color to a white room.

Did I mention that I love the movie Up!? Check out this versatile board inspired by the movie Up. You could definitely use the study skills idea, or you could do something else like communication skills or social skills. Social skills would be wonderful for middle schoolers for sure. When I saw the balloons, I automatically thought "word wall!" You could create this board, and then create the vocabulary words separately and interchange them throughout the year. This would take a lot of work up front, but very little during the year.

This is all pinspiration for sure! I love this idea! Finding examples of the content in real life gives the content meaning. This will help students take ownership of their learning. That.. and we all love some Pinterest!