Made it Monday and So Much More!

Once again I am linking with Forth Grade Frolics for Made it Monday. This week I really got back to work in my room getting ready for the new school year. A room reveal is in the making so hang on. We don't go back to school until August 25 so I'm not quite ready yet but soon, I promise. Yesterday was a really productive day for me. I went to school and I was the only one there! It is amazing how much you can get done when there is no one there to talk to! I also played my I pod nice ad  loud to keep me company- shh don't tell anyone!

On to what I actually made this week. For several years now I have had my students share supplies at their tables. They store them in white three drawer plastic carts. Well as you can imagine after 4 years my carts were not so pretty and white anymore. In fact last year several budding artists used their talents to decorate them with crayon and permanent marker; much to my horror and their delight.Well, this year I looked and looked and those really sad carts and knew I had to do something. I thought about buying new carts but I couldn't justify throwing out perfectly good carts just because they were ugly. So I decided that I could make them beautiful again, but how?

Ugly old cart!

I went to Walmart which is the place where all good problem solvers go and debated how to cover the ugly. I decided on the easiest and fastest way possible. Patience is NOT my strong suite especially when it comes to making things. I bought spray paint in six different colors and brought it all back to my classroom. Now I had to figure out how to do this without getting spray paint everywhere and making my school janitor mad. Every good teacher knows that a happy janitor means that things get fixed in your room. So I took this project outside and laid out some paper and got to work.

Keeping things clean!

Oh! I removed the drawers first as mine were still in good shape.  Then I spray painted my little heart out! Each cart took three coats of paint but look and the results!

They are so pretty and I love them!

Well, this is one of my favorite made its! My new outside bulletin board for the new year! I wish I could say that I did it all by myself but I can't! My amazing cousin Stephanie came to help me this week and created this spectacular board for me! So really this is a Cousin Stephanie made it! All I told her was it has to be cute and have lots of owls! Look at what she made! It is so awesome! I have taken about a thousand pictures already! I can't wait to see what my new students think!

 Finally dont' forget TPT is having a great back to school sale! Click on the link in the side bar to take you to my store and check out what I have been working on! 

ClassDojo in my classroom and maybe in yours?

I have been using ClassDojo in my classroom for a while now and I love it! If you haven't heard of this free resource for teachers check it out by clicking on the link above. This program allows you to give students instant feedback on their behavior in the classroom that really improves behavior! The program can run on your computer, your Ipad, or a smart phone. I also love the fact that it generates a daily report for parents that is sent right to their phone or email and it even has a messaging system that you can use to send notes to parents about their students. However, last year I struggled to integrate a tangible reward system (which is required by my school) while using ClassDojo and after a lot of thought I created this! A clip chart for ClassDojo!

Yes, a monthly way that students can keep track of their ClassDojo points and receive rewards as they move from chart to chart. Now you are probably more organized than I am and can reset your Dojo points each week; but for me it just becomes a big old pain and I often forget. Yes, me forget something! I know it is hard to imagine, but its true and in my district we have a lot of short weeks that just create more problems. So this year I am switching to monthly system and I know that I am going to love it! It is so easy to remember when the new month starts and that is when I change everything else in my class including seats, line order, and groups so this just made sense for my classroom. If you would like to take a look check this out in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store . I hope that is will help you out while using ClassDojo in your classroom.

Monday Made It- Rekenreks

 

This week I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It.  This week has been super busy in my household but I did find time to make a class set of Rekenreks for next year. My school has started using the Engage New York math program. (Click on the link if you want to know more!) Last year was our first year using it and even though I had digital Rekenreks to use with my Promethean board I found my first graders really needed one they could manipulate themselves; so this week I took the plunge and made my own. It wasn't as hard as I though it would be and being the non crafty person that I am; I was pretty proud of myself. 

I used crafting foam, pipe cleaners, and red and black beads. I cut the pieces of foam to approximately 4x6 to make them easier for my first graders to hold. Then I cut about 2 inches off the end of each pipe cleaner. After that it was easy to poke the pipe cleaners through the foam and string on the beads. Then I just twisted the pipe cleaner together on the back to secure it. 

