Keeping track of it all!

Keeping track of it all... How do you keep track of your kiddos behavior in your classroom?? I use a daily agenda to help keep parents informed of the weekly happenings in the classroom. For a few years, I used a front and back version. 

This had a place for our weekly spelling words, a spot for the daily behavior earned, notes, signature spot, and a weekly happenings. A few years ago,Ladybug's Teaching Files do an awesome post about how she color coded her library. As soon as I saw the colored dots, a light bulb immediately went off and I knew this was the perfect solution to my  problem. Prior to finding the "colorful dots", I used these groovy colored peace stickers from teacher created resources in their daily agendas!!!

Well, lets just say I was constantly buying new packs because I was running out of green (yikes! $$$$$)  I stuck a colored dot and added a number code to the behavior section.

This helped me track daily behaviors, but also informed parents as to why their little angel earned that color for the day. I am a promoter of you need to take ownership of your wrong doing. (You did it- then own it was one of my famous lines my kiddos heard. One thing that troubles me is when a child “thinks” they do not have to follow the rules and guidelines.

Well, after a little bit of searching, I finally found all of the colors I needed to make these magical dots work with my classroom behavior management. I even found a nifty holder!!

(I am truly IN LOVE!!!!)

The company was amazing to work with and I had my products in a few days.

Well, as they say… all good things must come to an end. This past year, my school purchased spiral bound agendas for every child. At first, I wasn’t sure how I would adapt. (Change is not my favorite word!!) Even though, it was not “my agenda” that I was used to, it worked!!

PS What’s up next… I will be showing you my clip charts and my certificates!!!

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Instagram for up to date happenings in my room!!!!

It's been a LONG time...

Well, as I log onto by long forgotten and "dusty" blog the only thing that come to mind is...

It's been a long day without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
We've come a long way from where we began
Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again.

I apologize for my lengthy hiatus. I really have no excuse other than I was being lazy. Life got away from me and bad habits started forming. {Insert dislike button} I made a promise to myself to change some things and to "re-start" some of the things I have always loved. One of the things that I did miss during my "lazy day" hiatus was blogging. I appreciate all of the emails asking if everything was okay. Thank you for being patient and understanding. There really is no excuse for my lack of blogging because I have been an instagram posting fool for quite some time. You can follow me on instagram @MrsFresh2o (I love the simplicity of posting my pictures and boom I'm done.)

 

Well, enough about my laziness. Today, I am starting "fresh". I just updated my attention grabbers. You snag this freebie by clicking on the image to download.

 

I love using attention grabbers and cheers in my classroom.

Back in 2009, I had the privilege to attend a Dr. Jean professional development in Nashville, TN.

I love me some Dr. Jean!!! Such a sweet lady!!!

Well, one of my favorite things throughout her presentation was the on going "cheers"! I was captivated with her wealth of knowledge and her ideas. Recently, I was re-introduced to those famous cheers. I updated the pictures to feature those adorable melonheadz from my sweet friend Nikki!!! I just uploaded this freebie to my TPT shop. Hop on over and download it!!

 

I know I can't wait to start using them again in my classroom.

All you need to do is print, laminate and add to a ring.

 

 

 

LOOK FOR MORE FREEBIES AND FUN ALL THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER!

I'm Back!!!!

Spring is in the air…

I’m back… I took a bit of a hiatus from the blogging world to get things back on track. Without going into a lot of detail- I needed a break. Over the last few months, I have been trying to regain my focus and remember why I went back to school to become a teacher. With that beginning said, I’m happy to announce I am back and motivated to jumpstart my spring blog posts. Although I haven’t been posting, we have been quite active in room 212.

I am not much of a holiday gal, but there is definitely something special about “springtime”. I love being able to rock out my favorite wedges and slipping into a colorful dress to start my day. It simply makes me happy!!

