Classroom pics

Here are some updated pics of my classroom, please excuse the chairs!!  The paintings are for the 7 habits of happy kids.  Can't take much credit for the product but don't they look awesome!!  Stay tuned for my newly painted door...I love chalk board paint!!  :-)

SALE!! SALE!!

EVERYTHING IS ON SALE!!

Don't you just love a sale!  Check out my items in Teachers Notebook!  My best selling Data Notebook for Intermediate Grades is on sale NOW!  Take advantage it only last for a couple of day!  

Get ready for BACK TO SCHOOL!!

Click the link below...CHECK IT OUT!!

   Teacher's Notebook Store!!

In honor of Leader in Me

It is finally ready....wait for it....wait for it...Leader in Me meets the Clip Chart!!  If your school is anything like mine the behavior management Clip Chart is in full swing.  It beat out the sticks, cards, conduct punches, etc because lets face it kids seem to respond more and you get better results.  Well because of our school becoming a Leader in Me school I needed my Clip Chart to become one with LIM!!  Sooooooo here it is....

The lEADER iN mE bEHAVIOR cLIP cHART pACK

Leader in Me meets the Clip Chart!! I have put these two wonderful classroom management ideas together to create a Leader in Me Clip Chart. It can be utilized the same way, but it goes along with the Leader in Me theme. Each Leader in Me Clip Chart Poster is all decked out with different colored polka dots (way cute)!! This pack also includes a Clip Chart graph for students to color in their progress on the chart, Clip Chart posters, Leader in Me Behavior Think Sheet, and an activity to begin the year with called "Recipe for a Good Leader". This pack will help you and your students get ready for student led conferences and overall better school and classroom leaders. **If you like the polka dots, but need a specific color scheme let me know and I will see if I can accommodate your needs for just $2.00 more. Enjoy!!

Please check it out and let me know what you think!

Thanks!

We are a Leader in me school

I'm so excited to say that my school will be a leader in me school!!!  The super cool thing is they come in and basically revamp everything.  I'm super stoked!  I will keep you updated on the process!

It all began honestly ...you see I shared the leader in me things I had found on pinterest with my team and they so graciously didn't think I was too crazy and decided they would try it too!  So we embarked on the journey that led us here!  We got to go to a symposium (we saw Ron Clark speak!!!) We spoke of the symposium so enthusiastically that we told the rest of our co workers that we drank the koolaid and were ready to dive in head first!  Fortunately we got an amazing response from our school and administration and off we went! 

Do you have any leader in me experience?  How's it going...what is your favorite thing that your school does?  I would love to hear from you!! 

lEADER iN mE dATA nOTEBOOKS

Greetings!  I know it is a little early to be thinking about next school year,                                  but I always do my best reflecting at the beginning of summer.                                                      I usually put together a list of likes and dislikes,                                                                        add some new items (Pinterest inspired) to my next year list,                                                       and then I enjoy the rest of my summer.  

After a ton of reflecting the one thing that stood out to me the most is that I needed to PURPOSEFULLY include data notebooks in my classroom.  That not only meant that I would plan to do them, but that I would do them and furthermore make sure that they are forefront in my daily instruction.  After reading that the #1 way to get students to have more than a years growth is to get students actually keeping up with their own personal data I couldn't believe it was that simple.  I know it sounds crazy, but what the hey.  After toying with the idea and incorporating some of it in my classroom I am now a firm believer.  If you are looking for the most bang for your buck I honestly believe getting your students to feel responsible for their own learning and growth will get you there.  The trick for me is taking the time to actually allow students to look, analyze, graph, and make goals  based on their own data.

In order to make sure that I was focused on this task                                                                    I created a set of Data sheets for my intermediate grade students.                                                  I honestly think that if you are looking for a ready made data set to get                                       your students off on the right foot it will be worth it to you.

Here it is...

In this document you will find graphs for reading comprehension, fluency, math unit test, science/social studies test, spelling test, homework completion, independent reading chart, and last but not least a behavior graph that incorporates the clip chart & the Leader in Me.  It really is everything that you need to get your students started!  Please if you buy and give me feedback I will send you a FREE Leader in Me Think sheet to go along with your other items!  I can't wait to see what this year will bring!

Thanks so much!  HAPPY SUMMER!

Click the link below to see the samples and to purchase!

Reflecting on the YEAR

Reflecting on the year I created my top 10 Must Do's

1.  Leader in Me
2.  Data Notebooks
3.  Catching a Habit
4.  Kids create their own spelling list
5.  Newsletter
6.  Everyday Math
7.  Homework Checkers
8.  Clip-Chart
9.  Agenda
10. Math Game Friday

Top 10 Must do (that I haven't done yet)                                                   

1. Google Forms to grade 
2. 2 sticks with a name on each for recognition (Choose 2 student sticks a day and spend time focusing on those two students (compliment, ask them to help, contact their family, send a note, give a sticker, clip them up the chart) without them knowing.  If this worked I would recognize and talk with 10 students a week, 20 in 2 weeks, and 30 contacts in 3 weeks.  This would be nice to know that I had contacted more than all of my class in three weeks time.  
3. Edmodo - Create small groups for reading class assignment, assign a google form test, assign a CIITS test
4. Key ring of website usernames and passwords
5. Begin Extended Response early
6. Student Led Conferences

Down to 2 days!

Not that I'm counting...yeah right!  We have 2 days left until "School's Out for Summer"!!  I think they should play that song over the intercom on Friday!  lol

Anyway a few closing things that are on my to do list...

