Elizabeth Richards Teacher Diary 2018

Over the years I’ve used various teacher planners – Erin Condren, bullet journals, generic teacher planners, printed planners from TPT, a Kikki.K binder planner. I love planners. I love trialling new ones. I’m honest with myself when they don’t work, and when they do. I also know I need to switch it up now and then because change reinvigorates the way I interact with them.

I’m going to share a few thoughts on the planner I’m going to begin 2018 using – I’ve also got a video flip through of it, so you can scroll down and hear my thoughts if you like!

This year I decided to trial the Elizabeth Richards Teacher Diary, and bought myself one just to see how it goes.

It’s very similar to an Erin Condren planner – it’s A4 size, and quite thick and thus heavy. However, depending on how you plan to use this, it may not be a problem. I intend to use this as a bit of a classroom ‘bible’ and it will stay at work during the week, and come home on weekends so I can map out my week. (If this is something you’d be interested in seeing as a video, let me know in the comments.)

Let’s talk about a few of the features:

• The front cover is actually a plastic pocket that you can slip covers in and out of easily.
• It comes with 2 sturdy covers, with 2 designs on each (total of 4)
• The back cover is a thick/sturdy plastic with an elastic strap

It has:

• A yearly planner
• Note pages
• Dividers for each month
• Undated monthly layouts
• Undated weekly spreads
• Lesson review space
• Password lists
• Student contact details
• Health information
• Parent communication logs
• Classroom expense tracker
• Professional Development log
• Assessment Checklists

It is very colourful and well laid out. For my intended purpose, which is weekly overviews and on-the-go notes, it’s going to do exactly what I need it to do as a desk planner.

The paper is about the same thickness as general copy paper, so it’s not a planner to be using permanent markers in, but that’s easy to work with.

I’ll be very honest and say I don’t know if I’ll use this one planner for the whole year (I’ve yet to manage an entire year in a single planner), but I want to give it a good go. My detailed lesson plans are all electronic, so this is purely for ensuring that I have a clear visual overview each week and that system works pretty well for me.

Do you use a physical planner? Which one do you love to use?

Cleaning Scissors | A Cleaner Classroom

Back to school inevitably means a lot of cleaning up – tables need to be wiped down, dust needs to be cleared and everything needs to be ready for the first day.

I have to say, one of the jobs I hate the most is cleaning scissors. In my school, scissors are a communal resource in the classroom, and working with little kids means that they get all sorts of glue and gunk on them during the year. It’s gross.

While I was doing a few jobs in the classroom today, I figured I’d collect my new room’s scissors and take them home to clean them. Now, it’s a mixed collection of scissors, but I’ll go with it (and I’d rather spend budget money on better resources than replacing scissors that don’t need replacing!).

Here’s my scissor cleaning tip:

Place all the scissors (open) in a  bucket of hot water – as hot as you can get it – with a scoop of washing powder.

Leave the bucket to sit somewhere for a few hours. I left mine for about 3.5 hours, you could leave it longer or a little shorter, depending on how much time you have. The water will go cold, and that’s fine.

When the time is up, grab a sponge and wipe down the scissors to remove any remaining gunk. You may need a tiny bit of elbow grease, depending on how dirty the scissors were, but it probably took me 15 seconds per pair of scissors, plus rinsing time.

Lay your scissors out to dry completely.

That’s how easy it is!

Do you have a preferred method for cleaning scissors? Share it – or another cleaning tip – in the comments below!

My Classroom BEFORE!

There’s just under two weeks left until the school year officially begins here in Victoria.

So far I’ve kept my holidays pretty much that: holidays. It’s really important to recharge, and what I’ve learnt over the last few years is to take that time to not worry about my classroom. It will still be there when the year begins, and if it’s not 100% done, the world will not end.

Today I had to drop off things I had in storage into my classroom and I took this before photo of my room (mostly because I know I’ll forget to take a before photo next time I’m in!). Most of this stuff is mine, although there are some things that belong to last year’s teacher – it’s always hectic to move things at the end of the year, so we’re pretty accomodating.

Later this week I’ll be going in for the first of two preparation days that my team has organised. We plan on going in together to make it more of a positive experience and to ensure everyone’s on track with what’s going on. I may go in one extra day – it just depends if I’m happy with the amount of work I get done.

I’m super excited about my classroom theme for 2018, which I’ll hopefully reveal to you late next week. What I can say is that it’s based off an idea from a whole school initiate we’ve been rolling out over the last 12 months and I can’t wait to show you the bits and pieces I’ve made to put up.

Do you have a theme for your classroom that you’d like to share?

