Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Open House 2019

Tonight was Open House. After the mad rush of getting ready, I'm always excited to finally get to meet my scholars. The night can be a bit chaotic as families can come at any time during the 4 hours, so I use stations to help keep it a bit more organized.


My first station is to sign-in. I also use it as a way to find out the main form of transportation.

The next station is forms. Here is where all the paper work the parents/guardians need to fill out. I leave plenty of pens in case they want to fill it out while here, as well as a bin to turn in completed paperwork.

The third station is for scholars to unpack their materials. I use community supplies, so everything is for everyone in the class. I divvy materials up before the first day of classes. If there isn't enough of certain materials, I buy enough to make sure everyone has what they need.

Another station I have is for the scholars to fill out a survey about themselves. I also include a snack. It's a bag of s'more cereal that says "I can't wait to learn s'more about you."

Finally, I have a station that includes information about myself. I also include two containers and some index cards. One for asking me a question about myself. The other for telling me one thing they want me to know about them.


And that's pretty much it. Most families usually show up, so I get a chance to meet one or both parents along with my scholars. 

If you're interested in my station cards, you can find them below.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Welcome

Welcome to Catered Classroom. I'll be starting my 10th year teaching this year, so I started this blog to share my highs and lows of teaching with you.

My biggest focus as a teacher is how to differentiate without the scholars associating the tasks as "easy" or "difficult." I find this is the area I want to improve every year. I also work hard to organize well and in a way that the scholars can work with as well.

I hope you'll find my journey helpful to your own. I'd also love it if you share your own tips and tricks of the trade in the comments. I'm always looking to grow in my practice.

Happy teaching!