Write About It Wednesday: Class Dojo and Custom Planners

So I promised myself I'd start blogging, so here we go! :) I'm all about technology, so my goal is to share at least one technology resource every week, but hopefully I'll get better about blogging and I can share more than one a week!

Write About It Wednesday: Class Dojo & Custom Planners Edition

Do you use Class Dojo? Have you ever tried it? If not, you NEED Class Dojo in your life! It's such an amazing tool! I found it a few years ago when it had the basic function of tracking behavior, but it's become so much more and it's growing even more this month! 

So what can you do with Class Dojo? So much!! 

• Track Behavior: You can award positive, negative, and neutral points/warnings to students for all kinds of activities. You get to choose what activities deserve to receive positive and negative points. They can have a point value of anywhere from -5 through +5 including 0 which could be used as a warning. You can allow parents to see positive points, no points, or all points. 
• Parent Communication: You can post announcements and reminders to all parents. This helps eliminate the old fashioned newsletter! Or you can still post your newsletter to the wall as well. You can also communicate one-on-one with parents, just like you would with a text. You can also share photos and videos with parents on the whole class stories, or individually. 
• Toolbox: All of those tools we all love are in one place with Dojo. There is a timer, random student picker, group maker, noise meter, music, and 3 places to help post directions or questions including directions, think-pair-share, and today. These are all great places to get students more independent or following directions. All of these tools are available at all times. 

That's NOT it either! Do you talk about Growth Mindset with your students? Class Dojo has the most adorable videos to help students understand Growth Mindset and Mojo (see that adorable green guy up there, yup that's Mojo) is the star with all of his friends. They're short videos that help students understand what Growth Mindset is. 

The coolest new feature coming later this month is the Portfolios. Students will each have their own portfolio. They will be able to share their learning using photos, videos, drawing, journal entries, and more. Teachers will be able to approve and give feedback on things that the students post. Then parents will be able to view and comment on the things their own children post. The objects they post will be able to be organized into folders as well. 

There are so many other cool features, but these are the main ones. The best part of all of it is honestly their support staff. They are extremely aware of privacy concerns, and they'll always help out if a district or administration has concerns about privacy. Overall, it's a great piece of technology that combines so many aspects from other technology tools that are out there. It's nice to have everything in one place!

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Have you ever heard of a Happy Planner? Apparently it's all the rage with... everyone? I see them everywhere I go. Even Target has them! This is a Happy Planner:

I've always been an Erin Condren planner user. There's probably a post on this blog from years ago about how much I love the planner. The problem is, I hate writing in my plans. I feel like I'm doing twice the work. Insert, my own planner with the help of the Happy Planner punch and discs! By creating my own planner, I can type my own lesson plans, but still have the cute part of the Happy Planner. I am just finishing it, but I feel like I need more pages than just calendars and a checklist?!? 

What other pages do I put in it? I could sit here for days wondering (Note: I've already redone the colors, stickers, and overall theme of it 4 times. I'm pretty sure the mister is sick of my complaining about it!)

The time we don't speak of...

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away I was once a blogger. A blogger on this here blog. I started it back in 2011 when blogging, teachers on social media, and (gasp) Teachers Pay Teachers was just becoming a thing. It was amazing. I found it funny that people actually wanted to buy the things I was making for my own classroom. I wasn't making them for those people, I've just always been the crazy perfectionist type of person that needs things to be just how I like them. I don't like black spots on worksheets. I don't like Comic Sans. I don't like a the text to be off center. It seemed normal for me to just remake and create things the way I liked them. So that's where this all started. I blogged consistently for a while, and then I'd fall off, come back for a short while and repeat the cycle. At any moment I can search for something teaching related on Pinterest and come across my own classroom (sometimes not even knowing it's mine).

This all brings me to today. Right in this moment. Here I am, going into year 10 of teaching. That's crazy to think about. That's going on almost 300 students that have passed through my doors (although I was lucky enough to have some twice when I moved to 3rd grade). So here I am, year 10 and in the past few weeks I've had some sort of revelation? awakening? I'm not sure what I want to call it at this point.

