tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14068285728071406602024-03-12T19:29:00.505-07:00The Cutesy TeacherThe Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-24823552360590509202015-09-02T04:00:00.000-07:002015-09-08T14:52:09.279-07:00#2getherwearebetter-Classroom Reveal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J2VvZ8h6o9s/VbEDCgB4q-I/AAAAAAAAAe0/KDL3EH4LQFw/s1600/2gether%2Bslides.001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J2VvZ8h6o9s/VbEDCgB4q-I/AAAAAAAAAe0/KDL3EH4LQFw/s320/2gether%2Bslides.001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I am so excited to link up with <a href="http://www.schroedershenanigansin2nd.com/2015/09/2getherwearebetter-classroom-reveal.html" target="_blank">Ashley</a> and <a href="http://www.luckylittlelearners.com/2015/09/2015-2016-classroom-reveal.html" target="_blank">Angie</a> for their Classroom Reveal Linky! All of these pictures were taken with my iPhone because I kept forgetting to take pictures of my classroom. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YWvr5Lea-1I/Ve9XL07tsaI/AAAAAAAAAmM/p0T2Q6S_hoU/s1600/panorama.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YWvr5Lea-1I/Ve9XL07tsaI/AAAAAAAAAmM/p0T2Q6S_hoU/s640/panorama.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here's a picture of my entire classroom from the door to the room. I know it's a little difficult to see everything, but hopefully you get the idea of the general set up. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSGCCm2efdA/Ve9XI4a_xcI/AAAAAAAAAmA/UreKxXecM9w/s1600/back%2Bwall.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSGCCm2efdA/Ve9XI4a_xcI/AAAAAAAAAmA/UreKxXecM9w/s400/back%2Bwall.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is my back wall. I put all of my math centers in the red baskets. I put content vocabulary under the subject headers. I will replace the character posters with anchor charts once we get going (I just don't like blank wall space).</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5OMRHBWiE4c/Ve9XHgb8XdI/AAAAAAAAAl0/dLjZ8fkOgyU/s1600/bathroom%2Bdoor.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5OMRHBWiE4c/Ve9XHgb8XdI/AAAAAAAAAl0/dLjZ8fkOgyU/s400/bathroom%2Bdoor.png" width="300" /></a></div>
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The door to my bathroom with class jobs displayed. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m_FxS6M7Ziw/Ve9XKmlylKI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/iW7J2MXOWng/s1600/front%2Bboard.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m_FxS6M7Ziw/Ve9XKmlylKI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/iW7J2MXOWng/s400/front%2Bboard.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The front of my room. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g67k-si-dzM/Ve9XJAdwe0I/AAAAAAAAAmE/Z1aa1ZloiOM/s1600/desk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g67k-si-dzM/Ve9XJAdwe0I/AAAAAAAAAmE/Z1aa1ZloiOM/s400/desk.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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My desk area. One of my curtain rods broke so ignore the mess back there. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Erw-IR_psFw/Ve9XMVkVCvI/AAAAAAAAAmc/a1MpOa6Ww3w/s1600/library.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Erw-IR_psFw/Ve9XMVkVCvI/AAAAAAAAAmc/a1MpOa6Ww3w/s400/library.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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My classroom library. This is my favorite place in my classroom :-)</div>
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Make sure you visit <a href="http://www.schroedershenanigansin2nd.com/2015/09/2getherwearebetter-classroom-reveal.html" target="_blank">Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd</a> and <a href="http://www.luckylittlelearners.com/2015/09/2015-2016-classroom-reveal.html" target="_blank">Lucky Little Learners</a> for more classroom reveals!<br />
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<br />The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-43197104324165962062015-08-02T04:00:00.000-07:002015-08-02T04:00:00.917-07:00#2getherwearebetter- Bulletin Boards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I am so excited to link up again with <a href="http://www.luckylittlelearners.com/" target="_blank">Angie from Lucky little Learners</a> and <a href="http://www.schroedershenanigansin2nd.com/" target="_blank">Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd</a>. I've said it before, but these two are my blogging idols. They are all about collaboration and sharing ideas. They created this monthly link up as an opportunity for teachers to come together and share their ideas. I've gotten so many great ideas from all the teachers that have been linking up on the second of every month (together we really are better)!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kB8A_Lzm7h0/VbEBnyLRHgI/AAAAAAAAAeg/HKAK2A8hppI/s1600/2gether%2Bslides.002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kB8A_Lzm7h0/VbEBnyLRHgI/AAAAAAAAAeg/HKAK2A8hppI/s640/2gether%2Bslides.002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I have to admit I cringed a little when I found out this month the topic would be bulletin boards. I love bulletin boards...from OTHER teachers. I can't stand creating bulletin boards. I don't have the patience to get them looking the way I want them to look. Every time I get an idea from a blog or Pinterest, my boards never come out like the inspiration and I become frustrated. However, bulletin boards are a requirement. Fortunately, I only have a couple of actual bulletin boards in my classroom. I try to set them up so that they are as low maintenance as possible and don't require me to change them frequently. </div>
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As much as I don't like to do bulletin boards, I also can't stand having blank wall space. So in addition to my actual bulletin boards, I'm sharing my other wall displays (things that I would put on a bulletin board if I had more). </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q5fps-Apve4/VbrS3qKSEmI/AAAAAAAAAgc/OZecpXtcA0Y/s1600/BULLETIN%2BBOARDS%2BHEADER.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="86" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q5fps-Apve4/VbrS3qKSEmI/AAAAAAAAAgc/OZecpXtcA0Y/s400/BULLETIN%2BBOARDS%2BHEADER.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6kkHaApC4OM/VbrSlYV7qOI/AAAAAAAAAgM/14QYkFZcYOw/s1600/word%2Bwall.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6kkHaApC4OM/VbrSlYV7qOI/AAAAAAAAAgM/14QYkFZcYOw/s640/word%2Bwall.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is the largest board in my classroom. I used to divide it in to two smaller boards by using two different borders and two different colored backgrounds, but that was too much work. Now I use this as my classroom word wall. I add words as we learn them. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X6No7-86-i4/VbrSkXdt7rI/AAAAAAAAAgI/q17XTD8Bbp0/s1600/top%2Bdog.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X6No7-86-i4/VbrSkXdt7rI/AAAAAAAAAgI/q17XTD8Bbp0/s320/top%2Bdog.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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This board is located in the front of my room. Instead of "Star Student" I do "Top Dog" since our school mascot is the Lab. The Top Dog for the week fills out the poster, or creates their own and I hang it on the board. Often times students bring additional pictures that get hung up next to the poster. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d8vS4iXhj7c/VbrSe_gPeXI/AAAAAAAAAfU/cOnPAxF02Ic/s1600/book%2Brecommendations.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d8vS4iXhj7c/VbrSe_gPeXI/AAAAAAAAAfU/cOnPAxF02Ic/s640/book%2Brecommendations.png" width="332" /></a></div>
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This is my book recommendation bulletin board that is next to my classroom library. In the pockets are slips that students fill out if they've read a good book. They fill out the title, author, location in our classroom library, and a quick statement about what they liked about the book. I then hang the recommendations on the board. Students who don't know what they want to read can look at the recommendation board for ideas. I find that often students like to read the same books as their friends, so this is a quick way for them to see what their friends are reading. I find that it also encourages discussion about books! This year, I will add books discussed during our Book Talk Club meetings to the board (you can read about that <a href="http://thecutesyteacher.blogspot.com/2015/07/2gether-we-are-better-linky-classroom.html" target="_blank">here</a>). </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OhLGaAJ-J3g/VbrSgnyM8LI/AAAAAAAAAfk/GtDu1miKEk4/s1600/calendar.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OhLGaAJ-J3g/VbrSgnyM8LI/AAAAAAAAAfk/GtDu1miKEk4/s640/calendar.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here's my calendar (which is on my board in the front of the room instead of an actual bulletin board). I put the whole calendar up at once instead of day by day because I find that it helps with calendar skills. Next to it is a blank bulletin board. This is where I display student work (student work is also displayed throughout the room and in the hall). It's blank now because this was taken before school started. Last year I started covering my board with fabric, and I'll never go back to covering them with paper. I did try to use wrinkle releaser on the purple fabric, but the wrinkles didn't come out. Once the board was covered with student work, the wrinkles weren't as noticeable (that would've driven me crazy). </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NFh08qLIVdQ/VbrpepemVEI/AAAAAAAAAhE/9VPFGgG6_hw/s1600/ADDITIONAL%2BWALL%2BDISPALY.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="83" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NFh08qLIVdQ/VbrpepemVEI/AAAAAAAAAhE/9VPFGgG6_hw/s400/ADDITIONAL%2BWALL%2BDISPALY.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I've covered (see what I did there) all the actual bulletin boards in my classroom. Here are additional wall displays that would be on bulletin boards if I had more (which I'm glad I don't)!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yx0ZiX1_MbI/VbrSiY6Kb2I/AAAAAAAAAf0/q2svdnR3kaU/s1600/content%2Bword%2Bwall.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yx0ZiX1_MbI/VbrSiY6Kb2I/AAAAAAAAAf0/q2svdnR3kaU/s640/content%2Bword%2Bwall.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is my content word wall. I display words with pictures relating to our units of study and keep them up year round. I like to review concepts throughout the year, and I found that the students really referred back to this word wall to answer questions. It was also awesome to have up as we filled out our end of the year memory books!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oF6_x-DkcGg/VbrSgZfhAwI/AAAAAAAAAfs/3e2FfnbEjbo/s1600/bulletin%2Bboards.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oF6_x-DkcGg/VbrSgZfhAwI/AAAAAAAAAfs/3e2FfnbEjbo/s640/bulletin%2Bboards.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I hate to have blank wall space. This is right above my bathroom door, so not in a very obvious spot in the classroom. These are posters of all the famous Americans we learn about in 2nd grade as well as the people they learned about in K-1. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TdqCEsTEH4M/VbrSjnGeAbI/AAAAAAAAAf8/BrMTOTojNsw/s1600/desk%2Bdecoration.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TdqCEsTEH4M/VbrSjnGeAbI/AAAAAAAAAf8/BrMTOTojNsw/s640/desk%2Bdecoration.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I still have a teacher desk. I don't use it as a place to sit and work, but as a place to store 10 years worth of junk! We have a poster maker (a large printer that blows things up poster size). I blew up some of <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Krista-Wallden" target="_blank">Krista Wallden's</a> clip art to decorate my desk, but I think this would make a cute welcome back to school bulletin board!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kl9hVe2obCI/VbrW1DjRvtI/AAAAAAAAAgo/97kQeVPhkNo/s1600/class%2Bpictures.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kl9hVe2obCI/VbrW1DjRvtI/AAAAAAAAAgo/97kQeVPhkNo/s640/class%2Bpictures.png" width="364" /></a></div>
