Teacher Week with Blog Hoppin

I always love this time of year when everyone is partaking in fun linky parties! I look forward to Blog Hoppin's B2S Teacher Week every year!

I always meet new fun and exciting people :)

Since I participate each year, some of these facts may not be new to you. I tried to find s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g new!

 

 

 

The movie, Doc Hollywood, was filmed in my very small hometown of Micanopy. I got to meet Michael J. Fox and Woody Harrilson! (I'll have to snag a copy of the pictures when I go back to my parents house) We also got to watch many of the scenes being filmed, which I loved getting to see all the behind-the-scenes fun!  Which leads me to my next fact....

I orginally went to college to earn a degree in Television Productions.  I wanted to be a part of every aspect of the news/journalism.  My dream job, at the time, was to be a technical director. They are the people yelling in the head phone at the camera men and switching between camera shots. They are the 'eyes' of the show. I liked having that control. I lost interest half way through my second year and, using my gut instincts, I transferred to a new school and enrolled into the education field. Never looking back. 

I just recently started using essential oils and they have become a huge part of our lives. Game changer! Plus they smell delicious!! :) 

 

I cheered all through my entire childhood and all the way through high school. We competed a lot. I loved it.  Often miss competitions. I also like to watch Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders on CMT and pretend that I'm one of them! ha

I LOVE lima beans. Weird, I know. I can literally eat a whole can of them...as a snack. Something about the bland texture of those little guys.

I also can eat cans of black olives for any meal.

And top it off with a chocolate chip cookie.

Be sure to stop by Blog Hoppin to join in on the fun!

Florida Blog Hop FREEBIE!

Glad that you were able to join us for the third annual Orange Ya' Glad it's a Blog Hop!

I am the

If you have hopped with us in the past, some things will be familiar, and some things will be new!

This year, all of our bloggers are focusing on FREE tips or ideas that they can share with you to get your school year off to a great start.  Some ideas will have a freebie, others might just be a stand alone concept.  The idea is to try and share things that will solve problems and create a happy and stress free first few weeks!

Let's get started!

Since I will not be going into the classroom this year, I wanted to share just a quick classroom management strategy/tip that I use for dismissal. 

One thing I always worry about is dismissal. The school I have been teaching at has 800+ kids every year.  There are seven kindergarten classroom with 20+ kids in each room.  That's a lot of babies walking around not knowing where they're going!!! Talk about stressing me out!

My solution: transportation labels that HANG!  A quick, easy visual of how the kids dismissed from school daily.  To create, I simply printed on cardstock and laminated {for durabilily...highly suggest}, stapled to a long piece of ribbon that I hot glued to my classroom door.  I then wrote the kiddos names on clothespins, attached them where they needed to go and VIOLA, that's it!

The clothespins make it easy for transportation changes that occur throughout the year.

If a student rides a certain color bus, I simply write their name in that color.  I.e...if Stacy rides red bus, then I write her name in RED.  If a student goes home differently on different days, I give them two clips and color code it based on the days.  For instance, I labeled all M,W,F blue and T, TH green.  I chose those two colors because we do not have a blue or green bus. 

To help you out, I am offering this little guy for FREE!  Simply click the image below to snag your copy!!

I also stumbled upon this bad boy for free and plan on attaching them to the kiddos the first week until they are familiar with dismissal and naviagting through the school.  Click the image below to head to A Modern Teacher's blog to read all about how she is going to use them and to snag her freebie! 

Thanks, April!

I love having share time in the primary grades. 

But when I first started, I didn't want the kids to just bring something in, talk about it for a second and that be it.  I wanted a little learning and social skills applied to this beloved time of day.

So I came up with the Mystery Bag!

   

How it works:

I send home a black, drawstring, canvas bag with my printed (and laminated) direction sheet and paper for the clues inside.

Students are asked to bring something they wish to share, but it must fit in the bag. They are to tell no one from school about their item in the Mystery Bag.

Students come up with three mystery clues for the item they are bringing. 

When it is our designated 'share time' the student then presents the class with the first clue.  If someone has a guess, they raise their hand. Everyone has to be listening carefully so that we don't have the same guess more than once! (They also only get one guess per clue)

After a couple guesses from the class, the student gives the next clue.  This continues until the mystery has been solved! 

We then 'open the floor' for questions about the shared item.

The kids always love this time of day and it's a bonus for you, as students are working on so many different life skills; social and communicative!

Click below to snag your FREE copy!

We will be having an Instagram giveaway again!  At the bottom of each post, there will be a letter.  Mine is...

 

 The letters all work together to give you the name of a type of orange!  This year is a bit tricky...it's a two word name!  **Hint: Start at Tamara's blog and going through will give you the right answer!** 

Once you've solved the puzzle...take a picture of the answer.  

Post it on instagram and hashtag it with #orangehop2015.  We love original ideas...so, do something fun with your image!

We will go through the pictures and select a winner!

  

Next up... a blogger I love! I seriously can spend hours reading tips and tricks on her site!

The wonderful Amy from the 24/7 Teacher!

Exciting Announcement!!

Happy back to school season!
It's a bitter-sweet time for me, as I am not going back into the classroom this year. Not being in the classroom means more time to devote to learning all-things-related to education. Here's a fun way to get started...

I'm excited to announce a fun Florida-centric blog hop!

I'm joining with some wonderful Florida bloggers to give you some great back to school ideas that will give you all you need to start the year off right!  You can look forward to seeing tips from the following Florida PreK-5 bloggers!

Please join us on Saturday, August 8th at 12 noon!

Can't wait to share some fantastic ideas with you!

Let's Talk Bulletin Boards #2getherwearebetter

     

I am so excited to be linking up with Ashley and Angie for my first #2getherwearebetter linky party! 

At the beginning of every year I get excited about and determined to keep up with creating interactive, eye-catching, student created bulletin boards.  You know...the ones that you find on Pinterest, attempt to create and keep up with, and mid-year fail?  Happens to me every time!

I wanted to share with you a tip that has made locating my bulletin board items MUCH easier, which in turn makes me less-stressed! 

This is the storage container I use to store my bulletin board pieces/sets. This picture does not show me utilizing my own tip. 

After this picture was taken, I realized just how messy it looked and how difficult it always was to find the right bulletin board pieces. AHA! I found a solution...  

when you have completed setting up a bulletin board, take a picture of it, print the picture and use it as a 'label'!

Print a second copy your completed bulletin board and file it with your monthly units OR in a small photo file book that you can snag from the Dollar Store. Create a table of contents for easy locating!

 Head to Ashely and Angie's blogs to check out more Bulletin Board ideas/tips & tricks!!