Monday Made its!

I finally was able to get some things done to link up with Tara and her Monday Made It!


Monday Made It

 Let me tell you, my printer and laminator were getting a work out! I didn't make anything for my home, I hope to find something that I can make for another time. Anyways, here's what I've made so far.

Here is a closer look at all of my creations with credit to those creative people whose generosity is greatly appreciated!

 Calm Tool Kit- From the Tpt store of Lynn Hubbell Each card has a strategy that a student can look at and use when having a hard time dealing with something. I might put this in my calm down box or have on a hook on the wall in my alcove (where students go to cool down) in order to help the student use the strategies.

These are cards for students that need a visual cue to be quiet, use nice hands, stop, etc. I have several kids in my room that will benefit from this. These will definitely be on my lanyard so that I can show the student exactly what behavior I need them to show me. I bought them from Sasha Hallagan

I got all of the words from Mrs. Wheeler's First Graders for the centers on antonyms, synonyms, contractions, and compound words. I printed them out and went to the Dollar Tree to find the cute cutouts to use the words with!

This year, especially since I'm teaching 3rd and 4th graders, I'm focusing on fluency. I found these downloadable cards from I Love 2 Teach they are free to download and look like fun!

I love these line up cards! I got them from I Love 2 Teach I will have them on a hook by the door to use whenever we leave the room. I will be able to mix up the order of how kids line up to go to lunch, gym, recess, etc. Fun things like favorite ice cream flavors, type of pet, number of vowels or syllables in their names, and many more!

Finally, Easy, Peasy Prep math center task cards from found at Tpt in the store of Cynthia Vautrot to be used with dominoes, cards, or dice, not with cats- yes, my cat kept getting in the picture! I think she was feeling neglected! There are 10 total cards in the set and the students can use dominoes, cards, or dice and work on the cards.

 

Okay, I think I'm done with everything for this Monday! I've gotten a lot of great ideas from other bloggers this week, so I hope that I can find the time to make more things! I'm not sure where all the time has gone!

 

 

 

June Goals, just what the teacher in me ordered!

I love this idea for a linky party! I need to be held accountable and set goals for each month of my summer! So I'm linking up with

I started cleaning, purging, and organizing the dreaded basement today. It has become a dumping ground for everything- not just my teachery items. I'm trying to get rid of things I haven't used in the past few years and organize it all by subject or category. This may take me all month! I also want to spend more time with my mom, sons, and husband doing fun things. We tend to get stuck on what has to be done or think that we can do fun stuff next week, which never comes. I've told my sons (ages 20 and 23) that I will be taking them out for lunch during the summer. 

On pinterest and other teacher blogs, I've seen some awesome ideas for organizing ideas with the common core. Since switching grades for next year, this is a good time to set up file folders with the standard number and description on them. Hmmmm, not sure what happened to my 4, in blog at least 4 times per month! I've slacked off during the school year, so I hope to get back in the swing of blogging!

I want to reread The Great Gatsby. I read it in high school (a long time ago) and with the movie coming out, I want to read the book before seeing the movie. I also have ordered Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids. I like the idea of whole brain teaching, but it needs tweaking for my students! Hopefully, this book will give me a lot of ideas. I've also joined the book club/discussion for this book with others through Chris Biffle's Whole Brain Teaching site, to help me along!

What would I do differently next year?

It's so much fun to join a linky party, so for my first of the summer, I'm linking up with Kim over at
Finding Joy in 6th Grade

So what would I do differently next year? Well, some of the things are easy to identify- I'm switching grades again going from a 4th and 5th grade room to a 3rd and 4th grade classroom!

This past school year, I used rotations for part of the year, but then switched back to whole group instruction, with different tasks for the students in order to meet their needs. I really like the rotations of working with teacher, practice, and apply skills, so I need to plan this out better for the next year. Some of the problems were with staff- I had 4 different people for one of my aides during the year, with varying experience and knowledge, so it was difficult to depend on them to help out.

I need to challenge my students to do more, take more chances, even fail at times! My students tend to be scared of making any mistakes, so they simply don't do the extra work. I need to keep them accountable and make sure that they are performing at their best level.

Working with students with various emotional and behavior challenges, I need to incorporate more multi-sensory activities in the school day. It may be by giving them a choice menu based on learning styles or through different activities that use their senses and motor skills.

I guess I have my summer planned with all that I hope to accomplish next year. I've kept a reflection journal this year, so I know what I need to change and what worked in my class this year. So what are you going to do differently or the same next year?