TPT Sale and a TON of Freebies!

It's Back to School time and I've been a shopping mama... taking my kiddos to buy school supplies, new shoes, clothes and all those things they "think" they need.  I found some AWESOME sales today and my kids are all revved up for school! Now that I got my kids all ready for school ~ I'm so HAPPY I get to "back to school" shop tomorrow at TPT!  {I have lots of items on my wishlist and tomorrow is my chance to get some goodies!} They are having a super duper sale.  Not only do you get 20% off but use the TPT promo code BTS12 and you get another 10% off! Most stores are participating... including me - but you can always check out all the fabulous teachers who are participating over at Blog Hoppin'.

Thanks to Amy Lemons for creating this CUTE image! 

Even though we don't start school for another week ~ I've been working in my classroom so that I can have several days to rest before my students show up and prepare lesson plans and all those last little things that just HAVE to get done {like pinterest inspired projects I really really want to do - SHHH}! 

[WARNING:  The following post is LONG ~ I got a little carried away but there are many freebies throughout.]

One of the first things I'd like to share with you is how I turned an UGLY green chalkboard into a whiteboard for only $13!  I was going to try and use the white board paint but it was $30 and you still had to prime the chalkboard first!  UGH!  Too expensive and too messy!  So I found some shower board (I've heard many bloggers talk about how they have cut it to make small white boards for their class).  It comes in sheets of 4 ft by 8 ft - so I took my measurement and had them cut it to fit!  YAY!  Instant whiteboard.  How to attach it???? I thought about using liquid nails - but worried if it ever had to be taken down it would absolutely ruin the chalkboard.  So - I put magnets on the back (since the chalkboard is magnetic and slid it underneath the metal track by lifting the screws and then tightening them.)  I have to give credit to my dad for doing this for me.  He's such a handy dandy guy!

 But wait... this is the before picture.  

Here is the after picture!

I love how the border filled in those tiny gaps where you could still see the green chalkboard - PLUS I put up my scoreboard in preparation of using some Whole Brain Teaching strategies!  If you want my Happy/Frowney Face - You can download them HERE. 

I've done ALOT {like a TON} of labeling this year.  I've had these baskets for years full of read aloud books that I use during my mini-lessons for Reader's and Writer's Workshop but just never took the time to label them.  Well friends ~ I FINALLY made some labels!

I also keep a basket of my favorite read alouds and science read alouds nearby.  Here is a close up of one of these labels:

I tied these labels on my baskets with some cute ribbon... I think they turned out a wee bit cutey patootey!  If you would like them ~ you can download them HERE! 

Even though I plan to implement whole brain teaching this year, I am still using my clip chart as I get more familiar with whole brain teaching practices.  I started out with a HUGE owl but decided real quick I just didn't dig him.  He was too big and made it difficult for the clothespins to attach to the chart.  I ended up with this idea and I am completely in LOVE with it!

I hot glued a "branch" I made out of construction paper to the top of the bulletin board, then used ribbon between each piece of the chart and finally hot glued the ribbon at the top to make it look like it is hanging from the branch.  Here is a close-up view:

I am so excited about implementing a new behavior reward system. {NO MORE TREASURE BOX... NO MORE CANDY!!}  Not that I am against those things - I just about go broke trying to keep the box and the jar stocked!  Plus, last year I had a kiddo with diabetes - so I did away with my candy jar last year and I realized that the kids didn't miss it at all!  Then on those special days when they did get a treat it was REALLY extra special! 

This year I am going to use "Warm Fuzzies" as my rewards.  This by no means is my idea... I've adapted this from Mel D. over at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations! 

She has an awesome presentation that explains her behavior management plan in depth as well as freebies for all the behavior coupons that go along with this system. 

I have decided that depending on the color that a student ends on for the day they will earn "Warm Fuzzies". What is a "Warm Fuzzy" you ask?  They are just regular {or fancy} pom poms.

Here's what my bucket looks like on the inside.

So if a student ends up on green for the day - they have earned 1 warm fuzzy.  If they got to move their clip up to blue... 2 warm fuzzies.  If they were Outstanding... then they've earned 3 warm fuzzies.  However, if they end up on yellow {warning} for the day - they do not get a fuzzy.  If they end up on orange {consequence} for the day - then they OWE me a warm fuzzy.  If they end up on red for the day {parent contact} they will owe me 2 warm fuzzies!  Heaven forbid!

