Welcome Back to Room 204!

SUMMER CAME AND WENT FASTER THAN I HAD EXPECTED. AS THE LAST BELL RANG ON JUNE 14TH, I HEADED OUT OF THE DOORS TO FINISH THE SECOND YEAR AT HALSTED MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HEADED DOWN THE SHORE TO MEET RYAN AND SOME FRIENDS FOR THE WEEK. IT WAS THE START OF A GREAT SUMMER. I RELAXED AT LONG BEACH ISLAND IN JUNE, I WORKED A SUMMER MATH PROGRAM IN JULY, AND I WENT TO DISNEY WITH RYAN AND MY FAMILY EARLY IN AUGUST. THEN IN THE MIDDLE OF AUGUST, RYAN PROPOSED!!! (MAYBE THAT STORY WILL BE FOR ANOTHER BLOG POST...) NEEDLESS TO SAY, IT WAS A WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL SUMMER.

AND JUST LIKE THAT, SEPTEMBER CAME BACK AROUND AND SCHOOL WAS BACK IN SESSION! A FEW WEEKS BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, I ASKED MY MOM TO COME HELP ME (AGAIN) WITH MY CLASSROOM. WE WORKED HARD FOR 4.5 HOURS ON A FRIDAY AND MY CLASSROOM WAS FINISHED! I ALWAYS LOVE DECORATING MY ROOM AND MAKING IT WELCOMING FOR THE KIDS, SO I FIGURED IT WOULD BE GREAT TO SHARE IT ON MY SITE AS WELL! 

​THANKS FOR CHECKING IT OUT! ENJOY!

This is the view from the door looking in! I like to start the year with the desks arranged in rows. Throughout the year, I move seats around a lot.

This is my new homework board! I'm lucky to teach all 6th grade math classes, so it's easy to organize this board. "WALT" stands for "We Are Learning To...", and I especially like the "What Do I Need Today?" section to keep the kids organized and ready for the day.

The Math Choice Board is a place student can go if they have a few extra moments to complete extra credit problems. The Quotation Station is a spot I update with some of my favorite quotes! Throughout the year, my students like to submit their favorite quotes for me to use as well.

Last year, I used a lot of competition and graphs with data and LOVED how it worked. We graph the percentage of students who complete their homework in each period. Last year, we had an average of 98% of students completing their homework each day! So, I'm excited to use this with the kids this year - it really motivates them and creates some fun competition. Above the Homework Competition and SmartBoard is a bunch of Kid President quotes my students and I decorated last year!

Here's a few more examples of our classroom competitions! The first one is the Class Averages Competition, where I graph the averages of each assessment. It's useful for the students to be able to see how they measure up against the students in their class as well as the grade. Next is the Multiplication Minute 60 Club. These four names are the students from last year who completed 60 multiplication facts in one minute. The students this year are striving to add their names to the list!

It's tough to read, but this is my academic word wall! Each chapter has the words in a different color!

My desk!! And yes...it does typically stay this bare throughout the year. After I started teaching, I discovered how OCD I was...

The Fridge is a place students can display the work they are proud of! The jars beneath it is my individual incentive program. Throughout the marking periods, students earn tickets based on superior academic work or positive examples of their character. Every few weeks, I pick a few names from the jar. Those students earn a homework pass!

This is sort of my student section. The Shout Out Board is where I recognize students for their hard work. The pink bin is where they pick up missed work! Lastly, the I Have...Who Has Record is a game we play using vocabulary where we race to see how fast we can say the definitions!

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IT'S VERY EXCITING TO START BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH A NEW GROUP OF SIXTH GRADERS, AND IT'S AWESOME TO SEE THE FAMILIAR FACES FROM PREVIOUS YEARS. THE YEAR SEEMS TO BE OFF TO A VERY POSITIVE START!

HERE'S TO ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL AND FUN SCHOOL YEAR. HOPE ALL OF THE TEACHERS OUT THERE HAD A GREAT BEGINNING! GOOD LUCK, ALL!