Tip Tuesday-Keep it Simple

 It's time for Tip Tuesday at the Balanced Classroom. The linky part of  last Tip Tuesday didn't go so well.....LOL, but I'm trying again.

  My philosophy this year is going to be "keep it simple". I'm going to make a conscious effort to look where I can trim to reserve my time for intervention and instruction planning. Last week I shared my solution to keeping track of  helpers each week.

 This week I'm sharing a back to school tip. Most of us greet our children with some type of Welcome Bag. I trimmed my welcome bag last year to a few items and shortened the greeting to keep it simple, but cute.

 I purchased little white bags from Pat Catan.

 

 I put it  Smarties, Hugs,  Starbursts, Pencil, and Eraser. I stapled the Welcome Paper to the outside. I made the Welcome Paper colorful, but kept the wording simple. You can click below to download a copy. Link up a Back to School Tip below. 

 

Tip Tuesday

Here at the Balanced Classroom I'm trying to hold myself accountable to post consistently and provide helpful information for my fellow educators. I decided to create Tip Tuesday and invite you to join me in sharing tips for other teachers. The tips can be about anything useful you've discovered or that you do in the classroom. It can be a classroom management tip, classroom set up tip, teaching tip, etc.

  My very first Tuesday Tip is something I've done for the last two years that has eased some busy work for me.

  I used to have classroom jobs with helpers assigned to each job for the week. This required keeping track of who did what job to make sure everyone had a turn. At the suggestion of one my colleagues, I tried something to simplify this.

As most of you do, I assign numbers for each child in my classroom. So I found this cute monster clip art at Scrappin Doodles and used Photoshop to put numbers on each chalkboard.

I bought open metal rings at a craft store and after laminating each monster,  I punched a hole in each. I put all the odd numbered monsters on one ring and the even on another.

 I hung the two rings on metal magnetic hooks. The first week of school my helpers are numbers 1 & 2.  I only have two helpers each week that do everything.( pass papers out, run errands, etc.) The next week I just flip the next two helpers over. It is quick and easy!


What tips do you have to share?

Heatin' Up on Freebie Friday

Wow! It's a hot one today in Ohio! It's a good day to stay in the air condition, so I'm working on planning for the new school year.  We're fully implementing the new common core standards this year along with a new state teacher evaluation process. Needless to say, a lot of change going on. 

  To prepare for this year, I've created organizers to either use as a teaching tool or an assessment of the Reading Literature and Information Text Standards. Along with each standard I've created a coordinating I Can Learning Target to post during the lesson.

 I'm sharing an organizer and learning target for this week's Freebie Friday at TBA. Enjoy and Stay Cool!

Ten Pin Linky

 I've slacked on my posts since school's been out for summer.  I saw the Just Reed Ten Pin Linky and decided its time to get back in the swing. Pinterest has so many ideas that I can't possibly use them all, but I sure have fun pinning!
                                                                    

   Last week the theme was classroom decor. This week is classroom management. I'm like The Applicious Teacher in that I'm getting a late start so I'm sharing pins for both.

1.My classroom library looks a lot like this one from Smarter Than a Fourth Grader. The same color theme and baskets. So cute.

2. I learned how to make these pom poms from Pinterest and made them in my classroom theme colors.

3. Cute way to post rules for classroom management.

4. Drop box for lunch money, notes from home, etc.

5. My husband made one of these for my classroom after I pinned this.

 6. This is a cute idea for an owl themed classroom.

7. Great idea for keeping things like erasers and white board markers.

8. Group rules for classroom management.

9.  A place for children to put classroom books that need a little TLC.

10. Classroom management tool for controlling noise level.

Happy Pinning Everyone!

The Reading-Writing Connection

Happy Memorial Day everybody! I'm honored to be a guest blogger today at All Things Elementary. Head over  there to read my post about using writing to teach reading. You can grab a freebie while you're there also!

 

Teachers Love Oklahoma

  Ashley at The Teacher's Treasure Chest has put together a fundraiser for the Oklahoma victims. For a donation you will receive a generous amount of  teaching products.


                                                               

Keep the victims in your prayers, count your blessings, and hug your children tonight.

Take care......

A Very Improbable Story Mentor Text

        Hello! I'm linking up with Collaboration Cuties for Math Mentor Texts.
 I introduce probability with the book A Very Improbable Story.  A cat named Odds, refuses to get off a boy's head unless the boy wins a game of probability.  It is a fun story that teaches the children the concept of probability through the actions of Odds and the boy.

    Before reading, I list key terms on the board such as likely, unlikely, possible, odds, etc. I tell the children to listen for those words in the story. After reading, we discuss how they were being used in the story. We then, conduct our own game of probability.

I love to use books to introduce new concepts or units and enjoy this linky each week!