Five For Friday

It's been a busy few weeks.. Here's a bit of what's been going in my life!

This past week was the Otter Pop Fundraiser my team and I do to raise money for field trips. It is one of the craziest weeks in the year, and I am so thankful that it is OVER! I do not want to hear the words Otter Pop for another year. 

I love Valentines Day in the classroom! 

We had field day this week.. and I am completely exhausted! Three day weekend you cannot get here soon enough!

I'm getting ready to create a new book club/literature circle pack! These are the books I have right now.. But I can't decide which one to do first! All of my literature circle packs come with at least 1 spelling list, a vocabulary list and activities, comprehension questions to go with chapters or given pages, and at least 1 writing activity. Which one should I do first? Or, do you need a book club pack for another book? Let me know in the comments!

I'm teaming up with some other amazing bloggers to give away some things we LOVE! One lucky winner will receive everything in the picture! Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Things We LOVE Giveaway

Where in the world have I been?

Well, the answer is simple. I've been working on my National Board certification. I knew it would take a lot of time and effort, but I was still hoping that I could blog a few times a week. Unfortunately, if I'm going to do this right and pass the different components for my certification I need to devote all of my time to writing and rewriting for National Board. So, I'll blog when I can, and I'm definitely still here! I just want to put forth enough effort into my National Board so that I can pass, and also put enough time into my posts to bring you new and quality ideas!

So.. here's a giveaway to make up for my absence! It's filled with Things We LOVE!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: Things We LOVE prize pack including: Mr. Sketch Markers, Flair Markers, Personal Laminator, Dry Erase Pockets, Dry Erase Markers, Astrobrights Paper, Ticonderoga Pencils, and a $50 Teachers pay Teachers gift card.

Giveaway Organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher), Third Grade Giggles, Teaching Superkids, Sliding into 1st, Katie Roltgen, Just Ask Judy, Traci Bender - The Bender Bunch, Pam's Place, Teach with Hope, Carla Hoff, Tried and True Teaching Tools, Leah Popinski, The Chocolate Teacher, Teacher Gameroom, It's a Teacher Thing, The Corriganite Nation, La-Nette Mark, Debora Marines TeachMagically, Teacher Mama School, The Craft of Teaching, Stephanie Rye-Forever in Fifth Grade, and Jackie Crews.

Co-hosts:   An Apple for the Teacher, 

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 2/21/17 and is open worldwide.

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What I Learned as a Middle School Cheer Coach

Thanks for checking back to see what I learned as a cheer coach!

As I wrote in my last post, I felt a little in over my head at times coaching cheer. I wish I knew these things prior to the season starting, and now that I do next year will be amazing!

I had no transition time between being a 2nd grade teacher and a middle school cheer coach. It took me about 2 minutes to walk from my classroom to cheer practice, and by the time I got there my brain was still in 2nd grade teacher mode. 

As the season went on, I got better at switching to middle school cheer coach quicker... but I could still have improved! The biggest realization I had with this was that things that would make a little 2nd grader cry, would make the middle school girls laugh. They LOVED getting a hard time from the various coaches, parents, and volunteers. I was shocked that they weren't crying. But, I guess middle school kids get sarcasm better than 2nd graders!

I gave the parents my email address and classroom phone number and told them to get in touch with me if they needed anything or had any questions. I heard from exactly 0 parents the entire time. So I'm thinking "Great! No one has any questions, and I'm awesome!" 

Well, that's not exactly how it worked out. It seemed like parents were very thankful that someone had stepped up to take over the cheer position, and they all said that their girls enjoyed being on the team. However, they were always full of questions whenever I saw them at games and after practice! 

I've heard of other coaches giving out their cell phone numbers, which I'm hesitant to do. I try not to bring work home, and I don't want to be contacted over minor things that could absolutely wait until business hours. But... I need parents to get in touch with me if they have questions about a game, that we're currently at, or when we're somewhere outside of my classroom. I may set up a Dojo group for my cheerleaders, or I may give them my phone number. 

