inspiring creativity

We start back to school on Monday.

After being off for the past three months with our baby, I'm a mix of excited and nervous.

Reflecting on the last year in the classroom, I knew there was one thing I definitely wanted to add:

Time fillers!

Then I decided these should help foster creativity and build a great classroom culture.

So I've just put these simple prompts together:

click the picture to download for free

The file itself is not all that fantastically pretty or creative on my part, but hey.

random name generator + typhoon yolanda/haiyan

Pretty sure this is my new favourite classroom tool:

The Hat

The easiest computerized random group/name generator...
that's totally free!

You simply download it from the software developer here (I definitely declined all the "ad" options that come with it), type in your student's names, and then randomly choose groups, pairs or individuals.

I used it today to create "expert groups" for a bit of research we were doing about Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan and its devastation.
It's amazing the way the global community has come together in the face of disaster to offer aid...
It's amazing the way our ISM community is coming together to offer relief...
It's amazing the way even the students in my class are offering their time by volunteering to pack food and water for distribution to affected areas.
My heart goes out.

My class on Piano Guys...

Totally engaged.
'Nuff said.
Look em up on YouTube!

Washroom Worries Solved!

This being the beginning of the year, I'm not too fussy yet about my students using the washroom when they need. Last year, I had a strict emergency-only policy during class time, and it was a bit annoying constantly reminding my students of the most appropriate times to leave the room. So this year, I have a simple routine that looks like this:

My students use the W sign for washroom or water so as not to disrupt the class. (Basically, if it's a lesson, I turn the sign to "now now.") Since I know that sometimes kids just can't wait, we use the W turned sideways to show an E for emergency! It's working so wonderfully. Today I forgot to flip the sign to "not now" before I started the Math lesson, and when one girl put her W high in the air, I didn't break my talk to say "oops, sorry, not now..." but simply turned the sign around and she immediately put her hand down. I have three sets for around my room because I am often standing in different areas. I'm loving this! Click the picture to grab it.

Great things!

I'm not one of those teachers that misses school on the weekends. Yes, I go home and do a lot of school-related work, but I really do enjoy having those couple days off. Since tomorrow is Thursday and the last day of our school week here, I find myself feeling a little worried. I'm worried because I actually have such a fantastic class this year that I may (may!) end up missing them just a little this weekend. Don't judge me. They are seriously fantastic.

I am loving the Daily 5. We are three days into Work on Writing, two days into building stamina, and my class has gone from four minutes to fifteen minutes of writing. In a day! Whaaaaa? My mind was literally blowing up for the whole quiet, focused fifteen minutes of actual writing I saw today. Maybe not literally, but you know what I mean. I can't believe I didn't disturb them with my mental mania.

That's right, he's already underlining words he's unsure of. Did they catch on quick, or what?

We glued our heart maps onto the front cover of our journals.

Here's one of my artists. I definitely told them that the picture is last, but I guess he was fresh out of ideas. I am certainly not about to be upset, since our stamina chart says 15 minutes! (Wait, did I mention that?!?) This kid wrote tons about zombies. He has a serious infatuation and it cracks me up.

A robot lover.

Here's our clip chart after a Social Studies lesson about smart and poor choices and how these can have a direct affect on each person in the class. These awesome little monsters come from Kathleen at Growing Kinders. They are so bright and colourful and my group got a kick out of the sad monsters. I will definitely work this lesson into beginning of the year plans for next year. Loved it! 

PS - See all those kids on Amazing? I'm not kidding about this being a pretty fantastic class.

And finally - I could hardly believe it but I won my first giveaway! Yay! Many thanks to Kristen at I Do, We Do, You Do for hosting a giveaway and for choosing me. (Electronically and randomly choosing me, that is - anyway, feeling good!)

I won a few great products that I'm pretty darn excited to use this year. More about that later. Now, to tend to my poor sick husband. Back to school busy-ness, I'm sure. (He must be really sick, though, because he agreed to have KD for dinner tonight. The man hates pasta and loves to cook, so for me to throw a box of pasta into boiling water and call it dinner, well... I'll just call myself a lucky lady and thank my stars.) 

