There, Their, They're Anchor Posters

I have a confession.  I can't stand when people misuse there, their, and they're.  Your and you're give me the same row of goosebumps down my arm when they are not used correctly.  When grown adults misuse those words, I seriously wonder if they missed that day in class.  How could you NOT know the difference?  But you know what?  A lot of people don't know the difference.  It is a common enough thing that I find myself cringing a few times a week it seems.

I remember when I was young, I struggled with the < and > symbols.  Which one meant greater than?  I hated those stupid little marks.  It wasn't until a teacher pointed out that the one that looks like a capital L would always mean less than.  DING!  The lightbulb clicked on, and I haven't looked back since.  This made me think about those kids that struggle with which word to use.  Then it came to me--anchor charts!  Not just anchor charts, but anchor charts that would help them make a permanent connection in their brain so they would remember which word to use in each situation.

Do you want these for yourself?  I hope that they will help some students out there understand that they're capable of using the right words in their writing.  See what I did there?  You can go HERE to get your cards.

Teach a kid, give someone hug, and have a wonderful day!

~Leslee

Printable Name Tags

I feel like all the teacher supply stores are going out of business.   Anyone else?  I feel like in some way that is good, because it means teacher are becoming more creative and innovative, but sometimes it would be nice to run down to the store and get a pack of name tags.  I am also one of those people who can stand in the store for an hour and not buy a thing, because I can't find the exact idea I have in my brain.

This is a pack of printable name tags.  I have included 15 different options, and all you need to do is print, write, laminate, and cut.  I am a fan of different colors.  You can use them to split up your reading groups, or arrange them by table.  You can even print these and use them to label all of your bins and drawers.  Everyone has bins and drawers in the classroom!

Here are a few examples of the tags I made.

I hope you like them as much as I do.  I think I may actually end up making even more!  You can go HERE to download these.

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!

~Leslee

Super Cute Classroom Posters

Do you love to have reminders for yourself?  I can't survive if I don't have daily reminders, and teaching is no exception.  When I am teaching, I need a timer to go off, a sticky note on my desk, or an IM to pop up on my computer to keep me on track.  Am I alone in this, or do I hear an amen?

I remember my first year of teaching.  I had all these stellar ideas that I wanted to try with my new little class.  The problem was, I forgot to use half of them, because I don't remember a darn thing!  Then I realized that I wasn't alone in this.  No, no.  My dear students "forgot" how to do things all the time.  For instance, do you have that one kid in your class that can't remember to write his name on his paper?  Ever?  Me, too.  Do you have that little girl in your class that can't seem to remember how to line up at the door?  I mean, you've practiced it daily for months, but kids forget things, right?  How about the kid who slops things together in two seconds so he can get to that Fast Finisher bin? How about that one in your class that can't remember to take a deep breath when they don't understand something right away?  Sound familiar?  I figured it did.

To help with all of these little issues that pop up in every regular classroom, I made some posters.  As much as I like to pretend that this kind of thing is for the students, I must admit that it is just as helpful for me.  I need to remember that some kids just can't remember to write their frigging name on the top of a paper, and that it isn't the end of the world.  I need to remember that some kids just need a constant reminder for how we line up.  I also really need to remember that sometimes I need to take a deep breath when I've taught the same concept a bajillion times, and that one cute little squish just doesn't seem to get it--yet.

You can check out these posters HERE.

If you think you also need these little reminders, and more, check out my super cute classroom poster set.  It is officially one of my favorites.  It comes with 5 different posters.  Use one, or use them all, but you can't go wrong.

Again, check these out at my store HERE.

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!
~Leslee

My Dr. Seuss Classroom

Don't you just love Dr. Seuss?  I have read plenty of books for children over the years, and Dr. Seuss still seems to be a favorite.  A few years ago, Mrs. Rounds and I were trying to decide what we wanted to do in our classroom.  She came up with Dr. Seuss as a theme, and I went CRAZY with it.  I spent hours on Pinterest looking for some cute ideas, and I found a few, but I decided I couldn't find anything that was good enough, big enough, or exciting enough.  I wanted our students to walk into the room and be blown away.  I didn't want anyone to wonder what our classroom theme might be.  It needed to be known the moment people walked into the room.

So how did I solve this little problem?  Well, first of all, I went and got some poster board.  Lots of bright and cheerful poster board.  I would look up a Dr. Seuss character online or in a book, and I would do my best to draw that same character onto the poster board.  Some characters were drawn on two or three poster boards that I later taped together.  For real, who doesn't love a six-foot Cat in the Hat in the classroom?  Here are some pictures of the things I made for our room.

Horton was a bit tricky.  Most of the Dr. Seuss characters were simple to do with poster board, because they are each mainly on color.  Horton is gray.  Did you know that gray is not a readily available color in poster board?  I had to do this guy on white poster board, and then I found some oil pastels in the closet that I used for his body and outline.  I used a giant pom-pom for the speck.

Lora teacher desk!  This was so flipping simple.  Anyone could make this.  If I could make it, you can make it.  I recommend running your poster board through the laminator before you use them.  Kids are gross, and they can make things in the room super gross.  If you laminate, you can just use a cleaning wipe to clear off any goodies the kids leave behind.

This is my daughter (3rd grade) next to our Cat in the Hat.  He is a pretty tall guy.  The kids loved standing next to him.  We had one in the hall with a welcome sign, and this one in the room.  So fun for the kidlets.

