Updating Teacher Binders

Admission: I haven't updated my teacher binder (cover, divider pages) since I created it five years ago.

That's right, it was 2008.  Don't believe me?  Here's the post.

No wonder I was feeling ready for a change yesterday as I tackled the next organizational chore on my summer to-do list: sorting through binders.

When Uncle Sam decided to move my family from Alaska to New Mexico, there was no way I could bring every single teaching resource with me, so I became a binder queen, sorted through all of the reproducible books I had, tore out the pages I thought I might need, divided them by month into wide, three-ringed jobbies, and donated the rest.  It lightened the load considerably from what I started with, but the binders, August through May, were chock-full.  

As my husband has retired and we've been in our home for almost two years now, I decided that it was time to look through my stash of reproducibles and whittle down as much as I could to free up some much needed space in my classroom cabinetry, though I really just wanted to update the covers on the binders that I've been using for lesson plans, student data and subs.  It took self-bribery to motivate me: You know, if you take care of the monthly binders, THEN you won't feel guilty about decorating the other ones.

I may have also promised myself an iced vanilla chai as an added incentive.

See the eleven binders on the middle shelf?  They're no longer there.  I worked the stash of October-May reproducible pages down to TWO BINDERS.  Teachers are natural hoarders but let me tell you, the occasional purge is liberating.  Since the pages I removed are being donated to a local pre-school program, I don't feel like anything is being wasted. 

Whew.

And my reward to myself?  Reworking the covers of my frequently-used-binders!

First, I had to trim a piece of 12 X 12 scrapbook paper so it would slide into the clear pocket/sleeve on the front cover:

Using page 5 of Kimberlee Fulbright's free Editable Teacher Binder, I used cardstock to make cover pages for my lesson plan, student data, substitute teacher and quarterly reproducible binders.  I also used page 5 to print off divider pages for the quarterly binders: math, reading, writing, science and social studies, art and music, and assessments that I slid into page protectors.

To the left is the original cardstock size, on the right is the trimmed version:

After gluing the back of the cardstock, I adhered it to the scrapbook paper and smoothed out air bubbles and wrinkles with a brayer:

Saving ink, I printed in grayscale/black and white since I knew I was going to add cardstock punches that would provide a happy pop of color.

Sticker time!

After sliding the page into the sleeve/cover:

Bright and happy and hard to miss, organized binders save me a lot of time when planning, tweaking, and tracking down info.

*****

Need some more binder inspiration?  Visit:

~ Lindsey over at The Teacher Wife: How to Create Your Own Teacher Binder

~ Jenny at Luckeyfrog's Lilypad: Teacher Binder Remix

~ ... and Mrs. H at Once Upon a First Grade Adventure: Project Binder-ize!

A Gift to Myself: Erin Condren Planner and Desk Pad

The founder and employees of erincondren.com did not ask me to promote or share any information, links, or photos of their web page or products, nor have they offered compensation to me in exchange for blogging about them.  That being said, I'm not about to keep this discovery of a gem to myself!  Read on:

After spying an awesome day runner/planner and desk pad in the classroom of one of my fabulous colleagues in May, I promptly ~insisted~ she tell me where she got them.

I didn't ask, and if I remember correctly, I didn't use manner words either.  Despite my lack of professionalism and ~not~ walking the walk, she graciously emailed me a link to the website for Erin Condren's personalized note cards, stationery, labels, wrap and more.  She insisted that I would LOVE IT, and folks, she wasn't wrong.

Check the left side bar- there's a tab for teachers!  And when you click on it, lesson planners, clip boards, desk pads, notepads, etc. can be found.  As I use a computer template for my lesson plans, I decided to purchase a desk pad and life planner, and oh yes, they're customized.