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This is a small section of wall next to my desk (I told you I don't like any blank space), but this is also one of my favorite spaces. I put all the photos of my past classes here. It's so fun to remember my former students and think about what they are up to. It's also fun when I have siblings and they find their older brother and sister on the wall. I switched schools this past year, and a fifth grader came down to deliver something and found a picture of his older brother (from my previous school) on the wall!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jFzD7DFBPfw/VbuV-DpzVsI/AAAAAAAAAi0/XVQECdc7L1s/s1600/birthday%2Bdisplay.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="628" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jFzD7DFBPfw/VbuV-DpzVsI/AAAAAAAAAi0/XVQECdc7L1s/s640/birthday%2Bdisplay.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Since I haven't been able to get in my classroom yet this picture (and the following ones) is taken from the floor in my house, but you should get an idea of what the display will look like :-) This is my birthday display. Once I get my class list, I'll write each student's name and birthday on the correct cupcake. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GUR_uYAUuWA/VbuV8R2S4bI/AAAAAAAAAis/9j9jVRpRIQ4/s1600/behavior%2Bchart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GUR_uYAUuWA/VbuV8R2S4bI/AAAAAAAAAis/9j9jVRpRIQ4/s640/behavior%2Bchart.png" width="222" /></a></div>
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This is my clip chart. I had debated about using one this year based on all the blog posts I read about getting rid of the clip chart. However, the way I use it works for me and my class, so it's back for another year. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pzc0O-TUEvY/VbuV_DZvh5I/AAAAAAAAAjE/cThIvgGItu0/s1600/punctuation%2Bposters.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pzc0O-TUEvY/VbuV_DZvh5I/AAAAAAAAAjE/cThIvgGItu0/s640/punctuation%2Bposters.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Punctuation marks "posters". I will display this as a reference for my students. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E_NM3LFS-ig/VbuV9jXgaCI/AAAAAAAAAi4/XCrCzqWf_Dg/s1600/job%2Bchart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E_NM3LFS-ig/VbuV9jXgaCI/AAAAAAAAAi4/XCrCzqWf_Dg/s640/job%2Bchart.png" width="560" /></a></div>
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My final "bulletin board" is my class job chart. Each student in my class gets a job. Their names will be on strips of card stock with Velcro so they are easy to change every week. </div>
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Thanks so much for checking out my bulletin boards. I can't wait to hop through the other blogs that have linked up to get more ideas for the coming year. Maybe I'll be so inspired that I get over my dislike for having to put them up :-)</div>
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<br />The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-40536255083509319052015-07-31T09:13:00.001-07:002015-07-31T09:13:03.769-07:00Make Ahead Anchor ChartsI love anchor charts! I think they are such a valuable piece to student learning. I love getting inspiration ideas on Pinterest and different blogs. However, in order for the actual charts to be as cute as the ones I see online I would have to make them ahead of time (and I'm not artistic AT ALL so they still aren't as cute as the inspiration) and I lose the value of creating them with the students and having them take ownership. I used to sketch them out quickly with the students, and then when I had time redo them to make them cute. But that took WAY too much time! I wanted a way to have cute anchor charts, but still have them be meaningful to the students. <br />
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This summer I made some "fill in the blank" anchor charts. We have a poster printer at school and at our admin office that can blow things up to a 36x24 inch poster. I designed these charts and printed them off on the poster printer so that they are close to chart paper size. I then laminated all the posters. I will fill in things with the students as we read. Because they are laminated I can erase what we wrote and use the same chart again for a different book later in the year or erase them at the end of the year and have my anchor charts ready to go for next year!<br />
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I also thought that I could print off the paper size version of each chart, and students could glue them in their reading notebooks and fill out their own copy as we fill in the class copy. <br />
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Here are the charts I made and will fill in with the students as we learn each skill.<br />
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If you think you might be able to use these in your classroom as well, you can download them <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9a0gwVW1BdW14YW8/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<br />The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-47890266153629323132015-07-09T23:36:00.000-07:002015-07-09T23:36:40.695-07:00Five for Friday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I wish I was in Las Vegas this week for the SDE I Teach 2nd and the Teachers Pay Teachers Seller Conference, but we have some big costs coming up so it wasn't in the cards this year. Next year I WILL be there!<br />
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I'm linking up with <a href="http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Doodle Bugs Teaching</a> for the Five for Friday Linky! Here are five random things from my week!<br />
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I've become OBSESSED with Periscope this week! It's an app where people will live stream what they are up to and you can follow along. Angie from <a href="http://www.luckylittlelearners.com/" target="_blank">Lucky Little Learners</a> and Ashley from <a href="http://www.schroedershenanigansin2nd.com/" target="_blank">Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd</a> started the trend for teachers. They started live streaming from the TpT conference, and now several other conference attendees are doing it as well. It's SO awesome for those of us who couldn't make it to Vegas to feel like we are part of the event! You get an alert when someone you follow goes live and you can hop on and follow along with whatever they are doing. You can tap the screen to give them hearts to show that you appreciate what they are doing. I've done it so many times that I now see hearts even after I've logged off!<br />
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This week was Shark Week! As a teacher I'm always looking for a reason to celebrate. I made some "fin"tastic shark themed math centers that I added to my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Cutesy-Teacher" target="_blank">Teachers pay Teachers store</a>. This past year my students loved doing math centers. Many of my centers are matching centers and after the students have made all of the matches they will have the answer to a joke. It motivates students because they like jokes, but they also know right away if they got something incorrect because they joke answer won't make sense! <br />
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It's a little embarrassing, but we've lived in our house for 8 years now and have done NOTHING to it during that time. We went to Home Depot to get some paint samples to repaint one of the bedrooms. We started with 50 shades of gray (literally) and have finally narrowed it down to a few choices. <br />
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I got to see a former coworker for lunch yesterday and it was SO nice to catch up. I love getting together with people I haven't seen in awhile!<br />
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I love summer break for so many reasons, but one of the main reasons is that I get to spend all day with my sweet little princess. Just like all moms, I can't stop taking pictures of her. I have hundreds of pictures on my phone of her. I took this one this week and couldn't stop laughing, so I just had to share! She's such a goofball!<br />
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<br />The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-70237128784209146392015-07-05T10:21:00.000-07:002015-07-05T10:21:25.979-07:00Shark Week- "Fin"tastic Freebies!As a teacher I'm always looking for a reason to celebrate. This week I will be celebrating Shark Week! <br />
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Each day this week (Monday-Friday) I will post a new FREE shark themed math center to my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Cutesy-Teacher" target="_blank">Teachers Pay Teachers</a> store. The item will be free ONLY on the day I post it. I will announce when it is posted on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Thrilledin3rdGrade" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. Make sure you visit me each day and are following me on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Thrilledin3rdGrade" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and on <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Cutesy-Teacher" target="_blank">Teachers Pay Teachers</a> so you don't miss out!</div>
The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-77534902609606536062015-07-02T12:17:00.001-07:002015-07-02T12:20:03.639-07:00Classroom ImprovementsSo I've been meaning to get back into blogging for a while now. However I knew I needed to do it quickly because I REALLY wanted to link up with Angie at <a href="http://www.luckylittlelearners.com/" target="_blank">Lucky Little Learners</a> and Ashley at <a href="http://www.schroedershenanigansin2nd.com/" target="_blank">Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd</a>. I've been following both of these ladies for awhile now, and I am just so in awe of all that they do (I want to BE them). The two of them are my blogging IDOLS!! Anyway, they started this amazing monthly linky called #2getherwearebetter and I've been dying to link up with them. I was SO excited to see that this month's topic was Classroom Improvements. I am constantly thinking of ways that I want to improve my classroom and my teaching. Now that it's summer, I've been making list after list of things I want to do for next school year. While this is no where close to all I want to do for next year, it's a start :-)<br />
