Student Locator-GPS

I have just completed my first summer project! This was a combo of 2 Pinterest pins that I have been wanting to do all year.

The idea for the board came from Second Grade Style at this link. http://secondgradestyle.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-made-it-student-tracker-board.html

And the magnets came from Hereen's Happenings at this link.

http://heerenshappenings2.blogspot.com/2013/06/diy-glass-marble-magnets.html

I started with their awesome tutorials and made a few changes as I went along. First, let me say that this was not a "quick" project. I worked for about 2 hours total. Creating the graphics was the MOST time consuming part of it all. So, if you can find graphics you like online USE THEM! I created all of my graphics on powerpoint using 1 inch circles. They were SO cute!

Alas, after going to 4 craft stores I could not find 1 inch clear glass tiles ANYWHERE! So, I got creative. I purchased a bag of floral stones from Michaels $6. But, I found a smaller bag at Dollar Tree. I will be returning the $6 bag! After I got home and measured my new stones I realized that they were nowhere near 1 inch in diameter. I then reconfigured the graphics to fit the new size.

Like I said, this was the most time consuming part of the project.

You will need

A cookie sheet-I got this one at Big Lots for $3.50. You do not need a nonstick pan. The Washi Tape doesn't like to stick to a non-stick pan. Go figure!

washi tape-office supply stores carry this, not craft stores??? But, it comes in many different colors and patterns $2 per roll

Mod Podge-I actually ended up using the hard drying purple label variety because the bottle pictured was empty and cemented shut.

magnet buttons-$2.99 Michael's craft store

I do NOT recommend using the spray adhesive pictured above. You don't need it if you use Mod Podge and it gets all over the front of the stone. YUCK!

foam brush or other wide paintbrush

numbers-you can custom make these on your computer or use scrapbook paper. 

You can download the ones I created for FREE here. 

Glass tile numbers

I had to cut off the cute border to make them fit. Trial and Error. 

Step 1-Download or create your numbers. Print and cut out the circles. 

Step 2-Apply a small amount of Mod Podge to the back of the stone (the flat part) with your foam brush. Try to keep your hands clean or the Mod Podge will make fingerprints on the front on the stone.

Step 3-Adhere the paper circle to the back of the stone. You want to be able to see the number through the glass. 

Step 4-Apply a thin coat of Mod Podge over the back of the paper to be sure that it is sealed. Let that dry for a few hours or overnight. 

Step 5-Peel the backing off of the adhesive magnetic buttons and stick to the back of your stone. 

VOILA!

To make the board

Step1- I traced the cookie sheet size on a piece of large construction paper and drew lines to divide it up based on my school. 

Step 2-Once I got an arrangement that I liked I used the Washi Tape to create the same layout on the cookie sheet.

Step 3-I typed up the locations that my students visit most often. Printed it on colored card stock then laminated it. Cut out the words and adhered them to the board with double stick tape. 

Here is my final product! I am super excited to use this in my classroom next year. My students had numbers this year that we used for many things. However, I always found myself saying, "Where is so&so?" And the kids' reply "You said they could go to the xyz." Teacher brain! With this board the students won't have to interrupt me during small group time to ask to go to the bathroom, and I will always know where everyone is located. I will probably add 2 stone size circles to the bathroom area and 3 to the media center area. That way the students know when there are too many people out at those locations, and they need to wait.

In case you are wondering, Mrs. Price is the attendance clerk, school nurse, and OR. I left one spot blank in the event that I have a student who goes to Speech or Special Education etc. in my class next year. 

School's Out For Summer!

I closed the door to my classroom for the final time this school year. 

This past year has been a whirlwind to say the least! 

Last May I was closing my pastor's wife's classroom for the summer. I had been long term substitute teaching for the two years since graduation. The job market was looking bleak for educators with budget cuts and uncertainty. I spent the summer passing out resumes and scouring the internet for any possible opening. 

On the night of Open House for my district I had no thoughts of an opportunity opening for me. 

My phone rang. 

The Assistant Principal of a school I had only subbed at once was on the other end of the phone. 

"Are you available to sub? Can you be here tonight?"

I.was.so.there!

On that night I met a group of students that would wind up being my very own class. :) 

I was with my 2nd Graders from the first day of school, and became permanent in October. 

This has been a wonderful year! I had an amazing team of mentors! 

I am so thrilled to spend this summer gathering ideas not for some abstract classroom in the future but for my new group of 2nd graders. 

Next year's Open House will be bittersweet because my partner in crime is moving downstairs to 3rd grade. Jennifer welcomed me the first night, and has been a wonderful friend and mentor! 

I am so excited for our newest teacher and teammate Mackenzie! Next year I won't be the NEWBIE anymore. ;) I hope that I am able to be as welcoming and helpful to her as Jennifer has been to me. 

Let the SUMMER begin!

Let's Give This A Try!

Hello!
I am totally new at this blogging thing, so I will start with introductions. I just finished my first official year of my dream job, teaching 2nd grade. I have wanted to be a 2nd grade teacher since I, myself, was in the 2nd grade. I have had the best time with my first little class, and it came to an end on Friday.

About halfway through this school year I discovered an online educational charity called DonorsChoose.org. Through this website I have stocked my classroom with many essentials that I would not have been able to get without Donors Choose. Many other exciting things have come from my Donors Choose adventure. Google visited my classroom and funded every project at my school and in the Atlanta area. I started a giving page to help other teachers fund their projects through contests and trading. I have received such awesome feedback from my giving page, And How Are The Children on Donors Choose, that I have decided that my newest adventure will be to start a blog this summer to document my adventures in teaching and on Donors Choose.

You can find my giving page at
https://www.facebook.com/pages/And-How-Are-the-Children-on-Donors-Choose/682076805185297?sk=timeline

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/viewChallenge.html?id=387923&active=t

and follow us on twitter @howrthechildren

I will close with a great story that I have heard in many trainings and college classes. Many people wonder where I came up with the name for my giving page and now my blog. So, here is the story behind it. It's a bit lengthy but worth the read.

Among the most accomplished and fabled tribes of Africa, no tribe was considered to have warriors more fearsome or more intelligent than the mighty Masai. It is perhaps surprising, then, to learn the traditional greeting that passed between Masai warriors: “Kasserian Ingera,” one would always say to another. It means, “And how are the children?”
It is still the traditional greeting among the Masai, acknowledging the high value that the Masai always place on their children’s well-being. Even warriors with no children of their own would always give the traditional answer, “All the children are well.” Meaning, of course, that peace and safety prevail, that the priorities of protecting the young, the powerless, are in place. That Masai society has not forgotten its reason for being, its proper functions and responsibilities. “All the children are well” means that life is good. It means that the daily struggles for existence do not preclude proper caring for their young.I wonder how it might affect our consciousness of our own children’s welfare if in our culture we took to greeting each other with this daily question: “And how are the children?” I wonder if we heard that question and passed it along to each other a dozen times a day, if it would begin to make a difference in the reality of how children are thought of or cared about in our own country.I wonder if every adult among us, parent and non-parent alike, felt an equal weight for the daily care and protection of all the children in our community, in our town, in our state, in our country. . . . I wonder if we could truly say without any hesitation, “The children are well, yes, all the children are well.”What would it be like . . . if the minister began every worship service by answering the question, “And how are the children?” If every town leader had to answer the question at the beginning of every meeting: “And how are the children? Are they all well?” Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear their answers? What would it be like… I wonder?