Vinyl- Made it Monday

I have had my silhouette cameo for over a year and am just now figuring out how to really use it. Man, was I missing out. Look at all the cute vinyl projects I made...

Found these tubs at Target summer item for 70% off. Knew I could use them somehow :) sorry the picture looks dark

I shared last week about some of my finds at Hobby Lobby and added a little vinyl... Wuh-lah!

Saw this on Pinterest and had to have. We had an old Jellybean Machine (they are smaller than the gumball machines) and I took the spring out so I wouldn't have to put money in it. Good thinking huh?

Another Pinterest idea. My husband did inform me that my words are not straight. Ugh, I'm so bad at aligning. I wish I made the letters bigger, but I'm still learning how my awesome Silhouette works.

I also made a TAG Math freebie. Find it on my facebook page. Please make sure you click the Like button for future freebies.

10 Things I learned...

 

I am going into my sixth year of teaching, and finally start to feel comfortable because of all the things I have learned along the way.

 

 

1. Kindergarteners need to be kids... make time for the "fun" stuff (crafts, chalk, bubbles, etc..)

 

2. "Multi-tasking" means so much more since I became a teacher. WOW! Half the time we don't even know we are doing it.

 

3. A full moon really does affect the kids. I could always tell when there was a full moon, I had more behavior problems.

 

4. Nothing ever goes as planned, at least I feel that way sometimes. Don't get stressed, go with the flow. It will all work out.

 

5. Teaching is Mentally exhausting. My husband cant figure out why I am so tired when we go back to school. I just need to shut my brain down for a little bit.

 

6. Parents- get to know them well and you will have a great year. Most teachers do not like to give out cell numbers, but I totally do because its easier for me to send a quick text or picture of their child to brighten up their day. Plus they can be so supportive when you create that bond.


7. Students LOVE to tell stories. Sometimes I wonder if they are true or not. I had a student tell me he was riding his four wheeler and that's how he got a scratch. Come to find out he's never rode a four wheeler in his life. Ha, gotta love it!


8. Use what you got. I love Pinterest and TPT, but don't spend all your time printing and creating it will wear you down. Plus it gets expensive.


9. Kindergarten is much more demanding. Inform parents right away of what to expect.


10. Keep a smile on your face, be positive! If  your happy, those around you will be happy (students, co-workers, family).




 

More shopping finds

I made a plan to ONLY go to Hobby Lobby since I was taking the kids. You know how that goes, but I wasn't aware that the summer stuff was 80% off. Oh my!! I spent almost 2 hrs in there but look what goodies I found.

And the kids got a few things ;)

I wasn't done yet! I tortured myself and went to Michael's afterwards, for another hour of shopping to find this stuff:

 I have had a silhouette cameo for over a year and still haven't figured out how to use it very well. So I picked up a few things to practice.

Not the paint of course.

Keep a look out for some of my finished products to come.

Shopping Deals with Steele

 

Woo Hoo! Show me what ya got!.... No really, I want to see all the amazing things you all bought for your classrooms. For me, back to school shopping is like taking a kid into a candy store and watching their eyes bulge out of their head, then the dazed look. That look is our brains saying "what can I do with this?" or "What can I make with this?" My kids look at me crazy and can't figure out why it takes SOOO long for me to get out of the school supply isle.

 

 

So here's the rules, because teachers have rules for EVERYTHING  ;)

 

1.  You must provide a picture

2. PLEASE tell WHERE you got it

3. Share some love and tell your friends to link up

 

 

And on with the program

TARGET

I'm going to put my name on this cute tag to hang on my board. The kiddos love writing my name :) I have some of the dry erase line boards from last year, but they are horizontal and I really liked the vertical boards for my small reading group. I found the pouch and thought I could use it to take to the playground with Band-Aids and tissues inside.

TARGET

I ALWAYS need more flash cards. I let the kiddos use them after they are done with their work. Thank you notes and stickers. 

TARGET and BIG LOTS

I got the binder pouch and Scento markers (A MUST)  at target and the post its at Big Lots.

 

 



 



Favorite Pins Friday

 

Where to start!? Oh.My.Gosh, I LOVE Pinterest, but it has seriously taken over my life. I even have my 9 year old son asking if we can look on Pinterest- gotta love it!

 

 

from An Educator's Life

I love the idea of individual students being able to add a letter for a reward and the whole class working together.

 

from Jo's Photomojo

I am doing this at the beginning of the year and framing it to go on my board. That way I can always refer back to it of "Why" you have to know (how to read... to be a Doctor or Teacher, how to mix colors... artist/ makeup artist).

 



 

From Extra Special Teaching

When you do sight word assessments do you have a rule for how long you give them to read them? Maybe 1,2,or 3 seconds. Putting it into a power point allows for "know it or not."

 

My little one starts Kindergarten and LOVED having notes in her lunchbox in preschool. This is such a cute idea.

