One thing I have spent a lot of time organizing is our classroom library. I have the books categorized by genres and common themes. I wanted to have a way to keep track of all of the books in the classroom library, so I have used Library Thing and a CueCat to get organized!

CueCat - Photo from Flickr

This little guy, a CueCat, acts like a barcode scanner. I was able to scan most of the books into Library Thing using the CueCat. Some of the books required me to type in their ISBN number.

Library Thing is a website that allows people to keep track of their personal libraries. I was able to type in the ISBN (or scan it with the CueCat) and the website searched amazon.com to find the books. I was then able to organize all of the books into different collections. Each collection represents a book basket in my classroom. Students should be able to easily find the book they want in the classroom by searching my Library Thing site.

Here’s what my Library Thing site looks like:

My Library Thing Site

Please feel free to take a look at my Library Thing and check out all of the books we have in our classroom library!

It’s the moment I’ve been waiting for…

Eno Mini Slate

…The Eno Interactive Whiteboard and Eno Mini Slate are in my classroom!

Now I just have to wait for the projector to be hooked up and the software to be installed. I can’t wait to use the fun, new technology to teach this year! The Renaissance 2Know! Responders will also be in the room to use this year. Those came in at the very end of last year and I know some students got a chance to practice with them and loved having them in the classroom!

The classroom is decorated and I’ll be spending the next few weeks preparing lessons and finishing organizing my “stuff”.

The Arlington Dedication is this Sunday, July 25th, from 1:30-3:15. There will be a short dedication followed by time to tour the new building. I hope to see you there!

One last thing, Mrs. Masters (the other fourth grade teacher) and I have discussed the upcoming school year. I will be teaching language arts and she will be teaching math and science. We will both be teaching social studies to our homerooms.

The day has finally come… move in day! After several weeks of (on and off) organizing and cleaning, it was time to move into the classroom! I’ve still got several little things to do before the school year begins, but most of the work is done! Take a look at my pictures on Flickr (there’s a little link on the right…).

I’ll continue posting pictures as I do more work in the room!

Hello again! I just thought I’d give a quick update. I’ve continued to make a lot of progress with adding materials to the File Cabinet on the website. I have also been busy sorting and organizing materials.

Today’s challenge:

Removing labels from and cleaning 60+ book baskets and 12 paper trays. Pepe, my wonderful miniature schnauzer,  wanted to be a part of the picture. He, of course, was busy napping while all of the work was being done.

Stay tuned! I’ll be moving into school next Monday and will soon have many pictures of our brand new classroom! I have high hopes that our interactive whiteboard has been installed so that I can play around and practice with it as soon as the room is organized!

Enjoy the last few weeks of summer!

Hello again!

After a nice, relaxing vacation to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with my parents, I’m home and getting ready for the upcoming school year! My first priority was finishing my final class for my master’s degree! I’m happy to say that I have all of my homework turned in!

Now, on to fourth grade work! I have been busily organizing all of my school materials that I brought home with me and have started to create some new material for this coming year. As the summer goes on I will be posting more documents. If you’re interested in knowing what we’ll be learning about, take a look at the Year-at-a-Glance Collection in the File Cabinet. I have also started to add links to different games and activities under Student Links. These games would be a great chance to freshen your memory before we start back to school!

I’m looking forward to moving into school in the middle of July and I hope to meet many of you at the open house on July 25th! I’ll post more details as soon as I have them! Keep a lookout at the end of July for pictures of our classroom!

Enjoy your July!

Hello! Mrs. Meek’s Class Website is under construction! Look for changes throughout the summer!
~Mrs. Meek