Whew!!!! We Made it to Vacation!

I had my doubts...I really did! But the last day of school finally arrived and the kids loved saying "See you next year!" as they boarded the buses, and I loved getting extra hugs. It was a good day.

Here are some things we did the last 2 weeks.

Promethean board high frequency word game. Very motivating! Students take turns choose a word, reading it and moving it to the stocking. Sometimes there is a surprise under the word, like a present or a reindeer. they placed the surprise under the Christmas tree. They loved it!

I found these great Christmas tree Bingo pages in my Christmas box. They are from funfrugalmommy.blogspot.com. I'm pretty sure I got them last year and I haven't been able to locate the blog, it keeps taking me to fun frugal homeschool, perhaps they changed their name? Anyway, I like to give credit where it is due! The circles have a sight word on them. I would say a word, they find it and dot it with the paint. Again, so simple, but fun! We had 3 different pages. 

Here's an old favorite, they line up the strips starting at the bottom, then they glue, glitter and dot! 

I must show off my first BIG FAT CHECK! I finally tried using EBATES while ordering Christmas gifts and got some money back! and there will be more! 

That's it for now, I'll try to check in later this week before Christmas, but just in case...

Merry Christmas

I hope it is relaxing and enjoyable for all of you.

Paula

Five for Friday .....,November 21, 2014

Linking with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

This week I went to a basketball fundraiser disguised as a Luau! It was great fun and I can't resist an auction! So I bought a couple of unnecessary things and also this beautiful drawing by Ross Coleman. His lovely wife works at our school.

A student with limited mobility enjoys Christmas lights. This was set up and attached to a switch, it has a timer so the lights will stay on for whatever time is set.

It is very motivating for him.

I am playing more with the promethean board, it is becoming a bit of an obsession! It began with the Connecting Math Concepts lessons and is growing steadily! The lessons seem to flow better with the basics already on a flipchart and of course...the student interest has increased!

My latest creation is a sight word game, students choose a word to read, move it to the bottle on the side , I placed a bottle there because the shape fit in the available space.sometimes there is a surprise behind the card, in this case a turkey! We played this game on the pocket chart with hidden monsters and they loved it!!the idea comes from conversations in literacy's blog!

ABOVE AND BEYOND!

I attended a training today for this program, it is a math program for learners with intellectual delays. It comes with ten frames and tiles plus some other neat stuff. It emphasizes understanding of number concepts, place value and has a whole unit on money. I loved parts of it, annnnnd didn't understand some of it! Especially their version of solving subtraction problems. It has lots of great components such as objectives listed, assessment forms, suggested accomadations. I'm planning on using it to help my students understand number concepts...1 to 1 correspondence and numeral recognition.

I am so frustrated trying to do this with iPhone and kindle fire! Ahhh! I am tech challenged already!Missing my laptop! Ok....ok....think positive....Thank goodness I HAVE an iPhone and tablet. Thank you power of the universe.

Ok, I'm done. Enjoy your short school week,

Paula

Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs...11/14/14

The weeks are flying by, it is hard to believe that it is almost Thanksgiving ! Time to link with Doodle bugs!

                      

My new glasses really do darken more! I am getting more comfortable with the progressive lenses, and like the frames.

Happy Veterans Day to my awesome husband!

Semper Fi!

I am revamping some of my task folders, this one is sequencing numbers, each paint bucket has 2 numerals with a missing one. The brushes have the missing numeral. I took this photo to be an answer key, I plan on keeping the answer keys seperate so they aren't tempted to peek and they can self check without too much fuss. I'll let you know if that works!

The brushes are kept in a snack Baggie and it is labeled with the folder name and how many pieces should be in the bag when they put them back. I plan on being very annoying about that.

The Velcro piece on the back will ensure that the bag can be attached to the folder and less likely to become seperated from it.

Beginning to organize math centers. This is the front of the teacher desk.

Beautiful sunrise this morning!!

I am missing my laptop! I hope to replace it, but Christmas is coming, children need to go to the dentist and my husband says we need a generator!

Tell me about your tips and tricks when you create and organize folder and box tasks.

Later,

Paula

Five for Friday....November 7, 2014

I haven't been here awhile because my computer bit the dust...has gone to the computer graveyard...electronic heaven... And so on. However! I am linking with Doodle Bugs for the week through my iPhone ! So if it looks a little strange ....

1st.....

BOOMER SOONER!!!!

2nd.......

