Dropbox - to download or check it out, go to http://db.tt/OhtmcAo6

I am in love with Dropbox. Dropbox is an online file storage site. As a teacher, and as you can all relate, I have to work on school work all the time at home. However, our drive space at school is kept on a server that can only be accessed in the district on district computers. So, for years, I was traveling back and forth with a jump drive (multiple jump drives actually, because I tend to lose those pesky things all the time) and/or e-mailing myself constantly. It was quite a pain! Then, our district moved to Windows Sky Drive, because it came free with our district Outlook e-mail. I thought that was pretty cool, at first, because it meant I could access my files anywhere. However, I found it difficult to download and sync multiple folders, and it wasn't an easy process. I would have had to manually set up folders within the Sky Drive. I've also tried Google Docs. I do like Google Docs just fine, but when a friend recommended Dropbox, I was blown away.

 

Dropbox is the easiest file storage/backup site I've ever encountered (and it is completely free). You can carry your photos, documents, and videos anywhere. You literally just download it, and you choose which files to sync, and it will sync them for you, exactly as you have them set up. Then, you can download Dropbox on however many computers you want, and it will sync to all of those computers. I can now access my school files at home on my laptop, at home on my desktop, at school, and on any computer I ever encounter (even if you don't "download" Dropbox, you can still access your Dropbox from the internet). I even have Dropbox downloaded on my phone. Dropbox automatically saves my items to all of my computers, my phone, and the website - it does it all for me, and I don't even have to worry about it.

 

One cool feature about Dropbox is shared folders. My coworkers all downloaded Dropbox so we all have accounts. We can now share files and folders in a secure way where we can all access them. It's like having our own 2nd grade drive that is accessible right at our fingertips, wherever we go.

 

My explanation will not do this tool justice. I would recommend just trying it! Just think - no more flash drives, no more e-mailing documents back and forth to work, just easy peasy and free. If you are interested in checking it out or downloading, please please please click the link below, click the picture below, or click here (you can get free upgraded space if you refer others and if they use your link - easy way to get more space)!

 

http://db.tt/OhtmcAo6

 

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Informal Daily Writing Checklist

I've finally created a daily writing checklist to use during writer's conference or for informal observation as I walk around during writing time. This would also be handy for Daily 5, Work on Writing. This will help me collect data that I can then use for both grade cards and for other student data purposes.

I plan to put this sheet on a clipboard, write the date at the top, come up with how I want my coding system to be (letter grade, 3/2/1, +/-, etc), and quickly and easily mark what I observe for each student on their daily writing/work. The categories covered/included are capitalization, punctuation, and complete sentences. I won't use this every single day, but maybe a couple times a week. This then keeps all of my informal observation data in one place, or I can easily transfer it to my gradebook.

I am going to include a free copy of it in case you'd like to use it also in your classroom!

Enjoy, and I hope you can use this! I've included both a student numbered version (if you use student numbers in your classroom for confidentiality purposes) and a blank one for you to write in the students' names.

 

To download, either click HERE, or click on the picture below.

 



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Bucket Filler Slips

We are a Bucket Filling classroom! If you haven't read "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" by Carol McCloud, you must! You can find the book at most bookstores, including the one below.

There are so many awesome Bucket Filling resources on the web and with fellow educators right now, and it is really neat to see how different people implement it in different ways. The key to bucket filling is that we all have a secret, invisible bucket (I teach that it is in our hearts). When you do kind things, you are filling people's buckets and your own. When you do things that are not kind, you are dipping into other people's buckets. We all want to be bucket fillers, not bucket dippers. I have seen some super cool classrooms that have actual buckets for each child. In our class (keeping things a little more simplified), we have a single bucket - the compliment jar (see my earlier post from last year). Students can write thank you notes to others for filling their bucket, or they can fill someone else's bucket by writing compliments. Then, at our class meeting or during sponge times, I will read a few of the slips aloud and then give it to the corresponding student to keep. We always talk about who maybe needs their bucket filled at our class meetings, and that way no one is left out. My students love filling our compliment jar, and really enjoy giving and receiving their slips. They are allowed to write during writer's workshop or during the writing portion of Daily 5. The bucket filler concept is one that I feel students can really understand and visualize. Here are some free slips for you to use in your classroom if you like! :-) Just click the link HERE or click on the picture below to download.

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Pick-a-Partner Cards for Random Student Pairing

I created some cards as a resource for letting student pick partners in class. These cards can be used much the same way as you would use cards in the Kagan cooperative learning structure, Mix-n-Match. There are 50 cards. Just laminate and cut apart. You can store them on a ring or keep them rubber banded in a safe spot for easy access. I am having a sale on these cards on TpT - you can get them for $1 until Wednesday 7/25/12 at 11:59pm. See the last paragraph of this post for some other ideas on how you could use this same idea with general classroom objects you might already have in your classroom! If you'd like to see these cards, click HERE to go to my TpT store and purchase them. You can also click the preview picture(s) below.

