Classroom Friendship Tree

The struggle is real, people!  Third graders can be so sweet and kind... or not.  Many are the times that I have opened the classroom door to be greeted with a group of kiddos, all trying to tell me their side of a particular recess story.  

My boys?  They seem to do okay most of the time.  Give them a ball to kick or throw, and they're happy. 

But my eight-year-old girls?  Today they're best friends forever.  Tomorrow?  Not so much.  Feelings get hurt, friends get left out, tears are shed... and that's just the teacher!  Seriously though, it's hard to get on with the business of learning in the middle of all the drama.  

Some years are much better than others, and I think it depends on the personalities of our students.  This year I have twelve boys and seventeen girls, and I have to say that it's a challenge.  

One thing I've found to be helpful is to make a Friendship Tree.  This is perfect for February, when hearts are all around us.  First, trace your own hands and forearms for the branches, then make a trunk.  Then brainstorm with the class about what makes someone a good friend.  Have each student make a heart out of construction paper.  They can write one word or phrase on their heart, decorate it, and place it on the classroom tree.

The next time problems arise, you can send them to look at the tree, and ask themselves if they are being a good friend!

Here's to friendship,

How To Follow Educational Topics on Pinterest

I love Pinterest.  I use it every day, mostly for teaching ideas.  I love to have school links saved in an orderly and logical fashion - maybe because in my home life I'm not so good at this!  But lately my news feed has changed, and I'm not seeing the kind of pins that I'm looking for.  I know that I can use the search bar, but honestly, I don't always know exactly what I'm looking for.

So here is something I just found out about Pinterest, and I'm so excited to share it with you!  We all follow other pinners, or other boards, but did you know... you can follow other TOPICS?  Maybe I'm the last to know, but I am so excited about this that I had to share! 

So here's a picture of the topics that I have started following.  I may have gone a little bit WAY overboard here.  My husband just looked at my list and did the dreaded eye roll - the one that means he knows me too well.  I can't help it - I love Pinterest, and I that I am seeing things I haven't seen before.  In summer, when I have time to look at them!

It took me a while to find these... some are quite a few levels down.  So I made some links for you.  Check them out and let me know what you think.  Did you all know this already?!?

Learning

Instructional Strategies

Teaching Strategies

Art Education

Common Core Standards 

Guided Reading

Reading Workshop

Close Reading

Close Reading Strategies

Vocabulary Strategies

English Language Learners

Common Core Math

Math Notebooks

Math Journals

Guided Math

Math Centers

Multiplication Strategies

Educational Technology

Technology Integration

Google Drive

QR Codes

Augmented Reality

iPad

Happy Pinterest Perusing,

TpT Seller Challenge: Week 1

As a teacher I am always on the lookout for great ideas for my classroom.  Handouts, printables, flip books, homework, games... Often, I would find something that was close to what I wanted, but not quite right.  So I would make it for myself.  At first, the pages were awful not terribly attractive (remember Comic Sans?  It was my favorite), but they worked!  Over time, got a little better at it, and I started sharing things with the teachers at my school.  It was then that I discovered Teachers Pay Teachers.  

Oh.  My.  Word.  So many products to choose from, from other teachers just like me!  And a lot of them were FREE.  Woo-hoo!  I went a little bit crazy downloading free clip art (did I tell you I LOVE clip art?), and then I started BUYING things.  Like all the time.  I couldn't stop myself.  It got so bad I had to hide it from my husband.  How was I going to pay for my habit?!  Well, why not sell my creations on TpT?

So I made myself a store and uploaded a free product.  It was a school year calendar that I made to put in my teacher planning binder.  With bright colors and polka-dots.  I thought maybe a few teachers could use it, and that made me happy.  

A year later, I have updated it for the 2015-2016 school year, and as of today, it has been downloaded 19,422  23,355 times.  Seriously.  Something that I made has made a lot of teachers' lives just a little bit easier.  How cool is that?

I've also made some other products.  Things that I use in my own classroom.  I charge a little bit of money for them.  Not a lot.  And here's the good news: I am now breaking even!  I figure that if I can earn as much as I spend on TpT... it all helps our kiddos, right?

So, enough background info, and on to the Challenge part of this post!  Last week I joined the TpT Seller Challenge started by four amazing teacher-bloggers.  I was to go back to one of my first products and update the covers with new fonts and clip art.  

I chose my 8 Standards for Mathematical Practice:

What do you think?  My style has definitely changed in a year!  I like them, but my husband prefers the originals and he's a teacher, too.  If you click HERE, it will take you to my store to look over these babies and see for yourself.  I would love to know what you think, so please leave a comment!

Blessings,

Teaching Kids to Give

Before I became a teacher I thought teachers taught subjects.  Like reading, writing, math, science, and music.  Boy, was I wrong.  

Teachers teach kids.  

And we don't just teach them the usual stuff.  Some of the subjects are highly specialized!  Here's a list of a few of the things I have taught my third graders this year:

• not to run around screaming if a bee flies into the classroom
• not to whack people on the head with _______ (insert any noun imaginable)
• where to sit under the tree outside our classroom to avoid getting bird droppings on you
• how to chew with your mouth closed
• what it means to be respectful
• not to pick your nose and rub it on your desk
• where the giant Symphony chocolate bars can be found at Walmart
• to give money to a good cause

This last one is my focus in this blog post.  My little K-8 country school has about 440 students.  When one of our staff came to us saying that she was raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Coins for a Cure, we decided to sponsor her as a school.  We needed to raise $2000.  That's a lot of money!

Each class decorated a big tin can and asked students to bring in spare coins from home.  The money trickled in slowly.  We are talking S-L-O-W-L-Y.  It takes a lot of coins to get to two thousand dollars.  Some of my students live in such poverty that they have no coins to give.  Others simply hadn't been taught the concept or the importance of giving and expecting nothing in return.  (I referred to the concept of tithes - giving away ten percent of your income - and not one of my students had any idea what I was talking about!)

One day, I was looking at the older model iPad that my sister had donated to my class (she's amazing that way) and realized that I needed to make the giving more personal for my students.  You see, my sister has leukemia.  After dealing with months and months of hospital stays and chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, she is in remission.  So I told my kids her story.  And they went home and told their families her story.  And guess what??

The parents caught the enthusiasm!  The students wrote letters to their parents, asking if they could do chores over spring break to earn coins for a cure.  I heard stories of washing cars, dishes, and even dogs.  I heard about vacuuming, sweeping, dusting, and raking.  (One student claims he was paid to stay in his room and leave his brother alone, but I haven't confirmed that story.)  

The results were amazing.

By the time the fundraiser ended, our little school had raised $3,522.34, and almost $400 of that came from our classroom of 24 students.  My students were so happy and proud of this accomplishment!  My favorite response to the whole thing came from a kiddo who said, "Now your sister never has to have leukemia again!"  I hope and pray that he is right.

So here is my formula for teaching kids to give:

1. find a worthy cause
2. make it real - tell a story
3. ask parents for help
4. encourage kids to EARN their contribution
5. add a silly school-wide incentive if it seems appropriate (yes, our principal has to kiss a pig because we reached our goal, and the kids love this!)

A terrific side benefit of this whole process is that kids get lots of practice handling and counting coins, a very important math skill!

Happy Teaching About Giving,