Math Classroom organisation & decoration

As I said in my last post, I went into school on the Sunday before school started back.
Now this cupboard looked terrible with NOTHING in it but textbooks.

One teacher has the top shelf (because she only wants textbooks), so I took over the rest.

I have my year 9 textbooks (over 2 classes), then coloured paper, pencils, pens (50 pens for $2.60 Faber Castle too!), Math centre activities, rulers, reward container and reward certificates! I couldn't ask for a better space now!

Last year I had a problem with leaving pens/ pencils and other equipment out for other student access in a Math Centre set-up because other teachers didn't actively supervise and I ended up with NO rulers, NO pens and NO equipment, so this is padlocked and open every lesson I'm in there! :)

We also moved it more into the corner so there was more open space around the teacher desk! :) I put up my puff decorations (the pastels at the front and the bright ones at the back). I will dedicated a single blog post to creating these VERY soon! :)

On the trolley I have saved the old Year 8 textbooks that were going to be binned because of ACARA (Still VERY useful!!!!). I also found some of my posters from when I had year 6 and added them to the room to bring the class together as one even more.

You should have seen how bland and naked the back of this room looked before I took over! I've added my Math Word Wall - 43 Other words for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and equals which I colour coordinated for students easy comparison.

I also completed a fun reflection and goal setting task with my juniors which they LOVED! Some lovely pictures to come tomorrow night! :)

Buuuusssyyy & Math Center

Before - I'd begun to put words up!

Oh what a busy busy week! We're leading into assessment being handed in and completing revision with my year 12 Math A's because they have their qcs test coming up and their exam after this! A QCS test, if you're not sure is the Queensland Core Skills test that all students in Queensland sit to give them a position on ability against all other students in Qld and then their school results for 5 our of  6 subjects contribute to their OP which is an Overall Position which gives them a number between 1-25 to apply to University.

On top of this I spent a lot of time preparing posters and math relation words and a Math Center for my classroom. This is for my yr 8 and 9 students (age 12-15) to use in the last 20 minutes of the lesson as some core skill improvement activities!

After - My panorama is a bit blurry, but its so much more exciting, engaging & bright now! :)

My year 8s absolutely loved the room, the pot plant and that it was so brightly decorated compared to how bland and typically 'high school' it was.

$20 for all 4 of these off ebay!

$10 for all of these including
the big baskets & pencil ones

I bought all 4 shelves off ebay for $20 total which I was really pleased about! They are in excellent condition too! I bought the dustpan & brush new for $1, the plastic containers new for $8 total and the container of pens & pencils I had bought and collected over time. I have spare books I have on the bottom shelf for those students who don't tel their parents they need a new book, those who have 'one book for every subject' and those who just forget theirs. It made one of my year 8s days when he didn't bring anything to school because he's having a tough time, and I told him at the back there's books and pens he can use. He asked if he could keep it and was so happy and worked the best he has ever worked when I said of course you can, but you need to show me your best effort today! :) Such little things can make a childs day.

I'm getting very excited now as I've sold 8 items on TpT which means I'm only 2 sales away from my flash sale for 36 hours with a surprise % off! :)

I promise that I'll post this weekend again and I'll be putting more resources up very soon especially some freebies!! :)

I'd love to see some photos of your room and how you've decorated your math area!

 

First Blog & FREEBIES

Good Evening all you fellow Bloggers out there! I must admit, I'm actually a tad nervous as this is my first post here. I've had a TPT store called BaysideTeacher for around a month now and thought it necessary to create an interesting blog to go with it! :)

I thought I would begin with a very tasty topic- Look away now if you're hungry because this image won't help sorry!

I teach year 8 (12/13 year olds) up to year 12 (16/17 year olds) Mathematics and I've found that as we've developed relationships and grown as a class, I've really bonded with each and every student. I certainly admit that I don't have an extension class - more so the opposite, and that cupcakes are the way to a students heart when it comes to rewards.

This picture was a set of mini-cupcakes I gave out to my year 12 students on the day they handed in their third-last assignment last week!

In addition to these, in the last 5 minutes of my two year 9 exams last week I handed out one of these mini-cupcakes to all the students who sat the exam. It truly made a difference in these students lives, especially for those students who are D and E level even though they try so hard. This really is a nice reward for them :)

The downside, I baked four sets of 48 mini-cupcakes in the last week for students and a staff going away party! All cupcaked out! Phheww

To end my first post, I thought I'd link you through to two of my Freebies on TpT.

FREE Perimeter & Area Posters

&

FREE Integer Questions - 5 Levels