Clicking on the 2013-2014 Life Planners tab, I thought I'd check out the "Classic Life Planner" designs, and that's where I found the flower garden of my dreams, at the bottom right:

I was a little apprehensive about the steps it might take to customize a day runner that I'd be using primarily for work plans, professional development dates, events, curriculum map and reminders but the web site made it very easy to do, from selecting a cover, deciding whether or not I wanted a bookmark/ruler, choosing how many months I wanted to include, and customizing stickers (though birthday, appointment, game, vacation, sale, and concert stickers are already included, along with two pages of blanks that you can fill out on your own).  I added custom notepads, but didn't order colored pens or a band to keep the cover closed (I'm crafty, and know how ribbon or colored elastic works), and I decided to put my name, position, and school's name on the front cover.  I deserve this, I told myself as I submitted the order.  After a wait of several weeks (the planners are assembled by hand), I came home from the grocery store to find a lovely box waiting for me:

As a teacher who regularly scours thrift stores, yard and garage sales for classroom manipulatives, games, and center materials, this planner is a splurge.  A big splurge.  Becoming a member of erincondren.com lets me in on updates, sales and discount codes for future purchases, but oh yes, this is one of those items that I probably wouldn't have purchased for myself if I didn't know that it would become a part of my daily life.  While friends and colleagues regularly use the calendar on their iPad or phone, I'm a throwback to the days of beautifully bound address books, planners and journals: I like to use a pen and write.

This is the life planner, NOT the lesson planner.  There are styles that include the option of uploading family photos that will be printed onto your cover, and there are other products that can feature your favorite pictures as well.

I ordered notepads that arrived in a two-pack with adhesive backing that can be added to the inside back cover of my planner.  I forgot to mention that the cover features thick laminate.

These are the custom labels I made to include staff meetings, technology committee meetings, and stickers for our kindergarten PLC.  I also wanted conferences, the first and last days of school and other special staff related events, which were very easy to add.



There are pocket pages and a clear pouch included in the day runner/planner, which will certainly come in handy!



A freebie sample pack of customized gift labels was included- what a treat!



And finally, the deskpad has 48 pages with a calendar top sheet for each month that is followed by three pages for doodles, notes and lists.  The colors on the style I ordered change with each month.

I am ~beyond~ delighted with this present-for-myself, and would strongly suggest a gift card to erincondren.com to those of you seeking out the perfect gift for your favorite teacher, colleague or friend.

He or she will love it.

*****

Back-to-School Teaching Reflection

It's taken a week longer than I anticipated to get back into the blogging groove~ Dear Husband left for a year (he's a soldier with the United States Army), I've met my newest class of Super Stars and their families (several of whom are also experiencing their spouse's lengthy absence from home), and Dear Daughter and the Pre-Schooler have settled into their highly-anticipated and very busy school and activity schedules. I now have a "power hitter" in my house (DD's preferred volleyball position) and a young boy who has begun to eat me out of house and home: growth spurt time! Mother Nature decided less than a week after my husband left to send torrential rains our way, flooding a culvert behind our home which may eventually force flood waters up and into our garage. Not fun, but perfectly aligned with Murphy's Law, my buddy and pal each time Dear Husband is away.

Excessive sarcasm: one sign it's time for a run and/or a bag of peanut m-n-m's.

*****
Professionally speaking, as I reflect upon the first two weeks of school, I've noticed:

* Since leaving Alaska, each school at which I've been employed seems to *~stress~* during the first few days back with students. I'm lucky to be at the same beautiful school as last year with almost all of the same colleagues and routines in place. But we have such a high turnover of students- many only attend our school for a year and then relocate completely- that the first day of school is filled with many, many, MANY wide eyes, lost and confused kiddos, and parents who are strangers to the school and anxious about their child's first day. As a result, teachers almost lose their voices as they constantly verbally redirect, steer, guide, and try to get their students into orderly and quiet lines, explain classroom routines, reiterate school rules, and answer questions.

Older students almost certainly have prior experience in schools, and will hopefully adopt the new rules and routines sooner rather than later. Those who don't might be considered defiant, though that shouldn't be the only assumption one hundred percent of the time. As for my just turned five-year-olds, let me gently remind the populace that perfection is an unreasonable expectation for children with limited or no school experience. My students are the ones that for the past three or four years have been running, climbing, jumping, rolling, galloping, and falling asleep in the middle of the floor in their own homes and daycares. Walking over the threshold of our kindergarten wing doesn't magically transform them into straight-line-walking no-talking-hands-to-themselves students. Those are behaviors that must be learned over time with lots of practice and kind and consistent reminders.

