Using Animoto to Create a Classroom Tour

Inspiration

I had a little visitor to come and spend some time in my classroom yesterday. My visitor, the daughter of two of my coworkers, is a little girl full of energy.  This kid is so inquisitive and can soak up information like a sponge!  Just precious! We spent some time looking over my Giant Microbes collection. She had tons of questions and I thoroughly enjoyed answering each one.  Until she stopped by for a visit I was feeling a little frustrated and overwhelmed with all the things I still needed to complete. Our discussion reminded me of how much I like just sitting back and talking to my students.  I sometimes spend too much time trying to create a lesson plan or activity but often lose focus of truly reaching my students and catering to their questions. This little girl helped me to refocus my energy.  It really is amazing how inspiration can sneak up on you.  

The Giant Microbes that were the focus of our conversation....

My portrait!  

A Look Inside My Classroom

As much as I hate saying goodbye to summer, I really do enjoy decorating and organizing my classroom.  Now getting up at 5:30 each morning is something I absolutely dislike!  But the students are coming in one week whether the room looks good or not!  So I decided to get a head start on the decorating and organizing.  I still have a lot of things to work on but this is my classroom as of today :) 

This is the welcome sign outside of my classroom. 

This is the back wall and lab station. 

Zebra Themed BOGGLE Board!

Earlier today I posted a boggle board template.  That template doesn't exactly match my color scheme this school year.  So I created one with a zebra print theme!  Here is the creation:

Right now the letters are not stationary.  I think I will use velcro dots to hold the letters in place.  

Wild About Following Rules!

I sure hope my students don't get sick of seeing zebra print!  My classroom rules will be posted within a zebra frame and on animal print background paper.

Click the link to download and print your own copy of the zebra rules! 

Zebra Rules

Boggle Board

I always have students to finish their assignment early.  Many students will read a book or study vocabulary, but most will try to get away with doing nothing!  So adding a Boggle Board in my classroom may keep some students more engaged in learning once their assignment is complete.  I know many elementary level teachers use this strategy often.  But I would love some input on using it in middle school.

Boggle Board (in blue chevron design) Click the link to download your own Boggle Board!

Examples:  

Lots and Lots of Stuff!

This morning I woke up with a crazy idea to organize all of my recently purchased classroom supplies.  If I had not already organized the small items in my toolbox, this task would have been very daunting!  I have 28 organizer drawers full of stuff and lots of other stuff that wouldn't fit in the small spaces.  This stuff varies from USB flash drives, SD cards, fancy paper, plain paper, crayons, photo albums, ribbons, calendars, notebooks, bulletin board letters, hall passes, paper clips, binder clips, glue, markers, poster board, cleaning supplies, file folders, pocket folders, book covers, acrylic picture frames, pencils, pens, tape dispenser, paper punches, post-its, sentence strips, composition books, brads, duct tape, etc.!  The crazier part is that I still have other things to purchase and make and I haven't even started supply shopping for my own children! I just really hope my students appreciate the time and money I have spent to make my classroom inviting, organized and fun.  I also hope their parents take a few seconds to appreciate the efforts I've made.  

Now my next step is to transport this stuff to my classroom.  There I will re-organize all of the stuff left over from years past.  Talk about daunting!  Then I will attempt to make my classroom a place where my students enjoy learning.