Back To School Freebie

Respect.  I truly believe that respect is the key to creating a caring classroom.  I treat my students with respect.  It’s that simple for me.  Respect is reciprocal.  I believe 100% that if you treat your students with respect they will in turn respect you.  

The first day of school is prime time for beginning respect.  Not only do I want my students to respect me, I want them to respect each other.  The first couple of days for me consist of teambuilding and classbuilding activities.  I don’t have “rules” in my classroom, I have expectations.  When we do teambuilding and classbuilding activities, my students know that I expect them to treat each other with respect.  They are expected to include EVERYONE.  This mindset works for me and for my students.  

Find a Buddy Who Back to School Bingo is a classbuilding activity that I do on the first day of school.  From day one my students are interacting with each other and EVERYONE is included.  You can download this free activity HERE at my TpT store.   

Laura Candler at Corkboard Connections has a Caring Classroom Link Up.  There are some fabulous ideas, tips, and activities waiting for you!  Click the Caring Classroom Badge to be taken to her blog.

ETA Giveaway

I recently had the opportunity to review ETA hand2mind's Home Team Advantage Summer Goal Achievement Pack for Grade 4.  I will start by saying, it is fantastic!  I am thoroughly impressed with all that the pack contains.  A perfect resource for students to use during summer and/or during the school year. 

 

Here is a glimpse at what all you get. 

A handy bag to hold and/or carry all the contents included in the pack.  There are three sets of manipulatives:

Figuro multiplication and division triangle fact cards

Multiplication Learning Wrap-Ups

Versa Tiles

Three non-fiction books.  I love the Rainforest Math because it shows students how math is used in real life by providing computation opportunities right within the text.

Three fiction books.  These books provide opportunities to study literature and story elements.

Three workbooks to help students keep their math, reading, and science skills sharpened.

A calendar for pacing and a Writing Journal for students to reflect on their learning.  The calendar is one of my favorite parts of the pack, because it takes the guess work out of the how and when of using all the fabulous contents.  The pack can be used in multiple ways, but the calendar does make it so simple to implement.  

Now here is one of the best parts!  ETA Hand2mind is giving away a Home Team Advantage Summer Goal Achievement Pack to one of my lucky readers.  The winner of the giveaway contest will receive the same kit as above, or the winner may chose a different grade level that fits their needs.  You can see the grade levels that are available and the contents by visiting ETA hands2mind.  The only stipulation is that they only ship with the US, so unfortunately international winners cannot be recognized.

I hope that you take the opportunity to enter.  If you choose to enter, good luck!!!!! Thanks ETA for the fantastic resource and the opportunity to look at it firsthand!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In Case of Emergency

It is rare that an actual emergency occurs at school.  In my ten years of teaching, I can remember a small smoke incident in the school kitchen causing us to have to evacuate the building and one lock down, nothing serious just taking precaution.  As for weather, I live in Southwest Missouri so tornadoes are our threat and  cause us to take shelter every so often.

I don't know about you but there are times when my desk may not be in tip top shape.  When we are participating in a drill or in the case of a real emergency I don't want to have to worry about finding my class list on top of keeping my students safe.  This is always on my beginning of the year to-do list, I create an "Emergency Class List" and place it right by my door. 

I place a class list inside a page protector.  I have thought about laminating it, but as we all know our class list may change during the year with students leaving or coming in.  The page protector allows me to be able to change out my list if needed.  

The last thing that I do is place a piece of velcro on the back of the list and attach it to my wall beside the door.  I have found the velcro to be the most dependable. 

This coming school year I am making a change, and a change it will be.  I will be teaching 6th grade and will be departmentalized.  So instead of having one class list I will have several.  Here is a look at what I am planning on doing.  Same idea, but a list for each class and placed on a ring.














If the bell sounds for a drill or an emergency, my class list is always in the same spot and next to the door ready for me to snag.  How do you plan for emergency situations? 

Joining in on Monday Made It

I'm finally joining in on Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics!  I'm not sure where I have been during the last 6 Mondays, but I'm here today and ready to link up!

Yesterday I set out on a mission.  I have been wanting/needing to do this for about two months.  The summer is getting away from me, so I had this idea and I needed to put it into action.  Now, I'm not going to say that it's a completed masterpiece, but I definitely got done what I set out to do today!

I wanted to start another blog to connect to Cooperative Learning 365.  This is what I started out with, a basic blogger template.

 

And this is what I have now......

WooHoo!!!  I succeeded in creating my own template.  Now the putting it all together is on my GIGANTIC TO DO LIST!