New Student Bags and Meet and Greet Items ***also Pin It to Win It

I always have to remind myself to make extra copies and buy extra of everything for all of those new students that move in.  I always make "new student" bags so I don't run around in the morning that I find out that I have a new student.

Here is a post that I wrote a LONG time ago about my new student bags.

Here are some of the items that I am including in my 2 gallon sized bags this year:
-All About My Child
-RAZ Kids Family letters
-Dismissal Form
-Rules and Procedures Document
-School Calendar
-Take home folder with a year worth of behavior charts (this way I can throw away the calendars that are past and have them set for the current month.)
-Homework folder
-Magnetic Business Card with my email/ phone number. school webpage etc. (Office Max has them in a cheap bundle right now!)
-Blank name tag
-Blank cubby tag
-3 blank clothespins
-Math home links book EDM
-Math journal book EDM
-3 journals (The cheap 15 cent kind- one for word work, one for "journaling" and the last for math.)



Come August 1st when I am able to go into school- I will be making whole trees worth of copies.  I always copy these things for the entire school year even before school starts:

-Reading logs
-lunch count forms copied with my name filled in
-celebrity of the week fan mail
-Behavior Charts

Here are things that I copy for the first few weeks:

-Word work sheets
-Number Sense and Place Value Stuff
-Morning Work for August (SIMPLE stuff)
-Beginning of the year writing (letters, grammar stuff etc.)


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I also updated lesson plans and put them together in this document.  You can click on the image to go to the TPT store. 

Alright- pin it (or blog it) to win it!  You have until Thursday to pin it or blog it to get it emailed to you for free!  :)  Just comment with your email below after you pin or blog about it.  :)

Math Notebooks- Numbers and Place Value

I have always been a file folder lover.  This past year has completely turned me into a notebook lover.  My wonderful teammates are all notebook organizers.  At first I loved file folders because I could quickly toss a worksheet in it and it didn't need to be very organized.  It may have taken me a minute to leaf through the file to find the paper that I needed- but I always knew that it was in the folder SOMEWHERE.

Now I was quite skeptical making notebooks but I first started by organizing all the materials that I needed for our reading series into unit binders.  This made it SUPER easy to get ready for a week.  Yes I had to spend 5 minutes instead of 1 to put away items but I DID NOT end up with 8 extra copies of anything.  I just kept 1!  I hope that I am not the only person out there that kept the extra worksheet each year.  You know when you have 22 students but make 24 because most likely little Suzie will tear it or lose it within 30 seconds... well I ALWAYS kept those 2 measly extra papers and just stuffed them back into my file.  Well- NO MORE OF THAT FOR ME!  :)

This is my Numbers and Place Value Binder.  I haven't made a cute cover for it yet so no peak at the cover.  :)

We still use EDM in my district.  There are definitely some great lessons in it- but it is NOT my favorite curriculum.  So this summer I have been really looking up the lessons that they claim are common core friendly and making that judgment myself!  :) 

 

These two pages are my first two weeks of school lesson plans.  I promise that I will type them out.  :)  I have the EDM lessons that were okay, the homelinks that I liked and math journal pages that I liked.  I also have scribbled supplements that I am using.  (Well most of them- my brainpopjr videos are already on the page reserved on my computer for these lesson plans.)

 

 

Behind the lesson plans I have my read aloud books and any other whole group materials/ independent work materials that I need.  Each separate activity is in a separate sleeve.  It is just like a more tidy file folder.  :)

 

 

 

Then I have materials tabbed by a red (below), yellow (on) or green (advanced level).  There is one sleeve per week plan.  In each one I have materials that would be suited to that particular weekly skill on the level needed.  These sheets could be used in small group or even as homework practice.  I use to have a tough time juggling what I used in class and what I sent home.  This way it is already separated for me.  :)

 

Here are some pictures of place value stuff.  You can tell it is printed in black and white but everything is all typed up!  :)

 

 

 

 

 

If you are interested here are some of the resources that went into these 2 units:

Numbers

*EDM lessons: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2, 3.2, 3.3, 3.5

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Unit-1-First-Grade-Math-CC-Building-Number-Sense-296330

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/81-Numbers-Unit1-120-400329

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-Unit-Learning-and-Practicing-Numbers-1-120-266498

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-for-Transitional-Kindergarten-293064   <---THESE ARE AWESOME!