But if they get OFF THE CHART - when they are better than outstanding... which is a RARE occasion  - they get a GLITTER FUZZY!  {WHOA - Stop the world!}
These are worth 5 {YES I SAID FIVE} warm fuzzies!

Just take a look at these beauties!

They will put their warm fuzzies in a paint cup labeled with their student number... I didn't take a picture of the cups but I think you might be able to see them inside their book baskets in their cubbies in this picture.

But what is all the fuss about fuzzies?  Every 2 weeks my students will get to shop for reward coupons.  Each coupon is worth 5 warm fuzzies.  {Hopefully an incentive to earn a fuzzy a day by at least staying on green}.  These coupons I printed on cardstock {I got them from Mel D} laminated them and put them in a craft box to keep them organized.  These coupons are things like - sit by a friend, 15 minutes computer time,  kick your shoes off in the classroom, bring a stuffed animal to school, read a book to the class, etc.  There are so many more and they cost me NOTHING!  But the kids go crazy over these kind of rewards!  I'm so excited about this idea and will keep you posted how this new system works out.  OH and if you liked those cute Warm Fuzzy and Glitter Fuzzy Labels - you can download them HERE!

Do you do the Daily 5 and Cafe?  We changed CAFE to FACE so that our first graders would relate a little better to the concept "the face of a reader".  I redid my board this year {Yep - you guessed it - OWLS}!

What I am super excited about this year is that all of my strategy cards have been redone, match the color owl on my FACE posters AND {wait for it} have the CCSS on the card! Give me a 10 finger WOO everybody! LOL

Take a look at what I mean:

The purple owl is on all of the fluency cards, outlined in purple and if you look very carefully the CCSS {and there are sometimes more than one} listed on the strategy card by the owl.

Here is how I have mine organized:

I said there was gonna be a TON of freebies... so if you've made it this far in this post - Here you go!

You can find my FACE posters AND all of my strategy cards with the CCSS {FOR FIRST GRADE} HERE!

Do you do a "Star of the Week"?  This year since I have kinda drifted away from camping but still have that outdoorsy forest feel... I decided to go with "Ranger of the Week".  I ran out of room on my walls so put our display on the inside of our classroom door.

I found the cutest little polka dot rug and some owl pillows - I will probably regret it but they were impulse buys - you know - just too cute too pass up!  

I know there are not many Saxon users out there - but we use Saxon Math - and I just HAD to get rid of all that YELLOW for our calendar wall.  So I cut around each piece and made labels to put above each concept area on our wall.  I don't mind it as much anymore. :)

If anyone does Saxon and would like my labels - just email me and I will send them to you.
WHEW!  I told you it would be a long post... I hope I didn't bore you.

Don't forget about the "Back to School Sale" at TPT tomorrow and Monday.  I know I will be shopping!  Oh and don't forget tomorrow is the last day to enter my giveaway for Deedee Wills Writing Work Stations The Complete Set and my Everything OWLS Classroom Bundle!  There will be 4 winners that will receive both items.  I will announce the winners on Monday, August 13th!  

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"OWL" See ya later!

OWL-Standing Behavior Chart!

Hi ya'll! (My family and I are back from vacation from Tennessee!) We had the best time!  I can't believe that summer will soon be coming to a close... the stores already are stocking up with back to school supplies and I actually made my first trip to my classroom to take a look around.  

Even though I only did a bit of furniture arranging and cleaning - I had time to put together an idea that I've had for a while to see if it would work.  This year I thought I would use an owl behavior chart.  I put together a large owl but after I got it done realized I didn't bring my poster printouts to attach to him!  Ugh!

So I took a picture of my owl and then placed photos of my charts on him to see how it will look eventually.  I'm asking everyone to VISUALIZE here... so hopefully you get the idea.  

I think he will eventually look pretty cute... I still have to add a little detail and laminate him but I think he will work out perfectly.  I am loving my new charts.  However, I could not decide between polka dotted owls and solid owls so I made charts using both.  Here is a close up!

As you can see, I included Purple and Pink as color choices for Outstanding.  With my last behavior chart, I had many requests to change it to purple - so I made charts using both colors.  If you would like to see a better preview you can check it out at my TPT store or click on the pictures above.  