If the nature of kindergartners gets on your nerves (and yes, some people just aren't comfortable with young children-that's why *I'm* here, remember?) just solve the problem: turn around and walk the other way. Look away. Take a deep breath. Repeat in your head "It will all work out, they'll learn. It will all work out, they'll learn." Your expectations of secondary students should be VERY different from your expectations of five year olds. Don't worry: you're not letting my students "slide." You're not teaching older students that they should comply while younger kids don't have to, and you shouldn't feel obligated to burden yourself with interfering with how I do my job as their teacher- you're certainly busy enough as is. Bless you for teaching the grades *I* wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole- you amaze me!

Over at Inside Pre-K, J.M. Holland interviewed Peter Walsh, organizational guru-extraordinaire (who also holds a master's degree with a focus on educational psychology) who explains that organization for children:

...is a learned skill like good manners or long division. From the earliest age, we need to demonstrate to our kids that we value organization. We need to show them it’s an important and integral part of the way we live our lives, and without organization, chaos develops. The words ‘organization’ and ‘organic’ come from the same root. Organic – whole, human, complete, one. This is the reason why we should commit time to organization and show our children that we value it – it’s the way to become the best we can be. By modeling the behavior we want, helping children take responsibility for their own time and spaces and by committing time to organization, we can show that we value organization and teach kids the skills they need.

Behavioral, social, and educational organization are learned skills and require time to develop, big bold emphasis MINE.

* Being the newest or newer teacher in a school has its advantages as colleagues tend to be helpful, teaching you how things run. Being a semi-newbie also has its disadvantages however, especially when it comes to colleagues trusting you to do your job, understanding and truly acknowledging you as a professional, and trusting your judgement, your expertise, and your loyalty to your school's common goals and standards: curricular standards, behavioral standards, and moral standards. This is my second year at this fine school, but it is my fourteenth teaching kindergarten. It is the fourth school district I've been hired to teach at, and I have stellar letters of recommendation, numerous collegial friendships and ties that have crossed state and international lines, and hey, to top it all off, I LIKE young children.

Trust me to do my job. Take a chance. And if you can't, at least follow the Golden Rule. We might not have five years together to grow our relationship- it's likely that we won't have ten years over which to get to know and professionally evaluate one another. I might never be considered "family." And that's okay. I don't have to know everything about your teaching career or your private lives in order to work with you, to support you, or to advocate for you. If the only professional or personal help I can provide is fresh-baked cookies each quarter/semester while staying out of your way, then I'm happy to bake and oblige. We'll disagree, and we'll agree. We'll be in the mood to share, and we'll be in the mood to hunker down on our own. I will respect and support the goals and expectations you have set for yourself and your students, even though I may not know what all of them might be.

Reciprocity is the key, I've found.
*****

Interested in some thoughts on RTI (Response to Intervention)? Doug Noon always has some great teacher-speak blogging going on over at Borderland.

*****
Paraphrasing: "Even though it sounds cornball, if you say (sing) it like you mean it, it works" (and oh yes, I *know* I'm dating myself here):

So You're Going to Teach Kindergarten, pt. 1

Yay! Good for you!

On the first day you can get in to the school (and presumably, your classroom), make sure to take your digital camera, a measuring tape, a notebook and pencil, your lunch, snacks and drinks for the day, and your calendar. If you have supplies, books, and other teaching gear you'd like to drop off, go for it, but don't plan on opening them!

Here's why: there are a few things you need to do before you wave your magic wand,*poof*, producing the world's greatest kindergarten classroom in cloud of glitter.

