A sale, a freebie, and HAPPY December!

     Happy December!  I hope you had a Thanksgiving full of blessings, laughs, family, friends, and lots of yummy food!  I was feeling most thankful for my maternity jeans after all the food I ate this weekend.  Yikes!    (I am still trying to figure out why all pants are not made with those glorious stretchy waistbands.)

     My long weekend was extended an extra day because I am patiently awaiting my ultrasound appointment in a few hours to *hopefully* find out if our little sweetie is a boy or a girl!  You could say I'm just a taaaddd excited!  I may or may not have already checked out some cyber Monday deals online so I can do a little pink or blue shopping this evening. ;)

     I think we got our fill of all things TURKEY last week in first grade,  and now it's on to Christmas...so hard to believe!

 These scrapbook paper turkeys turned out to be one of my favorite projects we did. Adorable! 

If you are getting an early start on Christmas projects like we are...here is a little freebie to get you started.  We are participating in the Macy's "Believe" Campaign as a school.   We are all sending letters to Santa to support the Make a Wish Foundation.  Our local paper also publishes their letters...so our deadline is soon.

Here is a template for your Santa letters.  Click to download.

We are working on asking vs. telling sentences this week so in our letters, we will TELL Santa something, make two wishes, and then ASK Santa something. We also talk about *nice* ways to ask for something so it's not an I want, I want, I want letter. ;)

Here is an example from last year...

Dear Santa,

I am in first grade now and I lost two teeth!  I would like a Monster High doll.  I would also love to have a stuffed kitten with blue eyes. How are your reindeer doing?

Love,

a first grader :)

Do you have this book??

It is a precious read aloud to use when you are ready to write your Santa letters!

I am participating in the big TPT sale today and tomorrow!  20% + 10% off....yes please! 

Here are some Christmas & Winter math stations, games and activities galore to get you going this holiday season.  Click the images to check out the free previews!

Don't forget to use the code CYBER for an EXTRA 10% off from TPT on your purchases!

OK...almost time to head to my appointment! Yippee! Fingers crossed that our little booger cooperates (and his/her legs are NOT crossed!) ;)

Boy or girl?? Any guesses??

Happy Monday & Happy Teaching to you!

Teacher Week: Taming the Wild!

I didn't get a chance to link up yesterday because vacation got in the way.  Sad story, right? :)

I'm back bright and early this morning, though, and I promise I do have some posts lined up to show you lots of instructional organization so just check back in the near future.  I am especially excited to show you my new organization for word study sorts!

But today...is "taming the wild" day! Ha! Love it!  Classroom management is one of my favorite topics and (I think) one of my strengths.  I believe in setting high expectations for behavior and I find that my kiddos usually follow.  When everything is under control and everyone is being NICE...then we can have FUN and be silly!

Here are some of my tips and tricks for classroom management.  I usually keep a few things in place all year and just add in some others when we need something fresh and exciting...or when I find something on Pinterest that I have to try! ;)

Our guidance counselor is pretty much AWESOME and supports a school wide bucket filling program to go along with this book.

I seriously love this book.  I'm sure you've seen it...but if, by chance, you haven't...it is a MUST read!

Any time I want to reward the entire class for good choices and "bucket filling" behavior, I put marbles in their bucket. Our counselor takes care of awarding stars for full buckets and rewarding them in small ways.

I'm going to focus my post on what I do in the classroom.

First of all...I only have 3 rules in my classroom.  I can fit anything under one of these rules!

Check out this post to find our more about my rules and grab a free copy of them.

I pass out these tickets from Creative Teaching Press all day long for good behavior. Especially at the beginning of the year...ANYTHING positive gets a ticket.

And I mean anything.   The kids collect these tickets (cute container pictures to come!) and each week...if they have 10 tickets, they get to trade in their 10 tickets for one of these red tickets and they write their name on it and put it in our "raffle basket."

Each month, we do a big raffle drawing with the red tickets for prizes.  The prizes range anywhere from Dollar Tree junk treasures to "lunch bunch" and "bring a stuffed animal to school day" coupons to free books from Scholastic bonus points, etc.

I have just collected ideas from YOUR blogs and Pinterest for ideas that will work in my classroom for the drawings.  My kids' favorite things to win are things that don't cost me any money...like "stinky feet" coupons where they get to take their shoes off all day in the classroom.  Works for me!

