Category: Organize

What Time Is It?

9/18/2012

Well time has gotten the best of me these last few weeks. I have been struggling trying to get through everything in my lessons. We have a really crazy specials schedule this year. We are on a construction calendar because this summer they will be redoing the roof. We will be getting out a month early so this project can be done. This means our school day is longer by 20 minutes a day. We were able to add 4 more minutes to our specials time. We see each class for 49 minutes instead of the usual 45mins. All the classes come to specials at odd times (e.g 9:24-10:13, 10:13-11:02). I have been trying my best to make sure I finish on time, but I haven't been consistent with it. I decided I needed a timer to help me keep track.

After doing a Google search on classroom timers I finally found a winner. I really like the MegaTimer from Kagan. It is large enough to see from across the room and it has large buttons that are clearly marked.

This timer does a lot of different things. I love the student selector. Whenever I need to pick a student to do a job I can quickly push the student selector and it will pick number. You can program the number of students in the class from 1-99. I put it on 28 because that is the largest class we have right now. I assign all my students a number. I use Easy Grade Pro grade book program and I can easily keep track of everyone's number using Easy Grade Pro. I assign numbers by ABC order using their last names. Students keep the same number all year. If a student moves out, then their number stays unassigned until a new student moves in. My students are good about remembering their number, but if they forget I print out a list that has their number. I use the numbers for everything (e.g. picking students, assigning recorder folders, rhythm folders, bags of manipulates, etc.). The students love to watch the timer select a number.

I use the countdown timer a lot. On my lesson plans I put the time of how long I want to spend on each activity. I set the timer before we begin each activity. I turn the clock so we can't see it counting down. Otherwise some students would sit there the entire time watching it count down and then they want to announce how much time is left or do the final 10 second countdown. The count down clock will beep once when it's at the 80% mark. The beep is not too obnoxious, but it is loud enough to hear. As you can see in the picture above the stop button is nice and big.

There are some other features that I haven't used yet:
1. Team selector: works just like the student selector. You can program how many teams you want to have.
2. Random: This can be used in different ways. You can use it like using dice, spinner, random numbers to create math equations, etc. You can program it to the number you want to use. The max number is 9,999.
3. Stop Watch: works like any standard stop watch
4. Alarm clock: you could set the ending time of the class

I really like how all the buttons are clearly marked. They all have preset times or number, but if you want to change the settings you just hold the button for a few seconds until the number blinks on the screen. Then you just use the up and down arrows to change the settings to what you want. It does save your settings.
I purchased mine directly from the company's website:

http://www.kaganonline.com/catalog/JMT/

I also purchased the AC adapter (doesn't come with it). The clock can run on batteries. It takes 6 double A batteries. I don't know how long it last on batteries since I use the AC adapter.

I really love this timer and it really has helped me to stay on track so I can get to everything on the lesson. I am also no longer late getting my classes lined up and ready to leave.

2 Comments

Almost Done

7/31/2012

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Here is a before picture. This is over by my teaching area. As you can see I have a lot of things to put away.

This is the after picture. I moved the cart over by the door where my desk used to be.

I decided to get rid of my desk. I don't spend a lot of time at my desk and it was taking up valuable space. It took awhile to figure out where to put all my office supplies (e.g tape, glue, stapler, paper clips, etc.), but I managed to find places to put it all. Hopefully I will remember where those places are. The drawers next to the center cart is where some of my desk supplies went. On top of the drawers I have my Sub tub. The Sub Tub has some emergencies activities in it. When I know I will be out I will put all the materials needed for the day. There is a folder for each grade level in the tub.

This is the Isle of Rest. It sits behind the piano out of the view of the class.

Here is a closer view

These are different tools that students can use to help them refocus.

Above are some pictures of the Isle of Rest. This is a place where students go when there upset or need to recharge their behavior. Students can choose on their own to go to the Isle of Rest and they choose when to come back. Sometimes I will ask them to go there because their behavior is getting off task and they need some time to rethink their choices. There are some tools to help them to refocus. There are some stuffed animals, koosh balls, and various sand and liquid timers. There is also some paper and pencils for students who want to write about their thoughts and feelings or they can draw about how they feel. They can also just sit quietly and do nothing until they feel better. The Isle of Rest is out of view of the class giving them some privacy.

This is a before picture.

Here is an after picture.

I decided to move the cubbies and shelves to a new location so I can have room for my Bose L1 Model II speaker. This is a great sound system and works well for performances in a gym. This is my personal speaker that I bought with my money. I hook my computer and my wireless microphone to it when I am in class.
I hung up my whiteboard that has a blank calendar, a space to write notes, and cork board to hang things up on. I plan to hang up the music vocabulary words we are working on and I will write the 4 day rotation schedule on the calendar.
I use the little white amp to plug in my iPad for when we need a metronome. Since my computer will already be plugged into the stereo jack on the Bose there isn't any way for me to plug the iPad in too. It's just easier to have the iPad plugged into it's own amp. I don't have to fumble with trying to switch out the jack from my computer to my iPad. I got the amp from Sam's Club. It's portable and has a rechargeable battery. Works great when you want to take a class outside for the day.