Year nine was... was... interesting. Let's just use that word. Year 9 was the year I'll never forget. Outside of school I was finishing one masters, and halfway through another masters. I bought my first car (under my own volition). Plus I was living my best life outside of school. Inside of those 4 cinder block classroom walls, I had 29 third graders who exhausted every ounce of me. Many days ended in phone calls to my mom, dad, and texts to my boyfriend before he got home, upon which I would talk even more. I questioned what else I could do in life outside of teaching. I have never seen 3 teachers challenged as much as myself and 2 of my teammates were this year. I left that year behind without a thought the second that bell rang (the 5:00 flight to Arizona that night may have helped that!).

So here I am, it's the beginning of July, the downhill slope back to normal life and I've decided to start this adventure again. I'm telling myself this is a new year, with 21 (woo hoo!) new faces, and I'm determined to make year ten the best yet. In order to do this, I've decided maybe if I start blogging, instagramming, and facebooking (are those words?) again, it'll force me to keep my positivity and achieve my goals I'm setting for myself this year! (I suppose that'll really involved people reading my stuff and looking forward to my thoughts and ideas, but I'll hope for the best!)

In less than a year I finish my 2nd masters, this one is in Technology Coaching ("Technology Specialist") which is my absolute, 100%, obsession passion! I just attended ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference, and I'm going to blame that amazing experience on my new "rebirth" if we can call it that! I am obsessed with all of the technology that continues to come out. My goal is to sort through everything and find what I think will work best for me, and share out what are some amazing tools (even if they won't work for me). Can I call that goal one? Be a sharer of all things technology. Let's go with it!

If there's something else I'm obsessed with (aside from the Cubs and my dogs) it's crafting. It was scrapbooking when I was younger, and now it's making shirt, tumblers, pictures, anything! I bring that craftiness into the classroom occasionally, like when I need therapy and make a giant Elf Door. But I want to bring it into my lessons. Enter:

Now if you know me in any slightest way, which you don't, I am not a big reader. Might I even say (GASP) I don't like reading at all. So for me to go out of my way order from Amazon an actual, paper book is shocking. Absolutely shocking. I have followed Hope and Wade on social media on and off and I'm seriously in awe constantly of how creative they are. So I thought, if I'm already creative, and I love being creative, why can't I do that at school more often too? After all, for like 6 months of the year we're taking tests (okay that may be a slight exaggeration), so when we're not why can't we do fun things and still learn! Along the way, I figured I could share my experiences with the world, or at least blog about them so I don't forget them the next year!

So here I am, I'm putting the time we don't speak of (year 9) behind me, like it never happened. I'm going to pretend it's year 1 and I'm beyond excited to have my own classroom. Even though I'll be more than happy to never return to those first years when I had way too much stuff for my own good!

Digital Citizenship Article

        In the article “Developing Digital Citizens” by Venessa Monterosa the author gives tips to help start a conversation in a district about what steps to take in order to incorporate digital citizenship.

In 2013 the United States’ second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified School District launched a Digital Citizenship Week. One of the elementary schools in the district kicked off the event. The district felt like the event was a success, but wanted to find a way to get everyone in the district across grade levels talking about digital citizenship.

The article provides tips to teachers and districts on how to develop more awareness of being a good digital citizenship. According to the article, 90% of teenagers from 12-17 use some type of social media daily. Because of this, students beginning early on need to learn about what type of digital footprint they leave every time they are on social media. The author also reiterates numerous times that colleges now use social media as a recruiting and filtering technique as they admit new students.

Creating a district-wide digital citizenship curriculum should involve many parts, just as instituting any curriculum would. Some tips to help start that process are:

-      Put together a diverse team: involve teachers, administration, and students because they all provide a different view

-      Define social media terms: for instance the difference between social media and social networking

-      Identify key social media topics and content: what are the most important topics to cover?

-      Create a partnership: Involve Common Sense Education or other online community as well as community members.

-      Connect with a variety of stakeholders: schools can showcase what they know to the community

-      Establish a digital citizenship week: helps emphasize the important of being good citizens.

Students need to be prepared for the 21^st century and part of that is learning how to be a good digital citizen. Talks about adding it into the daily curriculum may seem time consuming or unnecessary, but it is in today’s society.

Monterosa, V. (2015). Developing digital citizens. Leadership, 44(3), 30.