If this is your first year teaching at an already established school, chances are you're not the first teacher to use the classroom. You might walk into a completely empty room. You could walk in to find a mish-mash of furniture, equipment, and curriculum materials. You might find that your classroom has served as the storage or catch-all room for the rest of the school for the past five years. Or you might walk in to a fully furnished, fully equipped, almost completely developmentally appropriate teaching space, like I did this week:



ACK! What? Before you have a stroke, let me point out a few things. 1) As a teacher new to this district, I've gone to school before many of the "regular" teachers have returned from their summer vacations. The summer cleaning staff is still dusting, washing, repairing, and vacuuming the rooms in preparation for the start of school. 2) Take a looksie at the bookcases along the back walls. Everything sitting on TOP of the shelves...is MINE. And those shelves make a full "L" along two walls in the room. All of the items on the lower shelves were already in the class. 3) All of the furniture has been moved to the center of the room so that the janitorial staff can clean the carpets around it. Once several more furniture shifts take place, the carpet will hopefully be shampooed.

Dear Daughter and the Toddler came with me to inventory what was in the room on Day One. You need to inventory your room as well. The inventory might be difficult to do because previous teachers will store the classroom's curriculum materials and supplies, but they won't organize it or return everything to its original location and condition. If the last teacher liked to keep half of the language arts books at the reading table and the other components of the curriculum kit at his/her desk, or in small tubs for individual students to use, chances are, you'll find that "system" still in place when you arrive. The best thing to do is to open every cabinet, cubby, and drawer. If you find items that seem to go together or have matching storage boxes, pull them all out and place them together in an easy-to-get-to location. Here's a photo of the math, science, and language arts materials and curriculum "kit" items I've found so far:



It's a "rough sort," meaning I haven't opened up all of the boxes or checked to see if the workbooks or flashcards, assessment booklets or supplemental activities are in order, much less present. I still have big books and flip charts to find and add to this pile so that I can reassemble the kits as much as possible.

You can sort your classroom items pretty easily for your inventory: furniture, curriculum kit elements, math manipulatives, language arts materials, puppets, computer equipment, stereo/headphones, toys, workbooks, arts and crafts supplies, classroom/school binders for policies, procedures, a professional library, etc. Doing a rough sort lets you know what you have, the condition of your classroom furniture and supplies, and points you in the direction for creating your to-do and wish lists.

I sorted paper products:



Then determined what I had for crayons, glue, kleenex, etc.:



A majority of my afternoon was spent sorting math manipulatives and language arts materials. The blue tubs and the clear containers with white lids are ALL math items:



These two sets of shelves are full of puzzles, and ONLY puzzles (ignore the storage bins up on top, that's part of my seasonal decor, which I'll try to get to on Monday):



These clear and yellow bins are all fine/gross motor activities (Legos, building blocks, lincoln logs, etc.):



The bins already available in the classroom come in primary colors and are perfect for storage on the shelves. Blue will be for math, the yellow is for fine/gross motor, and next week I'll sort language arts/literacy items into red bins. Green will house science materials, and orange...who knows? Dear Daughter will get a treat from Dairy Queen on Monday afternoon after she peels every sticker and label off of the bins in my class. If you don't have children to be helpers in your room, consider asking a colleague if s/he has teens for hire who would like to earn their favorite fast food meal for lunch in exchange for doing the little things.

*****

Before you leave for the day, measure your room. Photograph it as well. Photograph the ceiling, the insides of cabinetry, the bathrooms, where your windows are located, your furniture, everything. You'll want the photos to refer to later, possibly in the wee hours when inspiration comes to you in a dream, waking you! Take notes too. How many staple boards or corkboards do you have for display? How many windows might you have to make or purchase curtains for? How many electrical outlets do you have and where are they located? How about computer jacks? If you have open storage shelves like I do, and you're considering covering them with curtains to reduce the visual noise (and possible temptation for more impulsive students), measure, measure, measure so you know how much fabric to buy (and purchase plain 'ol clearance material, okay?). Make sure to ask your principal or building administrator if you're ALLOWED to staple items into the walls, hang decor from the ceiling, or affix hook and loop tape to hang curtains before you do it!

*****

Your calendar will help you remember when your new teacher orientation will take place, teacher inservices too, and you can set goals for each day you're able to spend in your classroom setting up. You'll want a day for inventory (and requesting furniture/materials if necessary) and your "rough sort," a day for furniture arrangement and the setting up of centers (with materials located where they will be utilized the most), another day for bulletin boards and classroom decor, a day for lesson plans, your parent newsletter, and grade level planning meetings, and another day getting your first week's activities, materials, stories, and required school safety drill practice planned and prepped in full. Make sure to ask if your school will host an Open House before school starts, or if you need to prepare for initial observations and assessments of your students before they arrive for their official First Day.

