Caudill Update

As I've previously mentioned, I'm reading my way through the 2014 Rebecca Caudill list in preparation to be a "Book Champ" next school year. Here are my latest reads:

These were all excellent and I would recommend any one of them. "Breaking Stalin's Nose" is a very quick read about a boy growing up in Stalinist Russia - if you read no other book for this age group, read this one! Such an interesting look into a critical time period in Russia often overlooked by US history classes due to the overlap with the Great Depression and entrance into WWII.

I must say I've really enjoyed reading all of the Caudill books so far - such a departure from my usual fare, but incredibly informative in addition to entertaining. These books introduce 4th-8th graders to a wide range of different cultures and problems faced by kids their age around the globe - quite the perspective-changer! I encourage you to check 'em out - if you have doubts, start with the shortie "Stalin's Nose" - you'll be hooked!

Tool Belt!

Today's work: a tool belt to wear during sewing classes!

I've only had this on my to-do list for oh, seven years or so, because having to choose between always carrying a bunch of supplies in your hands or always running back and forth or always allowing a couple dozen junior high kids to get out of their seats is a paltry, paltry choice. I have a BUNCH of aprons because I LOVE making aprons, but I needed something more heavy duty with a lot of pockets. This guy has six pockets and is made with home decor fabric (50% off at Joann this week!) so it is highly functional. My favorite part is that rather than making straps I made the casing wide enough to accommodate a real belt - that way it won't start to slide off under the weight of six pockets full of notions!

Tomorrow begins my 6th curriculum rotation of the school year - hard to believe I've gone through everything five times already, whew! As I go through this time I'll share some of the ideas I've implemented to make shorter sewing units go more smoothly with my classes. And as always, if you have any suggestions I'll be glad to hear them - after all, the first day of school is a mere four months away!

Sorry! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!

I'll also share some of the classroom organization projects I've tackled. As you've seen from the pics I've previously posted, it has been one big uphill battle trying to get these rooms set up the way I want. Yesterday I worked on just the rooms (no grading, lesson prep, copying, etc) for over six hours, and I think I finally achieved the tipping point where I feel that the "sewing" room and the storage room are breathable - one more full day and perhaps I can hit that point with the foods room and begin to focus on the decor more! If only we were allowed to take a personal day just to work in our classrooms, eh? Here's to dreaming...

Have a great week!

Tutorial added here.

Reading Challenge: Rebecca Caudill 2014

Wow, two posts in one evening! I thought it would be less confusing to split them up. I have recently created two reading challenges for myself. The one I'll mention now revolves around the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award. Essentially it's an award voted on by kids in grades 4-8 who have read one or more of the nominated books. My challenge (to myself) is to read all twenty nominees by the time school begins in August. I somehow managed to squeeze in four of them over break (hmmm, and how much grading do you suppose I accomplished? Ahem.), so I'm already 20% there! These are the ones I've tackled so far:

They were all enjoyable, but I especially recommend "The Lions of Little Rock," set in 1958 when the governor of Arkansas orchestrated the closure of all four Little Rock public high schools for the entire school year in order to avoid integration - amazing book!

The reason I began reading these books is that our school has a program called "Book Champs;" after a kid reads one of the books on the list, he or she discusses the book with a teacher who has also read that book as "proof." We weren't able to do that this year as the 2013 books didn't arrive until nearly the end of the first semester (thank you, unreliable funding), but all of the 2014 books are already in. I am determined to read them all so I can be available for any discussion! Also, because they are great books!

I'll discuss my other self-reading challenge at a later date - it's sure to please the nerdiest reader!

Still Going...

Spring Break 2013 is officially over; in just a short time I'll be setting out tomorrow's work clothes. I thought I'd share some of the work I was able to accomplish over break:

What you see are 2 1/2 more cabinets emptied, and placed on tables for the staff to pick and choose from before the contents are eliminated forever. An extensive collection of waffle irons, blenders, toasters, coffee makers, spatulas, etc, etc that are AT LEAST three decades old. Not to mention an enormous collection of glass - GLASS - serving ware. Who on Earth gives glassware to two dozen seventh graders in a small, contained space??

I keep inching closer and closer to getting these rooms under control. Maybe by the start of next school year, if I'm allowed in the building at all over the summer. Wish me luck!

Envelopes!

