B is for Behavior Chart

I found the perfect solution to the Behavior Chart issue I was having. I've always used a circle divided into four colors. Green for Good Day, Yellow for Warning, Red for Consequence, and Orange for really bad consequence.

It worked for 7 years. In fact, I rarely even used it last year because it was scandalous to move your clip. My "teacher look" was that serious...

Well, I will be using the 7 Habits of Happy Kids in my class this year for the first time so I wanted to update my behavior chart as well.

I saw this one on Can Do Kinders and it was PERFECT!

So I made it and am VERY excited to use it. I like that my darlings can now be better than green because I've never given that option in the past.

This seems like an easy transition for me from my beloved color wheel. I was dying to use that Target Spot polka dot ribbon on something.

Click {HERE} to go to my 7 Habits Pinterest Board.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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B is for Book Buddies

I organized my addiction yesterday. Well, I'm in the process of organizing it. I'm using Booksource's Classroom Organizer to catalog all (hundreds!) of children's books in my book collection.

It's easy peasy. You just scan the barcode on the back of your books and it enters it into a database. The tricky part comes in when there are Scholastic books that have their own special ISBN numbers or books that rescued from the library's discard pile.

Students can now use our new ipod touches to scan the books to check them out.

Hopefully, this system will keep track of my collection and less will be lost every year. I think my darlings will get a kick out of pretending to be little librarians.

Anyhoo...I wanted to scan the books that are in my Book Buddy bin. So I pulled them all out and added some of my newly purchased ones.

So much fun! I've found these at bookstores, yard sales, and Kohl's. Mrs. Green and Ladybug Girl were gifts.

To keep the book and the doll together, I've put them into mesh lingerie bags. I wish I had more of the drawstring green ones, but these from Walmart have handy zippers.

My darlings always comment that it's good there are holes in the bags. That way the characters can breath. =)

I've got a wishlist of more book character dolls I want. I need more storage!

Do you have Book Buddies in your class?


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P is for Pencil Shoes

Wow! You guys are so sweet! There were a lot of requests in the comments, here and on facebook, for me to explain how I made the pencil shoes.

I saw this pair on ModCloth (pinterest find!) and wanted them BAD! Then I saw the price and I wanted to win the lottery BAD!

Found on ModCloth for more than I would ever spend...

So me being cheap... I found a pair of "old lady shoes" (no offense meant to anyone offended) at a thrift store. These were gold and very clean inside. Score!  I liked that these went halfway up my foot.  I thought black would work best, but that would have been hard to paint over.

I cannot believe this picture was still on my iPhone!

 You can see the materials I used: sponge brushes, electrical tape, paint (black, yellow, pink, silver, off white) *Cantankerous cat optional.

I simply taped off the sections I wanted by wrapping the tape completely around the shoe. I painted the toes black and the back heels pink and let dry. It's not in the picture but then I painted the yellow next. I removed the black tape on the toes and painted that section off white. The strip of tape on the back ended up being the perfect width for the silver.

They did need several coats and I strongly recommend a coat of Mod Podge or other clear varnish.

They were really easy to make and will definitely make a statement when I wear them. =) Maybe a little Ms. Frizzle-ish?

I think they needed the No. 2 to look complete.

All this talk about pencils made me remember this post. I think I'm ready to get a new crop of darlings already. They are the reason I can wear pencil shoes.

Happy Tuesday everyone!


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R is for Rainy (Day) Ramblings

1. I went to school this morning. I finished my teacher toolbox using the idea that I shamelessly copied borrowed from Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files. I adore her stuff. And I love that she loves ladybugs like me.

I did not spray paint mine because of her horror story.

2. I came home because there were some scary clouds in the sky. Also because it was 4:15...

3. I went to Walmart (I hate Walmart!) because the refurb color ink I got off ebay didn't work (see August Currently B2S must have #2). I was so mad! The black one worked fine. I sent them a semi-scathing email asking them to "advise on how to fix the problem" and they told me to clean the cartridge with rubbing alcohol. It works now. I am happy. I can return the expensive one to Walmart (I hate Walmart!).

4. The sky opened up and there is some wicked lightning. The dogs are under the bed.

5. I figured that since I was so productive in my classroom today, I'd tackle my mountain of crafty scariness in my utility room.  I am periodically rewarding myself with facebook/blogging/chocolate breaks. This accidentally happened.

Love me some Ikea Hazelnut chocolate with a name I cannot pronounce.

