Our Place In Space

So many people ask us about our room...where do kids put all their STUFF if you don't have desks? Where did you get your furniture? How do you manage the supplies of 50+ kiddos?? I'm hoping this blog post will answer a few of those questions.

Let's start with general room set up...Our room has a few "zones" of instruction. We have a "Large Group Meeting Area" that can hold all 50+ kids in front of a SMART board. We do have another SMART board on the opposite side of the space that all the kids can sit in front of, if needed, but it is a little "tight." We do also have 2 classroom libraries--one for fiction and one for nonfiction books. We also have smaller group work spaces, individual work spaces, a variety of seating choices, and lots of rugs! We have a "kid storage" side of the room, where kids can go into ANY cupboard or drawer to get things. We also have a "teacher storage" side of the room, where we house our things, and they have to ask permission go into. We have lots of kid-zones for storage, as well, which we will share below! Kids will often ask for other zones or for us to create new ones. From their input, we created a "quiet zone", as well as a "mindfulness zone" by utilizing hallway corners and landings outside our space. It is important to us that our students know their voice and needs MATTER in TEAM Togetherness. The space is THEIRS, and we want it to reflect that.

Within our "Large Group Meeting Area", we have our infamous "bar." Not going to lie...it is one of my favorite pieces of furniture. This "bar" can hold 10 kids around the back and 10 kids on the bench. We love it! It also has a white board table that we painted (an old round table, that we took the legs off of). It also has one set of our red "step" pieces that can hold about seven 5th graders. The "bar" and the "steps" we get asked about most often. We ordered them through Business Interiors by Staples. They served as the "middle man" between a bunch of different manufacturers. I know the bar was made by a company called "JSI" and was part of their "Connect Collection." Since we have purchased that, I know that there is a smaller, less expensive version that can be purchased through School Specialty (it has vinyl seats, and a shorter counter). Sadly, I cannot remember the name of the company that made the red step pieces, but they were also purchased from Business Interiors by Staples.

Here are our classroom libraries. Having the two separate ones really helps to keep books organized! I wrote an earlier blog post about how we basket/number/color code books. You can check that one out HERE. It also includes a link to the free basket labels we use! We love the "mini milk crates" that you can get at Target or Wal-Mart to house chapter books! We find the most success in getting them during "back to school "shopping time, as they often have them by the dorm room items. We usually get them for about $1 a piece. 

The "counter top" seating you see in the nonfiction library was a "recycled" piece of furniture we made. We had some solid wood bookcases (purchased from a rummage sale) and a co-worker was replacing her counter tops! We took a piece of her old counter top and secured it to the top of the bookcase! Voila! Instant seating! We love the multi-purpose-ness of this piece! Too often, many get hung up on "expensive" fancy furniture, when in reality, much of what we have in our room was garage sale or re-purposed items! The beautiful, green "Hand Chairs" that you see in the pictures were also a fantastic rummage sale find!

We also like to keep our room "tidy" and "organized" (hard to do with 50+ little bodies that might make it their secret mission to make a mess!) These are our "math bins." These are housed in a cabinet on the "kid storage" side of the world.  On the "Kid Storage" side...they have their math bins, math manipulatives, tissues, paper towels, ziploc bags, textbooks, loose leaf paper and indoor recess games!

The image links to Wal-Mart, which is where we purchased our original "blue bins" 4 years ago. I don't think they make this exact model anymore, but this one is close. These bins hold a personal white board, marker, eraser, math zippered pouch (calculator, protractor), their math notebooks, and the district-purchased math journals that are tied to our Bridges Math curriculum. Some kids also house their scissors here, some Sharpies, highlighters, etc. We stuck a "binder label pocket" to the front of them, then slid a label in. This allowed us to change names in and out very freely! We also use these same pockets on our book bins! Here is a link to the adhesive pockets we purchased! They come in SOOOO handy!

Speaking of book bins....We have two spots in our room to house the book bins. This helps when 50+ kids are trying to get to them all at once (prevents accidents :) These are simple "magazine boxes" that are from DEMCO. Here is a link to a similar product. Again, those binder pockets come in really handy! They come in lots of sizes, so you can definitely find one that fits your needs!

