My Favorite Things!

Happy Sunday sweet friends!  I am SO excited to be linking up with some great bloggers to share our Favorite Items for starting the school year!  Not to mention, there are some seriously FAB prizes to be had!  Please make sure you check it all out :)

So what are your must-have, cannot-live-without, items for going back to school?

For me, I cannot live without my binders.  I have a binder for EVERYTHING and everything has it's place in a binder :) {And I just have to share, I am not an organized person, but this system works for me.}

Anecdotals?  Yup!
Reading notes?  Yup!
Writing notes?  Yup!

And it goes on and on. 

I always assign my students a number- like so many other great teachers out there.  It saves times and money every year since I can just keep the numbers the same and switch out my tiny little list. 

the list

For if you're feeling not-so-rich...

For if you're feeling rich...

And then each tab in my binder(s) is numbered!  All you have to do is find the student's number and insert their work.  Easy peasy!  Let's be honest- it's is all about working smarter, not harder, if we want to keep our heads above the water.  Would I go around numbering student desks?  NO.  But some things are just better being numbered :)

And NOW, for the fun stuff!  First of all, see that ugly label on my binder up there?  I'm going for longevity this year in my classroom.  I want to make binders that can last over the years.  That little Guided Reading label will just not cut it.  So I made these guys below.  Binder labels, numbers, and a numbered class list.  Grab them from dropbox, here!  I plan on laminating, and gluing or taping these guys on.  {I would have pictures BUT my stuff is still locked away in Storage for another week.  Waaaaahh!}

AND WAIT!  It gets even better... be sure to enter below to possibly win all sorts of goodies!  Be sure to visit all 30+ of us participating to see all there is to see!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Made It - Wooden Letters Remade!

Happy Monday Made It, friends!!  It's a rainy day and I'm all settled into our new city, Greenville, SC.

Tonight is the first meeting with my new 4th grade teaching team and I really wanted to bring something more than a bottle of wine and an app.  I racked my brain and finally decuded to try something I've been eyeing for a while- decorated wooden letters.  So I ran up to our nearest Michaels {the first of many trips I'm sure!} and grabbed these important materials {+ all the wooden letters I needed}.

  I'm looking forward to sharing these guys with my new team teachers and getting back into the groove of teaching!  What's the best teacher gift you've given or received?  Have a great week!

Tuesday Catch Up & Help Please!

So, a little life update is completely necessary.  I feel like I'm a little all over the place these days.  Am I living in Spain?  Georgia?  South Carolina?  Some days I'm not even sure, BUT we're back from Spain!  And living with my family in Savannah, GA until we move to South Carolina next month {hooray!!}.   While we miss Spain, it's so nice to be home.  If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I went to Target yesterday for the first time in 10 months.  1)  Products in English= Amazingness 2)  Nothing beats Target and their beautiful binders... nothing!! 

And just day to day tasks are much simpler here.  Again, it's nice to be home. 

And in other news, I am super excited to share that I have been offered a job teaching 4th grade in Greenville, SC.  I taught 4th grade my first two years of teaching- so I'm really excited to go back to that grade level.  And fourth graders are so much fun!  AND the best news yet, came this morning in an e-mail from my new principal.  I am being given about $450 to spend on my new classroom!!  WHAT?  I know- I don't know where the money is coming from or WHY- but I know more than enough to argue with anyone telling me to go spend, especially these days!!  So now I need some help!  I plan on spending about half the money stocking up on new books for my classroom library {you can never have too many!}.  And I won't see my classroom until tomorrow- so I'll learn more then... BUT, what should I be considering for my must haves?  Here's some of the items I'm thinking about... Mainly {okay, entirely...} consisting of math manipulative right now {I mean, let's be honest... you can never have enough math manipulatves...}But what am I forgetting?  What else should I include? 

Be sure to stop by tomorrow and Thursday for some new book club material!  This summer has brought so much great reading time!  I am one happy reader :)

Happy Tuesday, all!

Sparking Student Motivation- State Tests

I was inspired by Joanne over at Head Over Heels for Teaching with her state test motivation!  This year am I am loving the fact that I don't  have to administer a test in Spain- but I easily remember the prep, worry, and fear that goes into it.  Last year was my first year administering the test to 5th graders.  Wooh- it was a doozy.  However, me and my fab co-teacher did everything in our power to motivate our learners.  We decorated our room in a fun (walls-completely-covered) way, we bribed students to continue working the entire testing time, and we passed out pounds and pounds of mints, decorated #2 pencils, and encouraging notes. 

To administer the test in Colorado, everything in our classroom must be taken down or covered.  Taking everything down is so much more work than just covering it all.  So Ms. co-teacher and I had a little fun decorating everything with a Dr. You Know Who theme! 

Before- Posters and learning everywhere!

 Aaand, after!

 So sad and covered... but our class was so excited by the decorations when they walked in that they were okay with all of our learning being covered for a little while. 

We also stocked up on tons and tons of mints.  We passed them out during the test and pretty much let them have as many as they wanted.  Who knows if mints really help increase their short term memory- but if they believe it does, then that's all that matters! We also had their families write letters to them to pass out the first day.  Grab an editable copy of the letters <here>!  To keep them motivated we passed out letters from us half way through the testing weeks.

We also got a ton of tickets... like the type you get at a carnival!  Halfway through the test every day, we passed a ticket out to anyone who was still working.  Then, 10 minutes before the test ended, we passed out another set of tickets to anyone still actively working. At the end of each day we drew two tickets and the winners could choose from all sorts of prizes. At the end of the entire testing period {three weeks worth!} we had a party and did a huge drawing- with one grand prize of a Kindle!!  Students who finished early would spend their time looking over their tests just to get more tickets.  It worked really well and I plan on doing it again in the future. 

Motivating students to do well on a test they never see again can be hard.  I'm not normally a huge fan of external motivation- but for this instance I think it's helpful and important!  What are some other ways you motivate your learners?  I look forward to hearing some other things people do!

Stop by Head Over Heels for Teaching to link up!!