Hi Friends! I'm excited to be linking up with Mrs. McClain over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her monthly You Oughta Know About... Blog HOP! One of the things I have always struggled with is how to inspire students to do their homework each night and check it in the next day. I've talked to students about responsibility. I've taken away privileges. I've bribed. I've threatened. I've rewarded. I've begged and pleaded! In the end I've put way more energy into getting my students to WANT to do their homework than they put into actually doing it! This year, while wondering around on social media, I came across this brilliant idea and I think it is really something you oughta know about... ★HOMEWORKOPOLY!!★ I briefly mentioned Homeworkopoly a few months ago in a blog post titled "Top Ten Classroom Finds for 2014", but after using this classroom management tool for awhile now, I thought I'd share it with you in more detail! My students love games! You could be testing them on division of decimals and if you made it into a game they would think it was the most wonderful thing on earth! So, it is no surprise to say that my students absolutely LOVE homeworkopoly! Here is how it works: • In my class students have nightly homework that gets checked in each day. Usually it is spelling, vocabulary, math, and reading. Each morning the group leader checks in his/her group's homework on our weekly homework check-in sheet. • On Friday afternoon the students who got ALL of their homework in for the week get to roll a die and move their marker on the game board. Sometimes we make it a whole class affair and everybody observes and cheers for their classmates as they roll. Lately, time has been short and I have started calling small groups of students over to the game board to roll while the rest of the class is working. • When someone lands on CHANCE, we ring a bell so that everyone can listen as the student reads aloud his/her chance card. The fun thing about the chance card is that the card could have a great prize on it for the student, for the class, or it could be something the student has to do for the teacher, class, or a classmate. Some examples are: • Give a classmate a compliment. • The whole class gets 5 extra minutes of recess! • Wipe down the teacher's desk. • You have earned a video lunch in the classroom for the entire class! • You have earned a nice letter from your teacher to your parents. The great thing about the "bad" chance cards is that they ask the student to do something nice for someone else and giving and helping others is a good thing to teach youngsters to do. When a student reads aloud a chance card the classroom audience is so excited! If the card is a good one, they cheer! If is is bad, they laugh, all in good fun! MAKING THE HOMEWORKOPOLY BOARD Making the board wasn't too complicated. You can get a FREE EDITABLE TEMPLATE (PowerPoint) or Google Slides HERE! **You will need to download a copy of the template before you will be able to edit it. This is the one that I created for the board you see here in the pictures. I had to take off the clip art and fonts, but it is editable so that you can change the fonts, add your own clip art, add your own prizes, street names, chance cards, etc. For Powerpoint, you will need to download in order to edit. Once you have the game board downloaded, go through and customize it to fit your classroom. I teach 4th grade, so I added street names like "Oregon Avenue", "Setting Street", etc. I also added prizes that worked for me. My students love rolly chairs and dot-to-dots, so I added those to the board. We play music and use GoNoodle.com in class, so I made sure we had "Music Market" and "DJ Court". When you have your game board customized, print it out. I printed mine out in color, cut out the panels, and laminated the pieces. Once that was done, I used two sided tape to adhere the game board to a piece of poster board. At this point, I wasn't sure what I was going to use for game pieces. I knew that I wanted the board to hang on the wall, so I decided to use mini-clothes pins. In order for the clothes pins to work, the game board needed to be pushed away from the wall. To get this to happen, I glued the top of a box on the back of the game board. I tried to attach it to my wall with pushpins, but that didn't really work for me. Luckily, I had these great cubical hooks. I punched two holes into the side of the box and am able to hang the box on the hooks. And Voila! My HOMEWORKOPOLY board! I hope you enjoyed this You Oughta Know About... post! Make sure to hop on over and visit some of the other blogs in the blog hop for more GREAT things you oughta know about! Until next time! An InLinkz Link-up

