Honors Breakfast Fun!

This week has been all about conferences.  I stayed at school Monday until 7:30pm and enjoyed getting to talk one-on-one with each parent.

We also have an Honor's Breakfast.  This is for students who have been making A's and B's all year.  The students and their parents came in this morning around 7:45 and ate breakfast in our classroom.  The school provided cinnamon rolls and juice.  I provided fresh fruit and donuts.  The parents and kids hung out, ate, and relaxed.  I did a small presentation towards the end of the breakfast (to go over the required documents and information).  

Here's a peek at our menu/agenda:

I printed these out in color and laminated them.  I wanted the kids (and parents) to have something nice to keep.  It's a special breakfast/celebration and everyone had a blast!

Does your school do anything like this?  If so, do tell!  :)

Idioms Fun - Project Idea!

"My microwave kicked the bucket."

I said this to my kids and they had NO clue what I was talking about.  Figurative language can be so difficult for kids to understand, 

especially those who are ELL's.

So I drew this:

One side shows the literal meaning of kicking a bucket.

The other side shows my microwave having issues.

Then my kids had a brilliant idea!

"Can we illustrate our own idioms?!"

And of course I said "YES!"  The kids have partnered up and are currently working on their sketches.  I've pulled some poster board and they will do the final pictures Thursday and Friday.  I can't wait to show y'all what they're coming up with.  

Just a few teasers...

"I'm on cloud nine."

"It's raining cats and dogs."

It's so much fun to see their creativity help them understand idioms better!!!

If you're looking for other figurative language activities, check out my pack I put together last year.

Conferences already?!

Seriously?! 

Pic from Scholastic Administrator

They always sneak up on me!  I know they're on "the calendar," but I always forget (or block out) how much time and paperwork go into each one.

I wish I had more to share, but I MUST get ready for this upcoming week.  We get out early tomorrow and Tuesday so parents and teachers can meet.  The majority of my conferences are tomorrow from 1:00-7:00.

I do have a tip that always helps the conference run smoothly:

Create a checklist/notes page for each student.  

I have a generic template for things I want to cover with the parents, but I write personal notes about each child after printing it out.

This includes:

- reading/writing levels

- SuccessMaker scores

- testing data (CogAT/ITBS scores)

- strengths and weakness (COMPLIMENT SANDWICH!)

- behavior issues/possible solutions (if needed)

Here's a snapshot of the checklist:

Click the pic to download it for yourself and change it to fit your needs.  :)

I hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend and has a great week ahead of them!  Do you have early release days for parent conferences?

"Super Hero" Behavior!

Who's the doofus changing her behavior chart midweek/midyear?!

That would be ME!

I hated my other one and thought it didn't look "cute enough."  You know what I mean?  It didn't have clipart.  It wasn't the cutesy colors I liked.

So I fixed that.  :)   

I typed up my own with cute little super heroes from KPM Doodles!

The pieces up top (the acceptable behaviors) each have little super heroes on them.  The pieces at the bottom (the behaviors that are dear friends exhibit from time to time) don't have super heroes.  The kids were like, "Yeah!  Spiderman and Batman never go to time out!"  Enough said.

I've always used clothespins with numbers (so I don't have to make new ones year to year) and they work out really good.  They're easy to move up and down the chart.  

Quick and Easy Setup:

I printed the pieces (in a black and white version) on colored paper (to use less ink).  Then I laminated the pieces.  I taped the pieces together with my super duper awesome moving tape (that stuff works miracles!) and hung it on a storage cabinet with magnets.  

If you could use this in your classroom, just click the picture above.  It's all yours.  It's nothing fancy, but it's a jazzed up version of what I had before.  And the kids LOVE it!

What behavior system do are you using?  

I'd love to hear what works for you!

President's Day FREEBIE!

Happy President's Day!  I hope everyone had a great day!  

I know some of you had to work while others had the day off.

I just uploaded a new freebie to my store and wanted to give y'all a heads up!

It's a mental math game that includes all four of the basic operations. 

It's perfect for 3rd and 4th graders...any younger and it may be too tricky.

Click any of the pics above to snag it!

Dictionary Skills Giveaway WINNER!!!

Good morning, friends!

First of all, let me say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who entered the giveaway!  I was excited to read your comments and was even more excited that this resource was something you and your kids could use.  

So.....the moment y'all have been waiting for!

The winner is Amy K. Wierks!

Congrats, Amy!!!  Check your email!  :)

And if you didn't win, that ok!

You can get the pack for 10% off in the 3rd Grade Gridiron Teaching Resource Store!  Click on the picture below and use the code DSYEAR10 at checkout.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!  I'm taking the rest of the day off to relax, get my hair cut, and enjoy a new book suggested by a fabulous friend.  :)

Easy and Inexpensive Reading Center Idea!!!

