Back to School Jitters!

Hey everyone! As you all know by now...I LOOOOVE THESE LINKY PARTIES! They are a great way to hear about how other teachers are feeling and how they do "teaching"! (For lack of a better sentence!)

Well here is a Linky from A Turn to Learn, and it's all about "Back to School Jitters"...So read on and then hop on over to A Turn to Learn and join the fun!

Monday Made It (But...Tuesday Posted It!) & TPT Sale Rave!!!!

Hey all...Just realized it's been too long since I last told you all about my endeavors as I close out this summer. I am slightly jealous of everyone's fascinating pictures of their classrooms. I can't wait to get in to my room and GET TO WORK!!! I decided on a cute theme inspired by some new signs I bought from Teaching In Flip Flops last night at the TPT sale!

Let's pause for a moment and reflect on the past two days of shopping heaven!!! God bless TPT for their sale and God bless all the wonderful teachers for posting all the great stuff (and even offering additional sales!) So after about an hour of TPT searching I decided on ...

Practically EVERYTHING  that was in that darn cute Zebra print from Teaching In Flip Flops and I also bought a cool Sports Themed Setting Goals Packet from Teaching in Room 6... and a Greek and Latin Root Word Wall set from Forkin4th ....I also bought a few other things too!


Now on to Monday Made It! (But Tuesday I posted It!)

I didn't make too many crafty things this week because everything was done on the computer but here is what I did attempt to be crafty with....

I saw this idea on Pinterest a while ago and put it on my summer to do list...(Disclaimer: In my mind, I attempted to make 6 of these so that I could have a class set for student mail boxes...However, after making one of these I had second thoughts) ...Sooo I'm not sure what this will be when I get done with it! Maybe a paper shelf of some sort! Any suggestions!

Directions: Head over to your local Post Office and grab a desired number of packaging boxes, build the boxes, spray spray spray that adhesive, and cover with wrapping paper...and taa daaa!!!! Your very own shelving unit of some sort!

Then I went over to my trusty TPT site and found this awesome list of 101 Writing Prompts from Katie! (After the usual process of printing and laminating...looks like I have a date with a pair of scissors!)

Well...That's all I have for you today friends!

Have a wonderful week!

Charell

Monday Made It

So me and my hot glue gun, my new EK Success Circle Scissors Pro (love this thingy), and all of my other DIY supplies had a pretty nice weekend creating a few classroom necessities for the upcoming school year. I can't get in to my classroom until next week so unfortunately I am collecting a pretty hefty pile of "All Things School Related" in my living room corner!

Thanks again to 4th Grade Frolics for hosting the "Monday Made It" Linky Party...I always look forward to getting ideas for new projects for both home and school. (Who knew I would like being crafty...And it's so much cheaper than buying things ready-made things at all of the big school supply stores!
First, let me show you a few pics of this weekend's "weapons of mass PRODUCTION!"

The Monday Made-It Projects' must-haves:

1. Circle Cutter (link mentioned earlier in this post)
2. Cutting board (My little Apple is from Target)
3. Regular scissors from Dollar Tree
4. Glue Gun (I bought mine from Target but I just saw them at a 99 Cents Only store)
5. Popsicle sticks
6. Clothes pins
7. Thumb tacks
8. Picture frames
9. Lots of colored ink for the printer
   
   

Put it all together and vio' la! (How do you spell that?!?!)
So here are my Pinterest inspired Monday Made Its:

These little guys will hold my student work...The thumb tacks are so they can be pushed into the Bungalow walls in my classroom....This idea is inspired from a Monday Made it I saw on Emily's blog at I Love My Classroom...Check out her cool classroom reveal pics too!

These are student numbers that will be used for students to clip their number to a certain place in my room for when they need things like a Writing Conference...Not sure where yet because I haven't seen my new room yet :( The numbers are a duplicate of the same set I wrote about in my Last Monday Made it

And last but not least...Here are a few of the Positive Affirmation picture frames that will be  propped up and/or hung from various areas of the room this year! My goal is to make my room as positive, loving, and family oriented as I can. (Currently singing "Where is the Love" by John Mayor) The frames were from Dollar Tree and the signs came from a blog that I saw like 4 months ago, the posters were free from someone's TPT account I believe...Unfortunately this was before I began blogging and I knew I would only use them in the classroom so I didn't get the source...If anyone knows who's signs these are please let me know and I will cite them (Soooo sorry I don't have the source guys!!)

Well that's all I have for today! Thanks for reading.....Happy Monday everyone,

Charell

August Currently

As of today, I have 2 weeks of summer vacation yearly planning time and blog stalking, while watching movies in my PJs left (A moment of silence for all of you teachers who are going back earlier or have dare I say it...Already started school!...Thanks to Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade who started this monthly currently linky (idk when)...It's really interesting to read other posts about what everyone is doing in the time prior to / or at the beginning of the school year. So here is my August Currently

Happy Blogging,

Charell

Newbie Bloggers Blog Hop!

I've officially been a blogger for almost a week and I don't feel like I have properly introduced myself to the Blogger community...So...in true teacher blog fashion, I thought it only befitting to introduce myself through the Newbie Blogger Blog Hop from Janis over at Grade Three is the Place for Me


Janis would like all "Newbie Bloggers" to include:
1. What state you are in

2. Your current teaching position

3. Your teaching experience

4. When you started blogging

5. Share a blogging tip / blogging resource

Sooooo with horns sounding, announcer says, "Introducing.....(drums beating)...Miss Milton!!"