I'm super dooper excited to be linking up for my first blog hop with Jasmine from Buzzing with Mrs. McClain! You Oughta Know About Think Sheets! This isn't a new idea by any means, but I can honestly say I have never been in a classroom and seen these used once. They sounded a little ridiculous to me when I first thought about using them. I was quite certain no six year old child would sit and fill these out responsibly. Plus, every Think Sheet I found was full of large words and extensive writing lines. When I'm mad or sad, I don't feel like writing an essay, so I'm pretty sure six year olds don't either. But, I was out of options. I was at my wit's end. I had tried every single behavior management idea from the clip chart to a time out chair to a Kindness Cat that brought around suckers. I've tried behavior meters, individual behavior plans, and a stinking awesome treasure box that I sometimes steal chocolate out of. Yeah. I've been through all of the options. So I tried the Think Sheets. And believe it or not, they actually worked! So here's the process in my classroom: 1. A child may or may not be given a warning (depending on the action). Once they've passed "the point of no return," I send them to the "thinking" chair with a lovely paper in hand. 2. They fill it out. Most kids can read the words themselves, some need help with just a couple words. By about Number 3, the child's behavior has already turned calmer and more reflective. 3. They hit the dreaded "Do I need to apologize?" question and realize the choices they made might have hurt someone. They sign the paper, apologize to the other student(s), and return the paper to me...completely transformed. 4. If it needs to be sent home, I add teacher notes for parents to see. If not, I just keep the paper for myself. It's not foolproof by any means, but so far it has revolutionized the behavior in my classroom. I deal with less conflicts and the students actively make better choices. Magnifico! Want one for yourself? Click the picture below to get the freebie on TPT. If your kiddos are further along, I encourage you to find or make your own Think Sheet! You Oughta Know that if you implement them right, they can really be a lifesaver! An InLinkz Link-up

Hi Friends! I'm excited to be linking up with Mrs. McClain over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her monthly You Oughta Know About... Blog HOP! One of the things I have always struggled with is how to inspire students to do their homework each night and check it in the next day. I've talked to students about responsibility. I've taken away privileges. I've bribed. I've threatened. I've rewarded. I've begged and pleaded! In the end I've put way more energy into getting my students to WANT to do their homework than they put into actually doing it! This year, while wondering around on social media, I came across this brilliant idea and I think it is really something you oughta know about... ★HOMEWORKOPOLY!!★ I briefly mentioned Homeworkopoly a few months ago in a blog post titled "Top Ten Classroom Finds for 2014", but after using this classroom management tool for awhile now, I thought I'd share it with you in more detail! My students love games! You could be testing them on division of decimals and if you made it into a game they would think it was the most wonderful thing on earth! So, it is no surprise to say that my students absolutely LOVE homeworkopoly! Here is how it works: • In my class students have nightly homework that gets checked in each day. Usually it is spelling, vocabulary, math, and reading. Each morning the group leader checks in his/her group's homework on our weekly homework check-in sheet. • On Friday afternoon the students who got ALL of their homework in for the week get to roll a die and move their marker on the game board. Sometimes we make it a whole class affair and everybody observes and cheers for their classmates as they roll. Lately, time has been short and I have started calling small groups of students over to the game board to roll while the rest of the class is working. • When someone lands on CHANCE, we ring a bell so that everyone can listen as the student reads aloud his/her chance card. The fun thing about the chance card is that the card could have a great prize on it for the student, for the class, or it could be something the student has to do for the teacher, class, or a classmate. Some examples are: • Give a classmate a compliment. • The whole class gets 5 extra minutes of recess! • Wipe down the teacher's desk. • You have earned a video lunch in the classroom for the entire class! • You have earned a nice letter from your teacher to your parents. The great thing about the "bad" chance cards is that they ask the student to do something nice for someone else and giving and helping others is a good thing to teach youngsters to do. When a student reads aloud a chance card the classroom audience is so excited! If the card is a good one, they cheer! If is is bad, they laugh, all in good fun! MAKING THE HOMEWORKOPOLY BOARD Making the board wasn't too complicated. You can get a FREE EDITABLE TEMPLATE (PowerPoint) or Google Slides HERE! **You will need to download a copy of the template before you will be able to edit it. This is the one that I created for the board you see here in the pictures. I had to take off the clip art and fonts, but it is editable so that you can change the fonts, add your own clip art, add your own prizes, street names, chance cards, etc. For Powerpoint, you will need to download in order to edit. Once you have the game board downloaded, go through and customize it to fit your classroom. I teach 4th grade, so I added street names like "Oregon Avenue", "Setting Street", etc. I also added prizes that worked for me. My students love rolly chairs and dot-to-dots, so I added those to the board. We play music and use GoNoodle.com in class, so I made sure we had "Music Market" and "DJ Court". When you have your game board customized, print it out. I printed mine out in color, cut out the panels, and laminated the pieces. Once that was done, I used two sided tape to adhere the game board to a piece of poster board. At this point, I wasn't sure what I was going to use for game pieces. I knew that I wanted the board to hang on the wall, so I decided to use mini-clothes pins. In order for the clothes pins to work, the game board needed to be pushed away from the wall. To get this to happen, I glued the top of a box on the back of the game board. I tried to attach it to my wall with pushpins, but that didn't really work for me. Luckily, I had these great cubical hooks. I punched two holes into the side of the box and am able to hang the box on the hooks. And Voila! My HOMEWORKOPOLY board! I hope you enjoyed this You Oughta Know About... post! Make sure to hop on over and visit some of the other blogs in the blog hop for more GREAT things you oughta know about! Until next time! An InLinkz Link-up