Good night, all!

- Amanda

Talking about solving problems

This is a tough topic for some little friends. Am I right? Really, it's no surprise - they are still learning to recognize, process, and understand their own emotions. I've found (in my 1.1 years of teaching - ha!) that children really need to be taught skills to solve problems with their peers. I had a lot of hands-on last year, a lot of tattling, a lot of miscommunication, a lot of misunderstandings, and a lot of emotional outbursts among my students. I took quite a few Social Studies periods to teach about problem solving. It started to work. Phew! Saved me. So this year, I have a plan to teach these steps - before the problems start. I hope to have my students follow a four-step plan:
1. Think - Is this a big problem or a small problem?
2. Say - "I do not like that because...." or "Please stop."
3. Ignore
4. Ask - a friend or a teacher for help.
If you're interested in this model, I made titles to create an anchor chart with my group. You can grab it here:

How do you teach problem solving in your class? I'm all ears for new ideas. This week we're doing a fun little activity using our clip chart to help students understand the types of behaviours that are expected at the top of the chart, and those that may get you placed near the bottom... I'm looking forward to it! Photos and credit to come.

And a small peek at my Saturday: 

A new year means a new batch of my scratch cards must be made. I'm looking forward to giving the first one of these out!

- Amanda

So far so good!

I'm pretty pumped about this year. Great group of students so far, great teaching team again, and a lovely new EA to help me out. I don't feel in a haze this first week like I did last year - stepping off a 17-hour flight into desert heat at midnight and teaching at 7:20am the next day was a tad {understatement!} overwhelming and made for a less than thrilling teaching introduction on my part. Now we are practicing routines, {most} things are where they should be - including my brain! - and I have much more accurate expectations. 

Although my class list has gone from 25 to 29 to 27 to 28 already in the first two days of school, I feel like a happy teacher! We have a very high male population at our school, so I have 21 boys so far... I have some super cuties and super smarties so I'm looking forward to working with this group. With a week to set up my classroom, here's how it's shaping up:

My clip chart and Whole Brain Teaching rules {both free!}

Clock numbers - I'm hoping to use these in lessons somehow this month.

My Morning Meeting procedure and "Give Me 5" visual - thanks Mrs. Wheeler for this idea! It's kind of hard to see, but each hand has a little monster picture that focuses on eyes, ears, hands, body and mouth, like this guy:

I got the clip art from My Cute Graphics.

A place to hang fantastic work I receive.

My circus-inspired door complete with "Admit One" tickets that say "Welcome to grade two ___________" I'll use those later to assign classroom jobs.

And my alphabet. {PS - It's only $1 on my TN!} 

There will be a lot more going up as we get into more back to school lessons and activities, and while I don't l.o.v.e. everything about the room so far {my new EA has already declared I am a perfectionist haha}, it is a really great start! I hope everyone is enjoying being back and hopefully getting more than just half of what has been planned done with your classes, which is really all I've managed....
- Amanda

Pencil Poster Freebie

After just one week back in Kuwait, we're sweating buckets. I don't know how I could have forgotten just how hot it is here in the summertime. It has been really great to be here in time to set up my classroom, though, since last year we arrived the night before the first day of school!

Recently I've seen some great posters hanging around the interweb for back to school inspiration. So many wonderfully creative teachers out there! I decided to make a simple poster to remind students to always always always write their name on their paper. I don't know about you, but it drives me nuts when I get No Name work! I know this won't be a cure but it's cute anyway!

School just started yesterday so if I have any energy I'll try to get out an "All About My 27 New Friends" post later in the week!

Click HERE or on the picture to download.

- Amanda

Morning Meeting Friday Freebie

 I'm excited for the new school year! New ideas, new group, and a better grasp on a new teaching philosophy {Whole Brain Teaching}. I love all this change! We leave for Kuwait on Friday night for a week of set-up and meetings before classes begin on Sunday the 2nd. Only one week to set up my room - eek! BUT, in fairness, this is only about a THOUSAND times better than last year! Because of visa issues and a torn rotator cuff {Jeff is an energetic golfer haha} we could only arrive in Kuwait the day before school started. The day before! Now that - that! - was crazy. So I'm really looking forward to having some time to be calm and set up my room for this year.