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The first and most important thing I want to do next year is get RID of reading logs! I've never been a fan of forcing students to read each night. I want them to WANT to read on their own. I believe that telling kids to read each night for 20 minutes and then write it down takes out some of the joy of reading. I've always used reading logs because that's what my teams have done. However this year I'm doing AWAY with them! <br />
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With that being said, I still really want my kids reading as much as possible. That's why I'm going to start Book Talk Clubs as sort of reading incentive. Every Friday students will have the chance to eat lunch with me in the classroom (for some reason this is always a HUGE incentive). However we won't just be chit-chatting, we will be sharing the books we have read throughout the week! <br />
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During the week, students will sign up to participate (everyone is welcome). They will choose a book or books that they have been reading. These are books that they want to share with their peers. <br />
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When a student turns in their sign up form, I will give them a Talking Points sheet. This is an <i>optional</i> sheet to fill out (I do NOT want this turning into a book report with an extra chore). They can just write down the things they want to remember to share, I even say they can dictate to an adult and have them do the writing. </div>
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On Friday at lunch time we will meet in the classroom. Students will share the books they have been reading by giving a brief book talk and sharing why they liked the book. Students will be given a list of all the books that are being presented, and can check off which books they have an interest in reading. They can then take this list home to have their parents help them find the books, or they can take it to our school library. They'll then continue to READ!!!</div>
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You can read more about My Book Talk Club and download the files for FREE at my Teachers Pay Teachers store <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Book-Talk-Club-An-alternative-to-Reading-Logs-1936170" target="_blank">here</a>!</div>
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I am the WORST planner, so next year I WILL be bettter! I always know what I'm going to do and am prepared for each day, but actually writing it down is PAINFUL for me. I'd rather spend my time coming up with ideas and getting materials ready than writing it down. However, I know I HAVE to do it. To help me, I bought a fancy <a href="https://www.erincondren.com/" target="_blank">Erin Condren</a> Planner to use. Hopefully this will motivate me to actually do lesson plans. I'm also all about the "cutesy" so I have been stalking Instagram for ideas on how to make my planner even cuter. Washi tape anyone?!</div>
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So as I've said, I'm OBSESSED with Angie at <a href="http://www.luckylittlelearners.com/" target="_blank">Lucky Little Learners</a>. Last year she started doing Video newsletters as a way to communicate with parents. She wrote about it <a href="http://www.luckylittlelearners.com/2015/05/communication-with-families.html" target="_blank">here</a>. What an AMAZING idea! I've been looking up ideas on how to implement this with my class next year, and can't wait to give it a try!</div>
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Along with getting rid of reading logs, this is a big one for me. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do. Next year will be my 10th (WHAT?!) year teaching. I've tried everything under the sun, but STILL haven't found exactly what I want. I've tried a classroom economy where students earn money for doing their jobs and demonstrating appropriate behavior and I've tried a Treasure Box as an incentive. Last year I started using only Class Dojo, but had to abandon in it in January as it was becoming too much to keep up with. I always had to have my phone or iPad on me (I didn't like to display points on the board), but I had a really good class, and felt like I wasn't awarding enough points. After that I switched back to the clip chart. The clip chart worked well (students move both up and down), but I still feel a little icky making students move down in front of everyone (it almost feels a little like shaming). So I'm trying to find something that is POSITIVE and EASY to implement. I have ideas, but I'm struggling when it comes to handling the students that consistently don't follow the rules.</div>
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My last goal (that I'm going to write about here, there are many more things I want to do next year) is to implement more math centers. Last year, I began consistently using math centers. I started creating centers that focused on the current skill we were working on. So if we were doing place value, all of my centers involved place value. However as the year went on, I began adding different skills to my math centers. For example, if we were learning about time, I gave a mini lesson about time and when I met with a group we worked on time. However the students that were not working with me, were working on other skills previously learned in the year. There was a group doing a place value activity, a group doing a regrouping activity, a group practicing math facts, and a group counting money. When I gave an end of the year math assessment, I was impressed with how well they did, and I believe it's because I spiraled skills throughout the year. </div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Thrilledin3rdGrade/photos/a.380501792093733.1073741826.380498828760696/616381458505764/?type=1&theater" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ro0SE26P7l0/VZWLxTiTyoI/AAAAAAAAAb4/ktgMgInTlh4/s640/math%2Bcenters.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is an example of centers I put out during St. Patrick's Day. As you can see, there are a lot of different skills being reviewed. (P.S. Like my Facebook page to download these centers for FREE!!)</div>
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What I want to improve on next year, is the management of my math centers. I want to be able to meet with groups more frequently. I also am debating whether to do heterogeneous or homogeneous groups. Last year, my groups were ability based. BUT I found that my struggling students, struggled at their activities, and if I was meeting with a group I couldn't always help them. HOWEVER it made it easier to differentiate when the groups were ability based. </div>
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I am spending a lot of time this summer reading more about math centers and how others effectively implement them. </div>
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Phew! I feel like I wrote a novel. I guess that's what happens when you haven't blogged for nine months. </div>
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Make sure you go back to <a href="http://www.schroedershenanigansin2nd.com/2015/07/2getherwearebetter-july-room-to-improve.html" target="_blank">Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd</a> and <a href="http://www.luckylittlelearners.com/2015/07/classroom-improvements.html" target="_blank">Lucky Little Learners </a>to read about their classroom improvements. You will also find other great blogs to read about other's improvement goals!</div>
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Thanks for sticking with me!</div>
The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-37753876522860581402015-07-01T19:46:00.002-07:002015-07-01T19:46:31.994-07:00July CurrentlySo it's been FOREVER since I've visited my blog. I had grand plans of blogging about all the wonderful things that were happening in 2nd grade this past school year, but the reality was that starting at a new school was more time consuming than I thought, and I just never got around to it!<br />
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Now that it's summer, I really really really am going to try blogging. I have a lot of things that I wanted to write about during the school year, so hopefully I will get my act together and write about them over the summer.<br />
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To help ease myself back in to the blogging world, I'm linking up with Farley at <a href="http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Oh' Boy Fourth Grade</a> for her July Currently!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qkHBpEpF5zE/VZShNl28ZyI/AAAAAAAAAaU/7_oGYSUqA2Q/s1600/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qkHBpEpF5zE/VZShNl28ZyI/AAAAAAAAAaU/7_oGYSUqA2Q/s640/Slide1.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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LISTENING: I hate to admit it, but I'm obsessed with reality TV. It's my guilty pleasure. So I'm using the day to get caught up on the new season of the Real Housewives of Orange County. My poor husband is telecommuting today, and is having to listen to this rubbish while working.<br />
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LOVING: I HATE cleaning, there's almost nothing I find more unpleasant than having to clean the house. The cleaning people came today, so I'm loving sitting in a clean house that I didn't have to clean myself :-)<br />
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THINKING: Summer is supposed to be a time of rest and relaxation for teachers, but my to-do list is already a mile long. There are so many things I want to go ahead and start getting ready for next year. One of my big projects is starting some anchor charts. I like creating my anchor charts with the students because I find it more meaningful. However, I also like things to be 'cutesy' which takes a lot of time to do with the students. I want to create anchor charts using cute clip art and fonts, but leave blank space to fill in with students.<br />
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WANTING: I so so so wish that I was heading to Vegas next week for the TpT conference. I remember seeing all the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter posts last year and being SO jealous. However, we have some big expenses in the near future and it's just not in the cards for me this year. Hopefully this time next year I will be writing a post about my excitement for the 2016 TpT conference. <br />
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NEEDING: I always laugh to myself when parents and co-workers make a comment about me being patient. While I try to be patient with my students, I am NOT patient in my non-school life. So this summer I am really trying to "chill-out" and not get upset when things I want don't happen right away.<br />