Everyone knows that I “love” smelly markers. I have quite a collection, but when I saw these adorable Easter ones at Party City, I knew I had to snag them up. There are three available a chick, a bunny, and a lamb. I can’t wait to share them with my kiddos this week.

During our intervention time, I utilize the thirty minutes to run my daily skill stations a.k.a centers. I have 10 different activities ranging from english, reading, spelling, and math. These are reinforcement activities to help my students retain skills previously taught in the classroom. They complete the stations with a peer buddy. I swap out my skill activities every two weeks. Due to the fact this is my first year using skill stations in my classroom, this has really helped lessen my time printing, cutting, and laminating.

Tomorrow, I am introducing our Easter theme skill stations. I think these are my favorite stations to date. I am using a combination of activities created by Katie King (Queen of the First Grade Jungle), Jennifer White (First Grade Blue Skies), Amy Lemons (Step into 2nd grade), and ME!!

I whipped up some recording sheets after a trip to the Dollar Tree. Oh My Word… Why oh why do I even step foot into that store. I went for one thing…bunny feet. I ended up with these chicks, bunnies, carrots, and speckled eggs.

Well, I knew I wanted the activities to be fun, but also they needed to reinforce key skills we have been practicing.  Here you go…

Carrot Count Up (Coin Counting)

Load up the carrot shaped containers with coins. Students will grab a carrot, count the coins, and record the sum. I made myself a key as I was filled the carrot shaped containers.

Chicky Chicky Shake (Double Digit Addition)

Add a pair of dice to the chick shaped container. Students will shake their container get their first number and repeat to get the second number. After they record, they will solve the double digit addition problem. (I printed this on both sides for extra practice)

 

Bunny Money (Coin Counting)

Load up the bunny shaped containers with coins. Students will grab a bunny, count the coins, and record the sum.

Scrambled Eggs (Spelling Word Practice)

Simply add letter tiles for the weekly spelling words or sight words you want the students to review. Students will open an, egg, unscramble the letters to form a list word and record their answer on the sheet.

Made it Monday 8-5-13

Last week on Instagram, I shared a snippet of something I was creating. I have an overage of scrap booking supplies in my storage room and I am determined to use up some of the supply before my big move. (This is a “small glimpse”, I am too afraid to show you the whole thing. (Oh My Goodness!! Sorry for the mess… I have been digging through my inventory looking for more B/W paper. Plus that adorable German Shepard my son adopted and brought home thinks my storage room is his “safe haven”. He finds comfort sleeping with my craft supplies and shoes.)

Last year, I created those adorable glittered clothes pins you see popping up everywhere! I added a strip of magnetic tape and my kiddos used them to hang their behavior sticker charts. Well, needless to say they drove me insane... Yes, I addict I am a bit (ok very OCD) about things staying in tact. Those clips were everywhere and every which way especially when one of my sweeties shut the locker or walked past with their ginormous bags. ( BTW when did those bags get so big?) This summer I was determined to come up with an idea... I thought about mini chalkboards ( too expensive and too heavy) pieces of wood ( hmmm will have to paint) then the idea hit.... BINGO- scrapbook paper.

Everyone knows I love black and white. It has always been in my classroom decor ( except for the one year -I had a pink/brown fetish)

 

I knew I wanted to use black and white and pops of color!!

I gathered my paper. I opted for dots and stripes.

I measured my reward charts. (Standard size 5x6) I started out by making a template. (Yes, I am old school.) It's all about trial and error right!

After I had everything mapped out size wise, I began cutting!! It was done in less than 5 minutes. Next, I warmed up the laminator while I began tacking the pieces in place with a small dab of glue. ( I used a glue stick. I was only wanted to tack the pieces in place to hold during lamination.) Then, I went to town laminating.

 

I had some extra space so I added my birthday tags to the button. ( I hate wasting lamination) you can head over to my TPT shop to snag up the birthday tags for free.

( They are editable so you can add your name or your kiddos names!) Next, I cut, hot glued a black clothespin, and added a wide strip of magnetic tape to the back.