Are you looking for center ideas that are engaging and meaningful?!  How about ones that take little to no money and not much time to put together?!

Here's a video I taped yesterday about a super simple reading center idea I started a few years ago when I was still teaching first grade!

Hopefully your kids will love these as much as mine have!

Friday Freebie - Estimation Exploration!

I've been working on estimation with my kids.  

The whole "reasonableness" issue is kind of hard for some of them.  

I shared this book with them:

I also created the following center:

It's an 11-page center where students can use grouping strategies to estimate the amount of objects on each picture card.  Click the pic above to get all the details.

Here's a poster I included in the download and you can have it for FREE!

Just click the pic and save!

This product is also listed in my TpT and TN stores.

What strategies do you use for estimation?!

Dictionary Skills MEGA GIVEAWAY!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope that you and your students had a fabulous day without too much craziness!  :)

Now for a treat for YOU!  Ready for a giveaway?!

This one is HUGE!!!

I just finished making an entire year's worth of dictionary skills games.
I was thinking...how awesome would it be for one of you awesome people to WIN it for FREE?!

Here's the scoop:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will end at midnight Sunday night.
Click HERE if you want to check out the full details of the pack.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Valentine's Fun at FES!

Valentine's Day can be tied into many academic and character ed topics!

Here are a few fabulous ideas from our 2nd grade team at FES:

I did "big" shots and zoomed in shots to give you a better idea of what's on each bulletin board.  



Techie Tuesday: Acrostic Poems!

My kids and have been playing around with acrositc poems the past couple days.  Some of my kids wanted to make some for Valentine's gifts.

Here's what we did together:

I did a little digging and found where the site Read, Write, Think has an acrostic poem generator!  How fun!

Click the picture below to head over and start playing!  :)

Motivation Monday: A "Be Quiet!" Freebie! ;)

No, not you!  Just the people who are being unkind and disrespectful!

Maybe this reminds you of your students.  Maybe this reminds you of colleagues.  Maybe it reminds you of adult acquaintances you hang out with.  

Either way, it's a simple phrase that can really help out any situation.  Click the picture above to download the poster to hang in your classroom.  I hung mine on my board:

HERE is the link to the pin where I found this on Pinterest.  

I WISH I could take credit for this!

Do you have any special sayings you use?!

Friday Freebie - Valentine's Arrays!

Happy Friday, friends!

I'm sure many of you are winding down tonight.  

I'm already cuddled up on the couch in my pj's with my sweet doggie.  

But if you're looking for Valentine's activities that still tie in with your curriculum, try this one!

There are 9 different patterned hearts that can be used to make arrays, practice skip counting, or even make patterns.  Just let your imagination run wild!  You could even ask your kids for suggestions...they may come up with an awesome new idea!

Click the picture above to snag it for free from my store! 

Techie Tuesday: Teaching Heat?!

Hey friends!

I'm currently teaching heat and found some great online resources!

There are several great videos and the jigsaw puzzles are too cute!

Of course BrainPop has FABULOUS ideas and resources!

This is an engaging game for heat transfer!

They have some awesome lessons for almost any grade level!

Have you seen any of these before?  Do you have other sites that we could add to the "heat" list?!  Feel free to leave them below in the comment section.

Motivation Monday: Organization!!!

Is this you?!

Is clutter smothering you?!

We all know teachers have a c-r-a-z-y amount of paperwork to complete and keep up with.  I'm not an expert nor do I have the secret to making all that paperwork disappear, but I do have a system that works for me.  

This is how I keep track of important forms, notes, and work samples:

I have a hanging file for each student.  They are labeled by numbers, not names.  That way I don't have to change out the tabs each year.  

I have two folders in each hanging file.  One is title "Important Forms" and the other is titled "Student Work."  I printed these out on a label template and put them on the tab of each folder.

Whenever I have a meeting on a student, I can pull the file and have lots of info right at my fingertips.  It's all about working a little more up front (before the school year starts) so that I don't have to scramble for organization during the year (which we all know can get crazy).  

How do you organize your students' forms, notes, and work samples?

Newsletter/Super Bowl Weekend Sale!

There are SO many things going this weekend:

- February newsletter goes out later tonight

- the Super Bowl Weekend Sale

- my Classroom DIY post goes out tomorrow

But I love weekends like this.  There are so many awesome things going on across the blogs and you can snag so many fabulous resources and ideas!

And I guess I can't forget about the game tomorrow.  

I'm not too interested in it, but hope it's a good game.  :)

What are you up to this weekend?!