Friday 19 August 2016

Follow Us on BlogLovin' and Stay Connected


Hello there! We are proud to announce we finally hopped on board with BlogLovin'. If you have enjoyed our content and fabulous hops and giveaways so far, please give our new little blog a follow. We have many exciting hops and giveaways planned and wouldn't want you to miss out!


Thank you! :)
 

Monday 15 August 2016

Classroom Management & Organization Ideas From Karen & Kelie


We are excited to join in with other awesome teacher-author-bloggers on this Back to School Blog Hop. Today we will be sharing some of our favorite management and organization ideas with you as you prepare to head back into the trenches.

Our first idea comes from Karen... Don't be afraid to try new things when it comes to classroom management! What works for one teacher may not work for you. When I started teaching at my last school, Beech, I had never heard of Whole Brain Teaching Techniques. My principal, Michele Mower, was a big supporter of it. I decided to read up about it online and watch videos online to educate myself. One year I had kind of a chatty class so, after Christmas break, I decided I was ready to dive in. And I did! Just like a diet... who says you have to start on a Monday or on the first day of the new school year!? Hog wash! :) I never put all my eggs in one basket though, so to speak, so I combined my new LOVE for WBT with my LOVE for Class Dojo, a clip chart, and GoNoodle Brain Breaks! In true WBT fashion, we had a scoreboard and after every activity, no matter how short and sweet or how long, we visited the scoreboard. The kids loved giving a "Mighty OH YEAH!" or a "Mighty GROAN!" My district was against using happy/sad faces so instead our scoreboard was "Teacher vs. Students." I hit it hard that they were a TEAM and that teams only work if EVERYONE is helping and engaged. I had my best and highest classroom engagement EVER. For every five points they earned I let them have a short, quick Brain Break via GoNoodle. I used my Class Dojo "randomizer" (said in my best iCarly voice, haha) to choose the student who would pick our Brain Break. The catch here was that their clip had to be on green or better. Now, here's the kicker... I kept points on Dojo, but started only documenting negative points if it was something severe that I needed parents to know about and discuss with their child. I found kindergarten students couldn't keep track of their points or how they were doing without visual clues... enter the clip chart. They knew at all times where they stood. Again, this management tip may not work for you, but it was MAGICAL in my classroom. :)


** The above Dr. Seuss Clip Chart was a custom request by my friend Ena Picon and is available in my TpT store along with a Bono the Monkey themed clip chart and a Cute Kids themed clip chart. Check out some great Classroom Management Resources, including the clip charts and some FREE Class Dojo award certificates by CLICKING HERE.

Check out Whole Brain Teaching by Clicking HERE.
Click HERE to check out GoNoodle Brain Breaks.
And finally, click HERE to visit Class Dojo.

Kelie here to share 2 quick tips for managing your first days back at school.  First of all ladies and gentlemen, set some realistic expectations.  Your classroom does not have to be "Pinterest"ready to have a successful school year.  Get organized in a way that works for YOU.  Your students will appreciate and respond to routine and order, whereas the perfectly decorated classroom will run it's course very quickly.  Now don't get me wrong, I have my fair share of cute bulletin board display's in my classroom, but I also have "stuff" shoved under a table because it simply wont fit in a cupboard.
Here is an example of what I'm taking about.  My guided reading books are organized by AR levels and are easy for me to use.  Could I have put a cute label on them instead of the sticky note? Yes.  Would it have made it anymore functional? No.  Don't sweat the small stuff guys!


My second tip I have to share with you today is the convenience of these "sticks". Each student gets their name written on a stick,  and the sticks get placed in a container.  Anytime I need to call on a student, I pull a stick instead of calling on a volunteer.  This solves the problem of the same students repeatedly getting the opportunity to answer questions or to volunteer.  Everyone is held accountable because you just never know whose stick will get pulled next. As an added bonus, these are also wonderful those first few days of school, when you are still learning your student's names.


** I teach 3 rotations of math throughout the day and thus need three different sets of sticks.

After entering the Rafflecopter giveaway, click the apple to hop to the next Back-to-School blog post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Sunday 7 August 2016

A Week of "JAWSOME" Steals, Deals, and Giveaways


Kelie and I have teamed up with over 80 amazing teacher-authors for our last round of "Oceans of Steals, Deals, and Giveaways." We are excited to be a part of such a great network! We love teamwork. ;)

Here is a breakdown of the week:
* Monday = search #ManicMonday for DOLLAR DEALS
* Tuesday = search #Two4Tuesday for HALF PRICED DEALS
* Wednesday = search #WildWednesday for FLASH FREEBIES
*  Thursday = search #ThankfulThursday for DISCOUNTED BUNDLES

Here are the dollar deals  Kelie and I have in store for you on Monday, August 9th:


We hope you take a minute to CLICK TO ENTER the Rafflecopter BELOW for the $50 gift card give away, too! This time their will be SIXTEEN WINNERS!! Yes, 16! Enter by the evening of Friday, August 12th. Good luck!!


Tuesday 2 August 2016

Winner Wednesday- Vocabulary Poster Bundle



Did you have a chance to score some great deals at the Back to School sale through Teachers Pay Teachers? I know we filled our carts up with some goodies!  If you didn't stock up on as much as you wanted to, today we are going to give you the chance to WIN one of our Math Vocabulary Bundles.

At one time, I used to believe that math was just about learning how to manipulate numbers to get the correct answer. Was I right? Not so much...

Math has its own unique language, and teaching that language is so important to students' success in math.

Here are the top reasons why we think teaching math vocabulary is so important:
1. Students need to understand the math problems they encounter before they can solve them. What will help your students to understand the problems? Knowing the key terms for the skills they are learning will certainly help them.

2. At some point we will all have the experience of teaching students who are learning English as a second language.  Each year I have 1/3 to 1/2 of my class that fit into this category.  These students especially need access to quality vocabulary instruction because many of these terms will be completely new to them.

3. By teaching our students the meaning of math terms, we are giving them the opportunity to be able to discuss math in a meaningful way. You will be amazed at the types of conversations you will hear coming from your kiddos once they know how to use math vocabulary.

And now on to the fun part!  What can you win from us today?  You can win your choice of a years worth of vocabulary posters to help with your vocabulary instruction.  These posters are made with your students in mind- kid friendly definitions and bright fun graphics to help explain the terms.  As an added bonus they make a beautiful bulletin board display.


Enter the Rafflecopter below to win one of these fabulous vocabulary poster bundles (Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 3rd Grade, or 4th Grade available):






A closer look....


Click below to visit other Winner Wednesday teacher blog  posts and enter to win their giveaways, too! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway