Holiday Incentive Idea

Hello! Just popping in to share a quick holiday incentive idea for your class. Teachers at my school use points or "warm fuzzies" as incentives for their class to promote good behavior. One of the teachers at my school used this idea at the beginning of the year but I thought that December would be a great time to try it out with my kiddos.

I bought several things for my class (see below) and I am going to have my class earn "dollars" (points) to be able to open them up. My idea is that I'll wrap the gifts and then put a price tag on the outside. The "price" is the amount of dollar/points the kids need to earn to open it up. This will be determined by the actual retail price of the item- most of them I got on Black Friday so $7 for Battleship would be a little too easy to earn. :) If one item costs $15 and another is $20 they will have to decide to open the $15 item or keep going until they get to the $20 item. Then we'll start over for the next chance to open something.

Here is what I purchased:

Retail is $20 but I got it for $7 on Black Friday at Target.

Story Cubes- retail $10 but only $6 on Amazon.

Hedbanz game- bought this on Black Friday at Target but retail is $17.

This fingerprint stamp set from Lakeshore- book and ink pad. Retail $22.
I bought the ink pad for $10 at Lakeshore and the book for $8 on Amazon.

Mr. Sketch Scented Markers 18 pack! The kiddos love these for word work. Retail  $16.

What would you pick for your kids?

November Currently

So I'm a little late to Farley's November Currently party but that's okay, right? My husband has been out of town and that leaves me two little boys to take care of. One of whom has missed several days of daycare to hang with grandma in hopes of getting over a nasty cold.

• Listening- to our Vikings lose on one of the games...luckily I still have a chance in my Fantasy Football  League! Plus we are *this* much closer to Amazing Race now. :)
• Loving- I FINALLY found a navy blue and white striped infinity scarf of Groop Dealz. If you haven't checked out that site yet I'd definitely recommend it! It's sort of like a cross between Groupon and Etsy. I even told my sister (who works for Target Corp. in scarves/belts/handbags) that they needed to find one and sell it there. 
• Thinking- I have SO much to remember for tomorrow! We had conferences last week and I got a few e-mails over the weekend. I wanted to keep a list so I e-mailed myself at work. :)
• Wanting- I need someone to do my laundry. Since hubs has been out of town and I have a sicky, we have a TON of it. 
• Needing- I've already planned a few things in my lesson book but I need to get some more filler stuff. 
• Music- Farley wanted us to post some music that we like to play in our room- I love Pandora. I usually play Antonio Vivaldi Radio but use Kidz Bop as a bribe. :)

I'm wondering how my kiddos will be on Monday with Daylight Savings...

Freebie Friday: Halloween!

Happy Friday everyone! This week has gone by quickly for me even though we've had two days of indoor recess! Wednesday most of the classes were able to go out but then it started raining *right* before my class was scheduled. My kiddos were quite happy with having a little choice time, though! Thursday started out rainy and soon turned to SNOW after the kids arrived. Remember that beautiful, big window in my room? It made for a small distraction for, well, the whole day. Luckily it was just wet snow and didn't stick!

Next week will be crazy for me- I have conferences Tues. and Thurs. evening and Friday afternoon. I'm sure the kids will be fantastic and mellow with Halloween and all...yeah right! We are having a PJ day that day. Maybe it will make them think they are tired? ;) Here are some Halloween freebies that I have found from around the internet. Have a great weekend!

Witches' Brew Adjective Activity from Clutter-Free Classroom

Halloween Roundup on Second Story Window- cute stuff here!

Boo Bump and other freebies from Sunny Days in Second Grade

Draw a Monster game from Expressive Monkey

Class update!

Phew! I can' believe that it has been so long since I have regularly posted. I'm so sorry. I have been having a fantastically busy school year and, with a son in kindergarten and one that *almost* toddling, it's been quite hectic!

I know I will post more regularly now that we are into the swing of things. I've been trying to schedule some bloggy time on the calendar (which will be easy how that it's football season for the hubs).

I think I have gotten myself into something new- not just a "dip your toe in" but more of a "jump in with both feet" kinda thing. My principal went to visit a school that was using personalized learning and asked some of us at a meeting if we were interested in trying it out in our school. It sounds really awesome! Do any of you do personalized learning? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I really want to do a school visit to the school that my principal went to...I'm trying to get on the list for the next crew to go.

This week we only have 3 days of school because there is an Education Minnesota conference (our union here) on Thursday and Friday. Here are a few things I'm doing this week:

Nate the Great book clubs in reading using this awesome packet by Judy Kvaale on TPT (which is on sale right now!)

Since I couldn't find enough copies of one Nate the Great book I've got about 6 kids reading each Nate the Great title I could wrangle and they are all doing the same packet from this product.

We are also doing some descriptive writing about haunted houses with this packet from Clutter-Free Classroom on TPT. This was the first thing I ever bought on Teachers Pay Teachers and my kiddos LOVED it last year. They did such a fantastic job with the writing and the pictures. I invited a mom who was a realtor to come in and she taught the kids some of the things that they need to include in a description for a house. 

We will also be making this art project to add to our calendars. We make calendars for families for our holiday gift in second grade. I will share more about these when we finish them up. 

We will be busy but I love these 3-day weeks because I get to do a lot of fun stuff that we normally don't have time to do. :)

Inspiration Board: Dogs

This week our Storytown story is Dogs by Jennifer Blizin Gillis. 

Doggy Dictionary Skills by The Lesson Plan Diva

Give a Dog a Bone File Folder game by Kristi Luckenbaugh

Inspiration Board: Henry & Mudge

Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant is our story this week. It's such a great friendship story and one kids can definitely relate to! Here are some things to inspire my lessons. Just click on the image for the link. 

You can find more at my aStore.

Henry and Mudge Trifold Freebie by Ashley Reed on TPT

Henry and Mudge Printables from Teacher Vision

Ideas from Marcia's Lesson Links

Also by Cynthia Rylant

A fantastic read-aloud for visualizing

A cute spin-off series

Another spin-off series

Freebie Friday

I've had math on the brain this week! We started math flex groups and  I'm looking for some supplementary materials and center ideas.

Here are some fun math freebies I've found for you this week!

Elementary Math Charts freebie from Mrs. Lane on TPT

Math Mats by Melissa McMurray on TPT

Draw a Story Problem by Ashleigh on TPT

Math Minute, Math Fillers by Kim Swoveland on TPT

Free Printable Math Games from Dr. Mike

If you haven't "Liked" The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs on FB , do it now! Amazing stuff!

Frog and Toad Inspiration Board

Our second story in our Storytown series is Frog and Toad All Year. Don't you just love these cute friends? 

Project from Chalk Talk

Frog and Toad Activity Kit from Oceans of First Grade Fun

Gone Fishing puzzle

Frog and Toad board game

Windy Day Puzzle

A Year with Frog and Toad CD

Frog and Toad Activities from Once Upon a First Grade Adventure

Free Frog and Toad Printables from Creekside Learning

Free game board from First Grade a la Carte

Check out more at my aStore!