Vista-print Freebie!

I love Vista-print and I absolutely love their wonderful freebies! This idea came from a fellow teacher who is more super creative! Miss Kane came up with the wonderful idea to utilize their "free" business cards as a means of creating super cute homework passes! I'm so lucky to have such creative friends.

Vista-print offers 250 free business cards with specified deigns on their website. They allow you to choose from the designs ( there is actually a ton of them to choose from, so don't worry) and all you need to do is pay the shipping cost. I think all together mine came to around 8 dollars. In my opinion it is completely worth it for such adorable homework passes! I feel like they will last for quite awhile. 

I love the way that Miss Kane worded these homework passes so that the teacher can specify when  the homework passes can be used. We wouldn't want students coming in the classroom with a homework pass stapled to a research project we have worked on all month long. I also really appreciate the idea of homework passes as a reward. I am a firm believer in completing ones work. After all, practice is an imperative step in learning! However, so often we get in the habit of giving our students food- related incentives. It is nice to be able to offer them a break from an assignment every once-and-a-while!

Saving Sam: A Team-Building Activity

In these early weeks of school, it's so important to enforce the idea of teamwork among your classroom. I feel that if you have a classroom that functions as a community, everything runs more smoothly. 

My teacher and I discussed the importance of team-building exercises among the students this week. She told me that she loves to incorporate them into the classroom and that they usually produce wonderful results! I was more than excited to see it with my own eyes.

For our team-building exercise, we "saved Sam". ( idea found on Pinterest)

You will need:

Gummy worms (Sam)

Life-saver Gummies (Life vests)

Clear plastic cup (Boat)

Cocktail stirrers (Oar)

Paper clips

Poor Sam is a worm that has found himself in a rather unfortunate situation. His boat has capsized and his life jacket is trapper underneath it! Poor Sam can't swim! His oar, his only means of movement, has fallen into the rocky waters as well! He now sits perched on top of his capsized boat and he needs our help!

It is the students job to SAVE SAM! they will be responsible for flipping Sam's boat over and getting him back inside. He needs his life jacket ON him this time, and his oar laying horizontally across the top of his boat. 

Here's the catch: You can't touch Sam with your hands. You may only use the two paperclips supplied. Keep in mind we wouldn't want to hurt poor sam by stabbing him or popping his life jacket by stabbing it! Also, we cant let him touch the water (the floor or desk) because he can't swim!

It was so enjoyable to watch the students problem solve! Our little engineers were hard at work. It was interesting to see how they utilized the materials given. Some bent the paperclips into tweezers, while others snapped them in half to create more tools.

This fun exercise really got our students excited to work together. I loved seeing their wheels turn as they asked "are you sure this is possible?". I loved seeing the proud looks on their face when they figured it out!

Numbers in my Life : Open House Wall Display

Well today was open house! It was wonderful to get to meet all of the students parents. We are really lucky to have a great group of parents in our school who are so invested in their children's education. 

With open house comes introductions, classroom tours, Power Point making, and classroom decorating! 

The second day of school, we began a project called "Numbers in my Life". This idea was found on Pinterest and we LOVED it and decided it would be a great fit for our classroom. The project was centered around the idea of numbers surrounding us EVERYDAY! Our world is full of numbers and some are very important to us. 

We discussed numbers that are important in our individual daily lives. For example, I have one sister so the number one might be important to me. Another example might be the number two; the number of bones I've broken. The intriguing thing about this project is everyones numbers turned out so different from one another. One of the boys in our class raised his hand as stated that fifty-three was an important number to him because that is the maximum number of pitches a pitcher can make in a little league game. Fifty- three; a number that would have no significance to me, but to this boy was a big deal!

Here's what mine looked like: 

We had the students write their name on poster board that was supplied. The poster boards were cut all different sizes and were all different colors. It wanted each child's poster to be as unique as them!

I wanted to put something up in our hallway for our parents to see when they came for open house. I decided that the giant blank wall between our two classrooms would be a magnificent place to create a bulletin board! I put a phrase in the center of the board;" Lots of numbers are important, but there is only one me!" It is a floor to ceiling wall display!

I think it turned out great! Its such a pop of color in our hallway and has really grabbed the attention of passerbys' who LOVE to read about each child's unique numbers. The students' are quite proud of their work and so am I!

The First Day of School!

So, today was the big day! I can honestly say I was so very anxious to begin this school year. I have thought about my "first day of school" for so long now it was such a crazy feeling for it to actually happen. I could hardly contain my excitement as I prepared the night before. I felt like I was going to begin high school again! I remember that feeling; that rush of emotion and excitement. That is EXACTLY what I felt last night.

Today when those 30 kiddos started to file in those doors is was as though they had never left. It was so wonderful to see how they had all grown and matured. It was wonderful to hear their exciting summer stories and experiences. It was wonderful to see how excited they were to be there! ( I do love that about elementary school ;) )

Today we went through and did classroom introductions, as well as the usual "getting to know our room" routine. My teacher and I changed ALOT this year so we still have a ton to learn. It's so exciting to see the plans you worked so hard to create in action. It makes my teacher heart warm to hear, "Oooo! Can we do that today?" 

Anyway, I have so much to learn about our new classroom community! All of those new faces come with a unique personality and charestistics. Today, I decided to teach them about myself.

