Rock Star of the Week & Freebie Friday!

Hey blog friends! I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' for the last day of teacher week called "Freebie Friday!" I wanted to share with you what I'm doing this year for my student of the week. To go along with my rock star theme, I'm having a "Rock Star" of the week. I randomly draw out a student to be our "Rock Star" on the Wednesday before their week and I send home a note to the parents explaining about the "Rock Star" of the week and I attach an all about me poster for them to complete at home and return to school. The "Rock Star" gets to be the line leader and the class helper for that entire week. This helps with not having to keep up with all those class jobs daily or weekly...I'm really loving this part of it! On Monday, the Rock Star shares their all about me poster with the class and then I display the poster in the hall for everyone to enjoy and learn about our little star. On Tuesday, they bring in something to share.... this can be a treat or something for show and tell. On Wednesday, they bring in their favorite book... they can read it to the class or they can have me to read it to the class for them. On Thursday, they can share a "star talent" with the class. This can be anything from a trick, cart wheel, singing, dancing, drawing, a trophy, etc. And on Friday, the class makes a special "Fan Mail" book with letters for our little rock star.

This is what I have displayed in the hall so everyone can read all about our "Rock Star" each week. I put up a blank poster so you can see what I send home with the kids to complete at home. My sweet mom ordered these from Really Good Stuff. They also have some cute ones at Oriental Trading.

 The "Rock Star" also gets to keep this on their char all week. I found these this summer at Target in the Dollar Spot. I got pink for the girls and green for the boys. :)

I made some documents using Thistlegirl Designs Kiddie Pop graphics and I wanted to share those documents with you for Freebie Friday! Since I'm not a licensed Thistlegirl re-seller, Ashley at Thistlegirl Designs was so nice and gave me one time permission to share these documents with you that include her graphics. Thanks Ashley!!!! :)

I got the inspiration for my "Rock Star" of the week from the amazing Cara Carroll and Ms. Winston. They both do a celebrity of the week and I tweaked some of their ideas to meet my classroom needs/theme. Thanks girls for being so inspiring!! :) Be sure to check them out!

I hope you like the documents and can use them!


CLICK HERE for the Rock Star of the Week Parent Letter.

CLICK HERE for the Rock Star of the Week Poster (11x17). In case you don't want to buy the all about me posters here is one to print for free! :)

CLICK HERE for the Rock Star of the Week fan mail book cover and letter page.

CLICK HERE for the reminder note.

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Technology Tip Tuesday!

I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Technology Tip Tuesday. Here are couple of my favorite technology go to websites...

Check out planbook.com for all of your planning needs! You don't have to carry it with you.. requires no writing.. you don't have to worry about forgetting it at school, because you can log in and plan from anywhere! If you want to add the common core standards to your daily plans, there is an option to add those. Just click on the standards tab, find the standard you need and add it to your lesson. Easy as pie! And you can even import your lessons from the previous year!!! This will save lots of time and you can just modify those as needed.

My school has a membership to this site for our teachers. But if you are interested it's $12 a year or you might even suggest it to your principal! It's well worth it! Planbook.com even offers a 30 day trail! :)

I use an online grade book program called engrade and I love it! I have used engrade for the past few years and couldn't imagine not using it. No more paper grade books...or averaging my own grades...or forgetting my grade book at school because I can log in and pull my grade book up from anywhere! You simply create an account, add your classes (subjects) and students and then start adding assignments with grades. It averages the grades for you and you can even set it up for parents/students to log in and view their grades and even send you messages. It's very user friendly... and it's FREE!!!

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Must-Haves Monday!

I am super excited about the teacher week fun that is happening over at Blog Hoppin'! Today is "Must-Haves Monday." Here are some of my teacher "must-haves!"

 Mr. Sketch markers! LOVE!! Not only are they the best for making anchor charts... but they smell wonderful!! Who doesn't love smelly markers??

Post-It Notes! I use these all the time for class charts. 

