Monday Made It: Sunshine State Awards

It has been a while since I've last linked up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It but I'm excited to be back in the swing of things!

As some of you know last year our school started Leader in Me.  We were just kind of dipping our toes in the water if you will, but this year we are going full force (especially because this year's symposium is in our county and they will be visiting our school!).  Some of the changes that we are making are to our Leadership Notebooks.  You can find more information on them here.  We are changing up our tabs a little and one of the new tabs is "Victories" and (obviously) that is where we will place our achievements!

So my first and only (Listen, I've got a new baby.  Making at least one thing a week is progress!) Monday Made It is Sunshine State Awards for the Victories section of our Leadership Notebooks!

Here in the ridiculously hot lovely Sunshine State, we have a yearly reading program called Sunshine State Books.  Every year 15 new books from all different genres are selected as the latest and greatest for 3rd-5th grade and 6th-8th grade.  When I taught 5th I always let my kiddos start to read the 6-8 selection after they finished the 3-5 selection, but now that I am in 4th I will only be focusing on the 3-5 selection!  Here is this year's line-up:

We try and make as big of a deal as possible with reading these books because the state brings in fun voting machines at the end of the year, we have a Sunshine State Feast for our grade and our Media Specialist throws an amazing party if you read all 15!  What better way to keep the motivation going than with Sunshine State Awards every time you read one of the books?  I've already earned one!  Hey, teachers get victories too! ;o)

I created these beauties using Kimberly Geswein Fonts and clipart from Creative Clips.  And because I want to share the love and motivation, I am giving them to y'all for free to use in your classroom!  You don't even need to be a Florida teacher to still read these goodies!  Just click on the images below to download your freebie :o)

Here are the 15 certificates if you use SRC Tests and your media specialist bought them for these books (which ours does every year)!

Here are the 15 certificates if you use AR Tests in your school!

Don't use either of those programs?  That's okay!  Here are the 15 certificates that have no test attached to them!

I just printed them off on colored card stock and called it a day!  Now they are just waiting for student's names to go on them :o)  If you are curious about these books, I always do a review of them including what foods we eat at our Feast based off the book, skills you can incorporate and much more.  The first review is coming up this week and it is for Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman.

Hope you enjoy!

Must Have Monday Made It (LOTS of goodies!)

Happy Monday y'all!  As you are reading this I am finally in my classroom trying to get my room together before we move into our house on Wednesday.  YAY!!!  I wanted to let y'all know that Must Have Mondays will change to the LAST MONDAY of every month now that we are all getting back into our classrooms.  So the next time you will link up will be August 26 and  I want to know what was a must have for the month of August or just anything you couldn't live without!

I asked my husband what was something that I couldn't live without and he instantly laughed and said, "Bins."  Dead serious, no joke, bins.  And if you're a teacher, you know the obsession well.  I have had bins from Really Good Stuff for the past five years and they have served me well.  They are just now starting to crack under the strain of kids handling them and heavy books like Harry Potter.  The ones that hold the smaller chapter books are still going strong though!  That being said, I HAD to get more bins ;o)

I bought a few from the Dollar Tree (the mecca) but I will also be buying a set of the skinny book bins for individual students and as much as I have loved my RGS bins, they are not the same price they were 5 years ago... by like A LOT.  So this poor teacher had to go a hunting and found this wonderful post from Ms. Fultz's Corner.  She compares the book bins from Steps to Literacy vs. Really Good Stuff (literally side by side) and I now know which one I'll be buying.  DEFINITELY WORTH THE READ!

 

Today I'm also linking up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!  I have been a busy little worker bee this week trying to get everything done for my classroom.  Literally.  I mean, I put the sticky squares on the back of the Word Wall blocks already so that all I have to do when I get to school is peel and stick! HAHA!  I just want as much time in my room as possible before I have to leave early to move into the house.

Editable Back to School Packet
I finally got all my Meet the Teacher/Open House and First Week of School goodies compiled into one packet!  Can I just say that I am in love!  It has EVERYTHING that I need and all in one place.  Instead of a bunch of random worksheets in random files and folders I've now got it all in one spot and with super cute fonts, borders, and clip art.  The good thing about blogging and TPT is that is has finally made me look at all my creations and "cute them up."  I know some people don't care about that and that's okay, but I like color in my classroom and this does the job!  If you would like to see what is all included and what others have to say or even to get your own copy click on the image below.

Classroom Supplies Labels
In my classroom I have these plain, beige bins that sit on my rolly cart and house our community supplies.  I wanted to find some cute labels to put on them and then just decided, why not make them myself along with everything else I'm making?  I also wanted to make some for my math centers and supplies but have to wait until I'm in the classroom and see what I have!  To get your set of these 15 premade supplies labels click on the image below.

