Themed Classrooms

Camping Themed Classroom

Do you have a theme for your classroom this year? Last year I did a camping theme for my classroom and loved it. The picture is from a bulletin board in the hallway by my classroom. Above the clock I posted Camp Time. The classroom chores were things like Camp Host- for teachers helper, and  Raccoon Control for garbage. One of the bulletin boards said campground stories and that is where I posted pictures of things we were doing as a class and also posters advertising events or places to submit items for publication.  For the reading around the room chart I always post each year, I used the bulletin board set that has famous places in the United States. Each student made there own tent or travel trailer with their name on it and then they "traveled" around the the places as they turned in their reading logs each week. The last day of school we made smores and for our award assembly I passed out camp awards which I found on Teachers Pay Teachers.

This year I am doing a Board Game Themed Classroom. I found a great checkerboard rug at a yard sale this morning with giant checkers! I am also using Scrabble, Boggle, Monopoly, Life of Christ, Candy Land, Sorry, Trouble, and Trivial Pursuit as bulletin boards, decorations, and incentive charts. I will post pictures once the room is set up so you get the idea better.

I decided with multiple grades that a themed room works very well. I don't have to decorate for a certain topic that maybe only two grades are doing. It also gives me a constant theme for the entire year to use for awards, bulletin boards, and packet covers. 

If you are interested in the camping theme I have a board on Pinterest with lots of ideas, most of them I used. I also have one for Cooking theme, Board Game theme, and Bee theme (for lower grades), and Pioneers- Western theme. There are lots of ideas out there... start thinking of a theme for your classroom this year or let us know what you are using this year! I love new ideas!

So it is fitting that post two is about TWO important websites for teachers. The first is Pinterest. If you are not on Pinterest, get on the site and start making boards. It is a great place to collect, gather, and then go back find information. I have all my picture writing prompts on a board. In the morning I find the one I want, display it on our big screen TV and there is the writing prompt for the day. Another board I have which has been very useful is the Teaching Video board. I don't know about you but you tube can be pretty scary to just bring up in class, there is a lot of advertisements etc that are not appropriate. But when you pin the video on your board you can directly go to that  video and skip all the extra. Look me up Maurita Crew and follow some of my boards- I have a lot of videos that go with the Pathway themes.

The second site is Teachers Pay Teachers. In Bend our teacher supply store closed. So we have a limited amount we can go and purchase. There are so many creative assignments, awards, testing, etc that are available to you. A lot of the teachers have free downloads as well and hold sales! Which teacher doesn't enjoy a good sale!? My favorite teacher on TPT is Mrs. Renz. Her biography unit is fabulous as well as her poetry unit.  She updates her items frequently as well. This year I am going to use her Mastery Club idea in my classroom.

So hopefully I have convinced you to start looking into these sites if you haven't already.

Counting down to school starts,
Maurita

What is this all about?

Well, I searched for Adventist School teacher blogs...found a few and noticed no one was keeping them current... Hope to change that but we will see- life has a way of getting in the way of good intentions. I want this blog to help give Adventist school teachers a place to go for some ideas in teaching Pathways, Bible curriculum and ideas to stimulate great programs and outreach. I currently teach grades 5-8 in Bend, Oregon. I have taught there now for 5 years. Before that I taught in two different schools in California for 13 years. All of my teaching experiences are in multi-grades. I don't know what I would do if I only had one or two grades to teach! Let the blogging journey begin...