Can you believe the age of grunge and pop is from the same decade?

You oughta know about ED Puzzle. It is a website that allows teachers to crop, edit, and record over videos to create an interactive experience.

🌟 Embrace Comfort in Every Situation 🌟 Are you ready to take your comfort game to a whole new level? Look no further, because we've got the perfect solution for you! Our Unisex Heavy Blend Crewneck Sweatshirt is not just a garment; it's a cozy haven that wraps you in pure delight. Crafted from a harmonious blend of polyester and cotton, our sweatshirt brings you the best of both worlds. You Oughta Know: ✨ Material: 50% cotton, 50% polyester ✨ Fabric Weight: Medium-heavy ✨ Fit: Loose and liberating ✨ Label: Sewn-in for that touch of authenticity ✨ Sizing: It's as true as true can be!

It’s that time again! I’m linking up with the fabulous Jasmine McClain for the You Oughta Know Blog Hop. This month I really think you oughta know about the importance of graphing in the primary classroom. Do you make graphs with your students? Of course you do, who doesn’t? But do you know why it […]

The Eye Spy jar is a great way to motivate your class. It's a whole group management system to create a well run classroom.

Hi Friends! I'm excited to be linking up with Mrs. McClain over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her monthly You Oughta Know About... Blog HOP! One of the things I have always struggled with is how to inspire students to do their homework each night and check it in the next day. I've talked to students about responsibility. I've taken away privileges. I've bribed. I've threatened. I've rewarded. I've begged and pleaded! In the end I've put way more energy into getting my students to WANT to do their homework than they put into actually doing it! This year, while wondering around on social media, I came across this brilliant idea and I think it is really something you oughta know about... ★HOMEWORKOPOLY!!★ I briefly mentioned Homeworkopoly a few months ago in a blog post titled "Top Ten Classroom Finds for 2014", but after using this classroom management tool for awhile now, I thought I'd share it with you in more detail! My students love games! You could be testing them on division of decimals and if you made it into a game they would think it was the most wonderful thing on earth! So, it is no surprise to say that my students absolutely LOVE homeworkopoly! Here is how it works: • In my class students have nightly homework that gets checked in each day. Usually it is spelling, vocabulary, math, and reading. Each morning the group leader checks in his/her group's homework on our weekly homework check-in sheet. • On Friday afternoon the students who got ALL of their homework in for the week get to roll a die and move their marker on the game board. Sometimes we make it a whole class affair and everybody observes and cheers for their classmates as they roll. Lately, time has been short and I have started calling small groups of students over to the game board to roll while the rest of the class is working. • When someone lands on CHANCE, we ring a bell so that everyone can listen as the student reads aloud his/her chance card. The fun thing about the chance card is that the card could have a great prize on it for the student, for the class, or it could be something the student has to do for the teacher, class, or a classmate. Some examples are: • Give a classmate a compliment. • The whole class gets 5 extra minutes of recess! • Wipe down the teacher's desk. • You have earned a video lunch in the classroom for the entire class! • You have earned a nice letter from your teacher to your parents. The great thing about the "bad" chance cards is that they ask the student to do something nice for someone else and giving and helping others is a good thing to teach youngsters to do. When a student reads aloud a chance card the classroom audience is so excited! If the card is a good one, they cheer! If is is bad, they laugh, all in good fun! MAKING THE HOMEWORKOPOLY BOARD Making the board wasn't too complicated. You can get a FREE EDITABLE TEMPLATE (PowerPoint) or Google Slides HERE! **You will need to download a copy of the template before you will be able to edit it. This is the one that I created for the board you see here in the pictures. I had to take off the clip art and fonts, but it is editable so that you can change the fonts, add your own clip art, add your own prizes, street names, chance cards, etc. For Powerpoint, you will need to download in order to edit. Once you have the game board downloaded, go through and customize it to fit your classroom. I teach 4th grade, so I added street names like "Oregon Avenue", "Setting Street", etc. I also added prizes that worked for me. My students love rolly chairs and dot-to-dots, so I added those to the board. We play music and use GoNoodle.com in class, so I made sure we had "Music Market" and "DJ Court". When you have your game board customized, print it out. I printed mine out in color, cut out the panels, and laminated the pieces. Once that was done, I used two sided tape to adhere the game board to a piece of poster board. At this point, I wasn't sure what I was going to use for game pieces. I knew that I wanted the board to hang on the wall, so I decided to use mini-clothes pins. In order for the clothes pins to work, the game board needed to be pushed away from the wall. To get this to happen, I glued the top of a box on the back of the game board. I tried to attach it to my wall with pushpins, but that didn't really work for me. Luckily, I had these great cubical hooks. I punched two holes into the side of the box and am able to hang the box on the hooks. And Voila! My HOMEWORKOPOLY board! I hope you enjoyed this You Oughta Know About... post! Make sure to hop on over and visit some of the other blogs in the blog hop for more GREAT things you oughta know about! Until next time! An InLinkz Link-up

Need help with report card comments? Deadlines are crazy, but do you enjoy writing something sweet on each and every report card? Pin this post to have help with some quick and easy report card comments! #FernSmithsClassroomIdeas

October 7, 1995: Alanis Morissette went to Number 1 on the US album chart with Jagged Little Pill. Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette produced six successful singles, including: Alanis Morissette (sign up to follow by email) "You Oughta Know" "Ironic," "You Learn," "Hand in My Pocket," and "Head over Feet" and went on to become the biggest selling album ever by a female artist with sales over 30m. October 7, 1967: The Association peaked at Number 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 with "Never My Love." According to BMI, which keeps track of such data, "Never My Love" by The Association was the second-most played song on American radio and television in the 20th century, trailing only "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by the Righteous Brothers. Read more: Songfacts October 7, 1978: Chaka Kahn's "I'm Every Woman" began its climb up Billboard's Hot 100. A 14-year-old Whitney sang backing vocals on Chaka Khan's original version of "I'm Every Woman," together with her mother Cissy Houston. Houston recorded the song in 1993, taking it to #4 in the US. Read more: Songfacts October 7, 1982: Cats debuted on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre with a record-breaking $6.2 million in ticket pre-sales. October 7, 2014: Ed Sheeran posted the official music video to his hit song "Thinking Out Loud." To date, it counts over 3.5 Billion views, a rare feat indeed. Hand In My Pocket Alanis Morissette

I'm back with one of my favorite blog hops; You Oughta Know, hosted by Jasmine at Buzzing with Mrs. Mc Clain! You oughta know about one of my favorite professional books, Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers & Robert E. Probst. This book has changed the way I teach reading!! Too often our students read as if it's a race or a task to accomplish: get to the bottom of the page. However, many don't STOP to notice and note (& think about!) what they are reading. Notice & Note teaches six signposts for readers to look for while reading. Each signpost has a key question for students to ask themselves. You can see the questions above, along with an abbreviation or code for students to use, as they read and write the symbols on post-its to stick in their books. My amazing student teacher made that beautiful anchor chart! (You'll see below that creating cute charts is not my forte! Lol) To introduce each signpost, I used a picture book to teach a mini-lesson. After introducing the signpost students were to listen for, we charted what they noticed. They caught on very quickly and now they see signposts in EVERYTHING we do! I love how they're transferring those connections! The one signpost we have not yet learned is "Aha Moment", where a character has a revelation. I'll be reading Bully by Patricia Polacco to introduce this signpost. One of the benefits of learning the signposts is that students begin to attempt to use these also as a writing strategy. When they're writing their own narratives, they often include a memory moment or contrasts & contradictions! After students learn each new signpost, we model how to record text clues and then to think aloud about what they can infer from that text clue. We are in the middle of reading Sarah, Plain, and Tall and the kids keep finding TONS of signposts! After some together-time, students went off to read with partners and to record their symbols and inferences. They loved this and were very successful! Circulating the room to observe and spy listen in to readers is also a great informal assessment to check which students understand inference and which ones need a small group reteaching or one-on-one conference. And I found these colorful signposts bookmarks at Ladybug's Teacher Files; she always has fabulous products!! How do you teach meaning and inference to your students? An InLinkz Link-up

