Recent Purchases

I have been thinking (obsessively) about how to set up my room next year.  Since I have been working full time at a daycare that is an HOUR away from my school, I can't exactly get there to move things around, but I have been sorting things out in my head.

I made a few shopping trips this past week and I am excited to share the things that I have gathered.

Treasures For Teachers-  This store is AMAZING.  Their mission statement it "to provide free and low cost supplies to teachers from community reusable resources".  You pay $35 a year for membership, but it is well worth the price.  Last time I was there, they gave me a huge FREE box of bubble wrap!  I have literally filled my car up of stuff from there and have spent less than $20.

Here is there $5 'Fill A Bag' section.

Here is there laminating and di-cut station.

Here is there FREE section.

Anyway, from Treasures for Teachers I got my big box of bubble wrap (I will be stuffing my DIY bean bag chairs with it... lice will not live in it!), rolls of accounting tape for my writing center, a writing center organizer, a no heat laminating machine, mailboxes, a big couch cushion pillow, and some big books.  All in all I spent just under $30. Here are some pictures of my purchases.

The big couch cushiony pillow, stuffed with bubble wrap of course.
I'd like to either buy a pillowcase for it or make one of my
own using  some fabric that matches my bean bag.

I'm putting this on my writing table.  I can put markers, pencils,
paper, envelopes, accounting tape, etc in it!  Only $2!

The awesome no heat laminator!  $5!  And I checked online,
and the laminate for this machine is only $15!

Ikea- I don't need to tell any of you how amazing Ikea is.  I lived in Michigan up until a few years ago, and had never been to one until I moved out here.  Walking in the store was one of the single greatest things I had ever witnessed.  They have EVERYTHING.  For cheap!  For those of you who don't have one around you, I am truly sorry, and I feel your pain.  You should think about moving.  :)

Anyway, from Ikea, I got some rugs, a trash can (although I'm using it as a place to store my rolled up rugs), a picture frame, an awesome lamp (and light bulbs), and also a couple things for my home.  I spent about $40 at Ikea.  Here are some pictures.

I bought 4 little ruggies at $1.99 each.  Only big enough for one kid to sit or lie on it.

Here's how I'll store the rugs.  The trash can was $3.99.

My amazing new lamp and bulbs.

It will look like one of these when it's not so... in a box.

Anyway, I still need to make a trip to Jo Ann Fabric store.  I need to pick out some fabric to use for the bucket cushions and for the bean bag chair.  I'm thinking green and yellow, but we will see.

That's all for now!

Chao!

Workshop Way

Well I have had a very busy summer, between working (mostly) full time at a day care as a full time float teacher (just for extra summer $$$ :)), and switching to a brand new school, attending the required trainings, setting up my new classroom, and just trying to wrap my mind around the philosophy of my new school.

That's not to say that I do not agree with it, or that I do not wish to incorporate the ideals, because it is actually quite the other way around.  I really find the whole thing to be very powerful in theory, beautiful even! It is just that it is very different from many things that I have learned in college, and it is CERTAINLY different from what I saw at my previous public school.  But as I have said in previous posts, I am teaching at a Charter School so they can be a bit more "Out of the Box" when it comes to this type of thing.

It's called Workshop Way (r), and it is based on the work of Grace Pilon.  I just finished a five day training on it, and immediately searched the world wide web for anything, ANYTHING about this program from teachers who have embraced it.  What I found was very vague, limited information that seemed to leave readers more confused than when they started.  Even when I took to the blogging community, it was essentially unheard of.

However, I understand it, at its core, and while it is somewhat confusing at first (and still can be-at times) I really do believe in what the message is here behind this program, and that is that you can't leave Human Growth up to chance.  Meaning, you have to teach students how to live their lives as "fully dignified, intelligent human beings" as Grace Pilon would say.


"It is a way for students to learn how to learn, how to think, and how to manage their lives"

The easiest way to explain this is to take the words straight from her mouth from a quote in an article called The Workshop Way to Student Success.  She says that Workshop way is

"a way for a teacher to organize time, content, and materials so human growth is not left to chance.  It's a way all teachers can give all students the condition that release their remarkable human potentials.  And it works with all students because it does not depend on where students start.  Neither does it depend on prior learning of students or on the background of teachers."

I highly recommend anyone to read the full article above, as it will give you much more information than I can at this time.  Admittedly I still have such limited knowledge on the subject because I have not  taught, or lived rather, this philosophy.

What I can say about it is this.  In my classroom I will be hanging six of the philosophy signs:

Everyone has the right to time to think.


It takes COURAGE to be willing to risk.


We are FREE to make mistakes while learning.


We RESPECT the rights of others.


We don't have to know everything today.


It is intelligent to ask for help.


My students will be familiar with these mantras, and understand them as universal truths inside our classroom.

I will also be setting up tasks for students to be doing independently while I meet with each individual student to listen to their homework, which is a list of vocabulary words and phrases that they read fast in order to develop fluency, word meaning, confidence as a reader, and accountability for studying the list each night.

The homework comes in a pack that my school ordered from the company, as well as the ideas for the tasks.

You can order these items here. 

I will be posting more information about the tasks, homework, and overall climate of my new classroom as everything progresses.  I have a feeling that this year is going to go a lot more smoothly than it has in the past because of this program.  It's all about taking the fear out of taking risks while learning.  We will see how things go!

Please let me know if I have violated any copyright laws with this post, and I will do what I can to fix it!  Like all of my students, I am still learning too!!