I would like to take a moment to offer my enormous appreciation for the internet and amazingly creative and nice teachers out there like Jessica Meacham and Jodi who share their fantastic ideas (even though delving into the depths of their fabulous sites is like entering a black hole of time loss).
I am obsessessed!
I am in love.
I need a nap!
I just spent hours poring over Mrs. Meacham's sections on calendar and word work folders. I began searching through her stuff after Kelly's comment that she uses the calendar folders with her Kindergarten students and I was very pleasantly surprised at what I found. Mrs. Meacham not only posts detailed explanations and photos of her creations, but pdf files that anyone can download as well. (The only aspect of creativity that I credit myself with is keeping all the ideas and files very organized on my computer for easy use when I need them). I was already happy enough with the idea for B.E.E folders, but now Mrs. Meacham has risen to another whole level of fabulocity in my eyes! (yes, she even deserves to have words made up about her!).
Because I plan to use a lot of stations in my Kindergarten classroom, I think incorporating word work folders will be a great way to keep materials organized. I can already tell it is going to be a lot of work upfront, but I did get an offer from my friend Jill to help me get ready, so at least I have a helper! I am having slight heart palpitations about the thought of purchasing and creating all of these folders for around 50 students (since I have the AM/PM split). I do get some money from the district to spend, but I think my mental shopping lists already have that beyond used up!
Have you tried out any of Mrs. Meacham's notebook, binder, or folder ideas?
Give me the deets!
I found a good deal on purchasing the baseball card holder pages through Amazon.com (kind of think they should bestow me with the honor of being customer of the year and tack my photo on the wall), but I am a bit worried that this particular brand has plastic that is too thick. I am very tempted by the price (100 sheets for 14.99 works out to be only 15¢ per sheet) and the purchase is eligible for free shipping, but I don't want to get them and then have a problem with 5-year-olds and the fine motor coordination required to remove letter cards from the plastic pockets.
These bad boys are currently chilling in my shopping cart, but I am not ready to pull the trigger and actually purchase yet until I ask you all for your advice! (Thankfully you are some of the smartest, nicest teachers out there who love to talk shop and help a girl out!!)
Then there is the issue of binders. They are so expensive! Any deals you know about? I am thinking of sticking with three prong folders instead of binders (the kind that are plastic and a bit more heavy duty), yet I still have to do some searching. Ideally I would be able to color code for my two different classes and I could get away with two folders per child (in addition to the Nicky's folder that will be used as the B.E.E folder). Regardless of what I buy, I pretty much need to bring a pick up truck in order to transport it all to my classroom. 50 kids is a LOT.
::deep breaths::
Let's get back to how THANKFUL I am that many most of the materials required to assemble these great folders have been handed to me on a silver platter so that all I have to do is kill a gazillion trees print them out. I can't exactly expect her to gift wrap some binders and baseball card protectors now can I?
I <3 the idea of having each child be responsible for daily calendar activities in his/her own calendar folder. When I taught first grade I had one student per day be my helper and towards the end of the year that child would get to be in charge of the entire calendar time. The kids definitely reveled in their chance to be the teacher, yet attention span and participation was not spot on for every child everyday. For some kiddos, calendar time was a post lunch/recess napping opportunity. Needless to say this sounds like a great way to get every kid involved every day.
Have you ever read the story My Teacher Sleeps in School? That just might be me from August 16th-30th! (lots of moral support, Diet Coke, and chocolate will be necessary!)
I don't mean to sound dramatic...I am chomping at the bit to get into my classroom and get started on all of these projects and ideas that I have blatantly stolen borrowed from others. I love the feeling of getting organized and the satisfaction of accomplishment when it's all done (who am I kidding--it's never all done), but you know what I mean. The To Do lists are in full effect and my bank account is currently cringing at the thought of what will be spent next week. I am pretty excited for the back to school madness to ensue!
What back to school projects are on your list?
Which ones are driving you batty?
4 comments:
I know all about spending money for our students at the beginning of the school year...I'm afraid to gather my receipts and total it all up...thank goodness the shopping frenzy is almost over..we begin with kiddos on the 23rd.
I love all the references to the stealing of ideas in this post. My grade level team calls me "the internet queen" because whenever they ask me where I got an idea, I'm like "found it on the internet" Honestly have come up with probably 2 ideas on my own since I started teaching, thats about it haha.
Okay I got confused reading your post between the calendar folders and the word work folders so sorry if I answer something wrong. I don't use binders for Jessica Meacham's calendar binders- I know weird, I use folders. I staple the monthly calendar on the inside of a file folder, then the weather chart on the bottom, some months I have the kids practice writing their name or tally marks on the back. on the front of the file folder they draw something about that month- such as halloween picture in october etc. My school provides file folders but I have supplied my own at the end of the year when they are gone. To save folders you could just give the kids one folder for the year and they keep their calendar and weather chart in it all year, switching it out as each month passes. Good way to save trees and money....might do that this year.
By the way, Jessica Meacham is a legit celebrity to me. I'd rather meet her than anyone on tv/movies/singers.
I like Kelly's idea of using the file folders. I think that would be much easier. Plus that would save you sooo much money. You could always buy the binders next year! I've thought about using J. Meacham's calendar pages before but I couldn't figure out how to do it easily!
Hi new blog friend! I'm a K teacher (second year) in North Carolina and I recently discovered your adorable blog. I love it!! I too found out about Mrs. Meacham's site this summer and I have spent hours.upon.hours on her site and others getting new ideas. Last year was my first year teaching so it was sort of "do what you can to teach the curriculum and survive." This year, I have so many new ideas and about 4 different "to do" lists before the students arrive! Thanks for reminding me about the calendar folders. I loved them but totally forgot about making them! Can't wait to read some of your older posts!
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