September Currently

I cannot believe that another month has flown by so quickly! Where is this year going?!?

I started back to school on August 14th (teachers only) and August 20th (students started). Since then I’ve been so busy and exhausted, that most days I don’t even remember what day of the week it is! Yikes!!! I started working on my Currently post on Tuesday evening, but could barely keep my eyes open to finish it, so that is why I’m a few days late. Better late than never, right!?!

Here’s what I’m currently up to! When your done reading be sure to head on over to Farley’s blog so that you can link up too!!

Listening: I’m enjoying some time alone and just sitting with no TV on or anything, just me, my computer, and my thoughts. This might get a little dangerous! LOL!

Loving: We’ve only been in school for 10 days, but I am truly enjoying getting to know my new group. They are a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see all that they will accomplish this year!

Thinking: I’ve been dying to blog about my classroom set up and share many of the pictures that I took, but I’ve just been to exhausted to even think about and I’ll admit it, I get so distracted when I get home, that I start working on other stuff and before I know it, it’s time to shut down for the night. Maybe if I keep putting it on my To Do List I might actually get a post done before the weekend! Fingers crossed! Oh yea, and the whole house cleaning thing, I just need to stop being lazy and get it done! There’s always the weekend, right?!?

Wanting: Who doesn’t need more hours in the day!! I might actually get more things crossed off of my ever growing to-do list if that were the case!

Needing: Once again this crazy house cleaning thing has come up! Guess that really is a sign that I NEED to do it and stop putting it off! I also need to start going to bed earlier. I don’t drink coffee, YUCK, so I need to make sure I have all the energy I can for my little busy firsties! I also stay up WAY to late and then wake up early! On average I get about 5.5 hours of sleep! That’s not THAT bad, is it?!?

Trips: I’ve never been to Disney World and I LOVE all things Disney, so that is a definite MUST! The other 2 trips are because I love the water and beach and just all out bliss! Thinking of these places just puts me in a happy place and I hope to one day visit them along with Disney World!

That’s what I’m currently up to! Feels good to get one thing off of my to-do list. Now to go tackle the other 5,333,983, 019, 012 things!  

I’ll be back in a few days to FINALLY share pictures of my classroom this year!

Until Next Time…

Have FUN Learning & Teaching!!

You Oughta Know About... Class Dojo!

 

I’m linking up with the amazing Mrs. McClain from Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for this month’s You Oughta Know Blog Hop! This hop is full of amazing tried and true ideas that fellow teachers/bloggers, feel that you just “Oughta Know!”

One of the resources that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE to use in my classroom is Class Dojo!!! Have you heard of it?!? If not let me tell you a little more about it.

I first discovered Class Dojo at a technology conference that I attended a couple of years ago. This particular year, I had a group of students that liked to keep me on my toes. After attending the conference I decided that the day I got back I was going to give Class Dojo a try and see how the students responded. They LOVED it!

What is Class Dojo?

It is a FREE behavior management tool that allows you to encourage your students through positivity. It is interactive and allows you to provide immediate feedback to students about their behavior (both positive & negative). The data that is collected can be very useful in parent conferences or meetings with administrators.  Parents can also stay connected and if given access to their child’s account they are able to monitor behavior while their child is at school and know the type of a day he/she had before they even get home from school.

How it Works

To get started you can use an interactive whiteboard, computer connected to a projector, smartphone, tablet or even an iPod. As long as you have some type of device with an internet connection, you will be able to access Class Dojo. Each student in the class is given an avatar. As the teacher, you set up your account to show positive behaviors that you want your students to demonstrate and possibly negative behaviors that you are trying to have your students eliminate from their daily habits. Any time you see students demonstrating the desired behaviors, you can award them a Dojo Point. If a student is not demonstrating the desired behavior, you have the ability to remove a point from them by selecting the undesired behaviors that you have set up. Everything is done in real time so all feedback is immediate and helps to keep students engaged. Reports can be generated at the end of each day to see how individual students did as well as your entire class.

 

Cool Features

* Messaging to parents- Another feature that has been added this summer, I have not had a chance to test it out

* Ability to take attendance to keep track of absences

* Class Dojo now has the ability to be used school wide meaning that your librarians, music, p.e., art, administrators can all have the ability to award your students points if you share your class with them.  This is something that was rolled out just over the summer, so I have not had a chance to test it out yet.

Why I LOVE Class Dojo!

