I'm Back!! And check out my {FREEBIES}!!

I'm back (again)!  Well, I have been back at it for almost a month and have not had the time to do any blogging, time for blog stalking yes, but not updating my own blog!  Way too busy getting back into a schedule, at home and at school, as well as making things to use in my classroom to implement some new procedures.  My own kids (now in 2nd and 6th grade) also keep me busy with their schedules.  To give you an idea of how hectic things can get (this is an extremely busy week), here's my week....soccer practice, taekwondo class, volleyball (that one's for me-just for fun), overnight Camp Eberhart with my 6th grade daughter (I signed up to chaperone) Thursday-Friday, football game, run a 1/2 marathon on Saturday, soccer game after the marathon, walk 3 miles for a Juvenile Diabetes fundraiser on Sunday. Wow!  That's even exhausting just to type!  And of course I have to prepare sub plans for Thursday and Friday.  Oh, yeah, did I mention that I am getting observed this Wednesday?  Good times... but the sub plans brings me to something I just created and am giving away to anyone that wants it!

I am big on Whole Brain teaching and I can not say enough great things about how much it has changed my teaching.  I use it all day long!  I am not sure how I survived first grade without it?!!  Anyways, since I am going to be gone two days in a row (and it's still early in the year) I decided that I would put together a Whole Brain Teaching cheat sheet for my guest teacher(s).  Most are unfamiliar with whole brain teaching, and I would really like for my class to not have to change too much from what they are used to when I am gone.  I am hoping that it will help them out and mayne it can help you too!  You can find this resource at my TpT store.  Just click HERE!

How many of you have seen this picture pinned on Pinterest?

I {LOVE} this, but when I went to the website I couldn't find a link to print it out.  You can go there by clicking HERE.  She has some cute pics and love her ideas.  Anyways, I decided to make my own Open Mic sign up sheet, jungle themed of course!! 

If you want a copy of it, just click on the picture! 

One more thing I made was a Jungle Themed I Pick chart.  {Which of course I don't have picture of right now....} But I will still share the document tonight and just add the picture tomorrow...or when I get around to it!  Just be sure to print on legal sized paper.  Click HERE for the chart. Here's a YouTube video that goes with the chart.  It is a cute little song teaching kiddos about picking "just right" books.

I am thinking of putting together some Kid Friendly common core" I Can's" to be displayed in the classroom.  I have a TpT seller's  version but they are pretty wordy for my kiddos and are hard to see. Has anyone found a good kid friendly version with a decent sized font?  Believe me, I've been looking!

Well, I think I have out done myself by blogging tonight and actually sharing a few things!  Time to get some rest for a very busy week! 

Pin-spiration: Writing Goals Chart

I was inspired by this pin on pinterest:


So I made this for my jungle themed classroom:

Love! If I do say so myself! I used a heavy duty overhead transparency, card stock, staples, ribbon and duck tape to put it all together. I made pockets to slide my goals in and out so they can be changed as the year progresses. I first stapled the transparency piece onto the card stock. 2 staples per side and 4 on the bottom, leaving the top open of course. Then I covered the staples with cheetah duck tape. Easy peasie!

The plan is to put student names on the clothespins, clip to the chart by the goal they are working on, and then move them as needed.  I am going to start the year with just 2-3 goals~depending on my students writing abilities.  (I will leave the bottom pockets empty until another goal is added.)

If you would like a copy of my goals for {FREE}, just answer one question:

What is the summer project on the top of your to-do list?

(school or non-school) 

Just leave me a comment with your email address and I will send it to you! 

(There are 10 goals in all.)

  

**UPDATE: These can be now downloaded for {FREE} at Teachers Pay Teachers.  Just click on the picture above!  Enjoy!

I'm Baaaack! And I Have Some {FREEBIES}!

So I have been gone quite awhile.... I guess that's what happens when the end of the year sneaks up on you and then summer does too! I made it through the year and am now enjoying summer with my kiddos. I made lots of plans to get done this summer, but only little projects seem to be getting done. Oh well! So here are some things I have been up to. The first few are non-school related...

A bulletin board for my son, made from a ceiling tile and acrylic paint

A pinterest inspired weekly dinner planning board

Softball bracelet for my daughter-who made All Stars!

End of the year gift for an IU obsessed teacher

Now for a few school projects... I found these cool animal print craft sticks at Michaels.  There were 100 of them for I think $6 so I used my 40% coupon and they were mine!  I printed some circle animal numbers out, laminated, and glued to the sticks.  I am going to use these to call on students randomly for sharing time, lining up, picking out quiet reading spots, etc. 

Calling students by random

I then divided up the sticks in pairs to put into a random partner container.  I had to duplicate a couple so they have a star on the back.  The idea is for students to pull out a stick and then find their match-their random partner.  Same thing goes for random groups.  I put 6 sets of four sticks in the containers.  Students will pull out sticks and find their group.  (If you are wondering- the above container was a frosting jar and the containers below are crystal light containers.  I not only LOVE my crystal light raspberry lemonade, but I also love the containers to be reused for many things!)