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ALL STAR: I am an all-star at collecting clip art. The number of pictures in my collection is embarrassing. I put clip art on EVERYTHING! We had to send our Wii back to Nintendo to get repaired, and I had to add clip art to the letter we sent in. I think I need a support group for my clip art and font obsession. <br />
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That's it for now! Hopefully it won't be nine months before I write again!The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-32857006188372433342014-10-02T17:01:00.002-07:002014-10-02T17:01:53.457-07:00October CurrentlyYikes! It's been over a month since I blogged. When I started my blog over the summer, and I was frustrated with not having to blog about. Now that we are back in school and I have plenty to blog about, I am frustrated about not having any time. I guess it's time that I make the time :-) Today I'm linking up with <a href="http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/2014/10/october-currently.html" target="_blank">Oh' Boy 4th Grade</a> for the October Currently. <br />
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LISTENING: I love the show, Nashville. I'm a huge country music fan, and have always wanted to visit Nashville. The show has <i>really</i> made me want to visit now.<br />
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LOVING: Even though winter is my favorite season, I do enjoy fall. I especially love everything apple! I'm hoping to visit the orchard soon to pick up some apples, apple pie, apple cider, and apple cider donuts, YUMMY!<br />
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THINKING: I really want to visit the beach. I was looking through my pictures from my trips this summer, and I miss it. I'm going to try to convince my husband to make the seven hour drive after work one Friday, stay for Saturday, and head back Sunday. <br />
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WANTING: I am counting down the days until we have off for Columbus Day. My to-do list feels like it is a mile long, and I just need more time to try to get it all done.<br />
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NEEDING; When school started, I planned on writing a "First Day of School" post. I came home exhausted. Then it was going to be a "First Week" post, but again I felt exhausted. Each week in September I said I was going to post, and I just never found the energy. Maybe by posting this here and now, it will motivate me to work on a "First Month of School" post over the weekend :-)<br />
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TRICK OR TREAT: I really don't like tricks, I dread when April 1st is a school day! I do love treats though :-) This week we did some of my <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Place-Value-Centers-1392350" target="_blank">Falling for Place Value Centers</a>. My students really enjoyed the activities, but I realized I didn't have any technology incorporated. So, I quickly whipped up some place value task cards with QR codes. As a "treat", I'm sharing them with you. You can pick them up <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9MnIxVWJOcUFYN2c/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here </a>or by clicking on the picture. <br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9MnIxVWJOcUFYN2c/view" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N0xQwm_BBYU/VC3lMAfwwMI/AAAAAAAAAZM/P7VBJTA2mdI/s1600/place%2Bvalue%2Btask%2Bcards%2Bwith%2Bqr%2Bcodes.png" height="240" width="320" /></a><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9MnIxVWJOcUFYN2c/view" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t2uas_WKbMg/VC3m8FvH_HI/AAAAAAAAAZY/CrGcPFS4JeQ/s1600/photo%2B4%2B(2).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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That's all for now! Hopefully it won't be November before I blog again :-)The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-81780240321240366512014-09-01T06:00:00.000-07:002014-09-01T06:51:02.554-07:00Student RecognitionI'm sure we've all had that student that needs a bit of extra guidance when it comes to behavior. I know that when I have a student that seems to really struggle, I want to jump on any positive thing they do and praise them for it in hopes that they will like the positive reaction from me and want to continue the good behavior. That's why I made these buttons and stickers:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UqwXqbLFdcA/VAPzuAB32WI/AAAAAAAAAYc/TDGI-ros8i4/s1600/Picture15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UqwXqbLFdcA/VAPzuAB32WI/AAAAAAAAAYc/TDGI-ros8i4/s1600/Picture15.png" height="452" width="640" /></a></div>
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After praising the student for their positive behavior I give them a button to wear around school and home. The buttons encourage others in the building to ask the student what they did to earn it. The student is then repeating the positive behavior several times throughout the day. My hope is that by seeing all of the positive reactions from people other than just their teacher and repeating what they did they will want to continue the positive behavior. <br />
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I have used a clip chart in the past where students moved their clip up for demonstrating positive behaviors. At the end of the day I asked students why they moved their clip up so that I could record it on their chart that went home. I found that a lot of students forgot what they did to move their clip up! By having to repeat it several times a day when they wear the button or sticker, it's harder for them to forget what they did that was good. <br />
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I used PowerPoint to design the buttons. I made the circles 2.33" in diameter and then added clip art and text boxes. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Package-pieces-Design---Button-Plastic/dp/B001685KSM/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1409545465&sr=1-1&keywords=design+a+button" target="_blank">These </a>were the buttons I purchased from Amazon. I liked these because you didn't need an expensive button maker. After printing your circles, just cut them out, pop off the top of the button, put your picture in and snap it in place. <br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9RnFpVjhZdGNkclk/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wx6QBUQFSKQ/VAP10bz9TBI/AAAAAAAAAYo/rWaJn5ZqoKk/s1600/Picture8.png" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
Here you can see all of the buttons I hand out. You can download them for free <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9RnFpVjhZdGNkclk/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here </a>or by clicking on the picture. <br />
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The stickers are even easier to make than the buttons. I just buy the 2" by 4" shipping labels. I use the template for the labels in word, add my text and clip art, and print! <br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9aXZidS1uWWFSX00/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zn15sW0XgxY/VAP2YrFfMUI/AAAAAAAAAYw/W1xHtbLtZcY/s1600/Picture18.png" height="378" width="640" /></a></div>
Here you can see the stickers and the labels I used. You can download my stickers for free <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9aXZidS1uWWFSX00/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here </a>or by clicking the picture. <br />
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I teach 2nd grade so my students think it's fun or cool to wear a button or a sticker. I'm not sure how older kids would handle it. When I put these on my students they just love to get the recognition from others. I made them all bright yellow so they were hard not to notice when they are wearing them.<br />
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<br />The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-15521437934271783712014-08-31T21:00:00.001-07:002014-08-31T21:00:30.135-07:00Currently SeptemberI can't believe it's September already! I'm liking up with <a href="http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/2014/08/currently-september-2014.html" target="_blank">Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade</a> for her monthly currently linky party. <br />
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Listening: I'm having a relaxing Sunday evening. My husband helped me out in the classroom today, so I'm not complaining about him playing on the computer :-)<br />
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Loving: I am so happy that it's a three-day weekend, I have SO much to do before school starts on Tuesday.<br />
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Thinking: I've made copies for the week, but I haven't written down any of my plans yet. I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do, but I really dislike writing down lesson plans and I put it off to the last possible moment.<br />
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Wanting: We've been lucky and have had a pretty mild summer, until today when it got extremely warm and humid. I prefer cold and snowy. I am so ready for winter. We had 14 snow days last year and I've heard reports that this winter may be colder and snowier. Keeping my fingers crossed.<br />
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Needing: I have copies made, but I need to figure out what exactly I'm doing each day and get that organized.<br />
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3 Trips to places I haven't been: Switzerland sounds like the perfect place: cheese, chocolate, and snow (what more could I ask for) Chicago looks like a fun city, and Maine because I love New England and haven't been to Maine. The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-2725030946241213722014-08-30T17:04:00.000-07:002014-08-30T17:04:16.962-07:00My Classroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is my last weekend before school starts. I'm so excited to get the year started. I have been busy working away in my room for the past week getting it ready for Tuesday. I love looking at pictures of other teachers' classrooms so I thought I'd share my room :-)<br />
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I switched schools this year so this is what my room looked like after I moved everything from dining room into my classroom. I pretty much just dumped it all in the room. <br />
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After many hours of sorting through nine years worth of stuff, I have finally finished (mostly)! Here is my room now:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yDIybUk0PC4/VAJYrFO8Q9I/AAAAAAAAAUI/sBwc4EF6hdo/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yDIybUk0PC4/VAJYrFO8Q9I/AAAAAAAAAUI/sBwc4EF6hdo/s1600/1.png" height="425" width="640" /></a></div>
My name in the window and a "Welcome to 2nd Grade" sign above the door.<br />
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A view from the door. The room was set up for Back to School Night which is why there is a Sign In sheet. I'll blog a little later about Back to School Night.<br />
The back wall drives me crazy. I really don't like empty space, but I use that wall for anchor charts we create together, so I threw a couple random things up until we start making anchor charts so it wasn't completely empty. <br />
