Warm Fuzzies!

Well, after changing my perspective this morning, I decided that I would post this picture to boost our morale the last few days before break!

#changeyourattitudechangeyourlife

 

If an effort to "keep it positive" I thought I would share with you a part of my Positive Behavior Management System- Warm Fuzzies! (click any picture below to visit my TpT store!)

 

 

Warm Fuzzies are part of a positive behavior management system that I use in my classroom. A “warm fuzzy” is simply a pom-pom. I get the smaller sparkly size pom-poms (available almost anywhere- Wal-Mart, Meijer, Target, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Micheal’s, Hobby Lobby, etc. I store my Warm Fuzzies in a container I got at Jo-Ann Fabrics for a few dollars (use your teacher discount J ) The container is red and clear, however I lined it with scrapbook paper and hot glued some ribbon around the top and bottom for cuteness!

 

 

 

I have the students store their Warm Fuzzies in a small container I got at the Dollar Tree. These came in packs of 6 or 8 for $1.00. Then, I wrote their number on the lid. The containers are all stored in a jewelry organizer hung on our bathroom door! I have 29 students, so this was perfect for me because I still have a few extra spaces. You could have your students store these in any way you wish- even a ziploc baggie or a pencil pouch would work! We do not have cubbies in my classroom, so this was the best solution I could come up with!

 

 

 

 

Students can earn a Warm Fuzzy for many different reasons. If a student goes “above and beyond”. Wins a challenge, earns a compliment from another teacher in the hallway, or if they turn their pink color card (our highest color) and I ask them to move their card up again, etc.  After students have earned their Warm Fuzzies, they can trade them in for Warm Fuzzy tickets. These are all incentives that do no cost anything. The tickets are in increments of 5, costing 5-50 Warm Fuzzies. I placed 6 tickets on a sheet, and then placed 6 of the same reward on a sheet. I created the document this way so that you could pick the value for each incentive as you wished. For example, “Switch seats with a friend” could cost anywhere from 5-50 Warm Fuzzies- your choice when copying! I store my tickets in smaller baggies with the value written on the baggie. I then store all of the baggies in a gallon size bag. When it is time for students to “trade in” their Warm Fuzzies for a Ticket, then I just lay the baggies on the table for them to choose. The tickets are all in black and white and I just copy the incentive I want onto the back of the ticket valued at the price I think it should be.

 

 

 

This pack currently includes 44 FREE incentives for your students to earn with their Warm Fuzzies. If you purchase this pack and would like any additional ticket incentives added, please feel free to let me know and I will gladly add them for you!

 

 

 

Three.More.Days!

Whew!! People, I'm telling you... these past two days have felt like two weeks! I know it can't just be my kiddos that have seemed to have lost their beautiful little minds this week, so I took comfort in this picture I saw online!

I will have more of our America celebrations from this week tomorrow, but for now I wanted to share a few FREEBIES with you! First is a Polar Express FREEBIE! (just click the pictures!)

 This little freebie includes the tags you see below. I purchase silver bells (I got mine for $2 at Meijer this year!)and hole punch and tie this tag to the bell. Included, but not pictured here, are tickets to "board" the Polar Express. I use these tickets as an incentive for the students to watch the movie!

 

 The second freebie I have for you is this Christmas Magazine Hunt! My kids love these and they are such an easy and fun way to quickly differentiate. My higher kiddos hunt for words with the same letter at the end of a word, my on track students find words that start with the same letter, and my students who are not on track find letters to cut out of magazines and glue on their sheet. (Just click the pictures!)

I just LOVE this elf one! :)

 

Please leave feedback on these FREE items! It helps me stay inspired to keep creating and handing out freebies to you!

 

 

Mystery Reader and our travels continued!

Friday is our "Mystery Reader" day! The kids love our Mystery Reader program and become so excited when I read the 5 clues about our Mystery Reader. Of course, about half of the kids raise their hand thinking it's their family member :).

I have parents, families and faculty sign up to be our Mystery Reader during Open House and throughout the year. Unless it is absolutely not possible, we typically have our Mystery Reader come on Fridays. The Monday before our Mystery Reader is scheduled to arrive I send home a letter with the student (in a sealed envelope!) where the Mystery Reader writes 5 clues about themselves. I read the clues to the students about 5 minutes before the Mystery Reader is scheduled to arrive. I allow the Mystery Reader to bring their own book or I can provide a book for them. I have also had students be the Mystery Reader! After our Mystery Reader has gone, I have the kids sign a Thank You card and send it home. You can find all of this in my Mystery Reader pack here.

We also travelled to Greenland on Friday!

These little Santa's turned out so adorable! Check back for our study of Kwanzaa and Christmas in America this week!!

Honoring Sandy Hook

Today we remember and honor the incredibly selfless and innocent lives that were lost one year ago. Please take a moment to pray for those families and honor their wish of committing random acts of kindness. Feel free to comment and share your random act of kindness.

The SIZZLE!

Part of selling the SIZZLE of learning is having FUN teaching and letting your students have FUN learning! Some of these moments of FUN don't always come in the most "standardized" educational ways... however my little Who's brought tears to my eyes during indoor recess! With the inclement weather, we try to vary the activities we do to burn some energy. We have used yoga and a few Hap Palmer songs along with other exercises. Last week I stumbled upon Just Dance for Kids videos on Youtube- BEST.THING.EVER.

 29 Kindergarteners completely engaged, totally hooked, and adorably singing "What Makes you Beautiful" by One Direction. There are tons of songs available to choose from, but my kids LOVE this one and it brings tears to my eyes when they sing and dance to the song!

 

 

Going back to our travels around the world, here are a few pictures of our La Befana bulletin board and a few up close pictures of what two of my kiddos thought La Befana looks like.

