My Mobile Principal's Office

Happy weekend, bloggy friends!

We just finished our 15th full day of school and it's been awesome to see how far our little kiddos have come in these past few weeks.  There is so much learning going on in my school and I'm incredibly proud of my staff and students!

I love going out and about to visit my classrooms and see the learning in action... but sometimes it's hard to get away from the mound of e-mails and computer work I have going on.

However... problem solved!

Meet my new Mobile Principal's Office!

Anyone else have billions of random carts around school?  I found this beauty this summer and commandeered it.  I thrilled when it was not needed and the mobile office was born!

It's decorated (or course!) with this cute banner that used to hang in my classroom and equipped with everything one might need in the course of a day in the life of a K-2 principal:

A bucket of treats for my teachers:

Stickers, tissues, hand sanitizer, and books:

These books have come in handy on two occasions now...
1.)  a specials teacher was running a few minutes late (oh the joys of shared staff!) and I had to cover in her room.  Grabbed "The Seals on the Bus" and had a rip roaring time reading with the kinders!
2.)  kiddo didn't want mom to leave and was very distraught!  We sat in the hall together and read "You Don't Want a Unicorn" (which is seriously funny) and "LouElla Mae- She's Run Away" (with has a serious twist ending) while kiddo calmed down.

And, on top, I have my Surface (which I LOVE), sticky notes, SOAR tickets, "Eastside is Proud Of"... cards (staff can write and turns these cards in to me to praise a student and I read them on the announcements), chapstick, and my clipboard with "Fast Feedback" forms when I decide to do an impromptu quick observation session.

I love this!  I have had it out several times and it allows me to roam the halls while I continue working on my computer stuff.  I park it outside of classrooms to handle quick issues and it allows me to be even MORE visible in the building.

Some days it's tough to get out of the office and the cart stays parked in the corner of my office... but, when I have the chance to get out and about, I'm LOVING having my Mobile Office to do it!

Other administrators... how do you stay productive AND visible at the same time?

Have a great weekend, friends!  It's a scorcher here in Michigan... so stay cool!

Teachers' Lounge Decor

Since I don't have a classroom to decorate now that I'm in the Principal's Office, I enjoy decorating the lounge at school.

Today I spent time putting up new bulletin boards and decor on the walls.

One thing that I want is for the stuff in the lounge to serve a purpose... not just be STUFF on the walls.  I know my teachers may want to kick back and relax when they enter the lounge, and I want it to be a place that is cozy for them... but I also want to keep things that are important up where everyone sees them every day.

Check out what I added today!

Everyone needs a birthday display.  I got the "Hip Hip Hooray" stickers at Target in (duh!) the Dollar Spot.  {On a side note... NOTHING makes me miss being a teacher more than that Dollar Spot!  My brain spins with educational possibilities every time I go past it!}  I also got the mini-party hats in the Dollar Spot and made the month pages on the computer.

I also bought the adorable printables on the bottom from TpT.

Click to see the banner on TpT

This year I'm trying something new... I bought a calendar (Target Dollar Spot... but was actually $5) and went through and wrote every event on the calendar for the year... every meeting, every fire drill, every family event, every day off... and have it hanging in the lounge so the staff can see EvErYtHiNg going on.  They are also encouraged to add events as they come up (like field trips, etc...).

The banner above is one that I made and is in my TpT store.  I hung one in my classroom for holidays for an instant holiday decoration!  I'll use them this year in my lounge and change them for holidays.

I also have a display up of our School Improvement goals.  It goes one step deeper, though, and shows what the teachers' and my responsibilities are in order for us to meet our goals.  You can find an editable version of this visual display HERE on TpT!

Last, we are focusing on data displays this year so I will be hanging up grade-level assessment data when we give our benchmark assessments throughout the year.  This will help us as we work toward having honest conversations about data and using it to make decisions.  The "Talk Data To Me" comes from a spoof on a Jason deRulo song that one of my colleagues and I recorded last summer... still working up the courage to share that one with you and my staff!

Looking for more ways to spruce up your teachers' lounge?  Click HERE to check out some more things out on TpT!

Feedback for Teachers {Administrator FREEBIE!}

How is it that summer is more than HALF over?!

