Monday Made It-Subway Art Obsession

HAPPY MONDAY!  This is my LAST Monday before I am officially back in Back to School mode.  AHHH...

Before I get on with the Monday Made It's, I just want to thank everyone for all of your support during my 100 follower giveaway!!! :)  We have three winners...I have already e-mailed you all.  

My Prize Pack:  Emily P.

Elementary Prize Pack:  Andrea L.

Secondary Prize Pack:  Purple P.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Ok, time to link up with Tara over at Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!!! :)  I'm sure that so many people will have back to school Made It's so, I will try to keep them to a minimum. :)

This could potentially be my most FAVORITE thing that I have ever made for my classroom!!!  Since I will be teaching middle school this year, I needed some new posters for my wall because my other posters just won't cut it. :)  So...I made myself math problem solving strategy posters! :)

I have been LOVING the neon/black and neon/chalkboard look, so I made them in that style.  :)  I made a lime green tissue pom for the top, matted the pages I printed on black card stock, and then bought a cute black & white ribbon for hanging it.  :)

If you would like the printable, you can find it here:

Here is a NON-School related item that I made this week. :)  It was my hubby's birthday yesterday (he is also a teacher), and I had our son "make" this for him:

I figured that he could put this on his desk at school. :)  I just used a wooden frame from Michaels that I painted and used scrap book stickers to embellish it. 

Ok. here is the last school related thing that I will blog about.  I made some OTHER subway art items, too (along with about 15 tissue poms, but who wants to see a picture of that? :)).  I have a few FAVORITE quotes that I also turned into neon subway art, too!

I really love how these turned out!  Anyway, if you like them, you can click on the picture above.  

I will be going into my classroom today for the last time until next Monday when I am required to go back. I hope that you all have a WONDERFUL week!!!!!!!!!   

August Currently

Happy August THIRD...ha ha.  I'm a little late with the link-up.  I think that I want to be in denial that it's already AUGUST!!!  Waaahhhh.  Time to get my Currently on with Farley over at Oh Boy! 4th Grade.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Wordless Wednesday: Stuck in a Rut

Hi Bloggy Friends!

Today I am linking up with Christina at Second Grade Sugar and Spice for her Wordless Wednesday.

Here is my picture:

It's a little spliced together, but I wanted you all to see it as a whole.  

Here's my question:  I am stuck in a rut!!!!  HELP PLEASE!!!! :)

This will be my FIRST year teaching middle school (6th grade math and science-two sections, so I will rotate between 2 classes, so I will only have 70 students or so total).  When I taught elementary school for 10 years the bulletin board ideas came EASILY!!!  TOO EASILY....so now I am stuck in a RUT as to what to put on my boards.  :(  I might get rid of the "Meet Me" since that looks kinda silly, although I like the idea of a student getting one week to showcase themselves...will that fly in middle school?!?!?

I also have one more board that size with NOTHING on it! :(  I think that I might but my post-it note exit slip board on there, but I am not liking the one that I made already...

Someone (I WISH that I knew who!!!!) had a super cute one on Instagram that I LOVED, so I might change it to numbers. (If anyone knows who had that posted, can you please let me know!) :)  

I also, thanks to Instagram discovered Mardel.com!!!  AHHHH, so now I have about 10 borders that I am in love with more than the ones that I have!  SOOOO, I will be doing some online shopping today.  I am going into school for a little while tomorrow, so maybe I will get some more ideas.

I'm asking for some ideas, please about WHAT can I put on boards in middle school?! :) 

 I already have a huge white board for my anchor charts and a Monday Made It idea coming for that, but I need some cute ideas for my boards, please!!!  Thank you!!!  Changing up what you know is TOUGH!  I have another idea of an interactive board where students can put up ideas about how they have used math in real life...what do you think about that??

Also, thanks in advance to those teachers that have already volunteered to donate something for my 100 follower giveaway coming soon!!!!!!  I can't believe that there are 100 people that even WANT to read what I have to say.  It's quite humbling!!!!  I am VERY THANKFUL!!!!  If you would like to donate something, please go HERE.  I'm less than 15 followers away!!!!!!! :)  YAY!

Two for Tuesday and Getting SOOOO Close to My First Milestone!

I'm back in NC!  :(  Our 5 week Michigan vacation with family and friends is over.  So today has already been filled with laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, grass cutting (if you follow me on Instagram you already know it was SUPER crazy long because we forgot to have someone cut it!)...whew!  I already need a vacation from being home FROM my vacation! :)  Now that I'm home I have a list of a MILLION things to do for back to school!!!!

