It’s All Becoming Real

I blinked and pre-planning is next week!!  I’ve had a productive and relaxing summer, so no regrets (not even that 20 hour drive to Boston).  Now it’s time to put my game face on and head back to work.

My game face!

I’ve setup  my classroom, for the most part.  I call it my cubby.

 

Just moving in

Just moving in (another angle)

Flexible seating arrangement

Accessible manipulatives

My lesson plans for the semester are uploaded.  T.I. said, “If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.”

This is T.I.   I don’t know him personally.

And thanks to @JoyKirr, I have selected activities to fill my agenda for the first 2 weeks of school!! Sidebar: I’ll see my classes every other day.

eCLASS Scavenger Hunt

Manipulatives Exploration

Procedures and Routines Nearpod

and More!

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Sneak Peek

Like most people in my profession, my summer has been laced with relaxation and preparation for the coming school year.  I made this short (10 minutes) video for my collaborators of a new curriculum we’re planning to try this school year.

Just a little background before you view the video.

• I’ll be teaching 6-8 grade math enrichment.
• My max class size will be 20 students.
• I will have access to 20 computers daily.

Personalized Learning Screencast

I’m open to feedback and suggestions.

It Sounds Crazy When I Say It Aloud…

…but it works for me. I always feel like at any given moment I have a billion thoughts flowing through my head at one time!!  I am so distracted by my own thoughts I often have several unfinished projects or tasks or books or hairstyles or folded clothes or whatever. 

So to help me focus I use prayer and lists. 

Lists like these:

have kept me sane throughout the summer. 

Functioning without a dinner menu wasn’t possible for me this summer either:

So I’ve already developed 4 different menus for the school year: 

And it’s not just my personal life in which I need mental organization. 

I need different calendars for the different aspects of my professional life:

And I like to have, if not all, majority of my resources in one easy to get to place. That’s why I developed this over the summer.  It’s a flexbook textbook created using ck12.org. It’s my own personal one-stop shop of concept development tasks, practice activities and center activities. My hope is, as the school year rolls through, I can just pull tasks and activities from here to implement in my classroom. I did this so I won’t have to scramble for ideas during the heat of the moment. I thought carefully and purposefully about everything I placed into the flexbook, ensuring I chose items that were meaningful, engaging and met the level of the standards. 

When I tell people about it, it sounds crazy and overwhelming. The truth is, as thoughts came to me, I was able to insert it into my flexbook and ease my mind and eliminate unnecessary thoughts. This actually made it better for me because while I was spending time with my family, I didn’t have to think about school stuff. I was able to be present in each moment. Even better, it’s less work I’ll have to do as the year begins because the hard work is done.