Projector! Love it!! (I wish it was a smartboard... but oh so very grateful for this projector!!) Our math series came with digital animated lessons. I project these each day to introduce the new lesson. I also use the projector to show Brainpop, Jr. video clips. And I also hook my flex cam to it to display a large version of sheets we are on... perfect for when we correct our Saxon Phonics lessons or do a sheet whole group.

Desk Calendar! 

Laptop bag and my laptop!

Chart tablet! 

Bic pens for grading! The pink is my absolute fave!

And sometimes when it's a *regular* coke kinda day! 

Be sure and hop on over to Blog Hoppin' and link up with your teacher "must-haves!"

Happy Monday!! :)

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Show Off Your Space!

Hey blog friends! Courtney at Swimming Into Second is having a "Show Off Your Space" linky party and Kelly at Beg, Borrow, Steal is having a "We're Going on Tour" linky party. I wanted to join in on the fun and show you all my little home away from away at school. Prepare for a picture overload!!!

Star Work Hangs Here display. I attached close pins to the stars. 

Rockin' Word Wall board and computers

Math Word Wall & Calendar 

This a view of the front of the room.

Cubbies on the left side of the room... I use them for storing books and teaching materials. Each student also has a cubby for their backpacks, coats, gym shoes, etc.

Small group table

My new again chair! With the help from a couple of my sweet teacher pals we turned a ratty, old chair into a new, pretty one! :)

My desk area

I found this cute shower curtain to use as a curtain at the Dollar General Store. I got this to help block the morning sun. 

My filing cabinets.. I covered them in scrapbook paper and modge podge. The paper matches my chair fabric and the ribbon I use in my room to hang displays.

Morning Play List.. I made this last year.. but moved it to a new spot. This idea came from Abby at The Inspired Apple.

I got the cute listening posters from Christie at First Grade Fever and the cute transportation display from Kelly at Beg, Borrow, Steal.

I got these cards for my clock from the sweet Amy Lemons.

Lunch count display. They move their clip and place on the ribbon of their lunch choice. I also use this for attendance. This is my first year doing it like this and I'm in love! It makes it so much easier!!! If you aren't already doing this, you must!

Happy Birthday display. I got this cute idea from Amy Lemons.

Rockin' Behavior clip chart. This idea came from Abby at The Inspired Apple. The morning sun faded my old one from last year so I made a new one this summer and found a new spot to hang it.

Tubs for math centers.

Center board... Same as last year. I need to rewrite the colors on the cards.

Well there you have it friends.... My little home away from home! I hope you enjoyed the little tour of my  classroom. If you haven't linked up with Courtney and Kelly yet, be sure to hop on over to their blogs and show off your space! :)

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Back to School Sale!

I'm a little late with my blog post about this... but I'm joining some fabulous bloggers for a Back to School Sale in my TpT store! Everything in my little TpT store is 20% off! To snag an extra 10% off use code: BTS12 

Are you having a sale too? Head over to Blog Hoppin' and link up!

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Back to School

Hi blog friends! I'm officially back to school! Our first day with students was yesterday. I have 15 new sweeties. Last year I had 22... so this is a big change! We mostly just went over rules, procedures, etc. and got to know each other. 

We made these air balloons for the hallway bulletin board..

You can get the air balloon pattern by clicking on the picture below.

And here is a little look at what we made on the first day last year..

You can get this cutie monkey and tons of other back to school activities by clicking on the picture below.

We read David Goes to School and talked about peacemakers and peacebreakers and made a couple of charts. This cute idea came from the sweet Cara! :)

 Don't forget to enter my Big Event Fundraising giveaway by clicking HERE! You can win a ton of amazing prizes... so don't miss your chance to enter! If you would like to take a little peek and check out some of the amazing prizes you could win, then hop over to Kinder Kraziness and check out the prizes Laura won in the same giveaway that another blogger recently had. You won't be disappointed!!

The giveaway ends on August 16th.

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