This is probably the easiest project I have completed in a long time and I know it is going to make math lessons so much easier next year. 

SDE 2014 and What's Important

I'm back but you probably didn't even know I was gone! This past week I attended the National I Teach 1st! conference right here in Las Vegas and even though I live here I still had a great time! I love playing tourist down on the "strip". I often forget all the wonderful things Las Vegas has to offer. 

The conference was amazing, fun, and full of information! My creative juices are flowing full of ideas for next year! I can't wait to share them all here as I use them in my classroom! 

I met a lot of wonderful people and teachers there too! An the sessions were amazing! I even got to spend a whole day with Dr. Jean! yes, that Dr. Jean! We sang danced and made wonderful things to use in our classrooms but most of all we laughed!!!

This conference made me realize that the most important thing in teaching is our students! I feel renewed and refreshed and ready for a new year! 

The picture above was taken in the Freebielicious photo booth. These awesome bloggers have gotten together to offer kindergarten and first grade teachers really great free resources. I encourage all of you to check out their blog at http://freebie-licious.blogspot.com/.

I'm back and full of new ideas for the classroom!

Wow! I can't believe that it has been almost a year since I last blogged. It was a year filled with lots of changes for me. I am so excited about next year in the classroom. I am determined this year to been more organized and of course blog more than I did last year! I don't know about all of you but I seem to suffer from the procrastination disease!  I always seem to be putting things off until the very last moment but I am determined this year that this will not happen! I can and will be on top of things next year! 
This year in my classroom I tried something new I used coupons for my reward system instead of using a treasure box and I have officially fall in LOVE, LOVE, LOVE with this system! I love using coupons because they are so much cheaper than buying thing for my treasure box and I don't have to remember to buy items for said treasure chest- remember my procrastination problem! My students seem to like them better too and responded so much better to using coupons than they ever did to my treasure chest. I liked the coupons that I used last year but this year I decided I want to make my own that were customized for my room. Then I decided that if I loved them all of you might too! So I follow the link and check them out! I included a few that could be customized for your classroom and I use the colors to help keep them organized but I also included a white background if you need to save on ink. I hope you like them as much as I do! Check out my store and let me know what you think!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Fairy-Tales-Of-First-Grade

The First Week

Hi All,

I know I have been MIA for the blog for a while. We started school last Monday and I am so excited about my new class. They seem to be a pretty great bunch! However, Sunday night it rained her in LasVegas and our school flooded. I'm talking inches of rain water running down the halls and through the library, the science room, and the art room. Unfortunately for us first grade teachers it also flooded most of our rooms. I was lucky that the water didn't make it into my room but because so many rooms couldn't be used we had to double up classes. Now I looked at this as a chance to hang with one of the coolest people in my grade level and watch her teach- she's really good. However, it did mean that most days we had about 50 kids in my classroom which was a very tight squeeze so I had to move stuff around to make room for our new friends. So pictures of my new room did not get taken and instead will be taken this week instead!
Now just to end out my crazy week - my car died so I had to go car shopping! I hate car shopping mostly because I often don't understand what they are asking me or talking about. I have no clue what kind of engine is the best or why we actually care about horse power. As a side note how do they figure that out any way? Do they have horses that actually pull the car? Instead I care about things like will the car get my to work and does it have Bluetooth so I can talk to my friends on the way home from school and air conditioning because it gets kinda hot her in Vegas. Shallow I know but that what is I important to me. So after much angst and lots of test drives I have a new Chevy Cruze and yes it has Bluetooth and everything! Sigh I think I'm in love with my new car.

Well, I'm off to work on more things for teacher pay teacher so I can make my car payments.
Jennie

Teacher Pay Teacher

Hi!

I have some really exciting news! I have opened my teacher pay teacher store. Please check out my store at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Fairy-Tales-Of-First-Grade and download my owl themed student information sheet. It free so what are your waiting for? Also, today is TPT's big back to school sale so make sure to fill your cart with lots of great back to school ideas and activities. I am off to shop! See you all later!

Jennie