Teacher Blogs review

Hello readers,

In today's post we will be discussing four different teacher blogs based on their classroom arrangement, content, materials, structure, and organizational ideas. I have researched several different ones and I had to pick just four which was a task in itself. I hope you enjoy my blog and will comment on my posts.

My first blog I picked was from a teacher in Canada and her name is Ms. Cassidy, her room is full of six year old students. In her blog she has pictures of her students working together in pairs or small groups but yet they are to read alone. Her student tables have space between them so students and teachers alike can walk between them. Her classroom does not look crowded or unorganized. She challenges her students to see how long they can read without interruptions. Ms. Cassidy uses a lot of manipulates with her students. She is very hands-on with her students learning. On each student table she has a basket for their pencils to be put when not in use. Everything you can see in her pictures of her students and classroom she has everything labeled and put in the spot it belongs in. Ms. Cassidy's blog site address is mscassidysclass.edublogs.org.  
Her email is kathycassidy@gmail.com

The second blog I have chosen is from a Kindergarten teacher that is working with another teacher in the same room (her first time doing this). Her name is Mrs. Lee, she is in the Big Spring Lake Kindergarten School district. In her room she has everything with a label and very neat and organized. She has some centers labeled and each one is very inviting with bright colors and of course well organized. There is plenty of space between each student table and chair so there is room to walk between them. Her room is very brightly colored and organized. Each student table has a colored basket with supplies and well organized, not just thrown in the basket. Each student is able to see the white board from their seats. the teacher area is very organized as well. There are two teachers so therefore there are two desks and twice the material. Even though there is a lot of stuff in this classroom they have a done a fantastic job at organizing it. For line up time she has dots with numbers (35 to be exact) on the floor and each student gets on a dot. Mrs. Lee's blog site is Mrsleeskinderkids.blogspot.com

The third blog I chose is from a 6th grade teacher from New Jersey. She has posted about what first time teachers say is difficult. One thing that she has had questions about is staying organized, she said we need to label everything in our classroom and to have a place for everything before class ever starts. We also should take time for ourselves everyday and reflect on how we are doing. A new teacher had asked her how to establish classroom routines for new teachers and she suggests to be consistent. Be prepared for class so that there is less time "finding" things and less time the students have to get off track. Rhonda suggests to model the behavior we want to see in our students. We should keep our rules short and sweet for example raise hand to speak. She also suggests that we should ask for help before we are over stressed and overwhelmed. 
Rhonda's blog site is http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2016/09/new-teachers-getting-started

The fourth blog I have chosen to discuss is Mrs. Yollis she is a 3rd grade teacher and she has been teaching for 18 years. Her classroom is pretty organized but her tables are very close together and really crowded. She does have labeled colored bins with classroom supplies like books, extra pencils in them, she also has a colored bin with school supplies on every table. She is set up for flex seating and she has allowed her students to make their name tag (colored them and put their names on them) that are used when they move to a new seat. She has a long rectangle table that is used only for group projects. She will allow her students to work alone or in groups. For those who want to work alone and can seat at the "old school" desk. Mrs. Yollis' blog address is yollisclassblog.blogspot.com

In all four of these teacher sites are excellent examples of learning environments for young learners. They all have things labeled so that they students can identify what goes in the bin or basket. Most of them are spread out and not crowded in a way that is uninviting, in fact they were all inviting for the students. A few of them were decorated with colorful items.