Teaching cart

Piano and organizers that have manipulatives that I use in class.

Here is my teaching cart where I keep my lesson plans, seating charts, and anything I need for the lesson. I don't stand at it when I teach. Usually I am sitting on my stool or standing in front of the class. Next to my teaching cart is the classroom cubbies where I store the Popsicle sticks for each class. I use the sticks to pick students to come up to the Promethean board to answer questions or to move or write things on it. I put the cubbies on the top of small set of shelves. Now I can get to all the cubbies without having to bend over. I also use the cubbies to store student work.
The two small carts with drawers have my manipulatives that I use in class (e.g rhythm cards, alphabet carts, beat charts, orchestra materials, etc.). The silver utility cart holds the ActivExpression and the ActiVotes. These are little remotes known as clickers. Students can click in their answer and it will let me know how each student answered the question. 2nd-5th grade use the Expression and Kinder and 1st grade use the Votes. My piano sits behind the carts. It is facing the risers so I can see the students when I am playing. The Isle of Rest is behind the piano. I keep the piano locked during class so they can't try to play the piano when they are back there.

click on image to see a larger view

Here are the Orff instruments. Behind the tree are the djembes on stands and tubanos. The chest has a classroom set of drum pads and drumsticks. The chart stand has a magnetic white board and the other side is a felt board, but I hang my pocket chart on it.

click on image to see a larger view

Here is the book case that I finally finished organizing. The top shelf has my teaching supplies (e.g. scissors, staplers, paper clips, cleaning supplies). The other shelves has some more manipulatives that I use in class throughout the year (e.g. beach balls, large dice, pitch exploration tools, etc.)

click on image to see a larger view

These are the Recorder Karate notebooks that are on the shelves on the side of the risers. There are 4 notebooks in each tub. I put my student in groups of 3-4 students. Each group is a shape. I was going to use something musical like instruments names or note names, but I have some cute clip art of shapes so I went with that.

click on image to see a larger view

Here is a close up of the clip art.

My room is now pretty much done. I just need to finish putting the tapes down. I will do that in the next few days. My next post will be about how I start Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom.

Tami

2 Comments

Cleaning Out and organizing

7/26/2012

3 Comments

I spent today going through all my stuff. In the picture below is my activity cart. There were six playground balls on top, but I really only need 30 playground balls. I deflated the extra six and I will be taking them home to store. I will be getting two plastic boxes to put the medium and large parachutes and stretchy bands. I will also put the scarves in one of the boxes.
I discovered that I need to purchase a couple of new hula hoops a few of them have kinks. I will be ordering them from a P.E catalog because they have the ones that won't kink.

This table wasn't too bad yesterday. Today I just took everything off and wiped it down. I did move the notebook paper since I don't need it everyday. I also decided to put the cubby that I store the classroom popscile sticks on top of the smaller shelf. Now it's easier to see the class names and to see inside the cubbies. No more bending over or squatting down to get to the bottom ones. I have a digital atomic clock on the top. I know that I should have an analog clock, but this year I will need the digital because our specials are running on strange times (e.g 9:24-10:13,11:02-11:51). I won't have to waste time looking behind me at my analog clock to figure out how much time we have left. I also like this atomic clock because it has what day it is, the date, and the temperature of the room.
The shelf under the cubby has my hacky sacks that we use for beat passing activities, in the the purple box is our rhythm folders (each student gets one), and the box in the bottom shelf has my cups for the cup passing game.

I cleaned off and dusted my tech cart. I have the visualizer set up and it's ready to plug into my computer. The box with the sunflowers on it is our "Magic Music Box". I put things in it that we will be using for the lesson. Right now it has my man barbie doll, a stuff animal of a goose, and a foam letter O. I will be using them to teach the students my name, Ms. Mangusso. My computer will go on the purple towel.
Above my tech cart I hung up a paper organizer. This is where I store the printed music, listening maps, and beat charts that we need for the day's lesson. I have the fan on top because my Promethean Projector likes to overheat because my room is often very warm so it can't get any cool air without the fan on. We are on construction calendar this year. We will be putting in longer days so we can get out early (April 30.) They will be redoing our roof because it leaks and they will put in a new air system. I am hoping it will help keep my room cooler than it is now. The tweety cup has some dry erase markers it will be moving to a new location.
I also hung up my power strip today. When you have a lot of tech things you need a lot of outlets. I also hung up my 13 slot USB adapter. I will be plugging in the Promethean board, my printer, the Activotes, the ActivExpression, and my presentation mouse.

