Stanford Fonts are Growing!

I'm so excited to share with you that Stanford Fonts are now available as a growing bundle. 

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Back to School Tips and Tricks

I’m a total stickler when it comes to teaching handwriting early, but I’ll be honest, I cannot stand the folding, peeling, and constant stickiness of traditional classroom name tags. For years, I used Sharpies to write student names directly on the tables, but without proper handwriting lines, it didn’t do much to help with letter formation or placement.

This year, I tried something different, and it worked so much better. I used a black Sharpie to draw handwriting lines, headline, midline, and baseline, right on the student tables. Then, with a silver paint Sharpie, I wrote each child’s name on top of those lines. Not only does it eliminate the mess of name tags, but it also gives students a built-in handwriting guide to practice proper letter placement every single day.

You know how we’re constantly labeling every single thing in our classrooms, right? Like, if it doesn’t have a label, does it even exist? 😂 But nothing and I mean NOTHING is worse than walking into a new classroom and realizing the teacher before you used those cheap paper address labels. Ughhh. Instant rage. Because you already know…the second you try to peel them off, it’s like a crime scene of ripped paper and sticky residue everywhere.

But listen, I’ve got the holy grail of labeling hacks. CLEAR Avery labels. I’m telling you, game changer. I literally print 20 pages of my kids’ names at the beginning of the year and slap them on everything: books, folders, cubbies, tables, even the carpet spots.

They’re super sticky (aka tiny little fingers can’t peel them off).

When you actually need to remove them, they come off in ONE piece, praise be.

And they last the WHOLE year without looking crusty.

Basically, they’re the teacher version of duct tape. You need them in your life.

Okay, tell me why it took me YEARS of drowning in folders, papers, and random files before I finally figured this out?!  Now I swear by these emergency contact cards, and they live on ONE RING. Like…why didn’t I do this sooner?!

Here’s the deal: I keep the ring in my emergency bag, and it goes with us on every single drill or field trip. Each card has everything: kid’s name, birthday, address, phone numbers, pickup info, and emergency contacts. All the stuff you panic-search for…right there, front and center.

I just copy the contact forms front and back onto cardstock, punch a little hole in the corner, and throw the whole class on a binder ring. Done. No mess. No hunting through 17 papers. Just flip to the kid you need in seconds. Easy. Peasy.

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Five for Friday {#ABCsofTeaching, Periscope, and More}

Happy Fri-YAY! Once again joining the adorable Kacey from, Doodle Bugs Teaching, for this week's five for FRIDAY!

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Five for Friday: {Chapter 8 Closed}

Joining the amazing Kacey for her weekly linky!

There's definitely plenty to write about this week, so I hope to see you at the bottom of this post in an hour or two.... ;) I'm only half kidding!

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Post It Note Rubrics

Listen, anyone who knows me knows I’m all about convenience. I love consistency too, but let’s be real… without convenience, consistency goes straight out the window.  Honestly, that’s how half the teacher hacks I come up with are born.

So picture this: I’m sitting there grading a mountain of papers (as one does), and I start thinking, why is this whole “rubric stapled to every single assignment” thing so unnecessarily painful? Like, in the past I’d just print out my trusty Marzano scaled rubric, staple it on, and keep moving.

But if I’m being real, sometimes the thought of stapling a rubric to 100 papers makes me want to yeet my stapler across the room. And I know some of you are rolling your eyes like, “Girl…you can’t handle stapling a rubric?!” But yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. There had to be a better way.

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Kid Friendly Website Tents

As the year is coming to a close, I've been looking at my classroom organization, management, and how I'd like to adjust it for next year. Over all my class pretty much runs itself, with consistency and set expectation I've come to enjoy routine. There is one thing that still drives me batty each day. TECHNOLOGY. 

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Five for Friday

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A Modern Teacher Planner GIVEAWAY!

Y'all I'm so excited! One of my besties, April from A Modern Teacher, has the CUTEST teacher planners! I've already printed mine and I'm slowly getting it put together for next year.

Check out her Happy Day Planner! It's so bright and cheerful, something everyone will be asking you about at the next staff meeting!

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A-Z Animal Craftivities and Writing Prompts

Here we are again. It's Wednesday and another Hump Day Highlight! I hope you'll not only check out what we are up to in my classroom, but you'll link up to show us what you are up to in yours!

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Story Starters

 I can't wait to introduce my kiddos to these little cuties for journal and writing time!

and I can't wait to share them with you for....

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Story Elements Flipbook

My kids are in the middle of mastering story elements and we are now independently expressing them in silent reading! I am so proud of them!

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120's Chart Puzzles

This week I realized how hard working with numbers is for my kiddos. I was gone for a few months this year and realize how some simple things like songs and games really help!

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Short Vowel Unit

Now that we are full swing back into things my kiddos started their short vowel unit!
It's one of my favorites ;)

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Do you want to build a snowman?

This week I'm so excited to share my How to Build a Snowman Expository Writing Flipbook with my colleagues at school. What better way to have fun in our toasty classrooms as the snow falls outside the window?? (I mean unless we are toasty warm in our beds because we get a snowday!?!)

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