Brag Tags Post #2

Welcome Back!

I'm here to wrap up my thoughts on all things brag tags!  This is the second part (a little late) of my brag tag series. If you missed my first post, you can read all about it here.  Like I mentioned in my previous post we have a brag tag end of year celebration party.  Basically students have collected brag tags all year and get to spend an hour or so reminiscing over tags earned with friends and create necklaces with a variety of beads.  They have so much fun and it's so cute to listen to the conversations about the tags.

These kids were rockstars and kept up with the binder ring all year!!  I had 20 second graders last year and these 7 were responsible and kept up with the binder ring!  

If you remember from my previous post, I mentioned starting the year with binder rings for each kiddo to put brag tags on.  At the end of the year students exchange the binder rings for a beaded chain to create a unique brag tag necklace.  Now, you might be wondering what happens to the kids who have lost the binder ring at some point in the year???  That's a fabulous question!!  I DO NOT replace binder rings at any point in the year.  I make the expectation crystal clear at the beginning when I'm introducing brag tags.  If a student loses the ring they DO NOT get replacement tags; instead he/she will get a snack bag to keep tags in for the remainder of the year.  When it comes time to trade in rings for necklaces, students without a ring are given a piece of yarn to make the necklace. At the end of the day all students DO get to make a brag tag necklace; however, the material the necklace is made with depends on the student being responsible throughout the year.  Below are some pictures of materials to make the necklaces as well as pictures of my cuties at the end of the year necklace party!  My biggest piece of advise when starting brag tags is to play by rules you are comfortable with.  If you search brag tags on TPT or Pinterest, you will find thousands of variations which could be challenging/overwhelming to manage.  Keep it simple and do what you are most comfortable with!  A teacher on my team last year only used one specific brag tag.  In her classroom the children worked hard to see how many they could get during the year.  The beauty of brag tags is they are flexible and can be made easy to use based on individual teacher comfort.  If you would like to check out some brag tags I have in my TPT store click here.  I would love any comments about your experiences with brag tags. :)))

Materials for the necklaces.  The cheapest place for the chains was amazon or Hobby Lobby at a $1/necklance.

These are the specialty beads.  My thoughts were to keep it simple.  I bought the beads at Hobby Lobby using 40% off coupons.

I called one table at a time to the necklace making station to gather materials to take back to seat for necklace making.

Hard at work.

Students with the yarn making the necklaces.

If students needed more materials they could go back to the station and gather more materials.

Some of the brag tags

All students enjoyed making the necklaces and each was so cute and different.

Happy 2015! It's better late than never...right?!

Hey There!  It's been a LLLLOOOONNNNGGG time since I last blogged.  Needless to say life has kept me busy and there are only so many hours in the day!  Long story short, I was training for and ran my first marathon, had pneumonia, birthday parties, holiday parties, medical issues trying to expand our family, and a resignation letter for the end of the school year!  Oh my!  Those are just a few of my crazy experiences since last time.  Now, I FINALLY feel like I can get back in a groove of blogging and hope you are still hanging with me.  

Family picture after crossing the finish line of my very first marathon!  So proud of my husband for surprising me with a poster at mile 16!

Now, on a school note....Since coming back from Christmas break, the noise volume/talking out of turn behavior has been ATROCIOUS!  I did what any tech savvy teacher would do and went straight to Pinterest for answers!  Haha!!  I quickly found what I wanted to do and have loved every day after in my classroom using the BLURT chart.  You can read more about the BLURT chart by checking out the idea inspiration here.  Of course, I did have to "Seuss it up" to make it fit my classroom decor! I have a classroom economy and each hat has a monetary value/consequence.  You know what they say..."get em where it hurts...the wallet"!  My students are very competitive with earning money for our monthly classroom auction; therefore, making the BLURT chart has proven to be a very lucrative management tool.  If you have off task/chatty friends these days, I totally recommend trying out the BLURT chart! 

BLURT chart "Seuss" style!

Thanks for hanging with me!  I'm looking forward to fabulous posts on a more regular basis!  Until next time...

Back from a LONG Hiatus!

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I'm back from an extremely long hiatus!  I apologize to all of you wonderful followers on my blog slacking.  Life has been BONKERS!  My husband's travel schedule was insane to say the least and life as a single working mom when he travels is exhausting!!!  We are almost done with this school year (only 1 1/2 days to go with the children) and I'm extremely bummed out!  I have LOVED my class this year!  They will always have a piece of my heart!  I haven't counted down the days until summer because I'm not ready to let them go to middle school! :(  Don't get me wrong...I'm super pumped about summer time with my own little nugget, but I wish I could keep the same class next year!  They are incredible!  Since I last blogged, I've set up an Instagram account and would love any followers (click on the button at the top right of the page to follow me).  I'm thinking it will be easier to show what's going on more quickly than the blog on occasion as well as provide a window into what I do when I'm not in the classroom. ;)