I relied on the cheerleaders to relay information to parents about games and practice information. I figured they were old enough to handle it. Some of them did great with this, but most of them did not. I will be getting email addresses to send out the schedule and other game information next year! 

I had a parent meeting with the parents and girls who made the squad. I went over the tentative schedule, the game information I had at that time, and my expectations. I had a lot of positive feedback and I think this answered a lot of questions!

Well, I probably should have had multiple parent meetings, one before and one after tryouts. 

Before tryouts, I should have gone over the tentative schedule, game info (if available), my expectations, and fundraising info (see below!). I think this would clear up any parents or girls thinking they want to do cheer, but not realizing what it is, or the commitment I'm expecting. 

After tryouts, I would wait until closer to game season, and then focus mostly on my expectations at games and other events we attend. I'd focus on my expectations for the girls during the game, attendance at games, and expectations for the parents at games. I didn't have any issues with parents at games.. it was actually the opposite! I think that having a second meeting would allow parents to coordinate carpooling to games if needed, and would assist with finding chaperones for other events and things like that. 

It was clear that I did not use the parents enough! I had several supportive parents, and I need to put them to work next year. Luckily, it'll be easy work :) 

Next year, I'm going to try to recruit a team mom to assist with finding carpools to games or events, assist with fundraising and supervising the girls, and set up a schedule of parents to send in snacks for the girls prior to games. 

I had practice start right after school, and this is something that I plan to continue next year. It worked out well having the girls go straight to practice so we could get started right away. 

I didn't do this before games. I had a lot of girls who went home, and then didn't have rides to get to the games. Next year I plan to keep the girls at school, and practice prior to games starting, have snack, and hang out together. I think it would be nice for team bonding, and then I'll make sure everyone has a ride to the games!

I'll be posting about fundraising ideas on April 3rd, so I don't want to say too much about this right now. That being said, it is so important to start fundraising early!

I don't think I could have wrapped my head around fundraising at the beginning of the season this past year. This is something I definitely plan to start early next year!

I wanted to buy jackets, or other things for the girls, but wasn't able to do that since we didn't have any money. I have plans to do some fundraisers with my girls to prepare for next year so we can start the year with some money in our account! 

I learned a lot of things this year about working with an older age group, and about coaching. It was a steep learning curve.. just like my first year teaching. I hope all those new coaches out there find this helpful!

Come back again on March 6th for my next post:

Cheer Coach - One of the Many Hats I Wear

We all know that teachers wear many different hats: teacher, parent, counselor, nurse, detective - and that's only naming a few! This year I added a new one: middle school cheer coach.

The previous cheer coach moved to a different school this year, so as a former cheerleader I thought I'd give it a shot. It's got to be more fun than teaching after school classes, right? Well, yes and no. 

Yes - because it's fun to cheer and watch the girls perfect things we've worked so hard on. I even had one of my old students from when I taught 3rd grade on the squad, so it was cool to see how much she had grown up! Not so much fun feeling like a fish out of water and like a first year teacher again!

Prior to taking this post, I searched Pinterest for hours trying to find a middle school cheer coach that posted their ideas and things they did with their cheerleaders. I mostly found coaches from competitive cheer, which isn't something my squad was going to do. I looked at some high school cheerleaders, but that was quite a bit too advanced for what my cheerleaders were going to be able to do. It was the first time some of them had been in dance lessons before, and the first time any of of them did stunts so it wasn't very helpful for me.

I needed someone who works in a K-8 school like I do, posting about how they run their program, or even someone who works in a middle school writing about what they do with their cheerleaders. I couldn't find anything like that, so if I'm missing out on something amazing please please please let me know in the comments!

Anyways, since I couldn't find what I was looking for, I decided that I would write a post about the things I learned as a first year cheer coach, how I managed my program, what changes I'll make next year, and fundraising ideas. My goal is for this to help someone who is in a position like I was!

Check back on February 6th for my next post:

How I Gamified my Classroom - Quarter 2 & a GIVEAWAY!

After the end of First Quarter, I wrote a series of posts about how I gamified my classroom during the First Quarter. To see those posts, click the images below!

          

          

I ended it with my goals for gamifying my classroom during Second Quarter, which included adding characters, introducing new mini games, and adding a breakout kit or using that in a challenge. Here's a list of the things I did to add new game elements during the Second Quarter:

This was really disappointing for me. When I set a goal, I do everything in my power to accomplish it. I had every intention of adding new things to keep the "game" fresh, but it just didn't happen. Between becoming a National Board candidate, coaching cheer, planning the field trip and Friendship Feast, midterms, and then everything over the holidays, I just did not have enough hours in the day! I guess that's real life though and some things don't work out the way you want them to all the time. 

But, I'm not going to let it get me down! Third Quarter is a brand new chance to do those things, and with a refreshed mind after Winter Break I'll have the chance to do it better than I could have in the Second Quarter. 

So, here's my revised list of things I'd like to do to gamify my classroom in the Third Quarter:

1. Characters

I previously wrote about adding characters. I have all of these ideas of different characters do use, and now I need to introduce them. I'm thinking of writing messages to the students on the board from the different characters a few times a week, then possibly bringing them out again during a mini game. Any other ideas for ways to introduce the characters to the class? Let me know in the comments!

2. Introduce New Mini Games

I never got around to introducing SMART Board Football, but with the Super Bowl coming up soon I think I see a football tournament in the future. 

3. Breakout Kit

I've got a few ideas in the works for adding this into my "game". I'll blog about that as soon as it happens, so check back again soon!



Oh, and make sure you enter the giveaway for a chance to win a $25 gift card to Teachers pay Teachers!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card

Giveaway Organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher), Mrs Hansens Helpfuls, Samson's Shoppe, The Corriganite Nation, kelseynhayes, A Place of Story, HappyEdugator, and Brandi Caldwell of My Teacher Friend.

Co-hosts:   An Apple for the Teacher, 

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 1/9/17 and is open worldwide.

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five for Friday

Wow, it sure feels good to blog again.  Life has been pretty crazy busy these past few months, so here's a little of what I've been up to lately!

As you all know, teachers wear many hats: teacher, parent, counselor, doctor, detective, etc. Well, these past two months I added another hat: cheer coach. 

It was a lot of fun coaching middle school cheer at my school, but holy buckets that had a steep learning curve! I felt like it was my first year teaching again! I've got a post coming up about my experience as a new cheer coach, so check back again soon!

I have become a National Board Candidate, and this has taken over my life. This has been a goal of mine ever since I found about it a few years ago, and it is almost surreal that I'm going for this certification right now! So if I'm not posting as much on this little blog a whole lot... this is why. 

Coming soon to my TpT store:

A new reading challenge is coming soon! I'm mulling over some new ideas to get your kiddos engaged and reading at home in January. But until then, check out these resources to hold you over:

Oh, and I'm having a sale to start 2017 off right! Today - January 2nd all of my resources will be 20% off. 

We had a door decorating challenge the week before Winter Break and after four hours of assembly and who knows how much more tine in class, we were the winning doors! My team mate next door and I worked together to decorate the Gingerbread house, and we are proud to say that we didn't make any of the decorations on the door  - we just put them up. The kiddos did everything! 

I'm horrible at remembering to take pictures, but this time I did! Well, kind of. Here's a few highlights from Christmas Eve with my mom!

Happy Friday!

Cyber Monday Sale

I'm stopping by for a quick post to let you know that my TpT store will be on sale for 28% off tomorrow and Tuesday. Click the image below to check it out!

Now go load up your cart! 

P.S. I'm having a giveaway! Enter to win a TpT giftcard on my Instagram here.