Summer Buckets

A few years ago I saw this idea on some blogs and Instagram, and as soon as I saw it I knew I needed to do this for my littles, too! 

Summer buckets!

Before I get into what I put in the bucket, I have to give you a tip to buy these buckets on the cheap... As little as 29 cents each cheap. Hey, when you're teacher and you're buying 30 buckets and gifts for the inside of them right before summer the price adds up real quick!

I shop at Michaels and Hobby Lobby... a lot. I'm always looking for craft supplies super cheap that I can use with my students during the year. If you go by at the end of the summer you can buy the buckets for very little money since they're trying to get rid of them. But don't wait too long - they go really fast! 

Now the only problem is finding a place to keep them... #teacherproblems

But anyways.. Back to what goes inside the bucket!

This year I included a book from Scholastic, 

crayons, 

my end of year brochure, 

One side

Other side

As soon as I can make the brochure look cute, I will upload it to my TpT shop!

Getting Ready for 3rd Grade book, 

and a bookmark with their picture.

The buckets are always a big hit, and I only wish I recorded how excited they were to walk into the classroom and see the bucket on their desk!

Do you give your students end of year gifts? Let me know in the comments!

Five for Friday

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I saw this temperature, and I knew I had to get out of town and visited Flagstaff for the day. I will definitely take weather that is nearly 30 degrees cooler! What better way to enjoy a beautiful 80 degree day in Flagstaff than with a wine tasting?

This was unique, and a lot of fun once we figured it out. We went to a place called Blendz, where you get to create your own blend of wine. At first we were hesitant to try mixing wines together, because last time I checked I'm a teacher and not a wine maker, and didn't want to make something that tasted gross. Once we got going we had a lot of fun mixing and matching different kinds of wine! I would highly recommend a tasting like this if you ever get the chance!

This week was the start of the Explore Like a Pirate linky hosted by Sweet Sweet Primary. I'm still reading the book, but it is inspiring me to get creative with my lessons this year. And hey, since I have an entire summer I will have the time to really think them through. Click here to check out the first post of the linky!

I can't believe that I am just now hearing about Bloglovin'! 

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I'm still learning how it works.. Any tips you can give me? 

I've got to be honest here. The start of my week was VERY dramatic. I woke up and found that my condo had become a beehive. 

Yes, you read that right. My condo was filled with bees! If you look closely in the upper left you'll see bees gathering outside the scupper. The picture doesn't show the swarm of bees that are going crazy on my patio. 

 

Close up of the bees. 

It's been a little scary getting these guys out of my condo - both inside and out. May the odds be ever in our favor. 

*Fingers crossed that the bees don't come back*

This week in my Summer Series I wrote about dealing with the difficult class as a whole. I hope that you are spared the difficult class this year, but if you're not you'll need as many tips as you can to survive the year. Click here to read all about it!

Happy Friday!

Click image at the top to go back to the linky.

Things I Learned From Having a Difficult Class: Dealing With the Class as a Whole

This is the second post in my Things I Learned from Having a Difficult Class Series. Today I'm focusing on dealing with the class as a whole. In the upcoming weeks I'll discuss the perfect kids, problem kids, and the kids on the fence. But how do you manage all of them together?

 

My Top Ten Tips for Dealing with the Class as a Whole:

1. If you have a tough group that feeds off of each other, TAKE DOWN THE LEADER FIRST. The followers will settle down when their leader is gone because there isn't anyone to impress or give instructions, and will behave better because they don't need to save face in front of the leader. 

2. Handle behavior issues privately. Kids feel like they need to save face in front of their peers, and they feed off the audience. Take the need to impress their peers and the audience, and you will be dealing with a student that is much more compliant than they would have been if that had taken place publicly, in any way.

3. You do not need to handle every issue at the very second it happens. In fact, there is power in the "delayed consequence" as long as you don't forget about it. If you promise a consequence, you need to deliver a consequence. Which leads to...

4. Never handle a behavior problem when you are angry. You will not be rational because you're angry so your consequence will probably not be appropriate for the situation. Delay the consequence, cool down, and then follow up when you're clear headed. IT IS OKAY and honestly kind of fun TO DELAY THE CONSEQUENCE.

Quick side note with this one.. I had to do this with the entire class one day. They were all just horrible. And you know when your best behaved student is misbehaving - SOMETHING IS UP! They knew they were in trouble, and I was so mad that I couldn't think straight. I ended up telling them that they would find out the consequence the next morning, and were in anxious suspense for the rest of the day. The following morning I announced the consequence, (which ended up being what I initially wanted to do.. maybe I wasn't overreacting!) and they worked super hard the following day to earn back points they had lost. I even heard from another teacher that they were worried about it at dismissal - there is power in delaying the consequence! Just don't wait too long... they'll forget what happened and it won't have the same effect.

