More Elf on Our Classroom Shelf Fun!

Hey everyone,
I'm so excited to show you what our silly classroom elf, Lillybell, was up to last week.  I think I had a little too much fun with our elf on the shelf this year haha.

Lilly spent the day hanging out in the tree in our classroom.

Then Lillybell and her friend Socks took a cruise in Lillybell's new car!  My husband and I can get pretty crafty.  I brought home a tissue box and said I wanted to make a car for Lillybell... He said "if we're going to make a car, we're going to make a good one."  So one shipping box and a little paint later, this is what was created.  I'm pretty impressed with this little hidden talent my husband has :).

Socks stuck around to hang out with Lillybell for the rest of the week.  They decided to play a little Jenga.

They spent the next day hanging out on our "First Day of 2nd Grade" picture frame.

On their last day in our classroom, Lillybell and Socks painted portraits of each other.  As you can see, Lillybell is a much better artist then little old Socks. They also left the kiddos a note and some candy :).

I loved having the elf on the shelf in our classroom this year.  My kiddos seemed to enjoy it too.  Each day the filled out a page in their "Elf on our classroom shelf" journal and explained what Lillybell was doing that day.  They also got to draw a picture of what she was doing that day, which was so fun to see!

Now I get to relax (kind of) for two weeks!  Maybe I can use this time to get our house clean and catch up on some Lock Smock orders! :)  I hope you all have a relaxing and restful Christmas break.

Oh! I almost forgot!  Now the following photo does not reflect the education system in our county… I'm sure the person that did this moved here from somewhere else ;).

I know it is kind of blurry so if you can't see it is says "Marry Cristmas."  Yikes!  

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! 

Elf on Our Classroom Shelf!

Hey Everyone!
I can't believe Christmas break is only one week away! Woohoo! I am in desperate need of some rest and relaxation.  This is my favorite time of the year.  I LOVE all of the beautiful Christmas lights and decorating the house and my classroom.

This year we had a little scout elf come to our room again!  I am having so much fun with this little lady.  My class has named her Lillybell… How adorable is that!?!?!  I have been posting all of the things Lillybell is doing in our classroom on my Instagram using the #elfonourclassroomshelf.  Here are some of the silly things she has done the last couple of weeks:

Santa sent a special gift to our classroom… our new elf Lillybell!

The students each wrote a note to Santa and we asked Lillybell to take them to him that night.  One kiddo wrote that another student said the elf wasn't real.  Seeing that this child was going to tattle on him for saying that, the student quickly apologized to Santa in his letter :). 

Lillybell decorated our room by writing her name all over the place!

We are working on "How to" writing in our classroom, so Lillybell thought she would join the fun and write her own "How to"… How to be on the nice list.

Then she tied all of our Dr. Seuss characters up with twinkle lights!

The next day, Lillybell and another second grade teacher's elf, Snowflake, had a party at the copy machine! They took some pretty cute pictures.

Here is a close up of the cute pictures Lillybell and Snowflake took at their "Copy Party".

Lillybell helped dress up our tree by adding some cute ornaments and a few presents around the bottom.

Lillybell tried to add a touch of Christmas to our room by putting up some twinkle lights… she broke half the strand in the process.  Oops!

We had a rough day in our classroom, so Lillybell needed a break.  Her dog Steven watched the kids that day so she could be well rested for the next day.

The kiddos were so good and let Lillybell rest the day before. She decided it was a good day to relax in a bubble bath.

You have to admit… Lillybell had this coming :).

This is just the start of all the fun we are having with the elf on our classroom shelf!  I can't wait to show you what she has been up to this week.

Enjoy!

Cyber Monday & Tuesday!

Hey Everyone!
I hope your TPT carts are loaded and ready to go because tomorrow TPT is having their Cyber Monday & Tuesday sale!

You can get up to 28% off in my TPT shop Monday and Tuesday, December 2nd and 3rd. Use the promo code above at checkout!  I am also keeping my shop on sale through Wednesday, December 4th! That means you will still get 20% off in my shop through the 4th.

I'm off to fill up my TPT shopping cart and get ready for the sale!

Enjoy!

My 2 New Obsessions...

Hey everyone,

I cannot believe I have not blogged in over a month!  Yikes!  I have been so buys lately, my poor blog has been neglected.  Well today I am finally posting about my 2 new obsessions!  Ready for it...

