My last full week of school is finally here! It is such a crazy, hectic time of year for all of us, however this year just seems especially challenging. My mind has been in a complete whirlwind. I have been SWAMPED with paperwork and my calendar is chuck full of commitments and responsibilities. These past couple of weeks I served on several committees, finished up all my testing and passed in the final report cards. I also spent hours and hours finishing up documentations for student portfolios and finalizing checkpoints on Teacher's Strategies Gold. I worked on unpacking the several boxes that were delivered and left piled up in my classroom. We just received a newer version of the Scott Foresman Reading Street Program and as you know anytime you get a new program there is so much to learn and do. This year one of my grade level partners is on maternity leave and the other just retired in the middle of the year so therefore I have been helping out two substitutes these past couple of months. I just served on a hiring committee to replace one of our teachers. I am also working on a committee as we are putting together a parent volunteer breakfast. I will also be passing out baggies with items to make S'mores and give them "We Need S'More Volunteers Like You" cards.
With all this going on I can't forget to mention how some of my students have already checked out and are already in summer mode. I am sure you can all relate to this! It has been a challenge keeping them engaged and in self control. Each day we still need to remind students about responsibilities and how important it is to follow through with classroom rules right up until the last day.
Keeping students busy with fun-filled but meaningful activities is crucial even though marks have already closed. I learned from experience that if you give the students too much free choice time, they just can't handle it and things start spiraling out of control. Kids just need some sense of structure even though there are only just a few days left. I will do my best to stick to the same schedule that they are used to. They will still be doing literacy centers and math. My students will not be taking home their writing journals until the last full day of school. I also have lots of great end of the year summer themed worksheets in a summer pack and summer writing prompts for them to work on.
During the final few days it is a good idea to pull out all of your favorite high interest books that you still have not read to your students as of yet and put it into a box ready to go. Since students will definitely need lots of movement breaks to let out all that extra energy it is a good idea to check out Go Noodle and have a plan as to which movement breaks you will use. Make a list of fun classic indoor games/outdoor games and have students take a vote as to which ones they want to play as an incentive for good behavior. My kinders love playing Seven Up, Duck Duck Goose, Four Corners, What Time Is It Mr. Fox?, Bug In the Rug, and Doggie Who has the Bone. This week my students will be working on Memory Books and Father's Day Projects. I can't wait to show them the end of the year slide show that I put together using pictures that I have been taking of them doing a variety of activities throughout the year. Holiday activities, field trip and field day pictures are also included and are all put together nicely with background music. After viewing our slide show I will be passing out individual End of the Year Awards. Here is my kitchen table this weekend as I prepare for the big day.
It should be a fun-filled memorable week! How will you be celebrating the end of the school year with your students? How do you make it meaningful, memorable and fun? Please share your thoughts by posting below.
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! In honor of this special week and meeting our first milestone on Teachers Pay Teachers, Jolene Ray and I are hosting an AMAZING GIVEAWAY! Check out these fabulous prizes from some of these talented teachers who have donated to this special event. Be sure to enter to win. One lucky winner will receive terrific products that values well over $100.00. The products in this giveaway are perfect for the early primary grades PreK-3. This special giveaway begins May 2-May 5th. Good Luck!
We know how incredibly hard teachers work throughout the year. Please take some time off and do something special for yourself. Take a moment to recognize all the accomplishments and growth your students have made this year.
Stop by some of these fabulous stores and check out all they have to offer. My store as well as many others will be having a 20% off sale during the annual Teacher Appreciation Sale. If you like what you see, be sure to follow them and stock up on some fun and engaging end of the year products. Here are the product links of the prizes that the lucky winner will receive.
123kteach (winner's choice $25.00 credit to store)
Jolene Ray (winner's choice $25.00 credit to store)
It was a full day of reading and fun. Our entire school had a day of reading with a Camping Theme just before Spring vacation. It was a great treat for the students and the staff, especially after all the testing we have been doing, as well as getting grades together for the report cards. Each teacher was able to use this special theme and create an environment of reading and learning throughout the day. We did get the kids involved and they helped us set up for this special day. Students in the upper grades at our school really took this job seriously as they created unbelievable props to transform their classrooms.
My students were able to bring in their favorite book, a stuffed toy, a small blanket and a flashlight for this event. I wish you could of seen their faces light up as they walked in our classroom and saw the pretend tents and virtual fireplace up on our smart board with awesome sound effects of the crackling fire and crickets at night.
Here are just a few pictures I took of of my classroom on this special day.
Here is one of my paper tents I created across part of my classroom. Students are listening to a read a loud as they cuddle up with their favorite stuffed toy.
Here is another paper tent stretched across the cubbies. I also place a pretend fire place made
out of tissue paper and paper towel rolls for logs
My students are having fun reading their books using flashlight as they get cozy with their blankets.
Students are sitting by the virtual fireplace looking at books.
Here is the night time camp fire video I used from You Tube. It lasts two hours which was just perfect as I did not have to run back and fourth to reload it.
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My students were super excited about this day, especially after I told them that they did not have to do centers, math or RTI. They could just relax and read all day and they even had to do the same thing during specialist time. I did several read a loud throughout the day, we sang campfire songs and played games. At the tables I had several fun activities set up and they could go there if they chose to. I did not make it mandatory, however I was pleased to see many students want to get involved with some of the activities that I put out for them. Students had a chance to make book marks, write mini book reports, create their own mini booklet or write about how to make s'mores. Here are just a few of the activities they could choose from.
You can find lots of How to Writing prompts at my store.
Here are some great reading response prompts to get your students thinking about books they read.
You can find these prompts and more at my store. Click here.
