Sunday

All About Me Poster

All About Me Poster 

We all do activities at the beginning of the school year to get to know our students.  One activity I do is an All About Me poster.  Each student gets to fill in information about themselves, such as writing abut the things that bug them, activities they like to do, favorite book, number of siblings, and more.  This is always a nice activity to do after the fast paced morning has settled down. 

You know what I mean......
you have gone over a million rules,
 they have written their names in a stack of books,
you have explained your classroom expectations,
shared the schedule,
and overwhelmed them any and everything  you think they need to know.
Let's face it.......The first day is a crazy day! 

Anyway, this activity allows them some down time to absorb what you have shared, to think about themselves and what they would people to know, and even allows them to do a bit of coloring.  You will have fun getting to know your kids with these All About Me posters.

There are other options for these posters.  You could send them  home for the kids to fill out.  You could send one home with your student of the week.  There are lots of possibilities.  Be creative!
Click the link below to get more info. or to purchase.


Here are the posters hanging outside my classroom.

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Do you have hurry sickness?

Slow Down, Teachers!


I thought this would be fitting as I go back to work.  The fast paced life style is about to pick back up. 


 
I know I do!

Are you stricken with the sickness that seems to be plaguing so many people today? With this sickness, there is no fever involved and no visits to the doctor. Its symptoms affect everyone around you, but most importantly, they affect you. The worst part about this sickness is you miss out on so many of life's wonderful moments.

It's called hurry sickness. Does it sound familiar? It's otherwise known as a sense of time urgency.

Ask yourself, "Is time a major factor in my life?"

Do you find yourself running around trying to get one thing done just so you can complete another?

Does your job place so many demands on you that you can hardly focus on what your real role is supposed to be? Maybe your real role at work involves people, yet you have so much paperwork to be completed you could easily forget about the people you are there to serve. Maybe you even start to see them as an interruption.

Do you take your work home with you and when your own child asks you a question while in the midst of getting your work done, you only give them a tiny portion of your attention, nodding, and not really knowing what they are saying? After all, you have deadlines to meet. You are hurried. Maybe you even start to see them as an interruption.

Hurry hates interruption.

You can't love.
You can't listen to a child.
Basically, you can't multi-task attention.

Hurry is an enemy.

Take note, being hurried is not being busy. Being busy can be a good thing. There is nothing really good about being hurried. Remember, being hurried is about time urgency. You don't have time for one thing because you are so hurried to do another.

If you are a hurried person, you don't have time for interruptions in your life. You don't have time to jump some one's car off. You don't have time to talk to someone in need. You don't have time to help the person who dropped something. You can't slow down long enough to talk to your kids.

So, what is your IQ anyway? No, I am not talking about your intelligence quotient. I'm talking about your Interruptibility Quotient. How many times do you allow for interruptions in your life? Do you slow down long enough to let God interrupt your life? What about when you didn't stop to help a person or talk to someone in need? Was that a prompt from God? It does make you think.

The next time you feel hurried or overcome with time urgency, take a moment to ponder if this interruption is really a disguise from God that he is trying to work in your life. I plan on trying it myself.



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Thursday

FREE Lesson Plan Template

FREE Printable Lesson Plan Template
I decided to make me a new lesson plan template for this school year. I reworked the template I am actually using in order to share it with you.  I  have my times and subjects typed on mine, but since you don't have the same ones as me, I took those off. Although you won't be able to type on this template and use it as an electronic lesson plan,  you are able to save the template and print it for your use in the classroom if you would like.  The large boxes are intended to write different subjects or activities.  The smaller boxes within the larger boxes are to write the subject name and/or the time of the subject.  Feel free to use this free lesson plan template in your room if it fits your needs.





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Tuesday

FREE Meet Your Teacher Day Treat

Meet Your Teacher Day Treat

We have all heard the saying....
  you only have one time to make a good first impression.

Well, this is true with meeting your students, too.  Did you know that some research shows that people form an opinion of you within the first 90 seconds of meeting you. 

 HELLO!!!  You better make it a great 90 seconds.  :-) 

If this stands true with students meeting a teacher then they are going to either walk away from 'meet your teacher day' grumbling that they have the meanest  teacher, or they will walk away smiling and thinking they have the best teacher in the world.  Let's face it, in a kid's eyes, those are about the only two choices. 

 For me, I want them to walk away thinking they have the coolest, most creative, and fun teacher EVER!!!  So, I start working on creating that caring classroom environment the very first time I meet the kids.  Not only do I have the room all arranged and decorated and put a smile on my face, but I usually gift them with a little something to make them feel special.  It's not much... just a little treat. This year, I have a movie theme going on in my classroom, and to go along with that theme I created a card to place on a baggie of popcorn or other special treat. 

This treat sheet doesn't have to be used exclusively for a movie themed classroom, as it would work in any setting in order to make a new student feel special.  If you would like to try gifting your new students with something special, feel free to use this FREE movie themed printable teacher treat sheet in your classroom. If you don't want to use it on the 'meet your teacher day', you could even use it the first day of school.

*****************************

Click Here to Get the Printable


 

For other creative ideas on creating a caring classroom, please head on over to Corkboard Connections, which is Laura Candler's awesome blog. Grab some tips and even some other freebies.  Click on the image below.




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Wednesday

My Movie Themed Classroom

My Movie Themed Classroom
Yep, it's that time again.... Back to School!

In my district, teachers go back this coming Monday.  Just as I do every year, I have spent several days in my room this week trying to get ahead of the preplanning game.  Isn't it terrible that you feel like you have to do stuff before preplanning just to feel on top of things!  After 17 years, I still feel that way.  Anyway, I thought I would share a few things from my classroom.  I have tried to work a movie theme into different areas of the room.  I still have lots to do, but here is a peek at what I've done thus far.  All of these items can be purchased from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. So, here goes.....

These are my movie themed classroom rules posters and my calendar set. You can purchase the movie themed class rules by clicking HERE. The calendar set comes in my movie themed classroom decoration set, and it can be purchased HERE.

Click on images to enlarge.

This is my movie themed hallway display.  It stays up all year, and I just change out the kids' work.
This also comes as part of my movie themed classroom decoration set.

I

I tried to work something movie themed into my reading area, so I printed off some theater curtains and made a poster that says, "Books are like Movies". 


This is something I made to help me call on kids randomly.  I won't use it all the time, but it's nice to be able to pull names out of a 'hat' sometimes.  Once I have my class list, I will put the kids' names on each of the popcorn pieces. This can be purchased HERE.



These are movie themed labels for my essential questions.  I simply clip them to my dry erase board and write the questions beside them.  


I also hung a few other things that are not movie themed, but I thought I would share. 
This is a place value chart I made using color coding.  Check out the details HERE.


I am using the set below as part of my behavior management.  There is a positive word for every letter of the alphabet.  Under each word are two cards.  Each month the kids can earn their name under a card when I see them displaying the positive behavior.  This display can be viewed and purchased HERE.






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Back to School Activities

Back to School Activities

I know, you are probably telling me to shush up, right?  You can't possibly be thinking of back-to-school activities when July has just begun!!  Well, the funny thing is, I start thinking of back to school as soon as it's the end of school.  I get so excited about summer because I LOVE my summers, but I also start thinking about how I want my class to be decorated, what I might set up differently for the new year, what theme I might like to use,  etc.  And I know a lot of other teachers are just like me.  It's just how we are.

My students go back to school the first week of August, which will be here sooner than later, so I thought I would go ahead and post a few things I think you could use the first week of school.

Just click the links or pictures to be taken right to the product.

If you are looking for an activity pack for grades 3-5, you may want to check this one out:

Back to School Activities



Looking for a fun way for your students to get to know each other?

Back to School Game



Looking for a way to motivate your kids to read?  Celebrate with ice cream!

Year Long Reading Incentive Program


Motivate your kids with some themed writing paper.




The above listed activities are just a few of the things I have to offer to get your classroom and students ready for the new year.  Don't forget to check out my positive words behavior management system, my reader's workshop guide for grades 3-5, my themed classroom sets, and so much more.  Good luck finding lots of great things!


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Monday

Are You Building Walls?

Building Walls

I realize this blog post has nothing to do with teaching, but it does have to do with life. :-)  I love to reflect and even go back to rethink things I have thought much about before.  This is a recycled blog post from my 'mom blog' that I used to keep up with.   I have several others I will be posting over the next few weeks.  I hope you enjoy. 

Are you Building Walls only to have them Knocked Down?

Do you ever see people that have what you want?

Do you look at them and wonder, "How can I get that?"

You know what I'm talking about.... you see some people and you think they are simply blessed beyond belief. You start to desire what they have.

You want to build a successful business just like they have.
You want your marriage to be happy just like theirs.
You want the funds in your bank account to runnith over exactly like theirs.
You want deep faith to lead your life just as it leads theirs.
And, you want your family to have close bonds just like you witness in theirs.

So, what's the difference?

Why do they seem to have it all when your walls are crumbling down? Do you find yourself asking, "Why can't I get ahead in these areas of my life?"

Maybe your marriage is in turmoil.... maybe it's even your third marriage that is falling apart.
Maybe your bank account is overdrawn.
Maybe your family doesn't find the time to be a family.
Maybe your business is filing bankruptcy.
Maybe you just don't have the faith.

For these areas of your life to grow, it takes sweat. It also takes consistency. And that means it's not going to be easy.

Let's just focus on marriage, and then you can apply this metaphor to the rest of your life.