Resource Sharing Activity Three

Resource Sharing Activity Two

Resource Sharing Activity One

Article Review - Using Digital Assessments in the Classroom

The article “Emotions Experienced by Students Taking Online and Classroom Quizzes” discusses the advantages and disadvantages of giving students assessments online. It specifically addresses how a group of undergraduate students felt taking different types of assessments. First, the author mentions that there are many benefits to giving assessments online, especially the idea of students taking control of their own environment. In many situations students can control their own environment. There are many disadvantages though as well. Some people question how secure tests can be and if the technology is available (at school or home). As digital assessments have become increasingly popular more studies have been done, but there still is not a lot of information about the correlation between digital assessments and emotions. From studies that have been completed, the authors mentioned that “When educators first started using computers for testing, computer anxiety (anxiety produced from being unfamiliar with using a computer) had small effects on students’ performance, but these effects seem to have largely dissipated with a general increase in familiarity with using computers.” It seems in most studies there is not a large discrepancy between paper and digital, but more studies need to be done in order to best meet students’ needs.

This article was extremely interesting to me, especially because so many assessments are done online. In my classroom students cannot adjust their environment as much, because they are on desktops. I could, however, have the students use the math online component at home to take quizzes. Some students may not have the technology available at home and there could be parents or siblings helping those students. In the classroom though, like with PARCC, I feel like students do become anxious especially because of how much pressure is put on them and the things they hear. This is something that needs to be changed! Hopefully as students AND teachers become more familiar with online testing everyone will become more comfortable.

Stowell, J. R., Allan, W. D., & Teoro, S. M. (2012). Emotions Experienced by Students Taking Online and Classroom Quizzes. Journal Of Educational Computing Research, 47(1), 93-106.

Multimedia Lesson Plan - Online Assessment

Online Assessment for Multimedia Lesson Plan

Voices in the Park Quiz

Intended Audience

3rd Grade Students

Learning Objectives

• The student will be able to describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
• The student will be able to distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
• The student will be able to explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

Rationale
In 3rd grade students have to be able to describe characters and how their points of view are different. They also have to be able to distinguish how their own point of view is different than that of the characters. I used the picture book Voices in the Park to help students understand this concept. There are 4 different characters that all see the same park in very different ways. First the class would have discussed point of view. Then listened to the book first, then read the real text together. After that the class would do a matching activity that was shown on the screencast. I chose Google Forms to setup a quiz that the students would take. There are 6 multiple choice questions. Then last question is a short answer question that I would grade later. The students would receive immediate feedback on the multiple choice section. The questions test both knowledge about point of view, and applying that knowledge to the story. This grade would be used in conjunction with the activity from the screencast.

Multimedia Lesson Plan - Screencasting

Screencasting for Multimedia Lesson Plan

Intended Audience

3rd Grade Students

Learning Objectives

• The student will be able to describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
• The student will be able to distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
• The student will be able to explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

Rationale
In 3rd grade students have to be able to describe characters and how their points of view are different. They also have to be able to distinguish how their own point of view is different than that of the characters. I used the picture book Voices in the Park to help students understand this concept. There are 4 different characters that all see the same park in very different ways. During the podcast students listened to the story. Then I would have read the book together with the students. The screencast is used as modeling for group work the students would do to show they can explain point of view. I modeled matching characters and setting, then modeled an example of filling in the chart. By doing this with the students they were able to see what I was doing, as well as heard my thinking. When they go to fill in the charts, they will be able to re-listen to what I was modeling and see what I did as an example. Using the screen casting, as well as interactive features of Explain Everything will be a huge help in the classroom.

Article Review - Using Screencasting in the Classroom

In the article “Instructional Screencast: A Research Conceptual Framework” the authors discuss using screencasts as an instructional tool and how effective it can be. The main focus when looking at screencasting as an instructional tool is making sure to take into account the different learning styles of students in a class and how that tool will be a benefit to them. The authors recognize the effectiveness of screencasting as an instructional tool inside the classroom, but does explain that there are limitations. Screencasting uses working memory including the visual and verbal channel. Only a limited amount of information can be kept inside the working memory at one time. Because of this, screencasting may not work for all students. Some students may become too distracted by having visual, text, and audio all in the same place at the same time. The author emphasizes the fact that teachers have to know their students’ learning styles before any instruction to best reach their students.

