Next Year...Decor

As this year comes to an end, I begin to think about next school year.  I always wonder about the kids I will have, the things I did this year that worked well and what I would like to change, and my actual classroom looks.  I thought it was funny last night when a colleague of mine posted on Facebook that she was look for classroom setups for next year.  I was doing the same thing last night on Pinterest!

So, as I ponder and rearrange Pinterest Boards, I thought I would share some thoughts for the way things look for next year or some things I would like to try.  Here are my

TOP 5 PINTEREST IDEAS TO TRY FOR NEXT YEAR-DECORATOR EDITION:

 I think this is simple, effective, and super cute.  I have a love/hate relationship with my calendar.  I love having one; I hate changing the month.  It just gets put off every month.  I will be halfway through the next month and someone will come in the room and say, "Kim, it's April...and you still have February up!"  Last year I had a student that obsessed about my calendar so I never had to fix it, sadly he moved on to middle school.  Now I have to employee my daughter to fix it. :)  I like that this has all information stuff in one area place, not to mention I love the polka dots!

 I enjoy this saying so much.  I never know what to put on my door, that is one thing that I do not really enjoy doing, but these words are so powerful and meaningful.  I do want my students to know that I love and value them.  I may change up the saying a teensy bit, but I want to do something like this.  Quotes are so fun!

  This is a super cool classroom reward system.  The teacher at this blog assessed what each group of his students would like for a reward and then if the students' behavior earns a letter then they choose where to put the letter on the word.  When a word is filled up the class earns what they spell.  The different colors are for the different groups he has during the day. I think this would work wonderfully for my resource room.  My colleagues and I are always refilling candy buckets and treasure boxes, but these items are rewarding and LOW cost!  Win, win!!  (Click on the picture to go the blog post about this behavior incentive)

Here is a great blogpost about cleaning out all of the teacher stuff and some research to back it up:
http://emilystuff.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/spring-cleaning/  I found some interesting ideas and food for thought here!

Finally, because this is just so stinkin' cute!  I love deco mesh wreaths and I could totally make this.  The colors are adorable and this would be a perfect accent for my door!

I don't want to wish my life away, but I wish it were time to get next year's room ready! :)

Kim

PS...I'm also joining in the Backward/Forward Linky from iTeach 5th!  Join me!

New Social Media Butttons

I have new social media buttons!!  Yay! Feel free to contact me via email, Facebook, Twitter, or follow my Pinterest boards by clicking the link to the right.

If you would like to add your own social media buttons, I would like to share with you how I did mine.  I am not an HTML code writer, but I can search the internet!  Below are the sites I used to find code to help me add pictures and code in Blogger.  Today I would like to share some free resources with you so you can make your own buttons!

Find or create your image for each appropriate button
I found my images here as a free download.  Diana from Custom Blog Designs offers these icons for you to use as a FREEBIE!!



You will need to upload your images to Photobucket or something similar so you can get a URL link for the image.

Next you need to add your HTML code.  Hop on over to the website below to copy the code you need to make your buttons

http://beautifuldawndesigns.net/tutorial-add-social-media-icons-to-blogger-step-by-step/

Add your buttons to your blog and enjoy some new traffic to your social media sites!

Tweet All About It!

I recently joined Twitter and I also found a teacher blogger/Twitter user linky!  What luck!  Follow me!

Follow me on Twitter  @MrsHsResourceRm

https://twitter.com/MrsHsResourceRm

Click the Button above to find some other awesome teacher bloggers!

Spring Break 2013...A Farewell

I am so sad that Spring Break is over.  This week was only a sneak peek for summer and that makes me ready for school to be out.  Don't get me wrong...I love school and my kids, but man, I love being at home!

So what did I do that made it so amazing?

