SAHM vs whatever else

Ok so I'm jumping on the bandwagon a bit here with this one. 

There is a lot of controversy going around over a blog where a "feminist", if we are so inclined to call her, very strongly states her opinions regarding women who are married young and have children. I refuse to even link her post here. I think the notion that anyone has to defend their choice to get married and have children is utterly ridiculous. 

I could go on and on here about how I started a family young, but really, it's irrelevant. 

What I want to talk about is the fact that this blogger feels that being a successful working adult and having a family are mutually exclusive. Why can't you get married young, have kids, and still pursue your dreams and ambitions? Where is there a rule that you must first go to school, get a degree, find a career before getting married, having children, and raising a family (if you choose to do that at all)?

The choice is that of the person living that life, and that person alone. Now, should you get married and have children decisions should then be made through the choice that best suits that family, but that's getting ahead of where this discussion is now. If you, yes, YOU, want to get married and have children then that is YOUR choice and no one else's. If YOU aren't sure that motherhood is the right path for you but you know the career you desire that will satisfy and sustain you, pursue that path! 

We are a nation of followers, looking to what others do and say is "right". In the end, when you take your final breath and reflect on the life you lead, does it matter if your neighbor looked down on the fact that your husband supported your family while you stayed home and raised your children? Are you going to care that some blogger posted how she looked down upon young women who got married and had children young? I'm quite sure the answer is "No." I know mine is. 

Ok so maybe now it's relevant how I started a family young... Only a little though...

I did the single working mom thing. I did the young married stay at home mom thing. I went to school while I stayed home and got my bachelors and then my masters. Now I work. I have to do what is best for me and my family. And what is the best for me and my family surely is not going to be the same as what is best for you and your family. 

It's a personal decision. You do you and I will do me.

Reward Punch Cards

I posted a little before when I talked about tickets but I'm really loving the reward punch cards right now! I had some I made for my reading group and have now extended them to my social skills groups! I made three different colors and let them choose their cards.

I also found a pocket chart so I could display them. I lined them up by grade levels and came up with the idea also if flipping the cards. If they aren't following directions I turn their card around and it it's backwards at the end of their time they can't earn a punch. BUT if they turn their behavior around then I can turn their card back around!

Tickets

I started an SRA reading group with two... Difficult... 5th graders and I needed a way to help get them motivated and on task. This was my initial idea. I like and, and I'm using them, but I need to alter the rewards. We changed to them earning computer time daily but I still want to keep them motivated to earn treasure box as well. It's a work in progress, as is everything I am doing it seems!

I also needed some different ways to help teachers monitor certain classroom behaviors, especially since I'm not in the classrooms with my students the majority of the day. So I created some different tickets for them to use. The teachers provide the student with the number of tickets they are able to use for a day for a task they want. The example below show a bathroom ticket, break pass, and a Lego talk ticket. The student must turn in a ticket to do the desires task and once they run out for the day they cannot do it anymore. They receive the tickets back again the following day and start over. So far these are working really well, even for one of my most difficult students, he is routinely using his break ticket and even waiting IN CLASS for me to come take him for his break!

Brag board

Ok, this could probably jus have been added into my class tour but I'm loving my idea and decided it needed it's own post! I like the idea of students having some ownership in the classroom but since my students won't really be in my class working much I decided to create a space for them to share things they have done and are proud of. Maybe they got a good grade on a spelling test, or maybe they just created and amazing picture no matter what it is they can bring it and put in on our BRAG BOARD! 

I threw it up today and just decided I want to add clips to make it easy to change out frequently. This also goes into a form or positive reinforcement so they are being recognized when they do well! 

I am all about doing whatever I can to promote the positive to try and diminish the negative. 

Class Tour

Wow! I can't even imagine putting together a general education classroom and figuring out where to place things. In a way, I suppose, I'm lucky that I have such a small room. I don't have to think much about where to put thing, there is really only one or two places that everything could go. I still really need a few more things but I think some of it will have to wait until I know how many students I'll have and what types of learning groups I will be working with. So... here is a little tour of my first classroom!

my door - YOU FIT RIGHT IN

Calendar - behind the sign in table

my "did you know?" board - I will post a new interesting fact every week!

I don't even have a title for this one... i just LOVE it though! Kind of a Social Skills board

the CHILL ZONE - a soft corner to just calm down if they need to

 

I'm not entirely sure how I will utilize this yet. Either have 3-4 activities listed and they choose one and put a clip on it or list the activities and they will do them in the order I posted.

I still need to situate my sign in table. I need to find a clock (for some reason my room doesn't have one) and make up my sign in sheets. I feel like I am missing so much right now but I am sure it will come to me!

So, what do you think of my redirection classroom? 

Pencil holders

I am slowly trying to get some simple things together for my classroom. This would be easier if I was in my classroom to start putting things in, but at least in am pretty sure of the classroom I will have so I can try to visualize. One thing I have seen several times on Pinterest and wanted to make is the pencil holders. I have seen many different times but I am poor so I went with the cheap "stuff I have around the house" route!

A few years ago I found these adorable little buckets for $1 at Target and never have really found a use for them. I dug them out and tossed some super cute letter stickers I've had for a couple years as well on to them and VOILA! My super cute sharp and not sharp pencil buckets!

Activity Boxes & Calm Down Kit

When I found out I was going to be teaching in the redirection classroom I knew right away I needed to have simple yet educational activities on hand for my students. I want them to be able to come to my classroom to redirect themselves but to continue to learn as well. I plan to have games, file folders, writing prompts, and many other things available but I also wanted to create simple and fun activity boxes. I picked up a couple of school boxes for $0.47 to use as these boxes. I found ideas on interest to inspire my activities. One activity I found was alphabet spoons look HERE for the original post. While I made these spoons for my personal activity boxes I realized I could do the same for numbers as well so I set to work making those too! I used blue spoons with dots and then clear spoons with the numbers to match.

I also will keep some puzzles in the boxes and I have found some other ideas on Pinterest like popsicle stick shapes, Easter egg word families, Easter egg number matching, and flash card math books, just to name a few! Where would I be with out Pinterest?!

I also found a Calm Down Kit that I thought was a great idea! I made one already and I will probably keep a couple on hand. I may even leave them with the general education teacher so they can give it to the students when they can see that they are starting to get upset. That way they can avoid having to call me or removing the student from the classroom.

The start of my collection of boxes!

I am probably going to keep one of my cabinets filled with these and take a few down to student level so they can choose a box to work on when they come into my classroom. This is all just ideas and works in progress as I still have a few weeks before I even get into my class to set it up!