Planning in a regular classroom setting without the inclusion of technology is difficult, but adding in technology helps reach more students. As teachers, we do have to make sure, just like the classroom environment we do not overload the students. We also have to make sure that the technology we use does not take away from the learning we want the students to accomplish. As teachers, regardless of if we are using technology or not, we need to be aware of all of our students learning styles, especially for those students that struggle so they do not fall farther and farther behind. 

Abdul Razak, M. R., & Mohamad Ali, A. Z. (2016). Instructional Screencast: A Research Conceptual Framework. Turkish Online Journal Of Distance Education, 17(2), 74-87.

Article Review - Using Podcasts in the Classroom

The article titled “The Power of Podcasting: Perspectives on Pedagogy” the authors discuss the benefits of using podcasts in the classroom in two specific types of ways. Those ways are using it for lectures, or instructional purposes, and the other is using it as feedback from instructor to student. For instructional purposes, podcasts benefit students in many different ways. The authors list some of the benefits as being able to listen at home or “on the go”, creating notes at one’s own pace, and being able to repeat the podcasts to clarify or fill in gaps. The article discusses that using podcasts for feedback is more effective than just using written feedback, especially when used together with the written feedback. There were studies done and students reported that they had the most positive experience when they received both written and audio feedback.  

This article was very interesting to me, especially in reference to the feedback portion. I do not have to give a ton of feedback, but when I do on papers, I dread it. I think giving audio feedback makes giving feedback a lot easier. I could happily fill out a rubric, and then give audio feedback about why I graded the student the way I did. I also think in a third grade classroom that has stations, using podcasts gives the teacher some freedom to focus more on guided reading groups versus answering constant questions. It also gives a ton of opportunities for adaptations. Every year there seems to be a few students that are so far below reading level they cannot read the content required to complete assignments. By providing these students with audio clips, they can listen to the content and then still answer questions or complete assignments.  Overall using audio in the classroom seems like a simple way that does not take a lot of work, to enhance the classroom instruction and feedback.

Palenque, S. M. (2016). The Power of Podcasting: Perspectives on Pedagogy. Journal Of Instructional Research, 54-7. 

Multimedia Lesson Plan - Podcast

Podcast for Multimedia Lesson Plan

Voices in the Park

Intended Audience

3rd Grade Students

Learning Objectives

• The student will be able to describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
• The student will be able to distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
• The student will be able to explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

Rationale
In 3rd grade students have to be able to describe characters and how their points of view are different. They also have to be able to distinguish how their own point of view is different than that of the characters. I used the picture book Voices in the Park to help students understand this concept. There are 4 different characters that all see the same park in very different ways. Having students listen to an audio recording of the text first allows the students to focus on the voices. Also, having this audio recording available for students allows them to go back and listen to the story later if they are working on an assignment and need to re-listen to the story. It also would allow for students with lower reading levels to work on the skill of comparing the characters without someone there to read the story for them.

 

Exploring Technology Tools in the Classroom - An Article Review 3rd Edition

The article titled “Incorporating Digital Tools to Support the Writing Process” focuses on two classrooms that use technology to create more authentic writing opportunities that will hopefully motivate their students. Both classrooms had students with some sort of special education needs.

In the first classroom the teachers used Skype and a Wireless Keyboard. The wireless keyboard provided the students and the teacher with more mobility. The teacher was able to move around the room with her students as they researched to become more engaged with them. The students were working on writing expository texts. For their final paper they had to write about if they wanted a class pet. The class discussed the topic together, follow by researching animals they wanted. Then, without having the ability to take her kids to a pet store, the teacher decided to Skype with a PetSmart employee. The employee was able to answer questions for the students while they recorded answers. When the interview was over the students asked to create a FAQs flyer for the store. They continued their research and eventually developed a flier for the store. Then they shared the file on Skype with the employee to get feedback.

The second classroom used Popplet and Book Creator. The students were working on recount writing where the students write about past personal events. The teacher first used Popplet to model her brainstorming. The created the plan and left the plan up on the board for students to see. Once students had come up with plans including a variety of pictures, vocabulary, labels, etc. they partnered up to share plans. Then they began using Book Creator to write their stories. They were able to draw and use pictures, as well as write their text. Once the books were finished the teacher was able to share the books among the whole class on their iPads so all students could read the stories during independent time.

