Loving: The Unbalanced Chronicles: Fall Catch Up

I can't believe fall is here already! I know it is because I've been busy switching out summer clothing with winter clothing from the basement all day (also I had soup for lunch).

This was the first weekend I had to take a breath. I was totally unprepared for the challenges that hit me the first six weeks of school but now things have settled and it had been a relaxing weekend.

You know what I've been doing?

Watching this show-

Do you remember it? I use to be in love with Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain. This show ran through my high school years, so it brought back some memories of watching it each Sunday night.

I'm telling y'all this is so (cheesetastic) good, you need to re-watch in-between your Riverdale fix.

Other 'Fall Catch Ups' in my life-

Upward Flag Football:

This year Connor joined a christian flag football league and he has loved it. It has been such a wonderful experience.

I'm really thankful he was able to participate and learn so much about being a Godly player.

He is praying over his next sport, so please pray with him. My advice is that middle school is all about finding what you enjoy, so try as many different things as possible.

Annual Chicken Stew:

It's been a few years since we have attended the chicken stew due to scheduling conflicts but this year we made it and it was great!

Connor brought his buddy and they had a blast.

These kids had dirt from head to toe when they got home!

The kids took a hayride to the barn and out in the field to wait for a special treat.

Mmmmmm,

Treats

& S'mores over a fire.

Fall, Fellowship, and Fun

My Room:

Once again I was tasked with reinventing my room.

This year I walked into a few different pieces than what I had before. When you've taught for 17 years you become accustom to things getting moved around to a different place. My advice is if you want to secure something, take it home or post five notes on it wrapped in bulletin board with your name.

before:

After-

Now that I know more about my role at middle school, I was better able to design my room for a math and reading 'coach' role.

The large portion of my day is meeting student need via co-teaching.

I mainly use my room for- 1. intervention 2. mixed group rotations (general ed) 3. homework/ skill help in the afternoons for grades 6-8.

Everything is in short spurts, usually no more than 20-30 minutes. That means when students enter, I don't have time for anything.

I have to be ready to rock and roll.

This first set up is my math station with the larger white board, individual desks, calculators, rulers, scratch paper, etc.

Below is my reading intervention station with tables placed in an L shape. A new shelf was added in the back for work tubs, SPIRE materials, and other reading materials.

I dusted off Carlee's old white board for anything I need to write out for students during this time.

There are a few areas in the room for additional seating for independent work/ test mods or even students who need down-time.

My library corner -

I decided not to hang an extra bulletin board in favor of using it as a "door" in between two larger book shelves. Behind the "door", I store additional materials and my bags/games that travel with me to the primary school for my PRC 29 learners.

So far my space is working out great-

here a group of learners are tutoring each other and working together to problem solve area.

Although I use computers and iPads for students to access videos that I make for them, I have found using the Smartboard way too time consuming (especially when half the time it doesn't work), so I have turned it into another whiteboard.