Somethin' I made for the Parents :)

*sigh*  I've been napping all weekend!  I don't know if it's the pregnancy or the fact that school begins tomorrow ;)  Either way, I've got a ton to share and have been so busy setting up the class (and having endless amounts of in-service trainings zzz).

We had "Meet the Parent" night on Thursday.  I had a pretty good turn out.  Only three no-shows out of 25.  One is believed to be withdrawing.  So fingers crossed for 24 kiddo *grin*.

For the two-hour event, I made folders for each parent.  In the folders I had the following:

(on the left - things I needed back that night)
Parent Questionnaire (to fill out that night)
Emergency Contact info sheet for the school (G-D forbid if something happened on day one!)
A piece of paper to write their child a note (which I put in their desk for the first day)
School forms
A magnetic business card with my info on it
A little gift from me (see below)

(on the right - things I needed back the first week)
Emergency Clinic Cards
Discipline agreement
Why Reading is Important (can't find the exact one but similar to this)
Ron Clark's 55 Essentials (see below)

So I was trying to think of something clever to give to the parents as a symbol of our working together this year.  I knew I had to have store bought goodies but what to write as a note.... hmmm...

Here's what I came up with :)

It's a recipe for a Scholarly Student :)  I've got the "recipe" in my store :)


On a different note (ha pun hehe), We kicked off our pre-planning week with an inspirational speech from Ron Clark.  If you haven't heard of him, check out his story.  It's so inspiring.  It makes me so glad I chose teaching as my profession.  I saw the movie prior to this speech and it was great - worth a second viewing ;)

I've been reading his book The Essential 55 and let me tell you, my kids this year are TOTALLY doing all 55 (plus the 29 rules of etiquette).  Kids these days have lost those manners and fundamental actions each person should strive to live by.

Well, I'm off to go do some last minute things before I head off to bed.  First day with the kids tomorrow.  I'll dish on that later ;)

0

My Newest Game!!

Ok peeps, I've been working on this game for some time now and have finally got it up and running.  It's called Balanced Equations.  It's played similarly to Scrabble but with a math twist.  The game includes all the pieces, labels and student worksheet.  You can make it as difficult or as easy as you want.  You can omit the Double and Triple game pieces and just play with the points on the game tiles.  There are numbers 0-9, all math symbols, fractions, and blank tiles.

All you have to have is a hundreds pocket chart to play the game.  Check out these pics:

 This is the board ready to be played... (I cut up a small pocket chart to hold the tiles in play)

 Here is the first move...

 Replace the used tiles for more...

 And it's the next player/team's turn...

I'm so proud of this.  I cannot wait to play this with my kiddos!  Once I model how to play, I can even use it as a math center.

For a full description of what's included and how to play, check out my TPT or TN store.  Oh!  And back to school sales begin today ;)  So get it on the cheap!!

Excitedly,

3

Sale!!

Hello fellow teachers!

Who doesn't LOVE a sale???  I will be throwing a sale on ALL of my products August 12-13.

Visit either of my stores (TN or TPT) to see what goodies I have.  Start filling up your cart :)

Also, TPT is giving an extra 10% off the sale price if you use the code BTS12!

Happy shopping!!!

0

Product Swap!!

So I was blessed to have a great swap for this little teacher-sharing extravaganza!

Big hugs to Jessica over at Mrs. Standford's Class for hosting this event and also to Michelle at 3am Teacher for using her talents in making our link button :)  Visit the rest of the swappers to see other phenomenal products reviewed by teachers!

Below is the wonderful (and useful for all age groups) product I received from Heidi at My (Not So) Elementary Life.  Heidi is a newlywed (awwwww!) and loves to use her creative juices to share her ideas with the world.  She is big on classroom management and she has much to share in the way of knowledge as well as products.  Her blog is full of ideas for ways to make your class run smoothly.

Here is one of her genius tools forming cooperative learning groups:

Ever heard of "Clock Partners"?  Well if you haven't, it's a way to group students into hetero/homogeneous groups.

Now, I printed these graphics (I printed two pages per sheet because I have older students and they can handle the small print).  There are two "clock" versions in the set so plenty for a class.  You can say, okay, I want all the 1, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock kids to make a group.  Or if you have them leveled you can say, "1 and 2 o'clockers meet me on the carpet for small groups." And they don't know the difference.  You can also, group kids in pairs and say, "Meet with your clock partner." And they can be grouped as peer/mentor or as students who have the same interests, learning styles, random, whatever.  The options are endless.

Here are a few screen shots of what I printed (my pages are currently in line at the laminator *crossing my fingers they will get done before school begins*).  Again, I printed two pages per sheet which makes the cards smaller.  There are a total of 60 cards per set and there are two sets in the pack.  Here is one page from the clock partners:

There are also cards for making pairs - Adorable, right??   And there are more pairs!!

Or for making small groups!  Students find their matching animal and each animal is a different color.  Or for larger groups, have the students find their matching color instead of animal.

So head over to Heidi's TPT store and download your copy ASAP!!  And if you're not a follow of hers already, you should check her out her blog!

Thanks Heidi for creating such an easy to use tool for grouping (and super cute too)!

2