Happy Birthday to Me!!

It's my 35th birthday today! Yay!! And in celebration of that, I've put everything in my store at 35% off this whole weekend.

Visit MY STORE and check it out! Happy Weekend :)

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Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Freebies for you! #becauseweloveteachers

It's May and that means it's Teacher Appreciation!

I am so happy to be linking up with some AMAZING teacher bloggers for a extraordinary We Love Teachers Blog Hop!

Let's get things started! I have a fabulous freebie for you today :)

I would like to share with you one of my favorites units to teach at the end of the year.

In this unit we talk all about different types of insects and learn about their life cycles and habitats and how they help our environment. 

After reading many insect books, we go on a nature walk to find and document different insects around our school. They carry their Insect Journals with them and draw pictures and write descriptions. 

We share our discoveries and talk about how the insects all share the same body parts. Then we get to design our own NEW insect using My Bug Book. 

Click on any of the pics above to grab this Bug Book Freebie for yourself :)

And if you want the whole unit, click below. 

Now hop on over to visit with Tiffany at Shoelaces & Sweetfaces to see her amazing site and terrific ideas!

And don't forget that Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site wide Sale May 5 and 6 this week. Save up to 28%!! Do some spring cleaning on your wish list and make sure to check out all the wonderful products out there. 

Happy Teaching!! 

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Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Freebies for you! #becauseweloveteachers

It's May and that means it's Teacher Appreciation!

I am so happy to be linking up with some AMAZING teacher bloggers for a extraordinary We Love Teachers Blog Hop!

Let's get things started! I have a fabulous freebie for you today :)

I would like to share with you one of my favorites units to teach at the end of the year.

In this unit we talk all about different types of insects and learn about their life cycles and habitats and how they help our environment. 

After reading many insect books, we go on a nature walk to find and document different insects around our school. They carry their Insect Journals with them and draw pictures and write descriptions. 

We share our discoveries and talk about how the insects all share the same body parts. Then we get to design our own NEW insect using My Bug Book. 

Click on any of the pics above to grab this Bug Book Freebie for yourself :)

And if you want the whole unit, click below. 

Now hop on over to visit with Tiffany at Shoelaces & Sweetfaces to see her amazing site and terrific ideas!

And don't forget that Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site wide Sale May 5 and 6 this week. Save up to 28%!! Do some spring cleaning on your wish list and make sure to check out all the wonderful products out there. 

Happy Teaching!! 

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Lesson 11, Journeys for First Grade INB!!

Wow!! The Journeys Interactive Notebook for first grade has been unbelievably popular!!! Not only on my TpT store but also in my classroom! We have been working hard on creating our notebooks. The students are doing wonderful. I wanted to share a bit how I do them in the classroom.

I mostly use the activities as an exit ticket after teaching the mini lesson, before the students move into Daily 5. I've also added an extra center to the Daily 5 as the Interactive Notebook Center. This is used as an early finisher activity - for when they finish their work.

We are currently finishing up Lesson 10 in Unit 2 and planning on doing a review week next week along with From Seed to Pumpkin! I've been super busy at school so I've not been able to work as much on the INBs for Unit 3 as I would have liked but they are on their way!

So that being said, here is Lesson 11 for Unit 3!!

So many fun activities to work on! 

Lesson 11 focuses on: 

High frequency words (8 this unit)

Digraph th and spelling words with th

Base words and –s, -es, -ed, -ing endings

Proper nouns

Classify and categorize words

Author’s purpose

Informative writing

You can grab your copy of Lesson 11 {HERE} on sale for $1!! 

Thanks!!

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Colorize Your Classroom!! And Some Alphabet Cards (UPDATE: Hard Good and Digital Good)

I wanted to tell you about a contest going on right now for teachers everywhere! Astrobrights is sponsoring a classroom contest where they will choose one winner per state who will receive Astrobrights paper to help #colorizeyourclassroom.

I've used this terrific paper to make my new classroom alphabet cards. It is wonderful paper that works beautifully with my Cricut. 

This alphabet came out so cute!! Took up my entire living room making it, but totally worth it!!

Here is the finished product on the wall in my classroom. 