1.  Fondue party for reward
2.  Memory book - I created a Taxedo hand with all of my students names, then I copied it for them to use as the front cover of their memory book.
3.  Top 10 list (top 10 things that happened in 4th grade)
One of my students actually put "I got the teacher I wanted and she was just as good as I thought she would be"  (my first thought was awe she wanted me....my second thought was I'm glad I was as good as she thought I was!!  Kids say the darnedest things!)
4.  Recipe for a good Leader
5.  Goal setting for summer

We are implementing the Leader in Me at school next year so I'm looking for ideas!  What works for you?

Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook

I think I hit a gold mine!!  This is exactly what I've been looking for!  A 4th Grade Common Core Workbook from Common Core State Standards site.  It has the largest collection of worksheets and activities for the new Common Core Standards (both ELA and Math)!!!  It has 850 pages!!!!!  They include different posters and even some activity centers to teach all of the standards!!  Did you get that ALL of the standards!!  I can't wait to dig in!  This is such an awesome resource!!

Here is a sneak peek!!

Click on the link below to get your copy today!!  

Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook

Just FYI

www.commoncoresheets.com

Have you heard of it?  I stumbled on this gem yesterday and I couldn't get enough!  I couldn't wait to share it with you!  It is most useful in math and science, but hopefully they will add some new items for ELA.  Anyway...what are you waiting for go check it out!

Dana  :)

Leader in Me Song

After recently attending a Leader in Me Symposium we quickly realized upon return that we had to have a song!  We wanted something catchy and one that the students would really buy into.  We selected "Call Me Maybe" and then it got really hard.  :)

We are about 4 verses in after putting our heads together...here is s sneak peak of verse one!  There is more to come!!

I am a Woodland Eagle
I am a leader in school
I want to tell you about
the 7 ha-a-bits!

Love this leader in me stuff!!  Stay tuned for additional verses!

lEADER iN mE...

We are implementing "The Leader In Me" in our 4th grade classrooms this year.  I wanted to share with your our newest display for the habit "Begin with the End in Mind".  We had students to write a goal for the year they graduate from high school.  We asked them to think about what they wanted to do or have when they graduated from high school.  Their graduation year happened to be 2021.  We took pictures of them holding their goal and then placed in in the form of their graduation year!  Here is the final product!  We were all so proud of how it turned out.  

What do you do in your school?  I would love to hear from you!

Dana :)

cURRENTLY mARCH...

I am linking up with Farley for her "Currently March"!  Head on over and link up it is tons of fun!!

Here is what I'm up to...

Can't wait to hear what you are Currently up to!!

Dana  :)

gIVEAWAY!!

Everyone loves a GIVEAWAY!!  Head on over to my Teacher Notebook store where I am giving away my Glogging All About Reading to 2 lucky winners!  Go ahead check it out!!

hOW dO yOU uSE aN iPAD iN tHE cLASSROOM

I'm excited, I'm intrigued, I'm ecstatic, I'm stumped...I just got a new IPAD to use in my classroom with my students.  I was ready, but now I need to hear from those of you that have experience using them in their classroom.  I know I can use it as another computer, but I want to really get everything I can out of my new resource so I need you!!  Please share with me your ideas on using an IPAD in the classroom.

Dana :)

cURRENTLY...fEBRUARY

Wow, February is already here!!  I welcome February because it gets me one step closer to spring!
Anyway I'm linking up with Farly from Oh Boy Fourth Grade for her Currently...

Here is what I'm currently up to...

What are you currently doing?

Dana  :)

fRACTIONS and hIGHER oRDER tHINKING...

Yay!  It is a SNOW day for me!  Sorry I had to start that way!  I love snow days, but even more than that I love Friday Snow Days!!  Anyway I was looking into adding a couple of new things to my TPT store and today was the perfect day for that.

I don't know about your school, but where I reside higher order thinking is huge!  Think about your questions, think about how challenging your questions are, post your questions, etc.  Anyway I had created a Fraction Pack last year for just that...higher order thinking.  So far (to my amazement) it has become my most popular product.  I love you all for that!!  :)

I decided I would throw another product up that was along the same lines and see if you guys could use it too!  I sure hope you can.  This one too focuses on fractions, but it deals with the dreaded wonderful improper fractions, mixed numbers, and problem solving.  If you are interested check it out here!  It is entirely aligned to Common Core for 4th grade and has been a tried and true in my very own 4th grade classroom.

BTW I'm joining TPT for their annual Super Bowl Sale.  All of my items will be 28% off!!

        

Now...I'm off to load my cart!

Dana  :)

Hmwk...I nEED yOUR oPINION!!

I need your opinion...do you give reading homework, if so how much homework do you give?  I would love to hear from you!!  I currently teach 4th grade and have always been up in arms over homework.  Please enlighten me!!!

bEST cLASSROOM iDEA oF tHE dAY!

My best classroom idea of the day was...using Class Dojo as a writing process monitor. 

 I created a class in class dojo for all of my writing students.  When they completed a part of the writing process they came up and gave themselves a point.  This point let me know which step they were on in the process and what day they completed that step.  It has been a huge success for me and my monitoring and the students love seeing their points increase with each step.  I do not have rewards attached to this specific class, but that could also be an option for extra motivation.  

What is your best idea of the day...please share?

.

cURRENTLY...

I am linking up with Farley and Oh Boy Fourth Grade for her Currently Linky Party!  It is so much fun to share...can't wait to see what you all are currently doing!

Here is a bit of what I've been up to!

Hope everyone has began a wonderful New Year!!  :)

Dana  :)