I think they key to this kind of classroom management system is to be very liberal with the tickets at first and make a HUGE deal about it when they are dispersed.  They really like earning tickets and keeping count of them. I keep some in my pocket to hand out, but I also have them loose in a basket near my desk so if I'm working with a small group and see one teeny tiny little sweet soul doing what they're supposed to be doing while the rest of the class acts like wild hyenas...I can very sweetly say "Oh...wow! Look at Austin sitting quietly and setting up his math game for his partner.  Austin...go get yourself a ticket.  THANK YOU!"

And I don't have to get up.  Which is good.

 I also LOVE the math that I hear going on as they collect them too.

"I have 6, so I need 4 more to make 10."

YES! YES! YES!

I know you're wondering...and YES, I do take the tickets occasionally for negative behaviors.

'Cause I'm a big fat meanie.

I don't take them often, but sometimes it's absolutely necessary...and sometimes I'm in a bad mood.  There. I said it.

The other thing I like about this kind of system is that their whole day isn't judged by where they are on a chart or what "color" they landed on at the end of the day.  That totally works for a lot of classrooms and I have been itching to make a cute clipchart and give it a whirl...but if it ain't broke...don't fix it...right?? And this works for me!

So what else can my little darlings do to earn tickets?

Wellllll....check out this post to get more info on "Mystery Walker" and "Secret Student" AND to get your free copy of these posters for your classroom.

Both of these ideas work basically the same way.  One is for hallway behavior and the other is for any ol' thing.  I've even used "secret student" for school assemblies and field trip.

You choose a student's name and don't tell anyone who it is.  You watch that person closely...and they only get their ticket if they did a PERFECT job on whatever task you were watching.  

And lastly, a NEW thing I'm trying this year are "quiet critters."  I'm sure you've seen a version of this on Pinterest, and I have no idea where the original source came from...but if you search for "quiet critters" on Pinterest you will find tons of ideas!  I can't stand constantly saying "Shhh" but sometimes it's important that my kids work silently...especially if I'm doing testing, etc. with another student.

Most of the pictures I've seen on Pinterest use little pom poms for critters...but I found these ADORABLE little plush monsters on Amazon that I am going to use.  Click the picture for the link.

I'm going to use these little monsters for times when the kids truly must be silent.  Everybody gets a quiet critter to start with, and if they make noise...bye bye monster.  Sad!

At the end of the activity, whoever has a monster left on their desk will get a ticket.

I will let you know how this works since this is new for me...if anyone else has tried it...how does it work?

OK...beach time!

Happy Teacher Week!  Can't wait to read up and find some new ideas. :)

Guess what?

I have a new blog design that will be unveiled VERY soon I hope.  I'm so darn excited.  Here's a little sneaky peeky...

Cuteness!

Stay tuned, friends!

I haven't been able to get back in my classroom for a few days but I've been working a little bit at home and my favorite finds this week were these lightweight, bright frames at Michael's! They were buy one get one free PLUS the sweet lady at the register had a coupon for 20% off instead of my 15% teacher discount. Woohoo!  I love them and I think (hope!) they're lightweight enough to stick on the wall with a command hook.

Everything looks better framed, am I right?  I obviously couldn't afford to frame everything on my walls so I decided to frame the rules and motivational posters.  Here is a start on that.

Click the links to be taken to the original source if you like these posters.

If You Can't Be Kind, Be Quiet  (Can I get an amen?)

Be Kind. No Exceptions.

And the class rules were made by yours truly.  

I actually posted a different one a couple weeks ago and I changed my mind on the color scheme (big shocker!) so...you are welcome to grab yourself a copy of either one if you want them!

Click here to download.

I like to keep my class rules short and sweet.  I let the kids have input on what kind of rules they want in the classroom on the first day of school...but for some reason they always get bogged down in things that pertain to physical violence and gross stuff.  Is that just my kids?

If I took all of their ideas, we would have 6,972 rules.  

1.  No hitting

2. No pushing

3. No kicking

4. No spitting in other people's food in the lunchroom (an actual one from one of my kiddos from last year)

5.  No biting

6. No calling people "cry babies" even if they are  (no...I couldn't make this stuff up)

etc. etc. etc. etc.

You get the picture.  So...I still get their input, but I have these 3 ready to rock because let's be honest I can slide any transgression into one of these categories.  I'm good like that.

Pretty sure spitting in other people's food qualifies as not being kind and respectful.  Just saying.