We also use these amazing drawers as "mailboxes." In these mailboxes, kids keep their "home folder" (Which goes to and from school every day), their "stay at school folder" (which houses any loose papers they NEED to keep safe and here at school), their word work notebooks, any special pencils, and their flash drives. You can purchase these from all sorts of places, but the most reasonably priced ones that we found were from Sam's Club. Here is a link to their site. They can get pretty pricey if you buy them from other locations!

We also utilize a lot of "community supplies" in our space. We have small, plastic shoe boxes (purchased from the Dollar Store) to house general things. We also have some great "fish bowls" that we got from a K-Mart that was going out of business near by. We got them for only $10 (they used to hold Chapsticks and hair ties in the beauty department, I think?) We also got the white "double carts" to house some of our general math supplies from Amazon (link to exact carts). It is great to have supplies in multiple parts of your room, so kids can always grab what they need. We also have MANY pencil cups throughout the room holding pencils and erasers (I swear, they must EAT pencils for breakfast on some days!!)

Besides covering 4 tables in our space with white board paint (A tutorial can be found in THIS BLOG POST), we also re-purposed old art room stools. So many schools have these gems hiding in storage rooms somewhere. We got a few cans of Rustoleum Glossy spray paint (for about $4 a can) and voila! You have colorful seating options that are very easy to move where you need them!

One of the first pieces of furniture that we actually purchased during our first year was a vinyl futon! We wanted "couches" in our space, but wanted them at an affordable price AND cleanable! We now have 2 of these beauties and they are still in use...4 years later! They get daily use, to say the least! Since we have had them for so long, I don't think they make our "model" anymore. Here is a LINK to a similar version. I think we paid about $130 for each of ours at the time.

We do also have a "teacher zone." We are rarely sitting here throughout the day, so it typically becomes a "dumping ground" for our papers, books, etc. When we ARE sitting there (outside of lunch or prep), kids are usually there with us. We use it as a getaway to confer with kids quietly/privately.

I think that covers most of the "zones" in our space. What storage tools have you found to be helpful? Any tips and tricks for us? We are always looking for new ways to rethink our environment!

Happy Teaching!

~Angela

The Power of Team Building

September...the most exciting and exhausting month of a teacher's year! What an amazing start to the year we have had in TEAM Togetherness! We are loving getting to know our little darlings! We are still adjusting to switching from end of the year 5th graders to beginning of the year 4th graders (WOW...what a difference!). Kate and I are constantly giving each other permission to slow down and breathe! They are so young, but really have come so far in the first 3 weeks of school!

As we start with a brand new group of kiddos, one of the most important things we do to launch our year is team building activities. These activities take time, but the resulting conversations and foundation building is critical to our personalized learning environment.

Many of our students are coming to us never having been in a set up like ours (2 teachers, one big space, 50+ kids, no desks, etc.). They are also "big 3rd graders." Many do not know how to communicate their needs clearly, collaborate, solve problems, give feedback, or persevere when things get tough....YET!

Starting on the first day, Kate and I provide our students with purposefully planned team building activities to help build this sort of foundation. Our hope today, is to lay out some of the big ones we have used, as well as the resulting conversations, as well as how it has connected to the underlying rules and beliefs in our environment. So, hang on....we've got A LOT to share!

ACTIVITY #1: EXCLAMATION MARK

Amazon Link

Have you read this book?? If not, you totally should check it out! She also has other great ones that have similar themes! We used this book on the first day of school to launch a conversation about how we are all unique and bring different skills and talents to Team Togetherness. It is a hilarious book about the exclamation mark that doesn't feel like he fits in anywhere. He tries to be like everyone else (and fails hilariously), but in the end, as you can probably imagine, he learns how his own skills are special and necessary.

After reading the book, we introduced the kids to 5 different posters--one for each punctuation mark--period, comma, question mark, quotation marks, and exclamation mark. We didn't give them much direction, other than to think about which mark best represents them. We, then, asked them to move to the poster they felt was the best representative of themselves. Once there, as a new small group, they brainstormed ways that they "mattered" to Team Togetherness.

