C.H.A.M.P.S

This year, already as week in, I would like to implement C.H.A.M.P.S in my classroom. I had seen a few of these floating around other blogs, and I thought this would be a great idea in my classroom. It is a classroom management tool that allows you to easily set up guidelines for basics like conversation levels, how to get help, activity level, movement allowed, and participation required during different classroom activities such as labs, testing, independent work, journaling, and other activities.

I will post a picture this week once I set it up, but I made the printables for it. You print them, and laminate them stacked on top of one another. Then you can put them on the whiteboard and use magnets to show what the guidelines are or stick them to a wall leaving the left side unattached and use clothes pins to show the guidelines.

 

The top page has a spot to write the activity you are working on (use dry erase markers after laminating). I also included a grid page that had the different activities we would be using in my classroom and the guidelines for those quickly so students could have a reference in their binders to refer to, too.

There are two different versions; a bright version, and a robot version (to match my classroom, of course!). You can get the bright version on Teachers Pay Teachers and the robot version up above!

If you download it, let me know if you are able to implement it and how it goes or if you already use this system :)

First Day and Room Reveal

Today was the first day of school, and it went pretty well. I got all my signs and decorations up. I am so excited for students to get to use them! 

I have 120 kids in 4 science classes. My teammates are awesome teachers and people. I am very blessed :)

My room:

Verb wall

 

Absent board

Help wall

Scientific method

Word wall (cabinet)

Early finishers and think tanks board

Non-fiction text structures

First day activity

Did I mention I love teaching?

Made it Monday (on Tuesday): Cookie Sheet Calendar

I know it is Tuesday,  but yesterday I left home at 8am and got home after 11pm and then had late late date night with the Hubby, so I never got the chance to post my Made It Monday.

This week, since my room is all robot theme, I made a new cookie sheet calendar. I love these, and think they are so cute. 

You need a cookie sheet, any size, a few different scrapbook papers that go together, mod podge, paintbrush, strong magnets (I like the neodymium super strong small magnets), cement glue (E6000 or something like that), ribbon, glass beads with a flat bottom, ruler, scissors and decorations like stickers, clip art, or cut outs.

First, determine how wide your cookie sheet is and how far up you want your calendar part to go. Divide the width by 7 and the height by 5. This is the size of each day rectangle. You will need 35. I used the medium cookie sheet from WalMart and so my rectangles were 2" x 1.25" each. I used 2 different papers for the calendar, gears and black glitter. Brush the mod podge on the cookie sheet and attach the rectangles. I would start fro the bottom corner and work up.

Then make day labels and month labels for the computer or draw them. I wrote the days and printed the months.

Mod podge the days above the calendar part and add a place on the top where the months can be attached. Next add embellishments like stickers or other themed things. I printed out the clip art the calendar matched and added them all over.

Laminate the months. Either attach magnets to the backs of each or make magnets to attach each t o the front. I was low on magnets, so I just made 2 matching magnets by clipping the thin wings off 2 brads and gluing magnets.

To make the dates, print off small numbers spaced apart so you can cut them out (I also printed off holiday pics for some, too). Don't forget a 25/31 and a 24/30 for those few months they are needed! Now mod podge those to the flat side of the glass beads. You will be able to see the number through the rounded side. Now use the E6000 glue to attach the magnets to the beads. The magnet goes on the paper side. Put glue on the magnet and on the bead and stick together. These need to dry for about a day.

The last part is to add a ribbon to the top so you can hang your calendar on your wall. Use the E6000 glue again, and attach both ends of the ribbon to the back side of the calendar. Now all your extra magnets and days go on the back while it is on the wall, out of view, and conveniently kept for next month. If you just made 2 magnets to hold the months and didn't put magnets on each month, add a library pocket to the back to hold them :)

Hope you like it and find it easy to make!

Monday Made It - Door Sign

I am joining the Monday Made It Linky from 4th Grade Frolics today. Click on the picture below to join!

Every teacher needs a cute sign above their door in the hallway. I don't know how many of our sweet kids check above the door to make sure they are in the right place before entering EVERY day. Since I changed from safari to robots, I had to change my door sign to match, too.

This was pretty easy and quick(ish) to make. I made it Saturday while the kids were napping. I took a piece of cardboard from one of the many Amazon.com boxes lying around and covered it in some robot fabric I found at Wal-Mart. I like using fabric or fadeless paper for my walls because they last longer and stay bright. I made sure I had enough to wrap around all the edges. On the back, it is folded over, attached with permanent double-sided tape, then hot glued. 