It’s that time again! I’m linking up with the fabulous Jasmine McClain for the You Oughta Know Blog Hop. This month I really think you oughta know about the importance of graphing in the primary classroom. Do you make graphs with your students? Of course you do, who doesn’t? But do you know why it […]

My kiddos BEGGED to play this throughout the year. I usually had them play during the last 5 minutes of phonics instruction OR as an activity if we

Jagged Little Pill van Alanis Morissette is nieuw in ons assortiment. Check de releasedatum om te kijken of het al leverbaar is. High Quality Vinyl All I really want (LP Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBZXCKH.mp3You Oughta Know (Album Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBZCWHK.mp3Perfect (LP Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBZHXCL.mp3Hand In My Pocket (Album Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBZHCLK.mp3Right through you (LP Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBZXWOH.mp3Forgiven (LP Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBZXWYC.mp3You Learn (Album Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBCZXWK.mp3Head Over Feet (Album Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBCZXKH.mp3Mary Jane (LP Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBCZKHM.mp3Ironic (Album Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBWOCKH.mp3Not the doctor (LP Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBWHOLC.mp3Wake Up (LP Version)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBWHLOA.mp3You Oughta Know (Hidden LP Remix + Additional Hidden Track)http://mp31.phononet.de/miedemamp3/d2/687/971/ZLAGXYHOPELBRZACKMXGYEBWHLZC.mp3

Hi Friends! I'm excited to be linking up with Mrs. McClain over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her monthly You Oughta Know About... Blog HOP! One of the things I have always struggled with is how to inspire students to do their homework each night and check it in the next day. I've talked to students about responsibility. I've taken away privileges. I've bribed. I've threatened. I've rewarded. I've begged and pleaded! In the end I've put way more energy into getting my students to WANT to do their homework than they put into actually doing it! This year, while wondering around on social media, I came across this brilliant idea and I think it is really something you oughta know about... ★HOMEWORKOPOLY!!★ I briefly mentioned Homeworkopoly a few months ago in a blog post titled "Top Ten Classroom Finds for 2014", but after using this classroom management tool for awhile now, I thought I'd share it with you in more detail! My students love games! You could be testing them on division of decimals and if you made it into a game they would think it was the most wonderful thing on earth! So, it is no surprise to say that my students absolutely LOVE homeworkopoly! Here is how it works: • In my class students have nightly homework that gets checked in each day. Usually it is spelling, vocabulary, math, and reading. Each morning the group leader checks in his/her group's homework on our weekly homework check-in sheet. • On Friday afternoon the students who got ALL of their homework in for the week get to roll a die and move their marker on the game board. Sometimes we make it a whole class affair and everybody observes and cheers for their classmates as they roll. Lately, time has been short and I have started calling small groups of students over to the game board to roll while the rest of the class is working. • When someone lands on CHANCE, we ring a bell so that everyone can listen as the student reads aloud his/her chance card. The fun thing about the chance card is that the card could have a great prize on it for the student, for the class, or it could be something the student has to do for the teacher, class, or a classmate. Some examples are: • Give a classmate a compliment. • The whole class gets 5 extra minutes of recess! • Wipe down the teacher's desk. • You have earned a video lunch in the classroom for the entire class! • You have earned a nice letter from your teacher to your parents. The great thing about the "bad" chance cards is that they ask the student to do something nice for someone else and giving and helping others is a good thing to teach youngsters to do. When a student reads aloud a chance card the classroom audience is so excited! If the card is a good one, they cheer! If is is bad, they laugh, all in good fun! MAKING THE HOMEWORKOPOLY BOARD Making the board wasn't too complicated. You can get a FREE EDITABLE TEMPLATE (PowerPoint) or Google Slides HERE! **You will need to download a copy of the template before you will be able to edit it. This is the one that I created for the board you see here in the pictures. I had to take off the clip art and fonts, but it is editable so that you can change the fonts, add your own clip art, add your own prizes, street names, chance cards, etc. For Powerpoint, you will need to download in order to edit. Once you have the game board downloaded, go through and customize it to fit your classroom. I teach 4th grade, so I added street names like "Oregon Avenue", "Setting Street", etc. I also added prizes that worked for me. My students love rolly chairs and dot-to-dots, so I added those to the board. We play music and use GoNoodle.com in class, so I made sure we had "Music Market" and "DJ Court". When you have your game board customized, print it out. I printed mine out in color, cut out the panels, and laminated the pieces. Once that was done, I used two sided tape to adhere the game board to a piece of poster board. At this point, I wasn't sure what I was going to use for game pieces. I knew that I wanted the board to hang on the wall, so I decided to use mini-clothes pins. In order for the clothes pins to work, the game board needed to be pushed away from the wall. To get this to happen, I glued the top of a box on the back of the game board. I tried to attach it to my wall with pushpins, but that didn't really work for me. Luckily, I had these great cubical hooks. I punched two holes into the side of the box and am able to hang the box on the hooks. And Voila! My HOMEWORKOPOLY board! I hope you enjoyed this You Oughta Know About... post! Make sure to hop on over and visit some of the other blogs in the blog hop for more GREAT things you oughta know about! Until next time! An InLinkz Link-up