Ok too much?!?!...Just disregard that last sentence

1. I'm in California
2. I am a 4th grade teacher (My first year at this level so any and all suggestions/tips are welcomed)
3. This is my 3rd year teaching and for the past two years I've taught 5th and 6th grade combo classes
4. I started blogging almost a week ago....(Ok so the truth is I started a "blog" about my life as a college student years ago but soon realized that after typing 15-20 page papers, blogging on a computer was the ;ast thing on my mind...I wonder if it still exists in the Blogosphere)
5. Blogging Tips?!?! Uh...in the past week I have learned that no one reads your posts if they don't know your blog exists. (Profound I know)...What I'm saying is, the more you comment on other blogs and get involved in the community, the more others will gravitate towards you...Isn't that the way life works..."You get out of it what you put in it" -Author unknown

That's all for this post

Happy Blogging!

P.S. Does anyone know how to create a signature with cute letters and clip art...The end of my posts are looking kind of bare.

Made It...uhh...Thursday! Linky Party

Hey "Blogosphere" (Not sure which blog I saw that term but I like it!)

OK so I know today is not Monday but I just have to share two tools that I FINALLY got around to making for my classroom. They have been on my to do list for ages. I've seen these three strategies on numerous blogs, so my class and I just couldn't be left out.

So here they are ladies and gents...My Monday (Thursday Night) Made It!

First up...we have these Classroom Numbers printable from A Cupcake for the Teacher....This is soooo awesome because she kindly offers these numbers and a few other great items for FREEEE! (a teacher's favorite word!)

And next...we have the Brain Breaks for the Classroom from Stephanie over at 3rd Grade Thoughts....Both of these were really easy to make just print, laminate, cut, and hot glue to the Popsicle sticks!

P.S. Thanks to Michael's Art Supply for offering the lavish buckets/tin flower pots for a whopping $1.99

And last but certainly not least, we have these Clock Numbers (to be taped around my classroom clock) It really helps students remember how to tell time! Unfortunately I can't remember which blogger's TPT store I visited to get this great FREE download! (All I remember is that the file included the clock numbers as well as letters for a Boggle game....If anyone knows the information for this teacher please let me know so I can give the proper credit!

I'm slowly getting the hang of blogging...(secretly hoping that the more I blog the more people will follow me :) Does anyone else wonder if people are reading their blogs?

That's all for now peeps
Happy Blogging,

Miss Milton

Engaging Reluctant Learners Linky Party!

Hey Bloggers!

I am on a roll here as I write my 3rd post EVER! Let's see if I can keep this up when school starts back at the end of August.

My fellow blogger, Amy, over at Adventures in Teaching is hosting a really awesome Linky Party on her blog. This Linky is all about "Engaging Reluctant Learners"! I'm no veteran teacher but I will try and share some of the sound advice that I have learned to be true for getting the most uninspired students to love learning new things.

Engaging Reluctant Learners

1. Biggest Kept Secret! Are you ready....I know it sounds cliche' (anyone know how to get that accent mark over the "e") but the best thing that I did to get even the most reluctant students to want to come to class was...I really invested in getting to know my students. More than just their likes and dislikes. Ok...I know what you're thinking..."I do interest surveys and the kids share stories with me all the time!" Sending out that cute little Parent survey or having students fill in the "About Me" posters are great tools, but when is the last time you went home and watched one of their favorite T.V. Shows, watched that "funny" YouTube video all the kids are talking about, or tuned in to their favorite radio station? THAT, my friends is where you will get the most "juice out of the lemons". You see, when you ask them the "favorites" questions, you are only getting the half truth, the "edited" version of their likes. The real information is in the things they do EVERY DAY. It's in the things that make them tick? It's in the rhythm of the song Johnny keeps tapping his pencil on the desk to because it's stuck in his head. These are the types of things that you bring in to the classroom that will remind Johnny of home. Of comfort. Of who he is. And this builds a deeper connection with him. Still not understanding what I'm saying...

Quick story before I end this dissertation of a post. I had a lunch bunch group of students who ate lunch with me once a week. Not because of good behavior or something they earned but...just because! As most of you know, when students get to talking, they really get to talking! To make a long story short , the students decided to tell me about a popular song that someone recorded and placed on Youtube. Needless to say, I went home that night and watched the video (Yes...it was just as corny and silly as you all are thinking!) Later that week when some of the students started singing the song, I began singing it too. We all had a good laugh at the fact that I (the "old" lady who lives at the school) know the song. I then suggested that we change the words and video tape a knew song...That's all I had to say because the students took it from there. Before we knew it we had a full song, complete with a chorus and two verses. All of it had to do with solving one and two-step equations (these were 6th graders). Even at the end of the school year, we were still singing it.

Yes...any song may have worked to revamp the lyrics. But the point is...I cared enough about what was going on outside of my classroom, that my students responded with wanting to contribute more to the class. I had some of my toughest students coming up with the vocabulary words and even going home and creating their own math lyrics to other songs!

So...in a nutshell...it sounds too simple but that's what I know to be true...So friends, I'll leave you with this quote (Author unknown) that really speaks to getting students to want to come to class...

"People [students] don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!"

I'm excited to see what you all do in your own classrooms. Head on over to Amy's blog Adventures in Teaching and Link up with us!!

Happy Blogging!

Miss Milton