Schedule Cards Camping Theme

Yippee!  One more thing crossed off my list of things to do for the first day of school....my new schedule cards for this year's theme! I used 3 different backgrounds (camouflage, stripes, and stars).  I've got 52 cards in all.  I don't use all of them by any means, but I wanted to put them in my TPT store so I tried to add extra ones that I thought other teachers might like.  I hope you like them!

 

I'm very excited about how great these are going to look up on my assignment board!  To purchase these check out my TeachersPayTeachers store!

 

 

Mini Chart Stand

How many anchor charts do you have hanging on walls, on chart stands, or rolled up somewhere in your classroom?  Well, if you're anything like me the number is high!  Last year I made smaller versions of my charts by either redoing the anchor chart on my computer (or sometimes by hand) or taking pictures of the original chart.  Then I'd shrink it down a bit, print it, and put it in 8 X 10 magnetic picture frames I had that looked something like this...

 

 

 

That worked out ok, but they were a little time consuming to slide in the frames, I only had so many frames, and I was limited on  how many magnetic surfaces I had to put them on.  Not to mention, students weren't very independent using them because they weren't really set up for that. 

 

Like many of you, I find Pinterest is my best friend!  While wasting time on perusing Pinterest, I came across several little mini chart stands.  I made a few design changes, and thought I my husband can make those!  So this summer my husband cut some PVC pipe for me, and I made a bunch of mini chart stands, one of which has already been hijacked by one of my teacher friends for her classroom! The stand holds 8 1/2 by 11" paper horizontally or vertically.  I use a 3 hole paper punch to be sure that the holes are the same distance apart on all charts.

 

I plan on having more than one chart stand around the room that my students can use.  I'm thinking at least one for science, math, English, and reading.  I am thinking of painting them (or using washi tape) to coordinate with the colors we use for each subject so they can easily remember which stand to go and look at when they have a question!

 

If you want to purchase one of these for yourself, you can visit my TPT store by clicking here.

 

 

Or if you want to make one on your own...I used:

5 - 12" long

4 - 3" long

6 - elbows

2 - tees

Winter Treat Bags - Bag Topper

YAY!  I finally finished my winter treat bags and they came out super cute if I do say so myself!

 

I have different versions of these toppers for sale, and even some for FREE!!  Keep reading to find the freebie!  The Winter Treats, some are shown above, can be found on Etsy or TPT. 

 

Clean Desk Snowman

 

 

 

 

For the most part my students keep their desks neat and tidy, but there's always a little room for improvement. During each month I like to have a clean desk "friend" stop by to help us keep our desks clean.  I had a Clean Desk Turkey in November and Clean Desk Reindeer in December.  During the different times my students are out of the room, our Clean Desk friends stop by and find a desk or two to leave a little note on. Once they get a note, they leave it on their desks. At the end of the week our Clean Desk friend leaves a little treat bag for anyone who has a note on their desk. I don't do these every week, just about once a month. However, since implementing this students have gotten into the habit of keeping their desks clean the majority of the time. Their desks typically look nice and neat and they tend to put things away when they are done using them. I used to take time each month to have everyone pull their things out of their desks, organize, and discard, etc. but now I don't have to! It's win-win! I don't always give food treats. I often give coupons, little erasers, whatever I think will keep them interested :D My goal is that EVERY student gets a treat every time we do it, and so when we get to the end of the week if there is someone who I don't think is going to earn one I might say something like, "The Clean Desk Snowman mentioned earlier that he notice a couple of desks that had random paper in them instead of paper being in folders." This helps those students pinpoint what they need to do to earn their note.  FREEBIE ALERT!!! The Clean Desk Snowman can also be found on TPT, but it's FREE!! 