 

 You can see our poinsettias lining the bottom of the bulletin board out side of our classroom. The writing activity for La Befana is hanging underneath the picture the students drew of Befana. I stapled their brooms beside their work.

 La Befana looks like one scary-looking witch!

 

 

 

Here's an up close picture of our poinsettias from our Mexico journey on Monday.

 



 

Here is a picture of the other side of my door in the hallway. I projected an image of the world onto my white board and traced the image onto paper. I then had my kiddos color the world! You can see some of our Australia Santa Koalas we did today on the left.

 

I have to say, I was a little bit shocked when I collected some of the koalas from today. Many of them had makeup, jewelry, clothes, etc. They were very creative with their koalas. They were also a bit perplexed and excited that Christmas in Australia occurs in the summer. We listened to and sang this version of the Australian Jingle Bells today- it was hysterical!

 

I hope you have a fabulous Friday!

Holidays Around the World and a FREEBIE!

We all know that anything exciting or unusual can happen at any given time in our profession. Our little bit of excitement last Thursday came in the form of a huge CRASH in the back of the room. Thankfully, all of my Who's were at the carpet and none of them were injured.

Half of the hooks on our back wall fell down! As you can see, one of my tables is right beside the hooks. When the hooks originally fell, they fell onto the table! It was a mess. Until this is fixed (no, it's not fixed yet- but I'm hoping soon!) my kids are "setting" (throwing) their things on the floor- it's a hot mess back there!


Moving on! We continued our journey last week with Israel, Italy, Mexico and a snow day! :)
For their passports, I just use any stamp I have laying around. One of my team mates had a great idea to have the students draw a stamp that relates to the country!

 

 

I love their little drawings!

 

 

 My kids LOVED playing Dreidel!

 They were also amazing and a little bit mystified that La Befana delivers presents to the kids in Italy. They did a wonderful job making their brooms!

 

 

 After enjoying a snow day, we moved on to Mexico! They were super happy they got to play with shaving cream and food coloring to decorate their poinsettias!

Ready to make our poinsettias! (Shaving cream + red food coloring. Use a popsicle stick to swirl the food coloring around. Students take their paper and press it onto the plate. We added glitter and cut them out once they were dry.)

 

I was taking these down last week and realized I never shared my kiddos Turkey Disguises! Here are two that I really loved this year! You'd never guess there was a turkey under that lion!

 

 

And finally, if you're still reading you are a CHAMP! Here is a little freebie for you! Please remember to leave feedback, I love hearing what you all have to say! (just click the picture!)

 

Here are a few new items in the TpT shop! I just love these CVC cards, but kids think it is hilarious that Santa is a superhero! These are 50% off!

 

Another How-to writing activity!

 

Thanks for sticking with me! :)

Our suitcases are packed!

Yesterday was our first day back from our Thanksgiving Break- 6 days off and I will was little nervous how the kiddos would do! They were AMAZING! We had a wonderful first day back. The kids were so excited to learn that we were going to be travelling around the world over the next 9 days.

We are using this unit from Rachelle over at What the Teacher Wants.

 

We started off decorating our suitcases yesterday. The sheet is from the Holidays Around the World (HATW) pack. I just took a large piece of construction paper, folded it in half and stapled up the sides. The kids colored and glue their sheet on. I was very impressed with how well they managed to glue their cover on with zero help from me! The first year I did this unit, I added the handles to the suitcases right away... they didn't last. Now, I add the handles to their suitcase on the last day when they take their suitcases home.

 

 

Next, we started our journey in the Netherlands by viewing a few of the websites listed in the unit. Then, we began our book by decorating our cover (I forgot to take a picture!) and completing the Netherlands page whole group.

 

 

While the students were working on their craft for today (will post a picture later in the week when Sinter Klaas comes!) We completed the first page in our passports and I stamped their passport. The kids thought this was absolutely hilarious that a passport is a real thing that we use to travel around the world. They were excited when they got their own passport and their very first stamp!

 

I will keep updating you as our adventure continues! I'm still working on finalizing and uploading the ELA centers, but my kids loved my HATW Math centers yesterday!

These are still 15% off today!

 

 

 

Last Day!

Today is the last day for the TpT Cyber sale!! What goodies have you picked up this week? I will share a few of my purchases with you.

I love making this calendar each year for my kinder kids and their families. This year, I'm going to try out Mel D's new creation. (Just click the picture)

 I'm excited to use this next pack as a warm up during my guided reading/intervention time. I think my kiddos will love these! (Just click the picture)

 

These next few units are new listings just added to my shop in the past few days.

 

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Polar Express! It's a favorite of mine every year! 

 

Next up... my 129 page Holidays Around the World Math Centers! This pack is HUGE and includes 12 differentiated and Common Core aligned centers! (ELA centers to come soon!)

 

 

 

For the next two weeks, my kiddos and I will be travelling around the world using Rachelle's Holidays Around the World Unit! I'm so excited to get out our suitcases and get going today!

 

 

Have a terrific Tuesday (it's Monday for me!)

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Five for Friday!

 

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for five random things from my week!

 

 

This is one of my little Who's reading to the class! He gets so excited to read to his friends!

 

 

 

I was so excited to look over during a Daily 5 this week and see this happening while I was working with a group!

 

 

 

The Who's loved this new choice at Work with Words! They are fishing for letters to create words!

 

 

This is a new freebie in my TpT shop! I would love to hear what you think! Let me know if you have any other ideas for me to add to this set!

 

 

This is another freebie I just added to the TpT shop today! Let's be real, this close to Thanksgiving some of our kiddos need a reminder of this :)

 

Happy FRIDAY!!