After implementing this tool with my group that kept me on my toes, I noticed SIGNIFICANT changes in the behaviors that were being demonstrated. My students, specifically the boys, really wanted to remain in the positive and help add to our overall class positive points count. I had several students tell me “Ms. Hamm, I’m going to have a great day today because I really want to earn enough Dojo points to get to the Wall of Fame!” Hearing them say this made my heart happy because they genuinely wanted to change their behavior for the better. This past school year, I was able to utilize Class Dojo for the entire year and it proved to be the BEST behavior management program that I have been able to use in my classroom. Just to give you an idea of just how powerful this tool is, last year on the last day of school we took a look at our overall positive and negative points for the entire school year. I was absolutely shocked at what the data showed me. My students had received 6,517 Positive points and ONLY 154 Negative points for the ENTIRE year!! The class the year before that, you know the ones that kept me on my toes, had racked up more negative points in 2 months than last year’s class did in the entire year.

Other Things I Do with Class Dojo

* Each year I establish some sort of Wall of Fame that allows me to recognize those students who achieve our goal of getting 10 or more Dojo points in a week. They get a special star or shape that relates to our classroom theme, write their name on it and it gets added to the wall right behind my desk. Not only do they get their name on the wall, but they also  get to pick a reward, such as lunch with the teacher, computer time, reading to the class, etc. I make it a point within the first few weeks of school to get every student to 10 points so that their name is added to the wall. From that point on they all try really hard to get their name added many more times! Trust me they keep track of how many times they are up there and they notice the ones who get their name up there a lot!

* When students reach 10 points, they receive their code to have home access and they get to then change their avatar. They love when we project the class the next day and everyone can see that they changed their monster.

* Use Class Dojo in conjunction with a class economy system. (I do this when we are learning about economics in the later part of the year). For a specific number of Dojo Points, students earn that value in classroom cash. They can then purchase rewards such as a new pencil, sitting in the teacher’s chair, lunch with the teacher, etc.

Have I been able to convince you of just how amazing Class Dojo is?!? I am one of the Class Dojo mentors, so I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. I hope that you give this tool a try this year and let me know what you think!

Now be sure to head on over to the other bloggers in the hop to see what things that they feel you “Oughta Know…”

An InLinkz Link-up

Until Next Time…

Have Fun Creating a Positive Learning Environment!

Hugs,

August Currently & New Products

 

Please say it isn’t so… is it really August already?!? Where has the summer gone? I honestly can’t complain, I have had a very relaxing and enjoyable summer so far, so the time off has been very much appreciated. I also secretly LOVE the month of August, because it’s my birthday month, even if my birthday isn’t until the VERY end of the month!!  

Since it’s the start of a new month that means it’s time to link up with the amazing Farley over at Oh, Boy Fourth Grade! for her monthly Currently Linky!

Listening: I admit it…I watch Guy Code, I also watch Girl Code when it’s on. These shows are very funny to me. It’s fun hearing their opinions on different topics, some I can relate to and others is just LOL because it’s unreal!

Loving: I started my fitness journey at the end of June by using Rachelle’s 3 Weeks No Cheats. I’m on my 2nd round of not missing a daily workout, whether it’s going for a walk, to the gym, or just doing some exercises right here in the comfort of my home. It’s the BEST decision that I’ve made lately! I’ve come to enjoy working out and most days crave it! Let me just say that is something that I NEVER thought I would ever say! I’m bummed to be heading back to school soon, which means I won’t be able to get my morning walks in, but I do plan to continue getting my daily workouts in, just in the afternoons/evenings when I get home. I’m sure I’ll be deadbeat tired those first couple of weeks back to school, but I’ve got to stick to it! Can’t let myself slip now that I’ve come this far!

Thinking: Summer has truly flown by. It does not feel like I’m getting ready to head back to school and it definitely doesn’t feel like I’m going to have a new group of students. I’m excited for the new year, but I want summer to just slow down just a teeny tiny bit!

Wanting: My boyfriend and I woke up and went straight to the gym (our new normal Saturday morning routine) so now all I want to do is take a nap. I’ve actually been wanting to take naps all week, but I’ve been doing my best to resist the urge because I don’t wan to start taking naps this late in the summer. That will make heading back to school even more difficult than it already will be.

Needing: With school right around the corner I really need to get myself in gear and get some things created that I’ve been putting off. Some of it is kind of hard to get done, because we won’t get our class list for another 2 weeks or so, but there are some crafts that I’ve begun and need to finish. I have been getting a lot of paper work type things done, but there is still SO much more that I need to get done. In the end I know it will all get done, it always does!