Easter
Swimming with friends at the Pavillion
Visited Frankfort--Salato Wildlife Park, The State Capitol Building, and Rebecca Ruth Candies

Watched The Impossible.  This movie was INTENSE!  If you don't know, it's about the tsunami that hit Thailand.  This whole tragedy is unimaginable, but so inspirational.  I heard it was life changing...it was! Whew!  I highly recommend it, but it is NOT for kids!

Shopped-I bought new dishes!  I love red!

Chilled with my family and enjoyed some wonderful weather (well at least one day of it).

Alas, all good things must come to end.  Six and half weeks until summer...I can make it! :)

Pass The Torch Linky

Get Ready for Bloggy Olympics!!!

Join The 3AM Teacher, the Reading Olympians, and over 80 SUPREME education bloggers as we take you through a tour of the Reading Olympians Root Study Program!!

First of all, confession is good for the soul.  I was not able to teach this series of lessons yet.  In fact, I spaced out on the fact that this was supposed be posted on April 6 and thought it was the next week.  That would have given me the week after spring break to get this worked into my curriculum.  However, I was off on my calculations...so I am instead sharing my plans with you for next week.  Still friends...right? ;)

I teach special education in a resource setting for reading.  My students are in grades 3 and four, but working below grade level.  When I signed up to participate in this program, I requested a younger set of materials.  The 1/2 grade lessons I decided would work well for my students.

I will use the materials as my word work for the week.  I set up my hour reading block with my students in the following way:

• Corrective Reading program for the first 25 minutes of my reading block 3 days a week.
• Guided Reading using a trade book or a book from Reading A-Z.  (I especially like these books because they are leveled and suggestions for lessons are given).  I always teach the same concept they are learning in the regular ed. class, so they do not miss out.
• Sight Word Practice-I employ a time delay strategy to work on sight words.  Each student is at a different level.  I have one student that can read any sight word you put in front of him, so he does reading comprehension time delay using reading comp. task cards (more on that another day).
• Word work (while I call student individually to do sight word time delay or fluency checks)

Day 1:  Give my students a pretest on prefixes and suffixes.  You can find it here.
Show presentation of the materials.  Discuss prefixes and suffixes.

Day 2:  Center: Make prefix book

Day 3: Center: Make suffix book

Day 4: Center: Prefix/Suffix puzzles

Day 5: Quiz.  I will give the same quiz that I give on Day 1 to see how much progress the students made. 

I will post pictures all next week to show our work and progress in understanding the roots of reading!





Discover the program IN ACTION in more K-6th grade classrooms as you Pass the Torch!! Get ideas, discover the progression of the program, and enter the Raffle for a chance to win ONE of the three prizes listed below!!

First Place Winner : Gold Medal

  Prizes: Complete Reading Olympians Program
            $50.00 Amazon Gift Card
            50% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher's Etsy store!

Second Place Winner: Silver Medal

   Prizes: $25.00 Amazon Gift Card
              40% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher's Etsy store!

Third Place Winner: Bronze Medal

    Prizes: 30% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher's Etsy store!

Pass the Torch!!!
Click the image below to visit the next blog

Kindergarten:



Grade 1 & 2






Grade 3 & 4






Grade 5 & 6


    a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five for Friday

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five For Friday!  Click the picture below to  play along!

1.  Today is a day off!  It is a teacher professional development, but if you have all of your PD you don't have to be at school today!  Yay for having way more PD than I could speak of!!  Today my Bear is helping me blog!

2.  Also, for the picture above...new hair color!  Highlights for spring!  I love spending the afternoon at the salon!

3.  Tuesday night our school held our annual Math Madness Math Night.  We have a Shut the Box tournament every year with a basketball team to go along with March Madness.  Bear was 1st runner up in his bracket.  He is so proud of that medal (it's his first)!

    

4.  Dress as your favorite StoryBook Character Day.  This was the most fun I've had all year!  We celebrated Read Across America Week by dressing up last Tuesday (ok I know this is not this past week, but oh well).  The first picture is my favorite teacher, Mrs. P.  She is my daughter's teacher and my intern and one of my favorites of all time! :)  Mrs. P. is Fancy Nancy and I am Junie B. Jones.  The other pictures are my kiddos.  Bear is Skippyjon Jones and Chloe is Hermione from Harry Potter (our favorite)!