I'm using the paper in other parts of my classroom like the daily numbers, CAFE Bookmark Goal Tracker, and for other decorations, but I'll have more on that later, too!! 

Click on the link here or on the Colorize Your Classroom picture above for more information. Make sure you follow Astrobrights on Twitter and like their Facebook page for some more awesome ideas from teachers everywhere. 

Thanks! 

Jessica

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Colorize Your Classroom!! And Some Alphabet Cards (UPDATE: Hard Good and Digital Good)

I wanted to tell you about a contest going on right now for teachers everywhere! Astrobrights is sponsoring a classroom contest where they will choose one winner per state who will receive Astrobrights paper to help #colorizeyourclassroom.

I've used this terrific paper to make my new classroom alphabet cards. It is wonderful paper that works beautifully with my Cricut. 

This alphabet came out so cute!! Took up my entire living room making it, but totally worth it!!

Here is the finished product on the wall in my classroom. 

I am currently working on making some more Alphabet cards for teachers who have asked. I'll be selling them for $20.00 per set. Check them out in my TpT store here.

Whoa! I know some of you are thinking, "$20 bucks? That's a lot. I'll just buy some at School Aids." Yes, you could definitely do that. And I wouldn't be offended. I have come to this price based on 3 reasons: 

1) It takes me 4 hours from start to finish to make one set of these cards. Because I'm meticulous. That's labor and minimum wage is $7.25 so technically that's $29.00. 

2) I have to first spend money on Astrobrights and scrapbook paper (upwards from $3.97 to $19.99) and Cricut mats ($9.99) which each mat will last for about two sets of these cards. The paper I can use multiple times so that's a  one time investment that I just have to replenish from time to time. We will average that at about $11 bucks per set. Not to mention the glue and sticker tape (I use about 10 feet of sticker tape per Alphabet set, and that's $19.99 per roll of 18 feet). So tallying, that's about $67.

3) This is a handmade product which is unique every time I make one. I may use a Flamingo for F or a Flower. I may use a Violin or a Volcano for V, so everything is unique. And you can't really put a price on that. 

I don't think many people will purchase a set of Alphabet cards for $67 plus shipping. So technically I'm talking a big loss, but that doesn't bother me. I LOVE using my Cricut and making things for others. This set of Alphabet cards was so much fun and as I said, unique for every classroom. I can even make Cards to match color schemes and themes for other teachers. Just ask. 

I'll also be adding some number cards using ten frames and colored dots. 

And I'll be uploading them to make them digital. More on that later. 

UPDATE: Here are the digitized cards!! 

I'm using the paper in other parts of my classroom like the daily numbers, CAFE Bookmark Goal Tracker, and for other decorations, but I'll have more on that later, too!! 

Click on the link here or on the Colorize Your Classroom picture above for more information. Make sure you follow Astrobrights on Twitter and like their Facebook page for some more awesome ideas from teachers everywhere. 

Thanks! 

Jessica

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Teacher Organization - Binders, Binders, Binders!!!

So it's that time of year again!! Time to get organized for school!! In the past I have tried to have one teacher binder that I kept everything in. Problem with that is, It got too cluttered and unorganized - yes that's possible. Everything was in it, it was 3 inches thick, and jammed full of so much stuff that it was difficult to retrieve things when I needed them. I had generic dividers labeled things like "School Information", "Class Information", "Data", and "Other". If I needed something school related, I had to search through that section flipping every page just to learn that I had filed it under Other. So inefficient. 

Then I went for the multi binder approach. This has been such a better way to organize life!! Everything has a specific binder and I can always find things!! But I still streamlined it - Only 8 binders work for me (technically 9, but one is my sub binder so I only use that if I need a sub). But some teachers may find that three or five work for them. 

 Recently I created and published my 2014-2015 Editable Teacher Binder. 

You can grab your own right now for 20% off in my TpT store. Just click the picture above. 

ANYWAY... I just got my binders and started to set them up. I found adorable, colorful 1 inch binders at Walmart in the Back to School section. I love new school supplies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are Avery brand and have the clear view pocket in the front cover. 

