Thursday 9 August 2012

Classroom Capers

Today I thought I'd give you a glimpse of my classroom.

It's been a tough year.  This class has been the toughest I've had.  But I love my job.  Sometimes I need to be reminded why though.  But I do.  I am so lucky to work in this industry.  To be responsible to mould the minds of our future leaders, to build relationships and provide comfort and stability - especially when many of my students do not receive comfort and stability at home - is a privilege.

Because I am so proud of what I (and my students) do, I am inviting you into my classroom.  I try very hard to make my classroom warm and inviting.  I often receive comments that my classroom always looks bright and cheerful.  Mission accomplished.

This is my classroom as you walk through the front door first thing in the morning (the kidlets unstack the chairs when the school day starts).

The view from my desk.

Our Unit of Work for this term is called 'Exploring Environments'.  The first environment we are exploring is Rainforests.  This sign was made with my much loved Cricut machine.  Pricey, but the best craft purchase ever.  I originally bought it for scrapbooking, now it pretty much lives at school.

Our rainforest.  I absolutely love how this turned out, but sadly I can't take the credit for it.  I had the idea, but my lovely and talented tutor constructed it.  I made one for my class two years ago.  It looked NOTHING like this, lol.  The signs are showing the four levels of the rainforest - forest floor, undergrowth, canopy and emergent trees.

My students drew and cut out animals and had to place them in the appropriate part of the rainforest.

Some of the gorgeous animals my students drew (my tutor drew the owl).


 The next environment we will explore.

The awesome water cycle display my tutor created.  Again, my idea, her creative talents.

And last but not least, we will explore deserts.

My whiteboard.  We've been learning about fractions.  Not everyone's favourite maths topic...

Our PM Benchmark reading levels display.  I borrowed this fabulous idea from another teacher at work.

This is the Arctic Fox we 'adopted' last year after raising money for endangered animals.  He is wearing my birthday crown.  My old tutor also wrote Arctic Fox in Japanese and put it around his neck.

Our latest art project.  Busy Frog Pond.  I'm not the most artistic person, but I have found an awesome series of art books.  Life saver.

So there you have it.  This is where I spend a very large proportion of my day.

I will update you every now and then with classroom updates.  Next term we are doing a unit on space, and I have heaps of space theme displays and projects in mind to jazz up my room.

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