Simplicity, part 3

As previously mentioned, I'm committed to small, simple tweaks this year to make my classroom a more organized and positive place.  Today I present ideas eight through ten!

Idea Eight: Notebook Bookmarks

One of the things my students seem to struggle with when using notebooks is finding the page they left off on.  For some reason unknown to teachers, they love to skip pages.  At the beginning of the year when we set up our notebooks with our table of contents, page numbers, and color coded markers to distinguish subjects, I go over the norms of not skipping pages and using the backsides.  However, by November, this is usually forgotten.

Not this year!

No, this year will be different with the help of this ribbon and duct tape combination!  After journaling, they will simply put the book mark in their notebooks to indicate where they left off and then put their notebooks away.

Idea Nine: The Great Pencil Challenge

Could it be? Can washi and/or duct tape can solve the mystery of the disappearing pencils?

I could have cute prizes for the students who have their assigned pencils at the end of the day, then a few days, then a week.  

When the pencil gets down to basically nothing, I'd give them a new pencil with the same number but different tape (so I could keep them straight). 

Idea Ten: Table Organizers

The great bucket idea of last year failed.  Yes, these shower organizers that were so meticulously color coded by table and had so much hope...didn't work.  

By May, all of the buckets had been stepped on and cracked beyond repair without so much as a simple apology.  Part of this was my fault because the buckets didn't have their own space to rest on when not in use. See, the buckets would rest on someone's desk (if he or she was absent) or on the floor, where the buckets were inevitably and frequently stepped on.

However, I could have eliminated the problem with this set up:

I was already planning on placing my students in Kagan groups of 4-6 (depending on class size), so I could arrange the desks around these organizers.  I know they are at Target, I just need to wait for them to go on sale or be in my cartwheel ap (or both!).  

I'm getting excited to get into my classroom and begin setting up! 

The End of Fifth Grade

The end of fifth grade is a special time.  For my students, it marks the end of their elementary school career.  The end of recess.  The end of being a "child" and the start of being a "teen" (or pre-teen).  It's a very emotional time, filled with field trips to middle schools, a moving up ceremony and a slide show of pictures throughout the year.  It's the start and end of something wonderful, so I want to make sure I end the year on the right emotional note.

Read Alouds:

It goes without saying that is must be read during the last week of school:

I love Dr. Seuss and the "Oh, the Places You'll Go" ties in quite well with fifth grader's emotions.

This goes along with First Day Jitters, which we read at the beginning of the year:

It'd be a nice read-aloud before our awards ceremony.



Gifts:

Money is tight as an educator and with three dozen students, I simply can't afford to purchase them individual gifts.  So instead, I opt for the heart-felt, home made gifts.

Wordle:
I have the students write their name on a piece of paper and pass it around to their classmates.  I then take their responses and create free wordles to pass out.

(To learn how to create wordles, visit this post.)  I usually laminate the wordles and have students sign the backs with sharpies as an alternative to a yearbook (since not all my students can afford a yearbook).

Pencils:

A practical, heart-felt gift that requires markers, cardstock and some creativity.

Bookmarks:

I love paint chip book marks and this would be a simple, meaningful gift:

 It's time to start crafting!

(mostly) Candy Free Valentines Ideas (Part 2)

So I previously blogged about a cute candy free valentine idea:

And shared what I'll be doing with my class:

But I stumbled upon some more cute ideas for elementary students, so I figured I'd share!

My neighboring teacher loves owls and it's the quasi-theme of her classroom this year, so I could see her making these:

All you'd need is some free time, cereal (or chex mix, trail mix, etc depending on students' allergies), bags and construction paper.  On the reverse side, you could write "You're a Hoot!".  How fun :)

This idea is very similar to what I've done at the beginning of the year to welcome students:

But I love using colorful tape to attach the smarties!  I don't know if that yellow would have been my first choice, but the idea is still great.  You can snag this cute, free printable here!

Although my Nevada students would have no idea what this means, I still think it's cute:

It may be tricky to find candy corn at this time of the year...

Next, this idea:

How fun!

These pinterest pictures have lots of ideas:

Not all of them are healthy or welcome in the classroom (no soda!).  But the ideas are still fun :)

For the more patient and crafty families, 

Pipe cleaner pencil toppers are a creative option!

While I made Valentine's gifts for my home room, this may be happening for all my small groups:

How fun! I'm sure a local craft store has a heart shaped punch and ribbon is always easy to find.  What a great way to encourage reading!

With three(ish) weeks until Valentine's day, it's time to start planning!

Freebies

Like almost every teacher I know, I LOVE free things.  LOVE THEM.  Potentially to the point of hoarder-like love, but if the resource is free and useful...

Here are some of my favorite freebies I've found:

 This gem I found on pinterest from another blog.  It aligns so nicely with the Common Core State Standards, specifically our RI/RL 5.1 standard of quoting accurately and making inferences.  I printed this cute freebie on colorful paper, laminated them for my students and tada! A handy mini-anchor chart with sentence stems to help them answer questions.  Obviously I modeled how to use these question stems with the class before I revealed that the source was from a bookmark, which they were all getting a copy of.  Their excitement may have mirrored Oprah's audience members on her give away days, but it's the little things that excite ten year olds.  In this case, laminated paper bookmarks are the hot ticket item.

Speaking of hot ticket bookmarks, this keeper was a freebie from TpT.  

Capitalizing on the catchy lyrics of "Call Me Maybe", this bookmark made my students chuckle.  Be sure to make extras :)