Pinterest Inspired Classroom

We have officially lived in our current apartment for a year.

I have officially been working at my current school for a year.

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I work at a year round school and I love it. Many people seem skeptical of the year round thing or they don't want to give up their summer. I think it's great because I get breaks all throughout the year. My schedule basically works like this: 9 weeks in school, 3 weeks off. It's great for reevaluating at the end of each quarter to see what works and what didn't. It makes it easy to try something new and to plan. I was not nearly as stressed this past year as I was my first year when I was at a traditional school.

I started back to work this past Monday and this week is our work week. No kids are here. The students start this coming up Monday.

My classroom has been majorly Pinterest inspired. 

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it was a great idea. Instead of spending my time trying to ask and figure out who a "no name" paper belongs to, I will just hang it up here and they're responsible for checking it.

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Here's my version:

 

I saw these on Pinterest and wanted to do something similar because students are constantly in and out of the room for different reasons. I thought this would be great so that I didn't have to try and remember where everyone was. I also liked the idea of clothespin hall passes because it's easy and hopefully won't get as germy or lost as much.

 

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For my version, I changed it up a little bit and decided to use magnets. I also have seen over and over again on Pinterest things that use cookie sheets as magnet boards. So, I bought 2 cookie sheets and I cut out small circles with my Cricut that I glued on magnets. The top one is where all of the students' names will go and it shows that they are in the classroom. When they leave the classroom, they move their magnet to the appropriate area on the bottom one. I hung them by ribbon on hooks so that if there were to be a fire drill and many students were out of the room, I could take it with me and know who was not with me. I made it simple by just hanging the clothespin hall passes on the "out" board so that they can grab one after they move their magnet. Here's my version:

I saw this math rotation idea on a blog I follow first and then I pinned it to Pinterest. I definitely did not do a great job with math centers last year and I wanted to redo how I teach math anyway. This idea seemed very simple and yet effective.

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For my version, I put it on a trifold board. Part of being in a year round school is rotating rooms, so things need to be mobile. My fellow teacher, Mrs. Cusick, came up with the great idea of putting it on a trifold. She also had the great idea to use the cute duct tape as a border. Here's my version:

 

The last thing I want to share with you that I found on Pinterest is my most repinned pin ever. It's a quote I saw and loved. I want to use this quote as our class motto. I want the students to worry less about grades and passing tests (I know those things are important) and more about doing their personal best. I also want them to understand that everyone's best is not going to look the same. My plan is to have us say this every morning and refer to it often. I hope it will make a difference in their work quality and motivation.

 

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Here's my poster version:

I have many other great ideas I've found on Pinterest to use when actually teaching. I hope to keep you updated on what those ideas were and how they are working out for me. 

Want to follow me on Pinterest?

 http://pinterest.com/mdhall88/

Thanks for reading!