Oh Pinterest, you saucy minx, always giving me obvious ideas that I should've come up with years ago. Today I wrote out another round of teacher prayer cards, but this time I made my own envelopes! Here's the original pin, and here's how I did it:

Found this cute pack of cardstock at Michael's (half off! Didn't even have to use the standby 40& off coupon!):

Opened up a regular envelope the same size I wanted to make:

Traced the envelope onto the cardstock and cut:

Folded 'em up (I used a ruler to help make a sharper crease, didn't take a pic), and used double-sided tape to hold the flaps:

Ta-da! Created this stack in the time it took to watch "The Office" on the DVR! 

I wrote the addresses on labels and then slapped them on - worked great! I may never use a "real" envelope again! : )

Currently March

Another month, another "Currently" from Farley!

"How I Met Your Mother" - at the prompting of a co-worker back in May, I picked up this show on Netflix - I figured it was going into its last season, might as well. When they announced they would be running another season after this one, I was crushed. I want to know who the mother is and move on with my life already! But I've come this far... argghhh... (On a somewhat related note, hubby and I just finished the first season of "House of Cards" - AMAZING! Love this show, can't wait for the second season!)

Casimir Pulaski Day, a school holiday in my neck of the woods. Hooray for three day weekends! I promise you, I would work longer days four days a week to get a three-day weekend every week. Think about it: despite your best intentions, Saturday is usually a recovery day, Sunday is for grading/lesson planning/laundry/house cleaning/church/all sorts of miscellaneous chores, then boom! Back to work. With a third day you can actually get stuff done! Or, not get completely buried by a weekend getaway... : )

Another storm threat - these always disappear before hitting us. And not that I want to extend the school year, but I wouldn't snub my nose at a snow day. It's been two years since the last one, after all! Ideally, we would report for school tomorrow, run ISATs in the morning, then get sent home early... still get credit for the day, no nightmare ISAT make-ups, AND a little free time!

Grading. I don't mind the first-run stuff so much - it's all the darn make-up work!

Like/Love/Hate - I did break the rules a bit here. They were all supposed to be one word, but I couldn't (wouldn't?) do it. Dessert, mmmm. Had my first dessert this weekend since Thanksgiving weekend. I've been very good about cutting the excess sugar, but when you're at a lovely Italian restaurant, how do you turn down tiramisu? Disney World! Best vacation ever - I still think about it daily since we returned seven months ago. Daylight Savings Time in the spring means that it goes back to being pitch black when I leave the house in the morning. So much harder to get moving without natural light!

Zip Ties, Desks, and Sanity

Back at the beginning of the school year, the only student seating I had were very large, very heavy tables. Here's a photo from the beginning of June, two and a half months before I could go in and do any work in the room:

I hated these tables. Having a full classroom of kids facing four different ways did not work for me, but there was no way to arrange them to avoid that. And then I realized that I had soooo many sewing tables jammed into storage areas.

This got me to thinking...

Now I could see what EVERYONE was doing. Of course, the kids kept opening the tables and messing with the machines, so over Christmas Break...

I removed the sewing machines and wonderful hubby drilled the tables shut. That problem was solved!

At the beginning of the new semester, I decided to try another arrangement:

Love it! The only problem with these "desks" is that five minutes into each class they tend to look like this:

So frustrating! (Credit for the idea of using happy faces for confidentiality purposes goes to The (Un)Caffeinated Teacher) Even more frustrating were the kids who insisted they "couldn't help it" that their desks moved two to three feet every time they were in class.

A couple of months ago I found this idea on Pinterest from an elementary school teacher:

So genius! Yet, my desks don't have legs, so I wasn't able to use it. D'oh!!!

Then on Friday I happened to be looking at the floor (probably because of a mess left by someone), and noticed that there are spaces right above the wheels on my desks, and sooooo....

I gleefully installed these on Saturday morning, then waited giddily today to see how they worked. It was AMAZING - no desk drift whatsoever! A photo right after last bell:

Also enjoyable was how the kids who "accidentally" moved their desks before reacted - haha! 

So anyway, all this to say 1) Zip ties ROCK!, 2) Zip ties SAVE sanity!, and 3) If at first a truly inspiring idea from Pinterest seems like it won't work, don't give up on it - find a way! It's always worth it!

