GENIUS HOUR - 3rd Grade Style

Dear Friends,

It has been awhile since my last post. It has been hard to keep my mind in my 7th grade math classroom when the idea of my own classroom are so tempting. At my student teaching building, we had professional development last Friday. In the middle of the day, they released us for Genius Hour. Genius Hour is a Google development that gives their staff a chance to research and develop anything they want as long as it benefits their company. Because I have 3rd grade brain, I used Genius Hour to develop a plan to use this concept in my third grade classroom. I found a great blog that explains how she did this in her classroom and it sounds awesome. I am so excited to get it started.

I am planning on allowing 30-60 minutes of time every week for the students to research and explore any topic that they choose. This will be their topic for the semester until November/December. Students will research and learn more about their topic, develop a product that shows what they learned and then present what they learned to the class.

I think this opportunity will help the kids see that the research can be fun. They will be able to be creative in what they are learning.

Check out this post on using Genius Hour in a 3rd grade classroom. http://anchoredin3rdgrade.blogspot.com/2013/10/genius-hour.html

She sounds awesome and super organized with Genius Hour. Hopefully I can be as successful.

Has anyone else heard of this before? Or used it in their classroom?? I would love suggestions.

That's it for now,
Miss Budd

Rough Day... But it's Friday!

Dear Readers,

The day is not even over yet and it has already been an exhausting day. I have been full time teaching since Monday so I kind of have the logistics down. My cooperating teacher is gone today and so I am here teaching with a sub in the room. Of course I have planned a math lab day for the day my teacher is out of the room. Big mistake on my part. First period was a disaster and I ended the period yelling like I have never yelled before. The class was out of control and definitely testing my authority and my patience but by the end of class I was done. With 5 minutes to spare, I finally got them all sitting down and doing their work so that was a success in my book. This class is always difficult, even for my cooperating teacher. There are 15 boys and only 3 girls so there is no way to split up the instigators. I have tried talking to the recurring troublemakers with no success. They seem to behave better with direct instruction but I really hate to talk at them the whole period. Does anyone have suggestions on what could make the days go by smoother?

Now its back to my last two periods of the day! Wish me luck :)

Ms. Budd

Getting Ready!

Dear Readers,

Not much new from me today... I am getting zombie mind trying to get through my last 5 weeks of student teaching. I am definitely just going through the motions to get all of my graduation requirements taken care of. I finished up my E-Portfolio just about 20 minutes ago! To finally have that all off my plate feels amazing. Now just to finish up these student teaching assignments and get on to my next chapter.

I have been trying to plan and get ready for my 3rd grade classroom but I am unsure of a starting place. My Pinterest is full but it is so hard to draw real worthwhile ideas from it when there is so much.

Does anyone have any tips on things I could be getting ready and planning for this early in the game? I would love suggestions on good books to read or sites to visit.

Hope your April Fool's Day is full of trickery too! (Did I mention I am in a 7th grade classroom... Oh April Fools...)

That's all for now folks,
Miss Budd

Teacher's Chair

Dear Readers,

I am excited to finally undertake my first official classroom project. I am attempting to create my teacher's chair for my classroom. I found this beauty in a quirky shop in Algona, IA for only $20. I decided to give it a try and if it doesn't work... I am only out 20 bucks. I finally got the motivation to start ripping this thing apart in order to see the bones of the chair. I am planning on restaining, refinishing and reupholstering the chair.

So far, I have all of the old upholstery and cushioning off of the chair. I will post more as I get more done. I am hoping to get this project done by the end of Spring Break. We will see how well that will work out.

Here are some before pictures!!

 Bodhi really wanted to be in these pictures...

And here is a picture of the chair minus the upholstery.

I will post more as the project keeps moving!

Sincerely,

Miss Budd

Interview Today!!

