New School Year, New Theme

After surfing the net, being addicted to Pinterest, and reading all about what my fav bloggers are doing, I had to decide on my new theme for my classroom. I was very much influenced by two of my best friends, Rosie and Sonia, to do the owl theme. They did it last year and are keeping it for another year. It didn't help that Pinterest has been swarming with cute ideas and resources, so I made up my mind and finally took the plunge and went shopping at Lakeshore Teacher Store.

That is such a dangerous store for me.

I got borders, stickers, a calendar set, nameplates, helper set, and other owl decor. 

I have also bought other resources from TpT. Once they are in place, I'll take pictures and update my post.

Now on to two really cute items I created. The first is Super Owl Incentive Bracelets. I have seen a couple versions of these on Pinterest, but I "needed" to have an owl theme one--therefore I created it. I plan to run the sheets off on color, heavy stock paper for my kiddos and hand them out when they show growth or score 100% on assessments. I included the owl incentive ones and I also included some with reminders that I know will come in very handy with students that struggle to bring back items or inform their families of important information. Click on the pictures below to see more.

Item #2 is a Birthday no homework pass. Of course it is also had to be owl theme with both color and B&W options for printing. I am a fanatic of pencils. I do one for my kiddos for every holiday or big unit learning. It is therefore natural for me to attach it to a special birthday pencil. My kiddos love to receive pencils, and they especially like the day off from homework. I will place pictures of my pencils once I complete them. To get your copy of these passes, head on over to my TpT store or click on the picture below.

If you are in search of a plethora of Owl ideas, resources, and templates, follow my Owl Ideas board on Pinterest. I am constantly adding to it.

What theme or color scheme are you doing this year?

I'm so excited!

I just completed all the steps in opening up my own account on TPT...I'm so excited to have added my first item. I, myself, have purchased many great items and have many more on my wishlist.  I want to be able to share what I'm doing in my classroom and hope that it helps someone out there in "education-land".

My first item is a behavior clip chart that I used this past year with my students. I loved it! It is a tiger theme to go with our school mascot. This coming up school year I will be making a new one to go with my new theme. I change themes every year! It is so easy to use and students manage their own clips. My favorite part is giving students the opportunity to move back up after they have moved down. It is not a one way road. They can move up as many times as needed or as they earn for classroom behavior, effort, and attitude. My fifth graders really wanted to make it to outstanding every day. Their reward for such a feat was to earn a punch on their no-homework punch-card. At first I was more liberal with the upward movement and slowly became more selective. I must have had a total of 2 parent contacts all year! It really makes students responsible for their own learning and behavior. So head on out to my TPT store to get your free copy. 

Class Dojo App

I recently came across this app called Class Dojo. It is a free behavior management app for your iPad or iPhone. It is supposed to be a very easy way to keep track of my students' behavior and engagement by awarding them points and immediate feedback. Individual student behavior forms are available to print or email to parents providing parents information about their child and allowing parents the opportunity to be involved and engaged in their child's progress. It is supposed to save you time--one click is that is needed to record behaviors and and participation right in class with one click. Students can even enter the site, see their own data, and change their avatar. It sounds great and I can't wait to try it out this week. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Check it out for yourself and let me know if it worked for you.

Getting Organized...in Style!

My organizational skills need some fine tuning. Jodi, over at clutter-free classroom, always has some great ideas on how to stay organized without breaking the bank. I really need that right now. This is the before and after picture on her site:
 

She has step-by-step directions with photos on her site. You can even download a copy of the labels for FREE. 
As for my organizational boxes, they never, ever, looked quite so nicely as hers. I usually had one box to put all my copies for the week. As you can imagine, it wasn't very organized or clutter-free. Well, I have put it on my to do list for this week as I get my classroom ready. I will post a before and after of my boxes...talk about pressure.

Great Ideas!

This is my first post on this site. I hope to keep a record of great ideas, lessons, and resources that teachers everywhere can access. I also hope to hear all about the wonderful things we do in our classrooms.

I have been visiting a plethora of teacher blog sites and websites. It is unbelievable the amount of ideas and resources available to us through the generous contributions of so many great teachers.

The following are some ideas that I plan to implement this school year. I have tried to give credit accordingly and a link when appropriate.

Dr. Jean over at drjeanandfriends.blogspot.com has some wonderful ideas that can be modified for all grade levels. I am going to do the Keepsake Notebook and place it in our classroom library. Even though my kiddos are 5th grade, they still want to know what the other kiddos wrote to me. It will be cute to see their notes and photos all in one place.

                                                         

I will also be doing the Paper Doll Teacher . This is so simple and heart-warming. The kiddos will be greeted with a great message from you.

These were the directions posted by Dr. Jean:

Lay on a large sheet of butcher paper and ask a friend to trace around your body.  (You’ve probably done this to your children before.)  Color yourself and cut yourself out.  (Go ahead and take off a few inches.  You can body sculpt all you want!)  Tape this on the door and then make the following labels and attach them to the different body parts. 

“A head full of great ideas.” 

“A mouth to sing you songs and read you stories.” 

“Arms for hugging.” 

“Hands to help you learn new things.” 

“Pockets to hold surprises.” 

“Tennis shoes for outdoor fun.”  

“A heart full of love for you!”