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Here is my room from the opposite corner looking toward the door. On the far right wall are my punctuation posters which can be purchased <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Punctuation-Posters-827833" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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I am pretty happy with my classroom library areas. I LOVE my crate seats that my parents and husband helped put together. The two white benches came from Target and my mom recovered the cushion that they came with. <br />
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Closeups of my bench and crate seats. My classroom library needs a little organization, but that will have to come later. <br />
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Curtains over the window. I change the curtains every month to something seasonal. </div>
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My desk area. I printed out some clip art on the poster maker to decorate my desk. In the second picture you can see the area behind my desk. I have my "Teacher Toolbox" back there. I also hang my class picture from all of my previous classes (that's what all the blacked out pictures are).<br />
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You can't see too much from this picture, but it's my reading table area. The seats are from Target, and are great extra storage. I also have a whiteboard easel back there. <br />
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My word wall. I love the curtains covering up the mess on the bookshelves. I use the numbered baskets to store weekly math centers. <br />
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Job chart on the bathroom door. I put clothespins with each child's name on each card. Each card has the job name AND a description of the job. <br />
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Famous American posters by my sink area. I have all of the famous Americans that students are required to know from K-3. <br />
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My clock. You can pick up the numbers <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9NTJFYkVlQzFpWkU/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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Content word wall. As we learn important vocabulary we will add the words under the correct subject header. <br />
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Front wall. I have our schedule, Class Dojo Hall of Fame, noise level, calendar, Promethean Board, birthdays, number line, and alphabet. <br />
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Schedule posted. You can get the cards by visiting my Facebook page. I will be using Class Dojo this year. I will add students' names to the "Hall of Fame" as they reach certain points values. You can pick up the Hall of Fame display <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_x4z1WCQbC9Wk9qNVFxSzlBT28/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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You can see my alphabet cards above the board. You can purchase them from my TpT store <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Chevron-Alphabet-Cards-807505" target="_blank">here</a>. Since our school mascot is a Lab, I have a weekly "Top Dog" instead of a star student. Students decorate a poster that is displayed on the board. You can also see our stuffed dog that students take home. Here is the Top Dog letter I send home. <br />
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I hope you enjoyed the glimpse into my classroom. There's still a little work to be done. I'll update then :-)The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-76816781187061453432014-08-02T15:07:00.002-07:002014-08-02T15:07:20.447-07:00August CurrentlyI can't believe it's August already! Where did the time go?<br />
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Isn't that the truth? I am more excited this year than any other year to get started on the school year, but at the same time, I do love my summer break. It doesn't help that I'm currently at the beach, and when I leave summer break will officially be over.<br />
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Since I'm on vacation, this is going to be a quick post. I'm linking up with <a href="http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/">Oh' Boy 4th Grade</a> for the August Currently linky. Before I started my own blog, I always loved reading the Currentlys that others posted each month. I have been waiting not so patiently for the beginning of August so I could finally participate. So without further ado, here is my August Currently:<br />
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As I said, I'm on VACATION!! It is a horrible, rainy, stormy day, so I don't feel guilty taking the time to blog while at the beach. I LOVE my parents' condo. It's right on the beach. I love LISTENING to the ocean. I've set up my laptop on a table, and check out my view:<br />
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Too bad this is what the weather looks like: </div>
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UGH!</div>
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I'm THINKING about and dreading having to move all my stuff into my classroom, and I'm really WANTING for it to be done for me!<br />
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Currently nine years worth of teaching materials are sitting in my house. It took my husband and I a total of eight full SUV trips to get it out of my old classroom and to my house. My poor dog had to find a seat in the middle of all my stuff. <br />
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I am NEEDING to finish all of the projects I have started, and start the ones I had ideas for.<br />
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This is currently my "Products in Progress" folder. 134 items in that folder!!! Tomorrow is supposed to be another rainy day at the beach, maybe I'll use that time to get working. <br />
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That's it for now! If you're already back at school, I hope it's going well. For those of you that aren't back yet, enjoy your summer :-)<br />
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<br />The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-31542028530297295912014-07-29T08:08:00.000-07:002014-07-29T08:20:56.173-07:00Two for Tuesday LinkyHappy Tuesday! I am on VACATION!! However it's been stormy here at the beach so it is the perfect opportunity to get a quick blog post in.<br />
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I know I've been doing a lot of "linky parties", but for a newbie blogger this is the perfect way for me to figure this all out :-)
Today I'm linking up with <a href="http://www.theteachingtribune.com/">The Teaching Tribune</a> for their "Two for Tuesday" linky. I have been following this linky for a couple of weeks now and have found a ton of great resources. Each blogger has put two items in their Teachers Pay Teachers store on sale at 50% off!!!<br />
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<a href="http://www.theteachingtribune.com/2014/07/two-for-tuesday-72914.html"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bg0uMMICef4/U8URKf8n5LI/AAAAAAAAAS8/jEg9ty2W-sc/s200/2+for+tuesday-01.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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If you are not already back at school, you probably will be soon. This is a great way to pick up some awesome resources at heavily discounted prices!</div>
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My Two For Tuesday Items:</div>
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1) <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Language-Arts-Task-Card-Bundle-1254441">Summer Language Arts Task Card Bundle</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Language-Arts-Task-Card-Bundle-1254441"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uqellPBYIsQ/U9cZpJPFU0I/AAAAAAAAAP4/JD_iZ52Ehao/s1600/Slide1.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Who says summer has to be over?! This is a set of 6 task cards covering skills such as abbreviations, synonyms and antonyms, guide words, past and present verbs, plural nouns, and homophones. All cards have a "summer" theme to help ease us back into the school year. With the 50% discount, you will get each set of task cards for less than one dollar each. Five sets of cards have a QR Code option to help engage students. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homophone task cards using QR code option in use</td></tr>
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2) <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Addition-and-Subtraction-Facts-Puzzles-1334728">Addition and Subtraction Facts Puzzles</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Addition-and-Subtraction-Facts-Puzzles-1334728"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GkCxYRH5elM/U9ca2q_L3eI/AAAAAAAAAQE/zbgL99wZlmc/s1600/Slide1.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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We all know that it is important for students to master their basic math facts. These puzzles give students the opportunity to work with those math facts in a fun AND challenging way. Students choose a puzzle to work on. They have to match up all the addition sentences and sums so that all sides match (that's the challenging part). All the puzzles have an adorable animal picture to help guide students in putting the puzzle together and to allow them to check their work. </div>
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I know it's TWO for Tuesday, but I'm on vacation, and in a great mood so I'm throwing in one more item to discount at 50%. </div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Language-Arts-Task-Card-Bundle-1311941"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YHM4mU7xu7Y/U9ccEI2C-2I/AAAAAAAAAQQ/HqKGEb8-RMs/s1600/Back+to+School+Task+Card+Bundle+Language+Arts.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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I know I've mentioned my <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Language-Arts-Task-Card-Bundle-1311941">Back to School Language Arts Task Card</a> before, but I'm so excited about them! At 50% off it's like getting six sets of the task cards FREE! Make sure you head over to my store and check them out!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parts of Speech task cards with motivating joke</td></tr>
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Again thanks to<a href="http://www.theteachingtribune.com/"> The Teaching Tribune</a> for hosting this awesome linky. Head back over to <a href="http://www.theteachingtribune.com/">The Teaching Tribune</a> to check out other great resources marked down 50% today!</div>