Have you ever done a Camping Day with your students? What types of activities did you do? Please share in the comment section. I'd love to hear about it.
I am SO excited to do my first official blog post under my new blog design! A special shout out to Jolene Ray over at Paisley n' Polkadots Blog Designs for her phenomenal custom blog design. My previous blog needed a facelift and Jolene was able to do her magic as she was able to spice things up and add all the pizzazz that my blog so desperately needed. If you are looking into making changes to your blog or just want to enter the world of blogging, I suggest you check Jolene out. She is wonderful to work with and makes the whole process easy. Best of all, her pricing is the best deal around.
In celebration of my new blog design, I will be doing a FLASH FREEBIE for this week only. Get your students writing sentences and editing their own work with these posters to hang in your classroom as well as special writing paper. Students will learn to write sentences using an uppercase letter, use finger spaces between words, use correct ending marks and use their very best handwriting. You can display these "I can" posters throughout your classroom. Each "I can" statement also comes with a sentence strip to illustrate how to use upppercase letters, spacing between words, use ending marks and use your best handwriting. You will also receive writing paper with a check box list for students to self edit their work. This packet includes two different types of paper for differentiated instruction. The first paper is just one sided with a check box list for self editing. The second set of papers run off two sided for more advanced writers with the check box list on the back.
Be sure to follow this blog and be on the lookout as I will be celebrating my first Teachers Pay Teachers milestone. I am in the process of putting together an AMAZING giveaway with some spectacular prizes. Don't miss out on this opportunity.
Peep into Easter Savings and join in our annual Easter Eggstravaganza Sale!I've teamed up with several other Teacher Pay Teacher authors to bring this amazing sale to you. You will receive 20% off savings off my entire store which includes bundles. You can search #eastersale to find terrific savings throughout Teachers Pay Teachers. I have some GREAT NEWS to share. After three years of very hard work and dedication, I am overjoyed and bubbling over with excitement to let you know that I finally hit my first milestone on TPT. I could not have done this alone and I want to thank all the wonderful support that I received through mostly the forums and video clips of some amazing teacher authors. As I just begin to celebrate, you can also make a good choice and grab my special FLASH FREEBIE for this week only. Enjoy this product as you get your students thinking about making good choices. Students will sort good choices and poor choices on a cut and pasted activity and color code activity. They will also have the opportunity to write about making good choices on a variety of worksheets. I know from years of teaching experience that student's start to feel the "Spring Fever" during this time of year and start acting up. This is the perfect chance to assist students with reminding them about making good choices.
Be on the lookout as I make plans to celebrate this special milestone. It will be AMAZING! Tell all your friends to hop in and follow this blog so they can join in on the fun. Stay tuned! You will not want to miss out on this. Happy Easter! Happy Spring! Enjoy spending time with family and friends.
It is the first full day of spring and believe it or not it is a snow day. The weather here in New England can be so unpredictable. This morning I saw snow plows and later on in the afternoon most of the snow had already melted and I see daffodils popping out of the ground. Luckily, we got a lot less snow than what was predicted. I tried to take advantage of this day while being home from school and worked on my own teacher portfolio. As you already know this can be a huge undertaking and it can be quite overwhelming. I created these binders to help organize all the evidence collected which include pictures, data, meetings, conferences, grades, personal reflections and so much more. If you are you looking for a way to organize all of your evidence to put together in your Teacher Binder, you may want to check out this product. Since I am a teacher from Massachusetts, we use the Massachusetts Model System for Educator Evaluation. Today I worked extremely hard at organizing and putting together my binder for these past couple of years. Although I have been gathering evidence for quite awhile, I was blessed with this day to spend more time in organizing this. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teacher-Evaluation-Evidence-Portfolio-Binder-EDITABLE-1312076 Please check out this preview by clicking on the link above before purchasing to ensure that your standards are the same or very close. We all work very hard at what we do. Show off your talents and prove to your administrators that you are Proficient or better yet, Exceeding the standards. I made this editable binder to include pages to separate the four major standards along with your student and professional goals. You will also receive three pages of color coded indicator tabs and expectation elements for each of the indicators for the four standards. Standard 1-Curriculum Planning and Assessment Standard 2-Teaching All Students Standard 3-Family and Community Engagement Standard 4-Professional Culture This product also includes a binder spine for a 2", 3" or 5" binder and back cover in a navy blue or coral chevron pattern. I chose the navy while developing this product so male or female teachers could easily use this to put together a professional looking binder. In fact, my husband who is also an educator used this system for his binder and he loved it. Simply insert the covers into a clear view binder and your ready to go. Here is what the coral chevron binder looks like.
This is a huge time saver and I think you will like the way you can put your accomplishments in an organized way. Since I work with kindergarten, my evidence may be quite different than other grade levels. Please keep in mind the following:
****This product does not give you suggestions as to what to put in the binder. It is just created to help you organize. **** Now that it is spring and it is getting closer to the end of the year, this is the perfect time to get your binder finalized and ready to go. Best of luck with your teacher evaluations.
Leap into Savings with the Super Leap Sale for February 29(Leap Day) and March 1st (Super Tuesday with 12 presidential primaries or caucuses) I am teaming up with many sellers who will be hosting special discounts on either selected products or their entire store. Be sure to search using #superleap to find some amazing savings.
Since Leap year only comes around every four years, I've decided to make this event extra special. I chose to include my four featured products at a whopping 29% savings. The rest of the products throughout my store will also be discounted at 20% off. My state of Massachusetts will be voting in this all important presidential race. Be sure to get out there and vote. It should be an exciting day and I can't wait to see all the results come in. My hope is that this country will strive forward in a peaceful, prosperous, safe direction.
