I am moving into a new classroom. I have been in my current room for a good chunk of time (11 wonderful years) and I love the light and storage it has. When I think back it blows me away that I moved into this room before my two sons were born. I have changed from a newish teacher into a mom in this room. I am welcoming the change as a new rebirth in a way. I've loved the current room but I am looking forward to a new change.       Eleven years ago Pinterest didn't exist and over the years I have found inspiration in other teacher's classrooms and eventually from blogs and slowly changed my classroom into everything I wanted it to be. A place for me and my students to find comfort and fun and I wanted a room that embodies that.       Moving into a new room allows me to rethink my decorating scheme and what I want the room to project to my students. My new room is an older room, and it has some serious streng...

Because I teach my class in a Blended style (my students learn a lot of the material by watching videos on the computer) it allows them to learn at their own pace and review the material as many times as they want without distractions but also it makes it a little bit difficult to build personal connections with my students. So I am constantly trying to find new ways to connect with my kids. I always make it a point to meet them at the door and talk to each and every student, I have individual meetings with each of them, etc. but I am always looking for more. Here's a way to show your appreciation for every student.  Download this free file, print them out on cardstock...address one for each student. During the school year when you find a student doing something great or going out of their way to help someone else, write them a little note and drop it in the mail.  I plan to fill out the addresses at the end of the summer so they are ready to go. You can ...

Next year I will be in my new classroom and the space for desks is a little tighter than my previous classroom so I had to come up with some creative ways to organize classroom supplies. Where do I love to find organizing stuff? IKEA! The closest IKEA to my house is an hour and a half away in Burlington Ontario but I love that store so much that I do not mind the drive.  This was my latest project from IKEA. I installed the Bygel rails ($2.99 each Canadian) and white Bygel containers (99 cents each Canadian).  You can see them on the website at these addresses Rails: http://m.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/art/50072645/ Containers: http://m.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/art/10271091/ You can get the containers in different colors but I personally like a more uncluttered and less distracting look in the classroom.  I also installed the "focus" letters on the wall. I bought these at Hobby Lobby for $3 each and used command strips t...

On Monday March 31st I had the wonderful opportunity to present at the Digital Leadership Conference in Liverpool, NY. Many of the attendees were school district administrators from all over New York State. I am very grateful that NYSCATE believes in teachers like me and helps teachers to learn new and innovative ways to motivate students in the classroom.  Online learning is something that I could talk about for hours (literally) and I ran out of time to cover my entire presentation so I have shared my presentation here. From the Trenches: Life in a Blended Learning Classroom  Presenter: Amy Balling is NABT's 2013 Outstanding Biology Teacher of the Year for New York State. This session will address triumphs and struggles faced in the past four years of running a blended Regents biology class. We will take a look at how online learning helps to address the needs of the students in a mixed classroom with students at various levels of ability. You wil...

Continuing with the theme... In my last post I showed a blood model that I use to help my students understand that oxygenated blood tends to be a red color and deoxygenated blood tends to have a deep red color with the blood model. blood models Here is another way I use simple materials to demonstrate a concept to my students. I use baby pop-it beads to show the relationship between amino acids and proteins.     Each bead represents an amino acid (I wrote the names of different amino acids on each in permanent marker) and a long chain of them represents a protein.     I keep my eyes pealed for these babies at garage sales because eventually someday I would like to have so many "amino acids" that I can make a protein chain that is long enough to twist and make a shape that would be a better representative of a protein's tertiary structure. What do you use as models in your class? originally posted on ballinwithballing.blogsp...

I have updated my Open House video! I like using an Open House Video for 3 reasons: 1) Parents can get a better idea about what happens in our classroom if they can see it. 2) I only have 8 minutes with each set of parents and I don't want to forget to tell them anything. 3) Parents that are unable to attend Open House can watch the video on my website from home. You can read about and watch my old Open House Video here: Open House Video 2012. This is the new one: A lot of people have asked how I made it and what software did I use... Here is what you need to make your own video: 1) lots of pictures of your classroom over the years.  I usually have a simple digital camera in my classroom everyday just in case a photo-op comes up. 2) I loaded the pictures into Keynote on my Mac (If you have a PC or prefer Microsoft software you can use PowerPoint) Most teachers already have some sort of a PowerPoint video for Open House...if so, you are  ...

     Lately I have been inspired by a company called TheThirdTeacher+ and have been reading about "hacking" my classroom to meet the learning needs of my students.  Many classrooms are very noisy even when the students are quiet. They spend so much of their time in school sitting, the last thing I want to do is say "stop moving" but the screeching of the chairs and desks on the floor is unbearable especially when there is a lot of humidity in the air. So I think I found a solution online.  I am really excited about this!  We tend to move our chairs and desks quite a lot in my classroom to create different learning groups and centers. Now multiply that by 24 chairs and 24 desks. It is really loud in my classroom and nobody is to blame. The more moisture there is in the air the louder the screeching sound is.  Some of my fellow teachers have used tennis balls on the feet of the chairs like this: I have wanted to use them but I couldn't get...

In the past my students took Regents Earth Science before taking my class (Regents Living Environment)...that's Biology for those of you not in New York State. So this year I came across a little problem, when we get to the Evolution unit my students don't have any prior knowledge about rock layers and the Law of Superposition. law of superposition 1. Physics See superposition . 2. Geology A general law stating that in any sequence of sediments or rocks that has not been overturned, the youngest sediments or rocks are at the top of the sequence and the oldest are at the bottom.  www.thefreedictionary.com So, one of my amazing students gave me a suggestion at the right time on the right day. When I say the right time on the right day...I was having a great day teaching and I was hungry. She mentioned how much she loved the Cookie Lab (I'll post it on here someday) and how she thinks that everyone in her clas learns better when food is involved in t...