Last but not least,  I've been working on a little "Back to Basics" math and literacy pack and it's up and ready to go!  This is full of activities (whole group, small group, individual work, and partner games) that I plan to use to review basic skills with my first graders at the beginning of the year.  It would be perfect for kindergarten and Pre-K all year long.  I also plan to keep these activities handy to use for intervention as needed throughout the year in my first grade classroom.

Language Arts Skills:

first day writing template

-alphabet letter cards (lowercase)
-alphabet letter cards (capital)
-letter sounds picture cards (26 plus ch/sh/th)
-beginning sound assessment & answer key
-CVC picture cards
-CVC word cards
-"write around the room" CVC activity and/or assessment
-missing letter CVC assessment and/or guided practice
-DRAW IT (CVC word version)
-DRAW IT (CVC sentence version)
-rhyming picture match/pocket chart cards
-"No Nonsense" real vs. nonsense word rhyming activity
-rhyming sentence challenge activity

Math Skills:
-"A Number Book" (students illustrate simple sentences to show mastery of one to one correspondence with simple pictures)
(numbers 1-10)-"Adios Monsters" dice game & recording sheet
-"Spin it to Win it" card/unifix cube game (numbers 0-20)
-"It's All About the Dots" subitizing cards...perfect for number talks!
-"Fill it Up" card game (numbers 1-30)
-colorful number cards 1-30

It is ON SALE for 5 bucks this week. :)  Check out the preview here if you're interested!

I'd also love to GIVE IT AWAY to the first 5 readers that head over to my facebook page and leave me a comment there telling me you could use it! 

Happy Summer!

Sunday Randomness & some WINNERS!

 

 

Michelle over at Fabulous in First is hosting another Sunday Smorgasbord linky...perfect for me today because I'm feeling all kinds of random!

First things first... I have some winners!

(Sorry it has taken me so long to post this...no good excuse...summer just "got in the way" ;))

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Congrats, girls!  I'll be sending you an e-mail today so you can get your goodies!

 

We had a RIDICULOUS amount of rain last week. It rained every. single. day.  It was crazy.  I did some work and redecorating around the house and then busted out some school work! 

 

I usually wait until closer to August but I have some fun projects that are calling my name. :)  I made a new "class rules" poster. I always use the same 3 rules...but I just redesigned it. I like to keep the rule "list" short and sweet...and pretty much any behavior can relate back to these 3! I'm going to put it in some sort of pretty frame to hang but I haven't found the right one yet.  If anyone wants this, feel free to grab it! Just click the image and download or pin it for later!

 

 

 

I also made a trip to Hobby Lobby when I went to Greensboro to spend time with my sweet neice. 

 

 

Love this little girl!  Now, if we can just get our trip to Nashville planned to see our other precious niece and nephew...my summer will be *almost* complete!

 

We don't have one where I live...which may or may not be a good thing.  I found so many things I HAD to have for my new little home office and my classroom.

 

The first thing I saw when I walked in was this sign!

 

 

 

I love it (and it immediately made me think of sweet Teri at  A Cupcake for the Teacher!) I really feel like you should have this in your house! ;)

 

 I didn't get it, but oh so cute!

 

Here are some of the goodies I found for my office, mixed in with some TJ Maxx finds!  I'm waiting on my dad to paint my desk, so for now...to the floor it goes!

 

 

 

 Here is a peak at some of the fabric I got. I also found a good deal on some scraps from fabric.com that I'm waiting to receive! I got the awesome contact paper on amazon.com and I'm planning to do one of the little filing cabinet makeovers that I've seen on Pinterest with it!

 

 

 

And I loved this little sign so much that I got it for my house!

 

 

 

My new Erin Condren planner arrived this week as well! I love seeing my new name on everything.  Well, except my driver's license.  I didn't realize they would make me take a new picture so I went to the DMV MINUS a shower and PLUS a rainstorm and let's just say the picture on it was as good as I thought it would be after the camera clicked...oy.  It's a special kind of bad. And no, I will not post that. ;)

 

 

 

OK...enough randomness!  I think this little boy is ready for some pool time with his mom!

 

Thanks to everyone who entered my little giveaway! 

 

Happy Summer!

XO, Amy

Last day for Amazon giveaway & a FREEBIE!

Don't miss your chance to enter my bloglovin' giveaway!  Two winners will win any 3 items of their choice from my TPT store and one winner will win a $10 gift certificate to Amazon! I just stocked up on printer ink from there today to get ready to start printing all of the fabulous things I'm finding on Pinterest and TPT for "back to school"! 