There's a lot to talk about today so let's get started!!!  

First, I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO stinkin' close to having 100 followers on TPT AND Bloglovin' (like less than 20 away!!!)!!!  I already have over 100 on Facebook & Instagram, so these are my LAST TWO to hit.  PLEASE help me reach my goal if you're not already a follower!  :)  I already have a HUGE celebration in the works for a 100 follower giveaway! :)  I already have some VERY sweet teachers who have already volunteered to donate an item for the giveaway.  If you would also  like to donate, please fill out this form.  I appreciate it VERY MUCH! :)

Second, please head over to Mrs. Spangler in the Middle's website for her HUGE Anniversary Giveaway!! :)

Third, it's Two for Tuesday with The Teaching Tribune:

Today I am putting ALL of my Project Based Learning activities at 50% off!! Just click the picture to go directly to my TPT store. :)

 I blogged about these last week with Miss V and Mrs. D. for their back to school linky:

 

You can read about how I use these in my classroom for assessment HERE.  I think that you will love using these hands on activities. 

I hope that everyone has a WONDERFUL rest of the day!!!!

Back to School Week 2: Assessment Tips

First, I would like to thank everyone that entered the giveaway for my back to school Student Procedure Handbook:

Congratulations to Stacy!!!  She won the prize!!! :)

Also, I am SOOOOOO close to having 100 followers on TPT, Instagram, AND Bloglovin'!  CRAZY!!!  I am already planning a SUPER giveaway for when I reach that milestone!!!  If you would be interested in donating an item, please visit HERE.

I'm linking up again with Miss V.  and Mrs. D. for their back to school (eeek) weekly linky:

So, this weeks topic is assessment.  I'm going to share TWO things that I have done that I have LOVED doing!!!

First, this is just a little assessment helpful hint.  For math, my students had "Toolkits" a binder where they kept all of their notes (foldables, handouts, etc.) and in it they also had their dry erase board.  All their dry erase board was was a clear plastic sheet protector with a piece of card stock in it!!  Perfect!  I also went to the Dollar Tree and bought baby socks for the kids to erase their boards. What was also great was they kids could stick the sock AND the marker in the plastic sheet, too so everything was in the same place! :)  I used these dry erase boards EVERY day in math.  It made for PERFECT formative assessment!!!!

The second thing that I started doing about two years ago was more Project Based Learning (PBL) activities.  These activities made for GREAT end of unit/novel assessments!!!!!  Who wants to just take a final test every time??  Boring! :)

What is GREAT about these PBL activities is that it takes EVERYTHING that the students have learned either in a unit or in a novel, lets them choose from a menu of differentiated activities which encompass ALL multiple intelligence's so the students are picking an activity that is fun and engaging to THEM!

I have done a PBL for all of the units that you see below:

My particular favorite was always Bud, Not Buddy just because my students ALWAYS love that book, and LOVE the projects!!!!  Same with the Blackbeard one if you're a NC teacher! :)

To assess each project I use a rubric which is included in the units.  The students always know what is expected of them up front, too.

You can find all of the units in my TPT store! 

Also, don't forget to stop by Mrs. Spangler's website this coming week for her AWESOME celebration giveaway!!!!!

Five for Friday, Giveaway, and a Future Celebration?!?!

It's Friday, and time to link up with Doodlebugs for FIVE FOR FRIDAY!!!!!

Here we go!

After leaving NC over a month ago, we only have TWO more days until we leave Michigan! :(  

My family and my hubby's family are 5 hours away once you get to Michigan, so we have logged a lot of miles since we left NC, but all worth it.  It stinks sometimes being so far away from home. :(  However, we are a little anxious to get back to our house and me personally, I am looking forward to wearing something besides the clothes that I have in my suitcase that I've been wearing for the past 5 weeks. :)

My blog got a bit of a lift the week from sweet Lindsey over at Thriving in Third!!  She does AMAZING work if you're looking for a blog upgrade. :)  She is ALSO celebrating her one year bloggiversary with a H-U-G-E giveaway, so please check her blog out! :)

Today is the LAST day to enter my giveaway!!!