5.  We are getting ready to head down the WK Parkway this afternoon!  We haven't been home to see family since Christmas.  I am excited to go home and see my family!

Have a great weekend!!

Kim

St. Patrick Day themed Homophone Center *FREEBIE*

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner and our story this week is all about tricky leprechauns.  If you are a Reading A-Z member you can access the book I will be using with my reading group this week.

Reading A-Z

Colleen and the Leprechaun

Homophones are one of the literacy skills we are practicing this week.  I searched TPT, but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for that combined St. Patrick and homophones, so I made one up myself! :)  

Click on the photo below for the FREE center!

It includes:

* homophone sorting and matching

* complete the sentence with the correct homophone

Enjoy!! 

When You Can't Do It All & Magical E's

I have come to the conclusion that I cannot do it all.  I would love to, but unless I want to give up my job, stay home and lock myself in the office, then I cannot do everything.  Have you ever had to come to this conclusion?

I would love to blog daily (or a least a couple of times a week), make TPT products, create my own cute clipart (I love to draw/doodle my own characters), but I still have to be a mom, wife, teacher, and friend.  I realized last week that I cannot do all of the things I would love to do and still keep my sanity!  Sometimes it is good to step back and reorganize your priorities.  I am definitely not the person that my Pinterest boards portray me as! I would love to be impeccably organized, beautifully coiffed, incredibly creative, and teacher of the year! :)  For now though, I will be happy being somewhat organized (and continuing to improve), put together nicely, creative (without pushing myself to the limits), and the type of teacher that does what is best for the kids.  All of my TPT purchases may not be laminated and my desk may have piles, but I know that I am doing what is best for the kids and that is what is important to me!

Maybe this summer I can set some goals to finish some TPT products and get some of those Pinterest inspirations complete, but for now, I am focusing on one week at at time instead of trying to do it all at once! Sometimes I just need to be reminded to work smarter...not harder!

So for this week....this is what we are working on in my resource reading:

That sneaky "e" will get you every time!  My reading group has the CVC pattern aced, but that "E" throws them for a loop.  Here is a favorite TPT product that I am using to help teach this concept in my reading group:

Click the picture above to be directed to the TPT so you can purchase your own Magical E bundle!

So what can you expect from me during my readjusting period?  

• A sneak peak into the skills my reading or math groups are working on...hopefully with a great TPT product to share with you
• An update about how the week went
• A positive outlook school and being the teacher the kids need! :)

Do you ever have a readjusting time in your teaching career?  What do you do when you can't do it all?  

Chore Chart

A few years ago my husband and I took Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey and I must say that it changed our financial lives.  I won't get into all of that right now, but I did want to share with you one of the good habits that we continue to use daily.

Dave Ramsey talks about kids and money and giving them an "allowance."  He does not "give" money to anything ;), so he suggests having your kids work for a commission.  My kids are nerdy like their mama and they loved this idea.  We discussed what the word commission means, how to earn a commission,and what to do with the money you earn (give, save, spend).  If you want to learn more about Dave Ramsey, Financial Peace University, or how teach your kids how to handle money at a young age with Financial Peace Jr. you can go to the link below:

PS: I am not in any way affiliated with Dave Ramsey or his company and I do not get paid to endorse his products.  However, I am a firm believer in the practices he teaches.