And I got all the pretty colors I could find!! Here they are after I had printed the covers and spines. I couldn't wait to set them up so I did it as soon as I got home!

I got one 1 1/2 inch binder for my classroom data (cuz you know that's gon' be A LOT!).

First, I printed out my entire 166 page product and got to sorting. I laid out all the section dividers and decided which ones would work best for me. Here's a snapshot of the dividers:

I decided on which ones I would need to put in which binder. Here are the binders I decided on and their breakdown: 

Binder #1

Teaching Survival Binder

This binder is the one that I will carry with me and keep within an arm's reach because it will contain everything that I will possibly need during the school year. And on weekends. 

I kept some blank "brilliant ideas" pages in the front pocket, in case I have a brilliant idea which is, like, always. 

Whenever I get notes or other handouts from school I'll hole punch and place here. 

For all those brilliant ideas I'll have for the following school year. Or next week. 

Here's some examples: 

Everything I'll need for the first open house is behind this divider. I'll keep copies of handouts so I'll have them at the ready for next year. Like this: 

And the ultimate section needed for Teaching Survival: 

THIS section has all the goods like class rosters, student birthdays, class emails, transportation, allergies, technology access, class checklists, etc. You know what you need to have at your fingertips so that would go in this section. 

I am also keeping a Quick Reference form in this section in case I need to contact a parent or grab some quick info about a student. 

I put each section divider in a page protector. I hole punched forms and placed them behind the dividers. I will have them at the ready when needed to make copies!!

Binder #2

Student Documentation

I start this binder out with another copy of the Quick Reference form so I'll have all the contact information about students. 

In this binder I put Parent/Teacher communication. 

I buy numbered dividers (each student has a number) and I copy several of the following forms and place behind each divider for easy documentation when I speak to parents. 

I also place student information in this binder, including their personal and family information sheet and any IEP or other pertinent information. These sheets will go behind their numbered dividers as well.  

Binder #3

Lesson Plans

Oh, the all important lesson plans. This is my planning binder. I use it every time my partner teachers and I meet to plan. So I start with my Long Term Plans as the first thing: 

At my school, we have a curriculum map that we designed meticulously with our partner school, ULS, that I also put with my long term plans. 

I also include this overview of the year. 

 I follow that with: 

This is where I put my Month at a Glance pages. I'll jot down ideas for the month and units when we sit down to plan further than the next week. 

Then I have my Monthly Calendars: 

In my product, I give you the choice to use a two page calendar or one page calendar. I choose to use the two page and place them back to back. I have to glue the right side of August to the left side of September, then hole punch it and continue the same way for all months. I hope that makes sense to you!!

I left the calendar blanks empty so you can fill in the correct dates for the year. 

The last section is: 

Here is where I keep each week's planning pages. 

Guided Reading plans

Guided Math plans and Center plans. These help me to organize what I'm doing for the week with my groups. I jot down ideas and some plans here. 

Then we have my Week at a Glance: 

I can flip to this page at the beginning of the week or the end of the week before, so I'll know what's in store. Following that comes the actual plans. 

Binder #4

Grade Book

This one is pretty self explanatory. 

I keep my grades here. I print out 4 of each two-page section and I glue them together the same way I do the monthly calendars, clearly labeling each grading period 1 through 4.

Binders 5, 6, 7, & 8

Classroom Data

Common Core

RTI Documentation

Daily CAFE

These binders are also pretty self explanatory. The Classroom Data binder stays pretty much empty until I start collecting data from my students. 

In my Common Core binder I put a copy of the standards, some examples of exemplar texts, and our Tour Guide - more on that later!!***

RTI Documentation contains all the information I keep on RTI groups and planning. 

Daily CAFE is my pensieve for, of course, the Daily CAFE!!.  Check out the 2 Sister's website to read up more on it. I will carry this thing around every single day. Here's an example of a page in this binder. 

Well that's it for now. Know that in my product there are MANY forms and dividers from which to choose. I print out everything and keep the extra pages in the back of my Teaching Survival Binder in case I find I need one. I hope that this helps you with some ideas about setting up your own teacher binders. Please let me know what you think and have a great year!!

Jessica

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