My county adopted Houghton Mifflin Reading many years ago. I've used the focus wall located in my pages above and love that the kids would refer to wall. I've decided to rethink the sheets this summer to conserve on paper and allow a new twist.
At times the kids become a little distracting when getting in and out of their seat. I have an open classroom and welcome the kids to any resource or supply they need without asking but we all know there is a student that will try to evade their work. I decided to incorporate the focus wall on their office. I currently use the office for testing so that students aren't tempted to have roaming eyes. How about a personal focus wall?
At times the kids become a little distracting when getting in and out of their seat. I have an open classroom and welcome the kids to any resource or supply they need without asking but we all know there is a student that will try to evade their work. I decided to incorporate the focus wall on their office. I currently use the office for testing so that students aren't tempted to have roaming eyes. How about a personal focus wall?
Today I created a sample of the office. I stapled two file folders together. This year I stapled close to the edge to allow more space.
Next I cut off the edge of a pocket protector since the whole punched side for notebooks will not be needed. I stapled the sheet protector to the inside of the office.
Each week the kids will rotate out a new focus wall. The old wall will go in their language arts folder (reading, skills, and writing).
This will become a collection of words and strategies for the kids to use as reference at workstations, independent reading, or writing. Here is a preview of the first focus sheet created.
Theme 1 Dragon Gets By
The fun didn't stop here. I worked on all my cabinets today. I will have to go back up to school tomorrow to add all my labels I created during the math workstations previous post. Check out how organized and neat...
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| Math Supplies |
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| Classroom Supplies |
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| Small Supply Bins |
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| Papers |
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| Art Supplies |
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| Curriculum Resources in the Office |
13 comments:
I love the mini focus walls! I'm going to try those this year.
Ms.A
Oceans of First Grade Fun
I like the mini focus wall. I'm going to make a modified one for first grade. I use all the same curriculum as you. Do you teach in Florida?
I wish I had that much space to sort my supplies. =) I like your idea about the personal focus wall. I used to have different elements for my K's in their (letters, numbers, sight words) but it was a little distracting. Maybe just the focus elements would work...Thanks for the idea!
Great idea and I love the organization. My district uses Houghton Mifflin also... Thanks for the great ideas!
Lory
Lory's Page
wooo girl! Your organization is totally enviable! You'll feel so great coming back next year (you are going to leave for the summer, right???) ;)
Kristen
My husband thinks I'm nuts for going in today. I haven't remained in the same room for 6 years. I'm so excited to organize and not pack up!! :)
I'm in Florida which is the real reason that I'm still in the classroom. 100 degrees and surrounded by fires. The city is blanketed in smoke with high advisories to remain indoors.
sigh...I would be organizing in my room, but they won't let us back in until August 6th. I teach from the Houghton Mifflin series too, and your focus wall looks just like my "my space" folders. I laminate mine so that they last a couple of years. Sorry to hear about the fires. They have them out west too. It seems like every time I turn on the TV, there is bad news!
Wow! That looks great! I love the idea of a personal focus wall. Great idea!
~Maggie
oh I'm so sorry to hear that Cheryl! Congrats on staying in the same room...I've moved a lot too so I totally understand! Take care and happy organizing :)
Very nice, and I noticed some of my favorite "alphafriends" - my district uses HM, but I teach K. This is such a great idea, I'll have to remember it if I ever teach 1st or 2nd grade.
Miss W
Miss W Teaches
Whoa! You just blew my mind with the Focus Walls. *head slap*- Using page protectors so you can change the materials out! I have Mini Offices that are similar, but I am soooo revising them to make them more like yours!
Bravo Zulu, PG!
Warmly,
Shana
http://gracehopperlearning.blogspot.com
I wish that I could find these mini focus walls for 3rd grade HM reading! I am going to try to make them myself along with the office to put them into. Thanks for the great idea!
I like how you incorporated it in their mini offices. I might have to borrow that idea!
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