The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-6943083345004691082014-07-28T13:19:00.000-07:002014-07-28T13:19:39.226-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/One-Teachers-Adventures" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/One-Teachers-Adventures" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Moz9CCVQ7lc/U9SXniptKQI/AAAAAAAAA1s/GqbH7LDYNsU/s1600/OTA+200+follower+giveaway.png" height="313" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am teaming up with some fantastic teacher-authors for a huge giveaway! Diane at <a href="http://oneteachersadventures.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">One Teacher's Adventures</a> has reached 200 TpT followers, and as a celebration, she is hosting a giveaway of 3 fabulous prize packs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Each prize pack includes amazing products for the selected grade range plus winner's choice shopping sprees at participating stores! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Check out the amazing prize packs below, then enter the giveaways!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Good Luck!</span>The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-63599673055575845552014-07-24T20:23:00.000-07:002014-07-24T20:59:22.439-07:00Back to School Blog Hop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Today I'm linking up with some blogging buddies to do a Back to School Blog Hop. We'll each be sharing some of our favorite back to school activities. Make sure that when you're done reading here, you head on over to their pages and read some of their awesome tips! </div>
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<a href="http://brownbagacademics.blogspot.com/"><img alt="Welcome!" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5oGP2_F5V_4/U4jW6pZ9kyI/AAAAAAAAARw/iiNx87Ajj2g/s200/Badge.png" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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Thanks to Mackenzie at Brownbag Academics for hosting this event!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1c_DpotYFl8/U9HAWubNHAI/AAAAAAAAAOY/ZBjI55H4cnw/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1c_DpotYFl8/U9HAWubNHAI/AAAAAAAAAOY/ZBjI55H4cnw/s1600/1.png" height="200" width="161" /></a></div>
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I always am really excited about the new school year. As much as I love my summer break, I really do look forward to going back and meeting all my new students. Despite my excitement, I am always very nervous. That's why I LOVE reading the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/First-Jitters-Hartwells-Class-Adventures/dp/158089061X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406253952&sr=8-1&keywords=First+Day+Jitters">First Day Jitters</a> by Julie Danneberg. </div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/First-Jitters-Hartwells-Class-Adventures/dp/158089061X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406253952&sr=8-1&keywords=First+Day+Jitters"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I9Fo-uKWRhA/U9HBAvXZXlI/AAAAAAAAAOg/Uu-3HSQP61U/s1600/first+day+jitters.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></div>
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If you are not familiar with this story, RUN not walk to your nearest library and check it out! This is the story of Sarah Jane Hartwell not wanting to go to school. She has many of the same fears that our students and ourselves have about starting a new year. Eventually Mr. Hartwell makes her go. The ending is a surprise, and I won't spoil it for you, but we can ALL probably relate to Sarah ;-) I love to read this to students to show that they are not alone in being nervous. </div>
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After reading the story, we get academic on the first day of school, and construct a picture graph of our emotions. Students color a picture of themselves showing how they feel on the first day of school. Then we construct a large picture graph as a class. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTRe6nf2cCE/U9HChRKznAI/AAAAAAAAAOw/FvUIatZpKq0/s1600/graph.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTRe6nf2cCE/U9HChRKznAI/AAAAAAAAAOw/FvUIatZpKq0/s1600/graph.png" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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We go over the parts of a graph, make the labels together, come up with a title, and then each student adds their symbol to the graph. Then we analyze the data by using the picture graph. </div>
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This activity also allows for me to check off a lot of procedures that need to be taught while still covering academic standards! Students learn procedures for coming to the carpet to listen to a story, getting up to go back to their desks, using their supplies, working as a whole group, and more! </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_9FuFsQ2Uf4/U9HDlnB61xI/AAAAAAAAAO0/I5ro5YWzY50/s1600/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_9FuFsQ2Uf4/U9HDlnB61xI/AAAAAAAAAO0/I5ro5YWzY50/s1600/2.png" height="200" width="171" /></a></div>
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On Monday of this week, I showed a picture of the "Meet Your Teacher" book that I mail out to students before school starts. You can see it <a href="http://thecutesyteacher.blogspot.com/2014/07/monday-made-it.html">here</a>. I think in order to build a classroom community it is important that the students and I get to know each other as people. That's why we spend time during the first week getting to know each other. Just for stopping by today, I'm sharing two getting to know you activities :-)</div>
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1. Who doesn't love a good word search?</div>
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In this activity students hide information about themselves in a word find. Then a partner interviews them to learn all about the person who made the word search. The partner then looks for the information in the word find. </div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Getting-to-Know-You-Word-Search-1335832"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gguzo3Dv7nc/U9HG61Z7rfI/AAAAAAAAAPA/P-33uSxT6HE/s1600/Presentation1.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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You can pick this up for FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Getting-to-Know-You-Word-Search-1335832">here </a>or by clicking the picture. </div>
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2. Another fun getting to know you game is Classmate Bingo. Students write three facts about themselves. Then each student makes a bingo board by writing the name of a classmate in each square. The caller collects the facts from each student and reads the three facts. The class tries to figure out who is being described and then covers that name on the bingo board. </div>
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<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/view/6r4i7grxb9x5hp1/Classmate_Bingo_Game.pdf"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lc04KaxUE64/U9HIV5bU4UI/AAAAAAAAAPM/UciG0Sd7-ss/s1600/bingo.png" height="498" width="640" /></a></div>
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Click <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/view/6r4i7grxb9x5hp1/Classmate_Bingo_Game.pdf">here </a>or on the picture to download this activity. Even though it's a game, you can use this as yet another opportunity to teach rules and procedures. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1y2tl58hnLI/U9HKRYBGnOI/AAAAAAAAAPY/8hKpu2TKdU4/s1600/3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1y2tl58hnLI/U9HKRYBGnOI/AAAAAAAAAPY/8hKpu2TKdU4/s1600/3.png" height="200" width="171" /></a></div>
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Finally I'm planning to introduce center work by using my Back to School Language Arts Task Cards. There are several skills found in these cards. By giving these to students at the beginning of year, I will be able to begin to assess what they know. </div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Language-Arts-Task-Card-Bundle-1311941"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--66MAmKedVY/U9HLRX4FPDI/AAAAAAAAAPg/Eq1xfXkkmK8/s1600/Back+to+School+Task+Card+Bundle+Language+Arts.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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These task cards are different from your ordinary task cards. Each card has an answer choice on it. Next to the answer choice is a letter. The letters are written on the answer sheet. When students have completed each task card, they will have the answer to a school related joke. As someone else pointed out to me, youngsters sometimes have difficulty understanding jokes, so this will get those critical thinking skills in! You can purchase this from my Teachers Pay Teachers store <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Language-Arts-Task-Card-Bundle-1311941">here </a>or by clicking the picture!</div>
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Now for something REALLY exciting! I'm going to attempt my first blog giveaway!! I'm giving away one set of task cards from the bundle above. You can enter to win the <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Parts-of-Speech-Task-Cards-with-QR-Code-option-1311875">Back to School Parts of Speech Task Cards</a>! You can check them out <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Parts-of-Speech-Task-Cards-with-QR-Code-option-1311875">here</a>. Enter Below and check back on Monday evening to see who the lucky winner is! Good Luck!</div>
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Thanks for stopping by on the Blog Hop. Make sure you visit the other bloggers participating to grab awesome tips and even a few FREEBIES!! Read the message below from Brownbag Academics and you'll see the list of bloggers participating!<br />
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<!-- end InLinkz script -->The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-88175969307953329652014-07-23T00:16:00.002-07:002014-07-24T20:59:54.916-07:00Back 2 School - Assessment<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://mrsdscorner.blogspot.com/2014/07/back-2-school-linky-week-2-assessment.html"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K9mPwaJi_GM/U8SJtfKbcjI/AAAAAAAAI-w/tBfaWPyKXi8/s320/promo1.jpg" height="229" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm linking up again with <a href="http://mrsdscorner.blogspot.com/">Mrs. D's Corner</a> and<a href="http://missventrella.blogspot.com/"> Miss V's Busy Bees</a> to talk about more Back to School goodness. Last week we talked about Behavior Management, this week we are talking about assessment. This is probably one of my least favorite things to talk about, and I almost skipped this week. However, it IS an important part of our job, so I decided to go ahead and try to write about it. <br />
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A lot of what we have to do is told to us by the distric. We have benchmark assessments, unit assessments, DRA2, etc. We also have rubrics that are used for each standard. Actually, we don't call them rubrics anymore, they are "learning progression scales". <br />