*****

If you have the time or just feel the urge to lay claim to YOUR classroom before you leave on Day One, you can set up your Essential Three that will help you through the rest of the week:



Welcome to Kindergarten!

Starting Young

After reading "Giving Disorganized Boys the Tools for Success," (NY Times) this is the scene I was greeted with when I checked on my son:



According to author Alan Finder, "organizational tutors" are cropping up all over the place because "boys seem generally to have more difficulty getting organized and multitasking than girls do." The tutors help boys sort through their messy backpacks, explain and require the use of binders with divider tabs separated by subject, and often spend more time teaching the merits of cleaning out desks, bookbags, and coat or pant pockets than they do on tutoring lessons for school subjects.

In our home, places for things and everything-in-its-place are the norm by necessity 1) because we're* forgetful klutzes who will stub toes, break nails and use non-kindergarten-vocabulary as we dig through piles trying to find that one receipt or cd, and 2) because we relocate so often that we're intimately aware of what we own, why we use it, and how often it is used. One can only pack and unpack one's dishes so many times before it really becomes an activity that can be performed on autopilot. Our son's room (believe it or not) is actually organized too, into tubs of blocks, tubs of stuffed animals, tubs of cars and trucks, and play areas away from where he sleeps.

Apparently right now it's just more FUN to dump all the tubs out in the middle of the floor and have a smorgasbord of creative possibilities through which to swim. Never fear, I'll keep an eye on his backpack (once I find it) and even help him dig through it regularly.

* Okay, so I'm the klutz.

Mission Organization from Scholastic

Organization and Time Management Strategies from Schwab Learning

In a Bind(er)

The holidays are over, and while the rest of the house has enjoyed some New Year's cleaning, rearranging and redecorating, the piles of magazines and newspapers have managed to overstay their welcome. I've been clipping and snipping articles, home decor ideas, recipes, inspirational photos, and craft patterns and am ready to add them to my recipe and miscellaneous idea binders.

The rest of the magazines will be donated, but the binders will accompany the family on our next move this summer. I'll have all sorts of ideas for home decor (I know, I know, I seem to put a lot of emphasis on having our home look pretty, but hey, it matters when you've lived in four different homes in five years, with another move and floorplan in the works!), new favorite recipes, craft and activity ideas for the kids, and *should I be hired to teach*, more organization and curriculum ideas for the classroom.

Until then, I'll flip through the crochet patterns I've accumulated and find a nice spring one to keep me busy,
imagine our new dream home (and keep dreaming),
and enjoy the whimsy that my chosen "keepers" have to offer.

Teacher Tendencies

My own teacher tendencies have been on sabbatical while we spend this year in the Bordertown, but I still feel that familiar *tug* when I stumble across the following:

Bulletin board trimmers:

(all available at BK's Schoolhouse)

Classroom organizers:

(available at Calloway House)

and school-themed quilts:

(Dori Hawks at the Quilter Community)
(Ginger's Needlework and Quilting)
(at The Quilting Cupboard)

Only-five-more-months, only-five-more-months, only-five-more-months...

A Mental Clean Slate

In anticipation of our next move (yes, still nine or ten months away) I've been trying to get my thoughts arranged in a neat and orderly fashion. Thoughts of this, our temporary home, our daughter's temporary school, this temporary time that my husband will actually be "mostly" home with us instead of deployed or going TDY hither and yon...this temporary time I'm away from a classroom. I operate well under stress, as long as it doesn't overstay its welcome by more than oh, let's say, a YEAR, but once the crisis is over, I require down-time to sort, examine, re-examine, file, and toss whatever fuzzy stuff remains from the experiences, trials, mistakes, and surprises that have kept me on my toes for so long. Even though our next move is ten months away, I'm trying to get my mind in order, get a clean slate, because of all of the other goodies Life is certain to throw our way in the months before we relocate. Long-term mental and physical exhaustion is never fun, at least not for me.

