New semester resolutions and such...

I feel like I have to make the same resolution year after year. I WILL update my classroom blog... Maybe if I make myself write it in the chalkboard one hundred times I will remember. So here goes attempt number three!

Today I began a new semester with a new group of students. Some students have had my class before but a fresh start and a different group of students always brings new challenges and excitement. Each semester I make a goal. 

This time around (aside from keeping up with blogging), I am attempting electronic hall passes. The students use a Google form I created to enter their name, where they are going, and the time. When the students return, they submit the form so it time stamps when they return. Hooray for the digital age! 

Can I go...

I hear "can I go..." all day long! My 8th graders only have a 2 minute passing period so they are always asking for passes to the bathroom and to get a drink of water. I am very close to the restrooms and don't mind allowing the students to go (only one out of the room at a time) within reason. I track how often they go and stop the frequent fliers.

The killer is getting a drink. Students sometimes come directly from PE and it's hard to deny a beet red face a quenching drink of water. As an art teacher, I have a bank of sinks in my classroom. I would tell the students to turn on the water and stick their face underneath. The girls would give me a funny look and so would some of the boys. Eventually thirst won out and they would sip from the faucet. I knew there had to be a better way so I asked Google and ordered this cool contraption from Amazon. It's amazing!

Dreamfarm Tapi Fountain Rubber Tap (Colors may vary)
by Dreamfarm
Link: http://amzn.com/B004I8V8DI

 

 

Save Your Sharpeners!

At the beginning of the year, I thought I was on to something. I placed a "trash bucket" at each table for students to sharpen their colored pencils over to eliminate the garbage huddle club. I'm no dummy. I knew half the students were over by the can sharpening an already sharp pencil so they could talk with their friends who they didn't sit with.  I thought the garbage can at the table was great...until my sharpeners started disappearing. Students would empty the shavings at the end of class not realizing another student had placed the sharpener in the bucket.

Then I had this brilliant idea. What if the sharpener was somehow attached?  A string could easily get cut or become a play thing. A magnet... Now there's an idea!

I found these cute metal tins at Target in the dollar section. 

Then I hot glued a magnet to the back of each sharpener...

And Ta-da! Now even if the sharpener is placed inside the bucket it can not be dumped out.

No More Stinky Milk!

When donating any recycled material such as milk jugs, glass containers, or plastic containers please thoroughly clean them.  I have been collecting milk jugs for an art project and my room is starting to SMELL like spoiled milk.

I figured I would take the time now to recommend an easy way you can clean these containers BEFORE sending them to school with your student in four simple steps. A quick rinse is not enough!

Step 1:
Fill empty jug half way full of hot water. Replace lid, swirl, and dump out the water

Step 2:
Put a drop of dish soap inside of the jug.  Fill half way with hot water again.  Replace lid and SHAKE jug.

Step 3:
Place jug under running tap water until the soap overflows and only water remains in the jug

Step 4:
Dump water out of jug and take a sniff - if it smells anything like what was in the jug before, repeat steps 2 and 3.  If it smells like nothing you are done!

Please, please, please for the sanity of your art teacher and her sense of smell do this before sending milk jugs (or donated containers of any kind)!