One thing I am really looking forward to is implementing my Morning Meeting. I was looking for a way to help better build community among my students, and after seeing this video, I almost immediately started creating a simple Morning Meeting package to meet my needs.

I always thought Morning Meeting was a glorified calendar routine used in Kindergarten or Grade One classrooms as a way to help kids start each day fresh with a solid understanding of the steps to come next. This video deals with an older grade level, and it totally inspired me. Our Morning Meeting will look something like this:

1. Star Student leads class in Classroom Rules chant and gestures using a voice of choice.

2. Students greet one another in another language from those we've learned. I like this step because I teach in a bilingual school and gives students choice.

3. Star Student tells class how he/she is feeling with some "different" words using posters as reference. He/she then asks three friends "How are you feeling?"

4. Star chooses a question from the Question Jar, reads it aloud, answers for the class, and then asks three different friends to answer it. Questions include everything from "What's your favourite _____" to "If you met a monster/alien, what would you say?"

5. Students interact in a News sharing time led by our Star. I want the students to have some time to talk about life - either in class or at home - to help share feelings, and to gain a sense of empathy.

6. Last, since I'm using a clip chart in my room again, the Star will confer with me on three students that have been showing respect and following classroom rules to be the first to move their clip up for the day.

And so, since it's Friday and I just want to share this package with everyone, I'm linking up for my first ever

If you're interested, you can pick up my package HERE on Google Docs.

Enjoy and I'd love if you'll let me know what you think if you download - feedback and suggestions always welcome here!

- Amanda

Again, I'm happy and surprised! Thank you thank you to Susie Q for awarding my humble blog with...

This award is named for the German word "Liebster," which translates to "beloved" or "favourite", and it is given to "new, up and coming bloggers." 
I love it! It's so easy to wonder, "How come I only have xx followers? Shouldn't I have more?" But I'm resolving to start thinking, "Wow! I have xx people reading my blog? I wonder who they are and how they found me..."  At any rate, I'm feeling the love and I'm just happy to have this place to share and swap ideas.
The rules:

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you.

2. Post the award to your blog.

3. Give the award to at least 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers.

4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have been offered this award.

I've chosen to give this award to:

Linda at Around the Kampfire

Storie at Stories by Storie

Jamie at Bright Concepts 4 Teachers

Aimee at Pencils, Books & Dirty Looks

Cindy at Primary Reading Party

I hope all of you enjoy this as much as I do!

Quickly, a little freebie for all. I had one student who broke his arm on the playground and missed an entire quarter in this last school year. I had no idea he would miss that much school and didn't even know for the first two weeks that a broken arm was the reason. I phoned home everyday but never got an answer {oh, Kuwait} and the school nurse didn't inform me {oh, Kuwait}. When I finally spoke with his mother, she said her son had a doctor's note excusing him from the rest of the school year {oh, Kuwait!}. And then, I find out, she's a teacher at a government school! Oh. Kuwait. Apparently the last quarter wasn't as important as the first three haha. At any rate, with high hopes I had made this form to document important work and assessment he was missing. 

In the end, I gave up on this form and had four typed pages of missed work for the student. Click the picture to grab this free from my TN shop. I hope it can help!

- Amanda

If You're a Kid...

My class L.O.V.E.S. this dance video. I've used it all year whenever I felt like they needed a little break to move around. Since it's the end of the year, it may be just the thing to help you get through!

