This past week was brutal! The first week of school is so much work and so tiring. However, I'm super happy that I got all my planning and copies made last weekend, because I didn't have to stay after school for very long each day. I was able to focus on printing student pictures, organizing paperwork that came in, writing my first week newsletter, and other fun stuff that teachers have to do the first week.
To help celebrate my first week, the lovely folks at Barker Creek sent me some materials to review!
They sent me the boxed set of
Draw Write Now curriculum.
I love the Draw Write Now series. I actually had one of the books that I had bought my first year of teaching. I like the guided drawing lessons, especially for kids who say "I can't draw!" With Draw Write Now, everyone can draw - even me! I also like the writing piece. I usually dictate the sentence to the kids and use it as an end of the week formative assessment. When the kids are done drawing and writing their sentence, then they add a background to the picture before turning it in. the other thing I like is that the lessons are themed, so I can always find one that ties in with what we are learning! They are great lessons to leave for subs in lieu of complicated writing mini lessons. I find that subs have a hard time with writer's workshop because there are so many routines and management. Draw Write Now is such a nice alternative!
My first year of teaching, I used an overhead projector to draw for the kids to copy. Then a couple of years later, I switched over to a document camera and Elmo. In my new classroom, I have an Elmo, but it's not my favorite. The wind blows the paper around, the camera head doesn't adjust like my old document camera did, and my cart is not large enough for everything to fit comfortably. Instead, I like to use my iPad whenever I can. I connect it to my projector with a VGA adapter
and project the image on my pull-down screen. This set-up also works with my iPhone!
I use my
Dropbox app (free!) to pull up posters and copies of worksheets to show the kids. I use the
Quick Office Pro app ($14.99) to show PowerPoints or to type something in front of them. I also use
Sketchbook Pro ($4.99) to draw or sketch something. I tried out using Sketchbook Pro with my son and did a Draw Write Now lesson with him about astronauts. I chose that particular lesson because he had been working on the planet experiments in his monthly
Magic School Bus Young Scientist Club.
I had the lesson book out for me to look at, the iPad on with Sketchbook Pro open to draw, and
writing paper for him to follow along.
Here is the completed astronaut that I drew. See, I'm not a perfect artist!
If you are interested in the writing paper, you can snag it for free
here. Feel free to leave me feedback if you like it!
The second item Barker Creek sent me was the Get Organized Go Green set. They have 11 different themes to pick from and they are all cute! It was hard to decide! In the set, you get matching file folders, computer stationery paper, and name tag stickers.
I knew that I wanted the decorative file folders to use in my new parent communication area.
I bought the Ikea Kvissle file rack. I simply screwed it into my bulletin board, plopped the files inside, and taped on my laminated labels. You can snag the labels for free at the end of my
classroom tour post.
For the paper, I typed up each student's name, my name, room number, and year and slid them in the front of our
Nicky's Folders. I use these for daily take home folders. I love how durable they are, how things don't fall out, and how they are easy to personalize with a full sleeve on the front and the back.
For the name tags, I simply printed each child's name on an address label, then stuck them on the front of the name tags and had students wear them on the first day while I learned their names. I actually knew almost all of my students' names, but there were a handful I didn't, so these name tags were definitely helpful. And since there were 45 name tags in the set, I gave half of them to the teacher next door since she had forgotten to order anything cute. Score for both of us!
In the Go Green series, Barker Creek also carries incentive charts, library pockets, letter pop-outs, desk tags, bulletin board border, and a large chart. I'm trying to figure out what else I need! Haha!
Now for the giveaway! Barker Creek is giving away a set of the Draw Write Now series, worth $100! Also, a Get Organized set of your choice! Enter the rafflecopter below to snag these amazing prizes!
GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.
