Interest Tables

There seems to be a school of thought that when students reach a certain grade (for some, as low as grade 3 or 4), that they should be seated at their desk (usually in rows) all day. The classrooms of teachers who think along these lines tend to be barren - no classroom library, little work of the children on display. To these teachers I must ask: whose room is it anyway?

I'm a firm believer in reading stories to the class. I've been reading novels, picture books, and graphic novels to the class this past year. All the kids pile on the carpet. I don't mind if they are sprawled out, or braiding each other's hair. As long as they're listening. 

Next year, I will have a straight grade 5 class and for once, I will have less than 30 kids. I want the room to be better organized and even more student-friendly. An instructional leader recommended the book Spaces and Places to me this week. It's a book about different ways to arrange your class. I've set up a few interest tables this year. Children like them and sometimes students will bring in objects to add to our collection. We've been studying rocks and minerals. Below, find some pictures of our interest table that includes rocks and minerals given to me by my father, and some pieces I scooped up at a garage sale in St. Catharines. Yes, you can find just about anything at a yard sale. You do have to spend money to have an interesting, literature-rich classroom. You just don't need to spend a lot. 

Big Blue Marble

Here's the intro to this show I used to watch as a child of the '70s/'80s. I really don't remember the show, but I remember the theme, which makes me now wish I remembered what the show was about. It looks like a celebration of multiculturalism. Awesome. 

All Booked Up

I wish I could find a teacher to yard sale with. So many books and other great things for the class turn up at yard sales. I hit the jackpot at the Gargantuan Yard Sale today. Books were 10 for $1.00, so I loaded up on books for the class and my son. I bought a chunky Phaidon art book for $1.00 at another sale too. 

How could you not respond to a sign like this? 

Close up of a gorgeous book on Greek mythology. I bought if for $1.00 and it will go in our class library. Kids love mythology. 
Great little book of Jewish folk tales for kids with pictures by Maurice "Where the Wild Things Are" Sendak. It cost me ten cents. 

Detail from the Singer book. 

Today's stash for the class. Cost: $2.80. In this pile, you'll also find a collection of children's folk tales adapted by Ted Hughes, and two Choose Your Own Adventure books, which were huge when I was in Grade 4/5. I'm going to read the Mayan mystery to the class this week to see if they still interest kids. 

Some Goodies For The Class

I haven't been able to load up on items for the class lately at yard sales. Today, I discovered a paprika container of counting sticks at a street sale in East York. These sticks could be used in so many areas of math. I have this dream of having the ultimate classroom with baskets of math manipulatives at the children's disposal. I'm trying to build up a collection of manipulatives on the cheap. When the seller saw me pick up the container, she hurried into her house and came back with a huge bonus bag. "Take them," she insisted. I'm not quite sure what I paid for these. I bought several toys for my son and the woman asked $7.00 for the lot. 

Add a pinch of colourful sticks to help students in patterning, division, fractions, etc.

Besides the counting sticks, I bought an anthology of winter poems for children. It only cost .25. I think I'll keep the paprika container of sticks for Duncan and the bag will end up in my class next year. 

Artsjunktion Stash Part 2

Yesterday, I had a JELI Day. I believe JELI stands for Job Embedded Learning Initiative. New teachers are entitled to these days in the first two years of teaching for professional development. Although I was tempted to bunk down at the Duke of Argyle all day with a Bill Bryson book, I spread the JELI properly. In the morning, I visited a superb 4/5 teacher in the east end of Toronto. She shared some great ideas with me. With her permission, I will post pictures of her students' work down the road. In the afternoon, I went back to Artsjunktion. The pickings were a little skimpier than my first visit, but I still managed to scoop up a few goodies. I even took some pictures inside Artsjunktion. 

Box of empty caulking tubes.  

Billions of empty binders from dreadfully dull sounding companies. 

There are numerous VHS tapes with assorted films I've missed in the day-to-day shuffle of things. 

Slide carousels and old films. The carousels bring back memories of my Dad showing slides of family trips. I can still remember the click of the machine and how we'd all groan in unison when he'd put slides in upside down. 

