It's the beginning of a brand new school year which means our number one priority should be building relationships with our new students, families and staff. Here are four ways you can build relationships with your students! 1. Start Building Relationships Before School Even Starts Reach out to your students, families and paras before back to school night and before the first day of school. You can do this by:
Back to school night is such an important time for building relationships with families and your students. Build those relationships at back to school night by:
Building relationships with students, families and staff should be given a continued effort during the first few weeks AND all year long. Do this by:
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When I was preparing for my first year of teaching, I kept feeling like I was forgetting essential items and it truly stressed me out. As the year began, I slowly started to realize that I DID forget many items.
I made this list to help first-year teachers feel more prepared than I was... the last thing you should be stressing about during your first year is physical items! Hopefully this list will help you focus on the things that are more important... like planning, creating a learning environment, collaborating with other teachers, etc. What else do you think every teacher needs in their classroom? A calming and intentional learning environment is important for every classroom, but especially for an EBD or behavior classroom. In my opinion, red cupboards in a behavior classroom scream, "GET MORE ANGRY!!" Instead of, "you are safe and you can relax." Keep reading to see how I turned an angry and red space into a calm and welcoming space.
Every classroom will be different, but I noticed that the main thing that needed to be changed in my room was the red. To do this, I decided to use two things: white contact paper (two rolls) and white brick fadeless paper (four rolls.) You will also need a screw driver and a rag if you are revamping cupboards. The first step was to take off all of the cabinet hardware using a screw driver. I put each piece of hardware and the screws in the cupboard or drawer that it came from - this way I did not lose anything. Next, I wiped down all of the cupboards using warm soapy water and a rag. I also dried them using a dry rag. Once the cupboards were dry, I started applying to contact paper. I first cut out a piece that was a little bit bigger than the cupboard (room for error.) To apply the contact paper, I left the backing on the sheet and only peeled off an inch from the top. I stuck that top part on the cupboard and slowly starting pressing the contact paper down (using a book...lol) from the middle out. Once the front of the cupboard was covered in contact paper, I wrapped the excess contact paper around to the inside if the cupboard. To put the hardware back on the cupboards, I simply used the screws to poke holes in the contact paper and screwed the hardware back on. The last step was to lighten up the space a little more using white brick fadeless paper from Michael's. I covered the entire wall behind the cupboards with this beautiful paper. To do this, I simply cut a section large enough to fill the width of a wall, stapled it on, and worked my way up until the entire wall was finished. HUGE TIP: use a binder clip to make the roll easier to work with (see third picture above.) Overall, this project took me about 6 hours. A great way to speed the process up would be to invest in a power screwdriver, I spent about 2-3 hours just trying to get the screws off because they were so tight. If you have any questions at all, PLEASE ASK! I love helping with this kind of stuff. Also... I am curious, did you transform your classroom in any type of way this year? If so, I would love to see it! Comment a picture down below or stare it with me on instagram - @mslovejoyteaches Hello and welcome to the official mslovejoyteaches blog! I am so excited that you decided to check it out!! I am an EBD (emotional/behavior disorder) special education teacher who is passionate about helping students succeed behaviorally, socially, and academically. I am also passionate about helping teachers with behaviors and social/emotional learning. Mslovejoyteaches originally started as an instagram page where I followed a few teachers that I went to college with. Today, it is a community of educators that I call my friends. I'll be using this blog to go more in depth on the topics that I discuss on my instagram page. Topics will include education, special education, social emotional learning, behavior techniques + more! |
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