Saturday, March 31, 2012

ANOTHER give-a-way!!!!!

YEA!!! I am finally posting, and it's for a GIVEAWAY that I am having over at Think, Wonder, & Teach. So head over, read, and enter :)

 
Click her button to head over!

For those of you that wanted to see more pictures of how I use my buckets in my classroom...here they are!











Ones I have made for other classrooms:






It's SPRING BREAK here...so get ready to hear A LOT more from me :)

Jessica

Monday, March 26, 2012

Perspective

Once again the "bug" has hit my house, this time ME! Of course..mommy is the last to get it. I hope we are done for this "season"! But tonight I was so happy that I felt better enough to attend a fund raiser for an AMAZING little girl! Reading the family blog, seeing the heartwarming and sometimes heart wrenching pictures puts so many things into perspective.

When I complain about getting a "bug" or that my daughter is always sick, or when I find myself losing my patience with her I remind myself of this strong, tough, inspirational little girl that I have never had the privilege of meeting. I went to high school with both of her parents, and as I read their blog I can't begin to describe their faith, love, compassion, and strength that they express, show, and LIVE daily!

So take a few minutes out of your day/night, head over and read... follow if you would like, or just keep this inspirational family in your thoughts and prayers: http://needhamcrew.blogspot.com/

Thanks,
Jessica

Piper

Piper and her sister Linley

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Fairy!??!?

I am pretty upset that the grading fairy has yet to visit my classroom or the bag that I keep carrying back and forth to and from school. Who is keeping her busy? Seriously, I can't seem to find an extra minute to grade...and you may ask why not now? Well my three year old doesn't mind when I get on the computer (at least until she wants to play games), but as soon as those papers come out she wants to help! Which means coloring on the papers. I try to give her, her own papers to "grade" but she knows the difference...little smarty!

So my few days have been filled with laundry, doctor's visits, and a ton of cuddling...I seriously have a sore arm

*BREAK*

I'm back, not that you knew or even noticed I was gone, but I was! My daughter just decided that she is still sick. Since most of you all are teachers I have no problem sharing that I just saw EVERYTHING my child ate for the entire day! She is past the fever and we thought the throwing up...and is on antibiotics for the next 10 days for an ear infection...but woke up this morning with a lot of drainage and coughing. So she pretty much just coughed herself into throwing up.

Did I mention that after 3 1/2 days of this I headed back to work yesterday to be greeted by a puking student before the first bell even rang! Oh the joys.

Well seeing that I have not had a spare minute to make anything and that darn fairy isn't coming to visit any time soon...I'll share some freebies with you all that I have managed to find.

The first is a spelling freebie from Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies (click the name to navigate to the freebie) It's that time of year where the students are OVER doing spelling homework. For the past two weeks they have been doing Tic-Tac-Toe spelling...which most enjoy...especially the picture drawing exercises and the activity they can choose to do by cutting letters and their spelling words out of magazines and newspapers. But as I said I try to keep it different and interesting, so when I saw this activity I "hopped" on it :)

 Head over to Think, Wonder, Teach to pick up your cup of coffee (which I will probably need tomorrow after the night I think I am about to have!). Seriously though she is having some great give-a-ways this month, so go enter!

Have I mentioned how much I am jealous of LOVE Third Grade Gridiron?! Well I am a little jealous, she seems to have it together and the products she makes I swear she gets in my head when I am sleeping and makes them! Which saves me so much time, but I can't say I have saved so much money :) But this weekend she posted a Heroes of Our Democracy review packet that is amazing and FREE! So click her name above to retrieve. Also on her TPT store she posted a perimeter/area packet (FREE) that my kids LOVE.

Since this is just around the corner for me, I was so excited when 4th Grade Frolics posted this multiplication task card freebie! YEA! (is 2 digit multiplication though)

And finally to feed my crafty side here was a cute craft to do with pencil erasers. Ucreate with Kids posted a link to the original blog.

I hope you get some great freebies and ideas! Maybe I'll get to make/share some things of my own soon!

Have a great evening
Jessica

Saturday, March 17, 2012

HUGE give-a-way

Head over to Pocket Full of Kinders...she is celebrating 400 followers and is having a MEGA, HUGE give-a-way....that I am a part of! That's right you could win a personalized bucket from my Quite A Pear store...for you or your classroom, or even as a gift for someone else.