 

Tomorrow is the last day to enter! The link to follow my blog on blog lovin' and facebook are on the right side of the screen.  It only takes a second. :)
 

                                                             a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

I went on a cleaning spree today at my house so I think now it's time to settle down on the couch with the pooch and work on a few TPT things that I have in the works that I'm VERY excited about!  Stay tuned!

I'm making a folder full of all of the things I can print ahead of time for the new school year (basically everything that doesn't have a list of student names).   I ran across this desk fairy note.  I am going to go ahead and print out a bunch and add GLITTER so that I don't have to do it throughout the year.  Here is a link to grab it if you like it! (glitter not included ;))

 

After I have my post gum-graft appointment tomorrow morning (ick!) I am headed to visit my sweet niece tomorrow and do some shopping at Hobby Lobby with her. We don't have one where I live...isn't that the saddest thing you ever heard?

 

I CAN'T WAIT to love on this little cutie pie!

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER to you!

 

 

FREEBIE Friday :)

I linked up with What the Teacher Wants last year for a behavior management linky party and ever since, this little picture has been pretty popular on Pinterest! 

I wish it wasn't such an awful picture! Ha!  It was before my Canon came into my life. ;) 

Anyways, this is a super simple concept that you can use in your classroom daily to encourage good hallway behavior.

Just pick a name (cards, chips, popsicle sticks...anything works) before you leave the classroom and look at it, but don't tell who it is.  The idea is that you will watch this person very carefully the whole way to your destination and back.  If they do an excellent job in the hall...they get a "ticket" or small prize.

(I also encourage them to line up quickly and quietly without throwing elbows and the other strange things they do to be "first" by saying I will only pick a mystery walker if they are lined up and ready by the time I get to the door!)

FYI: The colored chips in this picture are from Staples (in the teacher section) and I use these tickets from Creative Teaching Press for my behavior management system in my classroom so it's very easy to give a ticket to my Mystery Walker. 

My students collect these tickets for monthly raffles for fun coupons and prizes.

About halfway through the year last year, I also started picking a "secret student" on occasion...especially when we started doing more independent work. Same concept...just pick a student and tell them that you will be watching them do whatever activity you are working on.  After that activity, if they did what they were supposed to do...ticket!

I've had people ask me...and no, I do not call the "mystery person" out if they did not earn the ticket!  I just act extremely sad and say something like "Oh well...maybe my mystery walker will earn their ticket next time when they remember to keep their hands to themselves in the hall..."

(in my best teacher voice, of course)

Since these little ideas worked so well for me last year, I revamped my signs for my classroom and you can give them a try, too!  Click the picture to download the mystery walker sign FREE on TPT.

(and click the link below the picture for the secret student sign)

Secret Student Sign

Happy Friday!

Amazon GIVEAWAY & Binder FREEBIES Updated for 2013-2014!

So my HUSBAND (still getting used to saying that and LOVIN' it!) came home from Lowe's yesterday with a plastic pool for this little beach bum (and maybe me). 

 

Ridiculous. 

 

I have a funny feeling we are going to be the talk of the neighborhood soon.  I could totally see all 3 of us ending up in that thing one hot afternoon in the near future. HA! 

 

Pictures to come...maybe. ;)

 

It is a nasty, cloudy morning...so instead of splashing in the pool, I am catching up on laundry and clicking around on my laptop.

 

I updated my "binder covers for everything" for the 2013-2014 school year.  I've had a lot of people asking when these would be ready so I put them on top of my list!  Mine are printing now. :)

 

 

Go get 'em so you can feel organized...even if you're not.  It's June...you shouldn't be organized yet!

 

They are FREE and I'm more than happy to change 'em up a bit if you need something different.  These are just the ones I needed last year and decided to share...had no idea so many people would be interested in using them.  Just get in touch!

 

PS - Don't forget to...

 

 

Google Reader is going bye-bye on Monday.  Keep up with this little blog and all your favorites on bloglovin'!  I must admit...I pretended like this wasn't happening for as long as I could because I just didn't want to deal with it...but it was actually super easy and I (gasp) like bloglovin' better than google reader!

 

 

Just go to www.bloglovin.com and make an account (easy) and make sure you "import all your favorite blogs from google reader" so you don't miss out on anything!

 

Click here to follow my blog on bloglovin' if you're not already a follower.

 

 

 

 You're done!
 

 Also...as a "thank you" for taking the time to make the switch...a lot of bloggers are doing some awesome giveaways for their "new" bloglovin' followers!

Enter below.  THREE winners will be selected to choose any THREE items from my TPT store and one lucky winner will win a $10 gift card to AMAZON.COM!

