Brain Breaks

I don't know about you, but my kids have the WIGGLES like crazy! I love using brain breaks throughout the day to get the WIGGLES out. I found the Just Dance Kids Gummy Bear song and my students fell in love. Everyday they ask me if we can do the gummy bear dance. So I decided I needed to find some more Just Dance videos for them to do. I love that they're only a couple of minutes so they don't take a lot of time to do but they also help them to do their work better. Here are a couple of my favorites:

 Do you use brain breaks in your classroom? If you do what are some of your favorites?

Valentine's Day

Was today as C-R-A-Z-Y for you as it was for me? I had students who are never bad, crawling on the floor and doing all sorts of things I have never seen before. I think we all had too much SUGAR!!

Are you wondering what to do with all those left over Valentine's Day cards? Every year I make a big heart and put all the Valentine Cards on it. To show my appreciation for all my cuties! It always makes their day to see their Valentines hung up. I like to hang the heart on my door. So they see it first thing when they walk into the room.  It think it's a fun way to display it instead of just throwing them away. :(

For our February display, we made these cute bees. They go perfectly with our bee classroom. 

 This is a little late, but if you're looking for a cute idea for next year. Here is one. Have you ever read this book?  I love this book and we read it every year. My kids love it. We usually find someone in the school to surprise with some Valentines love.  One of my teammates beat me to the punch she did our principal. I love to do it to our librarian or the literacy coach. Someone that doesn't always get all the treats from the students but is just as special. 

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Editable Valentine's Day Card

Are you scurring to come up with something to give your students for Valentine's Day? Or if you're like me you're looking for something for your child to take that is different than the usual Valentine's Day Cards at Target. Well If you're still looking here's an idea.

 I hope my students like these.

  Click on the first picture above to grab yourself one too.

 I also made one if you're not a teacher and want to have your child use them as their Valentine's day card.

 My kids are so excited for Valentine's day. My daughter keeps calling her classmates, mates. She wanted to buy all of the kids in her preschool a stuffed animal. Well on a teachers salary I just can't afford that. So the Sprite idea will have to do. This is the card I'm giving all my family members this year. I love that I know how to create cards now. It saves me a lot of mulah.

 Thank goodness for Powerpoint!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I've joined Teresa's linky party over at Fun in K/1, DoodleBugs Five for Friday, and Mrs. Lilypad's Little's Valentine Linky Party! Go check them out and link up!



Displaying Students Best Work

We think it is very important to display our student's work. This is such an easy way of doing it. Everyday I choose 5-6 student's best work. I then place it on this bulletin board. They're so excited when their paper makes it to Best In The Hive. Everyday we announce who's paper made it on Best In The Hive. They love being recognized.

After we recognize the student's work they choose a bead from the jars. They put a regular bead on until they get five, then they get to put on a star bead. They love being able to put on a star bead plus it helps them learn to count by 5's :0).

 We have each child's name on a heart and their strip of beads. We hook them under the white board.

 We use Velcro and paper clips to attach the string of beads. This makes it easy for them to take it off and put it on again. At the end of the year. They take home their string of beads and turn it into a necklace. Some of our students get their whole string full by the end of the year. They LOVE getting beads. It's a huge incentive to do their very best on their papers. All I have to say to get best work in my classroom is: I think this paper might be the one that I display on Best In The Hive. Then they all try to do their very best on it.

How do you display student's work?

How do you know you're a teacher?

I found this and just had to share.... I do so many of these things. The # 1 answer is totally me.

 

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’RE A TEACHER? By Jeff Foxworthy

1.) You get a secret thrill out of laminating things.
2.) You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.
3.) You walk into a store and hear the words, “It’s Ms./Mr. ____________ and know you have been spotted.
4.) You have 25 people who accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.
5.) You ...can eat a multi-course meal in under 25 minutes.
6.) You’ve trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day, lunch and planning period.
7.) You start saving other people’s trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.
8.) You want to slap the next person who says, “Must be nice to work 7 to 3 and have summers off”.
9.) You believe chocolate is a food group.
10.) You can tell if it’s a full moon without ever looking outside.
11.) You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, “Boy, the kids are sure mellow today.”
12.) You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.
13.) You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.
14.) You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.
15.) You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.
16.) You can’t pass the school supply aisle without getting at least 5 items!
17.) You ask your friends to use their words and explain if the left hand turn he made was a “good choice” or “bad choice.”
18.) You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.
19.) You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.
20.) You understand, instantaneously, why a child behaves in a certain way after meeting his/her parents.

 

Which number are you?

Have you got one of these??

I received a pencil sharpener from Classroom friendly supplies. This pencil sharpener is

 A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! I can't say enough good things about it. We call it the green mean machine because it makes every pencil SHARP!! It's my all time favorite pencil sharpener. I have used electric pencil sharpeners in the past and by now the pencils are dull. Plus they're LOUD!! This pencil sharpener is quiet and I have never had a pencil sharpener sharpen pencils this well. In fact the kids want their pencils to look like this all the time. 

I received by pencil sharpener back in August and my pencils still look this good. We use the pencil sharpener everyday. It still sharpens the pencils this well. It's worth your money. I know when this one runs out I will for sure be purchasing a new one again. I can't say enough good things about this sharpener. The sharpener comes in red, blue, and green. It is 24.99 no shipping! Seriously I have spent more on my 3 electric sharpeners in one year. Go check out these sharpeners! Plus they would make an excellent gift for a colleague or your child's teacher. I would love to receive one as a gift. 

Capo and Stubs Giveaway Winner!

I have been MIA. I ended getting Influenza A and I'm just now starting to feel a tiny bit better. It's seriously the pits. I will NEVER NEVER NEVER miss getting a flu shot again. Luckily today is my last day of Tamiflu. I'm so thankful for that little drug. I can't imagine how much worse it would have been without it. I've never been that sick before.

The winner of the Capo and Stubs giveaway is Amy Marshall. Amy I will email you right now so I can get your address. Thank you to everyone who entered!