Classroom Organizer

 I have discovered this great website (via Pinterest, of course) that allows you to put all of your classroom library books onto your account and then students can get online and check out the books.  It's called Classroom Organizer. 

Now, I haven't actually used this yet except to enter all the books onto my account, but in theory it sounds great!  There is also an app that allows you scan books in, however, it wasn't that great.  The problem with the app is that not all of the barcodes actually scan in the ISBN number.  I found it easier to simply type in the ISBN on my computer as I can type on a keyboard faster than I can type on my phone.

I will update later about the effectiveness of this website.

I do have two photos of my classroom to update from earlier this week.  It's a disaster, but only because I've started organizing my books into genres and that has led to piles and piles.    My goal is to have an organized classroom library.  So far, all of my books have been entered into Classroom Organizer except for my pictures books.

 I am really excited about this!  It's above my library nook and although it's difficult to see, there are yellow strings going from the bottom point up to the star.  I'll put a clothespin with their name on it and then they move their clothes pin up to the star, which is 30 books.

This is the most awkward bulletin board.  It's super tall and I can barely reach the top.  Last year, I just kept the top section blank because it was easier.  (I did fix the crooked boarder too.  I didn't realize it was crooked until after I took the picture and then forgot to retake it.)

Book Review: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

In How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, the lives of the four Garcia girls are told through short glimpses into each girl's memories and experiences.  The Garcias are an immigrant family from the Dominican Republic who had to flee their home for the safety of the United States.  The four girls have rebelled in different ways and become Americanized, but still have a strong connection to "the island" as they call it. Julia Alvarez begins her novel in a more present time, when the girls are adults, dealing with their adult lives and issues while trying to stay connected to their family.  From there, she moves backward with each chapter until we are finally with the girls when they are are young and back living on the island.

I enjoyed much of this book and was pulled through the first and second section, each of these taking place in the states when they are in their adult lives and then their teen and pre-teen lives.  However, for me the story ended when it moved back to the island before the Garcias were forced to flee from their home country.  In this last section I lost interest.  At first I was curious about why they had to leave, but this was answered rather quickly in the last section, followed by a few more chapters in which we follow the girls on a few adventures while they are living on the island.  None of this really answered any questions for me or tied everything together.  I would have been much happier ending with the episode that explained why they had to leave.

In addition, I felt it difficult to keep the voices of the girls straight.  There are a few chapters told from the Mami's perspective, which I enjoyed, but the rest are focused on one of the four girls.  Unfortunately, switching back and forth from one character to another left me grasping for something that grounded one of them in a place that allowed me understand them.  Voices mingled together and I became lost in which sister was which and who was the oldest.  Maybe this was the point.  Each of the girls (and the mother) refer to the fact that they were known as "the girls" and part of their identity was wrapped up in being a member of this tribe of sisters.  As children, their clothing was color coded.  Each child wore only pink, or yellow, or white.  I can imagine being lost within this larger identity of the family as a unit of four girls, one mother and one father and no individual identity.   Even when they are older, they girls seem to be "the girls" and not their individual selves. 

All in all How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents reads as though it is a collection of short stories about a family of immigrants.  I believe that I would have enjoyed it more had it been advertised as such.  I do recommend this book, but only if you are willing to have a few glimpses into the life of this family.  You will not have a chance to become their friends and worry about them and hope for their well-being.  You will not miss them when it is over.  I give this novel 3 our 5 stars. 

Halfway Through Summer! WHAT?!

Okay, so I feel like I've been a bit of a slacker here.  I started posting and then just stopped.  I've had good intentions to post each week, but there has also been that summer lethargy and it's won out for the past few weeks.  Getting up and running seemed like such an accomplishment, that the rest of my day was a wash. 


No worries, though.  I have been working on some different things here and there over the last few weeks too.  I haven't been a complete slacker, just a little bit of one.  My teacher binder is coming along and I have started filling in my calendar with important dates.  I've also filled up the Notes Section pretty well with ideas. 

In addition, I've been adding more and more to my Reader's Notebook, which is really a binder.  I might have to start calling it a Reader's Binder or else my parents will ask what I'm talking about when their kid told them they didn't have a notebook for my class. 

I've also worked on a few rubrics that I will use throughout the year for weekly and quarterly grades.  There are a few that I can't make yet because it requires the students to become involved in process.  I'm also working on my letter home to parents.


On an exciting note, I got into school today!  My classroom was all clean and tidy and waiting for me.  I've already moved a few things around, but haven't gotten much further than that.  I always feel extremely overwhelmed the first few days I get back into my room.  So many possibilities and so much to do!  Here are some pictures from the before.

This will be my library area.  I have a rug to put in there and on the left I have a "Reach for the Stars" reading wall that I'll be using this year.  Every five-ten books they read, they move their name up the string towards the shooting star.

 This is my teacher area.  The table to the right is both extra work space for me as well as a meeting place for individual or small conferences.  Oh yes, and it can be used as "extra special seating" for those who are in need of such a thing.    (Take at lot at the bulletin board.  It's a mess.  My file cabinet and mailboxes hide a section of it and it just looked stupid, so I moved the border over a tad and recentered the calender.  It looks a little odd, but whatever!)

Yes, the desks are all turned upside down.  I have no idea why they do this, but they do.  I hate these desks, by the way.  I wish I had tables or bigger desks.  These are awful!   Anyways, that corner back there will be an area for literature circles to meet, or a small group to meet and read together.  I have some crate seats I'll be working on this week when my mom comes over to help me out! 

Not sure what to do with that big old bulletin board.  Notice that the background doesn't touch the ceiling.  It's weird.  Maybe I'll use it as a station to pick up work or something of the kind.  It was my "extra credit" area last year. 

 The great big giant closet full of junk!!  You can't see the top of the closet, which is also full of junk.  During the school year, most of that is out in the room somewhere.  Lots to do!

Most of my time at school was spent moving things around and then moving them back.  I might even move those sames things again.  Ehh.  Whatever.  It's how I work.  While I was there, someone brought me the things that I ordered with my classroom allowance.  One of those things was a cardboard mailbox system.  I already have two very nice sets of mailboxes, but it's still not a sufficient amount (even with what I have now) for my classes.  I see over a hundred kids each day.   So I allocated some of my money to this:

 It took me at least 15 minutes to figure out this first part of the assembly process because there were no directions.  None.  I was even thinking that maybe they sent me the wrong thing because there is no way that those pieces will make a mailbox.

After 15 more minutes of searching the internet, I found the instructions and was able to win!  My new set of mailboxes.  I wish it was another color and considered taking the whole thing home and painting it black.  But that seems like a lot more work because I'll have to take it apart again and it took me over 30 minutes to figure this sucker out.   No way is it coming apart right now.  Maybe next summer.  

I promise to take some more pictures as I finish up the space.  I might not get too much more finished in there.  In fact I'm always afraid that as soon as I have everything up, I'll be told that I'm moving rooms.  So the walls will stay bare for awhile still.  So will the bulletin boards. 

Tomorrow I'll post about some of my reading adventures from the past few weeks.  I want to get myself into the habit of posting at least three times a week.