It’s that time again! I’m linking up with the fabulous Jasmine McClain for the You Oughta Know Blog Hop. This month I really think you oughta know about the importance of graphing in the primary classroom. Do you make graphs with your students? Of course you do, who doesn’t? But do you know why it […]

Released in 2005, on CD and on label Maverick (9362-49490-2). Alanis Morissette — The Collection. Genre: Rock, Pop. Style: Alternative Rock

As a math specialist I often get asked which is better... push-in or pull-out interventions. Today I am linking up with a bunch ...

I know that I've been promising to post about how I incorporate technology into my guided reading groups for a while now....so I thought that Buzzing With Mrs. McClain's You Oughta Know blog hop was t

One of the questions I get e-mailed all of the time is, “Where do you shop for fabric?”. This often comes from people who find out that they live near my hometown, as we are always looking for great local fabric shops. Am I right? Sadly there are not many brick and mortar stores that I […]

You Oughta Know sheet music by Alanis Morissette. Sheet music arranged for Piano/Vocal/Guitar in F# Minor (transposable). SKU: MN0075950

You Oughta Know About…Rick Morris’ Sign Language Posters for Classroom Management! Happy Saturday everyone! I am linking up with Jasmine over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her awesome Blog Hop: You Oughta Know... Today I am bringing you some information about Rick Morris’ Sign Language Posters. Rick Morris is a recognized specialist in the

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When I was a kid, I loved school supplies. I mean really LOVED them. Crisp white sheets of paper, bright markers, a brand new pink eraser, binders, notebooks, index cards. What could be better? It's secretly why I became a teacher. (You too? We should start a club!) I still love school supplies. Well, most of them. I seem to have developed a love/hate relationship with the King of all school supplies. That's right... the Number 2 Pencil. My classroom is perpetually littered with them. It's not just yellow number 2s that I hate... blue ones, plain wood ones, and especially the ones with pictures all over them that peel off and clog up your pencil sharpener. I hate that my students regularly stick in a nub and sharpen it until it's jammed inside of the machine. Most of all, I hate that they spread their pencil love all over my classroom floor on a daily basis... So what's a teacher to do? There's actually a solution. Something I used a few years ago when I had the worst class on Earth (the ones who purposefully stuffed things down the toilet to make it overflow on a daily basis). I don't know why I forgot about this. Maybe because I've had such lovely students since then. But the pencils are starting to make me crazy, so it might be time to pull out the big guns... So what is this little miracle? A wonderful teacher named Mrs. Hazelton created a FREE resource called "Winning The Pencil War" to help us all stay on top of the pencil problem. Here's the gist... Give each kid their own pencil pouch with 8 sharpened pencils. They keep track of their pencils all week. Collect the pouches on Friday. Reward the ones who kept all 8 pencils in good condition. There's a bit more to it than that, but not much. It's very simple to implement and she includes complete instructions and the little coupons you'll be using. If you're smart, you'll assign a student to collect the pouches on Friday and pass them out again Monday morning. I found that having two baskets made it even easier. Students who knew they didn't keep all 8 pencils put their pouches into one basket. The ones who thought they did a good job put theirs in the other basket. Checking them was a breeze! As an extra motivation, I occasionally left a little treat in the good bags. Once I started using this system, my pencil woes were over. It really worked! Like I said, my classes since then have been quite lovely and I haven't had much of a pencil war going on. But with spring fever setting in and my room looking like the pictures above on a pretty regular basis, this might be the perfect time to pull out my pencil pouches once more. (Here's a little tip: If pencil bags aren't in your budget right now, quart size freezer bags work quite well.) So now that you know about this little sanity-saver, what about your pencil sharpener? Does it sound like a dentist's drill gone awry? Do your pencils come out looking like they were gnawed by a beaver? Then you will want to know about the The Quietest Classroom Sharpener. It's super fast and sharpens better than any electric sharpener I've ever seen. It even takes care of those cheap-o pencils from China with the lead that just falls out all the time. Take a look... Looks pretty good, huh? You can buy one from Classroom Friendly Supplies or you can win your own super awesome sharpener right here: Good luck! Now head on over to the blog hop to see what else "you oughta know about"! An InLinkz Link-up