On another note, does anyone out there use Whole Brain Teaching?  A bunch of teachers from our school went to a session recently and I am excited about using some of these methods.  I would love to hear your thoughts about WBT and results if you've used it in your classroom.  At the end of the year I began using the class-yes and liked it. I'm a little iffy on the scoreboard, mirror, class-teach stuff.  I have been watching videos and reading more about how WBT works in the classroom.  I would love to hear thoughts and experiences!   

Editable Version - Behavior Chart Log

I have never uploaded a word document to google docs, so this will be my first try.  I hope it works but if it doesn't please let me know and I will email the word document to you.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed:

Click HERE to download the word document from google docs.  It will look a little different since I took the border off and converted all the font to Comic Sans so it would upload correctly.  You can cutesy it up the way you want. Enjoy!

Behavior Chart Communication Form - Freebie

I've had a few questions about how I communicate with my parents about what color my students end on.  I like to use these to stamp the color on their chart:

All of these colors correlate with my chart except purple... I needed pink!  So I found these:

Not only does it have pink, but they are "shimmery".  There is a silver stamp included - which will be perfect to use for my tree topper (top of the chart).  I haven't had anyone make it there yet, but they are working for it!

I originally used a calendar, but parents had questions about what the colors meant and/or if a student ended the day on yellow or orange they wanted to know the offense.  It is hard at the end of the day to write down on multiple calendars what rule was not followed.  So I made up this form that allows me to stamp the color for behavior and quickly write a number that correlates with a behavior offense.  Take a look:

Click on the picture to download the file.  If you are using the same colors on your chart - this may work for you.  If you would like the editable version, please let me know and I will either upload it or send it to you via email. At the end of 2 weeks, I take out this form and put a new log into my students' binders.  I will keep the forms in a file so that if there are ever any questions or concerns about a child's behavior, I can easily go back and see what type of behaviors occurred and how often. I thought I would share the form just in case someone out there could use it.

I missed my kiddos today.  I spent the day out of the classroom in a Science Data Team Meeting.  Looking forward to seeing my firsties tomorrow.

Have a great night!



TREE-Mendous Behavior

Last year I began using the clip chart system that allowed students to be recognized for positive behavior (not just negative).  Wow!  I LOVED the new system and negative behaviors could be modified just by noticing a student doing a great job and then that child was recognized for the positive behavior they were displaying. It was a win-win! Last year I made my chart out of construction paper and it wasn't anything fancy but it worked.  This year I wanted to create something to go along with my classroom theme and I began looking at all the little forest animals I could use for my chart.  It took me a while to think of exactly what I wanted it to say to go along with each animal.  Here is how it turned out:

I haven't written the names of my students on the clothespins yet, but it is hanging up and ready.  In addition to the top level of Outstanding - I decided that students will be working toward TREE-Mendous behavior so if they get to "clip up" on outstanding I will move their clothespin to the top of the tree.  Here is a close up of the chart.

I love the fact I can use the OWL in the middle for Ready to Learn.... he is ready for some knOWLedge.  And haven't we all had some squirrels in our classroom?  Check out the squirrel - he needs a reminder of the rules.  If the behavior leads to a consequence - which I feel should be determined by the teacher.  The student may lose part of recess, removed from a group activity, receive a time out... I feel like many times it depends on the circumstances.  So the consequence is a skunk - We don't want any stinkers in our classroom. HA!  Finally if a behavior warrants parental contact or a discipline referral I used the bear laying down and I believe sometimes we need to talk about the behavior, what we can do to change it - so that students can get "back on track".  The fox is displaying PAWSitive behavior for great job and the moose is "The head of the herd" for demonstrating outstanding behavior.  Here is the Chart Sign I placed on my tree.

If any of you out there would like this chart, I added it to my TpT store along with a couple of behavior logs that correlate with the chart.  I've included directions on how to make the chart into a tree also. I love using the textured backgrounds and I've found that in a pdf file they do not always print correctly.  They will print sort of scrambled.  After searching the internet for an answer, I found that if you go into print, then click on advanced and check the box for "Print as Image" it will print fine.  Has anyone else had this problem?  Is there another fix to this?  Please help if you know, because I am lacking in some technical skills.  Thanks in advance and I hope you like it!