Making regular worksheets into...  POSTERS! :)  and Common Core Reading: Comprehension Strategy Sheets for K-2 Fiction Standards by Jen Jones!

I am in love with the Common Core Reading: Comprephension Strategy Sheets for K-2 Fiction Standards from the fabulous Jen Jones!  She has sooooo many amazing comprehension strategy sheets in her pack on TPT and she also has a Common Core RIT: Comprehension Strategy Sheets for K-2 Informational Reading set.  They are amazing!  You can use these sheets for so many different reading lessons and activities.  This year, I have been using them by blowing them up into posters and am loving them as formative assessments.

The students LOVE making these fun posters and I love how excited they are for reading now :).  Here are some of their posters...

For this lesson, the students were split up into groups and given a book to read with their group.  Then they got a Common Core Reading: Comprehension Strategy Sheet (that I had blown up to poster size) and worked with their group to retell the story.  When they were finished, we put their posters up on our Reading Wall.

I've been using so many of the reading strategy sheets from Jen Jones this year.  My kiddos seem to get so excited when they get to show what they've learned on a poster... and they are so proud when they see it displayed in the room.

To blow up the regular sized sheets to poster size, I just went to our school copier and found a button that says "Reduce/Enlarge".  In that setting, you can pick to blow an 8 1/2 x 11 paper to 11 x 17 (I think that is the size :) ).  We have the large paper at school that we can put in the copier, but you could also cut a large piece of construction paper to fit.

After my kiddos had fun showing what they learned on the posters, I used the regular sized reading strategy sheets as a formative assessment.

Paisley helped me grade them :)

To check out the reading strategy sheets, head on over to Jen Jones'- Hello Literacy TPT Shop!

Enjoy! 

Welcome to My Classroom!

Hey everyone!
After the craziness of the first few weeks of school, I have finally cleaned my classroom up enough to take some pictures.  So, I am linking up with Swimming Into Second for her Show Off Your Space linky party!

Welcome to our classroom!

 This is our "meeting area"/classroom library.  

I love to teach lessons in our meeting area.  I am able to get closer to their level and they seem to be more engaged there.  I can also easily refer to our math wall and the word wall from the meeting area.  In the middle is our calendar.  We are doing Everyday Math this year but I haven't set up my calendar with all of the Everyday Math supplies yet... they are not very cute and I am a little bitter about that ;).  I guess I will have to suck it up and display the not so cute calendar stuff.

 I LOVE my teacher chair in our meeting area... I just wish it wasn't brown.  It is so comfy and cozy.  I have random puppets perched all over my chair :).

This is the back of our meeting area/classroom library.  

On the middle shelf are the book bins for each table.  In each book bin, every member at the table has a book bag that contains 5 books they have picked out- 1 too hard book, 1 too easy book, 2 just right books, and 1 just for me book (that can be any book they want).

In the back corner of the room is my "teacher" area.  

Don't you LOVE the table!  This was the table I go through Donors Choose!  I am in love with this table.  It is so big and I can work with so many students... I'm going to have to put more crate seats around it.  Behind the table is a bit of a mess.  The green curtain is hiding a bunch of my teacher books.  The blue bins at the top are all of my mentor texts divided out by subject and strategy.  

 Here is the front of our classroom.  

I rarely stand up here to teach, so rather than putting our reflection desk in the back of the room where we have most of our lessons, I put it in the front of the room where it is actually out of the way.  

A closeup of our shelves in the front of our classroom.

All of the supplies students may need throughout the day are here.  Sharp pencils, a place for their dull ones, extra glue sticks, highlighters, extra erasers, post-it notes, index cards, dry erase markers, dry erase erasers, dry erase boards, clipboards, paper, writing notebooks, math notebooks, word work notebooks, and of course the CUPS cups!  I also have a little bucket of colored pencils for students to use when they edit their writing.

 This is the other side of the front of our classroom.  

My SMART Board was mounted in a very awkward place and my kiddos at the tables closest to the door can't see it.  So I put a little rug in front of it to provide a place for those students to sit when we have a lesson on the SMART Board.  My husband made the box for me last year so my kiddos could reach the SMART Board, I of course had to paint it :).  And it opens up so it has given me more storage space!  Next to the SMART Board I have our "I can..." statements... I love the zebra background.

Table cubbies!  

Each table has a space that has markers, crayons, a basket full of manipulatives we use, a supply basket with scissors and glue, and their extra work folder.  This makes it so easy to get supplies out!  The "Quiet Captains" at each table are in charge of getting whatever their table needs for a lesson from their cubbies.

