Congratulations to Lindsay Flood for winning the giveaway! I found out that Lindsay is actually a blogger too! I've seen her blog, but didn't put two and two together until I emailed her! I'm terrible with getting blog names and real names linked in my mind. Primary Polka Dots is her adorable (and bright) blog! Go check it out if you get a chance! Lindsay, I hope you enjoy those word wall letters and the Fry Word Mega Pack! :) Thanks to everyone who entered! | |  I recently posted a new product that I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. I use these in my own room and it makes things SOOOOO much easier.
I've never had a formal name for them, so I just came up with 'Mini Material Posters.'
Basically, you use them to SHOW your students what materials they need for an activity. Being an EFL teacher, I do a lot (more like a ton) of repeating myself. These little cards make it less frustrating when we're transitioning.
I put the cards up... they get out the materials. Done.
For example, if we're doing a craft then I might post scissors, glue, crayons, pencil, and construction paper.
They see what they need to get out and I don't waste time repeating myself eight million times.
You get two full sets of cards (large and small), blanks to make your own, and three different titles if you need them. All of the graphics were designed by me and they are 300dpi, so they print beautifully. I put a lot of love and time into these. They're simple, bright, and my lifesavers. | |
I included some blank binders & books in case you want to customize.
| You can hang them with clips, put them in a pocket chart, or stick a little magnet on the back of each. I usually just use them during whole group activities, but you could incorporate them into centers or even use them as supply vocab cards. :) See on TPTI may or may not be giving a set of these away over on Facebook (Aug.9). Join in to win! I've also added a lot more classrooms to the 'Room Setup' page recently! You'll have to check them out if you're still needing some inspiration. There are some cool rooms and I just love looking at all the different ones. Check Out the New Rooms.
Oh. One more thing. Have you seen Cara's schedule card set? Wowza. They're free, beautiful, and she's added everything under the sun. If you download them, be sure to leave her some love and feedback. I know she's spent hours upon hours creating these and making them perfect. She had a TON of requests to add cards and she was generous enough to keep them free. Get Cara's Schedule Cards.Ok! That's all from me today! Remember to check out the Facebook page to try and win a set of my mini material posters! It's a 'First one to guess...' type giveaway, so hurry!
Hi everyone! It's been a while! I'm excited to be back and in the swing of things again. Just let me tell you... I've been a bizzay girl. I was on vacation for almost 3 WEEKS and it was amazing. My sister got married, we had a ton of family in, there may have been a traumatizing spray tan incident, and I got some precious time in with the crazy nephews and some friends.
Also, on a more career-related note: I applied to grad school. Yikes. I found this awesome program (at my alma mater... UK!) a week before I left and scrambled to get all of my stuff together.... and study for/take the GRE. Yes. Two weeks of studying=no blogging. I think most normal people take time to think about these kinds of decisions and plan for plenty of time to study, write essays, etc. Didn't work out that way. It's an online program and would be perfect to do while I'm over here. I'd like to be a little more efficient and try to get the bulk of my Masters out of the way during our last year here. Anyone have experience with online programs? Like it? Hate it? Should I start drinking now?
Anyway, home for us is Kentucky, so it was H.O.T. We lived in Phoenix for three years (still have our house there) and it was much worse than anything Phoenix ever threw at us. Terrible. I forgot that it was possible for my knees and elbows to sweat. Gross. Hope the heat wave is over for any of you experiencing it! B
The wedding girls!!! I'm to the left of the gorgeous bride (my sista).
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Me & the Hubs in the Photo Booth
| Onto some blogging things. Omiword (as Babbling Abby would say). I'm blown away you all. Katie, from Queen of the FIrst Grade Jungle, did a little Sunday Safari over here on The School Supply Addict and I got a ton of hits, emails, messages, followers, etc. Thank you so much Katie! I think we might have to meet up when I move back... she's a Kentucky girl too! :) Also, I've gotten an overwhelming amount of hits from some Pinterest link... anyone know how to find out which one!? I've only pinned a few things from my own site, so that means someone else did it. That's awesome! Thanks to whoever you are! It's a link that's directing people to my 'Room Setup' page. It's a good little collection of links and ideas for setting up your room, which many of you are already doing or are having nightmares about right now. Check it Out for some great ideas!