You Oughta Know About…Rick Morris’ Sign Language Posters for Classroom Management! Happy Saturday everyone! I am linking up with Jasmine over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her awesome Blog Hop: You Oughta Know... Today I am bringing you some information about Rick Morris’ Sign Language Posters. Rick Morris is a recognized specialist in the

It’s that time again! I’m linking up with the fabulous Jasmine McClain for November’s You Oughta Know Blog Hop. This month I wanted to share ideas for using QR codes in the classroom. Odds are you have seen these lovely digital codes somewhere by now…in a magazine, on a soda bottle, or even on TV. […]

Hey y'all! This month I'm linking up with Mrs. McClain over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for the monthly You Oughta Know blog hop! We'll be sharing tips, advice, websites, and products that teachers just oughta know about! Make sure that you check out the other blogs at the end of this post to discover more things that You Oughta Know! My blog hop this month is going to be quick and to the point! School started back Thursday for me and I have been busy, busy, busy trying to make this the best year ever!! I have such a sweet group of kiddos! 3 sweet groups of kiddos actually! I have an informal assessment strategy that you just oughta know about! It's called the Learning Scale and I'm just obsessed!! Now, we as teachers need to constantly be assessing our kiddos. Are they getting the concept I'm teaching? Is anyone getting the concept I'm teaching? Do they already know all this stuff? The Learning Scale is one way to informally assess your kiddos over the concept being taught. The best thing about the scale: it's a quick and easy assessment strategy! Now this is not an original idea obviously. There are variations of this scale everywhere! I just prettied it up and added clipart (thanks to Laura for the original version!). The great thing about the Learning Scale is that the kids are responsible for deciding where they are at on the scale! It's a great way for students to self-assess their learning. Self-assessment can be just as important as the assessments that we administer to our students! The learning scale asks the students to really think about how well they understand a concept. It starts at 0 with a poster that says 'I do not understand.' The next level is a 1 with 'I understand when the teacher helps me.' The next level is a 2 with 'I understand and can do it on my own.' The final level is a 3 with 'I understand and can teach a friend.' This is how the Learning Scale works in my room: I usually have the kiddos at the carpet when I use the learning scale because it's easy for me to see all the kids quickly. I usually say something like, "Tell me how well you understand finding the main idea of a passage." Then the kids hold up their number from 0-3 (the sign language numbers on the poster are so children can be reminded of the number to hold up). Now this next part is VERY important to me. I have my kids close their eyes while we do this whole process. I don't want any kids to be embarrassed because they are a zero and their buddy is a 3. I also don't want Johnny putting up a three so he can be just like his friend Jesse. I want an accurate self-assessment and I think having their eyes closed is the best way to achieve this. I also give them a little while to think before they put their numbers up. I always tell them that they have to really look inside themselves to figure out which number they are. I also tell them that if they don't really look inside themselves and tell the truth about what number they are, I won't be able to help them when they need it. Those are some of my kiddos up there doing the Learning Scale. Creepy happy faces, right?! They were telling me how well they understand our class rules. That's the reason why everyone is a 2 or a 3! Now for the awesome part: I have my Chevron Learning Scale posted as a freebie in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! You can download it by clicking on the pic below! I hope you'll use this Learning Scale as a quick and easy assessment strategy in your class! Don't forget to check out the other blogs in the blog hop below!! An InLinkz Link-up

I am so excited for this Link Up with Jasmine over at Buzzing with Mrs. Mcclain! Along with other teachers I am sharing something with you that I think “You Oughta Know” and will make your year a bit easier! When I came across this link up I had a few things come to mind that I knew I had to share. When I was