Blog Binder
I totally stole this idea from Katie at Teacher to the Core!  I mean, how could you not?!  She vamped up her regular binders by putting in fancy scrapbook paper!  Now, usually I just make something on the computer, print it off and slip it in the front, but for my Blogging Binder and TPT Binder I liked this idea a lot better.  She uses fancy transparency paper but I found this really pretty teal/blue cut-out paper that matched my bins and baskets in my soon-to-be craft room.  It came as a 12x12 sheet and I just cut it down to size and slipped it in the front and back pockets and the spine!

Inside is a fantastic blogging calendar made by Gina from Third Grade Tidbits!  I just wish that I had found this before July but it could not have come at a more perfect time!  I have lots of giveaways and collaborative blog and boards happening right now and it has been a LIFESAVER!  Click on the image below to see what all is included in this item.

Word Wall
For the past couple of years I just used a bulletin board with punch out letters as my prefix/suffix word wall.  Now that I am teaching all of the subject though, I need that board!  I have decided to move my word wall to below my white board in the front of the room.  It's perfect because it is such an used space and that area of the floor is where we have our class meetings and mini-lessons so the kids will ALWAYS be looking at it :o)

I made these alphabet squares with 12x12 colored cardstock and trimmed down a 12x12 piece of white cardstock to fit in the middle.  I did trim the edge of the white paper with a black sharpie to help it pop more and match with the letters that had a black trim as well.  Then I created these polka dot letters, printed, cut and glued it all together.  Once I had all 26 done I went to our local Lakeshore and got them laminated!  Might I add that a hurricane was happening outside and I was so terrified that all my hard work would get ruined by water spots and color bleeding but all ended well!

Behavior Management Scale

My last creation of the week was our class Behavior Management Scale.  Our county is big into Marzano these past two years and we wanted to include some sort of scale/clip chart but not necessarily how they do the colors in the primary grades.  So we did numbers, lol!  I know not much of a stretch but the kids use this same scale for their academics so it will be really nice for them to transfer that knowledge and experience into their behavior.  I have it printed, laminated, and rings in place ready to hang today, so I will update this post with a picture when I get it!  There are four different design styles (Big Kids, Little Kids, Bunting Banner, and Numbers) along with editable posters for your rewards, consequences, and ways to move on the scale (all in portrait and landscape).

WHEW!  You made it to the end and deserve a little treat!  Since it is back to school time, I have been giving away some BTS Freebies each day but only for an hour!  If you are not a fan on Facebook DO SO NOW so you can get flash freebie updates.  Check back tomorrow because one of these Back to School items might be up for grabs... HINT! HINT!

Don't forget to link up your last "must have" for the summer and leave some comment love on other's posts!

Must Have Monday Made It

I appreciate all of y'all hanging in there with me through this summer.  I know it has not been that great (no, really).  We've had so much going on that at the end of the day I'm just too tired to get out a post or haven't done ANYTHING that I felt was post worthy.  I think I'm still in summer mode and the thought of school, team leaders, moving into a home, working on a new home before we move in as I prepare my classroom makes me twitch a little, haha, but I am choosing to ignore all of it like it's not happening and doing one thing at a time ;o)

So this week's Must Have Monday is y'all!  Thank you all so much for sticking with me through the bad/boring/busy times, thanks for thinking of me when coordinating collaborative blogs and what not when I've been slightly MIA sans Must Have Mondays and the Book Studies and thanks for all your wonderful ideas that have helped me wrap my mind around teaching all the subjects next year!  Y'all are there for me when I have questions and concerns, given me amazing ideas that I'm so excited to use in the class next year, have become instant friends that I chat with daily and so much more!  I would not be the teacher I am without y'all and that makes you my "must have" this Monday!

I'm also finally linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!  Last summer I was ON when it came to this linky party, this summer not so much.  I have been laminating like a mad woman and have lots of unfinished projects that will hopefully (fingers crossed) be done by the time school starts, lol.  I did finish my Parent Communication Log though!  I posted about this earlier this summer (click here to view and get your own for free!) but now it is all printed, laminated, and bound!  And very cheaply I might add.  I have never bound anything at Office Max before but it was very affordable and then with my teacher discount even better!  It was under $2!?  This might not be a surprise to some of you but was a pleasant surprise to me :o)

Don't forget to check out everyone else's Monday Made It's and link up your Must Have Monday down below!

Monday Made It: ELA Standards Ribbon

It's Monday which means I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It.  This Monday I created a new way of displaying my ELA standards in my classroom.

Last year I only taught ELA and Social Studies and I had a simple white poster that I laminated so I could write on it with Expo markers.  This year I wanted something a little cuter!  I bought the ELA and Math Standards from Little Lovely Leaders during the Teacher Appreciation Sale and then went to town on the laminating and cutting!

Now I DO NOT have a lot of bulletin board or white board space to display my standards or learning goals (hence the previous white poster) so I decided to attach them to a painted yard stick!  I thought that would be more stable than ribbon...  Well it was more stable but not long enough and frankly just not as cute.  So I ditched the yard stick and went with the ribbon. 

