益智玩具
A few places, actually! I keep the majority of supplies in our office closet... ... you can click HERE to read more about it. I also keep a caddy on our kitchen table with markers and pencils and other basic things in it so they have access to it whenever. We also have a caddy upstairs in the game room along with a big bin of crayons. AH! Since prime day has come and gone I'll share what I ended up ordering. The thing I'm most excited about is this toothbrush... ... it was a lightning deal and I ended up getting one for me and one for Dave. They are AWESOME!!! Highly recommend! I ordered this Littlest Pet Shop plane for Griffin for Christmas... ... and got this Lego train that Luke has been pining over for at least a year for a STEAL! And this Magformer motion set for Mason... I know that it seems crazy to be thinking about Christmas in July BUT come November I'll be really excited that I have the gifts and got a bargain in the process! I wear these WAY more often than I anticipated :) You can find them HERE! This is such a fun question!!! Luke - Dave and I have said for years now that we definitely see Luke going into some sort of engineering field. He's curious, creative and a really great critical thinker. Mason - Mason LOVES people. He loves being around people and being social all the time and when he found out that there are jobs where you can work at/for summer camps all year long he basically lost his mind. Griffin - Griffin thinks she's going to be a rockstar and we all think she's going to be a teacher... so pretty much the same thing :) We are SO BLESSED that my parents live about 1/4 mile away from us and are so grateful to have them close by! My parents will typically stop by a couple of times a week and often like to swing by on the weekend evenings and play games with the kids. This little tradition started during the first year we had three kids when they would come by on nights when Dave worked to help me get through dinner/baths with more than one set of hands. It's so nice to be able to text them and have them swing by to see a cool art project someone made or watch Luke dive on the day he learned or to drive over late at night when I just need my mom's opinion on a sick kid. AH! I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I've had dressing Griffin over the past 6 years! I'm aware that that sounds ridiculous but I really do love it! Thankfully, she'll still wear pretty much whatever I pick out - most of the time she picks her own outfit for the day or I'll pick two or three choices and let her pick. When she was a baby/toddler it was a LOT of Matilda Jane and as she's gotten older it's been a little more varied but she still loves dresses and anything "tutu-ish" :) I love a theme and obviously a chunky scarf. I answered this question as well as a few other teacher-related ones in this post from last year I wish there was a quick and easy answer to this question, but I typically handle things that may come up on a case-by-case basis. I definitely have certain rules and consequences that are the same across the board no matter what and these are mostly all-school rules regarding things like tardies, food in the classroom, etc., but a lot of things depend on the context, history, etc. I tend to classroom manage a lot like I was parented growing up - I trust kids completely until they show me I can't. I give them little freedoms (working on homework with a partner, sitting at the picnic tables outside of my room while they work, picking their seat, etc.) as long as they can handle them. And you'd be shocked at how far giving them those little privileges go. For example, if a student is being repeatedly disruptive during a lecture I'll ask that student to stop - but depending on the kid that could be out loud in front of everyone, it could be me walking over to their desk and putting my hand on it or sometimes it's just giving them "The look" from the front of the room. ;) If the student STILL cant' get themselves under control I'll explain that I can't allow them to rob their peers of the ability to learn (ouch) and nicely ask them to excuse themselves to the tables outside of my room. In general, the prospect of missing out on notes while outside and possibly losing some of the privileges mentioned above is enough to keep everyone pretty much in line. One little trick that I've figured out over the years is spelling out my classroom rules and expectations clearly and explicitly at the beginning of the year. Understanding that kids come from homes with lots of different expectations regarding behavior I spell mine out so we're all on the same page and typically kids appreciate the directness and respect my expectations. For example, I HAAAATE the words "shut up". I know that a lot of people say it in their homes but I can't stand it so I make that clear from the beginning that my room is a "no shut up zone" :) In my room I don't tolerate ANY sort of "razzing" while kids are answering questions, working up front at the board, etc. and that's an automatic email home and warning/detention depending on the severity. Math can be SUCH a hurdle for some kids and so much of it depends on confidence so this is something I hold to hard. Next is DOCUMENTATION!!! We have a program that we use for our grade book, student records, attendance, etc. This is also where we log student behavior issues and I try my best to note these in there so that if I have continual problems with a kid I can recall the information correctly to the parents and/or an administrator. It gives validity to your concerns over a pattern of behavior and I've never had "too much" documentation. In most cases, I've found that a quick parent email can solve most classroom issues. Will it sometimes be awkward to let a parent know the weird or inappropriate thing that their kid said/did in class? 100%. But in general, I've found that most parents appreciate knowing so they can address those things at home with their kids (and no... I don't email about EVERY little thing... but repeated or otherwise noteworthy things I'll send an email home). I always have so much fun answering these questions and hope y'all enjoy reading the answers. You can read my previous 7 Questions posts by clicking the links below. Seven Questions - Part 1 Seven Questions - Part 2 Seven Questions - Part 3 Seven Questions - Part 4 Seven Questions - Part 5 Seven Questions - Part 6 Seven Questions - Part 7 Seven Questions - Part 8 Seven Questions - Part 9 Happy Wednesday, friends!!! PS - this post contained affiliate links... thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog!