Hi Friends! I'm excited to be linking up with Mrs. McClain over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her monthly You Oughta Know About... Blog HOP! One of the things I have always struggled with is how to inspire students to do their homework each night and check it in the next day. I've talked to students about responsibility. I've taken away privileges. I've bribed. I've threatened. I've rewarded. I've begged and pleaded! In the end I've put way more energy into getting my students to WANT to do their homework than they put into actually doing it! This year, while wondering around on social media, I came across this brilliant idea and I think it is really something you oughta know about... ★HOMEWORKOPOLY!!★ I briefly mentioned Homeworkopoly a few months ago in a blog post titled "Top Ten Classroom Finds for 2014", but after using this classroom management tool for awhile now, I thought I'd share it with you in more detail! My students love games! You could be testing them on division of decimals and if you made it into a game they would think it was the most wonderful thing on earth! So, it is no surprise to say that my students absolutely LOVE homeworkopoly! Here is how it works: • In my class students have nightly homework that gets checked in each day. Usually it is spelling, vocabulary, math, and reading. Each morning the group leader checks in his/her group's homework on our weekly homework check-in sheet. • On Friday afternoon the students who got ALL of their homework in for the week get to roll a die and move their marker on the game board. Sometimes we make it a whole class affair and everybody observes and cheers for their classmates as they roll. Lately, time has been short and I have started calling small groups of students over to the game board to roll while the rest of the class is working. • When someone lands on CHANCE, we ring a bell so that everyone can listen as the student reads aloud his/her chance card. The fun thing about the chance card is that the card could have a great prize on it for the student, for the class, or it could be something the student has to do for the teacher, class, or a classmate. Some examples are: • Give a classmate a compliment. • The whole class gets 5 extra minutes of recess! • Wipe down the teacher's desk. • You have earned a video lunch in the classroom for the entire class! • You have earned a nice letter from your teacher to your parents. The great thing about the "bad" chance cards is that they ask the student to do something nice for someone else and giving and helping others is a good thing to teach youngsters to do. When a student reads aloud a chance card the classroom audience is so excited! If the card is a good one, they cheer! If is is bad, they laugh, all in good fun! MAKING THE HOMEWORKOPOLY BOARD Making the board wasn't too complicated. You can get a FREE EDITABLE TEMPLATE (PowerPoint) or Google Slides HERE! **You will need to download a copy of the template before you will be able to edit it. This is the one that I created for the board you see here in the pictures. I had to take off the clip art and fonts, but it is editable so that you can change the fonts, add your own clip art, add your own prizes, street names, chance cards, etc. For Powerpoint, you will need to download in order to edit. Once you have the game board downloaded, go through and customize it to fit your classroom. I teach 4th grade, so I added street names like "Oregon Avenue", "Setting Street", etc. I also added prizes that worked for me. My students love rolly chairs and dot-to-dots, so I added those to the board. We play music and use GoNoodle.com in class, so I made sure we had "Music Market" and "DJ Court". When you have your game board customized, print it out. I printed mine out in color, cut out the panels, and laminated the pieces. Once that was done, I used two sided tape to adhere the game board to a piece of poster board. At this point, I wasn't sure what I was going to use for game pieces. I knew that I wanted the board to hang on the wall, so I decided to use mini-clothes pins. In order for the clothes pins to work, the game board needed to be pushed away from the wall. To get this to happen, I glued the top of a box on the back of the game board. I tried to attach it to my wall with pushpins, but that didn't really work for me. Luckily, I had these great cubical hooks. I punched two holes into the side of the box and am able to hang the box on the hooks. And Voila! My HOMEWORKOPOLY board! I hope you enjoyed this You Oughta Know About... post! Make sure to hop on over and visit some of the other blogs in the blog hop for more GREAT things you oughta know about! Until next time! An InLinkz Link-up

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The Literary Maven is a blog about teaching, books, & teaching books. Find tips and resources for English Language Arts instruction.

You Oughta Know About…Rick Morris’ Sign Language Posters for Classroom Management! Happy Saturday everyone! I am linking up with Jasmine over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her awesome Blog Hop: You Oughta Know... Today I am bringing you some information about Rick Morris’ Sign Language Posters. Rick Morris is a recognized specialist in the

It’s that time again! I’m linking up with the fabulous Jasmine McClain for the You Oughta Know Blog Hop. This month I really think you oughta know about the importance of graphing in the primary classroom. Do you make graphs with your students? Of course you do, who doesn’t? But do you know why it […]

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