Not the best picture, but this is our check-in station (on the left), Duck Buck pockets (on the door), voice level reminders (above the Duck Bucks), sanitizing station (on the right), and student folders (below the sanitizing station).

I love these bins from Big Lots for holding student folders!

Again, not the best picture.  :(  

These are our classroom jobs and my awesome barber chair another teacher gave me!  Students get to sit in it during read to self time... it goes up and down! :)  They love it.

I may be a tad OCD about student pencils!  

I hated having to touch the pencils when I'd sharpen them and they had to be sharped all the time, so last year I started using mechanical pencils.  I'm so surprised at how well my 2nd graders use these!  It makes their writing neater and they stay sharp for so long.  I didn't want students to fight over colors, so each table has a specific color of pencil.  It also helps them know where a pencil goes when they find it on the floor.  One of my classroom jobs is "pencils" and this person fills up all of our "dull" pencils with lead on Friday.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our classroom.  To see more amazing classrooms, head over to Swimming Into Second and check out all of the wonderful teachers that have linked up.  

Enjoy!

Classroom Management and Birthday Giveaway Winners!

Hey everyone,
I'm very excited to share my new classroom management tool, that is working like a charm, and the winners of my birthday giveaways!

First I have to share this hilarious card one of my students made me for my birthday.  She knows I love Duck Dynasty... so she decided to make us part of the Robertson clan! :)

Okay... on to classroom management...

This year I quickly realized that some of the classroom management systems I have used in the past just aren't going to work.  At our school, every teacher uses the same behavior system.  Some teachers use moving clips, pulling tickets, or jumping frogs, but our colors and consequences are all the same.  In my classroom, students pull tickets.  They start each day on blue (because that is our school's color), green is a warning, yellow is a time out/reflection, orange is a time out/reflection and partial loss of recess, red is a time out/reflection in another classroom and partial loss of recess, and the next step is the office.  For the last few years, I used a sticker system.  If students did not pull any tickets all day, they earned a sticker.  After they got so many stickers they would get a reward.  This year, however, that is clearly not going to work.  So after doing some thinking, I came up with a new system!

Enter... Duck Bucks!
Classroom management with the Robertsons!  Because good behavior makes us happy, happy, happy!

   

If you can't tell... I LOVE Duck Dynasty! :)

Here is how we use them...

Every day, my students can earn a Duck Buck if they stay on blue all day.  We all know we have those kiddos that rarely stay on blue (or, like at most schools, green) all day.  But I still wanted them to be able to feel successful with their behavior and earn Duck Bucks.  So, I carry Duck Bucks with me all day in my special "wallet".  When I see a student that is setting a good example for their peers, being extra well behaved, etc., I give them a Duck Buck to go put in the "pocket".  

Each student has a pocket to keep their Duck Bucks in.  When I give them a Duck Buck during class time, they quietly and quickly go put it in their pocket.  I was afraid it would be disruptive but they are so excited to earn the Duck Buck and get back to earn more, they go quickly and quietly to put them away.  On certain days, students can exchange their Duck Bucks (5 ones for one 5, etc.)  They love it.  

So what do they do with their Duck Bucks?  Well, we have come up with different rewards that the students can save up for.  This Friday my students got to count up all their Duck Bucks and decide if they wanted to spend their Duck Bucks on a reward.  They had so much fun and were so excited to see how many Duck Bucks they've earned.  My students feel so proud when they earn a Duck Buck and all of my students have been earning a lot of them.  The Duck Bucks have been amazing for my kiddos that are a bit challenging in the behavior department.  

If you want to try Duck Bucks in your classroom, you can get them at my TPT shop!

Now for the winners of my birthday giveaways!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats ladies!  I will be e-mailing you soon!

It's my birthday sale & giveaway!

Hey everyone!
This week is my birthday! Woohoo! So I have decided to treat all of you with a sale at my TPT shop.  On August 28, all items in my shop will be 15% off.  But that's not all...

I'm also having a giveaway!  Two lucky winners will each win the item of their choice from my TPT shop.  You can enter my birthday giveaway below.  I will announce the winners on Saturday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To celebrate my birthday, I'm not just going to have one giveaway... I'm having two!  I will be giving away a Lock Smock to one lucky winner.  Enter below for your chance to win your very own Lock Smock!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enjoy!