You could just pass these cards out to the students and have them find their match. However, I have students use these like they would in the Kagan cooperative learning structure “Mix-and-Match”. This allows students to not only choose a partner randomly, but it also allows them to get up and move around (very important in the primary classroom)! To use, pass one card to each student (if there is an uneven number, place the extra card in the “unmatched area”). Have the students spread out in the room. Then, play some music or say a chant or something as a class. While the music is playing, have students walk around and trade cards (I always go over my expectations when it comes to this – students are to be constantly moving and constantly trading). When the music stops, students freeze. When you say, “Go!”, the students will try to find their match. When students find their match, you can either have them sit knee-to-knee, hand up/pair up, or stand back to back. They can then go do whatever it is you want them to do as a pair! If you have an odd number of students, and a player’s match is in the “unmatched area”, you can then just have him/her join a group or be your helper/checker.

I created these cards just to have something fun for the kiddos, but you certainly do not have to have set cards. In the past, I've used a regular deck of playing cards (partners have to find a number or symbol matching their number or symbol), colored puff ball (partners find their same color), pattern blocks, regular number cards (like we use in math), unifix cubes, or even sight word cards (you just need a double set and students match the sight word). You could also use rhyming word cards, vowel cards, addition/subtraction flash cards (same sums or differences), etc... This activity can be fun, educational, or both, and it allows students to interact in a positive manner that makes finding a partner an easy thing.  I hope your kiddos have as much fun with this as mine do! :-)

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Beginning of Year - Classroom Procedures Tic-Tac-Toe

As promised, I'm back to blogging (or at least starting up again)! I made a free printable for all my loyal fans who were checking on my page during my absence. :-) Here is an activity for the beginning of the school year, after you've taught some of your basic classroom procedures. After downloading this game, copy on cardstock or paper and have students play in partners. To play, students will use red/yellow chips (or something comparable). Students will take turns reading a box, answering the question, and placing a chip on the box. The partner should then agree or disagree with the student, and the pair can discuss the procedure in question together. The first person to get 3 in a row first is the winner! Please let me know if you have any questions at all. To download, please go to my TPT store HERE and download for free (just click the highlighted link or click the picture below)!

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Anger Choice Cards for the Classroom

Wow, so apparently April and May are difficult months for bloggers. Being still fairly new to blogging, I guess I just had no idea how hectic it would be to try to stay up on blogging!! :-) I suppose after 7 years of teaching, I probably could have figured that out as the end of the year is always crazy, but I guess I just figured I'd be just fine, ha!

Anyway, a few posts ago I talked about how I had some students who struggled with expressing their anger and emotions appropriately. I finally made some anger choice cards, and I hope you can use them as well in your classroom. This is something I've needed all year, and I'm just so happy to finally have them. Hopefully they help over the next 3 and a half weeks of school!

These cards were created for use in the classroom for students to use when they are angry, frustrated, irritated, or upset. We teach students that it is ok to feel these emotions, but that they need to express them "appropriately." A lot of students don't have the social backgrounds or cultural understanding of what "expressing emotions appropriately" might look like. Hopefully these cards can provide your students an idea of some options that will help them calm down in a manner that will not disturb or affect others. I tried to include choices that would be easy to accommodate in a classroom and that would take light prep work. :-) Use these in conjunction with a mini-lesson on anger management. You can either cut apart these cards to put on a ring, or you can just laminate the whole sheet to make a choice board. Please let me know if you have any questions! As far as the quiet spot and cool down box options, I have a little rug that students can take to a quiet spot in order to calm down. I make sure they know that they are not in trouble (this is separate from a "safe seat"). My school counselor put together a little cool down box for my teaching partner and me, and it includes a squishy ball, a glitter jar, beads to string, buttons to sort, and a container of clay type stuff with marbles hidden inside that the kiddos have to find. Some other ideas for a cool down box might be: a puzzle to make, a braided string set to pull/untangle, a rubbing stone to rub, a stretchy toy to pull. Anyway, I think all of the other cards or pretty self-explanatory, but as I said, do let me know if you have any questions! Just click the picture below to download, or you can go to my TPT Store HERE to get it free!



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Best Teacher Magazine

I've had a couple different teacher magazine subscriptions over the years, but Mailbox magazine is by far the best one. Even though many school libraries have it, it is nice to have your own copy. If you were ever going to invest any of your hard earned money, I would suggest it be in this subscription. Their issues only come once every 2 months, but it is well worth the wait. They have tons of tips, ideas, and printables (including games, worksheets, templates, etc). They also have a "companion" website that you can use if you own a subscription. The companion website allows you to print some of the templates right from your own computer. It allows for you to create and edit their items to meet your own needs.

I look forward to my copy in the mail every two months, and I read it greedily, looking for new and fun ideas to incorporate into my classroom. While it may not quite be as entertaining as reading celebrity gossip each month (i.e. People magazine), it's almost as good. ;-) Pin It

An Oldie but a Goodie - TrackStar!

TrackStar has been around now for ages, but it is still a site worth mentioning. This is a terrific, free website that "bookmarks" sites that you approve and pick out from around the web. It's a great resource, because you can either create your own tracks or you can browse premade ones from other users. You are also able to annotate the different sites you set up.

You can find TrackStar at http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/index.jsp.

I use this site to handpick websites that I think will be beneficial for my students and that match our curriculum and standards. I create math and reading tracks, and I put a bookmark for each track on the laptop desktops for my students to use during centers (I usually go in and change the icon to a "star" also so they can access it and see it easily). This ensures that the students are only going to the websites I've approved of and not just randomly searching the web (this still takes training though with young students). I also sometimes send these tracks to the parents so their children can use the same sites at home for consistently. Enjoy exploring this wonderful resource! Pin It