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-1-to-10-matching-picture-numeral-and-word-527930

 

Place Value

*EDM lessons:5.1, 5.2, 5.3  (Can you see now why I made a unit?)

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Place-Value-Mystery-Pictures-111850

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Place-Value-Unit-773965   <--- She is AWESOME.  lol.

 

ASSESSMENT

Since we have SLOS to write this year.  I also give the first one of the assessments during the first two weeks:

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/CC-First-Grade-Cumulative-Math-Assessments-637735

 

Here are pre-assessments and post -assessments:

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Quarterly-First-Grade-Common-Core-Math-Pre-assessments-235953

 

*http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/QuarterlyTrimester-Common-Core-Math-Assessments-and-MORE-219637

 

 

Last but not least- a HUGE thank you to all of you that posted my new place value unit on pinterest or your blogs.  You ROCK!  Thank you!  :)  You should get your free item tonight!  :)

 

 



Common Core Place Value Unit SIMPLE GIVEAWAY!

It is FINALLY finished!  I have slowly been working on this unit for about 5 months now.  I spent about 14 hours yesterday and 3 hours today working on just about 5 pages!  Now I don't have to look at it for a week or so.  :)

PLACE VALUE IS THE NEW MONEY.  :)

 

I have taught first grade now for 7 years.  In all 7 years I have found money to be the most difficult for firsties to master.  That was until the common core and place value replaced it.  :)

 

 

I have always been terrible at using those yellow place value pockets with the straws to determine days in schools.  Sometimes we just run out of time and our meeting is always the first thing that I eliminate.  I thought about changing out the straws for individual wrapped Twizlers so that on the 100th day we could eat them and bring all kinds of math into it like divison and equal shares etc.  I still may do this someday.  We all know how much kiddos (okay and me) are motivated by food.  I obviously couldn't fit it in the chart so I'd have to use jars or coffee cans.  :)  If I decide to make it- I'll post pictures.  :)

 

I am going to teach this unit after the number ID and writing numbers unit.  So Probably about week 3 this 2 week unit will start.  Place value is definitely something EDM doesn't cover well and I couldn't find actual lessons or teaching materials.  But there are plenty of fun things that I use!

Here is a peak:

 There is a resource page with recommended materials and then 2 weeks of simple whole group lesson plans.  Finally there is a digits teaching poster with 5 digits sorting sheets.

 This has a teaching poster about the "imaginary" chart and that only 1 digit can go in each slot.  Then showing what numbers look like.  Finally a whole class activity where they make their own tens rods and then put all of their items together to see how many cubes they have. 

 This has practice pages to match the symbol with the number and then directions for a Place Value Food activity where you use Cheese-Its, pretzel sticks, and Cheerios.  Then there is an I have, Who has? game.

 Here are some cards that can be used for Concentration/ Memory or partner sorting cards.  There are also teaching posters showing what numbers represent.

 Here are practice What is it Worth pages.  Finally there are comparison teaching posters with practice pages.

 The first item is a visual chart.  It is a number chart 1-50 but you can see what the numbers look like in place value blocks.  Then there are table name cards.

 Finally this is a behavior reward system.  I have always used money but this is a system where the students use a baseball card sleeve in their take home folder and add stickers that they earned for their behavior.  This was completely inspired by Jessica Meachum.  She is AMAZING.  If you have never checked out her website before- do it!  :)

GIVEAWAY TIME! 

