Get Them Reading!

This year has been a struggle to know exactly how much my students are reading at home.  We sent home all their textbooks and have given them access to use the anthology as an independent reading option - just in case they didn't have anything else.  Our school library has been checking out books every Friday, but families still have to go online to check them out. I do weekly conferences and we are still doing the 40 Book Challenge... basal stories are counting in those as well. No offense to basals - but sometime they are really boring.  Especially when the kids are used to reading full on novels.

My dad usually buys a monthly book for my students.  He's done it for years.  Last year when everything shut down, I still had the spring set of books that I haven't been able to give out yet.  At least the ones for April and May - so about 64 books that were in my classroom, different titles since I had picked up those multipacks from Scholastic. I only had 7 books per title, so I've used those this year.  

I've put 2 titles in our office crate per month - about 14 books. It's been a first come, first grab kind of thing.  I post a picture in Class Dojo and on our TEAM at the beginning of the month. I talk it up big time during class.  Interested kids will motivate their families to get to school. Some kids don't care - they either really don't care or they just don't like those titles.  But the books have flown from our crate.  The deal is when they come they should only grab one book, and if another is still there the next week that they can choose a different title.  

I'm now working through other sets that I've used for Book Clubs - the copies that still look brand new that I just don't need anymore.  I'm glad they are adding to their home libraries, and I hope they always remember these gift books in this crazy year. 

Hope you have a great day!

Donors Choose Project Ideas

Who has used Donors Choose?  Who has never taken that first step?  Let me make it easy for you.

Donors Choose doesn't have to be difficult, and it's not scary.  Here are the basic steps:

1.  Go too www.donorschoose.org

2.  Click "New Project"

3. If you have a "campaign code", enter it at the bottom of the screen where it says "Got a campaign code?"

4.  Fill in the next screen about your students (Who page) - once you've done it, it saves for future projects as well.

5.  Go shopping, using their links on the What page (Amazon things need to be Amazon prime), lots more other options too.  I mainly stick with Amazon since it's fast and easy to do returns if needed.

6.  Fill out the Why page about the project.  They have text boxes to fill in with a specific word count.  

7.  Review everything and submit.. you'll get an email to let you know when it's live.  

Helpful things to do to help it get funded:

*Send the link to your social media pages, so many people want to help your classroom.  

*Send the link to your classroom families, so many families want to help your classroom.

*If you can, give a donation yourself - it will help get it jump started.  

After it's funded:

Do the thank you package soon to earn points - photos, thank you notes, etc. 

I've used Donors Choose since December of 2012, and have added so many great resources and experiences to my classroom.  Need an idea?  Go wandering around their site or talk to your colleagues to spark ideas.  

Here are my past funded projects in case you want to see what I wrote, what I ordered, etc:

*Class set of Frindle books

*Class iPad

*Class set of Who Was books

*5 Boogie Boards (LCD Writing Tablets)

*Class subscription to Scholastic News

*7 Wobble Cushions

*Class set of Bouncy Bands 

*Mentor Texts for Mentor Sentences Volume 2

*Mentor Texts for Mentor Sentences Volume 1

*Everything needed for an Owl Pellet Dissection experiment

*Legos for STEM Enrichment

*Class set of Wonder

*Class set of Blood on the River

*USA class rug

*Everything needed for a GLOW Day

*Class subscription for TIME for Kids

I'm so thankful for everyone that has helped my students throughout the years.  Large companies and individuals alike, friends, family, and strangers.  It's such a powerful site.  I now have to think of what I really want for next year... I'm thinking room transformation materials... We'll see!

I hope this helps! 

"Adopt a Reader" Idea

This last year there was a great idea that swept over the classrooms - having sponsors step up to "adopt" a reader.  For $9 a year, a child could receive a school year's worth of books from Scholastic. 

9 books from the dollar deals.  $9.  That's it.

Well I saw fellow teachers put it out there on Facebook, and they were getting so many of their personal friends to donate.  A person there and a person here.  I put it out on Facebook too, and then came the awkward silence that followed.  It was just a little embarrassing.  

Then I got a message from my dad that forever changed my classroom.  He said that he wanted to sponsor not just one or two kids, but the ENTIRE class of 30 kids.