Dear Readers,

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

I had my interview today! Everything went well. I arrived about 30 minutes early which was good because they were able to start my interview early and they didn't have to wait on me. This interview was a little different from my last in that there were 6 teachers and the principal participating in the interview. However, it was really relaxed and inviting. They went around and each one asked me a question. Most of the questions were about my discipline style and my ideas about the common core/Iowa Core. They seemed to be really excited about my knowledge towards the Iowa Core as well as my technology knowledge. They toured me around the building and showed me the classroom that I would be working in. It is currently a resource room and has a door leading outside but no windows... That might be a little getting used to but nothing I can't handle. It was a great experience and all of the staff seems really positive and excited about learning new things and making these changes.

About 2 hours after the interview, I received a call from the principal saying that they had already made a decision regarding their interview process and that they would like to offer me the 3rd grade position!!!!

This is the "frog" effect if anyone is interested... :)

I am so excited for the opportunity to have my first year of teaching in such a great school. Also, for those of you who know me.... I get to shop for CLASSROOM SUPPLIES!!! I am beyond excited and ready to just start but apparently I have to do these things like finish student teaching... graduate.... get my teaching license.... finish my reading endorsement.... silly things like that. Hopefully I will be able to wait that long.

If anyone has any questions or would like some advice from someone who has been in these crazy interviews, I would be happy to help. I am not an expert by any means but would love to help in any way that I can.

I hope your holiday was as great as mine!

Exuberantly,
Miss BUDD

Amazing Teacher Find!! Erin Condren's Teacher Planner

I have been scouring Pinterest (because it is Spring Break and I am a really good procrastinator) and found the most amazing organizational website!! Personally, I love to stay organized but struggle to find something that really fits what I need... Up until now! I have been watching videos and searching this website for hours now and absolutely love it! Here is the link... https://www.erincondren.com

I have fallen into the pit of organizational ideas. My favorite thing that I have found is the teacher planner. It seems to have everything I would ever need and more in a teacher planner. The planner includes tons of resources and organizations pages. It also has inspirational quotes just for teachers sprinkled throughout. Here are a few sample pages that I snagged off of the website.

Here is a video that shows a little more detail to the planner and how an experienced teacher might use it. Plus it is adorable! It is a bit pricey at $59 but for something that I will be carrying around daily for a year, I am willing to spend money for something that is sturdy and works. Check it out!

I hope you love it as much as I do. I have definitely decided this is my gift to myself when I finally get my first teaching job.

She also has pretty adorable desk calendars and personal (life) planners as well. I am personally partial to the teal and gold life planner and might have to slip that into my order as well.

Update: I have officially ordered and received my teacher planner! It is just as amazing in person as it looks on the site. The pages are all super sturdy along with the spine of the book. The lamination looks like it will last forever. I have spent the past couple week filling in all of the calendars for important dates and holidays for next year. I am super excited to start using this and getting organized!

If you are planning on ordering a product through Erin Condren (which I definitely recommend), feel free to use my referral link. By using this, you will receive a $10 credit to your account after ordering and I will receive $10 to my account as well. It is a great deal that helps broke people like me stay organized!

Here is the link! https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/tabithabudd0310

Hope it is a great Sunday for every one!

Sincerely,
Miss Budd

Bulletin Boards

Dear Readers,

I want to share a couple of the bulletin boards that I have created in my previous 2nd grade student teaching placement. The first board is based on the Sochi Olympics. The school that I was placed in was participating in a school wide Olympic reading program. Each classroom was assigned a country to represent and ours was SWEDEN! This bulletin board was a place for the teachers and students to place found facts about Sweden as we started to learn more about the Olympics and progressed through the program. Sorry, I do not have photos of the board in progress.

The other board I want to share is a bulletin board to encourage good character traits while using the St. Patricks Day theme. Students were then given green shamrocks that they wrote one character trait they were good at and why as well as one trait they would like to improve on and how they would meet that goal. 

I got both of these ideas from Pinterest and then altered them to meet what I needed. I cannot find the original links so if anyone knows where these came from, please comment so I can give credit where it is due.

Sincerely,

Miss Budd