Classroom Pictures for 2016-2017

Well tomorrow is the big day!! I'm really nervous, I spent so much time this first week of teacher workdays decorating that I feel a little uneasy about tomorrow. But I'm going in early just to get a little more focused and prepared. I loved all the posters Sarah created this summer that I even got inspired to do a few of my own. My room is still a work in progress because you can only laminate so fast. I've only had my laminator less than a week and I'm already obsessed. It's amazing and so much better than the cheap laminate they buy for the schools. Of course I laminated all my awesome posters but I have also started laminating my card sorts so they last over the next few years.

So let's get to the good stuff... here are my classroom photos for the upcoming 2016-2017 school year.

Love Sarah's mathy welcome sign... get it here.

View from the front door... I decided to go back to the group seats hoping it goes well.

I'm so happy about this bookcase!! Luckily the new art teacher needed the extra floor space and I was around when she wanted to move it out. I'll be using the top four shelves to organize papers that need to be handed out or workbooks for students not sure yet. The bottom three shelves will be for student notebooks since I have tons of kids that prefer to leave their books in my room. I do to that way we don't have the issue of I left it in my locker/car/home.

This table is for organizing class materials. The papers on the left are missing assignment form, off task form, and tardy forms. The labeled box in the middle/bottom is where they places the forms. The box on middle/top is full or markers, colored pencils, and sharpeners. The box on the right is for each class period to turn in assignments.

Luckily I have a good amout of bulletin boards in my classroom. If you love my sudoku board check it out here. The white board in the middle with the yellow border is really old and not really useable so this year I'll be creating a word wall or reference board. I think on the far left bulletin board I'm going to post our class photos (hopefully I make time to do that).

Here are some reference posters that students may need to look at daily. I posted these on the front wall beside my teaching table near the brightlink board. 

Here are the files if your looking to print and use: Squares & Cubes, Multiples, Order of Operations, and Solving Equations.

Here are some mistakes quotes that I found on various blogs and loved. 

Here are the mistakes are expected, respected, inspected, and corrected posters by Sarah. I swear she comes up with some of the most meaningful posters and ideas ever!! Also her sentence starters posters.

Loving my function girl posters!! I may reprint to one function per page but I am hoping to fill up my cabinets with other reference posters.

The shoe hanger holds colored pencils that students use daily, table has whiteboards & rags, and calculator caddies for storage. 

Last year I decided I wanted to have a special place for dry erase markers so I could see how many were either dying or disappearing. This was an awesome idea that helped students remember to put their markers back at the end of the class period. Also if you notice they are upside down so we get the most out of the ink!! 

This project was super simple: (1) laminate poster (2) add velcro dots where you want the markers (3) add the other piece of velcro to the marker  

This is the back of my room. I love the number & colored pennants I got from target last year they make the room so colorful & cheery. This picture also shows the carts I'll be using for students to stand at the back of the room if they get tired or need to move a little. I also have seat cushions, I'm hoping to create a floor spot but for now they will just use as comfort at their desks. 

The above picture also shows all the copied papers I already have for my classes. I'm so excited to have all but one unit of notes prepared & copied for my Adv Functions class. I have four units prepared & copied for my Math 1 class. I'm hoping to create their notebooks on day two and be ready to rock and roll for a long while. 

Well that's my room, hopefully in inspires someone out there. I'm really please with the outcome this year. Hoping this school year will be my best year YET! 

Sudoku Bulletin Board

Well it's Saturday night and I'm finally about to watch a movie and just relax. I'm exhausted from a long week of teacher workdays which were filled with classroom make-overs. I'll be blogging about all of them soon but tonight I wanted to share my awesome Sudoku bulletin board files. You can find them here: board, colored numbers, and black numbers.

How to make:

1) Laminate the boards & numbers (I cut out numbers before & after to make sure they hold up)
2) Secure laminated boards on bulletin board
3) Add velcro to every square of the board (I loved the little dots) & then velcro dots/strips to the space [I just laminated white paper as a background] where the students will pick up the extra numbers
4) Add velcro to all the numbers
5) Now go have fun!!

Function Girl

School is right around the corner for me so I'm working on gathering all my favorite posters and making a few of my own.

I found an awesome blog by Sarah with algebra aerobics stick figures. Unfortunately there were a few functions that I teach that were missing so I decided to make my own. Here is the pdf file. Hope you all enjoy.

Functions represented in the pdf download are: Linear, Quadratic, Cubic, Absolute Value, Radical, Rational, Exponential (Growth & Decay), Sine, & Cosine. All functions are also completed showing the reflection. I have not included the logarithmic or other trigonometric functions as I do not teach them. One day I'm sure I'll have to expand but for now this is what I use in my classroom.

Presenting Math Resources & Links... Need Feedback Please!

I mentioned in my last blog that I would be presenting two different sessions at our annual county summer institute. This post will include the slides for my second session called Math Resources & Links. I would greatly appreciate your feedback on my presentation.

Thanks to all those that gave me great advice with the last presentation on Teaching with Desmos. Shout out to Glenn Waddell for all his help and reflection piece I was able to my presentation.

Here are the slides, again there are tons of links so they can continue to learn more about each resource after we meet.

Thanks a bunch!!