First Linky

  I have two weeks until we have to be back at work - holy goodness!  So, today I thought I'd do my first linky party to semi kick off the end of summer.  That being said, I'm linking up with Tara for my very own Monday Made it! This is a huge step for me as my blog has always been something I do for me and I never really thought I'd turn it into anything, but I realized over the summer how much I loved making my own classroom products and how I thought it would be fun to join the blogging world.

The first is simple and really came out of a whim after a day of Pinterest & iced coffee.  A clothespin with colored masking tape and some clear matte modge podge. Last year when it came to behavior, I didn't really have any idea of where I wanted to go with it.  I first started with a simple "take a break" chair which actually worked really well at first but pretty soon my sweeties really didn't care so I had to try other things.  I really needed to switch up my management as the year went on.

I've seen TONS of clip charts on Pinterest and have always kind of been against them.  Mostly because I don't really want my students behavior "displayed' and I didn't feel like they would remember what color they were on if it was only in one part of the room. So, this year I decided I'm going to try this little "clip chart" that my kiddos will have on their desk.  I'm just going to simply velcro them down and then they'll move a clothespin to mark their spot on it.  This way it's right there for my sweeties to see and it's not a big disruption when someone has to "clip down".  We'll see how it works - I'm sure I'll have to supplement as time goes on but we'll start this way (and I'll always have a Take a Break chair) and hopefully my kids will always want to get on purple! :)

My second thing is not really "made" but more put together.  I went to an incredible professional development class earlier this summer on writing workshop.  I decided at the end of last year that this and work work would be my focus for the upcoming year now that I had a grasp on teaching.  The one thing that I really want to implement this year are my writing toolkits. Last year pretty frequently I noticed around October and then again in February that my students markers and such were drying out, and their writing was getting SO wrinkly in their desks (or black-holes as I refer to them as).  We had implemented in our room that markers and crayons were only to be used if we were publishing.  Obviously, this needed constant reminders as I was trying to "break a habit" that I had let them form since the beginning of the year. Eventually with multiple reminders we got over that hump and got better at remembering when we could use our beautiful markers.  This year, I plan to have these writer toolkits on their desks during writers workshop that my students can use when they are writing.  They'll get a published piece from me the day after we meet in group, and then they are allowed to use the markers and crayons.  Right now, they just have markers, crayons, and erasers in them but as the year gets going I want to add some mistake tape, scotch tape, glue sticks, colored pencils, etc.  Each of the tools will require a mini lesson in itself so for now, these are things I think they can handle until we introduce the rest.  I made the signs myself, and then just used plastic cups for the containers inside.  That way if they break it's not big deal. The shower caddis were purchased last year to hold water bottles and to prevent them from spilling.  They needed a good cleaning but they are going to do wonderfully! Their writing folders will be kept in a separate location to get rid of the wrinkly, messy, and forgot about pieces of writing.

Last but not least - a little organizer for myself. This year one of my goals it to be more organized and to put things away and in their place instead of stacks of papers on my desk or filing cabinet that eventually I forget about. I didn't really think this was necessary at first but after last year I'm super happy I went ahead and made it.  I just used some cool stickers for scrapbooking that I already had, some scrapbooking paper, double-sided tape, and a container that I gained from a fellow teacher last year.  It sits on my countertop by my desk for easy access.  Inside the "Grade" bin, there's little class lists that I always attach to assignments so that I can simply write their grade in quick on the slip and have them for easy grade book access.  And, I felt this project had to be done after scrapbook paper was 50% off at Hobby Lobby and it's SO cute.

Super excited about my first linky and what this could mean for myself as a blogger and a teacher.  I'm off to enjoy some time in Colorado with my husband for a few days to celebrate two years of marriage together - can't believe it's already been 2 years - and then excited to get back into the classroom!

Until next time.