Book Character Alphabet Line

I saw the cutest alphabet line on Pinterest, but when I went to the source I only found letters D-Z of the alphabet! What happened to ABC?  Those are pretty important. You can't begin the alphabet without ABC!  You can spell CAB without ABC!  I knew I wanted these bad boys in a bad way!  Guess it's time to go on a scavenger hunt!

I linked up with The Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday...because I tried to find this and I did! :)  Is that pushing it?!

Guess what friends, it was my (and your) lucky day! I found the alphabet line I was looking for in PDF form.  You can get it from the ProTeacher Boards.  Only catch is that you will have to sign up for an account, but it is FREE! :)  There are also a lot of great ideas here, so spend some time looking around while you are there.

Now here is the link.  Don't click on the first link, because some pictures don't show up.  Scroll down just a little bit and the author has the alphabet broken into 3 different files so that all of the picture come through.
Book Character Alphabet Line

Now, I already have an alphabet line for above the board that goes with my flower/garden classroom theme, but I thought this would be super cute for the library area. The kids, hopefully will be inspired to read the books that are on the alphabet line. I also thought it would be a cute and motivating idea to let them add their names with a dry erase marker or a little sticky note to the corresponding book/letter if they read the book.  I can't wait to get this cute, cute, cute alphabet line hung in my classroom!

Kim

Communication-Related Services

This is my final post for my communication series.  Colleagues includes: Related Service Personnel

I have thought and thought this summer about how to better communicate with related services personnel. In case you don't know, these are all of the amazing professionals that come in to our schools to work with students. They are our speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapist, teachers for the visually impaired, behavior consultants, just to name a few. I cannot imagine doing my job without them.

The problem lies in that these professionals are not in the building all day, everyday. This can make them hard to find and communicate with. This is no one person's fault, it's just that school is a busy place and sometimes you don't get to make all of the connections you need to make in one day. I've been lucky to work with OTs and PTs and speech therapists that I could call or email and touch base with them that way outside of the school day. As I begin to plan for my new classroom and new surroundings, I began to think about how I could interact more often and more efficiently with my related service coworkers.

My idea is a bulletin board/meeting area. You will have to envision this in a classroom instead of my rudimentary drawing, but I hope you can get the idea, nonetheless:

Clipboards for each related service person
Calendar for upcoming meetings
Notes for communicating when either person is not there
On clipboard-sheet for working on specific OT, PT goals, check off for when certain accommodations were implemented.

My vision is for each related service person to stop in the room and check it what is on the board. They can get notes, documentation, and stay up to date on each student on their caseload, even if they don't have time to talk to a special Ed teacher face to face that day.

I have created a Related Services Communication Pack available on TPT
It includes:
Student Goal Sheet
Notes for communication between related service professionals and teachers
Cover Pages for each Professionals' Clipboards (OT, PT, SLP, and blank for you to write your own)

Enjoy!

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

It's Taking Over...

I am linking up today with Christina today from Buntings, Books, and Bainbridge to show you my summer piles!  This is supposed to make me feel better about my piles! Right?!

I don't know whether to be excited about the things have found this summer for school or to have someone stage an intervention!  Just like Christina, my piles are bad!  They have taken over the dining room and the garage!  I've tried to make myself feel a little better by telling myself that I have all of my stuff stored in the garage because I am changing schools and I can't get into my new school yet, but the truth is my pile has grown over the summer and is encroaching into the house. 

No longer is my dining room table used for family dinners and guests, but for my latest project that needs cutting and laminating. It also is housing my classroom library.  

My garage (well half of it) no longer holds cars and lawn equipment, but a classroom worth of supplies, manipulatives and books! 

Oh my!  When I look at this in picture form it looks WAY worse than I thought. Man! I have got to get in school soon, because I'm looking for a new corner to pile stuff in! :)

I feel the need to go the Dollar Tree or Big Lots! ;)

Five for Friday Break & My Fave Pins

I normally link up with Five for Friday every week, but she has taken a little break so Cara from The First Grade Parade has taken over the Friday link up to share your favorite pins from the week.