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Since there is so much we HAVE to do a certain way, I thought I'd share a couple of the ways I assess students informally. I feel like you find out so much about students, just by watching them, talking to them, and listening to them. I hate to admit that when I first started teaching, I kept a lot of these observations in my head. I now know that it's actually pretty important to write them down. One, I'm getting older and can't remember as well, and two, it's nice to have proof to back up what you say. <br />
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Here are a few things that I've used in my classroom to take anecdotal notes and keep track of my informal observations. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ObFu2vHBGg0/U888KbrxtbI/AAAAAAAAAMg/0bD6-y7qmZU/s1600/Picture3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ObFu2vHBGg0/U888KbrxtbI/AAAAAAAAAMg/0bD6-y7qmZU/s1600/Picture3.png" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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I overlap and tape index cards to a clipboard so that just the student names show. I also write what day of the week I would conference or meet with students to help keep me organized. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UYAW6FvAx0c/U888Zr6Gd6I/AAAAAAAAAMo/8tLDZAWiMxY/s1600/Picture4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UYAW6FvAx0c/U888Zr6Gd6I/AAAAAAAAAMo/8tLDZAWiMxY/s1600/Picture4.png" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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When I'm walking around the room to observe or conference with students I carry my clipboard, flip up the card of the student I'm observing, and write my notes. I find it easier to carry a clipboard than a big binder with a lot of papers. At the end of the quarter, or when the card is full, I add the card to a larger binder with that student's information. Having all my notes is SO helpful for when it comes time to write report card comments or when conferencing with parents. </div>
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2. I do also keep a binder at my reading table for when I am meeting with small groups. When meeting with a reading group I use this page: </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8q-tk-rk1-A/U8886JIsEmI/AAAAAAAAAMw/di0_jY35e6I/s1600/Slide2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8q-tk-rk1-A/U8886JIsEmI/AAAAAAAAAMw/di0_jY35e6I/s1600/Slide2.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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I write all the students' names down and as I am working with the group, I write my observations about that student next to their name. </div>
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When I'm working with individual students during math or writer's workshop, I have an entire page for that student, and write notes as I'm conferencing. It's easy to see what we worked on during the previous meeting. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-11ZPC9BA87E/U889c5WCiHI/AAAAAAAAAM8/Mq1r4MyzTAg/s1600/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-11ZPC9BA87E/U889c5WCiHI/AAAAAAAAAM8/Mq1r4MyzTAg/s1600/Slide1.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've tried notes pages with more options, but it was to much to keep up with. I like this paper because it's simple :-) You can grab a copy of these note taking pages <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/view/tx7pu22l85g2728/reading_and_writing_notes_page.pdf">here</a>!</div>
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3. To say I love task cards is an understatement. However, when students are working, I often have to stop and solve the problem myself to check that they have the answer correct. I've been doing something a little different with the task cards I've been creating. I add answer choices to the cards and there is a letter next to each answer choice. The letters answer a joke on the answer sheet. This helps me assess because as I'm walking around the room and looking at the answer sheets, I can quickly tell if they have a wrong answer because I know the answer to the joke and it's easy to see if they have the wrong letter. </div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ABC-Order-Task-Cards-1338099"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NUgqq4A1F8A/U88_gK_sycI/AAAAAAAAANI/kMH1CbS8pAE/s1600/Picture9.png" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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To see exactly what I'm talking about you can download this freebie in my store by clicking <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ABC-Order-Task-Cards-1338099">here</a>, or on the picture. I also have a set of eight back to school language arts task cards that have a joke. </div>
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4. Finally, I am OBSESSED with sticky notes! Not only do they come in fun colors and shapes, they can be a great assessment tool as well! </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qLv6jAsF5Gg/U89AzCa5OGI/AAAAAAAAANU/opeTMRi_kv0/s1600/Picture7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qLv6jAsF5Gg/U89AzCa5OGI/AAAAAAAAANU/opeTMRi_kv0/s1600/Picture7.png" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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I type questions on sticky notes and place them in the books students are using for guided reading. Since I can't listen to six students reading at the exact same time, these questions give me the chance to see what students are thinking while they are reading. When they get to a sticky note in the book, they stop and write their response to the question. When I get to each student, I can either discuss what they wrote, or review it later to give me an idea of how they are answering certain types of questions. I can also see if a student is struggling to answer the question on the sticky note, and I know that's a great time for me to jump in. I try to write questions that involve several reading strategies. When the students are done, I can keep the sticky notes and have a record of their thinking! It would take me FOREVER to hand write the sticky notes for EVERY member of the reading group, typing takes no time at all!</div>
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This is another sticky note that I typed on: </div>
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I printed a bunch of these out, carried them around as I met with students in reading and writing conferences, and then stuck them on a page in a big binder with the student's name at the top. Come report card time, I just flipped to the student's page, and used the sticky notes as my notes for typing comments. </div>
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As if you need an excuse to to go out and buy more sticky notes I wrote out what I hope are step-by-step directions for printing on sticky notes using Microsoft Power Point. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yuAbVHU-5nA/U89DJ2id78I/AAAAAAAAANo/9XznOFbPGrI/s1600/Slide1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yuAbVHU-5nA/U89DJ2id78I/AAAAAAAAANo/9XznOFbPGrI/s1600/Slide1.JPG" /></a></div>
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The possibilities are endless! What are some other ideas you have for using sticky notes for assessment? Let me know in the comments!</div>
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The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-29100187842669825782014-07-21T10:11:00.001-07:002014-07-24T21:00:27.782-07:00Monday Made ItI am SO excited about this school year, and I actually can't wait for it to start. Teachers don't go back until August 20th, but I've been using this "down time" to start getting ready. Today I'm linking up with <a href="http://4thgradefrolics.blogspot.com/">Tara from 4th Grade Frolics </a> for her Monday Made It linky. <br />
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<a href="http://4thgradefrolics.blogspot.com/2014/07/monday-made-it-summer-week-8.html"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QDCF-0NOjOw/U8rwFvxsq-I/AAAAAAAAZT0/-r_mv8_4zm8/s320/Monday+Made+It+1.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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While there is a lot I should be doing around the house, all of my "made its" have been classroom related. </div>
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I don't know about you, but as excited as I am about the start of a new school year, I am still incredibly nervous. I also know that it is nerve-racking for students as well. To try to help ease nerves, I always mail a little "Meet Your Teacher" book to the students before school starts. In this book, I give students a small sneak peek into what we will do this year, information about my family, my fur baby, my hobbies, and my favorites when I was in 2nd grade. </div>
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In addition to the book I throw in a couple of "Sensational 2nd Grader" pencils. What kid doesn't like to get mail?! In the large envelope, I include a smaller envelope that is labeled "For Your Parents". In this envelope is a short letter introducing myself to the parents and a questionnaire (which I've tried to upload <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/view/n8c97ba1l4ytwau/back_to_school_questionnaire.pdf">here</a> if you're interested) that will help me get to know their child. This year, I have made a Google Form with the same info as the questionnaire. I'm debating sending parents the link and allowing them to submit the information electronically (I know I prefer typing information instead of writing it). I've never done that before, and I'm concerned about the security of the information. I'll have to look into that more. Have you used Google Forms? Is there anything I need to do to make it secure?</div>
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As I've mentioned before, I'm switching schools next year. At my new school they select a theme for the year. This year's theme has to do with building. Suggestions for class decor include construction and Lego things. This is NOT easy for this pink and chevron loving girl. It's hard to make bulldozers and hammers "cutesy". I made a "Where are We" sign to hang on the door. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Xy8s0X3IyM/U81FRo4lb1I/AAAAAAAAAIE/SW3lxRppuY8/s1600/where+is+our+class.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Xy8s0X3IyM/U81FRo4lb1I/AAAAAAAAAIE/SW3lxRppuY8/s1600/where+is+our+class.png" height="492" width="640" /></a></div>
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There isn't any pink, chevron, or polka dots, but I think it gets the job done :-)</div>
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I'm not sure if I'm going to keep my final "made it". I mentioned in another post that I'm not positive I'm going to keep the clip chart, and may go to strictly using Class Dojo. I did make a new clip chart just in case I decide to go that route. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d7a_j4oOCJg/U81FRsPZD7I/AAAAAAAAAIA/ZRDLsIr_cyE/s1600/lego+behavior+chart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d7a_j4oOCJg/U81FRsPZD7I/AAAAAAAAAIA/ZRDLsIr_cyE/s1600/lego+behavior+chart.png" height="640" width="460" /></a></div>
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I have a BUNCH more projects that I'm working on to get ready for the new year, but these are the projects I've completed. What have YOU made this week?</div>
