by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 30, 2010 | Reflect
Today I came across this website: Classroom Architect and it is a great planning tool for your classroom floor plan! If you’re like me, every year, you drag items around, moving tables, chairs, your desk, trying to get a bit of a “new look” and maximize your space.
Having moved 7 times in 8 years of teaching (long story, but true!) I have had lots of different rooms. Big rooms, small rooms, high ceilings, low ceilings, desks, tables, teacher’s desk, no teacher’s desk, SMARTBoard, computers… the list is endless.
I just don’t think there is one “perfect” way to set up a classroom. Every teacher, just like every student, is an individual so you just have to find what works for you. With the Classroom Architect, planning that just got a little bit easier!
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 27, 2010 | Reflect
I have gotten several emails lately asking how to make the canvases I had in my city-themed classroom. I thought I would share how I transformed the canvases into new ones for this years classroom. Armed with a few colors of Apple Barrel acrylic craft paint, ModPodge, a variety of cardstock, silver spraypaint, and a glue gun, I set out to redo the canvases. The hardest part was removing the old layers! I went a little crazy with Modge on the skyscrapers last year and ended up just painting over them. They have left these new canvases with a textury, grungy-look that I can appreciate since I didnt have to buy new ones ! This is actually the canvases fourth use and second time being robots! They were originally paintings I picked up in a thrift shop for about 3 bucks each. I think I have gotten my moneys worth!
Even though they are “canvases” the only thing painted on is the background color! These robots are all made with cardstock, the words printed on regular copy paper, and the metal objects spray painted and hot glued on. There is even a pringles container, some scrap ribbon, paperclips, and a soda bottle cap glued on! Recylced Robots!
I say all the time, you do not have to buy expensive things to decorate your classroom. See what you already have and will work with a bit of spraypaint, ModPodge, or acrylic paint. Sure, the supplies cost money, but these are all supplies I had from last year so you can reuse, repurpose, and reenergize your classroom in an inexpensive way!
At open house, I will give each of my students a piece of 5×7 cardstock and their first assignment: Use ONLY recycled materials to design a robot that represents you. I cannot wait to hang their robots on the wall in my classroom! It will be like a family gallery!
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 27, 2010 | Reflect
The other night, I watched “The Right Stuff” and the clips in the movie of the early rockets, the ones that went up and quickly came back down…or never went up at all. Those failed launches contained something so important and are what really led to those amazing astronauts heading into space. If we can teach our students that in every mistake there is something to learn, we’re only giving them one more tool for success.
While I’m not wearing my flight suit anymore (but extremely tempted to on most days) I am still thinking about Space Camp. I’m thinking about the way problems are solved. I’m thinking about the way my students are presented information. I am thinking about how sometimes we limit our students thinking with our own good intentions. We have to be careful to say far less of “Do this…” and say more of “Why do you think that happened?” Students need to see themselves as engineers of their own learning in everything we undertake.
When I see my learners again in the fall, they will each have an “Engineer’s Log” and I will try to step back even more and let them solve the problems. I can be a far better teacher if I am facilitating their learning from the sidelines. Watching, listening, questioning, and knowing when to give just the right amount of guidance. How often are kids allowed to really solve problems? There is so much pressure in the world to keep moving, keep going, get the standards, take the test. But, in reality, as with the earliest rockets that launched, there are failures. There are times when you step back and learn amazing lessons. Those astronauts eventually made it to the moon… but they didn’t get there on the very first rocket launch. We can all learn something from that.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 24, 2010 | Reflect
You know that saying, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure? Well, when you teach, the treasures have a way of becoming extremely useful! I’m starting to get things in order for the fall considering it’s, well, right around the corner. I am using these to decorate my classroom. You may be thinking, what a pile of junk. But, I promise…. it’s a treasure! At least I hope my plan works out and it’s a treasure. I will be sure to dust off the tiny cobwebs and they will likely be getting a nice little coating of fresh spraypaint.
A sign at my house that school is almost in session? Paintbrushes drying in the sink, spots of spraypaint in the grass outside, and a hot glue gun heatin’ up! It is true that the more organized my classroom gets in August, the messier my house gets!
What about you, what’s your favorite thing about fall and returning to the classroom after summer break?
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jul 23, 2010 | Reflect
The internet reminds me of a buffet. You walk along, browse, and get what you like. Some things taste better than others, but the best part is, it’s always changing! When I visit Twitter, it’s like having a waitress bring the meal to me. Sites flow through my Tweet stream because I follow {stalk!} people whose interests are in gifted education and educational technology. What they share lands on my plate! Here are ten great {FREE} resources that I have discovered lately and may try to incoroporate in my classroom this fall:
1.) Simple Diagrams: Create graphic organizers that look like chalk on chalkboard…only without the dust!
2.) ScreenJelly: Easily record movements and voice on your screen for up to 3 min! Students could make their own tech tutorials!
3.)Tagxedo: turns words — famous speeches, news articles, slogans and themes, even your love letters — into a visually stunning tag cloud, words individually sized appropriately to highlight the frequencies of occurrence within the body of text.
4.) Professor Garfield Comics Lab: Create comics with Garfield!
5.) Timetoast: Awesome timeline creator!
6.) On This Day in History (NY Times): Kids will love checking this out each day and the only thing you have to do is link it to your site! It could be a great starting point for further research and exploring new interests!
7.) Creaza: Movie editing, cartooning, sound! How could I have never seen this before? Creativity jackpot!!!!
8.) LiveBinders: Gather resources and files easily on the web. This has some major possbilities for students to collaborate! It could even be a quick, easy way to write a webquest! Check out the sample one to see what a set up binder looks like: http://livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=13560
9.) Photo8: WOW! Great collection of photos!
10.) Dropbox: Store files and access from any computer! *Because my flash drive is ALWAYS someplace other than where I need it!
…and just like a good buffet, I am absolutely stuffed after that!