This is a great resource for your back to school planning!!!  Going over the rules and procedures can get, well, let's face it...kind of boring, but this helps to flip the review by having your students talk about the procedures and teaching each other what they are!  By the end of the project you have a nice little class handbook for students to refer to, look back at, or even as a handy resource for a guest teacher!!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So, as many of you know, we have a micro preemie, and we are PARANOID about germs...like stock in Germx paranoid.  All winter we went NOWHERE, so now that it's summer and not crazy germ season, we have been out and about. :)  Little Baby B LOVES being out and about...looking around at people at stores and just WATCHING things.  Last night we met up with my cousins for dinner, and this is my most FAVORITE picture from the night:

He was having WAYYYYYYY too much fun playing with empty to-go containers!!!  ha ha! :)

Ok, I am going to celebrate a little here....when I first started blogging about 2 months ago, I was nervous like I am sure everyone starts out.  I wasn't sure if ANYONE would care to read what I had to say, care what I did in my classroom, or even buy anything with their own hard earned money that I put out on TPT.  However, as I am now obsessed with ALL of this, I have learned one BIG THING.  Teachers are SERIOUSLY the nicest people EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I already am feeling the love and support, have met some GREAT blogging buddies, and had an outpouring of support which I am so grateful for!!!!

I am already sooooooo close to my first milestone!  100 followers!!!  I celebrated when I got to 100 on Facebook, but I am super close to 100 on EVERYTHING which is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I will DEFINITELY want to celebrate it because like I mentioned above it amazes me that there ARE people who care to read what I say. :)  I am very thankful for that!!!!!!!  I will be having a giveaway once I do reach that milestone, so I am planning ahead. :)  

If you would like to donate an item for my future celebration please fill out a form HERE.  Thank you!!!!!! :)

I hope that everyone has a WONDERFUL weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why I do What I Do: Homework Linky & Givewaway

Today, I am linking with a fellow Michigander, Christina at Bunting, Books, and Bright Ideas for her Why I do what I Do linky.

Ahhhhh...the one word that students dislike...HOMEWORK!  :)  It has taken me awhile to figure out how to really DEAL with homework.  Now, just when I had a system down, I am switching to middle school! Now I have to learn a NEW system!  Any middle school teachers reading this and have some insight???? :)

When I FIRST started teaching I would collect all of the homework, check it ALL, then return it.  Now I know better! :)  I've learned that not all students do THEIR OWN homework:

 and ME checking it did NOTHING for the students.  Not to mention the GIANT pile I would get behind on!!!

So, here was how I dealt with homework the past 2 years, and I have LOVED it.  I really don't believe that students should have a lot of homework.  I think that kids should be kids, and with most kids involved in so many extra curricular activities, there just isn't TIME for a lot, and honestly FAMILY COMES FIRST.  With fourth grade I don't really do a weekly homework communication because I feel as though they need some independent responsibility at this point, so they record everything in their agendas.

First, I only really assigned MATH homework.  I used to do a reading log, but then again, the students who were GOING to read, did, and the ones who weren't weren't and their parents would just sign their log.  I ask my kids to read at night, and most do.  Either way, I can't MAKE them do it...they need to WANT to do it.

Second, I made "Homework Checker" one of my classroom jobs, and assigned it to one of my responsible 4th grade kiddos.  Their job in the morning was to go around with the clipboard and make sure kids HAD their homework, showed work, etc.  This worked SUPER well for me because it saved me a TON of time in the morning!!!

Third, Every 9 weeks I allow my students 3 strikes with no penalty for missing their homework.  The reason I do this is because EVERY ONE forgets from time to time, even me.  So out of 45 days, I allow 3 free misses.  However, if they DO NOT miss ANY in 9 weeks I reward them with no homework passes, classroom money, etc.

Last, I have learned to go OVER my homework at the beginning of my math lesson.  It's not always me just reviewing it, sometimes I will have them review as a group independently and coach students that may not have the right answer.  Or I play Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up (a Kagan Activity).  I learned through a self-reflection that me just going over the answers isn't very engaging. :)  Periodically I would also collect their homework to look it over to make SURE they were doing it like I expect.  I also make sure the students know that homework is just a way of knowing if THEY are understanding what I am teaching.  When it comes to homework my philosophy is:

I care more about WHY you got it wrong and now know how to fix it, than you got it wrong.

Also, today is the LAST day to enter my giveaway!!!  It's not about homework, but it's always nice to get something for FREE! :)

This is a great resource for your back to school planning!!!  Going over the rules and procedures can get, well, let's face it...kind of boring, but this helps to flip the review by having your students talk about the procedures and teaching each other what they are!  By the end of the project you have a nice little class handbook for students to refer to, look back at, or even as a handy resource for a guest teacher!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway