Behavior log & a Sneak Peek

Hey ya'll. I recently finished my new behavior system and love it. It is hanging nicely in my room and I think it will be a great thing for my kinders next year. However, I got to wondering - How am I going to record my students' behavior for parents to see? Last year, I just "flipped cards" and gave students a stamp on their calendar for good behavior. If a student turned a card, I would physically write the reason for each child on that specific day. I am looking for something a little easier for me and came up with a behavior log that I think will work well with my new clothespin chart. I have designed it so it will be copied front/back and be used for a month at a time. 

Here is my chart:

Click below to grab the corresponding log. I would appreciate feedback, ideas, changes, etc. Those of you that do use this system: what do you use? Is there a better/easier way? Let me know! :)  

How many of you all use this clip chart? It's very similar...just different wording.

Well, if you do...I made a log for it, too! Just click the image to grab from google docs.

Typically I keep my students' calendars (or in this case, behavior logs) in their communication folder. I stick it in the left hand side, that says 'Return to School,' and it will stay there for a month. 

When the month is up, I remove the calendar...file it away...and replace it with a new one. By filing my students' behavior logs, I am able to pull them for parent/teacher conferences and discuss their progress easily with parents. Whatcha think? Leave me your thoughts, please! I love reading your comments. 

P.S. I went to Kohl's yesterday and nearly had a stroke! I spent wayyyy too much money but OMG are the Skippyjon plush adorable! hee hee He's looking mighty cute in my library center. Here's a sneak peek of library. My classroom is certainly coming along! 

Exciting news!

Hey friends! Remember, I posted last week or two ago about the Kohl's Care books?  Well, a blog friend of mine just informed me that Kohl's launched their new line of books and you'll never guess what they are! I'm thrilled! SKIPPYJON JONES! Ahhhhhhhh I am seriously going to Kohl's TODAY! You can read more about this and the products they'll have, here. What are you waiting for??

OCD in full swing: puzzles

Hey ya'll! I'm marking things off my {list} slowly...and it's such a wonderful feeling! There are some things I've been wanting to do for a while now but time hasn't allowed - organizing my puzzles was one. My boxes were so ratted and torn, I couldn't stand it anymore. 

Last year, I put all of the puzzle pieces in a ziploc and placed the box lid in the bag too, BUT...even after they went through my kinders' hands a dozen times, I found myself having to replace the baggies more often than I would have liked. Blah! So...this is what I came up with this year!

A teacher gave me these at the end of the year. They're from her math series I think? Thick, plastic envelopes that hold math manipulatives. I decided they'd be perfect for storing all of my little 24 pc. puzzles! Certainly worth recycling!

I sat down one evening (when I couldn't sleep) and began building my puzzles. Yes, you're reading this right...I built every puzzle I had. ha! Half of the pieces had been mixed together, some were missing, and some were too ratty to use. So, I purged and threw away several puzzles. This made me muy sad! But, I found out which puzzles I had all of the pieces of and took pictures of the finished products. *Side note: in all reality, this was very relaxing...much like coloring. I hadn't put together puzzles in a while and enjoyed doing this to be honest, it was fun! ha ha ha 

I printed off the picture, laminated it for durability, and placed it PLUS the puzzle pieces in the plastic envelope. 

Now my kinders can grab an envelope, build the puzzle, and refer to the picture if they need! Viola!

Don't they look MUCH nicer now? I think these will go along great with Rochelle's "fast finisher" post. What are you doing to organize? Do you have a better way to keep your puzzles neat? Please share! Also, don't forget that voting began today for the 2012 Most Fascinating Kinder blog. Click below to vote for me, please! Thank you!

Thirty One fundraiser - stock up for school!

Hey friends! I know what you're thinking...two posts in one day? This woman is nuts! BUT - I wanted to announce this and see if you all could help me out. As some of you all may or may not know...in addition to teaching, helping out at a local gift shop, and serving on a few committees - I coach cheerleading! ha Our school is K-8 so I work with JV and Varsity girls, grades 6th through 8th. 

We recently booked our summer camp through UCA and for 9 girls and 2 coaches, the cost is tremendous! We are trying to help some by hosting a fundraiser through Thirty-One! 

We are currently selling the large utility totes for $35. Right now, for every tote you purchase, you can buy a 2nd utility bag for $10! So that's 2 totes for $45 - hello Christmas and Birthdays! 

For every tote WE sell (not including the $10 one) we earn $12.50 towards camp. Anything else we sell from Thirty-One, we earn 25% of the amount you spend. Does that make sense? ha I am posting this to ask you to help us out! You can visit our page and make your selections by clicking the light bulb below. All orders can be paid by card and then everything will ship to YOU. How's that for service? Check out all the patterns and colors to choose from. I just love my large utility to tote things to and from school - it is so handy!

Are you interested? If so, click the light bulb below to visit our site and ensure we receive credit for your order. If you have any questions about ordering, please do not hesitate to comment below or email me. The deadline for orders is June 30th at 5pm (EST). Thank you on behalf of my squad, we really appreciate you!

Teacher missing and a congrats

Congrats to Tanya from First Grade is Fantabulous for winning my "One MEGA giveaway for 1,000 followers" and a special thank you to everyone who participated and entered. I apologize for being M.I.A lately and not announcing this sooner. But I decided (at the last minute) to head to the beach for a few days! 

My instructional assistant and I spent 5 days lounging by the pool and relaxing by the beach - it was oh so fun and full of laughter. And most importantly - much needed!

However, we decided that the lazy river was NOT for us, after fussing at and correcting kids we didn't even know! bah ha ha Do you ever do that? What is it with teachers? On the upside, I finished book 2 of Fifty Shades and started on the 3rd. Lawdy - I'm obsessed! 

