Class Stationary

Way before I began teaching, I combed through hundreds of books, magazines, and sites for teaching ideas.  One idea I loved from the start was creating a class stationary page.  This page is used for classroom thank-you's, notes from the teacher to a student, or whenever one wants to show off their awesome class!!!  

During the first week of school, I had the children draw themselves in a tiny box.  I told them to draw only their head and to sign their name as well.  Surprisingly, I only had 2 students who needed new boxes to start completely over.  

Here's what you need to do:  cut approximately 3x3 or 2x2 inch squares (one per child, plus you), and find one blank 8x10 paper.  Instruct the children to draw their face and sign their name on their square.  If they draw with a heaver force, it shows up better.  Tape the portraits around the edge of your paper.  When you copy this, you might have to experiment with increasing or decreasing the light/dark option. 

Here's an example of 2 student's self portraits:

Here's our finished product!!  Didn't it turn out cute???  Because I only have 8 students in my morning class, I added myself and a drawing of our school.  If I had a regular class (meaning, more students and they stay with me all day long), I would add them across the top and bottom of the page.  I would also have a heading like "Mrs. Gillespie's class" or something catchy.

Student Wipe-Off Pages

I have been SOOOO busy lately. What teacher isn't? Especially teachers who have children of their own who are also incredibly social and busy bees?  Oh and my golden retriever has been ill.  AAHHH!!  Poor girl.  Anyhow, I have finished 5 weeks of school and the time is flying by (enter airplane sound). 

 I love Pinterest. There, I admitted it. There are so many awesome ideas circling around. It's almost like that fantasy we had as children: you're outside and it is raining candy...just reach up and grab all you want. With Pinterest, you can pin all the ideas you want. For free. Wow.

 Anyhow, I made some "student wipe-off page things" (what do you call them???) from a Pinterest teacher.

It was super easy to make. The only trouble I had was making the duct tape "even" on the front and the back. I eventually gave up on perfection, because guess what? There will be a PAGE in the middle and you won't even see the front vs the back!!   :) 

 Here's what you need: clear report covers (they are very sturdy, unlike page protectors),   1-2 roles of cute duct tape (one roll makes about 12). That's it! 

 These can be used for any worksheet imaginable. Oh, one thing: you need to decide which side you want to remain open. I left one of the small sides open. You could also leave the large side open. It's your choice.

Happy creating!!!

Fuzzies

Yep, I'm bribing the 3rd grade.  I have taken over the class for the month of April.  I think it's ok, bribary that is, - I'm just calling it "rewarding for positive behavior".  :)  

A returning theme during our pursuasive writing unit was an intense desire for a root beer float (yum!).  I decided to use this knowledge to my advantage.  I bought a clear plastic jar and 2 packages of fuzzies at the dollar store (if you're counting, that's 3 bucks!).  I counted the number of student teaching days I have left and counted out enough fuzzies to fill my jar.  The kiddos need about 7 fuzzies per day to have our root beer float party. 

How do you get a fuzzy?  It's basically doing what you should be doing in the first place.  But to spell it out, the CLASS as a whole needs to do one of the following (most of these are available to them multiple times per day): 

1. work quietly during morning work

2. be ready for our lesson quickly (they know what that means on their desk)

3. listen and participate during our lesson

4. line up and walk quietly

5. come back to class quietly and ready to work

6. bathroom break is orderly

7. another teacher compliments the class!

I (or my CT) am impressed with you!

We started this today and the class was really excited.  My jar is on my desk (with only a few lonely fuzzies so far!) and the sign is by our whiteboard in the front of the room.  Fingers crossed!

I'm not looking for perfection, just a little incentive to keep everyone focused during the end of the year.  The class has 17 boys (and 6 girls) and a game of sorts will really help (I hope!).  I'll be so sad to leave them at the end of April!  We really are having such a grand time.....