 

Here is a picture of the whole ribbon (don't mind the mess all around it).  Now I hot glued the title on but the rest is on with Velcro that way it can be interchangeable.  I will say that the hot glue is WAY better.  The Velcro is not very sturdy and the subtitles limp so I might just hot glue those as well and only put one standard up underneath at a time...  WHO KNOWS!?  I have all summer to figure it out.  What's your Monday Made It?  Don't forget to link up with Tara and see what everyone else is making!

March Monday Made It

It has been awhile but I'm linking back up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!  This month I have made a lot of little random things but I haven't felt this accomplished in a while so I'm okay with that :o)

Guided Reading Group Binder
This year I have been all over the place with guided reading groups, at least when it comes to organizing the lessons and scheduling.  Now that I have created the binder I feel much more confident, organized, and just together!  The first picture is the front of the binder.

This is the inside of the binder with my Scholastic reading levels wheel.  The pages up front are just blank forms for scheduling and lesson plan templates.  There are five tabs: AM Group - Schedule and Lesson Plans, AM Group - Individual Conferences, PM Group - Schedule and Lesson Plans, PM Group - Individual Conferences, and Skills and Strategies.  I have the AM and PM groups because we are departmentalized.

Example of my scheduling template.

Prove It Key Rings for Guided Reading Groups
I got this ridiculously good idea from Joanne over at Head Over Heels for Teaching!  I made a bulletin board out of the posters and six key rings to use for my guided reading groups.  While I'm not having GRG I put them inside the supply caddies and the students are using them all the time!

 

Guided Reading Lesson Plan Ring
Like I said before, so far this year I haven't been the MOST organized that I could have been when it came to guided reading groups.  I did start this little ring of lessons though to help for next year.  Every lesson that I do I print it out (smaller than a half sheet), laminate it, and then stick it behind the correct lesson category: Context Clues, Elements of a Story, Poetry and Figurative Language, Text Features, Text Structures, Fluency, etc.  Now when I have a group of students are struggling in a particular area (or enrichment) I can pull out a lesson already prepared and I know I have the materials.  Storyworks from Scholastic has been BEYOND amazing for my guided reading groups, for both my lower and higher students!

Biography Scrapbook
Now this isn't technically MY made it... My kids created all the scrapbook pages for their Biography Scrapbook Reports and I just bought the actual scrapbook, but I wanted to brag on them!  Obviously it still needs a little cover but I'm going to let one of my students create that, now to figure out which one!?

Tricabulary - Fractions
My newest TIMER Tub (math station) game for Fractions.  It requires the students to match the term to the definition and then, for a little enrichment, an example.  You can take out the example or certain terms depending on your level of students.  My kids really like it and my gifted kids love the challenge!  Click here to get a copy.

Storia - From Shapes to Geometry
"I" in the TIMER Tubs stands for Independent Reading and Writing.  Storia is a big hit in my class so I decided to download a few math literature books.  Some of my students are getting enough out of just reading the book but some need a little bit more enrichment so I created file folders for the different books. Sorry it looks a little weird, my printer was running out of ink :o(  I'm getting them laminated tomorrow and then they will be write and wipe-able!  Click on the picture below to download.

It feels good to be able to link up again!  It means I actually got something done, haha.  Can't wait to see what everyone else made.  Happy Monday y'all!

Sabra

Monday Made It #7: Crafty Clipboards 2 and Shh-arpeners

I'm back!!!  I have missed the past few Monday Made It due to family visits, wedding stuff, and getting ready for the new year but along the way I have definitely been crafting and storing it all up and now can share a few (I'm saving some in case I can't craft one week but can still link up, lol).  This week I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics to show you more of my Crafty Clipboards and my new Shh-arperners.

Crafty Clipboards Part 2:
Here are my next nine clipboards that I will be using to showcase my student's amazing work!  Click here to check out the first ten and how I created them.  I had to wait a while to create the rest because I started to notice that they all were beginning to have the same design and I didn't want that.  I'm only so creative! LOL  My favorite of this batch is the plaid with the circular numbers, but I do like the nod to my college, UCF, and my background, the blue jeans ;o)  I think I might even go back to the blue jeans one and put white stitching around the edges with a paint marker.

Shh-arpeners:
One of my pet peeves is when my students are working so quietly or trying to get started and all the sudden their concentration is broken by the sound of the electric sharpener!  This year I am changing that!  If it is quiet time in my classroom and our voices are off, then so are the electric sharpeners.  "Well what do I do when I break my pencil?"  Use the Shh-arpeners :o)  I got the fun little box from Target's Dollar Spot and created the label in Word.  Inside are all my hand held sharpeners that will stay in there.  Click on the picture to get your copy of the label.

Tomorrow is my first official day back in the classroom and will be putting up my clipboards so I will soon post pictures of how they all look.  You know me, as long as it looks like an explosion of color I'm loving it.  It's funny because we are finishing up our registry for our wedding and I keep noticing how our home is very natural with warm colors and I think I would have a heart attack if this explosion of colors were in my house but in my second home I love it and wouldn't have it any other way!

Sabra