Saturday

Sub Plans

Easy Sub Plan Notebook


What is it with teachers and being sick????
You know what I'm talking about!
Most of us would prefer to go in and teach rather than have to deal with those stinkin sub plans.

Do you think people in other career fields feel that way? Do they have to spend over an hour preparing plans, getting paperwork together, etc. just because they are sick and need to take a day off? 

Maybe I put too much pressure on myself (could be). Despite the fact that I have 'emergency sub plans' at school, I feel like if I am going to take a day off for something like a sinus infection, I need to prepare very detailed plans about how the day runs, especially if I want my sub to be able to keep me on my schedule of curriculum that has to be taught. After all, it's a race to get it all covered with me being there all 180 days. 

When I think about having to do the sub plans and about all the kids will probably miss if I am not there, I decide that it is probably best if I am there, so I don't even worry about getting a sub. There I go... trudging into work with weeks and weeks of sick leave built up that I never take, feeling like crap, going on with my day, teaching away. 

At the school I used to teach at you had to find your own sub - even if it was last minute and you were puking all over the place.  Yep, let's say you have been throwing up all night, you wake up the next morning realizing you have to have your class covered.  Guess what, you better get on the phone and start calling a hundred subs despite the fact that you have a fever, can't hold down your stomach acids, and can barely hold your head up.  Believe me, I know it to be true because it happened to me.
One time my daughter threw up in the car on the way to school. Once I got to school with my sick daugher in tow, I went to the front office and had to get on the phone and start calling subs. And yes, my sick daughter was right there beside me. After calling about thirty subs, I was told they would take care of it, but geeeesh.... I was so worked up about that situation, feeling terrible for my daughter, and I was so frustrated!!

Is that right?  It sounds so insensitive and backwards to me.  I always wonder if the general public knows these kinds of things go on for teachers.  I am fortunate where I am now.  If it is an emergency situation you can call a designated person and they will find your sub.  You only have to find a sub if you know in advance you are going to be out.

What is it like where you teach?  Do you feel like me when it comes to being out?

If you need some ideas for your sub plans, you may my sub folder activities helpful. You can find these in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

Click the link below to view these substitute folder ideas.
 


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teachers pay teachers store
For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.

Tuesday

FREE Multiplication Practice Paper

Multiplication Practice Paper


Yeah, I know..... It has been FOR-ever since I posted. My school year has gotten off to a very tiring start.  Maybe if I told you I have 32 fourth graders that would explain everything. :-/  WOW, right?

By the way, I haven't even blogged since my blog make over...
I do hope you like!

If you haven't been to my TpT store lately, please do check it out.  Although I haven't been blogging, I have tons of new products.  I will write a few blog posts about those soon. 

In the mean time, I wanted to offer up this new FREE multiplication practice sheet I made.  It has graph paper parts for each problem you give the kids. This helps with the lining up of the places, which can be so important when working with two digit by two digit multiplication.  The fun part about the multiplication sheet is the sticker part.  While you are walking around the room monitoring the kids as they practice problems, you will give them a sticker when they get one right.  They will do problem after problem when they know they get the colorful sticker if they do it correctly.  Before long, multiplication will be a breeze for them. I hope your students enjoy.

Click below for the freebie.
You will be taken directly to my TpT store where you can get a direct download.



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Thank you for helping to spread the word about Classroom Confections.
We appreciate you 'liking' us on facebook, tweeting about us, or pinning us on Pinterest.

teachers pay teachers store
For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.


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.

Share the Sweetness!
Thank you for helping to spread the word about Classroom Confections.
We appreciate you 'liking' us on facebook, tweeting about us, or pinning us on Pinterest.

teachers pay teachers store
For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.

 

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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Thank you for helping to spread the word about Classroom Confections.
We appreciate you 'liking' us on facebook, tweeting about us, or pinning us on Pinterest.

teachers pay teachers store
For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.



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.





Share the Sweetness!
Thank you for helping to spread the word about Classroom Confections.
We appreciate you 'liking' us on facebook, tweeting about us, or pinning us on Pinterest.

teachers pay teachers store
For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.

If you are a teacher and you like what you see, please visit often.