It's he a great guy?!!

(Yes, it was a tax write off for him, but STILL! He is a great guy, and he knows how important reading is.).

The kids this year received a book a month from my dad.  

I picked up some handled gift bags from Michaels, labeled the bags with the kids names on one side, and added this note on the back of the bag.   I chose different genres they would enjoy, all of them were from the dollar deals.  I chose a mixture of classics and newer.  They each had a message to pass on.   The kids were able to fill their home libraries with the books, or they passed them onto others after they read them.

It was a nice treat every month.  It was a gift that continued to give.  AND Dad has already said he's going to do it again next year.  :)  

Snowman Ornaments

Every year I like to have my class make something to give their parents for Christmas.  This year I saw a cute idea over on IG to have the kids use glass ornaments and fill them up with marshmallows to create snowmen. I changed it up a bit and they filled it with 2 cotton balls, then used black sharpie for the eyes and a smudge of orange paint for the nose.  It was super simple, pretty cheap, and the kids were so proud.  I will definitely do this again!

Starry Night and Factor Flowers

This year I decided to do something different for their parent gifts.  I had them create Van Gogh's Starry Night on an 8 x 10 construction paper.  I've done the project in the past using pastels, sometimes with watercolors, but this time I chose this mixed-media design by Deep Space Sparkle.  It involved tempera paint, pastels, and construction paper - all completed in about one hour.  I liked how she broke down the steps and made it super easy for students to visualize the project.  

When completed the projects were put into Dollar Tree frames, and wrapped up for parents.  The Dollar Tree cashier just looked at my cart with 34 frames and said that I must be a teacher... I guess it showed.  :)  

The week before break we started our Fraction unit... which starts with a lesson on Factors.  We've been doing Factors for a while, so it wasn't anything new... to make it a little special I had them create poinsettias (or their version of poinsettias).  I gave them either a piece of pink or red construction paper and a piece of black.  They folded up the pink/red into smaller rectangles and cut out the petals, then had to create 4 petal flowers that were glued onto the black background.  Each petal had one factor number pair.  For example if they chose the main number of 24 - the petals had 1 x 24, 2 x 16, 3 x 8, and 4 x 6 written on them.  So many main numbers had exactly 4 factor pairs, so these flowers have a lot of variety.  It also makes my classroom look extra happy.  :)  Just a little thing to combine math with art... and that makes my students a little more engaged the week before break.  

What parent gifts did you give this year?  How do you solidify the factor concept?  Please share!

Birthday Treats Complete {Freebie}

Usually I give out pencils for birthdays, and I probably still will... but I wanted to give the kids something that I KNOW they will like as well... glow sticks!  They are cheap (usually I can get a 12 pack at Michaels for $1), but they absolutely love it.

I printed the cards on colored card stock to make them last a while (it's 2 per page), and now they are ready for school.  Hope this helps you.  :)    

Have a great day!

Candy Awards for Staff

I wanted to do a shout out about the FREE Candy Awards that Reagan Tunstall has shared over on TPT.  Awesome stuff!  I didn't print these out for kids though, they will have another gift, these are for my teacher buddies at school.  Who exactly?  The secretaries, custodians, admin, teammates, librarian, ELD teacher, etc... and for my boys' teachers and paras as well.

This time of year I have a very limited color ink situation going on... so I saved ink by printing 6 per page.  I filled them out, laminated them, hole punched, and then used ribbon to attach to the candy.  The ones I used for teachers were Snickers, Skittles, Bubble Gum, and Crunch.  

It's the thought that counts!

Mother's Day

I know I'm running late, but wanted to show off our Mother's Day cards and gifts.  My teaching neighbor had a great idea for a Mother's Day card... which tied in perfectly with the symmetry we were reviewing that day.  

For our actual gift, the kids took their canvas self portraits and I wrapped them with yarn, and then we added their MOM card to them.  

The pink paper was 12 x 18 folded in half, then they used a file folder template of the above design to trace onto half of the paper, making sure to line it up with the fold.

When it opens up the inside reads MOM.  The kids wrote letters to their moms on the left side, and could draw or create poetry for their mom on the right side.  All in all, I'm impressed with how these kids did this year... only a couple of kids needed a new piece of pink paper to restart.  :)  

What did you do for Mother's Day?  