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Back to School: Teacher Essentials Gift

Whether you’re a parent or a fellow teacher, sometimes we all need to find a quick, thoughtful gift for the teachers in our lives.

One of my favourite things to make for my fellow team members has always been a ‘survival kit’ gift. Now, there are plenty of ideas on Pinterest for those of you who want to do a search and see what’s available for those. They came with cute little tags, usually with puns or phrases that match the items included.

While what I’m sharing with you is similar, I also wanted to keep it pretty practical. My good friend, Shanyn, from Classroom Chit Chat, recently shared a post for Graduate Teachers all about Classroom Essentials (it’s a great post, you should definitely go check it out), with lists of items that every teacher should consider keeping in their classroom to make everything run a bit smoother.

I’m piggy-backing off her ideas and creating a Teacher Essentials Gift that would make a great present to give a colleague, or to give to your child’s teacher. And the best thing? You probably have most of these things lying around your house!

In just two steps, you can create your own personalised teacher gift!

Step 1. Choose your container.
This could be a mug, a travel mug or even a small make-up purse/pouch.
A pro-tip, a travel mug is probably preferable to a mug, because it has a sealable lid, which means it can be carried safely to and from the classroom, minimising the risk of spilling hot liquid, but you’ll know your recipient better than I do, so go with something you think they’ll like.
You can pick up mugs and pouches all over the place for very reasonable prices, so just keep an eye out for something you like.

Step 2. Fill your container!
Be creative with this – there are so many different items you could include that will always be gratefully accepted by your teacher friend. Try and personalise it to their personality or preferences. These might range from treats to emergency essentials – remember, it’s the thought that counts!

You might like to include:

• Hot chocolate sachets
• Coffee sachets
• Tea/tea bags
• Tissues
• Wet wipes
• Handcream
• Perfume
• Hand sanitiser
• Dry shampoo (travel size)
• Body mist
• Glasses wipes (if they wear glasses)
• Lip balm
• Colourful pens
• Permanent markers
• Fold-back clips
• Rubber bands
• Paperclips
• Pushpins
• Small chocolates
• Mints
• Safety pins
• Stickers
• Stamps

You can really customise this in any way you see fit, and that’s what makes it such a wonderful treat for any teacher to receive (because, believe me, every little bit of stationary helps and treats are always well-received!).

I hope that this inspires you to create your own teacher essentials gift for a teacher in your life!

What ‘essentials’ would YOU include?

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Five for Friday | January 29

#1

This year I have an external door to my classroom (and a bigger, shared deck area). This is one of my room signs… soon to be surrounded by student artwork!

#2

I’m going to miss early morning cuddles with this ridiculous bundle of fluff. He likes to hog the bed.

#3

The newest addition to my reading corner – a Dr. Seuss curtain, made by my gorgeous Mum. She’s been the superstar in my entire classroom move this year, and I’m very grateful!

#4

Today was the first day of school for my class. I like to use a simple, chalkboard-inspired sign for our first day photos!

#5

My post-student classroom at 12:30pm. Had to tidy up before I went to lunch.

Happy weekend, friends!

2016 Classroom Tour

Hello friends!

First up, I hope all my Northern Hemisphere friends enduring the snow are all okay! We’ve heard a bit about it down here and to us it looks pretty, but I can appreciate that it’s actually quite a difficult situation to be in!

Earlier this week I did my first ever Periscope video – a tour of my 2016 classroom set-up.

This is my room. It looks bigger than it is, but I’m happy with how it’s looking for my students’ first day on Friday.

Luckily, I seem to have taught myself (by accident) to save it to Katch, so if you’d like to watch my video tour of my classroom, click the link below!

Let me know what you think!

I was completely nervous, but it was also a lot of fun and I would love to do some more scopes so if you have any suggestions for topics, let me know in the comments.

I hope you’re all having a wonderful start to the week/end to your weekend, and I’ll catch you all soon with some more Back-to-School ideas!

The First Week of Prep

Be forewarned, this is a LONG post!

At the end of January, here in Australia, we will commence the start of our school year. This coming year, I will be teaching Foundation (also known as Prep or Kindergarten, depending on your location). This will be the seventh year that I’ve taught Foundation, in one form or another.

I recently had a request from a  reader who is about to commence her first year of teaching in a Foundation/Prep class about what to do in the first week. Every school and teacher is different, but I’m going to share with you all a general outline of what happens in my school. I want to stress that everything in this post is simply what works in MY school/classroom. (I’d love for people to share their own experiences in the comments.)

