Groundhog Day Songs FREEBIE

It's almost Groundhog Day!  I've put together some cute Groundhog Day songs I've enjoyed teaching my students over the years and wanted to share them with you.  Each song is in color and black/white.  I figured you can use the color versions for projecting on an interactive whiteboard and the black/white versions for students to have their own copy.  Click on the picture below to grab them! Thanks for stopping by!!!

Getting Organized!

Organizing the Home Office

I love organization, but when it comes to my desk I'm not always great at keeping it up.  My desk at home needed some major help.  I had the old desk since I was in HIGH SCHOOL! <gasp>  At the time I'm sure I thought it was great, but 14 years after high school.....not so much not at all.  I've kept the desk in our spare bedroom where, thankfully, no one really had to see it.  But then we had our daughter and the spare bedroom became a nursery.  That meant that the desk had to come out into the open(our living room), no longer hidden from society.  I put off getting a new desk for a loooooong time.  Why?  Mostly because I didn't feel like spending the money on a new one when the old one was still functional - although incredibly small and ugly.   I HATED looking at that thing, and then my daughter discovered the cords that were crudely exposed behind/under it (nightmare!).  So, happy Black Friday to me - I got a NEW desk!!!! I found a good deal online and I'm very happy with my purchase.  It has lots of space and storage - just what I needed!

Organizing for Tpt/TN, Blog, and Life

Another organizational purchase I made recently was this Erin Condren Take Note! Notebook.  It is PERFECT for what I need.  I got it with a calendar and I'm using it to keep track of all of my project ideas for Tpt/TN, blogging, and of course family stuff.  After I've used it for a couple of months I will be giving it a review here on my blog and let you know how it's working for me.  I love looking at it. Can you guess why? ;)

Organizing for the Classroom

Binder cover from Under the Apple Tree.  Page inside the binder from Made for 1st Grade. 

Something that I did last year for my classroom was make these binders for each month.  I keep most of the seasonal things I use in them.  While I still keep a lot of things in a file cabinet, these binders have been a handy addition for keeping organized.  I found most of the binders I use on clearance at Walmart after their back to school sales.  Aren't the covers cute?!

Head on over to Blog Hoppin and see how other teacher bloggers are organizing for the new year.  Happy organizing!

Let's Teach Turkey!!!

It's turkey time folks!  Every November I have done at least a little something with my students on turkeys. This year I created a nonfiction turkey unit!  It comes with an All About Turkeys informational text, close reading questions/activities and extended activities(CCSS aligned).  Click on the picture for a closer look.

So much to do and so little time.  Hope you are having a great week! 

How to Print Full Scale in PowerPoint

Are you wanting to print something in PowerPoint, but it doesn't seem to print full size?  Angry at that pesky white border? Here is the solution!  I had a customer ask how to do this and wanted to share with everyone.

Go to File, Print.  Then follow these steps:

First, select the slides you want to print.  

Then select 'Scale to fit paper'.  Now you are ready to print! 

By the way, did you know you don't HAVE to print in color?  I save on ink by printing mostly in grayscale.  Just select 'Grayscale' from the drop down menu (shown above).

I hope these tips help you out!  Happy printing!

Fall & a Flash SALE

Wow! Congrats to Tpt for reaching 100K Facebook followers!  I'm joining in on the celebration and everything in my Tpt store is on sale through 10/14.  I've been busy adding new products lately and I hope you check them out!  Here are a few products you may be interested in this time of year.  I love what buyers are saying about them! Click on each picture to see the details.

Don't forget the sale ends Monday 10/14 at midnight!  

Johnny Appleseed & Apple FUN!

September 26 is Johnny Appleseed Day!  Every year I do some thematic teaching about apples and Johnny Appleseed.  I do some in September because September=apples right? I also do apples when we get to the Johnny Appleseed story in our anthology books later in the year. There are so many things you can do with apples!  Here are some pics from an 'Our Favorite Apple' graphing activity we did last year.

For this activity we used red, green and yellow apples.  

That handy dandy contraption is the best! Why did I ever try to slice apples without it?

Students getting their apples for the big taste test!  Then they got to vote for their favorite apple.   We recorded, graphed and discussed our apple data. 

