Tips and Tricks

Teacher Week 13: Tips and Tricks
This tip is super easy!  Keep a journal. of cards, e-mails, and notes that encourage you.  I save them and tape them into a book.  Then when a day....or a year feels awful, I reread them for a pick me up.  I also keep track of how many kids I have from year to year and who my teaching partners were.  Some years, I write more about day to day things, or more reflective type entries, but that usually depends on how demanding the year has been.

I don't save them all, just the ones that make my heart happy!
Happy Saturday,

Taming the Wild

Teacher Week 13:  Taming the Wild

I have used all kinds of classroom management plans.  For the most part they function, but I don't love them.  Last year I started using a bit of Whole Brain Teaching.  I am looking forward to implementing much more of it this year. 

I do think my chickadees need as much praise as possible.  So they have punch cards (thank you vista print).  Any day they get a rocket (a slip of paper tied to PBIS) they can turn in their card for a stamp/punch.  Once the card is full, they get to trade it for a choice from the Chickadee Card Choices Binder.

A Chickadee Punch Card

 This is the Chickadee Card Choices Binder

Inside the binder are all kinds of choices, that cost me nothing, and the kids love! 

Warm Me Up, Snack Freedom, and Pet Shop were most popular last year.  I have a few new ideas to add.  Do you have any suggestions?

Happy Thursday,

Show Your Digs (Rought Draft Style)

Teacher Week 13:  Show Your Digs

We don't start school here til the day after Labor Day.  Fortunately we are allowed in during the summer, so I will photo dump what has been done so far.  Then do a better tour when it is done.

 The view from my conference meeting area and going around the room-

 View from the door-

The Library-fiction picture and chapter books

 non-fiction books

Stay tuned for updates!

Happy Tuesday,

10 Things About Me

Hey, it's Teacher Blogger Week 2013.  I have been having lots of fun reading random facts about my friends.
Here are 10 Random...(and possibly redundant if you visit here regularly) things about me.

1.   I love reading and I love the library.  Very rarely do I have less than 80 books checked out at a time!  During the summer I try to read a book a day and usually make my goal!

2.  When I was 6 I developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.  I woke up couldn't straighten my leg.  In all my 1st and 2nd grade class photos, one knee is swollen to twice the size of the other.  I had to go to the school nurse everyday and take a whole bunch of aspirin.  (Nasty stuff they tried to mask by flavoring it orange.)  Within two years, the arthritis was completely gone!  I was so a lucky one!

3.  Top Ramen is one of my favorite foods as well as Macaroni and Cheese (Kraft only) and grilled cheese sandwiches.  So, I could easily eat happily with any of my students.

4.  I play the flute.  Sometimes as a class reward, but mostly at home for fun.  In high school, I was part of the marching band and Portland's Metropolitan Youth Symphony.

5.  While driving I am either listening to a book on tape or singing along with a musical.  I am sure I look absolutely ridiculous, but at least no none else can hear! 

6.  The Dodgers are my favorite baseball team...although I have no idea why.  My dad has always loved baseball, so I decided I should have a favorite team.  So I had to have one also.  Here are some theories for my choice-
1.  Brett Butler-former center fielder.  His name is alliterative and I have always had a fascination with alliteration.
2.  Daryl Strawberry-former right fielder.  Umm his last name is strawberry.
3.  In 1988, the Dodgers won the World Series.  (I am hoping for that this year, but not willing to let myself believe it could actually happen.)
The entire downstairs bathroom is dedicated to Dodger paraphernalia.

7.  Reese (named for another former Dodger) is my new favorite addition.  I know nothing about puppies, but we are having fun learning and she really is so mellow and cuddly! 

8.  I am a native Oregonian and I love everything about it (except the lack of a professional baseball team) I even love the months of rain...and find people who complain about the weather frustrating!  It is beautiful here and within about an hour you can be at the beach, the mountain, or the desert.

9.  My school is five minutes away from my house.  Many of my neighbors are my students and I see someone almost every time I go to the grocery store.  If I didn't haul so much stuff to and from school, I would most definitely walk or bike.

10.  I really want to join the roller derby!  I think it would be a great way to deal with frustrating people/events/etc and maybe get me out of my shy shell!  There is a roller derby team in Portland and they are so fun to watch.  Growing up, almost every single birthday party was at Skate World, so the skating part shouldn't be a problem:-)

Happy Monday!