Friday, August 31, 2012

POP ART @ Target!!!!

Apparently for the 50th anniversary of Warhol's Soup Can paintings Target will be selling limited edition soup cans for only 75 cents a piece. Check this out!

Monday, August 27, 2012

iPad teacher app "planbook" is a must have!

So this year I'm at a new school with a new wackado elementary schedule. Some classes I see once a week, others twice. It is really hard to keep track of where you left off with a class as it is without there being some classes that are way far ahead because simply you see them more! Anyway I recently took advantage of Tennessee's tax free weekend before back to school and bought myself an iPad. If you are a teacher out there of any kind you can benefit from this marvelous app called plan book. I was never good at keeping up with a handwritten plan book but this one on my iPad is just want I needed to help keep me organized! Check out the screen shot below and see what I mean :)

Lastly I will also say that webehave is another fabulous must have teacher app! For privacy sake I did not take a screen shot of that, but I will say it is helping me keep track of notes I send home, parent communication, and in the event of needing a full history say for an iep meeting or support team it can come in real handy!

Friday, August 3, 2012

I'm Ready!!!!!

I am officially having kidlets come to my classroom today :) I am very ready and excited to see them all! Here is a sneak peak into my BRAND NEW CLASSROOM!

Book Shelve/ Storage Closet



Counter tops and my BIG crayola crayon that my sweetie won for me at the TN fair last fall :)


Our TN standards in kid friendly terms!

My white board with principals and elements above it :) 

Behavior Management!
If you are regular followers of my blog you may have seen my "How Blue Are You" Board last year that I stole from Mr. E... because he's amazing! This year I wanted to do a different spin on it, and found this idea on pinterest! Instead of using a dial/ and colored strips, I'm using the letters ART which you can see in the photo above, when students are being great I don't touch the letters. If students are acting up, rather than turning a dial from blue to yellow, I'll flip over one of the letters. If all letters remain during the class then for their class pocket they earn a "crayon" strip. Rewards to follow at the end of the quarter ;)

Individual management!
Above you see a blue and yellow paper with a smile and a frown. These are my new happy and sad charts. If a student is being outstanding I'll have them put their name on the happy chart. If they are being fussy, the sad chart. Both sheets are laminated and I stuck a dry erase marker to the wall with velcro! Also I have my passes hanging on the door. If students are on the happy chart when the class period is over, then they get to pick a prize. I know what you're thinking, prizes get expensive! Well walmart clearance all of their teacher stuff down to 10 cents yesterday! I bought over 300 hundred items, for $30+ and within each package are multiple erasers, gel pens, pencils, stickers, etc. I am well stocked! If you are a teacher and haven't checked out their 10 cent aisle yet, GO!

The entrance to the art room!


Word wall solution. 
Again, inspired by Mr. E... I laminated all of my words after writing them down on fluorescent paper, stuck a magnet strip on the back and there you have it! 

The front                             The students tables



I hope you enjoyed peaking in! As always I love hearing from you all... let me know if you have any questions on anything I posted! Suggestions are always welcomed to!