Here is cabinet under my Computer monitor/TV. The picture on the left is how it looked yesterday. The picture on the right is how it looks today. The empty spot is where I put my teacher manuals and resource books I need for the lesson, Then there is a paper tray. In the bottom is the extra paper for the printer. I will be putting my laminated music staff and blank beat charts in the empty paper trays. Next to the paper tray is my box of dry erase markers that the students use. Then I have all my makers, visa-via pens, scissors, tape, and a stapler. On the bottom shelf in the black basket is where I keep my small play dough containers that we use to make play dough notes. Next to the play dough basket is the John Feierabend's pitch exploration box. The pitch exploration cards are on the other side of the black basket. I bought them from West Music. In the colored boxes are my manipulatives. One box has my beat chips that I made. Each student gets a bag with 16 beat chips. I glued hearts to plastic counting tokens. Another box has my note value cards that I made. The whole note is the longest and the cards get smaller and smaller for each note. Each student gets one set. The last box has plastic sleeves that you can slip a piece a paper into and the students use the dry erase markers to write on them. I bought them from an educational site, but I forgot which one it is. They are a heavy plastic and work really well with the dry erase markers. The black tire box is full of cars. We draw different kinds of lines (e.g straight, zig-zag, curly, etc.) and then we drive our car on the line while making car sounds. It's a fun pitch exploration activity. Next to the cars are the rhythm flash cards from Conversational Solfege by John Feierabend.

The last thing I worked on today was the book case that had the tweety sheet and the gray shelves next to the bookcase. I forgot to take a before picture of the bookcase, but here is what it looks like after I went through everything and I dusted everything.

I still have some work, but I am waiting on my baskets that I ordered from Really Good Stuff. Most of these things will go in the baskets. You can see I have a large Mr. Potatoe Head. He has a family inside of him. I use him with the students to work on singing voice. I will sing and ask "Who has the eyes?" and the student who has them will sing back "I have the eyes" we sing it on So Mi and La. The shark I bought because it looked cute. I am planning on using it for rhythms. Students can read a card with a rhythm on it and then feed it to the shark. There is also a red cootie. When students complain about "cooties" I tell them I am the only one with the "cooties" and I have several of them, but you have to find them. I have 3 that I move around the room. They love to try to find where they move to.

Below is the picture of the gray shelves. I almost forgot to take a before picture. I already cleaned out the middle shelf before I took the picture. It was a real mess things were just stuffed on this shelf. This is all the curriculum materials for the Making Music by Silver Burdette. I have all the CD's uploaded to my computer so I don't really use them, but I keep them for a backup. Then there are all the resource books that come with the series (e.g piano accompaniment books, the multicultural book, and there is an Activity book for subs.)
The bottom shelf has all my tools and things I need. I store my screwdrivers, wrenches , drills, Velcro, electric tape, duct tape, Recorder Karate belts, Recorder cleaning chemical, and there are two drawers with my VHS tapes. As you can see the top shelf has my games, but it's still messy. In the next picture you will see what it looks like after I cleaned it.

Below is how the shelf looks after I cleaned it. A lot of the games that were on this shelf went in my centers cabinet. The only thing left is the Ker Plunk game and some foam dice. They might stay there or I might move them. I think I will put some plastic boxes up there to store things in.
I went through all the drawers where I keep my supplies and tools. I took everything out and wiped out each drawer and then put the stuff back. I did throw out some things that I forgot what they were for or I couldn't figure out what to use it with.
Tomorrow I will be going through the blue file cabinets. Inside are things I use for various activities. There is no paper in these file cabinets. It's just a bunch of stuff and things that I need to go through and decide what stays and what goes. I also need to organize them because things have been just thrown in them.

Today I made two trips to the dumpster with old beat up stuff that I no longer want. I also made a trip to the car with stuff to take to Good Will. Tomorrow I will continue to go through things. I will make a pile of things that are trash and things that can go to Good Will. We have a Good Will very close by that you just drive up to it and they take everything out of your car. You don't even have to get out of the car.
I ended up donating my stereo system. It was hard to get rid of it because I kept thinking I will need it, but I haven't used it in two years. I use my computer and Promethean Board to play all my music. I also use my iPod to play music so there really wasn't a reason to keep it. I thought maybe I should keep it for when I have a sub, but I decided it wasn't worth trying to store just for that. I will just have the subs use my computer. I will create a special account on my computer that they will log onto and everything they need will be on the desktop. I don't plan on having my sub us the computer a lot because when I am out I will just have the subs do centers with the students or a planned activity that doesn't require recorded music.

I will continue tomorrow with my journey to clean and organize my room.
Tami

3 Comments

What Time Is It?

Almost Done

Cleaning Out and organizing

Ms. Mangusso

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