Don't Forget...

...about our giveaway! You could win a gift certificate to Target for your back-to-school shopping!

 

This is short and sweet...remember I'm on a mission!

 

I got my job chart and my clip chart finished (among other things which I promise to tell you about later).

 

You may remember I made new ones last year for my sports-themed room. Lesson learned - don't change themes! Make things neutral! Ugh!

 

You may be wondering why I don't reuse the sports ones...

 

I did sports for three years so I was kind of ready for something new...

 

New district...

New school...

New grade...

 

Seemed like a good time for a new theme.

 

Anyway...I thought it would be simple enough to change out my graphics on my charts from last year. It ended up being a bigger project than I thought, but they did turn out pretty cute. Here's some pics of my job chart (on my living room floor, not in my classroom yet - ha!):

  

I kept it very neutral - no theme - just kids! Figure I should be able to use it for a long time. Yeah!

 

If you want a closer look, head over to our TPT or TN stores.



 

 

Okay...back to my mission of getting as much school stuff done as possible this week. I'm getting there...but I haven't even started preparing to teach music (yes, I'm going to be teaching 2nd grade and K-2 music, a post for another day).

Read to Self and Behavior Chart

YEAH!!!!!  We did 9 minutes today of read to self with the Daily 5.  I was so excited because the kids did a great job!  I will say that I was a little nervous to start this, but they have really done a great job with it!  We were going to start the work on writing today but ran out of time so I plan to start it on Monday.  I'm excited to see how it goes. 

I've started a new behavior clip chart this year as well.  This is how it goes:
1.  Toad-ally awesome student
2.  Frog-tastic Outstanding
3.  Jump for Joy
4.  Ready to Learn
5.  Slow Down
6.  Hitting Rough Waters
7.  Frog Overboard

I was curious on those of you using this type of behavior chart, how do you use the positive part of it?  I have been using the positive part quite a bit as a motivator to follow the rules at this point of time .  When do you have them move up on your chart? 

 

Hope all of you are having a great beginning of the year.  I look forward to hearing how you are using your behavior chart.  Have a great weekend!  Kristi

Classroom Ready

It always seems like there is so much to get done at the beginning of the year to prepare for the new little ones.  It also seems like it will never get done and be ready in time (at least that is how I feel every year).  BUT, in the long run it does get done and ready for the little ones on the day that they arrive.  Here are some pictures of some of the things that I have in my room this year. 

Writer's Eye

Daily Five

Daily Five Clip Chart

Job Chart

Behavior Clip Chart

Calendar and to the right is my Behavior Catalog and Mystery Person Bag

Ways to Write

We have had two days in school now and spent the last couple days having fun getting to know each other.  We read David Goes to School and they loved it!  They asked me to read it again to them several times LOL!!  :-)

Have you started back to school yet?  Hope you have a great weekend.  Kristi

a MVP or an MVP? and Random Thoughts

a MVP or an MVP?

Well, I just realized this morning that my behavior chart may have a grammar mistake. Help!

I had "You're an MVP" at the top of my chart (see pic below). It sounds good, but as we all know that is not grammatically correct. It should read "You're a MVP!" 

Or so I thought...but then I found this here:

Abbreviation verbalised

By this rule, if the abbreviation starts with a vowel-sounding letter, the article used is "an"; if it starts with a consonant-sounding letter, it takes an "a". This would give "an NHS hospital" and "a BBC documentary".

vowel-sounding letters (take "an"):A E F H I L M N O R S X

consonant-sounding letters (take "a"):B C D G J K P Q T U V W Y Z

So what do you think?

Should I keep it with "You're an MVP?"

I already re-uploaded my charts on TPT with "You're a MVP." Should I switch them back?

UGH!

Donor's Choose

Awhile ago, I posted my first Donor's Choose project to try and get a nice set of "book boxes" as I kick off Daily 5. It is so close to being funded and nearing the "expiration date!" Check it out  here (and send all potential donors that way - ha ha).



Math Schedule

Kristi and I are exploring options for how to structure our math block. We will have math from 11:50-1:10. Here's our thoughts:

11:50-12:00  Calendar Math

12:00-12:20  Whole Group Lesson

12:20-12:35  Session I

12:35-12:50  Session II

12:50-  1:05  Session III

The three sessions will be a rotation of Facts Practice (computer), Math Games, and Math Journal (with us). That way we are able to help 6-7 kids with their math page as opposed to 20--many waiting for help.

Thoughts?

Last year we were both frustrated with the way our math block worked...so any ideas are appreciated!

Happy Friday!