You can get a couple extra entries if you like my brand new facebook page as well...figured I might as well do it all at once! ;)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


 

Now go check out all of these other fabulous bloggers who are having bloglovin giveaways!  You're bound to win something cool! ;)




Money Bugs!

Is anyone else working on counting coins this week??  I just finished making a few activities that I can't wait to use with my kiddos. My laminator is warming up as I type this!

 

My kids LOVE "read around the room" activities this year so I made a "count around the room" money game called "Money Bugs."  Get it? Like money bags? 

 

Get it? Get it?

 

 

I thought I was really clever but Andy just gave me a strange look when I told him.  Sigh.

 

If you are interested, check it out at my TPT store.  It includes dimes, nickels, and pennies but NOT quarters. Just FYI! :)

 

 

 

We have been enjoying an absolutely perfect Sunday.  I've been busy, busy, busy on plans after a long walk with the pooch and a grocery store run. Andy is busy studying for a BIG paramedic test for work tomorrow. 

 

lazy.

Today, I am thankful for the electrical outlet on my screened-in deck because it doesn't make me feel so bad to spend the entire day on school work when I can enjoy the fabulous weather and a cool breeze!

 

I am also thankful that yummy fruit is starting to be in season.  I can hardly stand to buy it in the winter when it doesn't even taste like real fruit!

 

Oh yea...and riesling.  I'm thankful for that too. ;)

 

I am also thankful that you decided to stop by my blog today so I have a FREEBIE for you.  This is basically the game of "WAR" with coins.  I just don't like calling it war...don't ask me why, I just don't...so I call it "top-it." 

 

Students will pair up and take turns turning over the top card on their stack.  The person with the highest amount gets to keep both cards...you know the drill.

 

This is war top-it of the coin variety and it's yours if you would like it!

 

Click Here to Download from TPT

 

This also includes mostly dimes, nickels, and pennies.  The last page does include some quarters in isolation that you can leave in or take out but it does not include a lot of practice with counting quarters. 

 

So if your kids are smartie-pants and already know how to count quarters with dimes, nickels, and pennies...SORRY!  hehe.  We're not quite there...yet...

 

but...practice makes progress!

 

Happy Monday and Happy Teaching to You!

XO

My clock is broken.

Seriously, it must be broken.  I woke up early, poured some coffee in my Bon Jovi mug (Yes...I have one of those.  Don't you judge me.) and watched part of the Today Show.  Then, I went to get my oil changed (wow.  WAY past due.), went by my parents' house, ran to Target, and I swear the next time I looked at the clock it was 6 pm. 

 

Why do spring break days go by so darn fast??

 

I'm going to blame it on Target. 

 

Going to Target on a weekday is a little slice of heaven...and it's possible I may have indulged for a little too long.

 

On that note, here is an ode to Target via Pinterest.  These make me laugh.

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't posted a lot lately because my student teacher took over full time teaching the two weeks before break and her time with us has been FLYING by. Is it seriously April?

I have been a labeling/filing/paperwork doing/grade entering/long-term planning FOOL while she's been teaching.  

 

I did want to drop in tonight and say a belated "HAPPY EASTER"...and of course...drop off a quick freebie!

 

This is such a simple math activity, but one of my (and my kids') absolute favorites.  They have no clue how much they are learning by doing these 100's Chart Puzzles. ;) 

They just think it's fun!

 

I made new ones this year because my originals were showing their age.  I leave these in my regular math tub rotation and keep some handy for early finishers because they learn so much by working them and noticing all of the patterns.  They will get REALLY quick at doing these eventually...but the first few times they are totally bewildered with all of the pieces and feel pretty awesome when they get it all put together!

 

Basically...I just printed this little 100's chart on lots of different colors of paper and laminated them.  (My Scotch laminator at home has a lot thicker plastic than the one at school, so I used that to keep the pieces a little sturdier.)

 

Then, just cut each 100's chart into crazy, zig-zag pieces and stick them in a bag. 

 

Voila! Puzzles!

Click on the picture below to get your free copy!

(By the way - it is supposed to be off-center. I wanted the pieces to be more square instead of rectangular so I squished it to one side.)

 

Also...here's another fun 100's chart just in case you need one!  Feel free to grab it.

 

 

 

I'll be back soon with a brand new packet full of Reading and Writing Ideas to study Main Idea! Check back to WIN it.

 

Happy Spring Break and Happy Teaching to you!