I'm getting prepped and ready to start my 2nd year in the Principal's Office and, though there are going to be a few changes, one thing will stay the same: providing loads of feedback to my teachers.

When I was in the classroom, I loved craved feedback from my principal.  What was I doing right?  What needed work?  What did she/he notice that I did not?  How can I be the best that I can be in the classroom?  I have had principals who were good at this, and some that didn't spend enough time in the classroom or who didn't know how to help me become my best teacher me.

I try to be in classrooms as often as possible.  I visit every classroom every day after the morning announcements and I pop in and out throughout the day.  Sometimes I just stand outside of classroom doors and listen (how creepy does that sound?!) or just peek into doorways.

One of the things that I do is provide my teachers FAST FEEDBACK every few weeks.  I sit down in the room for about 10 minutes, tally positive and negative oral feedback, jot down feedback, and ask questions.  When I leave the room, I drop the form off on the teacher's desk.  I don't require meetings afterwards, but we usually end up having informal conversation at some point.

I believe my staff has enjoyed the feedback this year.  I love that I see these papers hanging in their rooms.  I love that, as the year went on, things I jotted down on these forms I could see action on in subsequent visits (stalkings outside the door).

How would you like to be able to provide quick an easy feedback to your teachers?

Here is an example of what this form might look like after a classroom visit.  Bonus points if you get the name on the teacher line!

You can click HERE to download this for free at my TpT store.

If you are in the market for other "Principal/Administrator" stuff... I also have some morale boosters on TpT.  We used each of these items with huge success in my building this year.  It was fun to see the competitive side of my teachers when we did the monthly match-ups (that's the one with the Santa on the cover- it's a bundle with activities for different holidays)!

And this one is actually FREE!  A printable award you can give to teachers.  I give one a month at our end of the month student awards assembly!

Ok!  Enjoy the rest of your summer... it's going quickly!

Personal Update and New Stuff at School for a New Year!

It's been a while.

That's an understatement.

And it feels like I start any blog post off with those words (or some variation) lately!

I wrapped up my first year as a principal.

I loved it.

My staff... amazing.

The kiddos... amazing.

The support from admin... amazing.

I learned a ton.

And I can't wait for next year!

In fact, this was the table on my office the last day of school... already piled high with things for next year.

So, what are we doing NEW next year?

Wow! Words

We are going to get a new Wow! Word every day on the announcements this year as a way to squeeze in some tier 2 and 3 vocabulary words.  This book is laid out excellently with words that 4, 5, 6, and 7 year olds should know.  The vocab is very rigorous and I'm excited to implement this in my building!

What else is new...

CLUBS!!!!!

I'm soooooo excited about this one.  Each staff member (teachers, aides, librarian, speech, counselor, etc...) has chosen something of interest to them and we will be doing once a month "CLUBS" where kids get to choose which club to be a part of and then attend to do something that interests them.  We have everything from baking, crafting, sports, and drama to a sensory club, geocaching club, and dance party club!  We are going to start each club off with a picture book that focuses on some sort of social skill or character building lesson.  Then, the clubs become a vehicle to grow relationships and provide students something positive that is of direct interest to them.  I can't WAIT for our first club day in September!

ANCHOR CHARTS!!!!

We will be focusing on creating and using anchor charts in all classrooms this year.  At each monthly staff meeting, each teacher will be required to bring an anchor chart that he/she has used with students in the last month to share with the staff.  Shhhh... I'm even surprising them at our first PD day with a set of these amazing Sharpies that don't bleed through the paper, sticky notes, and a large chart paper pad so we can start right away with this initiative!

I'm also reading this book, Beyond the Bake Sale, and we will be having lots of conversation and taking action to increase positive parent relations in the building.  This is a great read... I recommend it highly!

And finally... personal update!

I don't often share a ton of personal stuff here, so feel free to skim over it if you aren't interested.

If you've followed my blog for a while, you may know that several years ago I went through a divorce that was quite a shock to me.  I stayed in "our" home for a while afterwards but it was hard living in the place where I once shared a life with someone.  So, I bought a new house on my own and moved about 30-minutes away from the old house.  I loved it!!!!!!  Not only was it FREEDOM not living in that old house, but it really gave me a chance to find ME and who the "not-wife" version of me was.  It was soooo good for me!