Moving from Alaska to New Mexico to Kansas to Texas in five years has been exciting yet has contributed to my extended fatigue. If you're the type of person who hates to move, don't join the military or marry anyone in it. I'd like to think I've gotten good at the routine: yard-saling a month prior to the packers showing up; researching the new post and outlying towns/cities; packing up my classroom and hauling everything home; making sure every member of the family has a traveling tub or suitcase already packed and stashed in the truck for use on the road; making sure the packers are happy (sodas, water, pizza, and cookies help tremendously); going through the house with a fine-tooth comb when the packers THINK they're done; providing movers with pizza, water and Gatorade and making sure that they put a sticker on every single box and item before packing it all tighter than a Tetris Master could dream of on an eighteen-wheeler truck; cleaning the house for inspection; and finally, trying to keep everyone sane as we drive for hours on end with a toddler, a sleepy teenager, and a screaming cat. Our last move was even more fun as my husband had the Army equivalent of LASIK eye surgery two days after returning from his deployment to Iraq. He drove as if he were still in Iraq (looking for bad guys and things that "go boom" on the side of the road) with fuzzy vision. No folks, we're not aiming for a repeat of that situation in Summer '08!

Once we arrive at our new home, we have to sign for housing, check out our daughter's school, inventory the house (yes, PRIOR to our household goods arriving) for damage, repairs, etc. so we won't be charged for them, and get the floorplan set in our minds before the UN-packers arrive with our furniture. We check over every sticker on every item (oh it was fun this year, many items had two, even three stickers so we had to cross-reference the items on three separate lists), sort, unpack the necessary stuff, and thank our lucky stars if we have enough storage closets to keep my classroom stash safe from the elements. Set up the rooms, get the kitchen in working order, have the house decorated so it feels more like home, and then on to the task of finding a job, daycare for the baby, and activities for the family once we know what my husband's schedule will be. Our lives accomodate upheaval.

All of this moving, evaluation, research, preparation (not-so-successful attempts in some cases) and readjustment generates an excessive amount of information in my mind, and I'm not able to do a brain dump with it as efficiently as I'd like. Yes, I'm one of those perhaps annoying women who cleans her kitchen before starting a baking project. I clean my workspace before scrapbooking, I clear room in the middle of the floor before wrapping a pile of Christmas presents. But I haven't been able to reach a state of mental tabula rosa lately. Too much information about school/teaching/administrative practices in Alaska, New Mexico, Kansas and Texas is floating around in my head, and I dread knowing that I get to add another state (possibly another country) to that list in a year's time. I haven't been in one place long enough to be able to get out of this compare/contrast mode so that I can operate within the new rules and put them on autopilot as I experience other things. Cultural differences, political differences, social differences, religious differences, environmental and climate differences all provide me with much-appreciated lessons on diversity but also overwhelm me. I suppose I've just figured out I don't downshift as quickly as I'd like to be able to, and I question what it is I'm supposed to be doing with all of this information.

Perhaps only other teachers will understand this.

I went back to my classroom today to finish the transition from December/Holidays to January/Snow, and I found myself pleased with:

1) how quickly I had changed all of the colors/decor/books/bulliten boards
and
2) how much I enjoyed making my decor and teaching "props" WORK in this, my third classroom.

My classroom in Fairbanks was long and rectangular, my classroom at White Sands was a DREAM in multi-layers/multi-purpose spaces, and my classroom here in Oz runs along the rectangular type with some fun cabinetry thrown in for good measure. Yet once again, the snowmen, snowflakes, silver stars, mittens and "Chubby Little Snowman" poem all fit perfectly.
I "transition" the room each month to help my students notice the changes that happen around them during the time that passes during the school year. Teachers with more than five or six years' teaching experience can guess which themes are explored and which materials are used (and yes, all of the required kindergarten skills are integrated, so don't panic if you don't see AB patterning, sequencing, D'Nelian penmanship, etc. on the list):

August- Welcome to School (I teach kindergarten, so it's not "back" to school), apples, autumn...

