Done!

I can't remember the last time I made a 200 slide PPT, but my latest product is done and available {here}.  It's #218, which is a tad mind boggling to think about!

I originally created the product for my future third grade classroom.  I aligned it to our school's calendar for next year and included the vacation days.

(Not my planner, but you get the gist!)

However, upon further reflection, I realize this probably isn't super helpful for non-CCSD customers.  So I made a second, more generic version without specific calendar dates.  The revision itself only took about an hour due to the magical "save as" feature in PPT.

I bundled them together and posted the product on my {store}.  I'm excited to use them next year.  A third grade teacher at another school and a fourth grade teacher in my pod are also going to use them (and provide feedback).

My plan for this product is to cut down on the chaos during breakfast.  We have universal breakfast, which means all the students are eating breakfast.  My teaching role is to mark off who is eating, tally which milk they take, take attendance, collect notes, and greet the class within the first five minutes.  I figured by building in the routine of writing and then sharing, they'd have something to occupy their time.  I'll be calling tables over for breakfast and once all the tables have been called, then they will share their answers.

I'm hoping the consistent routine will help.  After we share, then I'll go over the daily schedule, have them toss their breakfast, do a number talk, and start our day.

Plus having the fun journal prompt first thing will hopefully encourage attendance.  Tardy students don't get to share their ideas.

I'll also use these as mini-writing prompts, character education lessons, math lessons (polls, graphs, data analysis), and opportunities for speaking/listening grades. 

What do you do for bell work?

New product...in progress

As a pinterest-loving teacher, the idea of these doodles on the board every morning is inspiring...

...and for me, unrealistic.  I'd do this for maybe a week, then have an emergency meeting, forget to do this, and be sassed by the little ones.  

For those teachers that can manage to not only have a clean board space every morning, but create these elaborate doodles, hats off to you!  I am not this teacher.

Plus, the sheer amount of post-it's we'd go through if I did this weekly makes me cringe.

But, I love this idea.  I think it'd go a long way towards promoting a classroom culture where sharing is encouraged.  It'd be an easy way to get them writing in the morning because I plan to have a special journal just for these warm ups.  At my school, we serve universal breakfast, so this could be their activity while I call tables for food.  After I've gone through the class roster, they would have the opportunity to share their ideas with their tables.  Depending on time, I could also have class volunteers.

Not only would this get them thinking, talking, and sharing first thing in the morning, it would have the second benefit of encouraging on time attendance.  Tardy students would get to hear the conversations, but not participate if their journals aren't done first. 

So some time earlier this week, when I was having trouble sleeping, I decided to start this product.  I'm making a power point with daily prompts.  A ppt, created in advance, eliminates a majority of my time management issue with creating the prompts.  Furthermore, I can display this on my smartboard (which is always clean). 

I'm making this product for my classroom (upper elementary) and based on our school 
calendar (180 days).  Since it's a ppt, it will be completely editable for purchasers.  I'm through the middle of October (it's a labor of love), but here are some sneak peeks:

Stay tuned! I only have 140 days to go...