Brag Tags

We have a program at my school where students are encouraged to set weekly goals, and long term goals. I find that after a while, kids set the same goals week after week. "I want to pass my math fact test" or "I want to read x number of minutes." I am also a teacher who likes to present extra optional challenges to my kids, and sometimes they are accepted, and other times ignored. We also do the MindUP program, which encourages qualities such as optimism, gratitude, perspective taking, happiness, etc. Some tricky concepts for some children! If only I had some way to motivate them... and then voila! A friend introduced me to brag tags, which she will be using with her kids for their goals this year. So, here are my first few sets of tags for homework and their weekly/monthly goals. I am super excited to start using these this year!

UPDATE!
I have created SO many more of these as the year went on, and I've added many to my TpT store. To see all of the sets, click here.

Weekly and Monthly Goals
Work Habits (Handwriting, Cleaning up, Determination, Focused, etc.)
Character Traits (Character traits from A to Z)
Books Read (20, 30, 40, 50 book milestones)
Mindfulness (gratitude, optimism, generous, persistent, etc.)
Homework
Interactive Notebooks
Egg Drop STEM Challenge
... and more!

I've also decided that I like to call them SWAG Tags instead of Brag Tags... It fits my classroom better, I think.

I also have sets created for Geography, spelling, math, pencil challenges, genre challenges, NaNoWriMo... the possibilities are endless! They're easy to get set up, too. I print out the sheets, laminate them, cut into strips, hole punch with a super small craft punch, cut into individual tags and store. Time consuming to hole punch and cut, but it's easy work that can be done in front of the TV while binge watching the latest show that I'm into.

Here are a few photos of them in my classroom!

Each child has a hook for their chain. They start with one tag with their name on it.

Just a small sample of the tags in my collection!

My storage bin... I picked this container up on clearance at Staples and they fit PERFECTLY with little dividers made of cardstock.

The SWAG Tag sign

TpT Sitewide *BONUS* Sale Day!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I love Teachers Pay Teachers! I tried to get all of my back to school goodies a few weeks ago when they had their annual sale, but now that they're throwing another one day sale, I'm sure I'll be buying more! 

I have put everything in my store on sale for the occasion, too!

NaNoWriMo Update

I have posted before about taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge with my students. For the last two years, I have spent the month of November plugging away at a novel with a goal of 30,000 words. They wrote and published their own books and told me that I should do the same with my two novels. So I figured, why not? It was many hours of proofreading, formatting, researching information about self-publishing, more proofreading, and more formatting, but I think it was all worth it in the end. The proof of the second book is already on its way, and with any luck I'll have both done before the school year starts.

The best part? For at least this year, I'll have a book that none of the kids have read. I won't have to hear, "Oooh, I know what happens!" and it'll be a great literature discussion! Here is Book 1!

Everyday Math Chapter Review Cards

I finally finished my goal of converting all of my review cards for the chapters into digital files. I've been using random sized index cards with hand drawn pictures and scratched out errors for long enough, and my summer tutoring along with the TpT sale days were enough motivation to get me to finish the digital conversion!

Each chapter has a set of task cards, an answer sheet (and answer key), and a set of mini-cards to send home for students to study from. You can get one chapter at a time, or buy the bundle (only chapters 1-11 though... I usually only get to a lesson or two from chapter 12, and I'm more focused on year-long review than the chapter 12 assessment.) My kids loved the little hand drawn pictures in the corners of my cards, so I kept the idea with my digital files. Here is what the set looks like.

If you are interested in purchasing the bundle, you can find it in my TpT store. Enjoy!