The blocks on the left represent a man who is devoted to his wife. He is there for her and wants to see their relationship grow. The blocks on the right also represent a man who is devoted to his wife. He is there for her and wants to see their relationship grow.


A year passes. The man on the left continues to be devoted to his wife. He starts to put sweat equity into the marriage. He asks her how she is doing on a daily basis. He pours her coffee. He asks her out for date nights. He prays for her and their marriage. The man on the right expects that his marriage will work, but there is no consistency in his actions and he is not willing to sweat. He is sometimes late for dinner and doesn't call. He sometimes forgets to greet his wife when he comes home from work. He doesn't ask her directly how her day went but does talk about how hard his was. His wall are destined to start to crumble.

2 years later

The man on left, his marriage is growing. He has something to show for his sweat. The man on the right, his marriage is falling apart. He will have to work hard, put things in overdrive, to build his walls back up if he wants his relationship to work.


3 years later

The man on the left now has a firm foundation for his marriage. He will continue to devote the time, energy, and be consistent in his actions in order to build this lasting relationship. The man on the right has backtracked. He now has to recover from all his inconsistencies and try to make things work. He can build the walls again, but keep in mind, he is still on the first floor.


4 years later
It's a vicious cycle of inconsistencies for the man on the right.

five years later
Which set of blocks represents you? Are you the blocks on the right, and you find yourself having to rebuild everything from relationships to your bank account to your faith just because you are not willing to work at it? or maybe you have to work extra hard to make up for the lost effort. Is it time to break the cycle of inconsistencies in your life? After 5 years, the man on the left has something to show for his hard work. The man on the right builds his walls only to have them fall down... time after time.

You might have even noticed that the man on the right came close to building five floors himself. The problem was, his inconsistencies kept those floors from growing. You have a choice, you can work hard and have one floor, or you can work hard and build a high-rise. The high-rise gets you closer to the sky. The high-rise is what you get after many years of sweat equity.

So, what is the answer?

prayer, sweat, consistency

Apply those to your life and you will build your business, your finances, your family, your marriage, and your faith.






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Saturday

Printable Alphabet Matching Game

FREE Fun Alphabet Game

This is just a basic partner game to reinforce lower case and upper case letters.  If you decide to download this alphabet game, please share the sweetness by liking me on facebook or leaving me some love notes in my comment section below. :-)  You have my permission to share about this game on your blog with a link back to my website.  Thanks so much. 





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Sunday

Classroom Bulletin Board Border

Bulletin Board Border
Calling all teachers! If you are looking to have the cutest bulletin board border around, you have got to check out my new line of classroom borders.  The colors are bright and the graphics are adorable.  I am thinking you are going to have a hard time finding borders as fun and colorful as these to wrap around the biggest displays in your classroom......  you know what I'm talking about...those huge rectangular boxes that we go in and decorate each year.

So, hop to it....  :-)
 check out my new bulletin board shopping page.  Click on the pictures and you will be taken right to more details in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.  They are inexpensive, and guess what else?  Because they are downloadable files, you can print as much as you like... year after year!!

Click here to view border choices:  BULLETIN BOARD BORDERS
Here is a sample printed and laminate.

Here is an example of a set of bulletin board borders.

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Saturday

Classroom Management

Classroom Management Idea


Need an extra component to add to your behavior/classroom management system?

Everyone likes to be told they are doing something good, right? Well this idea was devised for that very reason. I am a believer that if you tell kids they are doing something right, give them compliments, their next behaviors will follow that same pattern. When you see a child smiling, tell them how much you loved seeing them smile, or when they made someone else smile. :-) When you see a child doing something brilliant, tell them..... 

This package includes 26 words that go along with each letter of the alphabet. Hence, the name... The ABC's of Positive Thinking. Each piece of paper has 2 word that can either be cut apart of left on one whole piece. There is a title page as well that can also be hung with the words. 

The idea is that you would hang the words on the wall either vertically or horixontally, leaving enough space to hang cards below or beside each word. This can also be used on a bulletin board. When you see a child displaying one of those words, write their name on one of the coordinating cards and hang it with the word. Say in front of the class, "Johnny really brought JOY to our class when he....."

You will find that this behavior management method of positive thinking forces you to be a positive thinker towards your students. If you have a word that is left with no names, ask the kids why they think no one is displaying that behavior and that the goal should be to work your way under that word. 

Even if you just put up 1-3 words a day, you will have accomplished positive thinking. You can also start over each nine weeks if you wanted to, so that the names don't stretch around your room.

Another suggestion is to laminate a bunch of the name cards and write on them with a Visa V marker that will erase.

I hope these cards will bring lots of compliments to your classroom and help you with your classroom management/behavior management.

Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking the link below to purchase this item.