I leave you today with a picture of our family from April and an easy/quick classroom behavior management idea inspired from a Pinterest post.  More frequent posts to come!  Enjoy the weekend! :))

Our first family photo session since the newborn/family session 2 1/2 years ago!  The loves of my life! :))

Paint bucket from Michaels stocked with fun writing tools for students to use when they are working quietly and are on task.  The bucket has gel pens, erasable colored pencils, sparkly crayons,  and sharpies.  I go to students demonstrating desired behaviors and ask if they want to "trade" their pencil for one of my writing tools.  Of course they ALWAYS say yes and they get to use the chosen tool for the rest of the day.  If they get off task, then I trade them back and the tool is lost for the day.  At the end of the day all children return my supplies back to the bucket and we start over the next day!  It's AMAZING what they will do to use "teacher writing tools".

Monday Made It...I'm on a role!!

Happy Monday Ya'll!  Yes, I did it AGAIN and created another something for the fantastic Monday Made It linky party over at 4th Grade Frolics.  You need to go over and check out the creativeness from awesome bloggers!

Now on with sharing my creation....

I actually created this about 2 weeks ago; however, I had to wait on Vistaprint to make and ship me my newest lovelies.  Vistaprint did the work.

The Lorax stamp is actually purple ink, but looks blue.

These two stamps are a MUST have for me in the classroom.  Last year I vowed I would NEVER EVER again get hand cramps from signing off on the countless beginning of year forms or receipts for money collected.  I also vowed to NEVER EVER again write the word 'LATE' on student work.  Besides, my experience has shown me that parents prefer to know how late something was and often times they believe the child over the teacher!  My stamps have made me one happy teacher and I can't wait to use them!  Vistaprint is definitely expensive, but if you sit back and wait for a 50% deal like I did it's worth it to get your creative juices flowing.  I paid a total of $26 for shipping and stamps.  Vistaprint is like The Loft and they are ALWAYS having some sort of sale and you should NEVER pay full price at either place!  Ok, so I'm done with my preaching!  I look forward to the wonderful comments I get each week from all of you amazing blog followers.  What stamps do you have in your classroom that are a 'must have'?

  

Behavior Planner Strips Dr. Seuss Inspired

So I haven't posted in a while, but can now explain why.  I've accepted a position as a 5th grade teacher in a local county school system.  My husband and I prayed about this decision and ultimately feel it's what's best for our family and Lillian's future public school education.  I was sad to leave Kindergarten, but am super excited about the new adventure in 5th grade.  That being said, my posts are going to now be geared towards 5th graders.  I think you will be able to adapt what I'm doing in the upper grades to what you do in the lower grades.  I've come to realize that a 5th grader is just a larger version of a kindergardener!  They love workstations, stickers, Dr. Seuss, and any other fun thing you can think of! :-)  I'm keeping my Dr. Seuss theme and am excited to post pictures of my classroom when it's finished (hopefully Thursday afternoon).  I did make some Dr. Seuss behavior strips for students to glue into planner.  At the end of the day the students color in the hat the color they finished their day on (i.e. green, yellow, orange, red, etc).  If you want the freebie click here and let me know what you think.  I'm excited to use them this year. Have a great rest of the week and I will be in touch again soon!
Cheers!
~Amanda 

Classroom Management

This Year in Kindergarten

I've taught K-2 now and have learned how to adapt my classroom management to meet the different grade level needs.  I love Dr. Seuss and my classroom is heavily decorated with Dr. Seuss.  This year I changed the card system to look like little cat in the hats.  When a student turns a card, they change the color of bow tie the cat is wearing.  Every color is another "oops" moment.  The basic principles are the same, but it's cuter this year.  In Kindergarten if a student has to turn a card they take a time out.  In first grade if a student has to turn a card they complete an "Oops" slip colored coded to match the color of the card turned.  I stapled the "Oops" slip into the planner and the parents return it signed the following school day.  As a second grade teacher we did the same thing, but had a more in depth reflection piece.  The reflection documents for second grade were purchased at www.teachersclubhouse.com.  In every grade we always begin the year discussing how to fill our buckets.  I spend several weeks on the concept and we give each other "warm fuzzies" to fill our buckets everyday for being a good friend, following directions, and doing the right thing when nobody is looking.  If a student has to turn a card, we say they are getting a "cold prickly", and we need to brainstorm ways to get the "warm fuzzies" back.  I'm sure you've heard of the series for filling buckets, but if not check them out Have-You-Filled-Bucket-Today and How Full is Your Bucket?.  Resources are available to help with the bucket filling at http://www.bucketfillers101.com.  Finally, all of the slips are available by clicking the name below.  It's worked great in my room and I hope you can use them as well. :-)

Oops Slip

Think Sheet

Problem/Solution Sheet