The wood stove is in! Ready for winter (NOT)

3rd......

Making cookies with the twins- always an adventure!

4th....

5th............

Full moon so gorgeous this week!

Have a great week,

Paula

Five for Friday....Saturday.....October 4, 2014

Wow! I haven't been here for awhile, I want to share 5 on Doodle Bugs Teaching.

ONE

I want to show you the wonderful clip activity cards that Doodle Bugs has for sell at her TpT store.
You can find them here.

These are from her fall pack. I don't have a color printer available at the moment, so we copied them onto color paper, glued them onto poster board and laminated. It is a miracle the copy machine and the laminator were both working at the same time! That's the kind of year it's been so far. Anyway! I have a plastic cauldron from Halloween and it worked well to display and hold everything. The kids love it! As they entered the room they noticed it and asked "what's that?"

TWO

We are having a lovely fall this year, it is actually lasting longer then 3 days. One of our  favorite fall books is Lois Ehlert's Leaf Man. The students walked around outside picking up different leaves, I noticed they also got into the garden and picked some purple cabbage!

 I also noticed that they choose a lot of green stuff instead of the yellow and orange!

THREE

I attended two days of training this week.  We are doing more and more direct instruction at our school for interventions. It definitely works! I have been using the programs without training, but the class really helped to pull it altogether.

Here are the basics:
Give the placement tests first.
Follow the program with fidelity.
Teach to MASTERY.
It WORKS!

FOUR

Meanwhile, back at the cabin
 (does anyone know that book Meanwhile back at the ranch by Trinka Hakes Noble ..hilarious!)

we are still unpacking boxes and arguing about what my husband should build so we can unpack boxes!

He made us a neat table for the microwave and coffee maker.

FIVE

Shake Shake Shake!

We had ourselves a little earthquake last week but since I didn't do the five last week I decided to share it now!
We were sitting in our classroom (bottom floor) and felt the first shake,  one of the other teachers said "hey, did you feel that?" and about that time a stronger one happened and it was looonnng! and this Okie girl said, "let's get under the tables", the students were calm and cool, they just crawled under the table and sat quiet. My legs were like jello for an hour afterwards, freaky! 

And that's my five!

Have a great week,

Paula

Reward Good Behavior....Pirate Style

I have had a slow start this school year. Printers not working, copy machine stalling out, laminator issues...none of this is any one's fault, it is just a steady stream of blockades.

Today I am sharing my positive pirate reward system that I have slooooooooowly put together!

First I changed my classroom expectations to be shorter and more to the point. I borrowed these from Cindy Golden, author of The Special Educator's Toolkit.

Hallway expectations are posted  and removable, this makes it easier to display and review with students just before they walk out the door. I do this EVERY TIME.  Now they tell and SHOW me what it says.

I found this punch card on Teacher pay Teachers. Unfortunately, I cannot locate it to give the seller credit at this moment. The treasure boxes are marked with a star as the students shows positive behavior during their school day. When the card is full, their pirate moves up 2 steps on the treasure map.

The students choose and color a pirate to represent themselves on the map.

This map is on the back of two file cabinets sitting side by side. The pirates have magnets on the back making them easy to move.

At the top of the map is the Treasure Chest.

This has been a fun and motivating way to reward behavior. The treasure is composed of a wide variety of objects mostly coming from yard sales and thrift stores. There is only one of many of these items, so students are allowed to choose their favorite  and it is placed into a bag with their name. This gives them a more tangible goal.

I hope this gives you some new ideas, please comment and let me know some of your ideas,

Paula

Five for Friday...August 29, 2014

The last two weeks have been busy, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching at last!

ONE

Moving! 

We are officially home owners! It's been 8 years since our last move and wow, do we have a lot of STUFF!

We have moved many times and I highly recommend renting a U-Haul truck for 24 hours, it is well worth it.

TWO

The joy of moving large appliances up and down stairways!

THREE

Helping pets adapt to a new home

FOUR

The mega shindig that every employee of our school district attends was Friday. We had Barbara Morgan as one of our speakers. She is amazing and a great speaker. Barbara is a teacher and an astronaut. Her story is inspiring.

FIVE

Fall is beginning to show......

 

the fireweed is turning to "smoke"

I love the reds and purples together

I haven't gotten very far with finishing my classroom, it is functional and most of my students are taking their lessons in regular classrooms, but next week will be another shift in the entire school schedule, keeps us on our toes!

Later,

Paula