I'm Looking for My Friends, I'm Looking for YOU!

 Sid the Science Kid, anyone? Isn't that song just a little catchy? I'm the teacher on the hall who has found not one but two different box sets of Sid, so we watch when there's a rainy day because we can usually get a science or health grade, too (trust me, we are good teachers!).  Needless to say, the teachers wind up singing this song down the hall to one another when we need something, so now I sing it to you - my blog friends.

As I mentioned in a previous post, a co-worker and I are going to teach a Professional Learning Course to other teachers. The way it works in our school is that each semester you fill out the application and topic and then the AP decides on some and the teachers have to sigh up for the one they want to join.

I had been thinking about a blogging one of sorts. Especially as I was putting centers and games together and fellow co-workers would constantly comment on my creativity, telling me I should work with curriculum or be 1st grade's professional blogger. At the time I was having a hard enough time finding a real job - so we even joked that we would give it a more "professional" title - Professional Resources Manager.

Before I knew it, co-workers were finding my blog through Pinterest (they recognized my rocking chair) and I was recognizing activities they were doing with their kids from all of YOUR blogs. We started comparing notes. We decided why not?!

We gave our PLU course a classier name - Creative Teaching and Technology Resources. It begins on Tuesday, January 23rd. What we would like to do is put together a packet/powerpoint for them (we limited the class size to 20 - and mainly K, 1, ELL teachers) of blogs, freebies, fonts we like, ideas for organizing and using, etc). The teaching I am doing this actually has no idea I am making this post, but I kind of thought it would be fun (she searches on blogs and I blog) about another different way you can use blogs to reach out to all different teachers and get ideas and resources. If you are willing to contribute - anything, in any way - be it a printable, a freebie, math, science, social studies, word work, daily 5, organization - I would love to include you all in our presentations and give you some shout outs! And of course, in appreciation I will be more than happy to share the entire organized compilation that my co-workers receive with any and all who contribute when all is said and done! If there are any questions please let me know.







<center><a href="http://ohthelessonslearned.blogspot.com/2012/01/im-looking-for-my-friends-im-looking.html"><br /> <img src="http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af165/sydcohn/professionallearningbutton.jpg" border="0"/><br /> </a></center>

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How Do You Teach About Diversity? - A Guest Post

I wanted to share with you an interesting article by Dan Gilbert, of Primrose Schools. I find it comes at a pertinent time of year as we approach the holiday season. Plus, I have been taking an ELL endorsement class and our topic for these 10 weeks is diversity and culture. I'd love to know your thoughts and how some of you teach diversity. 

Teach Children to Celebrate Diversity

Submitted by Dan Gilbert

Older children and adults naturally realize the world is a big complicated place. We experience cultural differences in practically every aspect of our lives from school, to work, to patronizing businesses throughout the United States. The concept of diversity across the population of the world is becoming more and more important to understand and accept. Explaining this concept to your preschooler may seem like a complex lesson, but Primrose Schools suggestions will help make the lesson natural and fun.

A preschool aged child’s perception of the world is often limited to his or her own little corner of the world. The world as seen through the eyes of a young child is basically encompassed within their home, their school, their neighborhood and maybe their town or city. If families experience and welcome cultural differences, the young children will learn to embrace and appreciate the diversity of humankind. You will help spark your child’s understanding of the vast size and rich texture of our global community.

“We live in a diverse world. By teaching children to appreciate other cultures from an early age, you will help them develop compassion and seek out shared values,” said Dr. Mary Zurn, vice president of education for Primrose Schools. It is important for parents to teach young children a core set of family values because doing so emphatically builds lifelong character qualities. Young children learn best when having fun and the lesson is taught in a positive manner. A real appreciation of different cultures and other people is one very significant lesson for a child to acquire.

How to Teach a Child to Respect and Celebrate Cultural Diversity:

· Start by sharing family stories. A preschooler enjoys photographs and hearing tales about when Mommy and Daddy were little people. Talk to your children about the extended family members they see in photos, and share favorite memories. Show and tell children about family traditions. These activities help to make a child mindful of their own family history.

· Preschool aged children enjoy music, and they especially like songs. If you have a particular musical background, play music and sing with your children. Explain the origin of favorite instruments, and share distinctive music that is meaningful. You can also explore music from various cultures or music venues to help children learn to appreciate diversity.

· Reading to children is a delightful way to familiarize them with the diversity found in people around the world. Find books to enjoy together that bring to life different cultures, customs, artwork, or life adventures. Young children can identify with other children they learn about from books. Free to Be...You and Me is a wonderful old favorite that was a collaborative effort led by actress, author, and activist, Marlo Thomas. 