5 Pictures

5 random pictures...  I have realized I haven't shared on here...

Here are my student gifts. I still need to write their names on the cups, but that's a project for this weekend. Have a Kool Summer!

Parent Helpers are getting a water bottle and a finger ice cream scoop.  Have a refreshing summer!  Thanks for all your help!  

Made up their binders for next year. They are stored at school already.

Printed off my whole class writing journal bundle and realized I had uploaded the wrong attachment. I wish someone had told me- so embarrassing! It's all fixed, and is 50% off for a limited time. My "future teachers" helped me glue the covers onto new notebooks today and now those are also stored for next year.

We did art today! When do we not do art lately? Kids drew pictures of the state symbols today, then painted. Tomorrow we'll add a class photo and they can bring it home. 

6 more days... 

What I Did Today & Student Gifts

Today I spent a good portion of the day in the hospital surgery waiting room with my Dad and Sister... We were waiting for Mom to get her brand new hip.  It had been exactly 3 months 5 days since I had sat in that same waiting room, while she was going in for #1.  I'm happy for her - thrilled for her - but it was still nerve wracking waiting... and waiting... hoping/praying/wishing for news.  Every time she goes in for a surgery - there have been a lot with her heart issues - there have been complications.  This time around (totally thanking God for it) there were none AND they started her on Physical Therapy this afternoon.  At this point she should be home in 3 or 4 days.  :)    

My dad and sister

While at the hospital I brought school stuff to keep me occupied.  My sister drove, and I worked on stuff in the car... writing 32 Christmas cards out for my students.  In the past couple of years I have just clicked print to write them a note, this year I wanted to make it a little more personalized for them.  I bought cards after Christmas last year when they were super cheap (75% off) and have stored them.  At the hospital, I turned around on the bench, and used the window sill to write them out.  

I got really into alliterations when writing - a fantastic fun filled family vacation...  I also had to include a note about seeing them next year...  :)  I still remember my 4th grade teacher telling us that we wouldn't have any more homework for the remainder of the year (it was at Christmas time) - I got really excited for a moment, and then realized she wasn't talking about the school year...

As for my student gifts this year, well the other night I brought my big box of stuff to my parents for our big family dinner.  Mom was a teacher for 37 years before she retired, so I can still talk her into helping with the assembly line.  You might have seen it over on IG.

What's included this year:

Frindle book - got it for $1 back in September

Packet Instant Hot Chocolate Mix

Multiplication Fact Pencil (used bonus points)

Silly eraser (Dollar Store)

Applebee's Super Reader (free kid's meal) - these were a donation from the restaurant.

Hope this gives you some ideas!  

Linking up with 3rd Grade Thoughts linky party!  

Grade Level Team Gifts

Had to share what I posted last night on FB.  

I know, I know - the second post of the day - it's okay, really!  Just breathe!

I love personalized presents and wanted to do something special for my 

grade level team since we have all had QUITE THE YEAR with our darlings. 

A T-shirt was out of the question since we would never wear it to school, a mug was out of the question since we really don't need anymore mugs... or else we would feel the need to hide it.

So, I found these medals over at Oriental Trading Company.  

There are many styles to choose from on the front, but the back is completely customizable.  

The front of ours will say "Victory", and the back is what is shown above.

I had 3 lines, but I just couldn't bring myself to add anything more to it.

I'm understated like that. 

Totally worth the $4.25 each. 

Hope you are having a great day!!

Gift Giving - Office and Team Gifts

I need to make Christmas school gift giving affordable and I am SICK of baking cookies.  Probably because I baked and baked as I stuck cookies into oven mitts for my parent helpers.
So, since I tend to have a weird sense of humor - (I get a kick out of puns) - I am handing these little things out tomorrow morning.  I seriously doubt that my coworkers are going to be checking the blog between now and then, so I think I'm safe in posting.  :)

"Have a very berry Christmas" - These are reusable tote bags that tie up into a little strawberry shape.  I love my Amazon finds, especially when they are adorable.  They were about $1 with free shipping a couple of weeks back.  Just a little something for my teammates to help haul out the goodies tomorrow.    