This time will be a little different... :)

If you blog about my new product or pin it on pinterest- I'll email it to you for free!  Just leave a comment with your email address and tell me which one (or both if you are in a SUPER giving mood) that you did. 

This giveaway ends this THURSDAY!  :)

I am hoping this gives some of you late night blog readers like myself a chance to get it for free as well.  :)

 

FREE 2013-2013 Editable Behavior calendar

I'm doing well so far!  Second time blogging this week!  :)  It is sad how truly proud of myself that I am!  :)

I have had many emails from some seriously eager teachers asking for the updated calendar.  I think that I need just a speck of their motivation right now!  :)

Click on the calendar icon to go directly to the download page.  :)

I worked on it for about 5 hours today.  I always forget how long something so simple takes to make.  Even though it is personalized to my school- the dates are correct and you can delete my school stuff and type in yours.  At the bottom it is the code for my behavior chart.  Don't forget to change that to meet your needs too!

So please go- download it- and edit it for your needs!  Why should we all waste 5 hours???  :)

Have a VERY happy Friday!  :)

A snap shot of my life lately. :) Grab your coffee!

I turned 29 in September and for some reason was completely down.  This is the last year of my 20's and I never thought it would bother me but it sure did! 

 

However... my 29th year has been the best year of my life!  :) 

I left my old district behind (I still miss it so much) and started at a new district.  It has felt like a completely different career even though I didn't change grade levels.  I feel like all of my stress and anxiety has vanished.  I was blessed with awesome volunteers that did everything for me including copying, making little books, organize, grade and pretty much made my life so easy!  I was also blessed with a school district that values their staff and their time.  They gave us days off to work on items instead of forcing us to come in hours early and stay hours late.  It was not my other districts fault- they had NO money and we had to work around the clock to keep up.  I never have met a more hardworking staff because they had to be-  but it certainly is nice to see how the other half lives!  :) I'll tell you- I don't plan on going back!

I felt like since I didn't work all waking hours anymore that I actually had time for once in my adult life to RELAX!  I spent time with my hubby and friends.  Even DURING THE WEEK!  Unbelievable!  :)  I even read for pleasure and it wasn't even summer!  Usually books during the year are definitely education related (which I still find pleasurable because I'm a dork) but I read all kinds of things that I shouldn't even mention on here and loved it!  :)

My school went into the first week of June.  The second week I did some long overdue SPRING cleaning and packing.  The third week I went to Punta Cana.  It was an awesome way to kick off break!  Now that I am back I have started the TO DO list that I am famous for.  I never hear the end of the ridicule that I get because of all of my lists that I make from my husband and friends.  I tend to get a lot of notebooks for gifts.  The funny part is that they do it to tease me- but I absolutely love it and use every single page of them.  :p

Well-here is my summer to do list:
1.Surface clean the house
2.Detail clean the house
3.  I have until October to FINALLY get rid of all of my unused teacher stuff.  (look below for a tiny glimpse into this horridness)
4.  Sell teacher books on ebay
5.  Steam clean- EVERYTHING!  (I have 3 large dogs and they are so gross but adorable.)
6.  Help hubby with his multiple business'.  (He is such a busy boy)
7.  Deliver food at least once a week to hubby's customers.
8.  Set up one of the guest bedrooms for a relative that is moving in.  (Yay!  If you ever meet me in person you will learn that I LOVE people and I honestly cannot wait!)
9.  Find a new house with our impossibly long NEED and WISH lists for a house.
10.  Sell our house.
11.  Work on some math units.
12.  Organize all math items into notebooks.  (I have already started this and will post pictures in a week or so.)
13.  Organize a weekly teacher day where I work on teacher things and invite friends to join.  It definitely is more motivating on beautiful days when there are others working on stuff as well.  :)