September- autumn, leaves, colors, shapes, numbers, letters, rhymes...

October- harvest, gardens, Halloween, fire safety, our bodies

November- family, Native Americans, Pilgrims, traditions/cultures, food, being thankful

December- family, sharing, winter holidays, weather, senses

January- the new year, weather, snow, seasonal changes, Martin Luther King Jr. (Kansas history this month?), numbers past 100

February- friendships, Valentines, rhyming words, mail and communication, Groundhog's Day (weather again!)

March, April- spring, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, animal families, plants, weather, eggs, calendar review

May- May Day, Cinco de Mayo, summer, Mother's Day, vacation/transportation, "practicing for first grade," and of course, our end-of-the-year celebration.

Each month has a binder with all of the activites, book lists, reproducible pages, mock-ups, stickers, notepads, etc. that correspond with that month's themes, seasons, or holidays. This week I just pulled January's binder off of the shelf, dug through it to my heart's content, pulled whatever looked appropriate and fun for my students, and planned the month. Okay, so I'm fibbing. I pulled the binder off of the shelf mid-DECEMBER. Insert whatever smiley you enjoy most *here*!

Differences between Alaska, New Mexico and Kansas of course require changes in the materials I use, so I'll have to find some way of sneaking in an Eskimo art project this month just for fun so I don't go through withdrawals! Multi-culturalism is "big" in Alaska and New Mexico, so I find it odd that it is barely addressed here in Oz. Could it be that our location, so central in the United States, limits us from as much exposure to such wonderous variety? I did enjoy turning my dramatic play area into a farmhouse in November after the kids enjoyed grossing their parents out in our "Creature Cafe" during October though. Pretending to live on a farm was fun for the students. And then they turned the chairs, piles of plastic food and sacks into "Santa's sleigh and bag of toys." Ah, imagination!

Transitioning the room month to month requires more than inspiration- it requires organization too! I have plastic tubs labeled by months for the props/decor, and all of my storybooks are sorted either by theme/season or author so that I can quickly grab a pile and put it into the book cases, shelves, and baskets for students to peruse. I try to start the year with dark blue paper for the bulliten boards, since the blue works well for each month (except October for some reason...BLACK just seems to do the trick), despite the FADE that inevitably occurs. The bulliten board borders are sorted, and other textural items are added to kill the two-dimensional-trap I despise so much. Raffia, glitter garland, mini-lights...are ALL good things. I have cut outs for hanging patterns above my students' desks that can be used year after year, and with my stash of sentence strip poetry and read-alongs, I can have my students reading new seasonal/theme words and text weekly. With the help of my kinder-colleague, our monthly fine motor skills activities are ordered in advance so that all I have to do is pull the next activity out of my file cabinet or paper-pile each day and voila! Necessary cutting, coloring, tracing, and writing can be done at the beginning of each morning, with very few questions asked while I fly through the required list of paperwork...attendance, lunch count, milk count, etc.

With each move from state to state that I've made, I've found inspiration in my students, the required curriculum, and my own stash of tricks and fun activities. After over a decade of teaching, I've organized my materials, books, and time to accomodate my students' needs, the requirements of the curriculum, and the various schedules of half-day, extended-day, and full-day kindergarten programs. My only "fixation" has been trying to learn each new school's...."culture." The social expectations, the professional requirements, locating the mine fields (and successfully navigating them), and building the relationships required to 1) teach students and 2) stay sane. Three very different states, three very different schools, three very different social scenes.

Satisfaction comes when I can leave my classroom knowing my plans are done, the room is ready, and whatever tidbits are left to do...will KEEP until the next morning. I'm a huge advocate of having a life outside of one's work. And I will never aspire to be a teacher who lives in her classroom, morning, noon, night, and on each day of every weekend of every month. What would I be teaching my students, their families, and my colleagues if I shortchanged my own life, my children, my marriage, my friendships, my hobbies, my solitude...my SELF?

Satisfaction also comes when Uncle Sam moves us yet once again, and my tubs, binders, books and decor all find their way to their new "home," no matter the classroom layout.

Second semester is here. Let's get the party started!