Acres of loud sports jackets: perfect for dramatic productions. 

Swatches galore.

Tons (or is that tonnes?) o' tubes.

Crusty old skates in need of a good sharpening.

My gigantic spool of two-toned string. 

My spool in better light, along with wallpaper boarder in a pattern that would give Colin and Justin hives. 
Cool Andy Warhol buttons and an old book on Canadian art. Yes, they have many free books at Artsjunktion and hundreds of National Geographics. 

I'm not sure what this is, but I'm using it in Science tomorrow. 

Black powdered tempera in a stylish old tin, black yarn, and yes - Black Mischief. 

More white cloth for our mummies. 

The whole haul (more or less) on display. 

Get Thee to a Library

Last Friday our class went to the local library to learn about the Summer Reading Club. I was told that there would be some sort of presentation, but I had no idea what we were in for. It turned out that this super spunky mime artist named Noriko was set to perform a one-woman performance of The Funny Little Woman - a children's story based on a traditional Japanese fable. She danced and managed to work the audience almost as if performing a pantomime. And she didn't speak at all. 

This performance reminded me of those happy childhood memories of going to the Northern District Library on Saturday mornings. I was a child of the '70s and '80 - just when multiculturalism was beginning to be taken seriously. Toronto Public Libraries really valued (and still does) the quilt of cultures that make up this country. I remember being entertained by folk singers from around the world, story time, plays, crafts, and puppet shows. It was all free. My mom used to let me just walk to the library by myself. I'd always come home with a shopping bag full of books. 

Noriko in action.

Keeping the gods happy with rice balls. 

My new local library is S. Walter Stewart. When I heard it was going to be renovated, I was worried that they would ruin it. It was always my favourite place to be. When I was working on my English degree, I used to study there. They had no security system and amazingly enough, they had original oil paintings from a member of the Group of Seven hanging nearby spinning racks of paperbacks. 

When it reopened last summer, I was left speechless. It has to be the most beautiful library in the city. It is much busier these days, but it is still a local "best kept secret." There is a subtle concept of outer space in the decor. Apparently, this is a nod to the time period the library was originally opened - Sputnik, etc. The space theme is apparent in the children's section in the basement. They even have star and moon-shaped stools and a spaceship playhouse for kids. I started taking pictures and the librarian asked me to stop for security reasons. This was funny considering how the librarian and I took dozens of pictures of Noriko's performance at the library in Scarborough. All I wanted was a picture of Duncan in the spaceship. I know I have one on file somewhere. I'll try to dig it up for a future post. Everyone was taking pictures during the reopening week last year. I will also blog about Northern District. 

Stunning ceiling at S. Walter Stewart.

A compass surounds the main floor of this circular library. Positively interstellar! 

Modernist wheelchair ramp. No child leaves this behind. 

A nod to the past: Someone had the great idea of preserving the old (pre-amalgamation) East York Library logo in marble. Many of the older books at S. Walter Stewart, still have this logo stamped inside. 
Just before I had to put my camera away, I took a picture of Duncan playing with this contraption. I'm not sure what they call it, but if you put your library card in the slot, the archway lights up. Very cool. 

It was a good year... 

Sensuous shaped facade. 

View from the corner across the street. Support your local library and check out S. Walter when you have some free time. 

City Scenes

Take a bucketful of...

sad worksheets headed for the recycling depot. 

Let creative minds run wild in the school yard reusing this paper for interesting texture rubbings. 

Paint

... and paint some more. 

Break out the pencils, rulers, and scissors - or do some free-hand cutting. 

Arrange on paper. 

Glue.

Decorate to taste. 

Mount on dreary hallway wall, accompany with poems about the city and enjoy! I love that the children took rejected worksheets and made interesting rubbings from ugly pavement and fences. It's also cool that out of our school's gritty school yard and refuse would come such novel city skylines. This art activity was taken from the Usborne Book of Art Ideas. 

I posted a copy of PJ Harvey's "You Said Something" on the wall. It's from her album, Stories From the City Stories From the Sea. Dig.