Five for Friday - Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!! I hope you all have a frightfully great time this weekend! I am joining Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday - barely!

 Yesterday (Thursday) afternoon IT came and reimaged my computer. Do you know what that means? They wiped it completely clean and it is just like brand new. I did know this was going to happened so I have every thing backed up (I hope!) on an external hard drive but now I have to make time to transfer all my stuff back over. I am hoping they way I saved things on the hard drive will make it a little less painful. I just hate that right now I cannot find a thing on this computer! Please forgive the lack of pictures as they are somewhere between the cloud, my external hard drive, and the 3 flash drives I have floating around!

 

Is it just me or are the kiddos loosing their minds. My class has been EXTREMELY active - more so than the normal "it's almost Halloween and the weather is changing for the 100th time" active. I have really dug into Class Dojo. Have you tried this? I am loving it and so are my kids. I customized all the positive (dings) and negative (dongs) points and meet with each child at the end of the day to let them know how they have done. At the end of the week, students with enough points visit the treasure chest. Students can also go online with a code and personalize their avatar - hello OWNERSHIP! Parents can also go online with a personal code and see how each day has been and at the end of the week Class Dojo sends them a weekly report. I love how easy this makes marking my behavior sheets at the end of the day. It also makes giving conduct grades at the end of the quarter effortless and equitable!

A Plea For Help!

 This year I have quite a few kiddos that do not know letter names and are having a hard time learning them. We have amazing tutors that come in and work with small groups to help these kids but we are seeing limited progress. What do you do with your kiddos that are having trouble with letter names???? All tools and suggestions are welcome!

 As you may have seen in my post earlier this week, the AMAZING Pixie Anne from Growing Little Learners nominated me for the Liebster Award. I am so honored and had to give her one more shout out of thanks!!!! Check my earlier post for the 11 amazing blogs that I have nominated - they are all so amazing and deserving!

Today my beautiful nieces are coming down for Trick or Treating and I cannot wait until I get off work at 6:00 (I work at our After School Childcare program) to go play! My amazing husband is surprising them with a hayride for their transportation around the neighborhood. Who walks when you can ride on a trailer filled with hay!! 

How are you spending your Halloween weekend? Leave a comment below and then head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and see what others have been doing this week!

Terrific Tuesday Linkies with Spiders in My Hair!

I have found quite a few fabulous linkies for Tuesday and am super excited about ALL of them. So without further delay, let's get started!!!

Tasty Treat Tuesday with Mr. Greg @ Smedley's Smorgsboard of Kindergarten

We all love tasty treats, right? Well I have a super easy and super yummy one for you!!!!

Dairy Free Fruit Smoothie

1 cup Coconut Milk (you can use any type of milk you like but I like the sweetness the coconut adds.)
2 cups frozen fruit - any kind, any mix
2 packets of Truvia (or any kind/amount of sweetener you like)
Blend until smooth!!!

What is your favorite treat? Leave a comment and link up with Smedley's Smorgsboard to share!

Book Talk Tuesday with Deanna Jump @ Mrs. Jump's Class

Now on to my FAVORITE topic, BOOKS!!!! have you been following along with Mrs. Jump's class? I just completed an Amazon order for all the fabulous books I have discovered thanks to all of all the fabulous teachers that have linked up!

Lets talk about the Spiders in my hair! I have been trying to narrow down which book to share with you and let me tell you, it is hard. Inspiration struck the other night when I was brushing out my hair. My hair had been in a messy bun on top of my head all and and was full of knots. Those painful stubborn buggers reminded me of my favorite local author, Sheila Booth-Alberstadt, and her lovable character, Maggie McNair!!!!

In  Sheila Booth-Alberstadt's first book, Maggie McNair refuses to brush her hair and so in move the spiders and hilarity ensues!! What is so great about the Maggie books is that they are written based on  Sheila Booth-Alberstadt's own struggles with her little girl not wanting to brush her hair!
This book is amazing and will delight you and your kiddos! 

Above pictures from SBA Books

My kids and I are so lucky that Sheila Booth-Alberstadt is a local author and LOVE when she comes to school to read her books. Not only is she a brilliant author, she is an amazing woman! She started SBA Books for authors to have a publishing platform for books that focus on helping children and teens deal with daily life and more. I strongly recommend that you check her and her books out!

Click books below to get more info from Amazon!

I am still reading my last Jinx Schwartz book but have also started re-reading PBL in the Elementary Grades. If you are interested in implementing project based learning in your class, this book is a must read. I have read it once while going through my county's Digital Leadership Academy but next year our school is starting collaborative planning and we will be teaching project based lessons. This is a big change for us!! (Prayers appreciated, we are a group of 9 strong and amazing teachers!)

