Storybook Character day

Another Halloween has come and gone and this teacher/mom is exhausted.

Whoever thought it would be a good idea for Halloween to be on a Monday should be locked in a room with 20 sugared-up eight and nine year olds.

This year, students who exhibited good behavior for the month of October were given a pass to be able to dress up as their favorite storybook character.

I had 15 students able to participate, but only 2 brave souls did it. I'm so proud of these ladies!

Of course my team had to get in on the action! Here we are as characters from Harry Potter!

Professor Snape (Yes, that's me!), Professor Trelawney, Harry, Hermione, and Angelina Johnson.

My hubby asked me why I chose Snape. I told him, "I have the hair for it, and I can be mean all day and just be in character!"

Can't wait to see what we come up with next year!

ClassDojo Ambassador!

I've mentioned ClassDojo in previous posts. It's a classroom management tool that I've completely fallen in love with. It's a FREE app on Smartphones and can be accessed on PCs as well. 

I love it. My students love it. My students' parents love it. Seriously, nothing but love.

In my classroom, I use Dojo as a documentation and communication tool for parents. They love being able to see how their student is doing in class in real time. 

My students use their Dojo points every week to get to buy things out of my "store". Students with 80% positive (or better) get to spend or 'bank' their points each week. 80% also gets them the Cub Events each month (school wide incentive for good behavior), class compliment parties, and field trips. 

Students who go above and beyond 80% and earn 90% or better for a month, get to earn Dojo Belts. Using the martial arts belt levels, my students have the opportunity to earn a belt per month, ending with Double Black Belt Ninja status at the end of the year. I have students who are already on their way!

I've been the ClassDojo Mentor for my building for 2 years now and I take my job seriously. My teachers who chose to use Dojo in their classrooms are very well taken care of. I make sure they have all the tools they need in order for them to feel successful. :)

So, imagine my happiness when I was chosen to be a ClassDojo Ambassador for my region! I get to represent and share ClassDojo to those in the Southeastern Tennessee/ Northern Georgia area! Whoop!!

I look forward to sharing the Dojo love with one and all! If you're an educator looking for a classroom management tool that's fun and inclusive, look into ClassDojo. Feel free to contact me with questions, or look through their site! Also, you can follow #dojochat on Twitter every Wednesday to see what Dojo teachers are up to in their classrooms. 

Thank you, ClassDojo for creating such an awesome resource! I'm proud to be able to represent something that encourages teachers, parents, and students to be the best they can be!

Math Minutes: Multiplication

Welcome back to 3rd grade! This year the 3rd grade team got together to start a new segment called Math Minutes. These will be short videos on what our students will be covering in math. Our hope is that these videos will help bridge the gap between home and school with our students and parents.

This week's video is on Multiplication and the ways to model and solve multiplication problems.

Core Math Idea:

Problem:

Solution options:

Here's Mrs. Wheeler to explain! You can watch the video HERE or watch below!

Be watching for more videos!

My Babies- aren't babies!

When General Delk's Army started, I was teaching first grade. After a year in first, I was moved to third, so I got to have some of my babies again.
Now, my original blog babies are gone. They graduated fifth grade this week.

I know I shouldn't take it so hard. I mean, I taught second grade for six years before starting the blog, so I've seen kids leave the building. But this class I got to watch grow up, so they are near and dear to my heart.

So, this is my tribute to my babies, who aren't babies. Some I had only in first grade, some only in third, and some in both.

 

 

  

Good luck, Soldiers! Come visit soon! 

(after summer vacation, of course)

JA Day 2016

We love Junior Achievement Day at our school! Basically, it's a day when professionals from the community come and teach social studies and economics standards to our kids. Each grade has different resources that are age appropriate, educational, and fun.

We were honored to have Ms. Lauren Kilman from UNUM come and be our teacher for the day. She did a great job and my students had a blast! We created a community, learned about earning money, and created a new restaurant while learning about start-up costs.

Thanks for coming, Ms. Lauren!

February and March bulletin boards

I've been incredibly lax this year when it comes to blogging and I apologize!

To get back into the swing of things, here are the boards I created for February and March! These boards are found around the school and are interactive for student/ parent/ teacher involvement. This year, I used the same February boards and activities from last year. It just seemed easier since our testing days have been... crazy... to say the least.

February Boards: Black History Month

Martin Luther King Jr.

George Washington Carver

Harriet Tubman

 If you'd like these boards- you can get the QR codes (HERE) and the activities (HERE).

March Boards: 

Dr. Seuss' birthday and ClassDojo: Growth Mindset

Dr. Seuss 

Find file (HERE)

ClassDojo 

Growth Mindset QR codes (HERE)
Unfortunately, I can't share the other Dojo materials because I didn't make them. However, you can contact your ClassDojo school mentor and he/she should be able to get you the materials. You can also join the ClassDojo teacher Facebook page to find awesome materials!
Go (HERE) to get the Growth Mindset Circles! 

I just got the March boards up today, so we'll see on Monday how everyone likes them!

ClassDojo Awards Ceremony

A few years ago, I came across a wonderful classroom management tool: ClassDojo.

For those of you who don't know, ClassDojo is a FREE app for Apple and Droid systems, it's also a website, that helps teachers with classroom management. Students can earn (and lose) points throughout the day based on behavior and classroom achievement, and parents can follow along from their phones or computers.

I love it. My students love it. My parents love it. Basically, there's a lot of love going on.

Well, today I decided to award my students' hard work. It's been a long time coming, I just didn't have the materials to follow through.
So, what's a teacher to do when she wants something done, but doesn't have the materials? She makes them herself!

I'll be the first to admit that, as a teacher, you get used to 3 things: begging, borrowing, and stealing (mostly ideas and staplers, but I've been known to attack a coworker's chocolate stash).  I did use Dojo clipart that another Dojo user had created and shared when creating my Dojo buttons. Thank you,  fellow Dojo user!

I created Dojo "Belt" badges.

Starting with White Belt, all the way to Double Black Belt (Ninja). Not being acquainted with martial arts myself, I was counting on others' knowledge of the belts when I created the buttons.

In order for my students to "Belt Up", they had to achieve 90% or higher for an entire month. For each month they achieve 90% or higher, they will earn the next level of belt! We did this retroactively, so I counted up from September.

I made sashes out of sentence strips to glue the badges on. Students were "belted" by our Assistant Principal, Ms. Anthony. (I even had her wear my kimono! It just seemed right.)

Here are my ClassDojo Belt Earners!

White Belt

Yellow Belt

Orange Belt

Green Belt- so many I had to take 2 pictures!

I'm so proud of my little Ninjas-in-training!  To show off their fabulous-ness, they will get to wear their belts all day Monday! I'm sure everyone in the building will be totes jealous. :)

I also had some students who earned 100% positive for an entire month. They got an extra award!

I know what you wondering- Where are the pictures of Ms. Anthony wearing the fabulous kimono?
Well, she had pictures made with each Team. She's super proud of my kiddos!

Team 1

Team 2

(Side note- my student who isn't wearing a belt in this pic is new, just joined my class 3 days ago. She has a great first week and I'm sure she'll earn a belt at the end of the month!)

Team 3

Team 4

Team 5

I also have my students' levels posted on my wall. (You can find the Belt Level Posters HERE)

Their avatars are labeled and will move along the wall as my students earn their belts!

 

I can't wait till next month when we can do this again! 

Congratulations, Soldiers! 

Keep up the good work!

p.s. I'm a proud ClassDojo Mentor this year! Award for me too!