For the front, I found foam glitter letters at Wal-Mart (let's just save time and tell you everything was found at Wal-Mart) and glitter foam sheets. I hot glued the letters to the fabric, to make sure they would stay, and then I drew and cut out gears from the glitter foam sheets to match the colors in the robots. This was the most time consuming part. If you know me, you know the gears had to be perfect. I traced two different sized circles from each color and then I had to divide the circles into 12 even pieces. The back of the foam sheets was paper, so it was easy to draw on. This is where I am thankful for my Trig class from way back when (and you said you would never need it! Ha!). Then I drew a small line on each of the 12 lines and connected every other line with a curved one, like this:

Cut out the circle and on the bold lines. Each line is 30 degrees apart. I cut them out and hot glued them in place.

Voila! A nice, big, colorful above-the-door-sign (batman pajama legs not included)!

I cannot wait to show you next Mondays Made It. I am almost finished, but need a few more kid naps to get it done :)

Robots, robots, robots

I am sure you read how excited I was to get into my classroom today. Well, I had to make some Class Schedules for my room, but I needed a background to match the cute Robots clip art from Melonheadz. After searching for exactly what I wanted (and not finding it), I figured it would take less time to just make my own. I think they are cute and came out really well, so I am going to post them on TpT. Before I do, I am offering them here for free for you, first! Once they are on TpT, they won't be available here anymore! Just click here and download them.

Perfection is...

I love the summer "break," but I also love teaching. I am not ready to end the summer, but I also know that school is starting soon, so my classroom needs to be awesome. An inviting classroom helps engage kids and make them want to be in your class every day. I have so many ideas for my classroom and plans for decorations. I am really excited about getting into my classroom and starting to decorate, but the school has summer school going on in my classroom right now.

For the past three years, I have had a safari themed classroom, and a garden classroom the two years before that. Since my room is a science lab, I like to keep in theme with something science-like. This year, I am changing themes to a robot STEM career classroom. Another teacher was doing a safari classroom, so I took down all of my safari stuff to give to her already. Also, my walls are supposed to be painted over the summer, so I took everything off the walls. Also, summer school is going on in my room during July, so I took all the stuff off the counters to give them space for stations. Also, since my room is tile, it has to be waxed over the summer, so everything was taken off the bookshelves, the desk, and any tables. So my room looks pretty bare right now. Well, meet the teacher/schedule pick up is 2 days into inservice. The first day with time for classroom set up is day 4. How will I fit making an inviting classroom for meet the teacher during those first 2 days? I am going to have to work before or after school and during lunch if my classroom will be the first impression I want it to be. I hate having the first thing a parent and student see being a half put together room. I want them excited to come to class from the moment they first see it.

I am sure it will all come together perfectly, but I cannot help but be anxious about the process :) In the meantime, here is a freebie. These are the gears I made for my turn in boxes for this year. Enjoy them!

Back to School A+ Shopping Finds Linky Party

This is my first linky party, so let's hope I get it right!

You know you said at the start of June you weren't going to do any school stuff this summer, just enjoy it. Well, for so many of us, getting ready for the next school year is enjoyable. I, personally, love it! I am changing my classroom decor from safari to STEM robots. I have been looking everywhere for things to match my Riveting Robots decor from Creative Teaching Press.

There is tons of the robot set and I LOVE it! Click on the picture above to see all that Creative Teaching press has for this set.

Well, if I change the class decor, I have to change all of my organization stuff, too. The colors from my safari stuff just doesn't match, and let's face it, if you know me, I have to have it match!

I have found all sorts of things for my room to go with this, but what I really needed was folders in bright colors that seemed sturdy enough to handle daily use. My favorite are the plastic durable folders, but those are hard to find around here and the colors don't match perfectly. While I was in Dollar Tree looking for 4th of July necklaces for the kids, I just happened to wander into the teaching isle. I found these cute, bright folders! They are sturdy, have 2 inside pockets (no brads), and come in 6 great matching colors (well, 5 of the colors match, but I will ALWAYS make an exception for pink!).

They have this cute swirl texture design, and a thin layer of plastic around the outside. They even have holes to put in binders if needed. They were $1 at Dollar Tree in the DFW Texas area. Did you know that at DollarTree.com you can buy mass quantities, like 24, 36, and such? So if you needed a class set or something, you may try that instead of trying to go to a couple of Dollar Tree stores.

These will be great in my think tank tubs!

Have you found a great teacher find? Link up and share it!

Robots!

I am so excited! We spent all night at the fireworks, and had a blast. Sweet Charley giggled after every single one :) Then we woke up today to go see the parade and go out with our favorite family. When I came home, a little exhausted and full, I check my blogs and yea! Melonheadz, my favorite clip art illustrator, has posted the robot clip art I requested! It is so cute and matches my room decor perfectly! I cannot wait to make so many things with this clip art. If you are in the need of some cute clip art for anything, this is the place to go.

This is the robot decor I sent:

This is Melonheadz's adorable creation:

As soon as I get some things made, I will share! Also, as soon as we can get back in the classroom, I will post pictures of my new cute decor up in the classroom. Summer school is in there all this month, so it will have to be August.

Want to see more? Check out Melonheadz Illustrating and all of her stores!