So that’s what I’m currently up to, what about you?!? Head on over to Farley’s blog to link up!

Before you go…I just want to share a few new products that are listed in my store. Click on the images to be taken directly to the products in my TPT store. I still have lots of other things that I want to create and will be adding things to my store more frequently!

                

That’s all I have for today! Once I’m able to get into my room and start setting up, I’ll be back to post pictures.

Until Next Time…

Have Fun & Live Life to the Fullest!

Meet the Teacher Monday…on Tuesday!!

So I’m trying my hand at joining blogging linky parties this summer and thought that it would be fun to link up with Trina over at The Ordinary to Extraordinary Classroom, for her Meet the Teacher Monday: Summer Edition! Head on over there so you can link up and meet some other awesome teachers!

Meet the Teacher Monday: Summer Edition

1. What's your summer teacher persona? 
Slacker Teacher:catching up on every episode of everything you wanted to watch during the school year
Mommy-On-The-Go: consumed with your children's extracurricular activities
Summer Fun Teacher:hanging with friends and traveling the world
Overachiever Teacher:Making TPT products, preparing your classroom, you never really took a break
I would have to say that my summer persona is a cross between Slacker Teacher & Summer Fun minus traveling the world! J I’ve been having a pretty lazy summer, with the exception of the one week that I worked for our local Kids College and my daily workouts. Besides that I’ve been having fun, doing whatever makes my heart content!
2. It's a sunny day in July. Your schedule is wide open, so you decide to?
Go for a nice walk through my neighborhood and read a good book outside. I might even go get my car washed, something that RARELY happens!
3.What is your favorite summer thirst quencher?
An ice cold glass of sweet tea or water. I’ve been trying to up my water intake so that’s what I’ve been drinking the most this summer. Put a glass of sweet tea in front of me and all forget all about that water. It can’t be overly sweet though, that makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it!
4. Where will you be soaking up the summer sun? Have you planned any vacations? 
My boyfriend and I are headed to Virginia Beach this weekend! This has become an annual trip for us and I look forward to it every year. Nothing like spending that day soaking up the sun and listening to the ocean! I need to remember to re-apply sunscreen this year.! We stay out in the water & on the beach for most of the day when we are there and last year, someone, not mentioning any names, was rather forgetful and got EXTREMELY burnt, I still have beautiful tan lines to prove it! Can I just say that was PAINFUL!!!! Never again will I go through that! We are going to stock up on plenty of sunscreen
5. Any summer reads, professional and personal?
I’ve been trying to get a lot of reading in this summer. So far I have read lots of magazines, blogs, and The Love Playbook by La La Anthony. I’m currently reading The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller., loving this book so far! On my to read list are : The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess, & Crash Course: The Life Lessons My Students Taught Me by Kim Bearden
6. What does your summer TV habits consist of?
I haven’t been watching too much TV during the daytime but the evening time I usually have the TV on while I’m working on something else. I’ve found time though to watch all of Season 2 of Orange is the New Black! Such a great show! I’ve also been watching a lot of reality TV, mostly on TLC. Their shows crack me up! You can also catch me watching some Keeping Up with the Kardashians and a few shows on Bravo. Obviously my TV habits are filled with shows that lack substance, but you know what, it’s summer so who cares! LOL!
7. Favorite Summer song of 2014?
Wiggle by Jason Derulo f/ Snoop Dogg

Turn Down for What by DJ Snake & Lil’ Jon

Both of these songs just make me what to get up and dance and have a great time!
That’s just a little bit about me!  I hope you’ll hop on over to Trina’s blog and link up!
Until Next Time…
Have Fun & Live Life to the Fullest!

July Currently

This is officially my first time participating in Farley's Currently!

Every month I tell myself that I'm going to do it and then the next thing I know the month has passed me by! Yikes! I was not going to let that happen to me again! So without out further adieu...

So here is what's currently on my mind:

Listening- I love Spotify! I have so many different playlists created and lately it's either been my workout playlist or my Summa, Summa, Summa Time playlist that I started last summer. I just keep adding to it. I could listen to music all day long, and with summer time here, that's typically what I've been doing. It keeps me from spending hours watching TV! 

Loving- I've never been one to enjoy exercising, but this summer I've found a new love/passion for it. The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is put on my workout clothes and head out for a 2+ mile walk around my neighborhood. It's been the only way I can truly start my day this summer and I get done way before it gets too warm or humid. Except today the sun was pretty intense! 3 days out of the week, my boyfriend and I have been heading to the gym and I am actually LOVING it! I think it's helping that he is there with me and we are encouraging one another! 