I made about 12 of these fish, and we hung them from the ceiling using fish line.  It was great to create that 'suspended in air' feeling.  Again, the kids thought it was grand having the fish "swimming" above them.

Do you love Target?  Do you LOVE the dollar bins?  I frigging love those sweet little bins.  Guess what?  They had weeks and weeks of Dr. Seuss stuff.  I was able to get some bags for a dollar each.  I cut them up and stapled them to some canvas I had lying around.  This is how it turned out.  

This is our birthday board.  Each balloon has a month, and the corresponding birthdays written on it.

This is our reading corner.  I could type all day long about reading.  I have a serious passion for reading.  I love to read.  I read a few books a week.  You can usually find me in my bed reading until the wee hours of the morning.  I just can't help myself.  Reading is magical.  I desperately want kids everywhere to know that reading can be magical for them, too.  But you know what?  Reading is hard for lots of kids.  I wanted to make reading as much fun as I possibly could for those kinds of students.  I wanted them to still have a positive relationship with literature, even if reading is frustrating and difficult.  

This is our reading corner.  Mrs. Rounds came up with the idea to make the trees from the Lorax.  We used pool noodles (um, go to the Dollar Store.  The Dollar Store is a palace filled with things like cheap pool noodles!) and tissue paper to make these.  They turned out so cute.  We have them all over the room.

This is where I have my writing station.  The Sneetches were featured in this part of the room.  I did this to remind the kids to be kind to one another while working at the stations.  No one wants a star-bellied Sneetch sitting next to them!

The Grinch was stuck up in the highest corner of the room.  He looked down on the kids.  I used to tell them that he was hoping to catch them doing something naughty, so he could ruin their Christmas.  The kids got a huge kick out of that.

Some of my projects required a bit more than poster paper and a laminator.  These next two items required the thrift store and some paint.  I got this small table for 3 bucks, and I already had a ton of paint at home.  I printed the quote on the table onto a piece of paper that I used ModPodge to attach to the table.  Just make sure you use some kind of sealant over the top if you do this.

I love sitting in this chair.  How can you not smile at polka dots and stripes?  And I'll tell you what, my students will do just about anything if it means they get to sit in this chair for a moment.  They love it.  I painted the chair with a bunch of colors and patterns, and when I was all done I used a black sharpie to go around the circles and stripes.  It added some dimension, and made the colors pop.


Mrs. Rounds and I have enjoyed having this creative classroom.  It has made it fun for the kids, and parents are always impressed with our mad skills.  I hope you found a few ideas that you like.  Thanks for reading!

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!
~Leslee

Classroom Rules Posters

Do you hate classroom rules?  Hear me out--do you hate feeling like you have to teach specific rules?  Wouldn't it be nice if students could just BE NICE?  I used to always tell my students to just be nice and listen, and they would always do fine in my class.  In fact, once when I was observed by my principal, she told me everything in the lesson was great, but she didn't see classroom rules posted somewhere in the room.  I told her that my rules were just to be nice and listen, and that my students knew the rules.  She didn't buy it.  Although I'm not totally sure why we have to have rules actually posted (especially when half the kids in my grade can't even read them) on the walls, but apparently that is the new "must" in education.  Sigh.


Why can't we just keep things simple?  I am not a huge fan of big extravagant rule systems that come in a sweet little packet with pre-set consequences.  Nope.  Not for me.  I believe in teaching kids to do their best and be their best.  I don't need thirty rules hung on the wall to remind a kid to sit down all day long.  Newsflash: some kids can't sit all dang day long!  Are you with me?

Since most of my students aren't reading until at least half way through the year, I decided I wanted to make some rules (to post--make the principal happy) that the kids could remember.  I thought if I used the idea of ABC's, the kiddos might remember a bit more easily.  These rules are short and sweet.  If that is how you roll in your classroom, then this set of rules is for YOU!

The posters are bright and fun.  You know how I feel about color.  You just can't do boring in the lower grades. You can go here to print your rule posters.  Go on now, make your principal proud.  More importantly, help the kids understand the most basic expectations of all teachers everywhere.  Thanks for visiting.

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!
~Leslee

Alphabet Wall Cards

The classroom I inherited had some ugly alphabet cards hung on the wall.  You know the type.  Colorless and BORING.  I don't do boring very well.  I need color and fun--especially in the classroom.  This set of wall cards is perfect to bring some color into your life.  Do you ever have those students who ask, "which one is the B?" and you're trying to point it out on the wall?  I hate that, but just telling them to look at the orange one, and pointing them toward the beginning of the alphabet is sure nice.

The set comes with full sheet and half sheet options.  I like the full sheet for the wall, and then the half sheet to just keep near the front of my classroom in a stack.  A few times a day I will whip them out and we use them for fluency practice for both letter identification and sound fluency.  It works like  a charm.  As an added bonus, when they see the same card in my hand as they see on the wall, they tend to connect the dots a little quicker on the letter identification.

Aren't these colors fun?  And one of my favorite things in this world is polka dots.  I feel like it just brings some fun to the class.

I think the smaller cards would be great in a literacy station, too.  The kids could use them as flashcards, or they could sort some first sounds onto the matching letter.  That sounds like a win-win to me as far as the core is concerned.  You can go here to get your cards.

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!

~Leslee