Crystal

Monday Made-It Linky and a Horse, Of Course! :-)

I've been inspired by all you crafty people linking up for Monday Made-It with 4th Grade Frolics so I decided to get busy and link up. I have been working on a few things this week for my classroom.

Here we go:

1. Football themed behavior clipchart (my classroom theme is sports):

Before - Clips only went down...

After - Clips will go up and down...still a little nervous about this, but I'm going for it! Sorry the pics aren't clearer. Some days my camera works great and other days not so much. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the operator. Ha! I just found some cute football ribbon to use to hang it! Hooray!

Everyone starts here - Cute sports kids are from Scrappin' Doodles and borders from Clipart by Carrie.

 2. Baseball themed job clipchart

Before

After - I'm freeing up bulletin board space because I know I'll need it if I start Daily 5! I got the idea of making it into a clip chart from April at Wolfelicious. I just found some cute baseball ribbon to hang it with! Yeah!

Again cute sports kids are from Scrappin' Doodles and borders from Clipart by Carrie. All my jobs titles end in manager. The General Manager is my special helper for the week.

I've included both of these items and the sports birthday badges found here in a Mini Theme Pack on TPT. Click here to grab them! Hope to add pictures of these HANGING in my room soon!

This next one may be cheating a bit because technically my son made them, but I have enjoyed them! Here's the Pinterest motivation:

Lemon Melting Moments

And here is our version...

Yum-O! My son felt the extra frosting needed to go on top. Ha ha! If we make them again, I'd just frost each cookie individually and not make into a sandwich cookie or make the cookies smaller. This was huge! :-)

What else is keeping us busy? A horse, of course! My daughter has had a love for horses since she was 3 years old - and not because we have horses. Apparently, she is a natural with them too (according to people who know about horses). We have found opportunities for her to ride them, learn about them and how to care for them. Over the years, we've had people offer to give her a horse and we always said, "No!" Finally, in January we decided we should at least pray about the latest offer...Saturday she became the proud owner of Dusty Doc Jack (Cosmo is what he goes by - not sure where the nickname came from). He is a 26 year old, gentle giant.

That's me and Cosmo.

Harley and Cosmo - after saddling him by ourselves for the first time. All I can say is thank the Lord he is a patient horse! If he were shorter or she was taller, she could do it by herself and be fine. My husband and I are the ones who need practice!

Hey, did you notice anything special about our followers? We hit 50!! Woohoo! We're working on the giveaway and it is going to be great!

Oh, and think of Kristi...Last I heard her flight had been delayed for three hours, possibly overnight. I texted her this AM and no response so I hope that means she made it home and is sleeping!

Crystal

Our Summer Bucket Lists

We're linking up! Hadar, Teri, and April are hosting a summer bucket list linky party and since we both love to make lists, we had to get in on this!

Crystal's Summer Bucket List:

1. Write a book - don't laugh. I really am a writer. I haven't written much since I started teaching and feel the Lord prompting me to "get to work" so...

2. Clean out my buffet - which has all my scrapbooking and stamping goodies in it that I wish I had time to use and it is where I put all the memorabilia stuff the kids bring home throughout the year.

3. Finish my new laundry room and 2nd bathroom...I'm so excited!

{you can see we have a ways to go}

4. Spend plenty of time floating in my pool!

{getting ready to open it up - when you live 30 minutes from nearest pool, having your own is a MUST!}

Okay, on to some school stuff...

1. Figure out how to do my clip behavior system up and down. If you already know how to do this - HELP ME! Ha! Ha! I really want to make it more positive, but I have some questions. If a student moves up in the day, but later breaks a rule do they move back to the start with no consequence? Or do they bypass the starting point and go to the first consequence?

{each clip has a helmet with their names, the flags are their consequences}

2. Plan a new prize box system that does not require me to remember to give stars on a chart everyday. To be honest, I hate the prize box, but I know the kids love it so...

3. Figure out how I will work the MTSS requirements into my classroom next year.

4. Create some things that correlate with our curriculum that will provide plenty of Common Core reinforcement and assessment.

Kristi's Summer Bucket List:

1.  ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE-OK, so I put it off all year long!!  Now I have to get it done.  I need to organize everything at my house.  My plan is to get everything organized and keep it organized forever for at least one whole week!

2.  RELAX-take time to enjoy each day that I have to spend with my family and friends. 

3.  Sit in my hot tub-at least on the cool summer nights (which I hope we have a lot of those)

AT SCHOOL:

Mine are the same as Crystal only I have to add the following:
1.  ORGANIZE-yes I need to get organized there as well.

Can't wait to see everyone else's Bucket List!!