The Writing Process

Do you love to teach kids how to write?  I love creative writing.  I remember being in grade school myself, and loving the days when we got to work on writing.  Some kids do NOT like writing.  I married a non-writer.  I think he wonders how anyone on the planet could actually enjoy writing.  Opposites attract, right?

The writing process can be lengthy when you include all aspects of the process.  It can be hard for students to remember where to begin, and how to navigate themselves to a finished product.  Sometimes a quick reminder is all they really need to get themselves going.  Enter--the Writing Process Posters.

These are some anchor charts that can be hung anywhere in the classroom (or even cut out and put on the whiteboard with magnets...eh?).  How can you beat the pencil background?  I love the colorful pencils.  You know how I am--if it is cute and colorful then I want it in my classroom!  In fact, these cute cards make me want to go to an upper grade.  Sigh...maybe someday.

You can go here to get your posters.  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

My Favorite Classroom Reward System

Do you prefer to be positive with your students?  Do you sometimes struggle with the card-pulling systems, or the "three strikes, you're out!" systems?  I know I did.  I never had any kind of negative consequence system in my classroom.  I was fond of "let the punishment fit the crime" for my students.  I think every kid is different, and they each needed to be handled a little uniquely when they misbehaved.  However, I LOVE to be positive with students.  I think it is way more fun to motivate them to behave well rather than scare them to be good.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes you just have to give a kid a look that will scare the pants right off of them, but I generally prefer to be positive.

                                                                         

I have used this system for six years in the classroom, and it is by far the best thing I have used for an overall reward system.  And guess what?  It is easy!  Don't you just love the easy things?  Me, too!  I finally decided that it was about time I shared this idea I had years and years ago.  Want me to make it even better?  Your wish is my command!  This is a FREEBIE!!

             
All you need to do is print the Behavior Bucks and print them on green paper.  You can do white (or another color) but I recommend green.  There is something about green play money that makes kids go crazy.  They eat this stuff up.  Once you've printed these bad boys, use that nice and gigantic paper slicer in your school--watch those fingers!--to cut them up.  You can use scissors too, but who has time for that?

Next step, get a bank.  I used a yellow plastic bin last year.  I've also used a box with a hole in the top.  You can honestly use whatever you want.  Just make sure your littles know where and what the bank is.

I keep my behavior bucks in a little basket on my desk.  I like to have them easily on hand, and out where I can see them so I remember to hand them out.  Anytime I caught a student doing something that I liked, I handed them a Behavior Buck.  They write their name on the line, and take that money to the bank.  At the end of the day, I pulled a few names out of the bank.  Sometimes I pulled out one name, and other days I pulled out like ten.  It is totally flexible!  Winners got to pick out of the treasure box.  I've also done other prizes in the past (extra recess, free assignment, Play Doh with a friend...you get the idea) but I think the treasure box does the trick for kindergarteners.

Are you ready for the freebie now?  Good.  You can go here to get your freebie.

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

Handwriting Packet

Do you ever feel like handwriting is a lost art form?  I feel like some kids come into my class and they barely know how to hold a pencil correctly.  They can run an iPad or and iPhone better than any adult around, but they can't write their name legibly.  I know with the pressures on our students today to perform better than the class before, it seems hard to fit in things like handwriting.  My school pushed a new online program so hard last year, I barely felt like I was keeping my head above with water with things like handwriting.  Since when did we sweep that whole concept under the rug?  I mean, I know we need our kids to know how to add and subtract, but don't they also need to know how to write the numbers?  Write them so I have some clue as to their actual understanding of addition?  Can I get an amen?!

This program is simple.  It gives the students a chance to practice upper and lowercase letters on the same sheet.  It comes with full sized and half sized sheets.  I decided that half sheets are the way to go.  Sometimes I just don't have time in the day to get it all done.  Other times I have that spare 5 minutes before recess, and I don't want to waste it.  Some kids just get overwhelmed by full sheets.  This programs fits the bill.  You can use the full sheet for those advanced kids that cruise through everything in seconds.  You can use half sheets when you only have a few minutes.  You can do full sheets as you introduce the letters, and then half sheets as a review.  The possibilities are fairly vast.  You can do what works for you.

