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Saturday, September 22, 2012

Roll a Pumpkin Center or Whole Group

This is a smartboard activity that can be played by teams or individuals. The class can also play against the teacher. Kids love this. Players take turns rolling the die and put the corresponding number of counters on the pumpkin (1 per circle). When the pumpkin is filled up, you win! To extend the game you can roll to take them off. Play as many times as you can in the time allotted. This is such a great game for number identification and counting! The kids love playing the boys against the girls.  Available here.




Sunday, September 16, 2012

Classroom Website

Our classroom website is up and running.  Please stop by and see if there are any materials you can use in your classroom.  Click on the headings at the top of the pages to take a look around.
Welcome to Our Pad

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Tour Our Room


Welcome to our Classroom!
Take a look around.



This the entrance to our room.

Boggle Center


Computer Center

Guided Reading Table

Guide Reading Materials

Library

Leveled Books

      Each second grader has their own ipad. this is our charging station.
                                                                  Smartboard Area

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Incentive Sticker Charts

Do you reward your students with stickers? Use this chart to keep track of students good behavior, number of books read, accelerated reader points or other achievements. Use the left side of the chart to write the students name. If you have a different theme you'd like, let me know and I'll make one for you. No more running to the teachers store. Just print these off. More available at TPT.



Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Desk Nameplates

I like to change desk nameplates at least once a month.  My kids seem to be rough on them.  I cover them with contact paper and it helps some.  They can't wait to see what the new nameplates will look like. Below are 3 of the ones I've made recently. More can be found in a bundle of 26 different themes in my TPT store.


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

42 Smartboard Lunch and Attendance Counts

This is a a DVD+R that contains 42 Smartboard Activities to record attendance and lunch counts throughout the year. The files are bright, colorful and decorated with cute clip art. The files contain an attendance file and an attendance/lunch count file for each of the following themes: All Aboard. Beach, Bunnies, Ducky, Farm, Halloween, Leprechauns, Mittens, Penguins, Apples, Pirates, Popcorn(Movie), Space, Wheels on the Bus, Wizard of Oz, April Showers, Retro, Fall, Monkey Business (with audio) and Pilgrims.

All schools have different ways of doing their attendance and lunch count. These files can be easily adjusted to fit your needs. You must have Smartboard software to use these files with a smartboard. All clip art is copyrighted and may not be sold.

Visit my store.




Sunday, July 29, 2012

Animal Habitats Sorting Activity Primary

This activity contains 8 different categories for animal habitats:
Farm
Forest 
Pond
Swamp
Ocean
Jungle
Desert
Polar
It also contains 8 labeled pictures of animals for each habitat. (64 Animal Pictures) All 8 habitats can be used together or as few as 2 can be used to differentiate instruction.
It also contains 2 pages to list the animals for each habitat.
The pictures are clear and vibrant to catch a child's attention. 
Print on card stock and laminate for longer lasting use.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Animal-Habitat-Sorting-Activity




Saturday, July 21, 2012

Incentive Sticker Charts

I have created about a dozen incentive sticker charts with different themes.  I have priced them at $1.00 so you can buy several themes.  Not more running to the teacher's store or waiting for a catalog order.  Below is a sample with a Bee and Camping Themes. Others can be purchased in my TPT Store.

Friday, July 6, 2012

18 Drawer Storage Labels

I am always looking for ideas to help me organize my school materials and free up room in my desk.  I saw a great idea on a blog and decided to make it work for me. I purchased an 18 drawer stackable tool box today at Lowes for $19.96. The drawers are all the same size and fairly roomy.
I then made a set of labels that can be taped with double sided tape to the inside of each drawer.
You can download a set of these labels here.   There are 24 filled labels and 8 blank. I hope you can use these and enjoy being just a little more organized.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Reward Punch Cards Freebie

  Below is a Penguin Reward Punch Cards for you to download  for free. I have several of these for sale with different themes.  They can also be purchased in a bundle of 36 different themes to save you money. Stop by my store and see what is waiting for you. If you are unable to find your theme, let me know and I will create one for you.


Monday, June 25, 2012

eduClipper Like Pinterest for Teachers




Pinterest has been well publicized as recently becoming the number three social media platform, and the teaching community is a big reason for their success.  The ability to see an image, lesson, or idea and "pin it" to share with a thousand or so of your closest allies is a feature that has differentiated Pinterest from other social media platforms in a way that has produced unparalled growth. 

While the rest of the world is sharing pins of recipes, home improvement ideas, and holiday decorations, the educational community has created it's own little niche in the Pinterest movement, sharing ideas and pinning just about anything from lesson plans to classroom layouts, planners, organizers and Hey Girl pictures.  Uh oh....Hey Girl pictures?  How am i going to open Pinterest in class without unwillingly bringing up a picture of Ryan Gosling, an angry orange or a dog in a spiderman costume. 

As a Pinterest user, I follow people because they share great stuff, but deep down inside I know that they also on occasion share nonsense, and I don't need to broadcast that to my classroom.  We've all been there before.  That moment where your Pinterest account's "funny" board suddenly becomes not so funny as you accidently show it to a colleague, student, or parent.  You then rapidly click away to act like it wasn't there (but it was) and then wonder if they saw it.  Or even worse, the students simply go crazy on it and you've distracted your entire classroom.  Eventually, you simply avoid using the tool altogether in class. 

