Please Bring It!

School has officially started in full force! And I'm pretty sure the "honeymoon" period is already over... Here I thought that if I got my blog started over the summer, I would easily be able to keep up with a post or two each week once the school year started! Ha! First week of school and I haven't even thought of "blog-land" until today! :o)

When pondering different post options, I decided to go with a technology/management tool that I have use a few times already this year! I am very thankful that someone told me about it, so I thought I would pass it along!

Bring It is an easy to use online sign-up sheet site that can be used in a number of different ways. Each year there are many times when we need parents (or students) to sign up to bring different materials or food for parties or activities we are doing in our class. Before I found this site, it was a pain to have to send home notes in Thursday Folders and hope that they made it home to the parents... But now the process is so much easier!

One way that I am going to use this site next week during Back to School Night is by having parents sign up for my different volunteer opportunities. Here is how you get started:

1. Go to http://signup.pleasebringit.com/.

2. Click on "Get Started" in the upper right hand corner.

3.  Then fill in your information. 

** Make sure you choose something for your custom domain that you will remember! This is what you will use whenever you want to sign in to your account! **

4. Once you've created your account, you can start making new sign-up sheets by clicking

5. When you create your sign-up sheet, you can title it with what your event is and then select your event type. It doesn't really matter which type you choose because the formats are all the same. 

6. Now you can start to put the items or tasks that you need into your sheet. You can also add a note to whoever you are sharing this with to add more details about the event. 

When you're ready to share, you copy the link on the right-hand side of the page and email that to your parents. They will be able to view your page and sign up for what they are willing to do. The best part is that they can include their email address and Bring It will send them a reminder email!

Here is the form that I created for my Volunteers:

What I really love about this is that parents know exactly what I need and I won't get multiple parents who are interested. I've used a Google Form for this in years past, but then I get parents who are interested in the same opportunity, but I only need one. I'm really looking forward to using Bring It throughout the year!

Now, time to plan the rest of Back to School Night...

Ahhh... Finally!!

 Finally, I think that my classroom is close to finished! I've spent hours rearranging and redecorating, but today I feel like it's ready for students. Unfortunately, I'm not ready for students. I found this picture on Pinterest and thought that it totally explains how I feel! Now I need to start working on the important things (you know, like lesson plans...).

One of my biggest projects of the week was working on my Boggle bulletin board (INSPIRATION). Thanks to Simply 2nd Resources for making the super cute letters that match my theme exactly! This activity is something new that I am trying this year, so I have been thinking about the logistics of how I am going to manage it. I think I'm going to change the letters once a week (probably on Monday) and I wanted to find a way that I could quickly make the change without taking a lot of time. I went to the dollar store this morning and bought 36 clothespins and 300 tacks and glued them together. Then after taking A LOT of time perfecting the spacing, I put the pins into the wall where each of the letters would go. I think this is going to work well, and I'm very happy about the way it turned out!!















On a side note, I might show my students the math work that I had to do to figure out the correct spacing for each of the letters. Hopefully some will see that the math we do in class will help them in the future! 

As for the rest of my classroom...

   

Outside my door - Wordle with all my students' names. 

 View from the door. 

 View from the classroom library.

 

 Classroom library - Waiting on my Vista Print order to finish the wall over the shelves.

My reading board isn't quite finished. I spent a lot of time this year organizing all my books by genre. I am using Classroom Organizer for students to check out books.

 Science & reading.

Window banners & tissue pom-poms. I spent a lot of time making all of those pom-poms! 

My desk. Gonna add more about me on the bulletin behind my desk.

I also made this Today's Number poster today too (INSPIRATION). I like the idea of students practicing these skills everyday with different numbers. I'm not sure if I am going to have my students complete this as morning work or a warm up during math. I may even do it every other day... Not sure...

So, there it is! Now I can start working on my lesson plans for the start of the year!

I'm joining up with Brigid's Classroom Tours Linky Party!

Vista Print!

Holy cow... I have just spent the last 5 hours lost on Vista Print (in between cleaning the kitchen, doing 4 loads of laundry, and taking care of a husband who got his wisdom teeth out this morning...)! I've pinned a few ideas from other teachers in the past, but hadn't found the right deal to pursue making anything.

On Sunday night I bought a Groupon for Vista Print where I paid $20 to get $80 worth of product; and I got an email this morning from VP reminding that they are having a huge clearance sell that ends tonight! So, I decided that it was as good of time as any to use my Groupon. And, can I just say: I had a hard time finding $80 worth of product to purchase because the sales were so great! So much of what I got was FREE or under $5.00! The prices that are listed by the products below are after my Groupon discount. I spent $25 extra so that I could get free shipping ($28 in shipping, or $25 in more product!?!). I'm an addict now! Here's what I got:

Inspiration: Ms. Nobel's Class
250 Business Cards = $3.58
I liked the idea of rewarding students by giving them money towards a new book. I'm not sure exactly how I will use these, but I think it will be something that I just hand out when I see something I like!

Inspiration: Sunny Days in Second Grade

250 Business Cards = $3.58

This one I know that I will use frequently! Just a quick way to reinforce actions and behaviors without giving food/candy.

Inspiration: Caffeinated Conclusions
30 Business Card Stickers = $2.11
We use technology A LOT and each student has a Google account in my district. This started last year, so I made these stickers to go inside their planners so they can access Google Apps at home successfully. I am so tired of "my computer wouldn't let me sign on last night!" What kind of excuse is that?!? Hopefully this will help them and their computers! :o)

Dr. Seuss Poster 18"x24" = $2.10

I love this quote! This is going to go in my classroom library!

Inspiration: Two Things In Common

30 Thank You Note Cards = $2.99

Always good to have on hand!

50 Small Business Magnets = $3.58
In my first couple years of teaching, I used to assign specific jobs to specific students. Teaching the older kiddos, I just have two helpers who do anything I need them to do. Last year, I had a tropical theme so I made the helper names using the fish dicut, but this year I didn't know what I would do to match my theme. I plan to write the students' names in the middle of this square and then keeping them on the white board.


And then, after each order I made, they have items already put together or that match the theme I just used and there were a couple of items I couldn't resist!




Notepad = $0.63

Sticky Notes = $FREE$

Notebook = $1.78









I also order a couple of personal things, but they were under $5.00 as well. In total, I paid $47.45 for over $150 worth of product! I'm SUPER happy!! Now I just have to wait 14 business days for my goodies to arrive.......ugh!

Name Tags

So, at the beginning of the school year, my to-do list is too long and my wallet is too thin. Of all the things that need to be purchased each year, name tags are at the top. The variety of name tags that are offered at the different teacher stores are overwhelming, and in my first couple of years I bought the ones that had a cursive line and multiplication tables and geometric shapes on them for students to use as a reference. Not only do they cost a lot more, but I had to take them off and put them back on when we take our state standardized test. 

Last year, I wanted an activity to fill up some time during the Meet the Teacher session on the last day of school, but I wanted that activity to be meaningful. I decided that it would be a great time for students to make their name tags for the year! And I really loved the idea that they had ownership for their tag! After doing a little brainstorming, I decided that a ransom-note style would be super cute! 

I dug through some of my old magazine, cut out large-sized letters, and organized them into bags of individual letters. 

Because the letters were organized, the activity didn't take very long - maybe 10 minutes. It was fun for me to watch the kids pick out their letters and choose their desired color scheme. Below is a picture of the name tags that my students this year made.

I will write the students' class number on each name tag before I laminate them. I was impressed with their durability throughout the year last year. This name tag took a lot of time (cutting out the letters), but it didn't cost me anything, and I really believe that they are proud of the work they did!

~ Ashley