Getting organized with post its

So I am going back to school. My administration convinced me that I need to go into administration in the future. They are thinking near future, I'm thinking a little father on.  I'm definitely not done teaching!

Starting this journey is terrifying and leaves me feeling just slightly out of control. In order to combat that I've reorganized a few things, including my planning book.   

Here's what it looked before.

Not terrible, I know, but in order to feel more inner calm I need to have things in my life look and feel neat. Plus my boxes were just a tad too small and I kept having to cut the post its to make it fit. Annoying. 

This is what I spent 30 minutes creating the other day. 

Just look how beautiful! I also took out those old conference boxes because I wasn't utilizing them very well. Instead I'll just write in the space as needed. 

The printing seemed a bit ridiculous at first, but I love how neat it is and it makes my happy. Happy=calm. Calm=less anxiety. 

It's actually very easy. I created a word document with boxes that fit my post its. I just put them on and slide it through the printer! 

Here are a few tips: 

1) Make sure that the sticky side is at the top so it goes through first. This is important so your post its don't lift up and jam your printer. 

2) Before you put your paper through, press it flat. Run your hand from the top to the bottom. This will help so the sides don't accidentally lift. 

I have free printable a of these going up on my TpT. Check it out! 

Updated Guidelines

Not too much different from a week ago, but I added some information and some clip art to help fill in the pages a little bit.  I'm hoping this will be better than my plain old boring guidelines!

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.)

The Teacher Binder

So I promised some pictures of my teacher binder and here they are! 

**Remember, I'm still building this and it will probably change as we get closer to school and then throughout the school year as well.

Calendars

- I have a monthly calendar and it's broken into sections.  I've purposefully left the dates off so I can print out the same thing next year and just enter in the correct dates.

- I've broken up my tabs into two-three months section.

 These are my planning pages. Obviously I'll probably have to tweak them a bit when I get my teaching schedule, but I made the boxes large enough for small post-it notes, which I think will be the way that I go this year.  I'm so tired to erasing and rewriting plans due to assemblies, early dismissal days (I always seem to forget) or other things.

 

I actually have this "Looking Ahead"  section first. 

Planning Notes

I have sections for Class Lists, Ideas, Meeting Information (any notes that we get at in-service meetings) and RTI/IEP information for students.

I already have some notes in my binder for the things that I want to work on this summer and ideas for bulletin boards, classroom set up, and more!

 That's my start so far and I need to update my tabs.  I used some old ones that I had left over from the years past.

Tomorrow is my day that I spend up at school helping with our summer lunch program.  Not sure what I will get finished, but I'm working on making the seat covers for my crate seats.  I found this on Pinterest, so I can't take credit for it, but it's a great idea.  I'll try and post some pictures as soon as they're finished.

Organizing, Planning, and Reviews!

SUMMER ORGANIZATION TOOLS
I stopped by Target for a few random things today and amazingly I walked out with much more than I had planned on buying.

Look at these!  They were in the dollar section!  I was really excited to find them and bought ten of them.  There were some bright green ones as well, but I am sticking with black.  I haven't decided yet what to use them for, but I know one of them will be used for pulling names.  I'm still brainstorming other ideas. 

I also picked up a few different note pads and pens and pencils for my reward box.  I love Target.

SUMMER PLANNING EXTRAVAGANZA
This week my plan is to set up by teacher binder as much as possible.  Obviously I can't really put this together.  For one, I won't have finalized class lists until a few days before school.  Also, I don't know what my teaching schedule will be yet.  So I want to be able to tweak things, but have a good solid basis for my teacher binder before we get there.  Then I can just fill it all in as I go along.   I'll try and post some pics of it as it begins to take shape over the next few days.

I also want to buy and make my crate seats.  Although I haven't seen crates at Target or Bed Bath and Beyond.  I did find them at Office Max, but they were $8 each and I didn't want to spend that much.  I'm going to Walmart tomorrow to see if they have them in.  I think I might have to wait a month or so, though.   I hope not.  I have plans man!!


READING UPDATE
I just finished Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel last night.  (Stayed up until midnight to finish it!)  I'll be honest, at first I thought I would be dragging myself through this book, but after the first couple of chapters I was hooked.  Half Brother explores animal experimentation and our responsibility to animals as humans through the eyes of a young teenage boy whose parents are scientists.  As part of an experiment, his parents bring home a baby chimp to be raised in their home as a part of their family.  I was very appreciative of the way Oppel had Ben questioning his parents, his friends, his mentor, and himself throughout the novel.  It was believable, just as believable as the relationship that forms between Ben and his "half brother" Zan.   I definitely recommend this book.  I think it's one that my students will really enjoy as well and I'm looking forward to sharing it with them.