Escape Room The Game

YOLO= You Oughta Love Owls I did a little crafting in the classroom this week to add more owls to my room! Here are some before and afters! My organizer from Lowes before :  After: My 3 drawer organizers before : After (I forgot to take a picture of all three together): My students from last year know I love owls and one girl made me the foam owl that is next to my dog's picture below: Have I ever shown you my balloon wreath that my mother gave me (and is trying to steal back)? I put an owl eraser in the center and it makes me happy! If you like the owl inserts for my drawers I bought them on TPT here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Owl-Be-Organized-Owl-Themed-Teacher-Toolbox-and-more--754283

So I am giving my mentee all my materials, but I am also giving him all my long form lesson plans as I put them together.  I sent him next week's plans through email and this is the reply I got: Again, you are a goddess.  I owe you big time. It made me laugh. In case you would also like them, or are curious....here are next week's lesson plans! Lesson Plan Week 4

So I got my first cold of the teaching season. It is too early in the year to call in sick because I am trying to keep my routines and authority in place. I have been barreling through with this cold all week.  We started learning about inference this week. For the most part it has been going well.  We read "Made out of Meat" and then made inferences about the story.  The story is a conversation between two beings and their discussion about these beings they have just encountered who are, "Made out of meat."  The reader needs to infer that the being having a conversation are aliens and the beings made out of "meat" are humans. An adaptation of the story if you are interested: At the end of the story the aliens decide that they are going to, "Pretend like no one is home," and leave without making contact.  One of the inference questions I asked my students was, "Why were the aliens going to pretend like no one is home?" One block of my s...

My friend shared this on her Facebook page and it looks pretty interesting! Reddit gifts for the teachers is our annual program where teachers sign up who are in need of supplies for their classrooms, and nice people sign up to send them some supplies! There is no minimum or suggested value of these gifts, they can be as simple as some pencils or glue sticks - anything makes a difference and we need your help! Last year, participants from around the world sent almost $150,000 worth of supplies for teachers as the new school year started.   Sign up and share this page with anyone and everyone! Check it out! http://redditgifts.com/exchanges/redditgifts-teachers-2013/?inv=rSD#exchangeform 

So I thought I would share my weekly Long Form lesson plans as I go through the year... Here are weeks 2 & 3 (week 1 was basically just routines): Lesson Plan -Week 2 FL and Essay by kmpotter05 Lesson Plan -Week 3 Inference by kmpotter05 ***For the bell ringers and exit questions I just printed out slides from my Bell Ringer/Exit Slips PowerPoint ***For the Differentiation I printed out my differentiated questions for the topics that we covered that week  To purchase any of the lessons listed in my lesson plans or my entire curriculum visit my TPT store:   http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mskcpotter

                    I have an interesting tidbit from my classroom today.  This was my bell ringer slide for the day: This is what I expected for an answer: In EACH class at least 7 kids had one of these two answers: "Their mother lied about who their daddy was." "They had different fathers." This befuddles me for a couple of reasons:  1. WHY would they think I would ask a question about paternity? What kind of classroom do they think I am running here? 2. When I was explaining the bell ringer I told them to consider SYMBOLISM (which I know they cover in 7th grade).  What does this say about my students mindset? Also, there is no way that I can reset my mind to think like them to that extent. How do I begin reprogramming them to think like scholars if that is the first thing their brains go to. Maybe I need to create a poster that says, "This is English class, not Jerry Springer."

So we are covering figurative language in my class right now.  It is interesting to me that my kids have the exact same reaction each year to the exact same things.  I don't know why this is. If it is just that all 8th graders are drastically different but essentially the same, but I think it is weird! There is one song in particular that I love to use to teach figurative language. It is also one of my top five personal favorite songs.  The song is "The Lighthouse's Tale" by Nickel Creek.  It has a lot of great figurative language to identify and would be great for teaching plot as well.  Before I play any songs in my classroom I talk to my class about the fact that I choose songs from my classroom from a variety of genres and even if they don't particularly like something they need to try to find the value in it and be respectful.  However, Every. Single. Year. when I first start this song the students start to complain and mock because it sounds kinda fol...

Today was a fine day with the kids, but MAN was it hot in my room.  I mean the sun itself must be cooler than my hallway today.  It makes NO sense because it was 68 degrees outside and the 8th level of hell in my classroom.  By 9 AM I was covered in sweat, my hair was soaked through, and I thought I was going to pass out.  The teachers on my hallway put in to requests to the maintenance department and we spoke to the principal to no avail.  There has to be something in the Geneva Convention about extreme levels of heat. If there is not, I should start a petition because it is just cruel and unusual punishment.  I'm still a little nauseous just thinking about it.  *************************************** On another note, I have not been able to purchase new books for my classroom library in about 4 years. I have had to use all my extra money to purchase class sets of novels and the upkeep on those novels.  I've been able to add to it a little here a...

Said no teacher ever.....

I wrote about my first day of school recently and told you how awful it was! This could be for a few of reasons: 1. Maybe everyone was tired and not used to waking up that early. 2. Students are not used to really having rules and regulations after being in 7th grade for a year.  3. Not only do hormones kick in in 7th grade but quite a few of our 7th grade teachers really don't have, how should I put this, finely tuned classroom management techniques.  4. They were testing my boundaries day one rather than observing me first...so that just tells me they are hands on learners and go getters! (better than lazy right?) Things have not been as bas since that first day. In fact, yesterday we had a pretty good day.  I decided to switch up what I was doing and use a prezi to grab their attention.  So I chose to do my context clues prezi/lesson. At the end of this lesson I introduce students to the poem "Jabberwocky" and walk them through translating the poem into modern/sta...

If you know anything about me you know how much I love my animals! Last month I decided to order a Bark Box because I found a code for $10 dollar off.  It finally came today. I don't know how she knows, but as I was opening the box Rory started getting REALLY excited and trotting around.  The packaging was super cute! As soon as she saw the dolphin toy I thought she was going to LOSE it.  This has been the entirety of my afternoon:   I love making my pup happy and having a lazy Saturday before returning to the salt mines on Monday. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mskcpotter My store will be 20% on top of the promo code Sunday and Monday.  I have extended my sale to run through Tuesday as well! Fill up your cart and prepare for the savings (I know I have a cart full!) Happy Back to School!

 So we had our first day of school.... It was NOT a good day. The students were rude, couldn't/wouldn't follow directions, talked over me and each other. One kid talked over me every. single. time. I spoke. When I asked him to please stop talking,  he mumbled, "I wasn't talking you dumb B****."  I pulled him aside and told him two things: 1. If he felt  adult enough to speak like that, then he needed to be adult enough to say it out loud and accept the consequences of his actions.  2. I told him he was starting the year on a blank slate and that HE was in charge of what my first impression would be of him and is that REALLY the impression he wanted to leave with me his first day? So far I have not had any more issues out of him but REALLY?  Day freaking ONE this is how it is starting? I spoke to other teachers to see if I just set the tone wrong this year, but there was a consensus that everyone had the worst first day of school of their career.  I cri...