After they had filled their posters with ideas, we came back together as a large group and shared out. We created an anchor chart to hang in the room to remind us of our ideas. One of our darlings, in our grand conversation, said "So, we really need ALL of us to build up Team Togetherness!" <sigh of happiness> Out of the mouths of babes...

Our final thinking anchor chart

ACTIVITY #2: PUZZLES

You'd think that jigsaw puzzles would be easy or "baby-ish" for 4th graders, but let me tell you, it was fascinating to watch! Kate and I bought ten 100-piece animal jigsaw puzzles from the dollar store (totally worth it). We, then, divided them into 5 person teams. The directions were simple: complete the puzzle in 10 minutes. Easy?? Not so much! They all thought it would be, but it turned out that everyone had their own idea on how to solve it! 

As teachers, it was absolutely fascinating to us to see which groups did what. Which ones started on the carpet, then realized a flat surface would work better. Which started with the edges. Which started with the main picture. Which group had 5 kids working on their own little parts, not really putting them together to make one. After 10 minutes, we had NO ONE complete their puzzle (we really expected this result...10 minutes really isn't THAT long ;)

We, then, came together as a large group, and discussed what went well and what didn't. What strategies helped you be more successful? Again, we charted our ideas.

After our grand conversation was done, we let them go back and finish their puzzles! Surprisingly (not really), they were far more successful :) 

ACTIVITY #3: CUP TOWER CHALLENGE

Our next activity fed the engineers in our room! We bought small, plastic cups from Target. We gave each group about 40 cups to work with (no way did we need that many in hindsight!). Again, fairly simple directions: build the tallest, free-standing cup tower that you can. Again, totally fun to watch. Many kids gave up or showed frustration (every group's tower fell multiple times!), others worked really well together. Kate and I walked around with a meter stick and our microphone, calling out the tallest height of the moment.

Then, it was time for our grand conversation (sensing a pattern here??) This time, we really emphasized perseverance and positive communication when things don't go well. It's not just WHAT we say, but HOW we say it to each other.

ACTIVITY #4: TOOTHPASTE CHALLENGE

This was a new one for us this year, but was by far, one of my most favorites! We gave each group a large tube of toothpaste (again, purchased at our favorite, local dollar store!), a styrofoam plate,  and one toothpick per person. The only direction we gave was "We want to see which team can squeeze and empty their tube the fastest." Now, of course, that wasn't really the ultimate task, but this part was SO fun and MINTY! (our room smelled fantastic!)

Squeezing the toothpaste OUT!

Now came the REALLY fun part...we told them that they now needed to put the toothpaste back IN to their tubes using their toothpicks! Our direction was met with "What?? Impossible! I wouldn't have squeezed it all out had I known that!" and more hilarious whining! What ensued was a messy disaster of fun learning!

 ATTEMPTING to put the toothpaste back in!

Once the giant mess was cleaned up (yes, it makes a giant one, but so worth it!), we read the familiar book Have You Filled a Bucket Today?. Then, we discussed the challenge.

Amazon Link for Book

The biggest connection...our words are like the toothpaste! Once they are out of the "tube", you can never really get them back in. We used this as a platform to discuss "choosing kind" at all times, how our words mean something, and how they make a difference!

ACTIVITY # 5: SPAGHETTI TOWERS

This one is probably familiar to many of you...it has been all over Pinterest and other blogs for years. Consider it an "oldie, but goodie!" There are hundreds of different versions out there. There are cutsie directions pages you can download when you search. There are even STEM connections to this one. For us, we kept it more simple. It wasn't so much about the activity, but the work and communication that went into it. We gave our students 20 mini marshmallows, 20 sticks of regular spaghetti (no linguine here!), and a roll of clear tape. We gave them 20 minutes and told them to build the tallest, free-standing tower possible. Only rules, once a piece of spaghetti or marshmallow was broken, you would not get a new one. And, it had to stand on its own...no taping it to the table or wall!

We were most surprised by the lack of success on this project, but it really turned out to be a great teachable moment. They REALLY struggled with this one for some reason. We had a number of friends just give up and watch. We had a tremendous conversation about perseverance and failure. We hadn't anticipated doing it with this one, but the timing was just right. We also shared the now super popular Rube Goldberg video and used it to talk about failure. 

