Updated Chinese New Year PowerPoint!

If you already own my Chinese New Year PowerPoint, go to Teachers Pay Teachers and re-download it for your free update! Chinese New Year is on February 12 this year, and it is the year of the ox. If you don't own it yet, grab it now! Every year it's updated to reflect the new lunar new year! 

 

Distance Learning Norms PowerPoint Show

In my TpT store

Are you teaching your students live and need to review norms ahead of time? This will perfect for you if your answer is yes! As you know, live teaching is new for most of us. It might be here to stay in one form or another. The best part? These slides are fully editable, so you can customize them to fit your individual needs. Don't like what they say? Change it! I will never know. 😉 Find it in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

Classroom Management Idea using Positive Reinforcement

Every class is different... the year I implemented this idea, I needed to switch up what I was doing in terms of motivating my class to follow rules in and outside of the classroom. Here is what I do: I use a tens frame chart that I made (I will be adding it to my TpT store as a free download). I personalize them for each student and make multiple copies. I tape one to each student desk. I then use stamp markers whenever a student is "caught being good" or completes a task, meets a goal, etc. Whatever I decide I will give a stamp for that day...maybe it will be if the student returned their library book, then they got a stamp. When they fill up their tens chart with ten stamps they get to go "shopping" immediately. I make a big deal out of it so that they feel accomplished and proud. When they save up 10 completed stamp charts, they get to go to the treasure box where I have bigger ticket items to choose from (mostly Dollar Tree items, but they are over the moon about it). Some students fill it up more quickly than others, but the beauty of it is, that even for your most challenging kids, you can set different goals for them so that they can see success as well- which is a necessity. (If they don't ever get their tens frame completed, what is the point for them?) You can even have a goal setting meeting with your students. Every class is different and so is every student. This is part of differentiation- not just academics. 

Look at this crazy sale! Not
even after a holiday!

Ok, after looking at the pictures you are probably asking yourself, "who buys all of these prizes?" Honestly? A combination of myself and parent donations. I am fortunate enough that I have had awesome families who freely donate and ask frequently what the classroom needs. When I buy prizes, it is usually from Dollar Tree or with a coupon from Michael's or Hobby Lobby. I capitalize on sales after holidays or seasons and get terrific deals on things. I am always on the lookout for my little classroom shopping cart! When parents donate, I find that they buy from Amazon, Target or Lakeshore.
What is in the shopping cart? Squishies (the absolute favorite); Play-Dough minis; bracelets; bouncy balls; pencils with cute cap erasers; plastic slinkies; plastic kazoos; erasers; Scentables gel pens; Scentables markers; crazy straws; plastic dinosaurs and bugs, etc. The squishies only come out on Fridays for table points, since these are a hot item and more expensive.
I keep my shopping cart located behind my teacher desk area. My students have always been respectful of it. Have you tried something like this before? How has it worked for you? Let me know in the comments below!

Covering things in a bookshelf

So, I have two bookshelves next to my teacher's desk. One is for student supplies, and one is strictly teacher supplies (stamps, binders, etc.). Code for- I don't want little hands digging inside of the teacher bookshelf! 🙅What to do... Hmm... I went to Target 💰, since they have everything. I ended up finding a blackout curtain for $12.99, and a black spring rod for $3.99. I put the curtain on the rod and made a small cut at the bottom, and then ripped it the rest of the way. (Do you know this trick for ripping across a seam for a straight cut every time?! 😱) I have quite a bit of the curtain leftover, but for under $20, I am happy with how it turned out. I am considering cutting it down the middle, so I can pull it across to the sides if I want to. Oh, these curtains come in a great variety of colors, too! Also super quick and easy to take down if you want/need to for any reason. 😉

Classroom Organization

Hey there! I know I have been absent from my blog... it's so busy during the school year and I plain forget! Anyway, I wanted to jump on and post a few pictures of my top 5 favorite ways to organize my classroom. You know how busy it gets- you have to be able to find what you need quickly. If you have to dig for something, you lose precious time that you simply do not have. Here are a few things that might make your teacher life a little easier...

#1: Paper storage. When I first started teaching, this was always something that bothered me. I hated those flimsy cardboard things that you could buy at the teacher stores. They never lasted and well... they were unattractive. I searched on Amazon and found these stackable paper sorters. LOVE them!!! The only downfall is that they are on display and people come to "borrow" paper and often never replace. But look at all of that pretty paper! Love! Also, I have extra room at the top and bottom for laminating sheets, Avery labels, and student writing paper. You can stack as many as you like!

Stackable paper sorter

#2 Prep Work Station. I have certain supplies that I like to keep out for my parent helpers. This includes a 3 hole punch; paper cutter; laminating machine; pens; a place for work that needs to be prepped, and a place for the finished work to go. Not to mention other miscellaneous supplies such as paper clips and pens. This is a shelf from Target- in the closet organization section. I believe it was around $13.00. It also stores scrap paper and a place for returned forms/notes for me. This keeps everything nice and tidy, and makes my teacher heart happy!

Parent Prep Work Station

#3 Extra Crayon Organization. My students all have their own box of crayons in their desk. However, you know someone is always missing a color or two...or three... I used to have a bucket of crayons where they could go grab that color. It took quite a while for them to find. So I decided to sort out the crayons by color. I had to mix a couple of like colors together, such as white and grey- but that's ok. Side note- I only use Crayola Twistables. They last forever and don't break. When they're gone, I just throw them away. But honestly, they last a long time. I have used them for years and years. To the left of the crayons are extra Expo markers and erasers. All of these things are extra supplies.

Extra Crayola Twistables

#4 Teacher Toolbox. I would be lost without these! When I am looking for something- even something totally random... I can always find it in one of these boxes. For example, I needed 3 AAA batteries for something the other day. I have a drawer for that. Lucky for me, I had just what I needed! (How often does that happen?!) The toolboxes are from Lowe's, but I am sure you can get them from Amazon or Home Depot as well. I chose to mount mine on the wall, but you certainly don't have to.

Teacher Toolbox

#5 Teacher Self-Inking Stamps. These are from the Etsy shop, Lucky to be in First (Except for top right and bottom right). I belong to her monthly stamp club. As you can see by the picture below, I love using these! The kids love getting a different stamp on their work each day, too! Great quality stamps. The plastic bin is from Target.

Teacher Stamps