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Tuesday

Hollywood - Movie Classroom Theme

Classroom Theme

Summer has just begun, and I am already preparing for next school year... call me CRAZY!
If you are like me, you like to change your classroom theme each year.  Every time I start making stuff for the new theme, I ask myself, "Why oh Why do I do this EVERY year!"  After all, it's a new set of kids, so they haven't been in the classroom with the old theme.  In a sense, I guess I do it for ME!  I do spend 6-8 hours in the classroom, right?  I need change... something to get excited about.  How about you?  Do you find yourself doing the same thing?

 
The last few  years I have gone from a theme of Phillips' Fire Crackers, which was a patriotic theme, to a Dr. Seuss theme, to a What's cooking in Mrs. Phillips' room theme...... and now I am headed to a Hollywood theme, otherwise known as a movie theme.  Needless to say, I have already created most of the themed resources and I have them up for sale in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

If you are interested in the same classroom theme, do check out this fun Hollywood/Movie package. It has LOTS of printables to make for a fun year.



Click on the link above for all the details.

Click on the image to enlarge.


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Father's Day Activity

Father's Day Mini Book Activity

Don't forget to give Dad some 'lovin on Father's Day!! Sometimes Dads get the raw end of the deal because Father's Day falls during the summer for most school systems, especially in the south.  Don't let that happen this year.  Have your students design their Father's Day mini book project (see below) before they leave for summer vacation. This little Father's Day activity is a great literacy activity because it involves writing.  It will work perfectly as a whole group activity or as a center.  Students simply fill in the information, color, cut, and staple into a mini booklet.  Dad will really appreciate the thought that went into each page. 

Click on the link above to get all the details on this Father's Day Activity.


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Monday

End of School Activities

Seventeen Days....
Is it bad that we teachers count down the days? 
Nah!  We deserve a break, right!
It's not like I don't enjoy being at school.  I love the kids.
But, Geeeeeeeee..... After testing (and more testing).....
Summer can't get here fast enough.
How about you?... Ready for summer?
They used to say that  teachers had three reasons to teach.
June
July
August
That is a thing of the past for me.  I get out in on May 23 and go back at the end of July. It seems to get earlier and earlier ever year.  Crazy how that works.

Do you have an 'end of the year checklist' at your school? 

I shall be getting that in the next week or so.  My heart rate always seems to go up when I get that list. Good grief!  It is so stinkin' long with so many things to do.  Plus we have to get a signature for just about everything we do.  We run around from place to place, deadlines to meet, materials to account for, data to calculate..... the list goes on and on.  So much to do!

I actually like the last couple of days of school when there is  time to do a few fun activities.   I don't know how it is at your school, but they collect our textbooks about a week or more before school gets out. Therefore you have to come up with activities to keep the kids motivated and on task.  Here are a few activities I plan to do.  You can find these in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

End of School Year Word Search Activity





End of School Year Activities





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Friday

Test Taking Motivational Messages

Get Your Students Motivated for "The Test"

Don't you just love the book Testing Miss Malarkey? It's always a fun one to read right before those annual standardized tests.  There is always such stress behind these tests, so anything that can bring a smile is an accomplishment.  I always like to do something special for the kids, whether it's just doing something special the day testing begins or sometimes I will go all out and do something every morning when they come in.  Lots of people will leave Smarties on the desks reminding kids how smart they are.  I tried to come up with a few different ideas to use this  year.  Our Georgia State test starts this Monday, so I plan to leave a special message on the kids' desks for them to find each morning when they come in.  If you would like to do the same, feel free to download this FREE file.  Just click the link below.  It is always appreciated if you choose to download something to please help spread the word about my blog. Thanks much!




And while I am in the test taking mode, I thought I would share this with you.  :-) It's just a little something I put together to express my opinion.




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Wednesday

Fun Cootie Catchers

Cootie Catchers.... AKA  Fortune Tellers

You know what I'm talking about, right?  They have been around forEVER! What's amazing though is the kids still love them.  Over the years I have had kids that really get into them, while other groups of kids will make them here and there, and at times it may just be one or two kids in the class.  There is no telling what the kids will write on the inside of their cootie catcher.... everything from "You will get married to Bobbie", to "You live on Mars." to whatever else they can come up with.  These are just non-sense fun and probably something you tell the kids to put away or throw away.  Right

Have you ever thought about actually encouraging these little cootie catchers?  By the way, where did that name come from anyway?  I understand the fortune teller name but cootie catcher???? not sure about that one!  Anyway, I thought my kids would love to be able to use a fortune teller that was promoted by the teacher.  They would think of me as the cool teacher, HA!  :=)  In an effort to try it out, I made a couple.  They were a big hit!  I plan to make many more simply because they do offer a great review opportunity.  With testing coming up, this is a fun way to review skills previously taught. Check them out, and get all the details in my Teachers Pay Teacher's Store.

Printable Number Cootie Catchers

Printable Landforms Fortune Tellers

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