Thinking- One of my summer projects is to finally get my home office together and organized how I want it to be. We've lived in our house for just about 3 years now and I still have not found a home for everything or made my office as cozy and organized as I would like it to be. I finally decided on furniture that I want to put in here, so now I have to decide on what color I want to paint that walls. I'm not the best at narrowing down my choices so I'm just going to have to pick 1 or 2 colors and go with it! 

Wanting- I have a list of different things I want to create for TPT & for my classroom theme next year, but just have not had the creative mojo to get something together. I know it will get there, I just have to make it a part of my daily To-Do List and then it will get done. I don't want to wait until August to start creating. 

Needing- With the summer heat and humidity along with working out everyday I just haven't had time to go get my hair done professionally. I think a day of self-pampering is in order soon! I also need to change my nail polish color. It's a bright pink now, but I'm ready to change it! 

4th Plans- I'll be heading to my grandparents house for their annual 4th of July BBQ then I'll catch fireworks at the Blue Crabs Stadium right down the street from my house. I live so close to it, that I could actually just sit in my backyard and see them, but there are some trees and houses that are blocking our full view! So we'll just walk around the corner from our house so we can get the full view. 


Well there you have it! I've officially joined the Currently craze! That was so much fun! I can't wait to read what everyone else is currently up to and participate in the next one! 

Until Next Time...

Have Fun in the Sun! 

And the Winner is…

Hello there everyone! Sorry I took so long to announce my winner. My student teacher left this week and I got to get back in the trenches of teaching full time again, with less than 20 days left of school!!! Did I mention there was also a full moon this week, so my firsties were loads of fun!!!  

Without further adieu the lucky winner of all of these fabulous, not yet released goodies from Creative Teaching Press is…

 

Drumroll…

CONGRATULATIONS BREANNE!!! You will get an email from CTP soon so that they can get your goodies out to you!!

Breanne doesn’t have to be the only person to get her hands on these products hot of the press!! Everything from the Back to School release is due in the CTP warehouse ANY DAY now!!! You are hearing about it FIRST and you can be one of the FIRST to get your order! Even better, CTP hasn’t even announced it to the public yet, so you get an exclusive first chance! So what are you waiting for! Head on over to CTP’s website and place your order! Can’t wait to see how you incorporate the new products into your classrooms!

Be sure to stop back by later this week! I’ll be sharing some of the gifts we gave to my student teacher along with some new products in my TPT store!

Have wonderful Sunday and start to your week!

Until Next Time…

Have FUN Learning & Teaching!!

CTP Back To School Exclusive Sneak Peek & A Giveaway

Happy Teacher’s Appreciation Week to all of  my fellow educators!! I hope that all of you are each shown how much you are truly appreciated, not just this week, but each and everyday!

I’m back again to share some more sneaks of the new goodies being released very soon by Creative Teaching Press! You will only be able to gain a sneak peek from bloggers with the blog button below!

I said it before and I’ll say it again! You are going to absolutely LOVE the new items that they have coming out! Here are some of the items that I fell in love with immediately!

  

    

These are some of the fabulous borders. I love the patterns & colors!

I’m loving the Math GNOMe management system! This is going to be such a useful tool and will be great in holding students accountable for their learning.

                     

                    

These 5 Star Posters will be a great reminder for kiddos in your classroom of all that they CAN do!

I’m obsessed with chevron, but I know many others are in love with the entire mustache phenomenon. Don’t worry, CTP has you covered! Check out this fabulous mustache themed bulletin board set!

I mustache you, do you love it?  

Last but not least are these amazing Inspire U posters! I loved these the moment that I saw them! Talk about building a positive and motivating classroom environment. These will definitely help you to accomplish that and so much more!

To see more of the fabulous products from the BTS release head on over HERE

Don’t you just love all of these goodies! What’s that you say, you would really like to own all of this! Well have I got some news for you! CTP is allowing me to giveaway ALL of the items I’ve previewed to one lucky follower!! All you have to do is enter using the Rafflecopter below and a winner will be announced next week! So what are you waiting for… go get your entries in!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

 

Until Next Time…

Have FUN Learning & Teaching!

Shhh…Can You Keep A Secret?!?

 

It’s your lucky day!! I’ve been given the opportunity to be a part of an exclusive group of amazing bloggers who have the chance to share some new Back to School products coming out from Creative Teaching Press!!