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A major occupational hazard is being a hoarder.  I should lead the troops in being president of teacher hoarders.  It is REALLY embarrassing how much stuff I have accumulated in my 7 years of teaching.  I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars buying the teacher store published worksheet or lesson books, organizers etc.  I also have spent tons of money at retiring teacher yard sales.  I bought everything under the sun because, "I MIGHT use this someday."  lol. I'm sure some of you are nodding in agreement right now.  You too may be a hoarder or love someone that may be a hoarder.  Now brace yourself for a tiny glimpse of this unorganized mess:

YIKES!  That is definitely the worst but I have 3 closets and 1 1/2 rooms full of teacher stuff.  I even had a yard sale last year and got rid of a lot and also filled up 3 new teacher cars full of picture books, organizers etc.  Some things I just couldn't part with like some of my favorite resources that are ingrained in my head and I don't need them anymore but I still have hung on to them.  I finally decided to post these resources in bundles on EBAY.  I thought about selling them on TPT but I wasn't sure how many people actually bought hard goods on there.  I am guilty of never looking on TPT for hard goods.  I always go to Amazon.  :)

So- some stuff I am going to try to sell at a yard sale this Friday and what I don't sell- I'm going to give away to some awesome friends that just got their first teaching job.

Others I have taken the bundled pictures and have started outing the items in UPS boxes or envelopes so that they will be ready to ship out whenever they sell.  I am that person that buys Christmas cards each year- write personalized messages to each person and then NEVER mails them out.  lol.  I have a mental block against mailing things or something.  So I had to make this as easy as possible.  :)

Each package has a post it note with the name of the bundle inside of it.  I have 40 of these little bundles.  I really do have A LOT. 

 

 

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My husband, I, and our 3 dogs are definitely out growing our 4 bedroom house.  Between my hoarding (which hopefully will be no more by October) and my husbands ever expanding business'- we need more land and a pole barn and can't fit in our awesome neighborhood anymore.  We bought our house a week before we got married 5 years ago.  We bought it foreclosed so we got a terrific deal on it.  My husband and our family has pretty much remodeled everything but the kitchen in it.  Our house is exactly how we like it.  However getting 2 GIANT shipments a week to our driveway with tool boxes and tools is getting to be too much.  We always have boxes all over our porch, driveway and in our dining room.  My neighbors are awesome and never complain.  :)

This is the vehicle that sits outside of our house everyday and luckily it is not a delivery day so my car has room in the driveway.  :)

We desperately need to move to the country.  This way there will be no more deliveries in my parking spot and my hubby can get rid of the 2 storage places that he currently rents.  Also my neighbors will finally have a nice truckless view again! 

So I have a lot of things to accomplish this summer but I also want to stop neglecting this blog!  I love sharing what I find because there are terrific resources and ideas out there and they NEED to be shared!  However if I start neglecting it again- you will know why!  Feel free to comment and get my booty in gear if I go too long without posting!  :)

Enjoy the remainder of your week and thanks for reading!  :)

FREE Good Luck Testing Posters

The OAA's are coming!

This is the time of year when you start to notice the stress/ anxiety of the teachers and students!

My first grade students have third grade reading buddies that we meet with once a week.  We are going to make these for them:

My students will choose one of these and then write a letter to their buddy on the back. 

Get your FREE copy here.  :)


Have a terrific Thursday!  Sorry for the short post!  :)

WINNERS!

Sorry I have been desperately trying to finish grade cards and ordering!!!

The Grand Prize winner is Rachel!!!!!

YAY!  I will contact you soon with your TPT gift certificate and find out which 3 items that you would like!  :)

The 2nd plave winners are:

These lovely ladies may choose any three items from my TPT that they want!  In Yvonne's case- she can choose any 6 that she wants!  ;)

I will hopefully update this again later and make it more pretty- but I wanted to post the winners before I run out the door to work!  :)

Congrats!  Also THANK YOU to all of you that participated!!!!  I am a VERY lucky lady to have such nice and sweet followers that will read my ramblings from time to time.  :)

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!