Have a great week.
- Amanda

latest behaviour management strategy

If I didn't deal with a lot of talking and students who generally do what they please {yesterday I had a young man walk himself - without permission! - to our counselor to gripe about another student in class}, I am definitely feeling it now as the end of the year approaches. It's also starting to get reeeeaally hot in Kuwait, which doesn't help either. 
I've done two themed behaviour management ideas in my class, both of which were big hits. The first was a birthday party theme {see here} and the last was a soccer theme {see here}. This time, since we recently read The Lorax and because I'm a little excited there is a movie {!}, I made a Lorax theme. I found the pattern on a blog....but I can't remember where :(

Every time the whole class is listening or a lesson goes really well in general, they get a Truffula Tuft. I also use it as a reward for hard work during Literacy and Math centers, since a couple of them still think this is free time... After they've collected all twelve Tufts {I still have three Truffula trunks to laminate...it's on a list, but it's a loooong list}, we'll watch the movie.

After that, I'm going to try out a Behaviour BINGO idea I found at Miss Kindergarten. I LOVE this one! 

I cannot believe there are only six weeks left of school! I'm more excited about this than I thought I'd be... Can't wait to get home in June just in time for my sister's wedding and hang out with family and friends. Jeff and I will also be putting the "finishing touches" so to speak on our own mostly-planned wedding day in July, and then off to Peru! Lots of good stuff happening this summer :) I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of the end!

- Amanda

The Whisper Wizard

As I was browsing blogs the other day{a daily must-do} I found a cute little idea for student jobs during group work from Amy Lemons. I decided the jobs didn't all work for my class, but I did get a great idea to have one student be a volume controller during center time. As she did, I plan to laminate, hole punch, and create necklaces out of these!

Click the pic to download your very own copy of my stolen idea. 

Graphics courtesy of Kristen at Love Two Teach and Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating.

- Amanda

I Love Centers

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I thought I would make a poster for my students to refer to before/during/after center time that focuses on the expectations during this time. I hope it will save about five minutes every day!

I can't decide which one I like more. I probably could have made five or six different options but figured it wasn't necessary haha. 

Disclaimer: I have not been able to print either one so I have no idea how they look on paper...our printer is broken. I am so sad! We actually have two printers {one was a "free gift" when we bought the new laptop}, so you'd think this wouldn't be a problem. As it turns out the new laptop DVD drive is broken {it was not connected properly when manufactured} and the old laptop was once dropped {I'm not going to say whose fault that was...} so it doesn't work either. We just haven't gone to HP to get it fixed yet, nor have I looked online for the software install instead. 

Click the images to download!

- Amanda

blogging pays off again!

Quite luckily, I read through Heather's blog about dealing with tattle tales the other night. This is a problem I deal with daily. I admit, it is partly my fault. Since September I have taught my students that they need to ask a teacher when they have a problem because I noticed SO MANY of them just turned around and smacked the offender. Like all.the.time! It seemed a bit absurd to me, until I found out that some - let me stress, NOT all - students are treated this way by their parents. {I do have some wonderfully supportive parents.} This might be a good time to mention that I try VERY hard to keep school-home communication positive because I am terrified of becoming the cause for violence at home. So I tell students, "I want to help you solve your problems! Please come to me. I am here for you." You know the conversation:

"What happens when someone pushes you?" 
"I push him/her back." 
"And then what happens?"
"He/she pushes me."
"Yes, and then?"
"I push him back."
"Hmmmm. Do you see what is starting here?"
"Yes, miss."

Honestly, I just found it so much easier to teach my students problem solving methods when it's one on one and when I can talk outright with all of those involved. But today, I guess I was just feeling busy with the usual million things to get done, and when a student came to me to say, "Blah Blah said a bad word for me," I decided I need these students to be a little less dependent and a lot more proactive. Enter Heather's Heart! {Seriously, go read her blog about this now. It was SO helpful.}

Our students need to stand up for themselves. They need to be accountable for their actions. They need to feel a sense of responsibility for their own feelings and those of others. They need to KNOW that how they feel really matters. They need to have strategies to deal with problems on their own so that they might feel less reliant on adult intervention. {Because let's not forget, some kids don't like to talk about problems and certainly not with adults.}

"I want you to go back to your friend that made the mistake and I want you to stand up tall. Then, using your strong voice, the one that says 'hey, I really mean this,' you need to tell the person that hurt you how you feel: I do not like the way you are treating me/the things you are saying to me. And then that person, when they are making smart choices, needs to look at you and respond with this: I understand and I am sorry." I definitely made sure to emphasize that a "strong voice" is not a loud/mean/scary/totallyintimidating/crazy voice!

