Motivation for Testing

I don't know about you, but my third graders start PARCC testing on Monday.  This is the first time that they are taking a state assessment; so their anxiety is at an all time high!  It's this time of year that I use my Motivational labels along with a small treat to let them know that they can do this and ROCK that assessment.  You can find them here at my store for FREE!  My students have loved the little motivators in years past; yours might too.  Check them out!

FREEBIE ALERT: Printing on Sticky Notes

After seeing posts about printing on sticky notes over the years, I finally decided to try it out for myself. I was planning for an observation and was trying to think of ways for students to review the plot of a story they were familiar with. As I knew I was being observed, I wanted to spruce it up a little. So I thought.... This was just the thing I needed to do! For me it was super easy, all I did was set up a template in Power Point. With the template, I typed up information about a story to complete a story map I made with my class.  The students loved reading the sticky notes and allowing them to get them out of their seats and placing the notes on the story map.  It was actually great because the students had discussion about the story and even gave valid points when they disagreed on sections of the plot.

I printed out all of the templates first.  As it was my first time doing this, I wanted to make sure that everything lined up correctly.  From the printed page, I placed sticky notes over each box, and printed again.  That is it! Voila!  A total time saver!

For independent work, I had students continue to work on reading passages and highlighting the literary elements in different colors.  I was able to print these out on color and send with the students to their seats, so I could easily move onto working with my other guided reading group here!  

Find my FREE template here!  

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Printing-on-Sticky-Notes-Editable-Template-FREEBIE-2381657

Please let me know how you have used this in your own classroom!

No Elf on the Shelf??

These days, it's not surprising that as teachers we can't celebrate just one hoilday this winter.  

Probably, like many of you, I work in a district that includes a variety of backgrounds. That being said, we can't just focus on one holiday, but we would have to focus on many!  In my classroom, my co-teacher and I try to incorporate different kinds of these holidays to be politically correct.  Everything now is labeled "holiday."  My school has a Holiday Show, Holiday Parties, Holiday Concerts, etc.... 

For our holiday party, we incorporate different holidays through stations.  We have Pin the Nose on Rudolph, the Dreidel Game, and an informational text Kwanzaa coloring book.  

Those of you that are elementary teachers know how crazy December can be.  The best way to describe it, is that it's like a month of full moons.  Often times, we need ideas to allow us teachers to survive through it all!

During this time of year, Elf on the Shelf for Christmas has been very popular, as well as Mensch on a Bench for Hanukkah with parents.  To play off of those successes on the home front, why not incorporate something similar into our classroom?!  Enter, Snowman is the PLAN!

Another one of my co-workers also loved the idea, so she went out on a search to find us a wintery character that we could use in our classrooms.  What she found were cute little snowmen; perfect for our winter holiday theme.  This worked so well in the classroom in terms of keeping the students on track with our daily routine.  Our third graders love it so much, that in past years they write letters to our snowman, have made him a home, have made him accessories; just to name a few!   

I have created a (colored/B&W) letter for the students that is generic, that students can read or have read to them.  The gist is that Old Man Winter has sent this snowman down to be on the lookout for good and some not so good behavior.  Our snowman will report back to the Arctic on a daily basis and the weather depends on on how well they behave.  Just like the other figures; if you touch him, he will melt and lose his magic.  Students must also name their Snowman to be unique to our classroom.  I'm rooting for Lee from Room 23.   I also created a goodbye letter to present to the students prior to the holiday break to let them know that the snowman must go back.  The best part is that the product if FREE!

Check it out here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Snowman-on-the-Shelf-2257157

Some of our hiding spots have been between the books.  One of my favorites is the snowman that  created an array for the students to solve.  Multiplication is a huge math topic for our third graders, so I definitely wanted to incorporate that.  We also wonder how many inches it will snow this winter (based on our behavior)?!  My co-teacher and I try to relate his activities to things we are doing in the classroom currently, or even earlier in the school year as a review.  

There is also a generic letter having the snowman saying goodbye to the class!  This is the perfect way to get your students stay behaved during all of the holiday madness!  I hope this can give you a bit of sanity to get through the month.

Celebrating My New Blog Design with a FREEBIE

I am so excited to share my new blog design created by the fabulous, Laine Sutherland at A Little Peace of Africa.  She was so great to work with and was very accommodating.  Those of you that know me, know that I can never make a decision and with her help and that of my friends and family; this was the outcome!    I am celebrating in every way!  I hope that this can add to my business; because teaching (and fitness) is what I am passionate about and what makes me happy.

So because I am feeling so pumped; I wanted to share a FREEBIE of mine.  How many of you are like "If it's free; it's for me!"?  Well I am feeling totally that way every September.  As teacher, we spend so much on our classroom and supplies at that start of every school year.  So much money, that I don't always have the funds available to purchase items for my classroom prize box.  Throughout a school year, I can easily spend between $400-$500 on items for my prize box.  (Trust me, sometimes, I feel like it is worth every penny.) But now as I try to save for a house too, I totally did not want to purchase anything especially at this time of the year.  As many of you feel the effects too; the last time I got paid was in June.  Plus, I need a couple of months to catch up and pay those bills I racked up over the summer.

So....I decided to create these incentives that were free or would cost me little to no money.  Let me tell you; they are truly a hit.  I never knew how many kids actually wanted to eat lunch with me, or sit in my chair.  They would save their hot tickets (my classroom incentive...stay tuned for that post) for that over a small foam football.  It is a win-win situation for all of use.  I hope you can find use for them too!  Let me know how it works out for you?

 

Here is the direct link to my store:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Prize-Box-on-a-Budget-FREEBIE-2114909