6. I found my pencil shoes I started last summer. They need a coat of ModPodge still...

7. I also had to add some cards to my box of greeting cards I keep. My house burned down when I was 12 and one of the things I miss the most is my box of birthday/holiday cards I had kept since I was in elementary school. I dug to the bottom of my current box just for kicks and found one from my aunt on my 18th birthday (wowzers!) and one from two very good teaching friends on my birthday (during summer school). Great memories.

8. I am making homemade mac-n-cheese for dinner.

9. In case you haven't been anxiously waiting and didn't already know...a lot of sellers on Teachers Pay Teachers will be having a sale on August 12-13. I am putting everything in my store at 20%. With the TPT promo code, you'll have a total of 28% off. Time to clean out those wishlists!

10. I love my laminator.

Okay! Enough of a bloggy break for me. Back to #5. I need more chocolate.

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C is for Currently (August)

Yay! August is here! It is a month full of so much fun.

That includes Farley's Currently linky.



Here's mine!

I want someone to just go to the store and get me some new school clothes. Hopefully ones on sale. And ones that fit. Those two things never seem to go together for me. I have no style requirements besides those two things. If only it were as easy as Pinterest makes it look.

I'm so loving my new laminator. I don't need to print on card stock anymore. The laminate is so think. I should buy stock in Scotch.

Back to school must haves:

1. Every summer I get my Lakeshore coupon in the mail and have to get my plan book ASAP!

Can't live without this one!

And then put the dates in it making sure to put extra big "NO SCHOOL" on days off.

2. I also need to get stock in HP. I so love me some color printing. That I of course laminate as soon as the ink dries.

3. The first week back can get a little tense with us teachers trying to get it all done in time for the darlings' arrival. I've got to remember that it's all in how I handle things and keep it positive. Just keep swimming! (See this post's opening line today...I'm trying!)

I went to an iPod training yesterday. The teachers at my school are so lucky and we all get some new iPod touches for our classes. We are big on technology and very blessed to get these things for our Title 1 students to use.

Maybe I should get stock in Apple, too...

Go check out Heather's blog. I'm part of her giveaway! Yay! (Ending positive, too...)

I'm giving this away on her blog. I've bundled them in my TPT shop for $4.50 or you can get each one separately. 

Have a great weekend!

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S is for Swapping

How is it August already? As much as I love my job, summer is just too much fun.

One awesome thing that happened this summer was Mrs. Stanford's Product Swap.

Click the image to go to the linky party!

I got paired up with the fabulous Sally DeCost from Elementary Matters.





 

She has SO MANY wonderful things in her TPT store that I had a hard time choosing.  

I decided I wanted to try one of her Review Scoot games. Playing Scoot is great to get students moving around while learning. I like using this strategy during Week 6 of our Treasures reading series. 

Well, Sally didn't just swap one scoot game with me...She sent me the Combined Set Review Scoot! That is 6 scoot games! Wow!

 It covers several subjects.

I printed these out, laminated them, and put them in Ziplocs. I printed the answer key and cover sheet on half pages to stick in the bag with the cards. I plan on making a class set of the answer sheet and putting them in page protectors so we can use them for all 6 Scoot games.

I am all ready to get my new little  darlings "scooting" around the room. It saved me so much time making these myself. 

 

Go check out Sally's blog Elementary Matters and her TPT store. She has so much experience and wonderful things to share. There are tons of free things on these sites, too.

Thanks so much to Sally for swapping and Jessica for setting this all up. 
 







Happy August!

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A is for AAAAAAAAAAAh!

We were allowed to get into our classrooms today.

I opened my door and saw this lovely sight.

Wow! That is one shiny floor! I don't think I've ever seen my 24 x 24 feet look so....shiny.

However, this is 'THE OTHER SIDE".

That's what happens when you don't leave your wonderful custodians a floor plan.

You kind of earn a few pieces of furniture on your toes.

I may or may not have climbed on/under/through some of that pile, but let's just keep that between us.

Thankfully, my wonderful custodians came and helped me move some of the bigger stuff into place.

I did find a few unwelcome 'Florida Natives' in various spots, but they were not alive. Amazingly, there were no CRICKET carcasses... (You are so lucky Who-Know-Who.)

I always feel a little overwhelmed getting all of my can't-live-without junk stuff in my tiny portable, but I always do. It's like a puzzle and it's part of the fun. I make it work for me.

I'm going to go take a Tylenol PM now. No reason...It just sounds like a good idea...(Oh my aching toes!)

 
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