 

Snowman Soup

 

 

Oh, no!  Mr. Snowman has melted!!  I also did some bag toppers for snowman soup!   You can fill with just marshmallows, white jelly beans, etc. or fill with marshmallows, pretzels (snowman's arms), Junior Mint (snowman's hat), candy corn (snowman's nose), M&M's (snowman's buttons), chocolate chips (eyes and mouth), etc.  You can find this one on Etsy.

 

I hope you enjoy your freebie :D  Happy teaching!

 

Clean Desk Reindeer

At Thanksgiving I posted about the Clean Desk Turkey....well, apparently the Clean Desk Reindeer was a LITTLE bit busier than the Turkey because he didn't leave notes this time, just treats at the end of the week!  This is definitely not the best picture ever, but you can mostly see 8 brown reindeer noses (Whoopers) and 1 red reindeer nose (Jelly Belly cheery thingy).  You could fill the bags with anything....M&Ms, Hershey kisses, stickers or mini erasers (if you aren't allowed to do food)....you get the idea!

 

FREEBIE ALERT: To download the bag toppers, click HERE! 
If you want step-by-step directions how to make the bags,

see my Thanksgiving post by clicking HERE!

What will my next treat bags be you ask? 

Why I do believe we'll be having a Clean Desk Snowman visit our classroom!  And of course, we'll have some other snowman treats, too!  Stay tuned!

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

Thanksgiving Time

It's Thanksgiving time...by far my favorite holiday of the year!  There's no gift exchanging, no stress....just quality time spent with those you love, being thankful for everything you have...and did I mention there might be some yummy food, too?! 

This year in my classroom I had some fun with the "Clean Desk Turkey".  For the most part my students keep their desks neat and tidy, but there's always a little room for improvement.  For about a week before Thanksgiving, every time my students went some place the Clean Desk Turkey stopped by and found a desk or two to leave a little note on.  It looked like this:

 

FREEBIE ALERT!!! 
To get a sheet of the Clean Desk Turkeys....
just click on the picture above!

I told them that the Clean Desk Turkey wanted me to be sure to tell them to leave the note on their desks.  They wanted to know why....I acted all mysterious and said I didn't know why.  Before I knew it desks were looking nice and neat.  Things were put away when they were done using them...it was great!  By the end of the week most everyone in the class had little notes on their desks.  We had school the Monday and Tuesday before break, and by the end of Tuesday everyone ended up having tidy desks and a note on their desk.  We have PE last thing in the day, so while they were gone, the Clean Desk Turkey visited and left them little treats.  They looked like this:

I use these treat bags frequently for different things...for my own children's teachers, for my own children's classmates, my students, my co-workers, my husband's employees...just about anyone!  I love them because you can vary the size of the bag, just by stapling them lower or higher!  Here's how to make them:

The first trick is to get bags that can close.  I actually get mine in the jewelry department at our local craft shop.  My favorite size are 3" X 4", but any size will work.  I think I pay about $3.50 for 100 bags.

 



Then I simply staple my bag topper on the opposite end of the zipper closure.  By doing this I can get them all ready to go ahead of time and then just fill them a day or two before I want to hand them out.

 
In the next two pictures you can see how by changing where I staple them I can make the filling area bigger or smaller....(in case it's hard to tell - the first one is smaller, the second one is almost twice as big...same exact size bag!).

 

 
Here are some of the other treat bags I did this year for Thanksgiving.  I also have them for Halloween and Christmas...and plan on making ones for other Holidays as they come up, too!

 

To purchase these treat bag toppers, please
visit my TeachersPayTeachers store!

