Meet the Teacher MADNESS!

"Meet the Teacher" is one of the most exciting days of the year for our students. They enjoy getting a sneak peak into our classroom for the first time, finding out where they sit, and getting some brief conversation time in with their soon to be teacher.

We, teachers, enjoy it too. Clean classroom, fresh decorations, the smell of school supplies...ahh...but with this exciting time comes a great deal of preparation on our part. It can be exhausting and overwhelming trying to get all those checklists finished before our classroom is presented to the world.

Today, I wanted to share with you two freebies that have helped make my "Meet the Teacher" day less stressful.

I always like to give my kiddos a "takeaway" when they meet me. Call it a "welcome gift" if you wish but it's just my way of showing them that I'm excited to spend this year getting to know them. Most kiddos love pop rocks so I created an easy, editable template that can be printed on cardstock that will allow you to attach a small packet of pop rocks and have a crowd-pleasing "happy" for your students.

First, I print the file on cardstock and a bag full of pop rocks from Dollar Tree. They usually come in a three pack - red, blue and green so I pick cardstock that will complement those colors well.

Next, I use my paper cutter to separate the two printables, attach tape to the pop rocks and stick them on the printable.

Easy and so much fun for the kiddos.

Grab this freebie here:  http://bit.ly/gumbopoprockcard

You can watch a video of how I put them together here:  http://bit.ly/poprockvideo

Next, I want to share with you the donation board that I use so parents can choose to provide our classroom with an additional supply - which is usually for art. Those supplies are used most often in my classroom and I RUN OUT QUICKLY!  

I have fallen in love with cactus clipart so this year, I made a donation board that was cactus themed! This resource is also editable so you can personalize for your classroom. I started by printing off the needed items, including the letters and donation request. I simply used two-sided tap for the letters and donation request, while using regular scotch tape for the donation cactus friends.

If you would like to watch a more detailed tutorial for putting it together, you can view it here:  http://bit.ly/gumbocactusvideo

Pick up this freebie from my TPT store here:  http://bit.ly/gumbocactusdisplay

Good luck at meet the teacher!

Love from the Bayou,

Back To School Scavenger Hunt

     The first few days back to school are nothing but EXHAUSTING! I talk until I'm hoarse, my feet and legs hurt from running around. It's just not pretty. I'm sure you experience the same thing.

     Every year, we stand in front of a group of kiddos and rattle off a gazillion things that-- let's be honest....they are totally going to still ask us about for the next 9 months.

     So combat my exhaustion...I have created the School Success Scavenger Hunt. I set up a bulletin board in a detective style with footprints leading to each Activity.

     To set up, I print all activities and place them in my rolling cart for easy access. 

I also hot glue the Team Pencils to clothespins so that the kiddos can move their team clip to each activity.

After I have everything set up, I introduce students to the Scavenger Hunt by projecting the Welcome Detectives letter.

Students complete a variety of activities including a Team Poster, All About Me Poster, Classroom Expectations Bus Flip, and Success Manual. After each activity is completed, they groups receive one clue letter. When all activities are finished, the clue letters spell out "SHINE" which completes the sentence in the introductory letter.

The culminating project of the hunt involves making goals for the year which is turned into a hallway display for Open House.

If you are interested in a more detailed explanation of this scavenger hunt, you can watch my video preview here:

School Success Scavenger Hunt

Good luck on your first day!

Classroom Rewards Made Easy

Rewarding students can be costly...like, literally, break the bank, take my whole check costly. But it doesn't have to. Let's face it, most of us don't remember "things" growing up as much as we do "experiences". So why not give our students "experiences" as rewards?

I began using a classroom economy several years ago as I transitioned from 4th to 3rd grade. Some of my co-workers were implementing this system in their class and I decided to give it a try. I began paying students for jobs in class, good behavior, grades, participation...you name it. Students could also lose money by poor decisions, incomplete homework, not returning items, etc. My kiddos were very responsive to this management. Let's just say that I have never been happier with my classroom management. So paying my students and taking their money turned out to be quite a game changer.

Once this economy was established, I began to brainstorm how they can spend their money. Purchasing prize bin goodies would have put this teacher out of business...so I started offering other rewards for their money. Students could buy "sit in the teacher's chair", a hat pass, a coupon to take their shoes off...etc. I find these to be SO much more meaningful to my kiddos and BONUS--they cost me NOTHING!

If you have never used a coupon reward system, you are going to LOVE it! You will save money and your kiddos will be happier than ever with your "prizes". I allow my kiddos to cash in their classroom cash 2 times per month--on Fridays. The cashing system is a classroom job so it makes it easy for me. I supervise students who are running the "coupon store". In previous years, I used a binder to hold the coupons, but flipping back and forth was tedious, time consuming, and frustrating...

SO... a teacher toolbox saves the day once again! I purchased this one on Amazon. Here's the link if you would like to grab you one.

http://bit.ly/amazonteachertoolbox

I designed my coupons to fit perfectly on the outside. I attached the card with 2-sided tape and then threw the rest inside the drawer. As you can see, I chose to print mine on colored cardstock. I also laminated them for durability.

Now, when my "coupon cashiers" run the store, they can easily access all the coupons and it takes less than 10 minutes for all my students to cash in. I require my students to "know what they are buying" before they come to the store for that day. In order for them to do that, I provide them a coupon list that they keep in their binder all the time. I find this also motivates them to work towards earning cash for a specific reward.