I looked around for a long time for a unique teacher introduction model for the first day of school. In my other field placements, I have created a book, a mystery box, and a Power Point to introduce myself. This year I really wanted to do something interactive. Mt teacher did a awesome Power Point and followed it up with a pop quiz! She really had some of them stumped with her questions. 

For my own introduction, I decided to make a timeline!

I began the timeline activity by posting my birth year. Be prepared for them to show off their math skills by immediately calculating your age. I posted "Now" at the other end of the timeline to represent the present. I created a few pages of pictures of myself at pivotal moments in my life. The students really got a chuckle out of some of my pictures. I hesitated posting some of them because of my own embarrassment, but the students really connected with them. Hey, we all had an awkward stage right? I wrote a little description beneath each picture describing what made that event important or what was going on in that picture. 

For example: a picture of my high school commencement ceremony might say, " I graduated from (insert your high school here )". 

One of my FAVORITE pages that I posted on the timeline was a journal entry that I did in second grade. In my own primary handwriting, I eloquently described how I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up!  Apparently I had my little heart set on that goal very early in my life.

I decided NOT to put dates on any of the pages! What better way to let them get to know you then to let them piece together your life?

I stood at the board and called out the years on the timeline. If a student thought they had an event that corresponded to that particular year, they stood up and walked it up to the board. I took that time to describe that event in a little more detail.

This activity was a big hit! It can be hard to think of creative ways to introduce yourself, but I really enjoyed this one. 

Hope that your first day was just as wonderful! 

Here's to a wonderful year full of learning and inspiring  <3

Exit Slips

More creations have been in the making this weekend! With all this back to school buzz, my mind is packed full of ideas that I can't wait to explore with my class. I have been hard at work "pinning" my nights away on Pinterest. I recently came across the idea of an "Exit Slip Board". 

I have done many lessons before that have involved the use of some sort of exit ticket as a means of closure for the lesson. I think it really serves as an effective way to collect the students ideas and see what they have learned from the lesson. I know I have spent time after lessons sitting there thinking, "hmm... did that idea come across clearly?" This form of closure lets you read into the students thoughts and see exactly what they are thinking. This allows you to alter your instruction to your students needs

The great thing about this board is it allows a spot for each student to display his or her answer on a sticky note. It makes it so easy for the teacher to glance at the board and see how many are missing. You could even stick name labels or numbers on each of the squares to allow for easier identification.

Needless to say I am excited to try out my new creation! I can't wait for my students' to show what they know.

Teacher/ Student Tool Kit

I do indeed love a well-labeled, well-organized, and orderly classroom! I love leaving the room at the end of the day and knowing that everything has a place. Walking into a clean classroom in the morning allows you to begin your day with a clear slate; and that my friends I LOVE. 

Upon organizing the classroom this week, I decided that everything needed a place. Don't get me wrong, it does indeed have a place already. This year we decided we needed to start fresh! So I created the Pinterest famous TEACHER TOOL KIT!

For this project you will need:

A 22 or 39 drawer tool box

Scrapbook paper

Mod-podge

Foam paintbrush

Labels

We began this journey by trudging our way up to the nearest home depot. Now, on Pinterest it says you can get the 22 or 39 drawer cabinet at Home Depot. However, Pinterest does not account for the hundreds of teachers that are rushing out to buy these exact cabinets as advertised on Pinterest. The store employee seemed to know exactly what I was looking for and explained that (to my dismay) they were out of stock.

So, onwards we went to Lowes! Here we purchased the 22 drawer tool kit.

I decided to make two of these kits; one for the students, one for the teachers desk. The students are always running up and asking for supplies. What better way to make a the classroom accessible to them then to give them the same supplies!

I found the purchased scrapbook paper from JoAnn's and cut them to size. (The labels are available on TpT, but none matched the color scheme of the classroom I am in.) I will note that it is best to decide what you want to label the drawers when you have the supplies in front of you. We found ourselves digging in our purses and searching Google in Lowe's looking for the length of a pencil. *Sigh*,You learn by experience.

Next, I Mod-podged the paper into the front of the drawers. I recommend using a foam brush to paint the glue into the interior of the drawer. Some versions tell you to tape the labels inside, but Mod-podge increases its durability. 

After a little time and a lot of glue on my fingers... the finished product!

Note: These are two toolboxes stacked on top of each other.

Goals in Sight

Ahh what a day! I don't think there is any feeling comparable to walking into a classroom that is absolutely empty, and in a few magical weeks, transforming into a space to inspire young minds! It may be one of my favorite parts of the job.

Today, I created a goals bulletin board. I half got this idea off Pinterest/ half tweaked it to fit my class' needs. 

We have daily classroom meetings in room 10! I love this. It brings us together and lets the students know they are a part of a team! 

I created this board to remind my friends what goals we have set for the week, the day, and even the month! I love that this board isn't limited to just curriculum. I can already imagine using this board to set goals for teamwork, behavior, and even longer term goals. My brain is full of ideas! 

I plan on using it like the following example:

Today we will: complete our study guide for chapter 7 of math.

So we can: ace our math exam on Friday!

We will know we have it when: we can show off our smarts in the review game! 

* Note: I changed the last portion from the idea on Pinterest  from "I" to "we". This is a personal preference only because we will be using it as a classroom set of goals.

Although this board is simple, I love its functionality! I'm getting that back to school excitement! 

Continue to inspire <3