I'll talk about the ins and outs of 2nd grade a little later. In the mean time let's talk about The Whitaker Workshop
As I rolled into 2nd grade with a classroom theme. The theme is " Building the next Generation". So the decor is all about construction, building and workshop.
This sign greets all who come to my room. The kids love it! I wish I had made it a little larger so the sayings around the letters could stand out more. Next time.
This is a shot into my classroom. I have this mini-hallway before you get into the class. It's a great surface area to create "get ready to learn" space. Sometimes my kids use it as a run way to sprint through. We'll be stopping that Monday morning.
This is a reverse shot of the same mini hall.
This is what it looked like when I left Friday. We review the rules twice a day. I found out quickly that my room is to big for this small sign. So I finagled and wrote them out on two large sticky notes and posted them around the room. *Shout out to my secret decoration angel. She's the truth and very passionate about classroom decor. She takes your idea and RUNS with it. And she's not for hire.
This is where I'll post some of the spectacular work my kids produce.
I took a picture of each of my students with a hard hat and an apron on. I printed and cut the pic out posting each on a different gear. I continually remind them that they each work together to help us all reach out goal of 3 rd grade and a life time of learning.
How my room looked before we started really digging into the theme.
Our new class moto over the coat rack. Used an old tool box to set up the theme. It will also be my "treasure" box. I'm looking to fill it with things the students like. As they're caught being kind or doing good work I'll let them dig in the tool box for a reward. Thinking of some good rewards that they'll like and won't cause me to pull my hair out cause they've had candy and are now bouncing off the ceilings.
How my word wall and tech area looked before.
New Word wall area. Words will be going up this week. My plan is to make the words look like bricks to work with the building theme.
A math station. I have clothes pins attached to the wall so I can swap in or out a center board or another math theme.
This was again a shot of my class in the beginning.
This is a shot of the room how it greeted the students on Wednesday. We made table caddies with the table number on them. When I pass out crayons or scissors they go into the caddy and they return to the caddy. The Table Captains are responsible for getting them back to me.
I'm working on replacing that very unique and quite dingy rug. It doesn't work with the decor, but for now it's what I have.
Every morning the kids come and get their apron for their specific jobs. This pic doesn't show the job titles on the apron. I did that a little later. I had the kids complete a job app based upon the job they wanted. It was very fun.
The class jobs are:
- Apprentice (FKA Teacher's helper)
- Tool Manager (FKA Paper Passer)
- Runner (FKA Errand person)
- Foreman (FKA Clean up person)
- Architect (FKA Line Leader)
- Engineer (FKA Line Monitor)
I was going to make hall passes, but I found that the kids LOVE to wear an apron around. So, I started just giving them an apron to go to the restroom or what not.
The classroom rules are simple: 1. We raise our hands to speak 2. We speak when we should. 3. We respect others. 4. We follow all instructions. My plan is during a day or two day period as I see kids doing the right thing or doing great work I'll drop some kind of warm fuzzy in the bucket. Since I use ClassDojo I could easily tie this into filling the bucket daily. Of course as the kids get better at that one rule I'll just move to the next or the next behavior I'd like to see more of.
So far I really think the feed back has been positive. I didn't get a pic of my mobile desk and some other things. I'll make sure to add them this week. The kids like it and that's the best part. Now on to the content and making sure each of them is best prepared for 3rd grade.
My return to Crossfit South Cobb has been met with rewards. I feel MUCH better when stressed and I'm sleeping better. I feel strong. Albeit not as strong as I have, but I know that's coming.
Day 7 sans sugar and coffee. I'm through the wilderness already. I feel great. I'm still gonna enjoy an iced coffee every now and then, but it will have to be sugar free and I'm pretty sure I won't want that everyday.