We spent the majority of the time discussing how the only true failure is when you stop trying. And how the little boy in this video saw his failures as opportunities to make things better. He was EXCITED by the number of failures he had!

Even though we went into the spaghetti challenge thinking we would discuss more about collaboration, the personal needs of our group took us in a different, magical direction. So, despite the "failure" of most of our groups in building a successful spaghetti tower, we were all "winners" with our new understanding of failure!

ACTIVITY #6: OUR CLASSROOM QUESTIONS

One of the last activities we did during the first 2 weeks of school was ask our students 6 questions:

1. What should kids in our class be doing to make sure our class runs as smooth as possible?
2. What do you hope to learn this year in XXth grade? (insert your grade here)
3. What will YOU need to do this year in order to be successful?
4. What will Mrs. Sommerville & Mrs. Patterson need to do this year in order to help Team Togetherness be successful? (insert your own name/class here)
5. Our class should be _____ every day!
6. School is important because ________!

We put these questions on 6 different sticky note anchor charts around the room. We, then, divided the kids into 6 starting groups, each armed with a pencil and sticky note pad. This was a silent activity. We set the timer for 3 minutes. During those three minutes, they needed to answer their assigned question on sticky notes. After the 3 minutes were up, we rotated to a new poster.

Once all groups had rotated through all 6 posters, we met for one of our final team building "grand conversations." We logged all of our best ideas into a doc.

Wow...just looking over that list again gives me goosebumps! They are so insightful and honest! <heart swells with happiness>

We used this document to look for trends and ideas. We, then, wrote our first draft of our "Social Contract." In Team Togetherness, our social contract is the norms we agree to function by. The kids word it and discuss what should or shouldn't be a part of it.  Our next blog post will focus on the social contract, as well as technology contract that the kids wrote, as well as the consequences they came up with.

Now, these 6 activities are not "the end" of team building in our space. We try to incorporate at least 1-2 per month for the remainder of the school year. It is always good to "norm" yourself and re-experience something to bring those ideas back to life! Others we are saving "in our back pockets": Saving Fred, a different cup/rubber band challenge, more great picture books, Lego challenge, The Day the Crayons Quit (a great book!), and more!

In Team Togetherness, team building activities are not only fun and memorable, but they have a much deeper meaning. For us, they are integral in the development of our classroom community and norms. They are powerful teachable moments.

How do you develop community in your classrooms? Do you have other ideas to share? We'd love to learn with you!

Happy Teaching!

~Angela

Setting Up the Classroom

So...we survived the first week! It has been amazing (& exhausting) starting fresh with a brand new class of little darlings after finishing our 2 year loop with our last group. We have done so much this week, and of course, a lot we didn't get to. A blog post will be coming soon about the first week bumps and celebrations.

This year was definitely new for Kate and I. For starters, we had to pack up everything prior to the end of the school year. And, when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING! Our entire classroom had to be boxed up and put into trailers behind our building. Why? You might ask...we are now the COOL teachers in an air conditioned building! HOORAY! 

The absolutely GINORMOUS crane putting one of the units on our roof!

That being said...while we now get to wear a sweater in September, this project came with many challenges. The number one challenge for us teachers being that we could NOT get into our school for the entire summer! I don't know about you, but I typically try to get in once a week throughout the summer to complete small tasks. I only stay for a few hours, but it helps me build up to the "big reveal" at meet and greet in August.

The summer was winding down, our anxiety was winding up, and we finally found out we could get into our classrooms on Monday, August 24th!!! <sigh of relief> Meet and Greet was pushed back to August 31st! That is not much time, people! This is was we walked into:

The double room PILE we walked into!

EVERYTHING we owned was piled on top of each other and on blue carts. Our giant pieces of furniture were tipped upside down, smooshed, and in the wrong half of the space. My anxiety flew through the roof when I walked in. I gasped. I called Kate (who was on her way). I panicked. Then, I took a deep breath and dug in.

The first few hours were just spent trying to unload the 8 blue carts full of boxes and books. Once those were out of the room, we had a little more space to work with. Kate and I stayed until they kicked us out (well after 9PM) that first night...and the second night....!