Although both classrooms included students with special needs, these are all apps and tools that would benefit any classroom greatly. Writing is always a huge struggle, especially in third grade when there is a huge, dramatic jump from basic paragraph writing to multiple paragraph writing and researching. Once Common Core Standards came into play, it seemed like writing became mostly geared toward expository types of writing. This is the type of writing most students will do over their educational career. It is very hard to get students invested in their writing and realize how important writing will be as they continue through school. I also think it is important they see how writing is used. I never thought about using Skype as a research tool, especially with the lack of money to go on field trips. I personally have never used Popplet or Book Creator, but the idea of using a tool to electronically brainstorm sounds like a huge benefit. It allows students to easily move ideas around and revise their thoughts. I also love the idea of Book Creator so all students and I am assuming parents will be able to easily see end products once students are finished. Overall all of the ideas given in the article really seem to authentic, and extremely motivating ideas that would help students with writing.

 

Saulsburry, R., Kilpatrick, J., Wolbers, K. A., & Dostal, H. (2015). Getting Students Excited about Learning: Incorporating Digital Tools to Support the Writing Process. Odyssey: New Directions in Deaf Education, 16, 30-34. doi:EJ1064118

Exploring Technology Tools in the Classroom - An Article Review 2nd Edition

In the article “The Wonders of Educational Blogging: Solving Classroom Issues with Edmodo” the author, Patricia Thibaut, explains the benefits to using the social networking sites in the classroom and more specifically Edmodo. Edmodo is a site that is basically an educational version of Facebook. It is formatted the same way and provides a platform for teachers and students to interact in a safer, more educational way. The author of the article did a study with a group of students and a teacher in a sixth grade classroom. The study ended up showing the benefits of students using social networking, especially on a school safe site like Edmodo. Thibaut mentioned that students often feel that interacting on social media sites is less stressful. The students can think about their answers or arguments and have more time to contribute. It also provides an opportunity for students who do not feel comfortable participating in class to give their opinions. The author continuously reiterated the idea that while students are communicating back and forth they are given more ownership of their knowledge. Most people learn better when they are forced to explain things to others and Edmodo does this exactly this. By students making posts, creating games, etc. they are having to explain or show their knowledge in a way that becomes more than just memorizing facts. The social interactions among peers is also a huge benefit and creates a collaborative environment where students are constructing their own knowledge. Another social benefit was that students were receiving feedback from other students, whereas in a normal setting students often only receive feedback from their teachers. This created a more motivating and positive environment in the classroom.



I personally have created an Edmodo account and I played around with it, but it never went further than that. I have also created a classroom blog to use for literature circles, but it was only for a short period of time and it was limited to only guided reading time. I absolutely love the idea of students commenting back and forth, similar to the twitter chat activity completed in class. Edmodo also provides a grading system along with games teachers can use as review. There are also opportunities for students to create games for their classmates. I think this is a fantastic way for students to show their knowledge, more than just answering questions on a test. I am also always looking for ways to let those quieter students shine, especially when they often have great ideas that go unheard. This is a great tool to support those students. After reading this article, I really was excited to go and start playing around with Edmodo to test it out in my classroom this upcoming year.



Thibaut, P. (2015). Social network sites with learning purposes: Exploring new spaces for literacy and learning in the primary classroom. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 38(2), 83-94. doi:103157128

Exploring Technology Tools in the Classroom - An Article Review 1st Edition

In the article “Twittering About Learning: Using Twitter in an Elementary School Classroom” the author, Jeff Kurtz, describes how he has adapted a favorite classroom writing activity to the technological age the world has become. First Kurtz (2009) describes how he used to have his students communicate about daily activities by writing about the day’s events on chart paper. Then each student would bring it home one day a month to share with their family what was happening. Eventually he decided to try this activity out, but using Twitter. Each day the class writes four to five tweets per day about the events happening in the classroom. He explained how he spent the first few months modeling this in front of the class. He would make the tweet too long which caused the class to have to revise the tweet together. Eventually he transitioned to choosing a few students per day to write the tweets that would be posted. Each student would write the tweet in their notebook before having it checked by the teacher. Then later, before posting, the class would review the tweet to revise, add, or delete.



