Showing posts with label Favorite Things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Favorite Things. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
April... Favorite Things (Game Edition)
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Favorite Things (February)
The Favorite Things Linky is a great way to share your 3 favorite anythings! Grab the template and button and link up below! If this is your first time linking up, check out our Favorite Things page for more details!
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Favorite Things: Read Alouds for MLK
The Favorite Things Linky is a great way to share your 3 favorite anythings! Grab the template and button and link up below! If this is your first time linking up, check out our Favorite Things page for more details!
This month, I am sharing my three favorite read alouds for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! I love teaching about MLK and I know this is one of my students' favorite units as well. See if your local library has any of these books (or quick, go order them on Amazon!). You won't regret it!
Can't wait to see what some of your favorite things are! Link up below. :)
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Favorite Things: Holiday Edition
This month the Favorite Things Template has a fun Holiday theme! Make sure you download the new template to use when you link up!
With the fun new template, you can link up any of your favorite... holiday anythings! It could be holiday recipes, crafts, activities you do with your students, books, songs, movies, etc. Have fun with it!! Here are a few of my favorite fun holiday read alouds!
How Santa Got His Job is a fun read aloud and you can do a cute writing project with it! Sneezy the Snowman is just hilarious and my students always are laughing pretty hard by the end of it. Last but not least, A Chick 'n' Pug Christmas is my all-time favorite. I am partial to pugs (considering I have two of them) but the story teaches a wonderful lesson on giving to others and friendships. So sweet!
Grab the template up above and link up below! Can't wait to see some of your favorite Holiday Anythings!
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Favorite Teacher Supplies
If there's one thing teachers all love, it's a great set of school supplies! Today I am sharing three of my favorite supplies with you...
Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener: This is by far the best sharpener I have ever used. It's SO quiet, and makes the sharpest point I think I've ever seen. Just check out the points on the pencils below! I wrote a post over on Chalk & Apples last week about them, so you can check it out there if you want more details. Between this sharpener and The Wise Owl's Winning the Pencil War system (free on TPT!), I finally have pencils in my classroom under control!
Frixion Pens: I am in LOVE with these erasable pens! Before you have flashbacks to those awful erasable pens we all tried to use in middle school, let me assure you that these are different! They really do erase... completely! It's some kind of heat/friction/science-y thing that I don't get, but I'm so glad someone smarter than me came up with it!
I use these puppies all the time for grading, and I am so glad I can erase when I change my mind about how I graded a particular question, accidentally get a little "check-happy" or miscalculate a score. I no longer have to scribble out mistakes or hunt down the white-out. These have saved me so many times!
Laminator: I have one of these bad boys at home AND one at school! I love that I can laminate full pages and not have to cut anything out. This is much faster than waiting for the big machine at school, and the laminating pouches are much thicker! (Here's the one I have)
The Favorite Things Linky is a great way to share your 3 favorite anythings! Grab the template and button and link up below! If this is your first time linking up, check out our Favorite Things page for more details!
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Favorite Parent Conference Tips
Be Prepared!
In fact, be OVER prepared. An unprepared teacher on Parent Conference Night is likely to have difficult conferences.
You HAVE to be prepared or parents will not respect what you are telling them about their child. They will doubt that you have it "altogether", and they are actually right. The lines for communication will most likely be cut off before they even have a chance to form.
Unpreparedness also communicates to parents that you are unprofessional. It shines the light on your inefficiency. It suggests that you don't value their student because you couldn't be bothered to prepare for their visit.
Do you need to tell a parent that their child is struggling? Parents need to see proof. Print out any testing data and highlight what is important for the parent to understand. Also share with parents what you expect from a typical student and what you are hoping to see at the end of the school year. Share samples of an average student's work alongside their student's work. Have samples of grade level work on hand for parents to view. Parents need to see how much their child need to grow this school year. Save student work or have copies available for the parents to review. Most importantly, write up a summary of what is going to be discussed. This helps to keep you on track and gives you something the parents can sign, thus, giving you tangible proof of what took place during your meeting.
You are busy, and parents are busy. No one has time to sit and wait for an unprepared teacher to round up information on a student.
Always start positive!
I know you are probably thinking, "Uh...duh," but it actually needs to be said. Every parent needs to hear that their child is valued. They need to hear that you care for their child. The best way to communicate this is to say something positive about their student. But, sometimes it is really, REALLY difficult to find something favorable to say about the kiddo that has been making your class miserable. But you HAVE to. Bombarding parents with the negative right off the bat will only cause them to shut down and tune you out. The message you are trying to communicate will be lost.
Here are some examples of some positive statements:
I love the way John enters the classroom ready to go. (Translated: has lots of energy)
Lori is so sweat and loves to help in the classroom. (Translated: nothing academic to praise)
No one sharpens pencils like Hector! (Translated: Anything, and I mean anything, goes!)