(Click book to check it out on Amazon - sorry it is so fuzzy??!!)

Do you have a favorite local author? Are you reading a great book right now? Share in the comments and then head over to Mrs. Jump's Class to learn about more great books and share yours!

July Currently

It is the first of the month and time to link up with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade!

Two for Tuesday with The Teaching Tribune

This is my first Tuesday linking up with The Teaching Tribune for Two for Tuesday. Today I am sharing two of my "FROG-tastic" Teachers Pay Teachers products for 50% off.

First up is my new "Where Are We" cards that I featured on yesterdays post {here}.

Click on the picture to take you to my store!

Next is my updated Frog themed Space Writing Unit. Writing graphic organizers and class rubric based on the book The Common Core Writing Book, K-5. (Five for Friday post {here} about our Space Unit.)

Click on the picture to take you to my store!

Tips to Tame 'Em - A New Tuesday Linky

I just found another great linky for Tuesdays! I mean I have three on Mondays so why not two on Tuesdays! This linky comes from Kelli at Tales of a Teacher.

Kelli wrote:
It's a Back to School Series for the next 9 Tuesdays. 

The purpose: to get you thinking and prepared to start the school year off right- tame the crazy (behaviors that is) for a successful and sane school year! This series of posts will cover tips, strategies, and resources to build a positive learning environment so that your students are ready to learn all that good stuff you've got to teach them!

My first week month I spend teaching routines and expectations! We MODEL MODEL MODEL!! You know the saying "I do, We do, You do"? Well that is what is done for EVERYTHING. I truly believe that my Kinders can do anything I want them to do as long as I teach them how. So for every procedure, routine, expectation "I do, We do, You do, REPEAT". We practice everyday over and over again. It is very taxing but after a few weeks I am done and those sweet little babies are now very independent!

I use Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom. WBT has made teaching procedures a snap!
When teaching a procedure, I have an expectation of "perfection" and I let the kids know what that means. I expect ALL of them to do things correctly the first time. We practice everything starting with me showing them how I expect it to be done, then doing it with them, and then they do it alone a MILLION times. It must be perfect!! If it's not, we do it again. If one person does it incorrectly, I don't call them out or say anything, we just do it again. Throughout out the year I stick to this expectation of "perfection", if it's not "perfect", we do it again. By October, I usually don't have to "do it again"! After we have perfected our procedures, we time ourselves and see if we can get faster!

My "must teach" procedures the first week are lining up, walking in line, and transitioning in the room. To me, if they can do these three things, we are GOOD!

Lining Up:
I always start with the students standing. If they are on the carpet I ask them to stand and freeze. If they are seated at their table, I have them "stand behind their chairs". Any guesses why I use this phrase???? Thats right! It makes them push in their chairs (most of the time)! I teach them that when I tell them to stand they are to also be quiet.
Prompt: Once all students are standing, I clap and say line. The students clap and say ok. They quietly walk and get in line.

Walking in Line:
Expectation - walk quickly and quietly, right behind the person in front of you.
Prompt: I say "Eyes and Toes", they repeat "Eyes and Toes" back to me and turn their entire body to the front so that their eye and toes are to the front.
Prompt: I say, "Ducktails and Bubbles, Hips and Lips"
Ducktails and Bubbles - Hands behind your back, bubble in you mouth.
Hips and Lips - Quiet finger over your lips, other hand on your hips.
Students choose a way to walk. I don't care what they do, I just want them quiet and don't want their hands on the walls, student work, or each other.
When everyone is ready, we walk. If anyone is not walking correctly, you guessed it, we do it again. We turn around go back to our room and start over. This takes just a few days. The first week I leave my room extra early to get places because I know we will have to turn back and start over. Once or twice of being almost to our destination and having to turn around and start over quickly gets my point across. I know this sounds drastic, they are only five. But remember my belief: they can do ANYTHING we teach them and expect them to do. I have to brag - my students are always the quietest in the hall.

Transitions within the Room:
Just like lining up, I have the students stand. Then I clap once and tell them where to go. They clap and say ok and then move.
clap "carpet" - they go and sit on the carpet
clap "chairs" - they go stand behind their chairs (usually to do a Brain Break!)
clap "tables" - they go sit at their table

These three whole group procedures are so important. It cuts out chaos or confusion. I have used the Whole Brain Teaching techniques the past two years and have been so amazed at how fast and how well the students respond.

What methods do you use? Comment and Link up with Kelli to share!