When it comes to communicating with parents, I use primarily Class Dojo, but I also use e-mail. I enjoy Dojo, but if I am personally having a busy week I do not always update it. Having the students use Twitter to update would be extremely beneficial. Parents in my school always want updates, so this gives them numerous updates per day. If I forget to update the Dojo, this also helps keep parents in the know for what is happening. One of the biggest benefits I saw in doing this with the students is the importance of the revising. The author mentioned that students seemed to do very well with understanding the concept of revising when they had to change the tweet around to make it fit the right amount of characters. This is always a concept that third graders do not understand and most of us teachers find exhausting and a constant struggle. It also shows students how important communicating effectively is in the real world. In addition this is the perfect opportunity to discuss digital citizenship and the importance of internet safety. After this, I have officially added this to my list of things to try this upcoming year. It seems like a wonderful tool to use for not only communication and collaboration, but also helping my students improve their writing skills. 



Kurtz, J. (2009). Twittering About Learning: Using Twitter in an Elementary School Classroom. Horace, 25(1). doi:EJ859276

The Updated Classroom

The way the classroom was at the beginning worked well, but I really am loving this setup!

Remember, it's all about how you use your space! My room really isn't big at all, I just use it right!

view from the door

 the back wall with some posters on it

the cubbies with our character pumpkin projects & monster writing

the front of the classroom with the smartboard before mounting

the front part of the classroom where a laptop will be, and my computer is

another view of the back

 a view of the back and side where my desk is

view of the other side of the classroom

2013 - 2014 Classroom

My 2013-2014 Classroom

It has changed a little since then, I will post more pictures soon

so you can see the changes!

view from the door, walking in

part of my area, with the computer

behind my desk, normally there is a vent there so it's unusable space

these were the teams in their standings at that point

view from the back of the room

view of the windows, library, & my desk

a different view from the door.

the front, including homeworkopoly

view of the back of the classroom.

(it wasn't complete at this point)

one last view of the back of the classroom.

Sometimes Life Hits You in the Face

My goal for the past year, has been to get back to blogging.

I really do love sharing ideas about what is happening in my classroom, which has changed so much.

The past year, year and a half really, has been the craziest whirlwind ever. So many things have happened and I'm definitely no where near I would have ever expected, because of both good and not so good reasons. Needless to say I'm here, and I'm hoping maybe I still have a few people out there who are interested in seeing what's going on in my classroom.

I"m managing a half honors, half regular (well more like 3/4 honors, 1/4 regular)so I've had to get creative in what I'm doing. We also just instituted math common core, so not only is math different for me because of honors, but it's also tricky to try and find ways to incorporate the cc math practices. I'm trying though!

Anyway, I hope I still have a few followers out there that can benefit from what I share... and if you are thanks for sticking with me :) Look forward to some ideas and pictures within the next few days! :)

Quick, It's a SALE!!

Soooooo.... Were you panicked today because you already felt like you needed to plan next week? Yea me too!! So here ya go: 20% EVERYTHING in my Teacher's Notebook Store! Clicky on the picture!!

After yesterday's post with this:

I had quite a few people ask about them, or if I'd make them one! I posted them on my Teacher's Notebook Store. I just posted a few of them for now. If it really is an interest I'll think of making more!! Check out my store if you're interested or send me an e-mail Miss.Teach2009 at GMail :)

Here are a few other things I thought might interest some of you:

{class behavior bingo} 

 {all about me poetry, as on the wall for curriculum night, then i turned it into a book}

{obviously this is my page - the cover has been on my to-do list for a week, oops!}

{my page! woohoo!} 

 {2 of the kiddos pages... look at my adorable little heart faced kiddos!? tee hee}

{random i know, but i actually like this part of my board}

{i ran out of contact paper, so i improvised and flip flopped the background}

that's all <3 goodnight. 

Gettin' A Little Crafty & Erin Condren FINALLY!!

So, over than being completely overwhelmed since basically August 1st... I have gotten a little crafty since school started. Although I probably could have been a little craftier but I've been wearing out my cowboy boots like it's my job. Anyone in the south looking for a roomie? Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Chris Cagle, Craig Morgan, Josh Turner, Joe Nichols, Thompson Square have all seen my cowboy boots lately. Oh, don't worry Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan have seen them twice ;) Justin Moore will see them this upcoming weekend as well!! So needless to say country music has distracted me a bit, as has college football which started this weekend. Go Gators!! Anyway onto the craftiness...