Well, I will share my pins, but I couldn't resist sharing with you some of my highlights from this week.

My sister came to town this week and spent a few days. We did a little shopping and bought matching sweatshirts. Yeah, I know it is July and it is hot outside, but they were on clearance and couldn't be passed up! BBN!! Go Cats!

Then we went to get some Chinese. Chloe made a little dessert art. So talented! :)

And finally, I made this picture frame for one of my best friends.  She is having a baby in February and is doing the baby room is sock monkeys. The paper is from Hobby Lobby (picked that up while shopping with my sister). I got to give her the frame on Thursday when she came over for a little BFF time!  We hung put at the antique mall and I helped her convince herself of all of the cool thins she needed for the new baby's room!  She really racked up!

Now for my favorite pins of the week...
Click on each picture to head to the pin and to the original source

I love these Subway Art signs and rules for the classroom. I've already purchased and downloaded these cuties. I'm anxious to get them in my classroom!

We are headed to Disney World for fall break and I know I want some way to document our trip. I love to scrapbook, but it takes so much time. I have found several ideas for Smash books. I think that is the way to go for documenting our trip.

I think this is a great idea for sensory input and would be simple to make and store for the classroom. I'm on the lookout for some cheap marbles!

How cute is this cotton ball holder!? Just adorable! Gotta have one! :)

If you want to see more of the my Pins follow me on Pinterest.

Ten Pin Linky-Reading

This is my first Time linking up with Just Reed for the Ten Pin Linky, but I couldn't resist doing reading. I love reading! Teaching reading, reading for pleasure , reading blogs, magazines, even directions and the backs of shampoo bottles :) I just love to read! :)

So without further ado here are my 10 Favorite Reading Pins:

1.  We teach the kids to "flip the sound" in our guided reading groups and D5 time, but having a visual to remind students of the sound is a brain blower! I mean, why didn't I think of this?

2.  I think this guided reading level sheet is so handy. It gives a good picture of what each level means and what a student in that level would be working on. I've printed this baby to keep in my reading binder!

  

3.  This is just too stinking adorable!  I am going to have to make pancakes and eat the Aunt Jemima syrup before school starts back. That should be no problem ;) I can see my kids working to spell the animal words to put in the bottle. I wonder what other book/reusable container project I can think of to do like this one. Adding this to my to do list. 

.

4.  I'm going for a flower/garden theme in my classroom this year. I thought these would be perfect for a word work center or spelling practice. 

5.  Practicing fluency is a funny voice makes it so much more fun!  I have done this for several years, but now I have this nifty pictures to use!

6. I have/had several students with the b/d confusion issue. This little manipulative was a fresh idea for working on this issue. 

7.  I've probably posted this a million times, but I just love the idea. This is a big project that I've put off all summer. I have got to get on it! Soon!

8.  Word work ideas get me every time. Students search through the "spaghetti" for their words, pick on out, and then use the "spaghetti" to trace the printed word. Fun! 

9. R controlled vowel work? Yes, please!  

10.  I have a ton of these Target Dollar Spot pocket charts. I've always used them out on the table, but now I need to make these PVC frames for them. 

That was hard to narrow down, but I hope you enjoy these too and head over to my Pinterest Boards to find evn more great ideas!

Kim

TPT 4th of July Sale

Click the pic. to head to my store! :)

I will be hosting a Fourth of July Sale at my TPT store!  Head on over there for some great deals! Everything is 20%  off.  If you purchase something, please follow me :)

I am linking up with Mrs. Reed from Flying into First so that you can check out some other great bloggers with their TPT stores on sale as well.  Now is a great time to clear out your wishlist and get some great stuff for back to school!

Kim

Communication-Teacher Collaboration

The next topic in my series in Communication is with the teachers you work alongside everyday.

Let me begin by reintroducing myself:

I am Mrs. H, I am a special education teacher, and COLLABORATION is my middle name.  :)

This year will be my tenth year teaching and I have been in special education all ten years.  Every year keeps getting better and I feel more and more confident in my ability to deliver special education services to children in their areas of weakness, all while building on their strengths.  One of they keys to make this possible is great collaboration.  I have been fortunate to work with some outstanding teachers throughout my tenure and it has made collaboration and co-teaching a joy and most importantly beneficial to students.