Back up two years ago... I met a wonderful guy.  And life was good.

And it's about to get even better!

We are closing on our new house next week and I can't wait!

Here it is...

Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!

Here's to wishes for an amazing summer for all of you, bloggy friends... I'll be unpacking and getting situated, but it felt really good to write this blog post so I'm going to try and be back soon with new news from the Principal's Office!

Happy 4th!

Informal Observation Goal-Setting Form {Administrator FREEBIE!}

Maybe I'm weird.  But... as a classroom teacher I LOVED being observed by my administrators.

Like LOVE LOVE LOVED it.

I never wanted to know when they were coming.  I never told my students about it.  I never did extra prep.

I liked my admin to see me in my natural habitat and I craved feedback like crazy.

Now that I'm on the other side of the table as a new administrator, I'm thinking about ways to make this process meaningful to the staff in my building.  I don't want observations to feel like a "gotcha!".  I want them to feel (and BE!) something that helps my staff develop their craft as educators.

We're using the Thoughtful Classroom Framework for the evaluations and one portion of that is a "Learning Walk".

I tweaked the information from my Thoughtful Classroom training to create this sheet that I can use for my informal Learning Walks.  I LOVE that it asks teachers to tell me what they want me to look for when I come in.

It's short and sweet on my end and provides good feedback for teachers.

During our initial PD next month, I plan to ask each teacher to write their name on the top of fill in the first box.  Then I can make a few copies and put them in a folder so that when I do my Learning Walk, I can just grab it and go!  It's not a lengthy checklist or too cumbersome to complete after just a few minutes in a classroom.  But it does connect what I'm doing to what teachers are doing and points my feedback in a direction that will be meaningful to each teacher.

You can snag it for free on TpT if you like it!

How does your administration empower you to develop your craft?  Or... if you're an administrator... what evaluation tips do you have for a newbie?

Decorating the Teachers' Lounge!

Even though I'm in a new role as an administrator, I'm still an elementary educator at heart.

So... my teachers' lounge is now fully decorated!

I posted info about the evaluation system we use... complete with a heading made from the sticky letters at Target!

Target Dollar Spot pocket chart (left over from the good old days when they were actually a dollar!).  This is where we'll display building and subject area goals that we will write at our back to school PD.

A Happy Birthday bulletin board and positive quotes downloaded for free at TpT!  Thanks Rebecca Anderton!

Found these sooooo cute decorations on clearance at... drumroll please... TARGET!

And then put up this interactive "Teacher Talk" display.  Each week I'll post up a new question.  Staff members can use the sticky notes to write an answer and stick it on the laminated Astro Brights!  I'm really excited about this and hope my staff will find it fun too.  I think it will be a great way for everyone to learn a little more about each other... especially for new staff members!  We have quite a few this year, including me!

I can do all things with Command Hooks and binder clips!

You can find "Teacher Talk" on TpT too if you want to spice up your lounge and build some community in your building!

Food for the Teachers' Souls

Well.  It's been too long.

I've been so busy (in the best possible way) learning the ropes of my new job as an elementary principal!

I've got my office set up...

I've been meeting with teachers... who have all been amazing and so willing to work on stuff for next year even though school hasn't even been out for a month yet!, working on scheduling, and... since I don't really know everything that I have to do, I've been working on little things that I want to make sure I do and worry I won't have time to do once the real work starts!

That includes LOTS of professional reading.

One thing I want to make sure I do is keep my staff feeling good.  I read a great book called If You Don't Feed the Teachers, They Eat the Students.  Such a good read and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I'm already doing some of those things!

This inspired me to create a set of food themed morale boosters so I can feed my teachers' souls!

You can snag it for 20% off right now on TpT as I'm having a sale until the end of the day tomorrow (6/30).  It features 14 different food themed treats.  Just print the large sign and place with the treats in the lounge or print the small signs and slip goodies into mailboxes!

Here's one of my favorite of the food signs.

This is great for administrators or even teachers who want to work together to surprise the staff throughout the year with reminders that they are appreciated!

If you're an administrator, how do you feed your teachers' souls?  If you're a teacher... what is something you'd love your administrator to do to let you know you're appreciated?

I'd love to hear from you!