My Classroom!!!

I am so excited about my classroom. It really came together today and is ready for open house tomorrow.  Now I can focus on creating an excellent unit 1 plan and plan for the first week. I want to start as a really strong teacher. If I start strong, I will end strong.

Let me take you on a tour.

I am going to put exemplary student work on this board. It could be a test, quiz, classwork, or homework. Anything that shows superior work will be posted. Also, when someone improves greatly on a quiz from the previous weeks quiz (I am giving a quiz every Friday) their name will go on the board.

This is the consequence hierarchy. I am going to put every students name on a clothespin and clip it on the "go". Every time they break a rule, I am going to move their clip down. The levels are Go (where they start), Yield (1st infraction), U-turn (2nd infraction), Stop (3rd infraction), Speeding Ticket (4th infraction), License Suspension (5th infraction), and then Car Wreck (6th infraction). I am hoping that no student will move beyond stop, but I wanted to give them lots of opportunities to think about their behavior and improve it. When their pin moves to yield they will receive a verbal warning. When it moved to U-turn they will be given another verbal warning. If their clip moves to stop, the students will return their driver dollars from the day (driver dollars are the tickets that they get during the day for good behavior). If their clip moves to speeding ticket they will get silent lunch. Once the clip gets to license suspension, I will call their parent or guardian. If the clip gets to car wreck, I will send them to the principal's office.

The above picture is part of my investment plan. It is the "The Race to Success".  I am going to give a quiz every Friday and their score determines how far they get to move on the road. At the end of the semester, who ever wins the race will get a reward. Also along the road I am going to put "Rest Stops". When every student passes the rest stop, the entire class will get a reward. I am hoping this little game will be fun for the students and encourage them to work hard in and out of class.

Like I said in my last post, I am going to start talking about college to my 6th graders. I want to plant the idea of college in their head early. They are going to realize that 6th grade is really the start of the rest of their lives. What they do in 6th grade eventually determines their high school math placement, which determines college acceptance. Giving exposure about college to my kids will help make it a reality in the future. Every month I am going to feature a different college on the wall. Of course, the first college is going to be UNC!!

The outside of my door!! I'm really proud of it.

This bulletin board is going to be updated after every Unit Test. I am going to put the names of the people who had the top scores on the tests on this board. The names are going to stay up for the rest of the year.

This is another part of my investment plan. After the weekly quiz if they make a 100%, they will be on the road to a PhD. If they make above a 90%, they will be on the road to a Master's Degree and if they score above an 80% they will be on the road to a Bachelor's Degree. I made this investment plan based on degrees to yet again plant the idea of college and education in my kid's heads.

I am so proud of this painting. I did it myself! During the first week of school I am going to read this Dr. Seuss book to my kids. Then we are going to discuss the book. We are going to talk about the importance of 6th grade and deciding to go down the right road (a line in the book). After we have this discussion the kids are going to write a goal for the year and their future on a sticky note. I am going to post these goals next to the poster. The poster is in the front of the classroom so all during the year the kids will be staring at their goals.

I don't have any desks yet, but once I do, you'll see it.

Hope you like my classroom... now the important thing is making sure learning takes place!

-Ms. Hollingsworth

About My Class Theme: On The Road to Success

I am teaching in a Title 1 school that has not met Annual Yearly Progress for the last 5 years. There are 479 middle schools in Georgia and mine was ranked #463. Also, 93% of the students at my school qualify for free or reduced lunch!


My students are no less competent and capable than students in affluent communities, a fact that is not readily apparent when comparing the high school graduation rates between students in low versus high-income communities.

I want my students to have the life-changing opportunity of access to an excellent college education. 6th grade, not high school, is truly the beginning of the journey to college. What students do in 6th grade eventually determines their placement level (honors/AP/IB vs. standard) in high school. Being in honors or AP level classes opens a plethora of additional college opportunities and even scholarships.

Therefore, as a 6th grade teacher I have the colossal obligation of putting my students on the path towards college, and thus career opportunities and success. Excelling in math is especially important in traveling down the "Road to Success", not only to get into college, but because math makes sense of the world. We use math in our everyday life and therefore being fluent in the language of mathematics is crucial.

I plan on decorating my room with everything related to roads and driving. For example, on my wall I will have a bulletin board titled "Scholars in the Fast Lane: Achievers and Improvers" and another bulletin board titled "Top Test Finishers". I made a poster that looks like the One Way road sign and under it I wrote "An Education". My students are also going to participate in "The Race to Success". Every Friday my students are going to take a quiz. I am going to make a road on the wall of the classroom and their score on the quiz will determine the number of miles they can move their paper car. The better the score, the farther they move.

Tuesday is the day that I can finally start decorating and arranging my classroom. (My very own classroom!! This is finally becoming a reality!!)

I will post pictures when the room is complete.

-Ms. Hollingsworth