At my school, we have a Start Up Learning Program (SULP) that the entire school follows. This program helps us build our new classroom community by establishing classroom norms, rules and procedures, as well as introducing our students to each other and to the teaching staff. It incorporates  programs such as Habits of Mind, BounceBack, deBono’s Thinking Hats and buddy activities. I’d advise speaking to your new school and team about the sorts of programs they usually include at the start of the year.

This program ensures that all the Foundation/Prep classes complete the exact same activities (although not necessarily in the same order or on the same day).

Our Foundation/Prep students start one day later than the rest of the school. This allows the rest of the school to settle in to the school year and also spares the brand-new, youngest members of the school from the usual first-day craziness of the older students. We’ve done this at my school for the last five years and it’s very effective as the second day is generally a lot calmer.

On their first day of school, Foundation/Prep students have a staggered start time from 9:00am, with 2 students arriving at 5 minute intervals. This allows the teachers to spend a bit of one-on-one time with students and their families to welcome them to the classroom. All students are in by 10:00am. While students are arriving, we have out a variety of developmental play-based activities, such as puzzles, puppets, drawing/colouring in, magnets, Lego blocks, plastic animals, toy cars, etc. These activities bridge the gap between Kinder and school and allow students the opportunity to settle quicker. Parents are encouraged to help their child settle and then attend a Tea & Tissues morning tea in our hall, run by other parents.

On this first day, the Foundation/Prep students have a separate recess time. These little guys are the rock stars of the school for the first few weeks and rather than overwhelm them on their first day, we give them some space to explore their new surroundings with their same-age peers rather than have the older kids come and crowd them. It gives us the opportunity to explain play spaces, areas that are out of bounds and what to do in the yard if they hurt themselves or need help (i.e.: find the yard duty teacher).

Students finish before lunch time on the first day only. Prior to the end of their day, we invite their Grade 5/6 buddies to come down and meet them. Their buddies were assigned before the end of 2015 and most students had the opportunity to meet them. The older buddies come down to reintroduce themselves, greet their younger buddies and then, at 12:30pm, walk them out to their parents. This gives the buddies an opportunity to introduce themselves to the parents, but also ensures that the Foundation/Prep students don’t just wander off at pick-up time.

We start every morning with a picture book after taking the roll. Books may include stories about starting school. I also find it useful to read familiar and popular picture books, such as Mem Fox books, Dr. Seuss books or Eric Carle books.

We put together a Starting School booklet for all students that contain a range of activities:

– All About Me (Name, Age, Self-Portrait)*

– I’m a Success (Yellow Thinking Hat activity – students draw/write something they are good at)*

– I Like to Play (Students draw/write something they like to play and share with the group)*

– My Family (Students draw/write about their family)*

– Facts About Me (White Thinking Hat activity – students look in a mirror and draw themselves as they see themselves in the mirror, i.e.: the facts)*

* I do occasionally make copies of these activities to make books for the classroom library. It’s a quick and easy way to develop your own book collection and students love looking back at their own work! I’ve uploaded a starting school booklet on TPT for those who would like these activities.

We use a range of activities from our integrated studies units. These activities include a morning of rotations where each class of students gets to work with each Foundation/Prep teacher (we have four classes, so four rotations).

We have a variety of Buddy Activities, the first being the meet and greet mentioned on the first day, a buddy handprint task where students and their buddies trace and then decorate their handprints (which we then display in the classroom). The buddies also take students on a tour of the school and then come back and assist the Foundation/Prep students in pasting photos of school staff onto a map of the school (such as the Principal, AP, office staff, specialist teachers, etc). We also have a few recess/lunch sessions together, too.

We build classroom community and procedures by creating a T-chart of “What Makes a Good Student?/What Makes a Good Teacher?” We create a morning procedure flow-chart of what students need to do each morning when they come in the classroom. We discuss our whole school behaviour management procedure (The Five Steps). We look at what is in students’ lunch boxes – the things they can eat for fruit snack, recess and things for lunch.

Students also have the opportunity to attend some of their specialist classes (our school has specialist ICT, Science, Physical Education, Japanese and Arts teachers), and to participate in a range of developmental play activities, often in the afternoon.

If I have time, I like to use activities from my Start Write Away class books pack over the first few weeks to build up our classroom library and have a lot more student work in the classroom.

As a new teacher in Foundation/Prep, you will be VERY tired. It’s a lot of fun and very rewarding, but little kids are very high energy, so be prepared to take it easy on yourself in the afternoons/evenings.

Model everything. Don’t assume they understand what you’re asking them to do. Use short, simple steps and have students repeat the steps back to you.

