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Motivating Young Readers
My students are participating in the summer reading program at our local library and they absolutely love tracking the number of books that they’ve read. They are constantly asking to read books (I know, awesome!) and I am happy to oblige. I know that this is something I want to continue throughout the school year. For the library’s program my kiddos have to write down the title of each book that they read – which really means I have to write down the title of each book that they read. This doesn’t sound so bad, until I think about the fact that my 12 students are each reading at least…
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It’s time for a new planner!
One of my favorite things about July (besides my birthday, and the Fourth, and the gorgeous summer weather) has always been picking out a new planner. Yep, I’m a nerd – and proud of it! In Jr. High and High School I would get my school-issued planner and immediately start filling in important dates and color-coding pages. In college, I started creating my own planners to make sure that the pages were set up how I wanted them and to make sure that I would have enough room to write down everything that I needed to do. Over the last couple of years I’ve gone through planners like water because…
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Organization on the go!
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A Children’s Book for a Bridal Shower
My sister is getting married in November, so at the moment I am knee-deep in bridal shower projects that I want to finish before summer is over. She’s a Kindergarten teacher, so for her shower I wanted to find a children’s book that all of the guests could sign as a keepsake for the bride. That was easier said than done. There aren’t a ton of great children’s books about weddings. I do love Lily’s Big Day – it’s a very cute book, but the story isn’t quite what I was looking for. There are plenty of children’s books about love, but the vast majority are explicitly about the love between…
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Creating an Aesthetically Organized Classroom
I’m a neat freak. When I interviewed for my first teaching position I distinctly remember telling the interview committee that being organized was my greatest strength. I wasn’t exaggerating. Not only does every item in my classroom have it’s own designated space, but I also have a checklist for every possible situation. This is one reason that the Reggio Emilia Philosophy resonates with me. This way of teaching encourages an aesthetically pleasing classroom environment, which helps me manage the chaos that preschool materials can create. Here are some of my all-time favorite storage solutions for the classroom. Each one of these items helps to keep my classroom organized, but they…
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Friday Freebie!
Happy Friday! I’m going to enjoy my Friday because my weekend is jam-packed. It just may be the least relaxing weekend ever, but at least it’s the weekend right?! Our open house at school is next week, so I’m trying to get prepared. I found this cute idea and knew I had to share – it’s from Courtney Howard. She puts up this cute sign and surrounds it with die-cut hands that all have classroom supplies written on them. Parents can choose a hand and donate those items to the classroom. I think it’s a great way to ask, and to send them home with a reminder (the paper hand)…
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Drool-worthy Reggio Inspired Products
What is Reggio-Inspired? When it comes to products for the classroom, Reggio-inspired means sustainable, aesthetically pleasing toys that encourage children to be creative and use the items many different ways. This list includes some of my favorite products for the classroom, it also includes some toys that I would love to have…if money wasn’t an issue. Reggio-inspired doesn’t mean expensive, on the contrary rather, Reggio principles encourage using what you have available and re-purposing, but many of the products on this list are handmade and very high quality. This means that they are often worth the price because they will outlast years and years of students, which is not something…
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What’s in my student portfolios
Yesterday I shared a tutorial for setting up digital student portfolios using Google Drive. Today I want to show you what I put in my student portfolios. I include all of these documents, regardless of the age of the student (I have used them with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers). In Ohio we use ODE’s Early Learning Development Standards, so that is what my portfolios are based on. You can explore the standards here. All of these portfolio pages are available in my TPT store, and they are editable, so you can download and get started immediately. Check out my assessments here. Each portfolio starts with a cover page to document…
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Space saving portfolios
I’ve always used three-ring binders to compile my students’ portfolios, but this year my classroom did not have the extra space to store all of them – 1 binder per student takes up a lot of precious space! I decided to do digital portfolios, and using Google drive to store them has been an absolute lifesaver. Having all of the portfolios on Google Drive meant that I could work on them any time I wanted to – whether I was at school or not, and I was able to share each folder with the parents online, then they could look through the portfolios whenever they wanted to. This meant less…
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July Currently
This month crept up on me, I was fully prepared for the 4th of July and completely forgot about the Currently! Better late than never right? Listening: I’m watching 27 Dresses right now. Last night I had the house to myself and couldn’t for the life of me find a cheesy chick flick on TV, so I ended up watching bridesmaids – I know, I know, everyone loves that movie, but its not my favorite. The whole thing is just really uncomfortable and gross. But tonight I found 27 Dresses – just my kind of romantic comedy, and my husband keeps asking if he can change the channel… Loving: This…
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Friday Freebie
It’s Friday and it’s a holiday – double celebration today! I have a really cute freebie for you, i’m so glad that I found this one, because it is definitely something that I would use in my classroom, so I’m excited to share it with you. This letter match and counting set is from Special Teacher for Special Kids. I love the colors, the graphics, and the simplicity of this set. It includes cards with each letter of the alphabet in uppercase and lowercase so that children can match them. It also includes number cards that children can match with quantities of patriotic themed objects. This set could also be…