Nonetheless, it's good to be back home and to my mountains. There is truly...no place like home. Someone once said, "If you're lucky enough to live in the mountains, you're lucky enough!" Isn't that the truth?! Now - off to pack for my NEXT vacay....another beach trip and a cruise! Whoop whoop. Have a great Sunday friends....and thanks again to all of my wonderful followers! I love you ALL!

What has happened? HELP!

Good morning bloggers! I logged on this morning, excited to see all the responses to my giveaway, and was greeted with mayhem and foolishness! What on earth is going on with my font!? It has gone all cooky/old grandma on me and it's driving me nuts. I have NO idea what happened or how this changed over night because it was NOT like this when I went to bed. I've read every tutorial on how to change it and my HTML code does not seem to match up with theirs so I'm hesitant in making the change - for fear I'll mess it up even more. Some of this "coding" stuff is like a foreign language to me. I'm gonna tell ya'll what I often ask of Jesus, "Lord....put it in blonde terms for me!" Can you help me?! I will seriously pay someone to change this for me. ha ha ha

Is it showing up like that for ya'll too - or is it just me?

On a lighter, much more happier note, don't forget to enter my "One {MEGA} giveaway for 1,000 followers!" 

Happy Tuesday. 

One MEGA giveaway for 1,000 followers!

Friends, I do not know what to say....other than, thank you! I am so thrilled to have made it to this bloggy milestone and have enjoyed the challenge this has provided. I appreciate your encouragement along the way and all of your sweet comments and support. You all truly make me a better teacher and encourage me to try new lessons and ideas. And for that, I will be forever grateful.

Now, let's party. I'm offering ONE mega prizepack, for ONE lucky winner, because of 1,000 followers! Wanna know how to enter? Because I am so thankful for all of my followers...ALL you have to do is follow all of these blogs! 11 blogs, 11 entries. Easy enough? While you're there, leave them a little bloggy love. Here's the loot:

Since you're here....just follow me! It's to the right of your screen!

Little Warriors

No Monkey Business

Miss Kindergarten

Kinder Kraziness

Melonheadz Illustrating

Scroll down a ways to follow Nikki...it's near the bottom!

Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives

First Grade Blue Skies

Heather's Heart

Love of Teaching

Ms. Kerri and her Krazy Kindergarten

Wow - does that chevron stripe mess with your eyes or what? I am so sorry! I didn't realize it when I was putting it together. Just enter through RaffleCopter below - this is something new I am trying! This contest starts Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. and ends Saturday at 12:01 a.m. Good luck to everyone who enters and thanks again for all of your love and support. YOU ALL ROCK!!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excitement overload: Nomination

Ok seriously people! What a week this has been for me in the blog world....first, I hit 1,000 followers yesterday! Ahhhhhh I was screaming from the mountaintops of TN! Did you hear me? A HUGE giveaway is to come (check back tomorrow). And secondly, I open up my email yesterday to find this...

Ohmiword! I cannot handle both of these things in ONE week. I am about to have a stroke over here! Total excitement! My little blog was nominated as the Most Fascinating Blog of 2012. WHAT?!?! Are you kidding me? 

Nonetheless, I am absolutely thrilled and honored and would appreciate nothing more than to have your vote. Voting begins June 25th and ends July 2nd. So - vote people, vote! When the time comes, all you have to do is click that little button on the right hand side of my blog! See it?? 

Yippee, yay, yay! I'm so happyyyyy!!!!

It doesn't take much. ha! Happy Monday.

DIY: Palm Tree

I finally finished my palm tree and OMG is it adorable! I love it and everything about it! Thanks to the help of my Mom and a cloudy Sunday afternoon, we finished it and with time to spare. Mom was able to cook and the fam came over to celebrate my sweet and wonderful Dad! Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!

Here is the top view.

I started out with this. A carpet roll mounted on some 2x4s. I think that's what they are? ha I don't know, my Uncle Ronnie put this together for me!

Next, I followed DeAnna's directions step by step (well - except for ONE part). I used the LARGE lunch bags instead of grocery bags. {DeAnna's Palm Tree Directions}

 I cut the bottoms off like this...

 See? It's kinda like a cylinder when you open it up and round it out. You should have two open sides. 

 After you've cut, you scrunch your paper bags making layered circles. 

Add them to your carpet roll. I used nothing to secure them....just kept adding and sliding them on the tube. All in all, the tube took about 50 of the lunch bags vs. 20-25 had I used the big grocery bags. 

Afterwards, I stripped a golf umbrella of it's umbrella (does that make sense?) leaving only the "bones." I didn't take a picture of this! Oops! My Mom helped me make a leaf pattern out of wrapping paper. This was great to use because the back of the paper had a grid on it for easy cutting and measuring. We folded our leaf in half and pinned it to our fabric, which was also folded in half. 

 Here is a close up view of the grid. I HIGHLY recommend making and using a pattern.

After we unpinned it, the fabric opened up to make a leaf! I forgot to snap a pic of that, too! So sorry. Anyways, we simply slid it over the umbrella wiring and secured with hot glue. Easy peasy!

And viola! It's done and oh so presh! 

What do ya'll think? I'm feeling rather Martha Stewart like! 

14 prize packs from 14 bloggers

My sweet Tennessee friend, Laura Starnes, is celebrating her 1 year Blogiversary with a HUGE giveaway! You must head over there and check it out. 

There are multiple packets you can score if you win this giveaway - mine being one! Yay! You can win my Classroom Books Vol. 1 packet. And if I ever make my Vol. 2 (eek!) I might send you that one, too! You have 6 chances to enter and this giveaway ends Sunday night.  

So - - what are you waiting for? Head over there and enter...and while you're there, wish her a Happy Blogiversary!