Young students will either finish things very quickly or very slowly and you’ll have both groups of kids in your class. Be prepared to have a few phrases up your sleeve (like, “I love how you’ve used your favourite colour to draw your picture. What other colours could you include?”). Tip: I like to create a 3 Star Colouring-in chart with the kids to set my high expectations on work, which usually alleviates some of the “I’m Done in Five Seconds” students.

If all students finish quicker than you expect, go with it. Wrap up the task, then read a book (have LOTS of books on hand – if you don’t have a large collection, see your school library/librarian) or sing a song. Foundation/Prep students LOVE to sing songs, especially ones they know. They also don’t care if you can’t sing well. I like If You’re Happy and You Know It (because you can draw this one out with students suggesting new actions) and Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (because it has lots of physical activity in it). Also, check out GoNoodle – a great free resource that I use every single day in my classroom.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time chatting to parents. They’re anxious at this time of year, and giving them a few minutes before or after school will work in your favour in the long-run.

Start every day fresh and with a smile. You’re going to have an amazing year!

I hope that helps some of my readers who are just starting out. Remember to enjoy yourself and your class!

Five for Friday (Jan 30th, 2015)

 

#1

My Mum is growing these beautiful sunflowers and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of them!

#2

At the moment I’m obsessed with eggs for breakfast. This is a weekend treat though, because I don’t have time to cook eggs in the morning before I run out the door!

#3

This week school commenced for the year here in Melbourne. These Summer holidays marked the LEAST amount of time I spent in my classroom before teachers returned from break (a grand total of ONE DAY ONLY). This is a really quick shot of how my room is set up for this year. I’ve somehow managed to make the room feel bigger just by moving some things around.

#4

I moved my reading corner this year. With a whole class of Foundation students I didn’t have a need for all my chapter books, so they’ve been boxed up. Plus, I put away a whole stack of books just to try and declutter the classroom a bit. That said, on the opposite side of the room I have a whole shelf of the books that I tend to use for read-alouds – mostly school-themed books, phonics books and Australian authors.

I have to say, this reading corner proved very popular with the new kiddos today.

#5

Today was the first (half) day for my kiddos. I always take photos.

And yes, I know I’m supposed to call them ‘Foundation’ this year but that just DID NOT sit nicely in my little chalkboard sign. Do I feel bad? Not so much!

Especially not when the kiddos’ photos turned out pretty cute!

What was the highlight of your week?

January Pick 3 Pinterest Linky

Hello and Happy New Year!

It’s been a while since my last blog post, but I’ve been busy. Currently I’m a long, long way from my lovely home in Melbourne. In fact, I’m all the way across the world in Canada, staying with my best friend.

Can I just say, it’s much colder here than it would be at home!

I’ll try to upload some photos from my trip – not that there’s too many of them at the moment because mostly we’re chilling out and relaxing, which is awesome! – but until then, I thought I’d join in this fun linky that I’ve seen in my feedly list today.

It’s hosted by Inspired Owl’s Corner and PAWsitively Teaching, and I think it’s a lot of fun!

Now, I have to admit, I’m thinking ahead a bit to the 27th of January when I’ll be returning to work for the START of a brand new year, with a brand new class. For those who are new to my blog and unfamiliar with Australian school years, our school year runs from Jan/Feb – Dec (with our Summer break over Dec/Jan).

So, without further ado, here is my Top 3 Pinterest ideas I want to try out this month:

Click the image for the Pinterest link (I did have trouble finding the original post for this though, so my apologies – let me know if you know where it belongs and I’ll update the links!). I think this would make an amazing display for the first few weeks of school as all students are settling in to their new classroom!

More handprints! I think this would be a really nice way to ease separation anxiety – especially with parents. I’m teaching a straight Foundation (Kinder) class next year and I think it’s important to remind students AND parents that they’ll see each other again soon.

This one I thought would be an amazing piece for portfolios. We put together a book of samples of student work throughout the year to give to students at the end of the year as a reminder of all the great work they’ve done. (And, especially in a world where people like to declutter, it gives parents an option to save ONE book with lots of work samples rather than having to keep EVERY book and piece of work.) How lovely would it be to have one of these at the START and END of year?

So those are some of my favourite Pinterest finds for this month. I’m sure there’ll be PLENTY more to come. If you don’t already follow me on Pinterest, do stop by! I have over 9000 pins (yes, my mind does boggle at that number!) and they’re predominantly teaching related.

Don’t forget to join in the linky – just click the links at the start of this post to take you back to check out all the other amazing blog entries for even more inspiration.

Until next time, have a lovely week! ❤