Here's my FREE coupon list if you would like to use it in your classroom. It is also editable so you can customize for your coupons.

http://bit.ly/gumboeconomyfreehandout

If you do not currently have reward coupons, you can download mine from TPT. They are editable so you can create additional coupons that you would like to use in your classroom. You can also change the price so that it fits your personal management system.

http://bit.ly/gumborewards

If you would like to watch the tutorial on how I set up my coupon toolbox, Use the link below to head over to YouTube to see it in action.

http://bit.ly/rewardcoupontoolbox

Happy Organizing!

Ugh...This Won't Print Correctly

Have you ever purchased a TPT product that just doesn't seem to print correctly? There can be many reasons for resources not printing as they should, but I'm going to share a tip with you today that just may alleviate your printing woes.

As teachers, we are all about saving money and that definitely includes INK. Unfortunately, our best intentions could be the reason we are not seeing all the images of a product when printing.

I LOVE teacher toolboxes so the example I'm using is my black and white set of toolbox labels available in my TPT store. I get many questions on how to get these to print correctly.

As you can see, this set is printer friendly and looks great on colored cardstock. Although, the labels appear black and white, they contain images. For example, these labels contain dots and a border. They look black, but they are actually an image I created and inserted into this label pack. Therefore, the computer reads them as an image...which means when you select only black/white or grayscale in your printing window, the computer tells the printer to leave out the color--which leaves out the images. Images are created with a combination of color.

Here is an example of a printing window with black/white selected and below it is the print preview for the product.

As you can see, the dots and border disappear completely when selecting the print preview screen. This is exactly what you would see if you actually printed this page.

Even though you want the page in black and white, you must select color when printing or all of your images will disappear.

Now the dots and border are viewable in the print preview window. Yay! I hope this solves some of your printing frustrations and helps you get the result from your resource that you are looking for.

View this tutorial on YouTube by clicking the link below:

Printer Problems Solved

If your interested in these labels, you can check them out at my TPT store:

Teacher Toolbox Labels

Happy Printing!

Why Flexible Seating Is Not the Most Important Student Choice in My Classroom

Our educational culture is leaning more and more towards student choice in everything. Students can pick their seat, activities, games, and technology on a daily basis....but what about the choices that effect them internally?

As teachers, we know that teaching the whole student involves much more than reading, writing, math, science, and social students. We have the opportunity to guide them in making positive choices that will effect their character and mold them into productive citizens.

When I counsel with my students, I remind them the choices they make have consequences. They have a huge responsibility, because their attitude and action choices not only effect themselves but others.

I wanted to display these choices in my classroom just like I post flexible seating choices...because the chair they pick is not nearly as important as choosing kindness, sincerity, and honesty...even when it gets hard.

These character traits are essential to the culture I want to establish in my classroom so I've taken a rather "blah" wall and dressed it up with a colorful display of the most important choices my students can make on a daily basis.

With so many choices available to my students, these bright posters catch their attention when we are discussing issues in class that may require hard choices when dealing with others or completing classroom activities that are challenging.

If you are interested in adding this display in your classroom, you can click the link below to be directed to the full set:

The Power of Your Choice

Marshmallow Multiplication

After we completed our Pirate's Plunder STEM activity, I had tons of marshmallows left over. So I started brainstorming on how I could use them...of course as teachers, nothing goes to waste!

I pull one small group every day. I have them grouped by ability and I usually pull my lower group to the back table first every week. We do this at the beginning of every lesson while the other kiddos are working on dailies and early finisher activities. I usually spend 20 minutes of my lesson with the small group while the others are doing math stations/early finishers.

We began multiplication this week, so I took some cupcake liners and combined them with the mini-marshmallows and instantly I had kiddos ready to make equal groups of 2. This turned out to be a perfect small group activity and took less than 20 minutes!

I demonstrated the first couple to get the kiddos started. We put one marshmallow in each of the cupcake liners. Then, they drew a dot to represent the marshmallow inside the circle for the model on their recording sheet. They reasoned that the total marshmallows were 2 -- which is the product of 2 x 1. We completed a few more together and then they took off! They eagerly completed the activity with ease. The kiddos loved using the marshmallows and even some of my struggling students were able to pick up on the pattern of counting by 2's.

If you want the Marshmallow Multiplication Sheet to use for your small group time, grab it for free here:

Marshmallow Multiplication

New Year, New Goals for the Kiddos!

As I reflected over student achievement during the holidays...I realized I needed to do something different because they were just not taking enough ownership for their work...more importantly...the quality of their work.

Many teachers are proficient at allowing students to track data, set goals, etc....and sadly, I just haven't taken the time to do so. This struggle is REAL.

I resolved to make sure my kiddos were invested in their learning this semester. Even if that meant giving up a little teaching time.

I devised a booklet that requires students to draw and color a "selfie" of themselves. Then, I sat down with students one by one to have them write goals for each subject along with completing a checklist for achieving the goals. I put students to work on a project to provide time for me to conference with each kiddo. I spent about 5-7 minutes with each student discussing their grades, areas needed to improve and how they can achieve their goals.

I decided to display them in class by hanging a string across my windows. I have 3 classes and luckily...3 windows...Clearly, it was meant to be! Hanging them in class is a reminder to them and also makes them accessible for graphing our tests.

Surprisingly, they were not only receptive, but excited. Yes! They have been improving the quality of their work, taking more time for assignments, and paying attention. If you have considered doing this, but was afraid of the time constraints...trust me...it is proving to be worth it!

This booklet is available for you to download for FREE from my TPT store. I hope that it helps your kiddos take more ownership in their education and improve their performance.

Grab the booklet HERE!

Happy New Year!