Hall Pass Linky!

I'm participating in my very first linky party! Reagan, from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits, (awesome blog BTW!) had the fantabulous idea to host a Hall Pass Linky, but this pass is for the teacher, not the students!

Product:  My favorite product, and the one I'm most proud of is my math calendar. I've already blogged about it, but it is the product that I feel makes the biggest impact on my students. At first, I was the only 4th grade teacher using it in my building. After feedback from the 5th grade teachers about how they could tell who had been in my class the year before because of their math skills, the other teachers started using it too. The kids love it, and they don't even realize how many common core math skills they are practicing! The first picture shows the first page of the Core Calendar, where we figure out if Today's Number is prime or composite. This was from the 95th day of school.

The second picture shows a page from one of the Day Files. I have separate files for 180 days of school. Each file has 3 pages and covers a variety of math concepts for grades 4-5.

Area:  My favorite area of my classroom is the front carpet area, which is right in front of the SMARTBoard, (which, as I have mentioned before, I  L-O-V-E!) Even though 4th graders are technically "big kids", I still have them come to the carpet for almost every lesson. I like having them close and we can talk and share ideas more easily. They bring their notebooks, clipboards, and/or white boards. I also frequently refer to this poster that I have hanging at the front of the room.

I feel very strongly about this quote. I am always telling the kids that practice actually makes you smarter!

Signal:  I have two signals that I use. If I am near my desk, I use this chime. Many teachers in my building participated in Responsive Classroom I last summer, so we were all given chimes by our administration. The cafeteria staff are using chimes too! It is a peaceful way to get everyone's attention.

If I am not near my desk, I use the Class/Yes signal from Whole Brain Teaching. The kids really like it because you can use different variations and voices with it.

Sanity:  My sanity savers all seem to start with the letter "c"...

Coffee is a must-have in the mornings, as is a little dark chocolate after lunch, (and again after dinner!) My computer is my go to for information, entertainment, creative expression, collaboration, you name it! I am never bored...and now that I am blogging, I have even more things to read and places to explore! And finally, my colleagues help keep me sane...we all have different teaching styles, but we stick together and support each other.