Groovebook!!! YAY!!

I just received my first Groovebook in the mail and have to tell you all about it! First of all, it is a free app that you download on your phone! Yes, I said free. Then you upload 100 photos and for $2.99 they print and ship them to you!

Here is the pretty cover. It is silver and sparkly. The edges are perforated, so the photos tear right out. Most of the photos printed out well. There are a few that are blurry. 

I don't know about you, but I take many pictures in my classroom using my phone. I was able to print these off in my first book. I plan on passing them out to students at Open House!

I hope you are still reading because here comes the awesome part! Use my code and you will get your first month free!

LENS11

Please leave me a comment if you use my code for your free Groovebook!

Hope you love yours as much as I love mine!

Tammy

Favorite Pins Friday-First Linky with The First Grade Parade

I will admit that I am new to all of this and linking up with other Blogs. I am slowly getting the hang of it. I also must say I love this one! A whole blog post to talk about pinterest, YAY!

http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2013/07/favorite-pins-friday_12.html

I have found some amazing things on Pinterest! 

1.

http://www.thecraftyclassroom.com/HomeschoolToolsMathTimesTables.html

What a great way to practice multiplication facts at home. She has printables and instructions on how to make each folder. I love that this would be fine motor and following directions practice. I also love that each student could make one. Also, you could send home only the facts you want the student to practice. Then put a star on the card when they have mastered it and keep adding more cards to practice. 

2. I am a scrapbooker by nature, so I love anything crafty. My new favorite obsessions are Project Life and Washi tape. This next pin is about Washi Tape!

http://secondgradenest.blogspot.com/2013/07/favorite-pin-friday.html

After clicking through the pin to get the URL, I discovered this also came from the same linky party. I currently have a pink keyboard cover on my computer that I am in love with. I probably won't do this pin but love it just the same. 

3. I found these super cute sugar cookies!

http://www.joysama.com/2013/07/swirled-sugar-cookies.html

I love how super cute they are. Also, I love how easy they would be to make. 

I think I will be doing this post weekly!

Thanks for joining me and please remember to follow me and leave a comment!

Tammy

Classroom Management

I am linking up with Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations for this post!
http://seusstastic.blogspot.com/2013/07/classroom-management-linky-party.html

With the upcoming year approaching I am beginning to prepare for this year. It is time to reflect on my classroom management and begin to make changes for next year.

1. Last year I had a basic clip up and down chart. We started off using jewels if a student ended on outstanding that did not work at all. The jewels kept falling off. I also gave Outstanding tickets daily to students who finished the day on Outstanding. This took a lot of time and I will not be doing this next year. 

This year I will use the same basic chart from last year. We will track and document where we finish each day on these handy calendars. They are free so please download them and let me know what you think.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/2013-2014-Calendar-for-Behavior-Management-767352

Students who end on outstanding will receive a sticker to place on their clothespin. For every 5 stickers they will get a new clothespin. I plan on using Washi Tape on the clothespins to make them fun and different for each level. 

This idea came from Stephanie at 3rd Grade Thoughts. This is the blog post that explains how she is using her clip chart. 

2. Late last year I discovered Class Dojo. This free tool is amazing! I do the majority of my classroom management using this tool. I have my class set up along with my class rules. During a lesson I can award points for positive and take points away for negative behavior. I do this all without having students leaving their seats to clip up and down. At the end of the lesson I decide who will clip up or down. It is different every time, 1 positive point does not always guarantee a clip up and 1 negative point does not always guarantee a clip down. Now onto the data part! It keeps track of data for every student. At the end of the week, I print off the data sheets and staple them to Friday Letters. Parents can see what behaviors students need to work on! How awesome is that!

So that is my plan for next year!

Tammy

Summer Organization

This summer has been a busy one for me! I have been busy working hard trying to organize my classroom. My goal for the year is to start and stay organized! Ha!

Well I have decided to do a few things this summer to help with that.

1. Clean out cupboards!

I should have taken a before and after picture of all the cupboards. I am very lucky to have many whole class books. The problem was they were taking up two shelves in my cupboard and I only used them once last year. The storage wasn't efficient at all. I decided to box them up and then label the boxes. I have the title, author and reading level of each book on the side of the box. I also took one book out from each set and put in my classroom library so the students have access to them.


I decided to use my file trays to organize my paper this year. I filled those up rather quickly.

I still had lots of odds and ends that needed a home. Reallygoodstuff.com to the rescue. I am in love with this site. I purchased my book boxes and mailboxes from them last year. They had green and pink plastic organizer bins on sale for $6 for 6 bins. I bought 3 sets and decided they would be a great way to organize my cupboard.

Aren't they super cute? I love that they are stacking. Also since they are in cupboards with doors the colors did not matter.

2. Classroom Library

My classroom library drove me crazy last year. I had white bins from the dollar store. It always looked messy. After some debating, I have decided to try having the books on the shelf. I went ahead and bought the garage sale stickers, I used the rectangle ones. I labeled the books by reading level and they are color coded. This should make finding the right level very easy.

I think I will add some bookends to help keep them looking nice. These books took up 3 shelves the old way, now they fit on one. I can't wait to finish the rest of my library and be able to add new books to my library. 

3. Have Units pre planned and ready to go!

I am still working on this. I have been able to start planning my launch and first units for reading and writing workshops. I am excited to show them to the other 3rd grade teacher and make some tweaks. 

I have found an amazing website that has both Reading and Writing Workshop ideas and lesson plans. Yes, I said Lesson Plans. They have a whole year plan with some lessons having links to lesson plans. If you haven't been to the site, you really should check it out. 

http://www.wrsd.net/literacy/launch.cfm

Also, Please Follow me using either Bloglovin or your e-mail on the right hand side of my page. If you go to my Common Core Math Post and Comment, I have a freebie for you!

Bloglovin

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Trying to figure things out as I go!

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Common Core Math

Last year we implemented Common Core in our school. It was a year that I learned a lot. It also was my first year teaching third grade. Our professional development focused on math and math strategies. We learned about MDI's or Meaningful Distributed Instruction. You choose a focus for the year when writing these problems. For 3rd grade we chose multiplication and division. We have two short story problems for each day. These problems should be able to be solved in 30 seconds to a minute.
After the first problem, I have three students come to the board and model how they solved the problem.
Then we choose one way of solving the problem, discuss it and then try to solve the second problem using that same strategy.
I love that we are doing story problems at least 3 times a week. I also love that the whole thing takes about 5 minutes, once you have your routine down.
I have created 60 MDI's for your use. Each one comes with two story problems. You could use them as an MDI or just use them as story problems.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/3rd-Grade-MDI-or-Story-Problems-Multiplication-and-Division-683035

I also am unsure if anyone sees or reads this. I am also unsure how you would subscribe to follow it. Anyone to comment on this post, to let me know you are seeing this or to help me figure out how I know if people are following my blog can have this for free!

Ready, Set, Comment!