For God So Loved {insert name here}

Just finished another round of prayer cards! At our former church, there was a prayer ministry for teachers - teachers in the local school district could sign up, and then church members would be given a list of names of teachers to pray for daily and to periodically send cards of encouragement. Because I was close with many teachers in my former district, I signed up again to pray even though we've moved away. Anywho, the thought I included in the cards this time was one I thought would be helpful for others to read as well:

I don't remember which of his books he wrote this in, but it has helped me over the past couple of years immensely. Doesn't just have to be students - could be your own kids, friends, spouses, people who cut in front of you in line at the grocery store...

Arranging the verse to spell out "valentine" was a Pinterest idea, by the way...

February Currently

Month two of Farley's Currently!

Pinterest, the root of all things wonderful and "why didn't I think of that?" inspired the orange peel/cinnamon stick boil - the house smells heavenly! Another successful pin!

Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow, which means an early spring! Woo hoo!

Always thinking about how to make lessons better; a teacher's work is never done.

It has been BITTER cold here the last few days, so I am SO ready for warmer weather.

I have a paper due on Wednesday that I need to at least complete the first draft for by tomorrow night, so that I'll have time to revise and pretty it up before handing it in. Not a difficult assignment, just have to sit down and do it.

Ah, pet peeves. Not listening has to top the list. I have (nearly, on most days...) infinite patience for re-explaining things to kids who don't quite "get it" or have difficulty understanding. But for the kids who blatantly ignore directions, talk while I'm talking, chat while I'm displaying examples, write notes while we do a sample exercise together, refuse to read the written directions that mirror all of the above, and then expect me to stand there and give them a private tutorial when they full out admit that they paid no heed to anything that has gone on in class up until that point... that makes my head want to explode. In fact, I think that my brain breaks a little each time it happens. Which explains my headaches and inability to locate my keys on occasion.

And whining. How I loathe the whining. If only we were allowed to use duct tape to eliminate that problem... : ).

Another Use for a Planner...

Even though I manage my time and events electronically now (go Google calendar!), I still really love pen and paper planners. I found this one at Barnes and Noble, and once they went 50% off after Christmas I couldn't help but snatch it up!

Since I don't really NEED one I spent time thinking of legitimate ways to use it, rather than just creating a hard copy of my Google schedule. Over Christmas Break I read "Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching" by Angela Watson - highly, highly, highly recommend. It's a tremendous resource for developing an outlook that helps you to deal with all of those frustrating occurrences that steal the joy out of your teaching (like lack of copy machine etiquette, which I will be writing about at some point in the near future). The book gave me quite a bit to think about, and two questions in particular that I was focusing on were 1) How can I focus more on the positive things that happen throughout the day? and 2) What can I do to end the school day on a positive note, regardless of what happens the final class period of the day? Combine that with my desire to effectively use my frivolous Snoopy-obsession-induced purchase, and here's what I came up with: at the end of every day, I use the space in the planner to record the good things that happened that day. That way I am always forced to sit down and think about the rewards of the day, and I've even begun the habit of keeping a running list of the good things on a section of the running to-do list I always keep on my clipboard so I don't forget later on. Here's what it looks like:

And a close-up:

I love the multi-colored pens to make it extra happy-looking! It has been a tremendous tool for ending my day remembering all the worthwhile events that took place. The last hour of the day thus far has usually been the roughest at this school, with both groups of kids. This helps me keep in mind what came before that. Great way to record personal victories!

I've also added a couple of other items to the days as well. I write down the hours that I actually spend in the building. I had thought I would also track the time I spend working at home, but after a couple of days realized that looking at that number would most likely just depress me. I'm also trying to get in the habit of jotting down parent phone calls in here as well. Since this is always handy, it's a great place to jot down name/time/number called, and then I can record the other pertinent information in my student records later on. Still working on establishing that habit, but I've written my happy notes after school every day for four weeks now. Given that it's only a small space, it's much easier to keep up with on a daily basis than a typical journal or all-out reflection - I can always squeeze in a few sentences before grabbing my belongings. It will be fun at the end of the school year to look back on all of the great memories from each day.

I know some teachers jot down notes when something good happens and then keep them in a jar or other container, then open it up at the end of the year, which is also a great idea - I just like the idea of having mine all written and bound in one place. I'd love to hear ideas from other teachers: What do you do to keep track of the good times?