Modified Spelling Lists and Phonics

As a resource room teacher you will probably be giving alternate spelling lists.  Start thinking now about how you are going to manage that.  I like Rebecca Sitton's spelling word list: http://rmtc.fsdb.k12.fl.us/literacy/files/1200wordlist.pdf  If you look at other sites, you will notice that this list contains Core words and No Excuse words for grades 1-5.  The core words would...

Online Plans

Once again, sorry for taking so long to update this!  I'm finally getting back in control of my paper work/life!  I've been looking for a new way to keep anecdotal records - I say new but I really haven't done anything consistently.  My record keeping last year was basically keeping all of their work (writing pieces, running records, math sheets, tests etc...).  This year, I have...

Lesson Planning pt 2

Sorry it's been so long since I have last updated.  In August we put an offer in on a house and we are now ALMOST ready for closing (should be any day now :D ).  I also just put in my application for graduate school.  Needless to say, my weekends (and weeknights) are getting really busy with work that isn't school related and I don't want my lesson plans to suffer.  Staying...

And so it begins...

So as an update to my last post, I do have a classroom now.  If my school gets more students this month, I may be kicked out of it but as of right now it's mine.  I have students in one building but not the other one.  Monday we are meeting to figure out the students at building number 2.  Since I don't have the students that I had last year, I had to go through all of my records...

Reality

It's August 31st.  Students come back to school in 8 days.  In my district, we are required to begin seeing students the first day of school.  As of right now, I do not have a classroom, I have NO students, I have no mentor, and I have no copies made because there is no paper.  I do, however, have a list of 40 half days that I will be out of my classroom. ...

My Simplified Library

Last year, I spent a ton of money on books.  I bought a lot of chapter books for my students, however, I'm the only person who used my books.  The students took them out of the library so they could take them home.  I used my copies to follow along with them.  I would also bring them home on weekends to read so I could help the students do book reports.  This year, I'm going...

Storage Solutions

I share a room in both buildings I work in.  This was great as a first year teacher because I had access to all of the experienced teachers materials and they were right there if I had any questions.  It made my first year much easier!  However, now I'm sitting in a dining room full of books, posters, and teaching supplies.  Why?  Because all of those wonderful resources I...

Desk Essentials

Here is what I am packing to keep in my desk for my second year of teaching... First, there is the usual items: 1.  Pen/Pencil organizer - I use a cute coffee cup 2.  Pencils 3.  Pens in assorted colors 4.  Stapler 5.  Hole punch 6.  Paper clips 7.  Rubber Bands 8.  Scissors 9.  Tape/Tape dispenser 10.  Post-it notes 11. Some sort of file holder...

Holiday Activities

As you go through your first year as a resource room teacher, you will gather a lot of ideas and materials from the classroom teachers.  Get a 1-2 inch binder to hold your holiday materials.  I bought the dividers that are pre-labeled with the months on them.  I set up my binder to follow the school year (started with September) and added a few page protectors to the back. ...

Wrapping up the Year

Today I began packing up my rooms.  In one building, I'm switching rooms so I started moving things into my new room.  There is an unbelievable amount of work involved with switching rooms.  On top of that, there was a lot of stuff I should have done before students left (if I had known about them before now!).  1.  If you have students who are moving to the middle...

Spelling

As a resource room teacher, many of your students will probably have a lot of difficulty spelling even simple words.  I have recently started using the students writing as a way to create their spelling word lists.  My plan for next year is to give the students a few weeks to adjust to school.  I will look at the spelling lists they are given in the classroom (and look to see how they...

Planning

My apologies for not updating in a while!  There has been a lot going on lately and since I didn't follow my own advice, I was short on time.  Set aside one day a week to stay late and write your plans for the following week. Once they are written, make the copies you need and stick the materials into manila folders, labeled with the days of the week. All Monday materials will go in the...

Mental Health Days

I really needed a mental health day today.  Although today is more like a get-all-the-paperwork-done-without-students day.  It seems impossible to keep up with all the paperwork I have this year.  I know it's  not impossible but it sure feels that way.  I have service logs (each day I see a student I have to write down the date, time I saw them, if I was out or they were out,...

Schedule

My schedule changes every 2-4 weeks. Students are added, moved around, or no longer need my help. It's easy to just copy and paste kids around in your schedule but I really recommend printing out a new copy of your schedule EVERYTIME it changes. Keep them all in a folder with the dates of the changes and why it changed. I would also keep a list of students in that folder. When you get new students,...

Attendance

How are you going to keep track of attendance? Some schools will require you to take it everyday (especially in the middle school and high school). If not, you should still keep track for your own purposes. My records do not always match the schools (times are off, dates are entered wrong). Mailbox magazine has a lot of helpful organizers for teachers in it. Go to your library and flip through some...

Welcome Letter

After you decide on your rules and consequences, your next to-do list item is creating a welcome letter to students and parents. My letter was very simple. I introduced myself as their child’s special education teacher. I told them that I thought parent-school communication is very important and I gave them my contact information. I also stated that I attached an information sheet to the letter and...

Rules and Consequences

Once you have a job, writing your rules and consequences is the most important thing on your to-do list. Take your time with this. Choose rules that are easy to understand yet are broad enough to cover many situations. Some of my rules are: 1. Enter and exit the room quietly (I share a classroom so this is VERY important to me) 2. Think before you speak and act. (This covers all bad behaviors) 3....

Hello World...

Hello World, Allow me to introduce myself and my concept for this blog. My name is Becky and I am a first year Resource Room teacher. I teach students from K-5th grade in 2 different buildings. Needless to say, organizing myself to teach 6 different grade levels at 2 buildings was not an easy task. It's still not easy even after 8 months of practice! As I was searching professional...