5. Work on best teaching practices. Behavior problems often occur when students are not challenged enough, or don't understand what's going on. No teacher wants to hear or say this, but work on your management and improve your instruction, and you will have less behavior problems to deal with. 

6. Be consistent. My class could, and sometimes did, quote me on this because I said it so much: "Every student, every time". Kids notice when you are not consistent.


I once heard a teacher ask, "Can you be 'kind of' consistent?


Well, no. You either are 100% of the time, or you're not. It takes work, but it is so worth it!


7. There is power in being calm. If you're class is pushing your buttons, acting out, doing anything and everything they can think of to misbehave - REMAIN CALM. Take deep relaxing breaths and remain in control. You're the one with the power - act like it and keep calm. I know this is way easier said than done, especially because in the moment you're mad, but this is huge.


8. The students who push your buttons the most and make you feel crazy all the time need you the most. I am not a parent yet, so I know I don't completely understand this.. but can you imagine having to deal with those kids the rest of the day and over the weekend? The rest of your life!? The parents do, and probably feel as crazy as you do. OR, the parents don't deal with them at all, and that's where the behavior comes from.


9. Think about what your body language is saying to the students. We pick up on body language more so than we do on spoken words, so make sure your body language says that you mean business. This video really says it all, and it's a little long and is WELL worth watching!

10. Work the crowd, or the crowd works you. I wrote about seating arrangements and working the crowd before here, but it is so important that it's worth saying again. Move around the room constantly to keep kids on their toes. The goal with this is to keep most of the students doing what they're supposed to be doing most of the time. When you provide feedback as your circulate the room, both positive and corrective, you are working the crowd. If you are in one area most of the time it's likely that you will have to constantly deal with the crowd, and then they're working you.

What tips do you have for handling "that" class overall? Leave your answers in the comments!

Explore Like a Pirate - A Book Study Linky!

I am so excited to be a part of this linky. I mean.. who wouldn't want to teach, learn, and explore like a pirate? I've wanted to read these books, but haven't got around to it yet. What better time than to start now? A big shout out to Rachael over at Sweet Sweet Primary for putting this together! 

Part 1: Plotting the Course 

Chapter 1                The Call of the Explorer: Discover the Adventure that Waits

This chapter was short and sweet, and exactly what I've been thinking about for the past year. Last summer I was inspired to get creative with engagement and work to design fun and adventurous lessons that will get my kiddos excited about learning. Which is what gamification is all about!

This chapter gave an example of a day when the author was in middle school and he looks around at his classmates and instead of seeing students, sees CIA agents. These CIA agents (AKA classmates) are working to uncover a plot to destroy the world. Their CIA captain, teacher, has charged them with the mission of shutting down the plot. If this had academic content tied to it, how exciting would that be?! 

In the past, I've done very brief lessons like this, and want to dive into it 100%. In the past the lessons were kind of spur of the moment so I didn't have a ton of time and resources to get t hings put together. I've done going on the Oregon Trail and took my students on a journey in a "wagon train" across the school. Simple and fairly easy, but the kiddos were so engaged and loved the activity!

Last year, I transformed my classroom into the Bat Cave while we learned about bats. I don't want to go into too much detail since I am working on a whole post about that, but within seconds of the students entering my classroom I had students coming to me to tell me that it was fun! Who knew that working in the dark with flashlights would be so engaging?

I'm so excited to read the rest of the book and read what other teacher bloggers have to say in the linky. I'm all for adding creative play that's deep in content acquisition into my day, and would love to find the easiest way to do so! 

Click the image at the top to go back to the linky!

Math Tip Monday - End of Year Wrap Up

I am so sad that this is the last round of Math Tip Monday. This was such a fun linky and it was great getting new ideas from other primary teachers. I wasn't able to incorporate all of these ideas in this year because of timing, but I'm definitely looking forward to adding things in next year! A big shoutout to K's Classroom Kreations and Theresa's Teaching Tidbits for putting this together!

I'm really excited about this post. This year I learned about Visual Instruction Plans... Aka VIPS! This has completely changed my instruction for the better and dramatically increased student achievement and made my life a whole lot easier. I only wish that I had found out about this a few years ago!

Visual Instruction Plans can be used for any subject area, but definitely lend themselves to math. It is a visual model of the step by step process that uses minimal words so students can look at where they are in the process and figure out what they need to do next.