I took a picture of each student wearing a Johnny Appleseed hat while holding their favorite apple.  The idea for this picture was something I found on Pinterest last year.  (I don't remember where it came from but if you know please comment so I can add the link.)  The poster this little Johnny is standing in front of is one I made for vocabulary in our anthology story about Johnny Appleseed. 

I ended up having a few extra apples left over so I turned them into "Golden Apple Awards".  Boy oh boy did the students want those apples!  It was a great motivator for everything that day :)  If you're interested in the "Our Favorite Apple" activity I included it in my latest unit Johnny Appleseed & Apple FUN!  It includes fun writing, math and science activities.  Take a closer look below.

  

Click on the pictures to check it out in my Tpt store.  Have a great weekend!

Classroom Management - with Honey

I remember in college taking my classroom management class.  My professor said "This is the most important class you will take to become a teacher."  I don't know if I believed him then, but I sure do now!  It would be impossible for me and my students to be successful in the classroom without good classroom management.  As with everything in my classroom, my management has changed over the years as I try new things and try to perfect the art.  When I think of classroom management, this comes to mind:

Over the years I've  gotten compliments on how my classroom "feels" when people come  in to observe students learning. I'm a calm person by nature, and very organized.  I believe that teachers really control that "energy" in the classroom.  Students look to you -the teacher- for how to behave.  It is our job to teach them how we want them to behave in our classroom.  I've learned that means being absolutely EXPLICIT with EXACTLY what you want them to do.  You start teaching students these things the MOMENT you first meet them.  Teaching routines and procedures has a direct correlation to classroom behavior.  When students know what to do and what to expect, things will run much more smoothly.  Here are a few routines and procedures that I didn't realize I'd need to teach until I got my own classroom.

How to hang up your backpack/sweaters/lunchboxes (your mom doesn't work here kids!)

How to clean your table/desk (shoving everything to the back of the desk is NOT cleaning it!)

How to wash your hands (without getting water ALL over the floor)

You have to teach those kids EVERYTHING.  Students may have done these things before, but they don't know how YOU want them to do it.  So teach them!  There are so many little things they need to learn.   Some of those things may take a while, or need to be retaught throughout the year.  

Example: How to line up to leave the room.  There is that moment every year when I realize I need to tighten the reigns again.  I dismiss students to line up for recess, and instead of the normal stand up, push in chairs, walking with normal chatter line up... there is a WILD stampede of six year olds knocking over a chair in their rush to get in line. The line looks like a heard of cats and the noise level reaches epic proportions.  (Tell me this doesn't happen to just me???) I stand there and think "What in the world just happened?!?!?!"  Solution - Operation Reteach and it goes like this: "Everyone go sit down...boys and girls that is not the way we line up for recess.  Raise your hand if you can tell me how we line up.  ( I call on a few students who give me the normal responses - no running, quiet, etc) Thank you, now I'm going to pick a table who can show the rest of the class how we line up.  Red table is showing me they are ready. Red table when I say go I want you to stand up, push in your chairs, walk to the line with your hands behind your back and your voices off... Go. (Red table successfully lines up) Thank you red table, I like the way you pushed in your chairs, walked to the line, had your hands behind your back and your voices were off. (Then I proceed to call the other tables to the line) Thank you boys and girls, I expect that the next time we line up it will look exactly like this. This time you did a great job."  Explicit teaching, modeling, and positive reinforcement.  No routine or procedure is ever too small to teach.  Some of the best teaching advice I ever got was "Assume they know nothing." :)

Praise - When I was student teaching, my mentor teacher had me constantly practice praising the students so that it would become a habit - now it is!  I remember writing "Praise" on a sticky note to help me remember to do so throughout my lessons.  When I use it in my classroom it sounds like this: 

"I like the way you..."

"Thank you for......"

"I see that you are....."

  

To help keep behavior in check with a behavior management system,  here are a few things I've tried that have been successful.

1. Class Dojo - You can read more about how I use this in this previous post.
2. Table Points
3. Prize Box

4. Class marble jar

I hope sharing these ideas and experiences help someone out there "Tame the Wild".  If you are struggling with classroom management remember that no one is perfect, and tomorrow is a new day!