Quite a few people asked me about the magnets seen here:

To be honest, I'm not sure how ya'll even noticed those little glittery guys. So I needed another set, and I knew my teammate was eyeing them up, so I decided to make another set. I have to say in advance, I forgot to take after pictures, so this will be an updated post tomorrow after I take pictures at school :)

Here's my wonderful (winky, awful face) tutorial :)

 {1: gather supplies}

{mod podge} 

{glass marbles w/flat bottom} 

{some kind of glitter}

{2: spread out supplies, grab marble with flat side up}

{3: spread a THIN (thick takes forever to dry) layer of glue on flat bottom}

note: i have tried brushes of all kinds, my finger worked best, it's messy, but that's okay!!

{4: lay out to dry on scrap paper}

{lay out as many as you want of one color on a piece of paper}

{5: once finished with one set, get glitter ready}

{6: apply glitter generously, remember you can save excess glitter}

{7: repeat steps 2-6 over for each color you want to do}

{8: let them dry overnight}

 {9: you shouldn't see any white glue left when you turn them over}

{10: either use a glue gun, or these fab-o glue dots!}

{11: and these wonderful magnets... the thin ones don't work well}

{12: place the glue dot carefully on the glitter, then stick and press the magnet on that}

{13: write the numbers on! woot!}
*if they fall, the magnet may fall off, just reapply another glue dot!*

Onto other crafty things... I gained 2 new teammates this year which is fabulous!! I am loving both of them! Plus I love my other teammate who I plan and do all of my projects with. I decided to make them something to start their year off :) 

 {outside of their box - minus this one's name}

 {inside of one of the boxes - all items we all need!}

{all 3 of the boxes in different colors}

Sometimes we all have kiddos that need charts, papers, or things and I needed somewhere to keep that stuff. He loves basketball so I thought this would be a bit of encouragement, and a little less girly than the zebra one I was storing the stuff on.

 {front and back of the basketball clipboard - i love those textured sports ball papers!!}

I kept on fighting the whole "Where Are We" chart so students could put a magnet or whatever for where they are. I've never really needed it, because I've only really had kiddos that go to the bathroom, occasionally another teacher, or occasionally the nurse. Well I have quite a few kiddos that leave and go to numerous other places on different days all throughout the day. I can barely keep track of things. So I broke down and made my own version of "Where Are We" It hangs right on the window near the door so as they leave they remember. Once I made myself one, my teammate wanted one as well, so here they are:

 {obviously mine is the black one, I only wish bathroom wasn't so long, but I guess I can't be too picky!!}

{this is also why I made yet another set of the magnets above}

That's all of my craftiness... then came along Erin Condren. FINALLY!! OMG!! In case you can't tell, I was excited (still am). I checked my phone every 2 minutes to see if my order had shipped. The day I knew it came, I'm surprised I didn't get a speeding ticket. I got home so fast! I wanted to rip it open, I even started to, but then I thought I should share my joy with you. So here it goes:

 Now here she is tonight:

And yes, it would have been well worth the speeding ticket had I have gotten one on the way home. I'm so in love with it. She goes everywhere with me, back and fourth, between home and school. It has the gradebook part, the calendar part, the weekly lesson plan pages, and.... drumroll please... STICKERS with all of the important things (like drill, iep meeting, staff meeting, etc.).

If you don't have one, I highly recommend it. It's SO WORTH it!! I promise. I kept putting it off because I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend all that money on one, when school gives up both planners and gradebooks (I should mention they are the most boring planners/gradebooks known to man though). I actually wish I wouldn't have put it off all summer, because then I would have had it before school started. She had a sale in August where you got free pens and stuff so that finally made me do it!! (And I should note, in no way did I get this as a giveaway or did she ask me to post this or anything, I just needed to brag about it! LOL! I also thought someone may have been hesitant like me, and needed a real opinion!!)

If you want to check it out, here's where you can find it on her page:

{teacher's planner}

That's the stuff I have now, but there are about 5 million other things I want to share with you. A few new things I've been making and implementing in my classroom. I promise I'll get on that this week. I also noticed I have over 1500 visitors on both here and facebook, so I'm in the process of coming up with a giveaway! If I can get over this cold I'll do it ASAP :) I hope ya'll had a great weekend!! Football starts Wednesday, if that doesn't get you excited I don't know what will!! :)