Pinteresting

I get so many of my ideas on Pinterest. It is a great forum to share teaching and organization ideas. I have many boards that are related to education:

• Teaching Social Skills
• Reading
• Writing
• Organizing Time
• Classroom Decoration
• Classroom Organization
• Class Themes
• Kindergarten
• Grade Three
• Autism
• Teacher Tools
• Elementary
• Projects
• Anchor Charts
• PECS
• Classroom Crafts
• Classroom Decorations
• Products I Love
• My Style

Find me and follow me on Pinterest @ http://pinterest.com/missguthrie/

Photographer Must-Have

Every photographer appreciates things that are beautiful. I consider myself to be a very visual person, which is why I give so much importance to organization and decoration. When I first saw these camera strap covers, I thought they looked pretty cool. Then it occurred to me that these could be very useful when I go to weddings and bring my Canon camera (already not so elegant looking when you are wearing an expensive dress...). I can just put one of these camera strap covers over the camera strap and not only will it not look bad, it will look very cool.

While there are many camera strap makers on Etsy,  I buy mine from Paisley Maizie because I find hers to be the most beautiful and the service and shipping times are great. I had a hard time picking just one, so I bought three (a package deal). When communicating my preferences (the straps can be custom made), she replied very quickly and shipped them out very fast. I have yet to receive them, but when I do, I will definitely put some pictures up.

Here are some of the pros of having them:

• No more searching for the lens cap! It fits right in the tiny pocket.
• It looks good when you are at a fancy event (I got one in yellow to coordinate with my dresses (I usually have a yellow dress for some reason...).
• It is handmade.
• Eco-friendly!
• Unique

I have posted the link to the Etsy store, as well as the Facebook page after the pictures. Here are two of  the camera straps I got:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PaisleyMaizie?ref=seller_info

http://www.facebook.com/paisleymaizie

The Eco-Lunch

I don't even like sandwiches, but I am hooked on these. I bought two at Staples the other day (one has hearts, the other has orange crabs on it...) and discovered hundreds on Etsy. To add to the fun, Etsy shop owners often pair the sandwich bags with matching snack bags. Not only are they cute, they are also eco-friendly and washable. These are some of the ones I will be getting: 

 
 

For Those Who Missed it...

One inevitable fact of life when you are a teacher is that students will often be absent. If you are not organized and prepared for this, it can cause a significant waste of time to find and photocopy the worksheets that the students needs. In order to be prepared for this, I looked up a few ideas online. Here are my favorite two:

1. I absolutely love pocket charts, even though I don`t have my own classroom yet. However, I still buy classroom materials that will be useful no matter what grade I end up teaching and I love the easy access that pocket charts provide. Organization will always be important to me so I invest in materials that will make my life, as well as learning, easier.

Here is my latest purchase from Staples (thank you, Teacher Appreciation Day!). It is a 10 pocket file folder pocket chart:

When I did my second teaching internship, the teacher I was paired with had one of these labeled with each day of the week. The system was simple: in each pocket (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...), there were the worksheets that had been handed out that day. If a student had been absent, they knew where to find their missing sheets. This is also much easier for the teacher, who doesn't have to go photocopy individual sheets every time a student is absent.

I find this next idea to be easier to use, however it takes up more space:

The teacher has a crate (they come in different colors) in which there are file folders identified with numbers that represent each day of the month (I guess you could skip the weekend days...). At the end of the day, the teacher places the worksheets in these file folders so that students can easily find their worksheets. I like this system because you you only need to clean it out once a month (instead of once a week like the other one).

Thanks for reading!

Great Classroom Visuals

I think visual strategies tend to be underused. It is so important to remember that visual processing is both quicker and more effective for students with autism. After noticing the popularity of the post about my class rules, I decided to keep digging and I found these on Boardmaker Share (just type those two words into Google and voilà!). The website is fantastic. You can find almost anything made with PECS. Here are some visual signs that I found particularly interesting. What is great about them is that you can use them in a regular class too:

Autism Books : Reader Recommendations

I have always loved reading. I actually first learned about autism when I read a novel called ''The Boy Who Could not Speak'' (I think that was the title). I was pretty young at the time, but I read it to do a book review in school. This was a great book. I remember thinking that it was so sad that this little boy could not speak, and that he had to have so much physiotherapy and people to help care for him. The book emphasized how difficult it can be for a family to find the resources needed for autistic individuals. I think this would be a great book to teach in elementary schools because it opens the door for discussions about autism, different ways of learning and inclusion.

To this day, I love reading about autism. I want to order some books about autism on Amazon, but there are so many books about autism available that I would like to chose them based on recommendations from my readers. What were the best books you have read about autism? If you can leave me some titles I would greatly appreciate it... I will buy the book, read it and review it (it will be posted on my blog, of course!).

I would be really interested in reading something written from the point of view of a parent or caretaker of an autistic person or child, or something about integration or social skills. However, I will read anything related to autism.

Let me know what you have read, and if is worth reading.

Thanks for your input!

Here are the storage bins I have been blogging so much about. I also have the matching shoe boxes, but I am not sure how I will use them yet... they may be used to store crafting materials but I am not sure. The big bins were 6.00$ each, and the ones with compartments were 13.00$ each. 

First bin: Extra materials (binders, papers, post-its...).

I will keep adding pictures as the desk gets more organized. 

Thanks for reading!