We practiced. {This may have been a mistake on my part because for about ten minutes afterward I had kids walking around deliberately saying "bad" words in Arabic so they could "practice." An oversight, for sure!} When something like this happens, my next step is to make sure that I go to the student that made the mistake, talk about why it happened and help that student to think of some smarter choices that could have been made. As Heather mentions, teaching students this strategy is not an overnight success - not even close. It takes time, it takes repeated conversations about personal responsibility, and a TON of modelling and guiding.  It's my next big tackle in 2C! Thanks to Heather for introducing me to this strategy. Thanks up to the moon!


- Amanda

Star of the Week

Today I had a new student join my class and I am so proud of my "originals" haha. The group did a really wonderful job of explaining all of the different incentive programs I use daily to encourage everyone and by the end of the day I feel like he just fit right in. Fantastic day!

There are two things I want to share today...
First up, the old "Star of the Week" routine. I thought earlier in the year about eliminating this "position" from my classroom - the students didn't seem to really care about it. Instead, I created "Star of the Week" reflection pages. I know, I can hear you yawning from here. Here are a couple samples:

I'm sure it's self-explanatory, but the rhyme reads: "Grade two helps me learn and grow! Here is something I now know." On the top is a note for families. Easy peasy. Click the images if you would like a copy. Here is how I use it as a display:

{I had to ask the Arabic teacher if I could steal part of her bulletin board! There are only two in my room and the other is dedicated to our clock display for the time unit...} I LOVE that this student brought in a baby picture of himself {he looks the exact same!} AND that he wrote about the three states of water for what he has learned in grade two. I'm getting through to them - hurrah! On the top, I use a sign I printed from Technology Rocks. Seriously that the kids are all really excited about: "You Rock because..." I think it has renewed the "Star of the Week" ideal and I'm happy about that.

Next up, the latest whole-class incentive program. Last time, I made a paper birthday cake with twenty candles on it. Every time the class was working well {listening, contributing to discussion, walking in a straight line - yep, something we have to practice daily. It's tedious but they are getting it!} I would "light" a candle. It took a LONG time but we finally had our "birthday party" a couple weeks ago. You can read about it here. This time, I decided to cater more specifically to the boys in my classroom since the girls I have are actually the sweetest students ever. I made this and laminated the pieces: 

I just tape on the matching black patch as I did the birthday candles. They have three spaces covered after two days! When they are filled we will enjoy a class soccer game. How do you present whole-class incentives? I'll be looking for the next great idea after this one!

Take care, all!

I can't forget to send out a HUMONGOUS THANK YOU to my new followers! It's so nice to see people reading my blogs :) Thanks for the support!

- Amanda

clip chart revisited

This week, I thought I'd focus on the great in my room. I made a bunch of positive phone calls home because I was feeling a little down about some of the really poor behaviour from some students in my class. Sometimes I don't think I give the wonderful kids enough of my attention...

I try to keep it positive in my room. Try. Sometimes it is draining, but I feel it is SO SO important. I realize that I rely on my clip chart a lot to focus my student's toward striving for the top. I love love love my clip chart! Often, all I have to do is walk toward or stand beside it to get the full attention of {most} of my little friends. I can tell that my students are working so hard to remember to listen and show respect, as there has been some major improvements in classroom behaviour. Phew! I still have one or two students that have never ended a day on "Amazing," which makes me very sad, but I just have to keep on trying...

Also, my class is loving the scratch cards, and I was SO pleased that I had to make more {...and maybe a little exhausted at the prospect of mixing and gluing the night I realized I needed more}!!! See my post about that here. I keep the scratched cards in a Ziploc on the white board as a little visual reminder for the class {OR maybe because I always forget which student has won what prize!}. After they have claimed the prize, I glue them into the kid's communication book so they can share their success with their family.

