This is a Completely Original Idea.: Final Weekend.

It's the last free weekend before school starts. So. Frightening.

As promised, here's the theme of our class this year:

The Legion of Extraordinary Scholars (LXS) is a small, select group of individuals that was chosen based on their potential to become great protectors and communicators of knowledge. They live by a code of conduct that governs their everyday lives. Those selected to become members of LXS must, everyday: push themselves to be their best at all times, never give up on anything, believe in themselves and the group, have no fear of failure, and serve the good of knowledge by constantly asking questions to better understand the world around them. These are what Legion members must do every day.

Here's the LXS' classroom:

There's a poster with the Legion Values and some catch phrases that we're going to recite every day as a pledge. There's also a Scholar of the Day that helps with jobs, and then class points (called Legion Honor Points). If they class gets 35 Honor Points we get a 5-minute dance party. On the little board we have a Scholarly Word of the Day and a Cultural Literacy term.

The Bucket Filling Station is a place for students to fill each other's buckets with compliments and good deeds. My co-teacher did it last year and really liked it... I'm excited since I wanted a "Good Deed" wall before I came here and she told me about this. The chalkboard is all the classroom rules and behavior management system. Students are on clothespins and we move them up and down depending how they are behaving. They get "Merit Points" depending on what color they're on at the end of the day. Fifteen points and they can visit the "LXS Armory" (the LXS fights for knowledge with pens and pencils). We're also supposed to have a graph in the classroom, so we're going to graph how well the class upholds the LXS Values on the side board. The "Big Goal" is moving up and we're going to put measurable subject goals there.

Each student has their own Tracking Binder where they can graph their own academic achievement and progress. Hopefully they'll take more ownership of their education this way. It also helps take attendance faster in the morning because they pick it up as they walk through the door. The school wants an international focus, and I really want students to present current events every day, so we're going to "travel" to these places as we talk about the events (You'll be able to follow us on Google Maps). Also, I wanted to visit other countries/states by getting friends from around the world to film little clips to the Legion in their language just so we can "fly" (I have LXS boarding passes and Passports!). Social studies vocab words go up on the wall, and the poem says "Brooklyn is my NEIGHBORHOOD/Baltimore my CITY/Maryland is my home STATE/The USA my country/North America is my CONTINENT/Upon this blue-green PLANET/We're all from the same big place/Let's go out and explore it!" Walt Whitman, watch your back.

Evidence of my obsession with tracking and data. Trackers for attendance, uniforms (these two are required), homework, nightly reading (20 minutes a night), and TAI, which is a math facts practice program. If they are perfect on the first four for a week, they get to eat lunch with the teachers (I know, what a prize!)

My co-teacher is amazing. These are her books and this is our library. I want this. There's a lot of blank space but we're going to put a writing wall up back there. Every student will have their picture up on the wall with a sample of their writing assignment. There's also a contest on the other side of the easel. If the students read 100 books (as a class) before my co-teacher and I read 25 books, we will vote on a new book to buy for the class.

Another picture of the beautiful library. Note the awkward pole in the middle of the classroom. The school used to be open space, which means all students and grades are in a giant room with no walls. I can't imagine that. Even with these walls, you can tell that they had to leave space at the top to follow fire code. It's going to be really loud in there... Oh we didn't have space for math vocabulary words, so I'm going to hang them from the ceiling! Maybe it'll be a math jungle...

Teacher's desk. All those books are teachers' guides and session materials from professional development. Ridiculous. The multicolored silver cart is a writing center with paper and other writing supplies. The cart next to that is the math cart. It has games and other random math supplies. There's going to be a "You Can Go to College" section with our grad gowns and pennants and diplomas up there to encourage the kids to think about college in the blank wall space. We're also going to put an "About Your Teachers" thing back there to introduce California and Taiwan (multicultural, international educational stuff from your foreign-looking teacher - by order of the administration) and other parts of Baltimore from my co-teacher. Public transportation here is so bad that a lot of our kids have never been three miles to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. It's crazy.

Reflection corner for kids that need to remove themselves for behavioral issues. We're going to put a pillow and stuffed animal there for them if they're going to lose it. Science vocabulary words go on the cabinet doors.