Thanks Katie!
| | Anyway, just thought I'd drop a little post and let you know I'm still around! I have a long list of things I'm working on right now, but I did just post something that I'm totally in love with...
Lowercase Letters
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Uppercase Letters
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Lower & Uppercase Letters
| Maree Truelove is one of my absolute favorite graphic artists, so I snagged a TON (like 21 sets) from her sale she had going on. I think it ends today. These little popsicles were one. Aren't they precious!? My previous classrooms were beach themed. Even though I don't have a big ole classroom to decorate now, I'm saving these puppies for when we move back home. :) The 28-page pack includes three sets (lowercase, uppercase, and both). I also made a cute little matching sign to go with. Some previews are above. You can grab it from my TPT shop for 2 bucks, but.... I'll pick 1 winner... leave a comment for doing each of the following (each is one entry): - Follow my TPT shop
- Like The School Supply Addict of Facebook
- Follow on Twitter
- Comment and tell me what your favorite flavor of popsicle is... mine are those 'Real Fruit' bars... strawberry. Oh, Yum!
Entries close on Sunday, the 15th, at midnight. I'll announce the winner on Monday morning! :) Winners will receive... | My Popsicle Alphabet Pack | Candy Graphics by Maree Truelove
(Commercial Use) | Popsicle Graphics by Maree Truelove (Commercial Use) |
My blog reading list is out of control. I've got to check in on all of you lovely ladies (and guys)! I've seen some posts that mention a trip to VEGAS?!?!? Sounds amazing. I am so excited about moving back next year, not only because we'll be closer to family, but because I'll be closer to some of you and be able to shop at Target, Michael's, and Hobby Lobby. Trust me, I still managed to do some damage on this recent trip. The hubby had to fly back to Geneva early, so I loaded him up with cardstock, laminating pouches, and some other goodies. I'm a nut.
Thanks for all of the amazing support. It makes me just love doing this all the more. I'll be doing some serious blog-stalking tomorrow and linking up more amazing resources on here!
I've posted a few sets of adaptable labels over the past few days. I use these guys for everything! Labeling... - supplies
- student cubbies
- notebooks
- word wall words
- card games
- little mini vocabulary lists for students
- little notes
- center signs
- steps in a series of directions
- library tub labels
- ... and more.
Here's an example of what you can do with them. So far there are 3 different styles (border style) and they all come in the different sizes. You open the document, customize the labels, and print. There's none of that 'shifting box' mess that I hate. The boxes stay the same size and you can edit whatever is inside of them. Pretty easy and quick. You can 'Save As' each set you make to use again if you need to.
Here are the ones I've posted so far. Click the picture to get them on TPT for $1.50 each.
I'll be posting some more soon! Have a great day!
Ashley
Nope. Not Quasimodo. You thought about this creepy Disney character at first didn't you? If not, you are now. I recently came across another awesome technology find. It's UHHHHMAZING! It's called Edmodo and it's basically like a G rated, non weird, useful version of Facebook... for your classroom. You can create a little online community and control everything from it! It has some really cool features: - calendar - post activities, assignments, etc.
- class creation - create a different group for each class you have
- wall - post on the 'wall' kind of like fb...announcements, questions, engaging discussions for students, videos, links, assignments, etc.
- parent notification
- assignments - create, post, accept, and grade assignments from one spot
- quizzes - create a quiz, post, and grade all internally.
- badges - create and award special 'badges' for when students complete a project/unit
- ... and more!
This site is ideal for middle and high school teachers, but it may also work for intermediate elementary too. I'm not so sure it would work well for any younger students, but maybe? Signing up is FREE and easy. You enter very little information... took me about 2 minutes! I've signed up and created a profile, but haven't had the chance to use it yet. Looks easy though! Instead of me trying to explain what it is, how about you watch their video... Enjoy. Click to go to their site. You might just love this! Let me know if you start using this! It looks so cool.