As teachers, one of the most important things we can do is share our student's great accomplishments with their family {no major epiphany, I know, but something not to be forgotten - no matter how busy I feel}. When a student ends the day on "Amazing," the next day I will glue a little happy note into his/her book so parents are consistently involved and can easily reference their child's behaviour. These are the new cards I made with illustrations from Nikki at MelonHeadz Illustrating and Michelle at Cre8ive Hands. They have the cutest art!





Feel free to grab these PDFs (five pages) here: Clip Chart notes home

I hope you can use them!

- Amanda

I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day when...

I shouted at my students. (I believe it is no coincidence that I have since lost my voice!)



This week in grade two we wrote journals in the fashion of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Why? Well, because I lost my super-patient teacher-ness and used a crazy loud voice to get everyone’s attention one day. I looked up from helping a student during center time, and not one person was doing what was asked. Not an excuse and not okay, I know. I am still embarrassed! So the next day, I read the famous story and then I apologized to my class. I told them that grown-ups have bad days sometimes, just like kids, and that we make mistakes, too. As soon as I said, “I’m so sorry I shouted at you - I know I was not being a great teacher yesterday,” I could see some of my students shift in their seats, sit up a little higher and give me that very cute seven-year-old “it’s okay” face. We wrote journals to share moments in our lives that upset us, that we are sorry for, or just to rant about a day that was not good. I have since been called a “heart and soul teacher,” which is something I need to keep an eye on because I don’t want to let them get under my skin like that again!



Despite all of this, I do feel as if behaviour is improving. I'm fairly certain I will use the clip chart system from this point on in my teaching career. In fact, I can’t even remember what I was doing before to help manage my class, but I had SO MANY students on “Amazing” today that I couldn’t have been happier! AND, it was the last day before the winter break - you know, the day we all anticipate as “the crazy day.” To encourage my students, I decided that after the break I will give a little something extra to those that are consistently Amazing. Right now, when one has five days at Amazing, I glue a little sparkle jewel onto his or her clothespin. Now, when there are five jewels, that student will get a scratch card! It’s one of those ideas I picked up in the summer, stored, and forgot about.  I got this one from Jeff’s sister, Shannon, who is the Style Editor at Canadian Family. For Mother’s Day the magazine featured a really awesome (and so easy!) craft called “Mommy Scratch Lotto Tickets”, that I adapted for the classroom. (Click the link for the so-simple instructions.) I think the class will be psyched to see the first student scratch one and win the pleasure of inviting a friend from another class over for lunch or using my big, comfy computer chair for the day! These are my works in progress: 



Lastly, thank you to Grade Onderful for this great measurement printable. 















I used it with my students as a fun last-day activity and a mini intro to measurement, which we will begin after the break. It was lots of fun and the whole class was really into it! I think I will even use it again at a Math center in January (it will be more manageable and the students will *I hope* see the point in context to our new unit). As I walked to the staff room to laminate my gingerbread cookies, I snapped this great photo. The sun always looks so magnificent as it comes up near our school.

Off to Sri Lanka tomorrow and I couldn’t be more excited! Look out for a barrage of new photos in January!

An apple for the teacher

Vacation is so close I can almost feel it. Before it hits, there is ordering for next year (four grade two classrooms!), Science and Math assessments, and chocolate-covered pretzels to bake for my students. This list does not include, of course, the daily "to-do's" but it makes everything seem more manageable to only mention a few! While browsing through the supplies catalogue, I looked up to find an apple neatly placed beside my computer - made me feel like a teacher! 

There's my beautiful niece, Lucy. I miss her little smile oh-so much! Also, you can see ALL my lists. I am a list person. And a post-it person. And a "print-the-homework-for-all-the-students" person (trust me, it's worth it. The parents here like to see homework to see their child's progress).

Enough about me. A couple weeks ago I focused on nouns during Language Arts to match our textbooks. After creating a chart together on the white board, we made flip books with four windows: person, place, thing, idea. Their books look so great and are very colourful! That week I also used a shared reading poem to reinforce the definition (bonus: it has music!).

