White Armoire

I had this armoire in my garage for several months trying to figure out what I want to do with it.  I decided to place it in my bedroom for my husband clothes.  So, I started with this piece, it was so hard to paint because of the intricate design on the front. I sand it down and prime it inside and out.  I did not do anything with it for a week.  Finally, I painted the piece twice and let it sat overnight.  The next morning, I used Miniwax Polycrylic on the armoire, I had to sand it down once and apply another coat. Later that evening I put the original hardware back on the armoire.  This is the finally result:

The Happy Planner Teacher Edition

I just purchased The Happy Planner Teacher Edition.  I was so excited to find this planner because I wanted a lesson plan book where I did not have to order online, but I could walk into the store and purchase. I teach a program called AVID in my middle school. The grades I teach are 6th, 7th, and 8th, so I have a total of six classes.  I need a planner that would work for middle school and this was it.  Before I made my decision I looked at a couple of YouTube videos and liked what I saw.  So, I decided to purchase The Happy  Planner at my local Michael's. The cost of the planner was $39.  I used my Michael's coupon which 40% off on any purchase plus my teacher discount which was an additional 15%, so I purchase more things for my classroom because of the money I was saving.  Michael's also sells the accesories for The Happy Planner Teacher Edition.

  Here are the links to the YouTube videos:
Happy Planner: Teacher Edition
Teacher PlannerComparison: Happy Planner vs. Plum Paper

The End of Another School Year

This year has been very crazy. I moved five times in one school year and lost five out the six leadership classes I created, but gain three AVID classes, and two service learning sections.  My last classroom was partial design by my AVID partner because I moved into her room and she had to move into another room to replace a teacher who left in the beginning year.  See I told you, it was crazy.  My current room is smaller, but I made it to my liking and you know Pinterest was my inspiration.

The classroom was set up for Philosophical Chairs.  The students worked hard to prepare for this assignment and they were excited to express their point of view based on supported facts.

The design of the bulletin board was done by my AVID partner and the work that was posted on the board was great.  The student wrote a memoir of an event on their timeline, but I added a twist. Students had to create that particular memory as art work based on Faith Ringgold book Tar Beach. 

This area of the room is the Students' Center.   They have their basic supplies, they turn their completed work in the trays and also get information on different colleges when needed. 

Our district uses the classroom management called CHAMP (Conversation, Help, Activity, Movement, Participation).  The letters are being held up by self stick magnets.

This is my favorite area because it is mine and students are not allow back here. 

My School Planner

 Since I started teaching AVID in October, I am teaching two 6th grade classes and one 7th grade class.  I am continuing to teach a 6th grade Leadership class, and I have two 8th grade Service Learning classes.  I need to stay organize and to keep track of what I am doing in each class.  I have always used the old blue teacher planners to help me with this.  So, I took the old lesson book and turned it into an interactive planner.  I went to the Dollar Store and Michaels (only items on sale and my teacher discount was used) to buy items I would use to decorate my planner, so this will help me stay organize.

Supplies for my planner

This is what a week looks like in my planner.

6 classes in one week and special announcements

Journey to Eating Healthy

Okay people, it is a new year and I am trying again to convenience my family to eat healthy.  I loved the YouTuber Fully Raw Kristina.  I want to do what she does, but I am not brave to go fully raw.  So, my family and I are taking baby steps.  I went to the Dollar Store and purchased 33 oz. mason jars. I placed lemons, mint, basil, and water into the jars.  We drank the infused water before eating breakfast and it did not taste bad.

Infused Water

Now, I am not a cook but I am trying to cook healthy.  I found this recipe on Facebook it was called  Vinegar-Braised Chicken and Mushrooms.  The recipe called for a Dutch Oven and to be honest I did not know what that was, so I used old faithful, my large Wok.

"Old Faithful"

The recipe was a little easy, but many steps.  I had to brown the chicken on all sides, which took a while because I cooked a tray of chicken breast.  Then, I cut them up and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and poultry season.

Afterwards,  I cooked my vegetables, which were pretty easy, except the garlic.  I did not know how to crush garlic.  I looked on YouTube and tried to follow the directions, but I could not get them the way it was supposed to be.  The recipe also stated to discard the garlic once cook.  I could not figure how to do that. Oh well.

Then, I combined the vegetable to the chicken and vinegar.  I cooked brown rice to go with it.  It took me about 2 1/2 hours to complete the entire meal. My family loved it and they are looking forward to our next meal.  

FINISHED

Back Teaching AVID

It was a turmoil year at my school.  I started teaching my 6-8th Leadership class, but budget cuts happened and we had to surplus teachers.  With that in mind, I lost my classes and was moved to AVID, which I loved any way.  It was bitter sweet to take my Leadership classes and give them to other teachers.  I was allowed to keep one class of 6th graders.  I was moved to AVID in the beginning of October.  I am currently teaching 6-7th graders which was great, but now it was like the first day of school again, I had to go over my ritual and routines, my expectations, and try to figure out where I needed to start.  So, I decided to teach them how to do Cornell notes.  You know I am a Pinterest fanatic, so I needed something that will help my 6th graders to remember how to use their Cornell Notes and remediation for my 7th graders.  So the search began.  I found an image, so I constructed my bulletin board.


Now, that was done.  The next lesson I started was how to do a tutorial.  I needed another visual to help them with the Tutorial Request Form (TRF).  I found another idea that was on Pinterest, but they used chalk paint on the wall, but I did not want to do that because I change rooms each year.  So, the light bulb went off in my head and I came up with placing black bulletin board paper on my closet door and I had a couple of my students create the TRF on the door with chalk.  It came out great.

 

2014-2015 Leadership Classroom

It's the end of the school year and I took pictures of my classroom before I took everything down before summer break. This school year 2014-2015, I taught for the first time a Leadership class.  I had to create my own curriculum which was exciting.  I decided to use round tables for collaboration and projects.  Each table had four students.  Here are some of the pictures of my classroom.

I only had one bulletin board, so I decided to use it as my background behind my desk.

On the blue wall students had to come up with quotes that were inspirational to them and I put them on the wall.  Also, this area I kept my library and supplies that the students used on a daily basis.

My student display their work on the walls and I had a place on the back table where they turned in their work.

The white board was the class Command Center.  We did a lot of service projects, so we created a large monthly calendar.

The blue line on the floor was for our Philosophical Chair discussions.  I did not use chairs when we did this activity because it was too much to move the chairs back and forth over the line.  I had my students stand and if they changed their opinion they just walked across the blue line.

This was the front of my class where I displayed students' work and I used several ideas from Pinterest to create what went on my whiteboards.