I also have my advanced students turn their paper over when they are finished and draw 5 pictures of things that begin with the letter we studied.  This works well as a motivator, too.  Some kids just really want to draw.  If they know they can draw after they finish their handwriting nicely, then they are more likely to finish instead of chat the day away.

You can go here to get this program.  I have you like it as much as I do!

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

~Leslee

Count, Color & Graph

Do you like to hit multiple standards from the Core all in one lesson or activity?  I do, too.  In fact, I love worksheets that gives the kids time to practice multiple standards at once.  I feel like sometimes you need to keep the kids busy, but you also want them to be doing something productive and helpful.  Am I right?  I thought so.  These graphs are perfect for helping you students work on some of the following things:

*counting
*one-to-one correspondence
*sorting
*graphing
*fine motor skills

Wouldn't it be wonderful if everything we used could meet this many student needs all at once?  AND be something that they could manage on their own from time-to-time?  It's fun to dream, but let's be real.  Not everything in the teaching world is that easy.  This packet, however, is easy peasy lemon squeezy.

With these lovely graphing printables, your kids can work on all those skills, and after you've taught them the process, they can do it alone.  The kids who finish too fast are asked to color (with detail) each of the small pictures.  This keeps them busy while they perfect those fine motor skills.  The kids who work a little more slowly are still developing their one-to-one correspondence and sorting skills.

 The packet comes with 9 different graph options for you to use.  You can use them as bell work, fast finishers, recess tickets, math centers, or use them as a mini lesson with your math program.

Click here to get your packet.  I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine!

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

~Leslee

Classroom Management FREEBIE!

I once thought it would be fun to teach my class how to be popsicles.  I know what you're thinking--she taught her class to be popsicles?  Yep, I taught them to be popsicles.  I taught them to stand with their arms at their sides like they were a popsicle.  Now, popsicles can't talk, right?  And popsicles can't move on their own...do you see where I am going with this?  When you ask a group a kids to act like a popsicle, they eat that stuff up!

We practiced a few times in class how to be popsicles, then I told them every time they heard me say the word "popsicle", they had to be one until I told them to "melt".  What I didn't realize at the time, was that I had struck classroom management GOLD!  The principal walked in one day, so I used that magic little word--and guess what?  Every single kid in my class was being the very best popsicle they could be.  They didn't make a single peep.  They didn't move a single muscle.  Now, you can imagine what the principal thought, right?  She thought that I was an amazing child whisperer.  And you know what?  I was. When my principal left the room I whispered "popsicles melt" and those adorable little stinkers went right back to what they were doing, and I was left standing in awe.

 I soon used the little trick when parents or visitors came in and I needed a moment to talk with them without disruption.  I even had a mother bring in a puppy (Yes, you read that right.  She brought a frigging puppy!) for a show-and-tell.  Normally 25 little students would turn into 25 crazy monsters with a dang puppy in the classroom, but not mine.  Nope!  Every kid stood like a popsicle until I could quietly ask them to come sit in a circle for our guest.  It was amazing.

My little kidsters would ask me if I was proud of them, and I would beam brightly back--until it hit me.  I needed to track their awesomeness!  Thus, the popsicle chart was born.

I hung this bad boy on the wall, and each time my students reacted well to the popsicle command, they earned a tally.  When we had earned 10 tallies on our popsicle, I brought them a prize.  Can you get what I got them?  You betcha, I brought POPSICLES!  If you want a student to work hard for you, bribe them with a promise of popsicles.  It has worked for me every year of teaching.

Go here to get your poster for free.  I have included 6 colored posters to choose from.  Enjoy!

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

~Leslee