Ashley
So, I'm sort of a calendar nut. I love having a large one (whether printed or in a book form) that I can write all over. I love my iPad calendar, but after recently losing it in Chicago (at the airport) and waiting an agonizing 14 days to retrieve it, I've decided to just do the paper one and add to the iPad if needed. I think I'll eventually be in the 21st century again. I used to do everything by Outlook, but I don't have it anymore with this new computer... too cheap to spend $100 on just Outlook.
Here are some calendars I've had on my computer for a while... I didn't just decide to make a bunch of calendars. That's been done before... but I do love the cute colors. :) I use this one pictured below (picture of June because the months prior are already written all over and you don't need to know my birthday or travel plans). I love Monday start calendars because it makes the weekend more exciting for some reason... gray boxes together give the illusion of a longer break? I don't know.
Below are six calendar sets you can download for FREE. There are colored ones (my favorite) and black and white versions too. Three different styles: Blank Monday Start, Blank Sunday Start, and 2012. Click the picture to download a set on TPT. Colored Calendars | Black & White Calendars |
Hopefully they come in handy! Happy Monday! Or is it?
Ashley
Happy New Year!!! Can you believe it's 2012?! Crazy. I've been on hiatus from this blog for a few weeks. We traveled back to the US for almost three weeks (Christmas shenanigans) and there have been some other small trips and distractions. Sorry to my two followers. Haha. I know it will take time to get this thing going and I have a long list of blog topics ready to go. So here goes the first one in weeks. :)
I was recently going through some old photos of my class and came across these procedure picture rubrics. Say that five times fast. Call them what you want, but that's basically what they are... rubrics... created with pictures... for classroom procedures. I learned about this in a professional development series our district provided. The instructor showed us an example and I decided to try it out on my class. They LOVED making them and it made a couple of our routines run like clockwork.
Below are the two my kiddos used. "Ready to Go" was for anytime we lined up to go somewhere and "Ready to Learn" was for anytime we transitioned to our tables. Sorry for the poor quality pictures.
How to make them: - Pick a procedure (lining up, recess clean up, transitions, end of day, etc.). Only do a few 'big' procedures.... not everything.
- Decide on a rating system (I did 1-5; 1=chaos, 5=perfect); I've seen some with 1,2,3 too.
- Talk with students about what each step would look like (1 was a hot mess in our class, 3 was about half the class following directions, and a 5 was perfection)
- Take pictures of each of the 'ratings.' The kids loved doing the #1 because they could be wild and do silly things in the photo (notice a couple kids laying on tables).
- Print the pictures and mount them on a poster (include the rating #s on each picture and the title)
- Put the poster wherever the procedure takes place. I put my "Ready to Go" poster on the door.
- Implement and use hand signals (hold up number of fingers for their 'score') until they get to 5. I didn't have to say a word... just held up fingers. They got it. "Shhhhh! Sit down! We're only at a 3... look at Mrs. Hughes! She's waiting." :)
I did this in the middle of the year after I attended a workshop, but had I known about it sooner we would have done it the first week. Let me know if you make some! They're great. Bon weekend! (means have a good weekend in French... my favorite phrase here in Swiz-land). Ashley
I love this:
 Another idea I found on Pinterest. The original source is MeckMom. My board game boxes use to last no more than two weeks in the room. They got beat up. Quickly. I like how she put all the pieces in little plastic storage bins and labeled the boards. So nice! And it saves space.
I usually put game pieces in these little clear pencil case/bags. Walmart sells them for like a dollar each. I have about 300 (not kidding) in several different colors. I love them.
Either way you go, plastic bin or bag, it saves space and is super organized.
Ashley
One of the most annoying 'chores' during my first year of teaching was managing that messy paint. I had these big cups with lids and matching paintbrushes (seen below), but it was inevitable that the colors would be mixed by 'that one kid' (you know which one) and then the whole giant cup of paint was ruined. Even when they used the correct brush with the correct cup, those kiddos who did the crazy-Picasso-helicopter-arm paintings managed to still mix colors. Grrrr.
