Back To School Projects

I don't know about y'all but the end of summer is sneaking up on me! I find myself so wrapped up in what I need to to prepare for the beginning of the year that I am forgetting it's *still summer*. So I am trying to slow down just a bit! I wanted to share a few projects that I've been working on...and then I'm headed to the pool ;)

My wonderful husband offered (haha) to *help* or completely make this cute bench! First, he used left over wood to make a bench frame! 

Next, he painted the frame an off white color. 

Then, we went to the local craft store and purchased fabric and a cushion! With my teacher discount, I only spent $21!!! 

 He placed the foam on top of the board and secured it with a tad bit of contracting glue. Then he wrapped the fabric around the board and began to staple it (using a man's stapler haha).

This is the finished project! A side from letting the paint dry, it only took about 45 minutes! My husband is amazing and I can't wait to put this cute bench in my classroom! He measured it out so my fabric bins could fit right underneath it!! 

My next project has been trying to get myself completely organized for the new school year! Last year one thing that I struggled with is sending grades home after each check point. I added these forms to my Classroom Forms packet. 

I created a check point sign off sheet for each subject. This way, I have data that my parents saw their child's grades! I use these little forms for assessments at the end of a skill. I've created several versions of this form to fit your needs. The one pictured is sorted by SOL. These are the standards we use here in VA.   I use these check point folders to send home to parents to notify them of the grade their child made. This helps with my documentation because parents have to sign next to each score for their child. This way, if a parent ever claims "they didn't know" their child was performing poorly, I have documentation protecting me :)  I attach the forms in my packet to a file folder for each student, then I record their score, and send it home. The child returns the folder to me with a parent signature next to the score :)If you've already purchased Classroom-Forms-and-Binder-Mega-Packet-, just visit my purchases to receive the update!

What new ideas are you working for the new school year??

Summer Giveaway

This week I read an article discussing how *some* teachers receive $400.00 to purchase their classroom supplies. I thought, *WOW*, I wish I received THAT much. But in hindsight, $400.00 is A LOT of money, but do you think it's enough to cover a YEAR of items for your classroom? I'm not sure about that!We all spend SO much of our own money year after year. I am thankful for TpT though. Because now I can purchase resources and they are always just a click away, year after year. If a center gets messed up, I can just reprint it! 

My sweet friends and I decided that our fellow teachers deserved more than what we get. We thought a little giveaway from our store might help ease the burden. We all appreciate you so much and understand that most of your purchases come right out of your own pocket!

Enter Below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spicing Up The End Of The School Year

Hey friends! I wanted to take a minute to chat about our last few weeks! The last two weeks, we've done Cara Carroll's Camping Unit! My kids LOVED this unit. I actually didn't even get to my favorite part--the skunk creativity! I wanted to take this time to review all our writing traits that we've learned this year. 

We made these adorable little camping books! My kids LOVED doing this. It was a win-win because I gave them several prompts and they just had to pick three to include in their books! You can get your free copy here

 I left a few pages blank so that you can use this product to fit your classroom needs better :) 

To spice up our guided math centers-- I whipped up these easy bottle cap math mats. I used different colors for odd and even numbers for spiral review. I have the students draw their math sentences in their journals and write a sentence telling me which numbers are even and odd.

Click HERE for your guided math freebie!

What are some ways you spice up the end of the year??

Guided Math: Word Problems and Spiral Review

The end is near friends! We have about 15 days of school left! I'm currently in that review status..but I wanted to talk a little bit about guided math and the benefits.

We have benchmarks twice a year. Our first one was in the fall (pre-guided math). My kiddos did not do well at all! It was very sad. I hadn't yet started my "guided math". In fact, I'd only had the kiddos for about two weeks (remember, I started in November). But I still hated seeing them struggle so much. So around Christmas, I implemented a full guided math program. 

I have five or six stations: technology, math literacy, manipulatives, spiral review, puzzles and hands on centers are just a few of the staples I use. 

 For one of my spiral review centers, I used my data to decide which centers my kiddos needed more of. I went with word problems. This is an area that my kiddos struggle with consistently.  What I loved, is that my kiddos were reading and doing math at the same time! I love being about to combine the two subjects! You get more bang for your buck that way! My kiddos loved using my word problem cards in guided math!