There are so many great products coming out for Back to School season and I can’t wait to be able to share more of them with you! For now, you are getting an EXCLUSIVE Sneak peak at a couple of the products that will be available very soon!

First up, is this 5 Star Reader Common Core Poster! This is going to be such a great resource in so many classes!!

My next sneak peak is the New Moroccan Nights Straight Border! I absolutely LOVE this design!

Which of these 2 sneaks can you see yourself using in your classroom next year?

Stay tuned for more goodies and giveaways from Creative Teaching Press! You are not going to want to miss it!  

Click on the image below to hop on over to the Penniless Teacher to see her CTP sneak peek!

Until Next Time…

Have Fun Learning!

What Time Is It?

It’s SPRING BREAK time!! This break couldn’t have come at a better time! It is much needed and I’m looking forward to spending the week catching up on some things that I’ve been putting off, such as blogging (hangs head in shame), and hanging out with my new nephew who was born less than a week ago!  

We’ve had a busy start to spring in our classroom, including learning all about telling time! Lucky for me, I had some wonderful goodies sent to me from Creative Teaching Press, which included some blank analog clocks. These came in handy for having my students review not only how to read an analog clock to the hour and half hour, but they were able to draw right on them, using a dry erase marker that is!

My kiddos had so much fun showing me that they were beginning to master this skill. I have a group set placed in each of my table bins and whenever we have some down time, I just tell my kiddos to whip out their clocks and give them a random time to represent.

Some other ways that I think that these could be used is to have the clocks taped to students desks and have them write one of their peers names at a specific number. When doing partner work, students could be told that your “appointment” at 9:00 is your partner for this activity. At least it would take a little pressure off you of having to assign partners. Of course you’d still have to keep an eye on those 2 students that you always try your best to keep apart.

What are some other ways that you could use these clocks in your classroom?

Want to snag these for your own classroom? Be sure to stop on over at CTP to grab them up!

I’ve got some pretty exciting things coming up in the next couple of weeks! Can’t wait to share!  

Until Next Time…

Remember to Always Have Fun Learning!

Can You Believe I’m Blogging & Weather Tracking Makeover!!

This year has been going so wonderful!! So much so, that I seem to have neglected my blog for long periods of time. Every year, I say to myself that I’m going to devote time to blog at least once a week, and then that turns into once after several months! LOL! I really will attempt to do much better.

I was so fortunate to be given an opportunity to try some products from the amazing company Creative Teaching Press with my kiddos! This is after several, and I do mean SEVERAL snow days this winter! I cannot wait for this dreadful season to be over and I don’t want to hear the word SNOW for the rest of this year!

Once I received all of my goodies from CTP, I had to really think about how I wanted to utilize them in my classroom. After seeing the weather icons, I knew that I instantly wanted to change how we were recording our daily weather. Prior to the new fun method, we were recording the weather in a laminated book that was being held together by binder rings, and then several pages had to be reinforced with clear hole punch reinforcements. This is what happens when you’ve been using the same book for several years and many first graders have been taking such great care of the book!

The pending arrival of spring, prompted me to create a weather tracker that was not only going to be easy to manage, but cute as well! Let’s face it, if it doesn’t look good, especially in first grade, the kids are not going to be as engaged. At least that’s what I’ve learned with my class this year! They are all about things looking fun, bright, and cute!

I used the CTP Chevron Solids to create little pockets. I used fonts from KG Fonts, frames from Lovin Lit and the weather clipart is from the amazingly talented Melonheadz Illustrating.

To create the weather sticks I used the 1” Weather Mini Designer Cuts. Each stick contains one icon.

Each day, students will put a weather stick into the correct pocket and then use tally marks to record what the weather was like for that day. At the end of the month, we will be able to quickly see which form of weather we experienced the most.

This is our first week formally using this new system and I can already tell you that my students are LOVING it! They were excited to watch me put all of the components together and they were even more excited when they finally had a chance to use it.  I loved how easy it was to assemble and make the products fit the needs of my classroom. I’m so glad that I decided to utilize the products in the manner that I have, because they were just the right size to fit in the space that I have on my board without being overbearing.

Now I have some leftovers, because I didn’t use it all, so I’m thinking of other creative ways to put the products to use!

If you are interested in adding these wonderful products to your classroom be sure to head on over to Creative Teaching Press to grab them up!  

Until Next Time….

Remember to Have Fun Learning!!