The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-57781260937802477202014-07-18T09:58:00.005-07:002014-07-24T21:01:55.465-07:00Five for Friday<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2014/07/five-for-friday-linky-party-july-18.html"><img alt="fiveforfriday2_thumb[3]" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-d7bse79VpZg/U8gtZW0EH9I/AAAAAAAAYnA/kQXsoV-HhCI/fiveforfriday2_thumb%25255B3%25255D_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="285" width="400" /></a></div>
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Today I'm linking up with <a href="http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/">Doodle Bugs</a> to share five random things about my week. </div>
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The biggest thing about this week, is I started this blog! I'm so excited to share my ideas and get to know other bloggers. I put together a Blogging Binder to help keep me organized :-)</div>
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I went to Target and got a ton of stuff for my classroom. My favorite find was in the dollar spot. They had packs of three blank hardcover books. I can't wait to use these for publishing student work next year! I've already cleaned out two different Targets, and still <strike>want</strike> need more.</div>
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I got a new (to me) car! I loved my old car, but it was eight years old and didn't have many features. My new car is a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and it has every feature you could imagine. I love it so much!</div>
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I'm switching schools next year, I'm so excited and nervous at the same time. I made plans last night to meet my new team next week (there are 8 of us!), and I can't wait!!</div>
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I changed over the name of Teachers Pay Teachers store to "The Cutesy Teacher" from "Thrilled in Third Grade". I never was really attached to "Thrilled in Third Grade", but change is hard! I also am super excited about my Back to School Language Arts Task Card Bundle!</div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Language-Arts-Task-Card-Bundle-1311941"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nRw55iz5ZpY/U8lRvb4sBkI/AAAAAAAAAGI/5hR2eGDjHSQ/s1600/Back+to+School+Task+Card+Bundle+Language+Arts.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'd love to hear what you've been up to this week :-)</div>
The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-1212285205401800562014-07-16T15:59:00.001-07:002014-07-16T20:56:38.765-07:00Back 2 School- Behavior Management<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.mrsdscorner.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3LwaziSnnOU/U8SDxdMjx6I/AAAAAAAABbU/kt5uNuPmn9g/s200/promo3.png" height="143" width="200" /></a></div>
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I'm linking up with <a href="http://www.mrsdscorner.blogspot.com/">Mrs. D's Corner</a> and <a href="http://missventrella.blogspot.com/">Miss V's Busy Bees</a> to talk "Back 2 School". There will be a lot of topics to discuss over the next few weeks, but this week's topic is Behavior Management. <br />
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Something that I've learned over the years is what works for one class, might not work for your next class. I've also learned that you have to be willing to change your plans, even in the middle of the year. <br />
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Here's what my behavior management plan looks like:<br />
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1. Clip Chart</h4>
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I've had this one for three years now, and as you can see it's looking <strike>a little</strike> very rough. I started this past year using just the clip chart. I like that this chart allows for students who are working hard and following the rules to be recognized by moving their clip up. It also allows students who have moved their clips down, to work hard to move it back up again. Each student kept a calendar in their take home folder, and would fill out their color for the day and have their parents sign. If a student has made it up to "outstanding", they get a coupon. Which brings me to number 2!<br />
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2. Reward Coupons</h4>
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I love these coupons that I bought from the amazing <a href="http://seusstastic.blogspot.com/">Mel D from Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations</a>. You can find them at her TPT store <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reward-Coupons-55-Different-Coupons-for-Classroom-Management-282691">here</a>. I love these rewards because they don't cost me a thing, but they are fun for the students. To me, they are the perfect incentive for positive behavior. <br />
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3. "Marble Jar"</h4>
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This is one that I kind of let slide during the year. This was for whole class incentives. When I caught the entire class working hard, or when they earned a compliment from another staff member, I put a marble on the jar. Once we filled the jar, we got a whole class reward. I let the students vote on what they wanted as their reward. Some things they chose this year: extra recess, bring a stuffed animal to school, and eat lunch in the classroom with an educational video playing.<br />
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4. Bucket Fillers</h4>
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I categorize this under behavior management because I believe that when students respect each other, and show kindness to each other, they will be more motivated to behave in class. During the first week of school we read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Full-Your-Bucket-Kids/dp/1595620273/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405548644&sr=1-2&keywords=how+full+is+your+bucket">"How Full is Your Bucket?"</a> which explains the concept of Bucket Filling. Each student decorated their own bucket, and we taped them on to the card envelopes. In the green bucket that you can see in the picture, are blank bucket filling papers. Students write short kind notes to each other, and then put the paper in their classmate's bucket. At the end of the week we empty our buckets and read our notes. If I noticed a student's bucket was looking empty, I would fill out a note and put in their bucket. <br />
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5. Star Student</h4>
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This is another one you might not always see under the "behavior management" category, but I feel it's important that each student get to know their classmates. By knowing and respecting your classmates, you are going to be less likely to do something to upset them (acting up in class). I'm working on revamping my Star Student program for next year, but basically each day of the week the Star Student brought in something from home to share with the class.<br />
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6. Class Dojo</h4>
I started using Class Dojo in the middle of the year, and to say I LOVE it, is an understatement! If you have not tried it out, please do. It's a free app that you can download. I just keep it up on my phone and iPad during the school day. You can also project it from your computer on to an interactive whiteboard. <br />
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First you put all of your students' names in<br />
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I love the fun little avatars that you can choose! Next, you choose positive behaviors you want your kiddos to work on and negative behaviors that you might see occur. <br />
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When a student is acting positive, you click on their name, choose a behavior from the list and it awards the student a point. <br />
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If a student is misbehaving, you do the same thing with the negative behaviors:<br />
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You can look at reports of individual students, or the whole class:<br />
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And my favorite part... you can communicate behaviors with the parents!! They can log in and look at their child, or you can send messages to them. <br />
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For next year, I'm thinking about abandoning the clip chart, and just using Class Dojo. I'm planning on still using the coupons as an incentive for earning a certain number of points in the day. I'm also thinking when the class gets to a certain percentage of positive behavior, having a whole class reward. <br />
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Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I'd love to hear what you do in your room. If you use Class Dojo, do you use any other rewards or incentives? Do you send home a daily behavior chart indicating the number of points your students earn? I started in the middle of the year, but if you did it all year, do you feel it kept the students attention the whole year, or did they stop caring toward the end of the year? I'd love to hear your thoughts!The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1406828572807140660.post-48262529915094188862014-07-15T08:08:00.000-07:002014-07-15T08:08:25.446-07:00My First PostI've always wanted to start a teaching blog to share my ideas, and join the AMAZING blogging community. However, I've always been really nervous to do it. If you know me in real life, you know that I am not one to put myself out there, and that I'm incredibly shy. This is a HUGE step for me to get out of my comfort zone :o) (we all have to grow up sometime, right?!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gnlwoYKhv-Q/U8VAK1dxnlI/AAAAAAAAACE/BcGZVQCdSDg/s1600/shyness+quote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gnlwoYKhv-Q/U8VAK1dxnlI/AAAAAAAAACE/BcGZVQCdSDg/s1600/shyness+quote.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love this quote! My goal is to become so wrapped up in this blog, that I'll start overcoming my fear of putting myself out there. </td></tr>
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I LOVE seeing what is going on in other classrooms. I feel that since I've started reading blogs, using Pinterest, and discovering Teachers Pay Teachers, my teaching has improved greatly, and my students have really benefited. My hopes are that through my own blog, people will be able to get ideas from me, and get a little glimpse into my classroom. I know that whenever I visit another person's classroom, I walk away thinking "Wow, what a fabulous idea!" or "I want to try that!". <br />
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I have some goals for how I want to blog, and hopes for what I want to accomplish with my blog. I thought that I would be more likely to follow through if I put it in writing :o)!<br />
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So excited to start this journey!!The Cutesy Teacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03282612168531037263noreply@blogger.com1