Friday, November 29, 2013

Black Friday (with 15 minutes to spare)

Hey ya'll! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know, I sure did. Boy, am I stuffed! I sure have a lot to be thankful for this year. I just loved spending time with my little turkey. 
Having a little nephew to love and spoil is so much fun. Anyways, I'm sorry I'm late to the party. I've spent most of my day Black Friday shopping. Eek. On the upside, I got some good deals. Because I'm posting this with 15 minutes to spare, I am extending my 20% off sale through tomorrow at 3pm (EST). 
I hope everyone was able to score some great deals today. Be sure to check back on Monday for TpT's Cyber Sale! 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A is for Activities like...

It's hump day and today I've teamed up with a few other Blog Hoppin' gals to bring you "Activities like..." 
Hurry on over and check out my post on Family Projects. Don't forget to link up. What are some activities YOU like to do in your classroom? Please share.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's post on New ideas...

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

H is for Helpful...

Hey friends! Long time, no see. Same ole story here.....too busy to do anything, 12 kinds of exhausted, and so on. Shew lawdy! Anyways, I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' and bringing you Helpful Hints.
Obviously teachers have a lot of crap stuff and it is absolutely vital that it stays organized or your room will look like an episode of Hoarders - quick!
Every summer, I usually pull out my manipulatives and organize them. I make sure everything is in the proper tub and I have a label with a matching picture on the front. This makes finding the item I need (or my students need) very simple.
Another thing that helps me stay organized are my lesson plan drawers. Everything I need for that day is in each drawer. Extra materials, or things I am working on for later, are stored in the next week drawer. I try my best to stay 2 weeks ahead *cough, cough.*
My library center was always a mess and constantly driving me crazy. I desperately wanted to change it and make it more manageable for my students. I purchased a great unit from Reagan (that's sadly, no longer available) and used it to print tags and matching labels for all my book bins and books. Students know to match the label on their book to the correct label on the front of the tub. This helps my library center stay neat and clean. 
My friend, Misha, shared this brilliant idea with me. When students have a choice to visit their free centers (or as I call them - Discovery Stations), they simply grab their clip and clip it on the sign. The 4 smileys represent the number of students allowed in that center. When it is full, they have to pick somewhere else to visit or wait until a spot opens up. This is such an easy way to manage station time and also puts the responsibility of choosing a station on them. 

Hurry on over to Blog Hoppin' and link up. I hope you found some helpful hints....Happy Tuesday.