One Week Down!

The first week of school has officially come to an end! It was an exciting week for me and I am impressed at how quickly the students have transitioned from a summer away from school. They walked in on Tuesday, ready to work and for the most part, have been proving themselves with each day that goes by. We did have a minor set back with cafeteria expectations, but I am confident the class will make more responsible choices during lunch.

 Over the past few days, I have made some updates to the blog. I have added our daily "Schedule", our student- generated "Class Rules", an "Announcements" tab with upcoming events, areas of study and parent information and our class "Wish List." Please let me know if I can be of any assistance to you. Remember, I am always just an email away.

Start of A New Year!

Welcome to Mr. Catania's Class! I'm so excited to have your student in my class this year! I have been working hard over the past few weeks to get my classroom ready and I am anxiously awaiting tomorrow's Meet The Teacher! I look forward to meeting all of the new faces and seeing all of the old faces too! My doors will be open after the Info Fair for your children to come in and take a "peek" at their new learning environment. While there, be sure to grab your child's First Day Packet, information forms, and planners off of their desk. I look forward to a wonderful year ahead as your children embark on their final year at Gorrie!

Vistaprint!

My Vistaprint package came yesterday and when I opened it, I was overwhelmed with excitement! The items I purchased came out so well. I cannot wait to get into my classroom on Monday to put them to use. I would highly recommend the website to anyone looking for an inexpensive way to print a variety of different things from t-shirts to tote bags to business cards and more! Throughout the year, I will post some of the items I created as the students are introduced to them. For now, here are a few of the great items I created using Vistaprint! Thanks Vistaprint!

Classroom Update

So, in the past few weeks, I have been attending professional development trainings and was able to squeeze in a few hours to work on my classroom. Although the pictures really cannot show, I was able to get tons of things done off of what seems to be an endless list of things to do. I organized some of my cabinets, started figuring out a possible setup for my desks (not sure if I'm sold yet..feel free to leave comments) and tried to visualize where I would like to hang things on my walls. Next week, I have a four-day training, Project Learn, from Mon- Thurs and then I am done for the summer! It is crazy how fast summer has flown by!

Teacher Trainings Are in Full Force

I just finished a three-day 5th grade science training and am that much more excited about a ton of new ideas I have compiled for next year! In the upcoming weeks, I am registered to attend many more 5th grade content area trainings that I hope to gain endless amounts of ideas I can share with both my students and co-workers next year.

With that said, I have a few things that I have been working on that will be added to the blog in the upcoming weeks. These include information for parents/students regarding my classroom procedures, a list of expectations for fifth graders, and content-specific tabs that will keep parents/students up-to-date with the topics being taught throughout the year. Check back soon for updates! I am excited to get those up and running on the blog.

Getting Antsy....

I am soooo ready to get my class put together for next year. I think I have compiled all of my materials and I just can't wait to get into the classroom to pull the whole thing together. Over the past few days, I have been traveling throughout Tampa to find some great deals on Patriotic themed materials. I went from store to store and found some really AWESOME classroom supplies. I wish I could go up to school tomorrow and have the whole classroom setup for next year. I find myself thinking about next year every free second I have throughout the day. I have so many ideas that I am sure I will forget some of them! I have even begun making a running list of ideas whenever they pop into my head, in hopes that I can remember them all. Next year can't come soon enough. Correction, I would like to enjoy summer! But once it's over, I am ready to get back into another great year at Gorrie!

A Glimpse Into Last Year...

So, I am sitting here thinking about ideas for next year. As I flipped through my pictures on my computer, I stopped at pictures of my classroom from last year that I took on the day of Meet The Teacher. Here are a few shots of my third grade classroom before the students arrived.

I enjoy finding a theme to use for decorating and organizing the classroom. Last year, I went for a colorful and wacky, "Mr. Catania's Carnival" Theme. The kids found it to be fun and I felt that it helped bring life and energy to the normally plain and boring white walls. I enjoyed compiling ideas that revolved around my carnival theme, such as "The Reading Booth" (classroom library), "The Behavior Booth" (classroom management), " The Tilt-A-Word Wall" (word wall) and my "Raffle Jar". When students behaved well, they would randomly receive a raffle ticket that was filled out with their names and placed in a jar on my desk. On Fridays, after our "Star Students" were chosen, I picked a few names from the raffle jar. These students won the opportunity to take a trip to the Treasure Box. The kids enjoyed the idea of the raffle jar and were always looking for ways to gain an extra ticket.

For next year, I am highly interested in doing an "American/ U.S.A. Theme." I figured with our fifth grade curriculum here in Florida being so heavily based in Social Studies, more specifically U.S. History, it is more than appropriate. I have already been tossing around some ideas as to what my theme will encompass and I can't wait for the 4th of July sales to start in a few weeks, so I can begin compiling all of my supplies and materials.

Here are just some ideas I had in mind:

1. The classroom library can be renamed The Library Of Congress

2. My "Star Students" will now be called "All-American Students"

3. Table groups can be named using Patriotic terms (i.e. Team Freedom, Team Liberty, Team Justice, etc.)

4. I will be the President of the Class and my job chart will include titles such as Vice President (teacher asst/ quiet capt.), Secretary of State (line leader), Department of Recreation (equipment manager), etc.

5. I will be reusing one of my fabrics from last year (the red and white striped) and will also be purchasing navy fabric for the other bulletin boards I have.

6. I also found a "Reading Across America" idea that involves having the students collectively read to a set goal. Each page they read is equivalent to a mile traveled from one end of the United States to another. I thought maybe I could have a map of the U.S. and each week, we update how many pages the students read for that week. Our goal is to make it to the other side of the U.S. We would obviously need to set a reward for completing the task.

7. I was also thinking of incorporating a class store to tie into our economy unit

8. STAR= Skills to Teach Academic Responsibility or PATRIOT= Prepared Assignments, Tools Ready, Information Organized Today

Theme binders to store all of their important assignments, notes, information, etc.

9. Our classroom rules will be renamed, "The Catania Constitution" or "Mr. Catania's Bill of Rights". These will be recorded on a scroll type poster board and signed by each student.

Any other ideas out there? I'd be happy to hear them!