There are 5 Classroom Models of Co-teaching:
Below you will find pictures of each co-teaching model and my simple definition for each model:










The delivery methods and the lessons are obviously incredibly important, but the planning and outside of the classroom collaboration is as equally important.

I created Co-teaching team weekly planning forms to help you and your co-teachers plan and stay organized together.  Click on the picture to download from my TPT store.

In this pack you will find forms for making co-teaching effective and efficient.  The forms include:
Weekly Co-Teaching Planning Sheets
Classroom Teacher IEP Input Sheet
Daily Lesson Plan Planning Sheet
Note Cards (You can use these to send notes to parents, other teachers, administration, etc.)

My suggestion is to copy several copies of each sheet for each teacher that you co-teach with and place in a binder.  You will always have the binder to take with you to your planning meetings.

In my effort to go paperless and reduce the amount of binders I have to keep up with:

I have a little tutorial to share with you....

But you have to wait until tomorrow! :)

To be prepared...if you have an iPad download:
Evernote, Dropbox & GoodReader apps
        

You can find me linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics fro Monday Made It!

Currently...July

Can you believe that it is almost July?  I can't!  This is one of my favorite times of year though.  We are knee deep in summer, the days are longer and hot, and there is still plenty of time left before school starts.

Today I am linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade for the monthly Currently...

Listening:  The kids are playing so quietly.  We just completed a Target visit, so the kids are occupied with some new toys.  Chloe picked a 1000 piece puzzle and Barrett chose MicroChargers.  Hours of fun around here!

Loving:  I think I may have mentioned this a time or two, but I LOVE SUMMER!  Blue skies, green grass, long days, pool water, sunscreen smell, sunburns...I love it all!  

Thinking:  I'm in the mood for ice-cream.  Yes I am.  We may make a DQ run here in a minute! 

Wanting:  I want to get in my new school so bad!  I am so excited!!!!

Needing:I have lots of library books to organize for my new classroom.  This is the first time I've had to purchase new library books for my classroom.  I have inherited class books every year that I've taught and never had the need to buy many of my own.  This summer I had to change all of that.  

*SPOILER ALERT*

Classroom library posts coming soon!

Tips:  If you have an iPad, download Evernote.  This app has changed my life...well that may be a tad overdramatic!  It really has helped me to stay organized and keep all of my random thoughts in one spot.  I have been using it to plan blog posts, TPT products, and make lists for school for next year.  I can't wait to share some cool tricks with you that I have learned on Evernote! Stay tuned for that!

Kim

Five for Friday-June 28 edition

It has been one of those wonderful summer weeks without much to do and a gorgeous week to do it!  It rained a few times, but overall the weather right now is wonderful!
I'm linking up with Five for Friday...no picture style though...'cause that's how exciting my week has been. :)

1.  The kids were entertained by their best buddies on Monday.  Lovely day! We watched movies, the girls played Barbies and we all ate a lot of junk food.  :)

2.  I have lots of time to create new TPT products and work on upcoming blog posts!  This is a first, for real!

Hop on over to my TPT store to pick up some new products!

3.  As of Thursday, I officially became a Scott County employee.  I have a school email there now...that makes it official, right?  I am so excited about this new adventure!

4.  At one point this week, I realized that no matter how organized I think I am, I could do better.  I lost my SS card this week and tore this house up looking for it!  Luckily it was found!  Not where it should have been, but found, nonetheless!

5.  And here in a little bit we are headed to a birthday party.  Party Right Inflatables...sounds like a good time!  The kids are seriously excited!

As I look back at this week, I think that it was pretty good afterall.  No big trips, no elaborate projects, just family, friends and laid back summer times! It was the best!

Kim

Bloglovin' Linky

Come follow me on Bloglovin' and show some love to all of the other blogs you follow! Head over to this linky party right away!