Why hasn't somebody created a kid-safe, classroom safe version of this fantastic tool?  A tool with all of the great functionality but none of the nonsense and spam.  One that I can pull up on my whiteboard, iPad, or even send students to link to?

Well now they have!  Adam Bellow of EduTecher.net is putting the finishing touches on eduClipper, a resource for clipping, marking, saving, and sharing great ideas in a school friendly and kid safe forum.  Users can share clipboards to users and non users alike.  The motto of eduClipper is "Clip Anything, Share Anything" and it suits the product perfectly.  Videos, lessons, images, whatever you want to clip and share, you can do it.  You can even share it back out on your regular - non kid safe social media platforms, so there isn't any worry about doing double work.

eduClipper isn't quite ready yet, but you can signup today and be one of the very first to use this fantastic new resource! 

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Tally Marks

My students have a little trouble in the beginning with tally marks.  I saw this rhyme on another blog an had to share it.  I think it will be a big help when we start to make tally marks to count.  So simple yet so good.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Classroom Website

If you want to keep your classroom website and your blog separate, take a look at weebly.  It is the easiest free site I have found.  It is all drag and drop. Links are easy and so is design. I did my entire site in 2 days.  Take a look at my site to get an idea of what you can do. Click here.
I also have some darling clip art for a general school theme. Click here.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Learning is Something to Treasure

I just started following a new blog and I am already loving the new ideas I am getting. Go check out Lisa's blog Learning is Something to Treasure and while you are there be sure to enter her giveaway for a $25.00 Teachers pay Teachers gift certificate  She also has some great freebies!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Mother's Day Gift

We made these for Mother's Day this year.  They turned out so cute.  I hope the moms like them.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Spelling Fractions Freebie

One of  the teachers on our team came up with this idea.  We used our spelling words and wrote what fraction of the word were vowels and what fraction of the word were consonants.  The kids liked it and it was a little extra practice in spelling and math.  Click here for a free copy of the worksheet. I have uploaded it in Word format so you can make changes.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Mailbox Magazine

I have to blow my own horn. I had another idea published in the June/July issue of The Mailbox Magazine. I must worn you that this is really deep material. If you subscribe look at the 6 Bright Ideas for Using Highlighters. 

My idea was to color code your grade book.  Highlight high grades in green, average grades in yellow and low grades in pink. Student progress will be clear at a glance.




Saturday, April 14, 2012

Mother's Day Gift

These cute seed packets make a darling Mother's Day Gift.  Laminate when finished for a keepsake. They can be found here.






Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Money Matching Game

This activity will help children count money to a $1.00. Children gain practice in counting by tens and switching to counting by fives and ones. There are 36 cards to match. You can divide them into 3 groups carrots, peas and radishes so 3 children can play at one time and then trade cards until they have done the 3 sets.  Check it out in my TPT store.



Saturday, March 31, 2012

Dr. Seuss Reward Punch Cards Free

Motivate Students To Achieve Specific Goals With These Colorful Punch Cards
This is one of 31 available Reward Punch Cards.
These cards feature 10 spaces you can punch out when students accomplish a preset goal. When all 10 have been punched out, students can return the card to you for a reward. Use an unusual punch so they can not punch their own circle. (not that they would) These can be used for behavior, homework, working hard etc. They can be printed on card stock and cut out. There are 8 cards to a page. If you do not see a theme that works for you, email me and I will create a custom design for your theme at the same price. kestnerg@gmail.com  
Download at
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reward-Punch-Cards-Dr-Seuss


PBS LearningMedia

PBS LearningMedia™ is your destination for easy, instant access to tens of thousands of classroom-ready, digital resources including videos and interactive media perfect for the Interactive Whiteboard, plus audio and photos, and even in-depth lesson plans. You can search, save, and share with ease. Best of all, PBS LearningMedia™ is free for educators. Register today! This is the link for Illinois, but I think you can reach your states' site by replacing illinois with the name of your state in the url.

Common Core Widget

If you would like add a Common Core Widget to your blog like the one I have on the right hand side of my page, click here.  It is very easy to install, handy and the standards will always be at your fingertips.

Monday, January 16, 2012

It's Been Forever

It's been forever since I have been on my blog.  I had back surgery before Christmas and then developed a staff infection.  I am still not back at work, but will be soon. I plan to return Jan 30th and I can't wait.  My kids are missing me and I them.  I have a very good sub and have not had to worry about what is happening while I am gone.
I am going to throw a sale on all my Smartboard DVD's.  You are getting such a bargain.  There are 100s of activities available and I'm throwing in my reward punch cards also. Now is the time to buy before I come to my senses. Since I am at home you will get fast delivery if it is a mailable item.  Others can be immediately down loaded.  Check out the sale and save. 20% off Click  on the links below.
Reward Punch Cards
Smartboard 21 Lunch Count Activities
Smartboard 124 Primary Skills
Smartboard full year of Calendar Activities
Smartboard 40  Attendance and Lunch Count
Smartboard Sign-in Attendance 10 Themes