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  :)