It's finally here! This evening is Open House and I am eagerly looking forward to meeting my new families for this school year. After arranging and rearranging, I think I am finally satisfied with how my room looks. If you miss the opportunity to stop by tonight, here is an opportunity to still see my classroom.
Front Area
Students who return from an absence have a location in which to leave their absent notes for me. Remember that there is a three day window to turn in notes. Nurse passes are located in the lower caddy.
This year eighth graders have 3 minutes to move from one class to the next. Talking in the hallway or goofing off in the restroom can lead to undesirable consequences (after school detention, silent lunch, etc). We are encouraging students to get to classes on time. When a student is late (with or without a pass) they must either take a tardy slip to complete or drop of their late pass in the designated container (on my desk). The student is expected to get to their seat immediately thereafter and get caught up with the class.
Students are familiar with the workshop model as they have used this learning approach in sixth and seventh grades. We will continue with the same process in eighth grade.
I keep a message board outside of my classroom when I need to share important information with students. Please read it regularly.
At the front of the classroom is my "I don't know" anchor chart. I want to see students move away from giving this phrase as a response to science questions so I have provided alternative responses that can be used.
This board is usually used for differentiating activities. Students will get the option of choosing different tasks to complete learning objectives throughout the year.
Table Arrangement
Each table and chair is numbered. Students will be assigned seats from time to time depending on the learning situation.
Bulletin Board
I absolutely love taking pictures of the students engaged in their science work. I hope to have this board filled by the end of the year!
Showcasing quality work is another key feature of my classroom. I will be on the hunt for student exemplars that show great effort, accuracy, and attention to detail.
This year I wanted to help students visual see their performance. We are going to create learning goals for each unit and then evaluate our progress at the end of each goal.
Back Area
The supplies are located in the back of the classroom. Last year, our science department purchased new eyewear for our labs. We will have several "artsy" moments in science. Students are expected to return all supplies to their rightful place.
Here are more of the supplies that we have available to use in our science classroom.
I also maintain a classroom library. The yellow section is for general reading (during Homeroom). If you need to know how to spell a word, find its meaning, or replace a word with a synonym, then check out the green section. The pink section is and lower shelf are materials that I use in the classroom to support instruction.
This is the area of the class where I post individual performance. Students are encouraged to check it weekly to avoid "surprises!"
Right Side
In each class, I will designate someone to be the paper manager. This person will be responsible for passing out papers during the latter part of the initial or latter part of the class.
What do you do when you're absent? Well, that's easy! During homeroom or the work session of the class period, locate the assignments that were missed and get them completed immediately. I will also let you know when they are due.
Everything we do in class is based on one of the standards I have written in this chart pad. Students should refer to it when they are curious as to the standard we are focusing on for the day.
Left Side
Papers missing the heading or student's name will end up right here. If a student notices that they didn't receive a graded assignment, they should first check here. Once they locate their work, they will need to put a name on it and turn it back into the turn-it-in-tray.
These anchor charts contain information that I believe will help make routines and procedures commonplace in my classroom. If a student is ever in doubt, then he/she should check the wall.
Each student will be responsible for maintaining a data folder. These folders will be used during conferences so that parents can see how their children are doing in science.
Just a few more anchor charts...
Front Table
We use a lot of staples and tape in my class as well. I will keep these resources in the front of the class. If students borrow them, they must return them to this very area.
We will turn in assignments here this year. In addition to turning in our assignments in a central location, we will also highlight our heading on every assignment. This will help this teacher's eyes out quite a bit this year!
I provide pens and pencils for students who forget their supplies. However in order to always have these resources for students, it is important to return anything that is borrowed.
Well...
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!
