New Beginnings

I am so excited about this new school year.  I try to do different things every year (I get bored easily), but this year, with the help of Pinterest, I thought about school more often than normal and have WAY too many new ideas. 
I started out by making new funky curtains for my classroom, since my blinds have never worked anyway, and I figured any way to bring even more color to the place is a GREAT thing!  I bought two shower curtains at Target, cut them in half to make four panels, sewed the cut edges, and sewed fabric to the bottom to make them longer for classroom windows.  Then, I got rods and set them in the existing hardware.  The picture is not the greatest but here they are!

I originally bought this same zebra print shower curtain at Target to cover up my "office", which for a science teacher, quickly becomes more of a closet.  The bear has already scared about three upcoming sixth graders.

I also found a great idea from thesciencedivablogspot.com for a Junior Scientist.  I will randomly choose a Junior Scientist for the week (on Fridays).  This student will receive a tote bag (I got printed ones on vistaprint), which will hold goggles, a journal, and a book of experiment ideas.  The student must choose an experiment (which doesn't have to come from the book) and have a week to conduct the experiment and present their information (which must be recorded appropriately in the journal).  On Friday, students will present in any way that they desire and will receive an extra grade that day!  I am so excited about starting this.  Students love experiments, and I know they will love choosing their own.

I am also trying to be more organized, so I have made even more bins for things like Weekly Assignment for when kids are absent and Graded Papers for filing.  I know most teachers already do this, and when I taught elementary school, I did more of this.  In middle school, however, I dropped the ball on stuff like this.  Here are some of my new crates:

Another idea I have is to have a "Scientists Around the World" board.  I have been trying to increase global awareness, as well as spark interest in science fields for kids, and this seems like a way to do both.  Students will find a current scientist anywhere in the world, print a picture, and write a paragraph about them on a notecard.  Notecards and pictures with be posted on a world map that will stay up throughout the year.  I will post pictures when this board is working.  My dream is for at least one student that I teach each year to be so inspired and excited about science that they strive to work in a field of science.