So what are you waiting for? Head over and enter (well you can finish reading my post first)!!! Click below:



BTW....I do see that I have reached 500!!! I'm thrilled, excited, and in shock! I'm sorry I don't have a huge, mega give-a-way....yet. I know excuses, excuses, but I really do have them...right now I am typing this post with one hand, as my little girl is laying in my lap puking and fever filled, again! I told her she is doing her best to make me be as least productive as possible....with stacks of papers in my bag and bucket orders to be filled. But isn't that how it always happens? So I promise I will make it up to all my fabulous readers/followers!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Upgrade

As spring rolls around and the stores start stocking their shelves with everything "srpingy", bright, and beautiful...I start stalking all the stores for new buckets! People ask where I get them from, and I pretty much look EVERYWHERE. But this time of year, because buckets tend to be seasonal, they are EVERYWHERE. I love it! So I knew one of my favorite stores carried metal beverage buckets and metal utensil caddies. I could have kicked myself last year for not going with my gut and picking them up, so when I wanted to use caddies for my tables/groups I had to settle with what was left over...which wasn't too bad, but I knew they wouldn't last for much more than a year.

The old caddies...baskets


Therefore as soon as I saw them in the store I grabbed them, and have to admit...decorated them that night! I love how they came out and can't wait to put them in my FB "store". 






Have to admit the kids were excited too!

Here are two more organizers that we made in our continuous review of our roots:

This is a classic window foldable, with four flaps, we just cut the top two off to make a title bar

On the outside the students wrote the word and definition, on the inside they drew a picture and wrote a sentence. 

This one is what is called the envelope foldable. I just change it up a little and instead of the four flaps being long triangles, they bent the point of the triangle back to the top fold, and then cut off the smaller triangle they just made (hope that makes some sense). This one is a favorite.



On top of the flap they wrote the word they chose. Under the flap they had to write the definition and a sentence, some chose to draw a picture too, I didn't require it because of the area being smaller than usual.


~Jessica




Saturday, March 10, 2012

Collecting Work

I'm not sure why, but I thought I had posted something about how I collect classwork. But when a follower posted a comment as to how I do this I searched through old posts and found nothing. So thank you for bringing it to my attention.

It's pretty simple, yet very effective. I don't know why it took me 4yrs into my teaching career to figure it out...but it is the one procedure that I never change!


Okay so this is how it is set up in my classroom, you can find the file folder pocket charts at any school supply store. I use regular file folders, as pictured below. You can find the printable here as well as the printable for my weekly behavior chart that I staple inside of the folder, Behavior Management Plan




On the tab of each (after laminating) I put each student's name on them as well as their number. I usually have to place two to three folders in each pocket (on the left side, complete). I also put their numbers on laminated cards or di-cuts and staple them to the pocket chart where their folder belongs. So for example the first pocket will have 1-2 stapled to the side (just to keep their folders in order and where they belong).

All of the folders start in the complete side. As the week progresses and classwork assignments are given the students have two options: if they complete their work they put it in their folder and keep it on the complete side, however, if they are still working on it and we are moving on they then put their assignment in their folder and move the folder to the not complete side. Again keeping their folder in the correct order. During the day/week when they finish something early or we have a few free minutes they go over to their folder and grab that unfinished assignment to complete. Once they finish their assignment they can move their folder back to the complete side.

This procedure helps with MANY things. First is that NOTHING ends up in their desk. Now I am not saying this NEVER happens (just desk dumped one of my student's desks this week as a matter of fact, and found an ENTIRE box of used, yes used, tissues as well as 5 missing assignments and numerous other homework and group work papers...it was horrible). But for the most part the students are really great about putting their work in the folders.

The next thing this helps with is when I am ready to grade/collect work I simply grab all of the folders in number order. Then I go through each folder and sort out their work. As I do this I am able to see who is finished and who is not, if there is still time for the students to complete the work I leave the assignment in the folder, if it is close to the end of the week or they need to be in study hall I take the assignment out and make a separate pile for study hall. As I am sorting because the folders are already in number order...after I grade...well entering them into the gradebook is quick!!!! Then even one step further, they are still in order when I go to file them for their Friday Folders!

Also to bring a little SPRING into your day...here is a pic of my most recent bucket, don't forget to stop by and "like" us at Quite a Pear!



Hope this helps!
~Jessica