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

 

 

Homework Tickets and Reward Coupons

This year I've had a lot of students coming to school each day without their homework completed.  Now mind you, I don't actually give homework to my students.  The only thing they get for homework is any work that was assigned in class that they weren't able to complete during the school day. I can't explain why so many of them aren't getting their work completed in class, never mind as homework. I've never really had this problem with so many students in one year before.  I'm doing things the same, so clearly it's the students changing and not me.  Do you know what that means?  That it's time for ME to change, too!  Just because I've done something in my class for years, and it's worked for years, doesn't mean it's going to work for every class that comes through my doors.  Every class comes with its unique challenges, and apparently this year it's homework completion (and attendance -but don't even get me started on that one!)  So I did some brainstorming with my sweet hubby and have decided to reward those students who come to class with their homework done.  Each day when students come to class, if they have everything down that they should, they get a homework ticket.  They write their name on the back of the ticket, and drop it in our Homework Bucket.  You only get a ticket if you are completely current.  If you were absent and have makeup work, no ticket.  If you have corrections you haven't completed, no homework.  Basically nothing can be outstanding. Here's what the homework ticket looks like (you can click on the image to download the entire page of tickets).

 

At the end of each week I draw one ticket (sometimes more depending on what I think will work best for that week).  Whichever student gets their name drawn, gets to pick one of our classroom rewards.  I have lots and lots of reward coupons they can pick from.  Here's a small sample...if you'd like to see all of the coupons, I have them up on TeachersPayTeachers.  There are 35 individual rewards and 10 class rewards, plus some blank coupons, too.

 

 

 

Besides homework coupons, the other way to earn a reward coupon is to have your name drawn off our BINGO board.  Our BINGO board has 100 spots.  Once the board is filled we draw to see which student will earn a reward coupon of their choice. Students can get their name on the board for just about anything...showing kindness for another student, finding a vocabulary word in their independent reading books (and being able to define it or use it properly in a sentence), finding a spelling word in their independent reading books (and being able to spell it properly), dressing up for a spirit/color day, and lots more.  I look for reasons to let students sign their name on the board.  We pretty much fill a board every other week or so.  In addition to getting individual names on the board, they can also get 5's (because they're in the fifth grade) on the board.  The earn a 5 by being complimented by another adult in the building, getting 4 checks in PE (a classroom management system our PE teacher uses), working quietly when they are in small groups, etc.  Again, I look for reasons to let them put a 5 up on the board.  If a 5 is selected, then the entire class gets a reward.  Here are what some of the BINGO charts I've used look like...

 

 

 

 

Schedule Cards - Sports Theme

I'm so excited!  I finished my job cards a couple of days ago and last night I finished my matching schedule cards to put up on my assignment board.  I have plain ones that I *could* use, but I LOVE using ones that go with my theme!

Here's a picture of my space ones from two years ago that I bought from Teacher's Clubhouse...

 

And last year's ocean ones...which I was not at all happy with (not to mention they were difficult to read!)

 

 

And introducing....this year's SPORTS THEME...which I made all by myself!!

 

 

 

Now, I haven't seen them on my whiteboard yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to LOVE THEM!  To purchase these check out my TeachersPayTeachers store!

Classroom Jobs

I honestly don't know why this took me so long to complete!  First I had to figure out what jobs I wanted students doing in the classroom.  Then I had to figure out how to change those jobs into jobs with titles that were more sports oriented to go with this year's sports theme.  Next I had to figure out background paper, which I ended up making myself....first time I've done that, and hopefully one of the last!  Finally I had to write up the descriptions and put it all together.  It doesn't sound like much, but with 2 children, teaching college courses, and keeping up on my household chores it literally took me over a week to complete this silly thing!  Now of course I worked on other things, but STILL!!  I think they turned out pretty well....I still need to make the student name cards, but that should be fairly easy!  I've got the templates made for those and will just need to type in students' names!

Here's what a couple of the job cards look like:

 

And here are the cards that I'll use for the students.  On the first day of school, I'll let them pick which color, sport, and boy/girl they want for their own card.

  

Classroom Management - Turning in Homework

When I checked in on Facebook this morning, I saw that the Organized Classroom was hosting a freebie linky.  The freebie I decided to post today is a homework notice, which got me thinking...how do other people collect homework in an efficient manner?  Here's how I do it...

After I greet each student at the door, they are expected to go in the classroom and complete their morning routine.