· Find fun cultural events to attend with your children, such as special holiday festivals or parades. Take children to museums and cultural centers to explore different lifestyles. As a family, visit ethnic restaurants to sample the variety in cultural foods and recipes. If you seek opportunities to know families with a background unlike your own, the children will naturally learn to appreciate a friend’s distinct life and cultural differences.

Teaching children to celebrate diversity among their friends, schools, neighborhoods, and the world is a good thing. It may one day help create an ultimate society that better tolerates and embraces all the unique aspects of the cultures around the world. Another old favorite that started as an advertising jingle is the song recorded by The Seekers in 1971, ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing’ (in Perfect Harmony). It has as much meaning today as it did then and is a fun song to teach the children.

“Encourage a celebration of cultures near and far, including your own, to help your child grow to be an accepting, compassionate adult, who values the differences in others.”- Dr. Zurn

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Sub Kit + Giveaway Time

First and foremost I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind words the other week. It took me a good week to get out of that slump. Okay, I'm not gonna lie they are kind of like humps - some days I'm up and some days I'm down. Most days I am up. How's that saying go, If you don't laugh you'll cry. I prefer to laugh. 

The county I worked for last year does some tutoring and they called me about that - Great! You need Middle School certification - uh oh. 

Well I am taking the tests for it (I still can't believe you can just take a test. I mean here I sit with a Master's--------oh, sorry that shpiel is for a different time) - it's this weekend. Cross fingers. 

Same day I signed up, my old school called and asked if I could sub for two weeks. YAY and fabulous. Yes, on one hand it feels a little weird. I mean, I taught there just last school year. But on the other hand, I will be familiar with the school AND I will get to see my kids from last year. SUCH a special treat. 

As a teacher, I was super organized and anal when it came to subs (shocking huh?). I had a 'Sub Tub' and inside were stacks of extra sheets, just in case. Then there was also a 'Sub Binder' inside. 

The first part of my Sub Binder came from Persnickety Pickles:

and the meat of my Sub Binder was from PreKinders:

You have got to get this download ASAP. Some pages I deleted, some I made my own, but basically all you have to do is plug in your information and your are set - year after year except for changing out names and schedules. I LOVE this resource. Subs probably thought I was bonkers, but ya know what anything they needed was right there. Of course, each page was put in a plastic page protector. 

The very final page was the "while you were out" page that is in Persnickety Pickle's packet (try saying that 5 times fast!). However, n one ever left me a note of how my kids did. When I subbed before I got my teaching job, I always left notes, or if I was friends with the teacher I told them and they said that is why they loved having me as a sub because I did what they were supposed to and didn't let the kids get away with stuff. I, also, personally like to know how my kids did. 

So here's the question: Do you like to have a note from your sub or could you care less?

I missed my follower milestone the other weekend, but to those of you who are new here, you will notice that I am kind of random at when I celebrate YOU, because as always I appreciate your being here, reading, and joining me on this (sometimes) crazy ride of teaching and learning, er I mean life. 

So for those of you who told me last time how much you liked Lindsey so much - you're in luck. I snagged an adorable tiny pouch (this is the one I said I use to keep my teaching ID and all my teacher cards inside, ya know from Staples, Office Depot, Barnes & Noble, etc.)

To enter please leave one (1) comment below with an answer to the substitute question posted above. 

This giveaway will end on Thursday, August 18, 2011 (8/18/2011) at 9:00 p.m. EST.

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Pinterest Made Me Do It!

I've been inspired all summer. I've been collecting supplies and staring at them sitting here. Now, I am LOVING my creations. I am sure you have seen them floating around Pinterest and Blogland. Two projects involved magnets. One involved crayons. One involved stickers. Three involved my hot glue gun. I love that thing.  

I think I will start with the one I think was most unique. I found these AWESOME bingo wooden chips by Tim Holtz's line in the scrapbooking section at both Michael's and Joann's (1. Please tell me you are familiar with his stuff! 2. Aren't they cool?!) So they have numbers on them, going all the way up through the double-digits. Immediately I thought - MAGNETS. They have got to be turned into magnets. I mean, not only can these be amazing little decor items, but what about math centers? Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division - take the first number and do that operation using the second number. Pull two numbers and do the operation. The possibilities are absolutely endless.

Here is the other magnet project - which you have seen around. I used scrapbook stickers. These stickers are just the letters themselves. I peeled them off, stuck them directly onto the magnet, put a drop of hot glue onto the bottom of the clear stone and you can still see the letters perfectly. NO Mod Podge involved! Super easy! There are even bigger upper case letter that I think I will put onto a larger size magnet and use a larger size stone. I like the idea because it will be nicer to have the two different sizes for upper case and lower case. 

Here is my crayon wreath, which again I know you have seen, but it's just my version and I think it is SO pretty!

