Monday Made Its: For the home, class, and TPT with a FREE offer!

I finally get to link up with my friend Tara for her Monday Made It!


I have three made-its to show you! One for the home, one for my classroom and a new product on TPT. I've been busy! :)
I made this subway art for my house-I have it hanging at our entryway.

The established year is the year we moved into our home, but it could also be the year you got married. :) Had it developed at Sam's Club (only $3!)! I even made one for the photo manager because she liked mine so much!

 

I was inspired to make my "SPIRIT STICKS" by this Fourth of July idea I saw on Pinterest. I thought these would make an awesome addition to my classroom! I can't wait to write about them for a Spark Student Motivation Saturday post! :)

 
Aren't they adorable??? I love them! I know my students will be very excited to use these for celebrations!

 

Materials Needed:
wooden dowels 1/4" or 3/8" x 12"
eye screws 8 x 18mm
ribbon
spray paint

Instructions:
Spray paint the wooden dowels
Screw the eye screw into one end of the dowel
Cut ribbon (I used 8 pieces and cut them varying lengths from 10"-16")
Thread ribbon through screw eye-no need to knot them, they fit snugly.
Trim ends if necessary

Tips:
I used 1/4" dowels and a few split when screwing in the eye screw, I would use the next size up.
I nailed a small nail in one end of the dowel to make screwing in the screw eye easier, but it was still tricky.
I also threaded all of the ribbons at one time.

 And, now for the reveal of my new product...Guided Reading with Post-Its! This pack will be a terrific resource for ideas, skill grouping of students, anecdotal record keeping, and a perfect tool for conferencing. The benefit of using sticky notes is the flexibility to move them around when monitoring student progress. Of course, I really like to move those sticky notes to the (+/mastery sign), but this visual is great for my planning. This resource is perfect for students to “hold” their thinking while reading and be interactive with the text. These templates are perfect to teach students to be concise and thoughtful with their language due to limited space.

Use all year long! Perfect to help you know your students' reading strengths and weaknesses and prepare you to discuss each student with parents, other teachers, and administrators.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 My next Made It is my new Punch Cards!

Motivate and reward your students' behavior, hard work, and accomplishments with these colorful punch cards! Incentives can be given when all 10 spaces on a card have been punched.
Students love them because they can keep track of their own progress!
This resource includes:
15 individual student punch cards plus 2 blank templates
6 whole class punch cards plus 1 blank template

THESE ARE ON SALE UNTIL TONIGHT!

Perfect for back to school!

 

 Hope you're enjoying your last weeks of summer-it's almost time to start over again! :)

 

Spark Student Motivation-Graduation Packages

Happy Summer Friends! I hope everyone is enjoying their break (if that's what teachers call it!)

I have sent GRADUATION PACKAGES since my first year teaching (well, technically since my 8th year teaching since I had to wait for my 4th graders to graduate), but I thought of it my first year so I started saving up my photos. At the end of each school year, I store all of the photos I took during the school year in a tub, along with the class list and addresses. Then, eight years later I get my tub open and start sorting my pictures. :)
You might be wondering how I know if they still live at the same address... As long as they still live in our county, our sweet school registrar can verify their address for me. Surprisingly, about 80% of the students still live in the area. Then, comes the hard part...I also check to make sure they're "graduating" this year so I don't send them a graduation package if for some reason they're not. Our local paper (it's a big one) prints an entire section of all high school graduates by high school. For some of these "ladies & gentlemen" I have to take a double take-they look so grown up and so different from 4th grade!

 I lay out all my addressed envelopes/letters, sort through all my pictures, and stuff all the goodies in a large envelope to be mailed the week of their graduation.

Here's what one package looks like-I wish I could see their faces when they open it!

This is very MOTIVATING to see the success and great accomplishments of my students!
It brings back great memories for me and I hope does for my students as well. Before I even sent out my graduation packages, I received 7 invites to graduation this year! :) Melts my heart that they still remember their elementary teacher, just another reason I LOVE my job!

PIN TO WIN!!!!
I just bundled my POST-IT PRODUCTS and would love to give one away!

Pin the image, (click see pin), copy the URL address, and paste into the comments. 

Winner will be announced Monday!

If you don't want to wait, it's on sale for this weekend!
It's like getting one of the products for FREE! :)
POST-BUNDLE {Templates to Hold Their Thinking}

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!
***Please include the topic in the link up with your blog name.

Two For Tuesday!!! Multi-Step Problem Notebook and Idiom Poster Bundled Set

Happy Tuesday Shoppers!! It's time for two products for 50% off!

(Sad news...this is the last week so grab up all the deals you can get your hands on!)

Thank you to The Teaching Tribune for hosting such a great party!

 

Are you ready? Here's the first goodie:

Multi-Step Problem Solving Performance Notebook

This multi-step problem performance task notebook was created to meet with the rigorous demands of Common Core Math. My students were having great difficulty with multi-step word problems. There's never enough practice and our current math series doesn't offer any resources or enough practice for students to be more successful with these types of performance tasks.