In Social Studies, we finished up our Features of Communities Around the World unit. I did the ever-popular "Me On the Map" craft with my class. They turned out pretty cute, but next year I will definitely use circle templates on white paper. It's just so much easier and none of the pencil writing gets lost on a dark construction paper colour. 

As we move into our Traditions and Celebrations unit, we thought it fit to focus on birthdays around the world rather than Christmas. (Though every mall here has large Christmas displays, which I am rather enjoying!) I used scrap paper to create a birthday cake visual to use as incentive for good behaviour. I "light" the candles every time the class is working well, or is quiet, or is doing super awesome out-of-this-world work. At the end, we will have a birthday party! Sounds great, right? Not to this grade two bunch! I am shocked to find that really, they don't care about this new reward scheme. I'll play it out until we have the birthday party, because maybe they need to see how great a classroom celebration could be. I definitely need to keep thinking up motivational tactics with this group. (There actually are flames on the cake now; this is an old photo now.) One thing to note: clip chart working....okay. I feel like behaviour is SO close to good, but I just have to keep working at it!   

I'm sure there is more I wanted to add today but - I didn't put it on a list! Night, all.

Fact Families and Classroom Management

First up, our last Math activity. We have been working on fact families, and I found some students struggling with the concept. I decided, with some inspiration from a turkey craft (here: http://tams-thisandthat.blogspot.com/2011/11/turkey-fact-families.html) and from my friend Danyell's grade one "family members" frames, to make "Fact Family Photos." This is a pic of her super cute grade one work: 











Since our school is up for accreditation this year (and the team just spent a weekend viewing the school and our curriculum implementation documents), I knew I HAD to do something about the state of my front door. It was, well, let's just say "not very welcoming." I thought of a catchy slogan ("It's a fact - we are family!") and threw the student's work up and it is just aaahhhhh - much better. Here is the final product  and a quick close-up of some student work for the fact family 10, 2 and 8. For some reason, she drew a 3-person instead of a 10-person. Ah, well! At least the number sentences are correct. (Though I see now that is hard to tell.)























Moving on.

One big thank you to the blogging world for leading me to the clip chart behaviour system at http://www.newmanagement.com/ebooks/clip_chart.html. I was thinking, I don't want my students to quiver every time I reach for the white board marker because they think someone is about to get a warning. Instead, I want my students to feel responsible for any inappropriate behaviour.

After spending yet another Saturday morning at school this weekend, I did make my very own clip chart, and am VERY excited to introduce it to my class. I am tired of reserving a portion of my board for student names and check marks, and I am extra tired of this not actually working. It may work for one period, but afterwards, nuh-uh. A super colourful visual HAS GOT to be the cure for this! Right? I will see this week. Yes, there are only two weeks before vacation (I can almost feel the Sri Lankan heat! It is surprising just how cold a desert winter can be), but I figure I can get them used to it now and after the break there can be a simple reminder and then bring on the warnings. Muwah ah ah. Just kidding. But I really LOVE how this chart can be a huge focus on positive behaviour. It's one of my teaching goals - to always focus on the positive.

Woah, that picture is blurry. Everyone starts on "Ready to Learn" and can move up to "Always Listening," "Role Model," and "Amazing," or down to "Warning," "Time Out, "Recess Minutes," and "Office and/or Phone Call Home." I also made small charts that the students will colour and glue into their communication books to teach their parents about the system as homework. For those students that end the day on "Amazing," a tally chart to track amazingness and small notes to put in communication books. I am quite proud of the notes I made (OH! And I published them as PDFs so I don't have to worry about getting the IT password to have any new fonts installed on my school computer. Yay me!), but since I do not have the image rights, it is perhaps not the best idea to post these... At any rate, these are the files I made last night: Mini Clip Charts and Labels

I LOVE LOVE LOVE new fonts. I had no idea that I loved them so much. Many thanks to http://www.kevinandamanda.com/ for all the free fonts. They're so great that even my teacher man is using them in his Art and English classes!