 

I NEED this in my classroom!!!! Kiddos wouldn't have to leave to use the drinking fountain.

 

 

by Minds in Bloom

These are cute questions to maybe start off morning meeting or a time when you want kids to start a discussion.

 



 



 

Chapter 6 Talking Drawing Writing & a little personal

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry. So much has been going on these last two weeks that I don't even know where to start. I hope you can relate to my much overdue post. Let me get a little personal first.
We had a our family reunion in Michigan last week (woo, hoo!), which was beyond exciting to see uncles and cousins that I haven't seen in 10 years. My mom comes from a LARGE family of 8 kids and everyone is spread out from Texas to Florida to Michigan, so trying to get everyone together at once is difficult to say the least.


The 8 kids and my grandparents

 

Anyways, the day that we left to make the 12 hour haul back to Tennessee, my mom and aunt found out my grandmother had a heart attack the night before and told nobody (stubborn woman). Long story short, she had to have an angioplasty and stint to her main artery, which has put the breast cancer issue on hold for about a month, but she is doing much better now. :)

My mom's bunch

 

 

Every once in awhile we have to get a little personal. Ok, now onto Chapter 6.....

 

 

ASSESSMENT- That word gives me the chilly willies if you know what I mean. I guess because I am so bad at assessing (or at least I feel like it). I have really tried to focus this summer on how to make my assessments more meaningful, but once school starts I always struggle to find that one-on-one time.

 

I'm going to give you the cliff notes from this chapter- 3 different ways to assess ;)

 

Individual Writing Assessments:

* LOVE how teachers meet together to discuss students work, wish our school had this "workshop" session

*Write WH "with help" at the bottom of page if you gave the student support

*Create mini lessons based on Cumulative Writing Record

 

Individual CWR includes:

1. Date/Topic/Title

2. what child knows about craft- Organization, information, voice...

3. Conventions- spacing, letter formation, spelling, punctuation....

4. needs to learn (choose 1 thing at a time to work on)

5. When to teach (what mini lessons we will create)

 

Love this line..."unless we look at students' work regularly, our teaching wont be effective."

 

Small Group Writing Assessments:

* Start assessing about a month into school to create mini lessons

* Choose 5 students each week to look at

 

SG Writing Record includes:

1. Child/ writing

2. what I noticed before reading

3. What writers are doing craft/ conventions (separate with spaces)

4. what need to learn- can be about writing or picture

5. When to teach- mini lesson, interactive writing, conference, read-aloud, conversation, morning meeting, word study, reading instruction

 

Whole Class Writing Assessments:

* "quick read" whole class of drawing and writing books

* Write down what you see doesn't have to be on a form

* note: craft, conventions, strategies and possible mini lessons

 

I know individual will be hard for me to do, but I definitely want to try small group assessing. I think it will give me more information than the whole class method. What are your thoughts?

 

 

 





Classroom updates

I am soooo proud of myself- I had not been up to the school at all until yesterday. Woo Hoo!!! That's good for me. Once I get in school mode, it's hard to stop. So here is what I have done so far.

 

If you like the new word wall, you can get it for free from Nicole Lanier. When I went to print mine, I printed 9 per page so they would be small for the word wall.

I also wanted the same cards for my Alphabet in the front of the room, that way students that are struggling with letters and sounds may be able to make the connection using both of them.

I don't know about you guys, but I have ALWAYS put my alphabet way high above my whiteboard and the students used it but had trouble because it was so high up. DUH!? So I decided to put magnets to the back and therefore students could take it off the board and take it back to their seat if they needed help writing that letter. Ya, I know it only took me 5 years to figure that out. ;)

I also thought they could use it as a station to put letters in ABC order

Another Project- Have you seen some really cute placemats this summer? I decided to turn them into pillows last year. I hot glued the seams and stuffed with stuffing. So cute!

 

 

Last thing today... my husband found this cute table at Goodwill last year and I chalkboard painted the top. Well long story short, we are redoing our bonus room and now I have new furniture for my classroom. I think this is going to be so cute for my writing station. 

We changed reading series and I kept this box because it is so thick and I used it as my writing station last year. I really didn't like how it looked so I gave it a little coat of paint and cute as ever now.

Glitter and Duct tape - Made it Monday

This is my first time joining in on the fun with Made it Monday...

I have seen so many cute Glitter Clothespins on Pinterest and decided that would be an easy project for me to do with my 5 year old. She loves some glitter!!!

I used the spray Mod Podge over the top to keep the glitter from falling off.

Then I thought my mailboxes needed a little revamp. I started decorating before I remembered "before pictures."

And after picture... However, I was not completely done. I need more binder clips and forgot my paint pen at home to write on the clips. You get the idea though :)

 

Do  you use the number system in your classroom, students names, and/or student pictures?