Now, I must come clean and say, we started Financial Peace Jr. with our children, worked on the chore charts, and we were incredibly successful.  Then...life happened.  We moved, the chore charts were never unpacked, and we stopped keeping up with them.  So, this past weekend my husband and I talked about starting chore charts again and he urged me to make our kids charts this time.  The ones with FPU Jr. are effective and simple, but we wanted something a little "spicier" and interactive! :)  

Chore Chart How-To

Materials:  

scrapbook paper

bulletin board

thumb tacks

glue

access to printer

white paper

craft sticks

1.  Make envelopes or pockets to hold the craft sticks/tickets (whatever you use to show your child completed the chore).  I used the template you can find here: http://www.earthmothercrafts.com/images/BasicEnvelopeTemplate_1.jpg

2.  Cut out envelopes and arrange on the bulletin board.  I used thumb tacks in each of the four corners to hold the envelopes securely in place.

3.  Label each pocket with a chore.  Our labels include: Pick up and put away laundry, Clear dishes (this means after supper), empty dishwasher, pick up toys, put away silverware.  These chores are the ones my kids are expected to do daily.  We add to this by giving each day a chore of its own.  (We have just started doing this as a family.  I am really hoping it helps us to stay on top of cleaning throughout the week so we do not spend all day on Saturday cleaning).  

Monday-Clean Bathrooms

Tuesday-Dust

Wednesday-Vacuum

Thursday-Sweep & Mop

Friday-Catch-all Day (whatever has been missed throughout the week)

Saturday-Straighten Bedrooms

You can find other chore ideas here: 

Age Appropriate Chores

4.  When the child completes a chore, he/she place a craft stick in the corresponding envelope.  My daughter uses red sticks and my son uses blue sticks.  This helps me to keep up with who did the chore, especially in the extra chore pocket.

5.  Our kids are motivated by money.  We teach them the principals from FPU.  They earn commission based on each chore.

25 cents for each chore completed daily

25 cents for the weekly chore (daily)

10 cents for any extra chore above and beyond what is asked of them

Our kids are taught to GIVE, SAVE, SPEND.  They give 10%  to the church as a tithe, SAVE 10% or more for something they really want (a special toy, an outing, vacation), and what is left over they put in their wallet as SPENDING.

We also have FINES.  Fines are -25 cents for infractions to house rules.  My kids are 10 and 5, a girl and a boy, respectively.  Let me let you in on a little secret...they LOVE each other all of the time, but they don't LIKE each other all of the time.  Many times, their infractions come from not getting along with one another.  Also, our daughter is ten thinking that she is going on sixteen! Ugg!  Sometimes attitude and pre-hormonal hormones take over that child's body!!!!  Need I say more?! :)

6.  On Saturdays, we tally the number of chores complete and figure the amount of money that is owed to each kid.  They could earn a minimum of $6.25/week if they complete all of the chores as outlined on the chart.  If they chose to do extra chores then they could earn extra money, but I like to cap it at $10.  :)

Here is our completed chore chart, hanging, and in use:

I hope you enjoy this and find it useful in your home, too!

~Kim

PS:  I know this was not school related, but you may able to modify this in a way that would be useful for behavior.  I am thinking, smaller pockets inside a binder with a good choice/preferred behavior on the envelope.  The student can earn tickets to place in the pockets and earn rewards based on the number of tickets.  Just a thought ;)  I had to make it "schooly" somehow! 

Sight Word Box from Teacher Mama

I am linking up with The Resource Room Teacher today!  I have something incredibly exciting to share!

Several blog posts ago, I mentioned a few of the projects from Pinterest that I would love to accomplish.  One of those was from Boy Mama Teacher Mama and it was her Sight Word Practice Box.  Pictured below:

Well, yesterday I received a message from her saying,  Hi Mrs. H! Just wanted to let you and your readers know that I now have the templates for the sight word box available! I appreciate you featuring our idea and for all the friends you have sent our way!! Here is the link--http://boymamateachermama.com/2013/02/09/teacher-mama-sight-word-practice-box-templates/

I must say that I am quite excited about this!  I hope you are, too!  Here is a link to her TPT store where you can download her templates for the Sight Word Practice box along including several games!  Ready....GO!!

Sight Word Practice Box Templates from Boy Mama Teacher Mama