Last but not least, here is a gift for my friend I took to her birthday dinner last night that everyone got a laugh out of. The flower pot was from Michael's. The label says "30 Sucks!" and it is stuffed with Tootsie Roll pops. I made the label on my computer and am happy to share it if anyone is interested. You could also use Blow Pops and do "30 Blows!" Likewise you could insert any age. This was very easy to put together. I just got a styrofoam ball that fit right into he pot and started sticking the lollipops inside. I did cut the "stems" as it got lower around so that it would "fit" better. 

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Monday Must-Sees

A whole sheet of 3M Post-it coupons. You know you want to print these. Post-It Coupons

Then, head over to Target's coupons and there is an additional coupon for some Post-It labels, as well as Scotch Tape, which also had a coupon in the paper this weekend.   

Also in the paper yesterday was a whole page for some 3M Command Hooks, so if you still have that lying around, you are going to want to go cut those. 

Next, you have got to go check out Eighteen 25's post today. I mean, here's a sneak peak. They are printable and they are free. Need I say more! 

I'm going to use the "You're So Sharp" for my pencil labels and I already asked if they would make a matching "You're so Dull" ;)

Happy Back to School. 

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Here We Go Again, ch. 10 + FREEBIE

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had an interview this past Monday. I never like to say or speculate how I think they went because after my ordeal I don't like to get excited. I didn't even call my parents the whole day, not even after the principal called me and asked about my references (and you better believe I was excited then). But then yesterday no call, and not an email until after 8 at night. I'm still waiting (which I don't take as the best sign that she still has more people to meet with. UGH!). I didn't sleep at all last night.

But if I do get a job, look how cute this binder my kids will have is, and help yourself if you'd like (again, I just ask that you give credit where credit is due). You can clearly tell my theme, huh?!

Ice Cream Binder Blog

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More Organization, More Labels (for FREE), More Ideas, More Crossing Fingers and Saying a Little Prayer!

 Thanks for all of the great feedback on my organization post! Yes, you read correctly, I do not have a classroom for all of this - but actually with that just said I have an interview on Monday morning. Normally I don't speak of these things until afterwards and if they have gone well, but if you have read any of my chapters on my life story then you know I need this. So if you could cross your fingers or say a little prayer or whatever it is you do when you are back in your classrooms on Monday morning I would appreciate that. 

Now, back to my organization - you saw me getting my classroom ready in my closet.  Here I am being organized in my own home - the home I moved into this past summer that I said was such a big deal, so of course I got down to business on decorating and organizing. I finally got to show it off this week and I felt so vindicated:

my living room

my bedroom - this is the wall across from my bed - the hoops of fabric I did on my own. The galvanized letter are from Anthropologie

These organizers are my pride and joy. They hang behind my bedroom door. I saw them on Pinterest and my mom helped me replicate it. I had a lot of fun doing it. I went to Lowe's found most of my pieces on my own in the plumbing aisle. I needed them to cut and thread the pipes for me. When they asked what I was using it for I laughed when i told them a jewelry hanger - and so did they, but doesn't it look good?! Loving the industrial look too. 

Below is my pantry. I must warn you this picture is old, and by old I mean a couple of weeks old. I had it open at one point during the evening and I looked at my friend and was like, I rearranged this since the last time you were here. She was like you are nuts. My other friend (who is married, and I am not) says "look how many spices you have that I don't!" 

I hung a command hook on the door for my aprons and lunch bags.

This apron was one of my end of the year teacher gifts from a few years ago from some awesome room moms. It reminds me of how fun this class was. 

And below this was another room that got lots of comments - the bathroom, weird I know, or is it weird to show you?

yep, so here I go again, OCD with the organization. I have a bin for contacts, sinus & cold, first aid, travel size shampoo, etc, toothpaste, razors, dental (I keep floss and toothbrushes in there), ointments, the open stacking bins on the right have haircare, the one below is soaps, etc, the little green one is nail polish, etc. 

what teacher isn't big on the germs?!

the organization above is self explanatory

and yes, people even spoke about the organization in my closet

stacking bins on the left - the top is purses and clutches, the bottom is socks. to the right are pull out drawers with shoes.

scarf organizer - from IKEA

I am still organizing the classroom too. A while back I posted some library labels. They were enough to organize through last school year - but here we go for this school year, unless I wind up in like 5th grade or something: 

1. The first thing I did was get all my categories in Alphabetical order. It looked something like this. I just put this in here so you could see it - this is not anything you cannot do nor is it formally typed.

Classroom Library

2. Then, I made the labels bigger, I color coded them (picture books, chapter books, non-fiction books), and I added a bin # to each label. These all will print on Avery shipping labels, 6 to a page 5164. Now your bin # may not be the same as mine, so if you actually do want to use mine (cause let's face it I think I'm only like the 1000th person to do some of these) and you need the word document, I am happy to email it to you.