These cards are a great tool any time of the year! I'm working on a second set that I intend on sending home for summer review :)

Lego Birthday Party

This post is so NOT teaching related  but I have to share! My little guy (who is really not that little anymore ) wanted a Lego Movie themed birthday party! I thought that shouldn't be too hard considering Legos are all the rage these days...well I was WRONG! I had SUCH a hard time finding "Lego Movie" things! So thanks to Pinterest  and Etsy I was able to pull it off! My printables came from E &L Designs! They did SUCH a great job! And included a LOT of printables! I was able to print everything I needed! 

My little guy and his friends all LOVED it! My husband even joined in on the "Pinterest Fun" creating a "Lego Toss" game! 

He used a foam presentation board and just cut the circles out. My favorite part was that he hot glued Legos (Duplo Size) together to create six different pieces for the kids to toss. They loved it! 

It was a simple and easy game to create. He also hot glued the sides to be sure they would stand up :) 

My sister is known for amazing cakes. She said this wasn't her best "work" and that it's my fault because I bought the wrong materials...haha! Seeing as I called her FROM the cake isle, I will hardly take the blame haha!! But they were delicious none the less! I always wanted to be the mom that had all the homemade treats--execpt--I'm the world's WORST baker! I mean it! I stink at it!!! So my little sister has made just about every birthday cake for my children! She is amazing! She comes to where ever we are just to essentially bake a cake...and be there for the celebration of course!! 

My neighbor made the fabulous cake pops! I just printed the labels from  E & L Designs

These were SO easy! Construction paper, circles and Lego stickers! Boom! Cheap and EASY Decorations! 

Not the best pictures--my camera went wacky on me :) But you get the idea! Lego candy was a HUGE HIT!! 

My next favorite thing was the  Homemade PHOTO BOOTH! I'm totally taking this to school to use for parties and fun Friday!! 

I can't explain this picture. But it sure is funny!

He refused to take a normal picture haha!! I loved my "Lego Movie" Shirt find at Target! 

All and All--it was a blast! Had a great time with family and friends!! 

Science Giveaway!

Hey Friends! I'm wrapping up my Spring Break and thought I'd run a little giveaway! I can't wait to tell you all about my crazy little vacay but in the meantime..I've added a few new products to my little shop! I figured I'd give some away!

First....

                                                     

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spring is HERE

Hey Friends! Spring is FINALLY here! I mean it! I was starting to worry if the planet wasn't trying to SKIP Spring! Not sure about where you are, but here it's been so COLD! So OVER the cold weather and ready for the SuNsHiNe!!!

 So that means I am in the countdown mode--you know, counting down until Spring BREAK!!! 

This break is going to be one for the books. I'm trying to plan as LITTLE as possible! Haha! Yeah right! I  wish ;) I *think* the kiddos are just as restless as we are! 

So one of my colleagues from my very first teaching job has been sending me  goodies! She cleaned out her attic and is sending some my way. This gal is amazing, I used to try to convince her to blog because she is just FULL of ideas! I tell people, "If I'm half the teacher she is, I'll be doing good!" 

One classroom management idea she sent me for April is SO simple. And my kids are LOVING it! She sent a basket full of eggs. Inside the eggs are little "rewards". Throughout the day, if you catch the kids being good, you let them write their name on the slip of paper. At the end of the day, you call a few names out. They get to pick the egg. You would think twenty dollar bills were in those eggs! My kiddos are in love with this and are so excited to see who is going to "get an egg". The rewards are so simple. The funny thing about this is, these are all rewards that we probably do already! The egg factor just makes it so much better...hey, it's making the week before spring break FLY by! 

Click HERE for your freebie!

I hope this little freebie helps you out! 

In math, we have three weeks of graphs! I've had to lend on my blogging friends and TpT for some amazing resources to get me through!

First, I used my Graphs Mini Book to introduce graphs. This book discusses the different types of graphs and how we use them in everyday life!

 Talley O'Malley! My kids LOVED this book! We also read The Great Graph Contest! 

Once I introduced all the vocabulary and we reviewed each type of graph, we made our own! We used my sweet friend Anna's  Just Graph It unit. 

A new tip I've started is letting the kids do the writing on our anchor charts. They aren't as pretty as the teacher made ones, but I feel like it helps them retain more information. 

Tomorrow, we are graphing our favorite types of ice cream! Yum! How fun!