 Lakeshore $12.95 Although I loved the cups and concept, it was a little more mental stress than I wanted to dedicate to paint cups. I also had some overly picky girls who refused to use pink paint that had been tainted with a speck of brown. What to do?
Squirt bottles + ice cube trays = love I can't tell you how much I love this. I found packs of these clear squirt bottles at Target in the kitchen supply area (a lot of other stores have them as well). I bought 12 and made sure I had enough for each color (including pink, skin colors, and gray). I also labeled the outside with the color names.
You could also opt for the cheaper (and disposable) version too...
I wanted to throw in an action shot of them and of course I can't find my picture... imagine the ones below... but larger... and all filled with paint. I'm so ashamed that I had to hunt for a picture. :(
 Modern Teaching Aids ~$11 | |  This was my 'helicopter arm' kid... possibly the most hilarious child I've met. |
Why I love it:
- less paint wasted
- kids were independent and would only squirt out a little of each color they needed... then a little more if they needed it
- less 'mixing' of colors
- no dried up paint if we didn't use it during the week
- I only needed to get the gallon size paint bottles out when the squirt bottles got low
- Ice cube trays fit perfectly into the easel rack
- CHEAP!!!
- only one paintbrush needed per side... they rinsed with water in between color change
Science Connection: I only left the red, yellow, blue, white, and black bottles out when we learned about colors in science. They had to learn how to make their own green, orange, purple, pink, etc. Hahaha...... such a meanie. Ashley
I'm pretty sure it's not just me. Why do the black markers always seem to disappear or run out of ink MUCH earlier than the rest?! I can't stand it and I can't tell you how many times my kids would come up to me...
"Mrs. Hughes!!! My black marker is missing! Waaaahhhh (Snooki voice)."
"Mrs. Hughes, my black marker is dead."
They all assumed I had a secret-magical-endless supply of black markers somewhere. Nope. Well... kind of.
Here's my fix:
Expo Markers: fat version
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Expo Markers: Skinny version
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Expo dry-erase markers! Or any off-brand version. Expo's were on the kid's school supply list and in abundance around our room. So, we used them for black marker replacements. You can buy them in bulk (skinny or fat tips) instead of buying a pack of markers for one black. I also used these all the time when I made posters. I like the using Expo's and the Mr. Sketch smelly ones (although I have a problem with those... especially the purple one... mmmmm delicious) a little more than Crayola. It seems to be a darker black? Maybe? Am I imagining things? |  Mr. Sketch now sells bulk packs of black too! Get your smell on.
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Ashley
When I taught Pre-K and Kindergarten, I created 'class directories' each year. The kids used these mostly in the writing center when they wrote letters to one another (or to me). The little girl in the picture wrote me an interesting letter about unicorns and then used the directory to spell my name on the front of the envelope. For some reason, Hughes (my last name) is impossible for anyone under the age of 40 to spell... and for anyone under 6 to say.
This is so easy and cheap to make. Also, the kids are obsessed with looking at themselves and each other.
 Hobby Lobby $4.99 | How to make one: 1. Get a small photo album like the one to the left.
2. Take pictures (head shots) of your kids.
3. Use adjacent pages for each student (like mine pictured
above). Picture on one side and their name on the other.
4. Put it in your writing center (or another prominent place). |
Obviously the kids have their names on the desks and other places around the room, but this little book was perfect for the writing center. It stayed in one spot all year. The kids didn't wander around the room looking for names or bothering other students to ask them how to spell their name. Perfect! Other ideas:
- use a binder with page protectors
- make a laminated one (I used a photo album because it held up all year... got used a lot)
- add more information (birthday, siblings, pets, favorite color/food/etc., or more personalized info
- use sentence strips to write the names or print them out (I wanted the lines because it reinforced proper handwriting)
- I took headshots of each of my students against a white wall and used these same pictures for this project, my files, and other things throughout the year.
Have fun making your own! Ashley
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