"Orange you glad it's Friday, December 14th?" - These notes are tied onto personal size orange soda.  They are for the office staff.  A 6 pack of soda was about $3 tonight at the store.  
Last year, I did these for the office staff,  so now I have to keep going on the puns...  "We wisk you a Merry Kiss-mass" (This isn't my picture, that was before I started blogging and I wasn't thinking pictures, but I did make mine look exactly like this, found everything at the dollar store.)

Click to go to the original website

I know this was a double post, but maybe you specifically avoided my owl pellet dissection pictures from earlier this evening.  :)  I wouldn't blame you at all... I cringed while opening up the package too!  

Parent Helper Gifts

I decided to make up my parent gifts today.  Well, I guess I really didn't have a choice since for the rest of the week I will be seeing my helpers one more time before vacation.  What I'm giving them this year is an oven mitt with homemade cookies (Ricotta), and a note that says "Thank you for lending a helping hand..."  Get it?  Yeah, I'm bad with puns.

Here is the link to download through Google Docs. 
Hope it helps!  

Traditions Book (Writing)

This time of year I really start thinking of traditions.  I personally love them.  I love the special routines surrounding a certain holiday. So, the time between Thanksgiving vacation and Winter break I have my students create a book that includes all their special family traditions.  
Last year I had the idiotic idea of trying to have them do the entire book in a 2 day span to be able to submit it to Student Treasures on time for our publishing date.  

click to go to their website

Student Treasures is a company that publishes student work into their own hardback book.  It's a free service, they just include a note that asks parents if they want to order additional copies.  They were beautiful when they came back and we wrapped them up in Christmas wrap as a gift for their parents.  But it was absolutely nuts of the hours upon hours of creating rough drafts and final drafts for those days, plus then hauling it to UPS to be able to mail it off.... nervously waiting if it would be delivered in time.
So I'm going back to my normal routine this year, and saving the Student Treasures hardback books for a later date - perhaps an end of year memory book?   
Anyhow, below is the breakdown of the book.   The students are writing one page per day about their traditions. They create a rough draft, edit, and do a final draft on just plain lined paper (copy paper with lines printed on it) that they then illustrate with their family traditions.  I start with Thanksgiving since it's fresh in their minds.     Pages
New Year's Eve and Day
Valentines Day
St. Patrick's Day
Easter
Mother's Day and Father's Day
4th of July
Halloween
Thanksgiving
Christmas and Hanukkah
Birthdays
So, 10 pages in total.  When they are done with everything inside their book, they will create their own personal cover and a dedication page to their families (with their cute little cum picture on it).  Then I stick everything into 6 sheet protectors (back to back pages) and use red & white ribbon through the holes to call it a day.  Their own little personal books to give as a gift.
I'll take a picture when it's done for this year.  :)  
Hope you had a great day!  

Day after Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was a success.  Family time, thankful time, eating time... it was all good.  I was in a little food coma when we headed home at 6 pm... had to head home to let the dog out or else a little nap would have been perfect.  Then the fun of online shopping really started.  Picked up some good deals at JcPenny, Target, and Amazon.  Not as many as last year, but that's okay - I don't need to spend a lot to still have that satisfaction of getting a good deal.  I think we are basically done with shopping.  That's a good thing, right?  
Now it's today, and I just feel old.  Friends went out last night and were up all night hitting the stores, and instead I got my beauty sleep.  I can barely make it past midnight most nights... oh well!  Every year I say that I will go out, and then I don't.  I think that perhaps I need to face reality that I'm not an all-nighter type of girl.
The tradition of Black Friday in our house is a PJ day and pulling out the Christmas decorations.  The Christmas music will go on in a bit, and somehow everything will be transformed into Christmas.  I've already moved a toy collection thing upstairs to one of the boys' rooms to make room for where the Christmas tree will be placed.  
Over this vacation I've also been spending a bit of time on Pinterest.  Here are some of my favorite Christmas pins on my Christmas board and my Winter board.  Then I have a Gift board that might help you as well.  
At this moment in time, I'm considering having my students either do this activity     

Click to take you to Pinterest

or

I had my class make the trivets for Mother's Day last year.  They were nice and inexpensive (16 cents each).  If you click the trivet picture it will take you to my home blog where I walked through the steps.  
Happy Friday!