 

I am super excited about these reward chart holders for my lockers.

 

This week I also made my BTS welcome gift.There seems to be some controversy about B2S gifts. I am a giver- do not receive as well as I give. I have always been that way. (Guess years of growing up watching my momma!) I saw these smencils at Michael's.

(Yes, I am one of those scent infatuated people!)

I whipped up a round label

and grabbed some ribbon from my stash. (Yes, I have a stash of ribbon too. Maybe I should post a picture of my “store room” literally looks like a mini Michael’s.)

 

Bam- I have an adorable gift for the first day!!

 

I just added these to my TPT shop  if you want to snag them up!!

Well, the creating has just begun from me... Stay tuned for more Fun, Fresh and Polka Dot Ideas!! Don't forget to follow me on Instagram or bloglovin'!!

 

Let the Creating Begin

 

Summer is in full swing, but school is right around the corner. It’s hard to believe it will be happening (for me at least) in a few weeks. The stores have begun putting out all of their supplies. ( Some stores are already picked over- How can that be???) Oh the supplies all aligned in tidy little rows gets me every time. With all the supplies being put out, I figured it was time to begin creating some of the numerous things I have pinned this year. Oh My Word there are so many awesome ideas, but never enough time. When searching and pinning, I try to think about what I already have in my craft storage.   I won’t even show you a picture. It is way too embarrassing. Can you just say mini-craft store. I guess that is a tad bit acceptable due to the fact  I owned a craft and collectibles shop for about ten years. It all begin innocently!!! My mom and I started creating wreaths and wooden crafts to sell at local craft shows when my son was younger. That small business snowballed into opening a gift shop. (My mom had finally fulfilled her life-long dream!!) We had a great ten year run with Spare Thyme Creations, but like they say “all good things must come to an end”.  Life always throws in a few curve balls and you must say good-bye and move forward. I do miss the store and all the customers, (we met some wonderful people over the years!!) but one bonus. Having a wide array of craft things to use at my disposal. What does one do with all that stuff???? Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Creating Some Classroom Goodies…

Well, one thing that drove me absolutely buggy last year was my classroom library. I loved how organized it was (Thanks Mom!!) but I had a few kiddos that would go through the books, but they never returned them to their proper bin. (grrrrr) My motto is a misplaced book is a “lost” book. Even with endless modeling some kids are just a “hot mess” and have no understanding of the words organized, tidy, neat, etc.

While, enjoying a summer evening, I ran across this picture on pinterest from Julie of Light a Fire Blog. Let’s just say, the light bulb went off!!!

 

I knew immediately this was something I had to add to my classroom for the 2013-2014 school year!!! I already use student number sticks, but wanted to create something that could be stored in the library and that students could easily grab when searching for a book.

Making Student Numbered Sticks

Step One: Gather Supplies

Step Two: Print Out Numbers (I created a few different packs and plan to create a few more. I did make one pack simply using different black and white backgrounds and the glitter paper and placed if for free in my TPT store. (See the picture below to snag it up!!)

Step Three: Trim up your paper. I opted to cut these out using a circular hole punch (2.5” in diameter) Oh My Goodness I love these punches!!! Just can’t get enough!! I think I may have a shape punch addiction. I snagged this baby using a Michaels 40% off coupon!!! Wooo Hooo I love Michael’s. Did you know they have a teacher discount?? Simply show them your school id at the checkout!!!

 

Step Four: Punch Punch Punch

Step Five: Laminate!!! I opted to cut and then laminate and cut again. You could probably save yourself a step and laminate the sheets first then cut.

Step Six: Glue your numbers onto sticks. I had these XL popsicle sticks in a bin so I decided to use them.

Step Seven: Place in a container!! I am going to use a labeled coffee can to store my sticks in the library. (This isn’t the can, but gives you a rough idea.)

FREEBIE

 

In my TPT Shop for $1.00

Always, Melissa