P.S. Don't you love how the letters are falling off? It must be the end of the year!

In 2nd grade, we do a lot with addition and subtraction. Gotta get those facts down! But when we get in to double and triple digit addition and subtraction, the kiddos can get tripped up with the steps sometimes. Well.... Not with this! All but one of my students could follow these plans with any strategy and this is something I am DEFINITELY going to use again next year. It is a resource that is well worth your time to create.

Check out the other blogs in the linky! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Five for Friday

 At 115 degrees outside today I will be spending all of my time indoors. And tomorrow is supposed to be 117.. It's too soon!

Basically.. it's time for a nice and cool in air conditioning Five For Friday post. 

My first post in my Summer Series - The Things I Learned From Having a Difficult Class went live this past week. I firmly believe that when you get that difficult class that taking care of yourself becomes the most important thing you can do. Read all about it here!

I love the library. I started my summer reading this past week, and I can't wait to read more. What else should I to add to my reading list?

I've been taking a class to learn more about SMART boards and Notebook software. Wow, there is so cool stuff out there! I've been super busy creating more interactive lessons that align with my curriculum this past week. Anyone interested in a video tutorial about fun stuff in Notebook? Let me know in the comments!

It's time to say good-bye to this couch.. Two of the cushions have completely collapsed, and it's insides are spilling out. It had a good life, but it's time for an upgrade! Now just to find a nice couch in my price range, color, and size... Easier said than done!

I decided to revamp my Reading Log. This past year I had less than 5 out of 30 students complete their monthly reading log... so clearly it needs something to make it more engaging! So this summer I got to work and created The Ultimate Reading Challenge!

It includes:

• Several templates, game board and calendar, for you to use with your students
• A brochure that gives parents suggestions for reading and writing activities to do at home in August with 2nd graders
• Choices that engage students and allow them to earn points or advance spaces on a game board, depending on which form you choose
• Reading and writing activities that are easy enough for 2nd graders to do with minimal to no assistance that are still fun

It's on sale for $1.00. Click the image to check it out! September is coming soon. 

Happy Friday! Click here to go back to the link up. 

Things I Learned From Having a Difficult Class: Taking Care of Yourself

This is the first post in my Things I Learned from Having a Difficult Class Series. Today I'm focusing on taking care of yourself. In the upcoming weeks I'll discuss managing the class as a whole, the problem kid(s), and the perfect kids. 

Did you know that it is extremely common for teachers to have health problems? I've heard about high blood pressure, foot problems, bladder infections, migranes, anxiety, TMJ/grinding teeth, not to mention always being sick from all the different bugs were exposed to - and that's just naming a few!

Taking care of yourself is so important in general, but becomes even more important when you have a difficult class. I mean, teaching can already be stressful enough when you have a class full of little angels should you ever be so lucky, but when you add in that one child who really gets to you.. well, things could get ugly. But only if you let them!

I'm sure this won't be the only time you've heard this, but if it is - seriously take it to heart! You and your students will benefit from a well-rested and HAPPY teacher. 

The grading can wait. 

The things you *need* to cut out can wait. 

The pencils that need to be sharpened can wait.

Lesson planning can wait.

The emails can wait.

This is difficult for me to do. I put 110% into what I do, and I won't settle for doing anything less. The students deserve the best, and I am determined to give it to them. BUT, when you're stressed beyond belief because your behavior student had multiple meltdowns in one day and keeps getting dumped back in your classroom because no one else wants to deal with them and you're holding on to your sanity for deal life - for goodness sakes GO HOME AS SOON AS YOU CAN!

Teachers spend so much time at work, and a good portion of that time isn't even paid. I'm talking early mornings and/or staying late. You can't do this every single day, but make the most of your time at work and GO HOME. Leave work at work, and go do something for you. 

Take a walk outside. Go hiking. Read a good book. Go to a movie. Go take that one class at the gym and let someone else be the teacher for an hour. Find a good happy hour and go with your friends. Do something for you that has nothing to do with teaching. Invest in yourself and you will thank yourself in the long run. Nobody on their deathbed says that they wish they spent more time working!

P.S. - Take a sub day if you need to. It's better to take a day to save your sanity than develop severe pains in your abdomen due to being SO stressed by your students. Learn from my experiences and take care of yourself. 

Check back next week to get some more tips for handling a difficult class!

P.P.S - In addition to taking care of your health, make sure you know your rights as a teacher. I will have more information about this in my post about documenting and the big picture, so I don't want to say too much about it now, but that being said..  It is super important to take care of yourself professionally and legally. Check back soon for more about this!