DIY projects

DIY Project #1:

I was cleaning out some old kindergarten supplies and came across the purple drawer container which used to house all of my alphabet stamps. I thought it could be a cute desk holder for all of those knick-knacks that get cluttered around, so I brought it home for a little TLC. I peeled off all the old ABC stickers and gave it a good cleaning, printed out some new labels and taped them on (I would have put them on the inside, but the label goo didn't come off), and then painted the outside with an acrylic paint. Total cost: $1.87. Not bad!

DIY Project #2:

After finishing the bin makeover, I was still feeling crafty. One of my biggest frustrations is the piles of paper on my teacher table. A pile to grade, a pile to file, and a pile to pass back. If only there were some better way to organize it all! A quick trip to the store for the container and 4 sheets of scrapbook paper, a few minutes of cutting and modge podging, and a hunt through my current hanging folders in other spots to find 4 that match the color scheme, and voila... A new organizer for my table! Total cost: under $8.

Maybe this will finally be the year that my table looks organized? 

Gratitude Journal

Last fall, I did a Gratitude Journal with my students. Every day, for 42 days in a row, they had to write down 3 things they were grateful for, or write about how they were grateful that day. At the end, they did two short reflections. For students who are used to only having homework Monday through Thursday, there was a bit of a grumble at the beginning when they had to do work on the weekends. But by the end, many were sad to see the project end. Here are a few things my students said they were grateful for during the six weeks:

-My parents pay for my school
-I have a cozy bed to sleep in
-My dog was very good today - I love him and he protects me
-My mom/dad made me a good dinner
-A good education
-We have enough money to live and do the things we like
-Finishing my NaNoWriMo story
-I have a computer
-My dad who tells me that I can do anything
-My coaches and great teammates
-The bright sunshine
-I was sick, but now I am better
-The right to believe what I want to believe
-My homework wasn’t too hard tonight
-My friend wasn’t mad at me, even when I broke a promise
-I live in the U.S.A. and there are laws here to protect everyone but they don’t make everyone do what the government wants
-I am really good at sports
-Going camping with my family
-My family has enough money that we can donate some to help others
-Someone took time to play a board game with me
-The telephone - to call my dad when he is away on trips

The students also made up their own gratitude quotes, which I printed, laminated and hung on their lockers. A few examples:
-Be grateful, not hateful.
-You might not get what you want, but you should be grateful for what you have.
-Gratitude is what you have, not what you don't.
-Always be positive, even at the worst times.

Overall, this was a great project that I will definitely continue to do every year. I'm even considering doing a smaller version of it again at this point in the year as a refresher!

If you'd like to get a copy of the journal, you can find it on my TpT store!

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!

Severe Weather Project - Pyramid Dioramas

This year, the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes got together to do an end of the year project which we named Biome Bonanza. We put the students into mixed grade level groups, and had each group choose a biome to study. Once biomes were assigned, the 5th graders researched the biome itself and created a trifold, the 3rd graders each chose a country within the biome and put together a country report and short powerpoint, and my 4th graders studied a type of severe weather in the biome and created a pyramid diorama. Then, they had to work together to create a diorama of the location, banner including a world map, and artifacts representing the cultures of the area. My fourth graders had just finished their unit on magnets and electricity, during which they had created electrical boxes, so they had to survey their group members and create a set of questions for the box as a quiz for the end of the presentation. We set up tables in the gym and presented to other classes in the school in the morning and to parents in the afternoon. It was pretty amazing!

Electrical Box

Pyramid Diorama

I have put together the pyramid diorama project on my TpT page, which includes:

• Introduction
• Diorama Instructions
• Photos
• Student Packet:
• Instructions
• Note taking sheets
• Pyramid Diorama Rubric
• Presentation Instructions/Rubric
• (Choose one) Group or Individual Overall Project Rubric

• Bottom section templates (unlined and lined)
• Side sections templates (unlined and lined)
• Teacher Rubrics for scoring/comments (note separate group/individual sheets for overall project) 

If you would like to download it, you can view here it in my TpT Store.