 

You'll see that #2 on the list is to turn in their homework.  My students turn their homework into the top tray (black trays to the far right of the picture-sorry the picture is a little blurry).  Now, I don't typically assign homework, students usually only have to turn in any work they didn't complete from the day before.  Just the same, it is work that they took home to complete, so alas, it's homework.

 

 

Once the homework manager completes his/her assignment book (#6), and before they begin their morning work (#7), they collect the homework from the tray and put it in number order (each student is assigned a number which they write along with their name on everything they turn in).  If there is someone who hasn't turned their homework in, the homework manager checks in with that student and reminds them they need to either turn their homework in or complete a homework notice. 

 

 

Once the homework manager has an assignment or homework notice from every student, he/she takes a student list (stored by the trays) and puts a check or HN (homework notice) next to each student's name.  They then put a binder clip on the papers (with the student list on top), and puts the stack back in the homework tray.  I make sure to check in with those students who didn't turn their homework in while they are working on their morning work.  All of this happens within the first 15 minutes of our school day. 

 

I chose to post the Homework Notice that I use in my class as today's freebie because I have found it to be invaluable in helping to not only keep students accountable, but also keeping parents in the loop!  I teach fifth grade, so students can (and should) be more independent at this age (but not too independent they are after all still just 9, 10, and 11 year olds!) 

I hope you find it as helpful as I do!  To download my freebie, click on the image below.

I'd love for you to post a comment (or a link to your blog) describing your homework collection procedure!

If you are looking for more freebies then check out Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies by clicking on the image below.

Late Homework Form

Students in my class know that if for any reason they don’t turn their homework in, they need to turn in one of these forms in its place. If I can staple the form to the actual assignment, I do that. Otherwise, it gets stapled in their assignment book. This ensures that parents are aware when their child does not complete their homework. It also cuts down on excuses that are not completely accurate. In addition, I then have documentation if I ever need it as our district has a very strict late work policy! I love this form because students fill it out, not me! And parents love it because it keeps them informed! I hope you find it useful, too!

To download this freebie click here to go to my TeachersPayTeachers store.

I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to rate this freebie!

Happy teaching!
Kristine

Pinterest Projects

Ok...so, it's official, I'm addicted to Pinterest. I mean, really, who isn't?! So I'm going along pinning my little heart out...and I think to myself, "At some point I'm really going to have to do some of these, and not just sit here all day pinning!" So, I picked a couple of things I REALLY wanted to do and posted my list on Facebook - so now I have pressure to get them done, too, because all of my family and friends know that I'm setting out to accomplish these things!

Here's my list:
1-paint chip bookmarks (I'm going to stamp mine with something ocean to go along with my theme)

2-pirate cove reading area

3-ocean crate seat (to go in pirate cove) - this picture shows the seat upside down in the crate, so once I get mine done I'll post new pictures! I bought blue crates to go with my theme instead of the black.

4-dye clothespins (to later attach pushpins on to use in classroom!)

And I have to say, my progress was pretty good!
1-got paint chips, and have the rest of the supplies at home

2-no progress made here! My husband thinks it would be a good idea if we measured it out and all that silly nonsense first! Hmph! (I'll never admit it to him, but of course he's right!)

3-bought crates and wood (and had them cut to size!), need to get foam and fabric

4-bought clothespins and dye - Walmart only had a navy blue, so I got it to try it - but it was much darker than I wanted so I need to go get some lighter blue and some pretty green! However, it totally worked and I now have 15-20 navy blue clothespins waiting for thumbtacks to be put on the back of them. My classroom is paneling (insert gagging here!) so I plan on using them to push into the wall - whereever I want! to hold posters and whatever else comes to mind! I guess wood paneling is good for something sometimes! I have pictures of the clothespins, which I'll add at a later date, but they're still on the card in my camera, and I'm in a hotel room 200 or so miles from my house.