 There are 30 multiple step problems (3 versions of each problem, with a total of 90 real world problems).  Perfect to follow the gradual release model:
Performance Task 1A “I do” -- teacher model.
Performance Task 1B “We do” -- partner or group work.
Performance Task 1C “You do” -- student completes independently-could be used as assessment to drive instruction.
Each page requires students to underline/highlight important information, cross out extra information, and answer performance tasks in a complete sentence.
Multiple uses: guided math groups, whole group, formative assessments, practice, or homework.

 

This product was created to specifically meet MP.1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them and MP.6: Attend to Precision of the Standards for Mathematical Practice.
Perfect for 4th and 5th graders, but would be excellent enrichment for 3rd graders.

This notebook is normally $10, but will be $5 TODAY ONLY!

 

Next up for grabs is my Idiom Posters Bundled Set!

These 40 colored idiom posters will brighten your classroom!
Use one a week or have them all displayed on a bulletin board!
My posters line the doorways of my classroom.

**Students can mark the idioms with their name when they find it in a book or use it in their writing-that sparks competition to use them! ;)

 Each poster includes a graphic, definition, and idiom used in a sentence. Great visual for students to refer to during writing and my students refer to them daily in their conversations!

 

Pre-test and post-test included!

This bundled set is normally $8.50, but will be $4.25 TODAY ONLY!

 

 

Have fun shopping!

Reading in the Wild: Self-Selecting Reading

We're in week 3 of our book study!

Chapter 2: Wild Readers Self-Select Reading Material is a big chapter with several key points, but I've decided to focus on just a couple. It's important for us to give our students opportunities to "self-select" their own reading material. They become so dependent on us for books and sometimes we dictate what can be read and what can't be read. 

 

This quote says it all! My read aloud time during the day is my FAVORITE time of day! I could read hours to my students. I NEVER get to all the books I want to share with them.

 Donalyn Miller shares all the benefits of reading aloud to your students:

• Builds community.
• Exposes children to books, authors, or genres they might not discover on their own.
• Provides prime opportunities to introduce students to genres they often avoid, like poetry, and non-fiction.
• Supports developing readers.
• Reinforces that reading is enjoyable.

Here I am in action...reading Stumptown Kid...{love!}

I definitely have some "favorites" that continue to make appearances in my classroom year after year, but I'm planning on using a new book at the beginning of school with a new strategy in mind. I ordered a class set of Among the Hidden (you DON'T have to have a class set of books for a read aloud, but it does make it nice to cite evidence, debate, and refer back to important moments when every student has a copy). The reason I'm starting with this novel is because it's part of a series and when I purchased a copy of each book at the last half of the year, I couldn't keep them on my shelf! I'm hoping this book opens these new 4th graders eyes to more challenging text and gets them hooked on series or favorite authors.

 

I plan to implement the idea of book raffles for new book arrivals that enter our classroom. Any time you make a contest/raffle, excitement will fill the room! My friend Catherine, the lovely organizer of this book study, posted about she held book raffles in her room here.

 

I usually just do a short "book talk" on new books or books I want to be discovered by my students. In years past, I've had my students sign up for books talks and give a little blurb about the book. I haven't done had book talks the last couple of years (you know, that time thing!) and I've missed it, so I plan to bring it back in full swing this year. I just have to carve time out of my schedule and make it happen. It's important for students to hear their friends talk about books and take recommendations from them. What a perfect way for students to select their own reading!

After reading an incredible book, students will sign up to be scheduled to discuss their book in front of the class. I created the Book Talk form to aid students in preparing for their book talk. I don't want them reading from their form and they don't have to answer every question, but this form will give them some guidance to hit the important parts. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Want to grab these forms for your classroom? Click here to download this freebie if you're a Facebook Fan! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Two for Tuesday: 50% off Two Products to use ALL YEAR!

Time for Two For Tuesday with The Teaching Tribune! Don't you just love a great deal? Anytime I feel like I get a discount or have a coupon it just makes me so happy! :)

 

Here are two deals for you! (I hope they make you happy!)

Both of the following items are YEARLONG resources (which also makes me happy!)

Interactive Character Analysis Posters

These posters were an interactive tool used and referenced all year in my classroom! Character traits are introduced/discussed during read alouds, mentor texts, weekly stories, etc. As characters display the trait, the traits are recorded on the post-its with evidence to support the trait.
This resource includes student tracking sheets of all 50 traits to keep as a reference or interactive notebook. 

 

Introduce one character trait at a time (weekly character trait) or have several displayed at a time.
Mine are displayed all over the wall in front of my classroom where I call them to the carpet to read so we can be on the lookout for these traits when I’m doing my mini-lessons. The posters with post-its are a great visual of what traits have already been found.
 You and your students will refer back to these posters every time you meet a new character! 

Click here to check these posters out at my TPT Store!

 

The second deal of the day are these fun Shout Out Cards!

 

Want to give a SHOUT OUT to your students or co-workers?
 There are 23 different pages of bright colored positive messages (a black & white version is also included). These are perfect for all grade levels and will brighten anyone's day who receives one!  

 

Click here if you want to use these in your classroom to encourage your students positively!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you can use these resources in your classroom!