It took us all week (and a lot of sweat and sore muscles), but we finally had this:

Not only did we get everything set up, but we (of course), took on some extra projects (because...seriously...we didn't have ANYTHING else to do ;) We're sick...truly sick... :)

Project One: Repainting the dry-erase tables! These tables take a beating throughout the year. Here is a link to our original blog post from last year when we painted them for the first time! Since then, they have been scuffed, chipped, and "shadowed." A little sanding, primer, and new paint...and voila! We have beautifully white tables, ready for the writing! We even added a 4th table this year! I added 3 coats of the dry erase paint this year (vs. two last year) with the hope that they will hold up a little better. We'll see!! Regardless, it is a great way to cover up old, beat up tables! The kids LOVE them!

BEFORE...scuffed, chipped, and nasty! We sanded all the tables down first, then primed them with a latex primer.

AFTER! 4 beautiful, white, shiny tables that are ready for the writing!

Project Two: Spray painting ugly stools! We had about 8 of those old, art room stools at various parts of our room. They were different colors of metal. They had rust spots. They were, needless to say, UNATTRACTIVE! So, a few cans of spray paint later...and we have beautiful, shiny stools that really POP in our room! Here is a link to the brand we used! We chose a lime green and turquoise color (sorry, couldn't find the exact colors on Home Depot site). 

We did choose gloss colors (there is a matte finish, as well). Had we had more time, we would have sprayed them with a clear protective coating, as well. Maybe we still can sometime before a long break....we just ran out of time! It was such an inexpensive upgrade to our room! Our peers were so "wowed" by our simple change, that there are now MANY different colored stools floating around our school :)

Project Three: Overhaul of the classroom libraries! We have the gift of having a fiction and nonfiction library in our room (a pleasant side effect of combining two classroom libraries into one!) We love our books. Our kids love our books. BUT....they are HORRIBLE at putting them away! None of our labels matched either. So...we made some new labels that went with our chevron and chalkboard theme! We are in LOVE with how organized it all is now!

You can grab the book bin labels for FREE by clicking HERE!

We used different colors for different kinds of books--blue for chapter book series/authors, purple for genre sorted books (historical fiction, fantasy, mystery, etc.), red for picture books, and green for all nonfiction! We also put numbers in the corners of the labels. Each book is labeled with a matching number to help each book end up back in the right place!

Whew....it was A TON of work, but we made it just in time for "Meet & Greet"! Our families are amazing and our new little 4th graders (such a change from end of year 5th graders!) are so energetic and eager! 

We will update soon with the different team-building activities we have done to better get to know our kiddos. We have some fun ones to share!

Happy Teaching!

~Angela

You Matter Cards

You Matter Cards

We have lots of visitors to our space. It is a true blessing that we get to share our journey with others. We love that we have connected with so many educators from our area, our state, and even from around the country!

We recently began leaving our visitors with a little something to remember us by. They are called "You Matter" cards. We can't take full credit for this brilliant idea. I read a different blog post on Twitter about a principal from a school that uses a similar card for the entire school! I believe he is working with the great Angela Maiers! Talk about making an impact with a small piece of paper! Think of the message he is sending to his entire community when they step foot in his school! Truly inspirational!

When we read this blog in late August, it was a little too late to start a school wide initiative. So, Kate and I decided to start small! We created our own version of "You Matter" cards.

Click to see the full file

We want our visitors to know they are special. We want our visitors to know that staying connected is important to us. We want our visitors to know that we do what we do, because it is what is best for kids. We want them to know that their visit MATTERS to not only our journey in personalized learning, but also in the lives they will now go and impact on their own journeys. 

Our next step...to bring "You Matter" to the kid level. Each student in our space has their own "square" in the hallway outside our doors. We are personalizing those squares with their pictures and work samples. Kate and I are also planning on leaving our students "You Matter" notes throughout the week. We want them to know how much they MATTER to us, as well! Our secret hope??--That it spreads like wildfire and kids start telling each other why they MATTER!

Everyone deserves to know they MATTER--no matter how big or how small--it feels good. It feels right. It is important to our well-beings. It is amazing how two little words can leave such a lasting impact.