Grouping students by random, as well as with partners

I made a small group set of whisper phones during the school year and they were a big hit so I made some more-I now have a class set.  I figured I can let each student have their own so we don't run into germ issues.  I used two 1 1/2" 90 degree elbow plastic pipes and simply used my zebra duck tape to put together.  I loved using these during small group reading.  This helped filter out the extra noise, as well as encourage softer reading out loud.  I plan on still using them during small group, but also during independent reading.  I thought they would be great to encourage fluency, not only for reading but for math facts as well.

Phonics Phones

So you made it to the end and you're asking...where are the freebies??  I am giving you the animal print numbers and labels that I used for my random containers, as well as several other freebies.  I finally went through my various zip drives and found some things that I never got around to sharing so here they are.....for FREE!!!  The clipart used for all of them are from Scrappindoodles (which I love, love, love!!) 

Animal print numbers 1-30, plus blank

Labels for containers

Next {FREEBIE} is a set of classroom awards.  I loved Cara Carroll's awards (found HERE) that she made- so it inspired me to make my own, tailored to my classroom-I also included a spot for the date and name.  Hers are free on TpT, so I am doing the same (but on Google Docs since I don't have license to give away free stuff on TpT).

Various classroom awards

I tried to give each student one of these per month.  To keep track I used a small pocket chart by my desk (Target $1 bin).  I put their names on the pockets then put a ticket by each name.  When they got an award I would also give them the ticket-for 2 reasons.  1 was to keep track of who still needed an awarda and the other was for our weekly drawing.  We use PBiS at our school so the tickets were mainly used for whole school awards.  I also started drawing names at the end of the week to earn bonus stamps for their behavior card.  If you've been following me you know that I don't do tangible class prizes.  I use a catalog of privileges that can be earned each time a card is full of stamps.

To be prepared, I printed many copies of each award on colored paper.  I then used 3 large coupon holders (Dollar Store) to divide them up by award and keep seperated.  Now they are easy to find and hand out!

Next {FREEBIE} is a gameboard.   I love making games out of the simplest learning activities.  So I made a jungle themed gameboard that can be used for any set of cards/game.  An example would be to take a cup of coins and pull out 5 coins.  Count them correctly and you get to roll and move along the game board.  If you are incorrect, stay where you were.

Jungle gameboard to be used for any game

Enjoy the {FREEBIES}!  Just in time to celebrate 200 followers!  Woohoo!!

**UPDATED Soggy Saturday=Lots of Checks on my To-Do List

**UPDATED POST (see below)

After a very wet soccer game this morning, I headed into school to work on my loooong to-do list.  I am proud to say that I got a lot accomplished....finally!  So here I am sharing what I have been working on.

First on  the list...change  my bulletin board.  We just finished week 6 and I have had the same bulletin board up since day 2.  I am trying something new so I can easily change out projects and not only display art projects but other academic work.  I hotglued clothespins to a piece of cardboard and stapled them on the wall near my vines.  I then added some leaves on top of the clothespins to mask them a bit.  I was trying to come up with a catchy saying to keep up all year, but I am not sure.  "Treemendous Work" ?!



Before



After



Next on the list...organize myself for parent helpers and interventions.  So I put together a file box with student names where I can easily put work to be corrected with parents, flashcards or any other things that my students need help with.  There are directions on the lid as well as a ziploc bag of materials and a notebook to keep track of the help given.  The nice thing is...I can use it too when I get a few extra minutes (LOL)!


 **I just posted some more information on my kit, as well as some great {FREEBIES} to use to help get/stay organized when it comes to interventions.  Just click on the word {FREEBIES.}

My "Intervention Kit"



Intervention Instructions



Wanted: Poetry Station.  So I finally figured out how to get this station going.  We have been working on poetry almost since day 1 for fluency purposes.  I decided to carry them over to my new poetry station.  Space is limited in the classroom so I had to get a bit creative.  It is located on the inside of our classroom closet door.  To keep it organized I clipped the sentence strips together with a binder clip as well as the title of the poem on the outside.  Then I could hang the poems up on the closet wall (with the use of a pushpin).  I put all of the poems we have worked on in a binder and put that in a tray, also attached to the wall with pushpins.  I also made some highlighter pieces to use to highlight rhyming words in the pocket chart.These are in a baggie in the tray.  So when students go to poetry station they can: (a) read poems in the binder (b) arrange poems in the pocket chart (c) highlight the rhyming words.  We just started talking about visualizing as well so I will add some new poems to read then draw a picture of their mental images.  Whew!  That was alot....here are a few pics.



Inside the closet



Highlighter transparency



On the door





I also put up a Boggle board for my stations and my new agenda slips that include pics and times for my firsties that kept asking "is it time for....?"and "what does that say?"



*Pinterest inspired
Free letters available at my Teachers Notebook store

  

Love my new agenda cards!



More organization complete....overhead letter tiles are organized and ready to be used thanks to Pinterest!  Also made a file tub for graded papers throughout the week.  That way on Fridays when I work on my students' weekly reports all their week's work is ready to go!

Ice cube trays for my overhead tiles

As I grade papers, they get filed in student files to go home Friday!

I am exhausted, not only from the work I did today but from this long post!  I am hoping this makes up for the lack of blogging since school started.  Now....time to relax and enjoy the rest my weekend!