Seth always volunteers to run errands for me. (Translated: can't stay in his seat)
I can always count on Lucy to help me remind others of the classroom rules. (Translated: tattling)
Here is a great link to a Scholastic article on report card comments that can also be helpful for conferences: 101 Report Card Comments.
You are on the same side!
It is so important to demonstrate to all of your parents that you are on the same side- the side of the child. They need to know that they are not alone, and that you are a team. Let them know that you need to work together. This is important because parent support can make all the difference in a struggling student's growth. Go as far as actually verbalizing that you are a team working together for the sake of the child.
Another way to show the parent that you are allies is to make sure that you sit next to them and not across from them in a "teacher" seat. This puts a barrier between you and that barrier can translate to, "I am on this side and you are on that one."
Most importantly, listen to the parents. They have valuable information. Be open to their knowledge of their own child. Parents were there before you and will still be there when the child leaves your classroom. As the teacher, you have important information for the parents. But this is a two way street- they have meaningful information for you as well.
Go into the conference with the view that the conference as an information exchangeinstead of just a flow from you to the parent.
What tips do you have for parent conferences?
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Favorite Spots in our Classroom
All of the Teaching Trio is officially back to school now, so this month, Juliet and I teamed up to share some of our favorite spots in our classrooms...
My USA carpet might be old & dirty, but it's where some of the best times happen in my class. It's where we share in morning meetings. It's where we read at the end of each day (Currently: Wonder). It's where my class chooses to work almost every chance they get.
Juliet's rocking chair is her favorite spot because it's where she reads with her class. (I'm sensing a theme here!)
My small group table is another favorite spot. This is where some of the best learning happens - one on one with my students. It's where I hear the most "ohhh"s and see the most aha moments. (And my class LOVES the whiteboard circles!)
An InLinkz Link-up
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Favorite Things Linky: Apps for a Flipped Classroom
This month, I want to share a few of my favorite apps to use in a flipped classroom! These are my go to apps to use with a whole classroom set of devices or with just a few devices!
Here is a super quick breakdown of how I use these apps in my classroom!
1. Plickers: This app is a quick assessment tool. Students have a card that they can turn to show A/B/C/D and it is linked to their name on your device. You ask a question (you can even project it if you want), your students show their card, and you scan your classroom. Their name lights up green if they got it right and red if they got it wrong! So easy!!
2. Chirp: This is a great app to use if you need to send out documents or photos out to your student devices. You simply hit the chirp button (with your sound on and your student device sound on) and BOOM, it is on their device! So handy!!
3. Nearpod: This app is one of my favorites. You can create a lesson in PowerPoint, save as JPEGs and upload as Nearpod slides. The Nearpod presentation that you create is interactive so students can write/draw on the slides. You can also use it as an assessment tool and gather live data. So perfect!!
I can't wait to see what your three favorite... anythings... are this week! Link up with the linky below!
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Favorite Things: Spending Time with My Teens
It is often hard to find time to spend with your own children once they reach a certain age. Mine have reached that age. They are teenagers. Yikes! My son is 19 and a sophomore in college, and my daughter is 16 and a junior in high school.
It has gotten increasingly hard to find any time to spend with them and that they WANT to spend with me. They have jobs, friends, sports, etc. Mom is just not as cool as she used to be! Movies are great- got them introduced to Jurassic Park- and they love to let me pay for dinner, but here are a few of the other things we do that help keep us "bonded" together.
I know some of them are T.V. related, but a mom does what she needs to when trying to catch a minute (any minute) with her uber busy teens!
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Favorite Things to do over Summer Break
In the spirit of Summer Break, today I'm sharing three of my favorite things to do over the summer!
1. RELAX!
We all know there's a reason teachers need summer vacation! I'll be relaxing as much as I can this year - traveling, reading (NOT professional!), and spending time with family. We'll be visiting both sides of the family this summer, starting with a beach trip with my in-laws, and then a week with my parents that will likely involve a couple of beach days too! Then, in July, there's the TPT conference in Vegas! I know we'll be learning a lot and working hard during the conference, but it's also sure to be a fabulous time!2. CREATE!
I already have a long list of things to create for my own classroom and for my TPT store. Plus I'm almost booked with blog designs for the summer. I love the extra time to let the creative juices flow!3. PLAN AHEAD!
Like it or not, most of us can't go two whole months without thinking about school. I know I am already thinking of things I want to do differently next year. For starters, I want to make a brand new curriculum map over the summer. We have functioned without one for too long in my grade level, and we need to plan ahead!How do you spend your summer vacation?
The Favorite Things Linky is a great way to share your 3 favorite anythings! Grab the template and button and link up below! If this is your first time linking up, check out our Favorite Things page for more details!
An InLinkz Link-up