Be sure to tell someone in your life that they MATTER to you! What impact can you make?

~Angela

Final Space

It came...it FINALLY came!!! We have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting for the final piece of furniture to arrive for our amazing space. It arrived today at 3:30...albeit a month late...we'll take it! Check it out! Isn't it amazing? We cannot wait to surprise the kids tomorrow morning with it!

Add caption

Could this horse-shoe piece be ANY cooler?? We are SO excited!

A Little Background...

When Kate and I first began planning this space, our number one priority was the hole in the wall. We knew it would completely change the way we taught and the way the kids viewed our space. It would not longer be my room and Kate's room. That doorway symbolized the transition to our room. Out of everything we asked for in our proposal (and we DID ask for the moon...), that was our number one. Thankfully, we got it!

In addition to the wall and the amazing technology that we use each and every day with our students, we also asked for money to purchase unique and comfortable furniture. We in no way shape or form wanted a "traditional" classroom environment. We wanted cozy. We wanted fun. We wanted choice for our kiddos. We felt that kids being allowed to work where they are most comfortable would significantly help with their engagement and motivation. Unfortunately, we ran into some "bumps" in our wall-tear-down-road. These bumps essentially "bumped" away our furniture budget last summer. Kate and I made due, for sure. We had lots of tables. We found some great, second-hand green hand chairs. We used a fellow teacher's old counter top to turn an old book case into seating. We bought our futon at Walmart. We used some of our grade level budget to buy odds and ends here and there. We spent our own money, for sure. We were even generously gifted another futon and 2 yoga ball chairs by our amazing families. But, we still felt like we could do more. 

Our awesome second-hand "hand chairs" that sit in our fiction library.

Our fiction library area.

Our nonfiction library area and "quiet zone". This zone is a silent zone at all times. It also houses one of our Wal-Mart futons and a target ottoman.

Our counter top book case that we made with hand-me-down counters.

Don't get me wrong, we were EXTREMELY thankful for all that we were granted last summer. Our year last year was the BEST work of our teaching careers. But we still longed for some fun furniture for our kiddos.

Welcome to Spring 2014. Our truly amazing business manager for our school district came to visit us. I needed to interview him for my then-grad-program. I have always known him to be open minded and a true team player, but I never realized his passion for innovation and unique spaces until that interview. Who ever is fortunate enough to work with a money guy that is totally into school innovation? He truly understands both sides of the educational coin--the financial side, for sure. But he also really thrives on connecting the financial side to best practices. He doesn't believe in spending money if it is not a priority or what is best for kids. For that, and many more reasons, we have immense amounts of respect for him. We are SO incredibly fortunate to have him as part of our administrative team here in Elmbrook! During our interview, he mentioned how he was looking to redesign some under-utilized spaces in some of the elementary school hallways. We chatted casually about the great things he was doing. And he was off. A few weeks later, he approached Kate and I with an amazing proposition. He recognized that we lost our furniture budget the summer before, and he offered to help us obtain some new furniture as part of his redesign project. Who could say no to such an amazing offer! We worked with him and furniture by Staples, and voila! We received some truly amazing pieces that our students absolutely LOVE (and we do, too!). 

We received the blue modular couch and red step modular pieces this summer. It adds a "stadium seating" effect to our space. It is wonderful for whole group mini-lessons, too!

These other red, step pieces are on the opposite side of our space. They are also new this year.

Do you see the fun "minion" chairs at the S-shaped table in the picture? Those are fabric covered yoga ball chairs! They are the most comfortable chairs ever! Also new this fall. The black futon is one of our Wal-Mart beauties from last summer. It held up surprisingly well!

Standing desks with "wiggle" bars at the bottom that we received from our partnership with our OT team! We had these last year, and can't imagine our space without them!

A great "net chair" from Target. And, of course, more "minion chairs" !

We are SO incredibly thankful for our space and the support of our senior leadership. We cannot thank you all enough. Our space is an amazing place to work, but more importantly, it is an amazing place for kids!

What things have you done to rethink your learning space? We'd love to hear the amazing things you have done! 

~Angela