Classroom Library Bin Labels

You will notice that I used the 'smiley monster font' which does not always use capital letters in the front, but again I am that OCD that I have changed the font for the beginning letter so that it is uppercase. After all, that is what I try to teach my students to do.

3. Stay tuned for the color coded bin # labels to match these that will go on the back of each book. For example, each Eric Carle book will have a small label on the back that says bin # 6 in blue. Those should be here soon. (man I have way too much time on my hands!)

4. You may have been wondering why I finally got to show off my new place this week. It was  for a Stella & Dot party. Have you heard of them? I am sure a lot of you have, but since a lot of my giveaways and deals have been for places that I try to introduce you to, I definitely wanted to share Stella & Dot with you. You can only buy through a rep. If you don't have one, my party is open for one more week (til August 6th, so you can just click on any of these links in this paragraph and then where it says "find your hostess" you just find my name: Sydney Cohn. Have fun. There are some great inexpensive and teachery (made that word up) pieces. For example, I love these:

and these

and this

I just can't decide in gold or silver, but it was a big seller that night. 

Can't wait to see how it looks hanging on my cool jewelry organizer. 

5

Organization Crazation!

 What's a gal to do when  everyone else is prepping their classroom and getting everything ready for the fall and she doesn't have a classroom in which to do that? Well, she'll do exactly the same thing, that's what she'll do - but in her closet of course! Haha. 

Yep! In May when I had to move everything home it was more of a drop it on the floor type of situation. Remember (for those of you who have been reading along all summer) I was getting to move out of my parents' house, so for the time being everything went in a somewhat organized fashion on my brother's bedroom floor (thank goodness for older brothers). As soon as I moved out and had an empty closet again, this is what everything began to look like, a mini-school supply store in my very own closet! 

I already had the clear containers, they are actually shoe bins from The Container Store. I use them to keep my shoes in in my own closet and when I did a big clean out I had a lot one time, and well there's some OCD in me so everything has to match now! Each supply has its own bin. I like being able to see what is inside. 

top view of the shelves - on the very top, all the way to the left are my book baskets. They do stack if I need them to, but I actually have white cubby shelves that they fit perfectly on (those are in the garage and my mom stole one of them for my 20-month old niece's toys) - all baskets and shelves were/are from Target. Moving over to the right are some smaller bins for math centers (those were from the Dollar Tree).

Moving down below the book basket are larger and smaller plastic bins for larger items (base ten blocks, felt, magnetic geometry shapes, etc.) and smaller items (magnetic letters, numbers, I have Who has cards, other card games) - those bins again were from The Container Store. Some of the index looking holders are from Wal-Mart by the company Sterilite and then the plastic bins with the green latches are from Target. I keep flat games in those - Bingo, Scrabble, etc. (I don't like to keep games in the cardboard boxes they come in because they eventually just rip or break or something. 

Again more bins, more supplies, and the top three clear ones are just little school supply bins that I got on sale this year. Oh and on top is just one of my handy dandy label makers. 

Four big boxes - plastic eggs for centers, a treasure box, teacher books, one is filled with pencil cases, then the crates with handles are all of my book organized by category (because I am that OCD to do that before I put them in the baskets for my kids - I'm CraZy).

Same on the other side - more books, more supplies

Composition books, pencil cases, Lunchboxes from EmTanner where I keep Crayons and Markers during the school year. Small plastic case has pencil grips inside is from IKEA.

This was a plastic file cabinet I used for Word Work last year. On top are some Leap Frog Tag Readers for Listening to Reading behind are some more plastic bins (those are from Hobby Lobby.

My grade book - awesome freebie from Really Roper!

Organizing my bulletin board materials. I could buy stock in sheet protectors. Each different one has the materials in its own protector and then right into a 3'' binder. These particular glue bottles are from The Teacher Wife. I printed them directly onto magnetic sheets and they go right onto my white board

I did the same thing with these schedule cards. I printed these directly onto magnetic sheets. They are from the amazing Mrs. Carroll. 

These awesome science cards I printed onto cardstock and laminated. They are from Ladybug.

This paper is from Mrs. I. I love her paper!!! Our school had a poster maker. I made three, am backing them on poster board and then I can demonstrate on them with a Vis-a-Vis for Beginning, Middle, and End. 

Look at my stack o' laminating! Oh boy. 

I mean, it is thick!!!

Check out these CAFE headers. They fit so perfectly with my food/cooking theme. They are from Mrs. Jones' Creation Station. Please go give her some follower love!

My Listen to Reading. I really struggled with this for a while last year. Each book has its own Ziploc with a sleeve for its own CD. I have two CD players (I need to get one more). I have my kids wrap the headphones neatly and store them in a Ziploc so that the cords don't get tangled and knotted. 

Some more small containers for cards, etc. They are from Target. 

I'll be back tomorrow with more!

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