What's in your cart????? A linky party!

I am excited to announce (as I'm sure many of you are as well) That Teachers pay Teachers  is having a huge back to school sale!

TPT is offering 10% off everything, and many sellers (including me) are offering an additional 20% off. Which, due to math or something, somehow equal 28%

Make sure that you use the discount code BTS12 to get the discount!

Check out I love First Grade's blog to see a gigantic list of sellers who are participating in the sale!

I thought it might be fun to do a what's in your cart linky party to share what we plan on buying during the sale. I know my cart is full ( and my wish list is even fuller) waiting for the sale!

If you want to link up grab the button and share what's in your cart!

Here are the rules!

1. Choose 3 or 4 items from your cart you plan on buying during the sale. 

2. Share a quick review of the product, why you are buying and what you plan on using it for.

3. Provide a link so the reader can find the item you are reviewing. 

4. Use the button and link back to my blog

5. Add the link to your post below.

First up is the math daily 3

This is similar to the daily 5 structure for reading. There's math by myself, math with others and math with the teacher. I can't wait to finally have a way to organize my math time that doesn't include me running around like a crazy person trying to help everyone. 

You can check it out  by clicking here

Next is the kids of character pack

There is a character trait for every week of the school year as well as a journal. I am excited to use this pack to structure my class meetings. I plan to discuss a trait each week and have the students give examples of when they have seen this trait being exhibited by others.

Click here to check it out

Finally I am super excited about this pack! It's a unit to teach greek mythology. I taught greek myths two years ago and the kids were absolutely crazy about it. This gives me more resources, and the clip art is killing me with it's cuteness. 

Click here to check it out.

So that's what's in my cart! (Well some of it) What's in yours? Link up until August 13th when the sale ends!

Of course I would love for you to check out my items which will be on sale as well. 

Here's a preview of what I've got in my store!

Click the button to go to my shop

I've finally figured out my behavior system!!!!!

Last year I did a classroom economy system and it was great. For the most part, it was a little much for me to manage the way we had it set up. However as a school we have decided that is a third grade only system.

I am teaching second so I needed to come up with something comprehensive, motivating and most of all easy!

I knew I wanted to use the class dojo. I blogged about it here if you want to read more. I knew I liked the idea of the super improvers wall from whole brain teaching. Then I was purusing pinterest and I can upon this pin from little minds at work, and I was hit with a sudden bust of inspiration! (I love when that happens! )

As I understand it (so correct me if I'm wrong) with the super improvers wall, students earn 10 stars from their teacher and they get to move up a level. It's a whole year long process. 

I modified this a bit for my own needs, personal style and preference. So here's what I came up with. 

When kids earn 10 points with the class dojo system  (if you wanted to do something like this you could have kids collect stars or points or even dollars using a different system). They get to sign their name on the bottom level. When they sign their name they get to choose a coupon. (I have coupons for everything from sitting at my desk to using a gel pen to do their work) 

There are five levels so each time the kids earn another 10 points they get to move up another level, sign their name and choose a coupon. 

The top level says hall of fame. When the kids reach the hall of fame they get a certificate to bring home and they get to come to the monthly lunch club with me in the classroom. I also plan on having a hall of fame wall, where I will take the kids pictures and place it underneath a sign for that month.

Here's the certificate I plan on giving out

Instead of a year long process I decided to do it monthly. I like this better because it lets kids who weren't doing so well start over and have a fresh start with everyone else. It also just seems less daunting and more achievable to me. 

So at the end of the month I will erase all the names, and we will start over. 

I am super excited about this system. My principal isn't big on clip charts and card turning systems. Which I can understand. If something is going to be shown for the whole class to see it should be all about achievement. Their is no level below beginning, and you can't be moved down. 

So what do you think? I would love any suggestions or thoughts you might have! 

If anyone else thinks they would like to use a system like this I have put it up in my TPT store for free.

Click here to visit my store and download it! 

One last question, What behavior system do you plan on using this year? Clip chart, super improvers wall, stoplight system, class economy or something else? Let me know in the comments. I love to hear what works for other people! 

All right that's it for now, but I will be back tomorrow for Monday Made It! 

The Juice Box Bully

Have you guys heard of this book? i first noticed it a few months back on pinterest. I was intrigued, and when I got an amazon gift card at the end of the year I used it to buy this and a few other character building read alouds.

I was blown away by this book. It is just lovely, and I know it will really speak to my kids. Here is the product description from Amazon.

Have you ever seen a bully in action and done nothing about it? The kids at Pete's new school get involved, instead of being bystanders. When Pete begins to behave badly, his classmates teach him about "The Promise". Will Pete decide to shed his bullying habits and make "The Promise"?


In my classroom I plan on going over the promise, reading it together and repeating it several times though out the first week. 


I made up these posters (I'm not sure which one I like best yet) I am going to hang it in the room and have all the kids sign it. 


This is the promise that the kids in the book make with each other and their teacher.

If you like either one of these you can get them on google docs here

I am also selling this little craftivity I made to go with the book. You can pick it up at my store here! Check it out!  I can't to start of the year with this! 

So I think I'm going to start a little tradition, I have seen on a few other blogs. The first two people to comment with their email address get it for free! Yay!

Teaching Personal Goal Setting

So it is one of my goals this year to really get my kiddos thinking about personal responsibility and setting goals. I admit I wasn't that great at it last year. I want my students to be motivated to go above and beyond and really challenge themselves.

So I am really excited to show you all what I have created to help me with that!

This is my Classroom goal setting pack. 

Basically it is a set of 22 classroom goals. The students choose one that they feel they need to work on and fill out a weekly tracking sheet. The student's rate themselves daily and there is a place for either the student to write more comments, or the teacher to write more comments. 

You can use this whole class or just for those students you think need a little extra help. I am going to use it whole class. 

I think I'm also going to send the sheet home with the students on friday with their work as well. I haven't decided if I will tie it into classroom rewards or not yet. I think I'll see how it goes first. 

I think this is really going to help my students recognize where they need help, challenge themselves, set and achieve goals, feel a sense of pride, and really start building that intrinsic motivation we all want them to have. 

I am selling this is my TPT store for $2.00, so it's a good deal.  However, if anyone is interested I will give it away for free to the first two people to leave me a comment with their email address! FREE! YAY!

Click the link to go to my store!

If you win this, or purchase it, let me know what you think! I would love feedback, especially if you have some other goal ideas you think I should add. 

Finally, I am just 15 people away from the big 50 (followers that is) I am definitely going to do a giveaway once I get there. So if you are not a follower yet, click that button over to the side :-)

Happy Wednesday everyone! I think it's Wednesday at least, I don't know where the time is going!

Coming Soon....A TPT Store

So today is my last day of professional development before summer break. It also happens to be my birthday! Hooray! So I am going to hurry up and get my classroom ready so I can dash out of there as fast as possible.

In other news, ever since I learned how to make those reward coupons I posted yesterday in power point I've been little bit obsessed. I've probably bought way to much clip art too. Anyway, I've been working on teachers pay teacher store.

Currently I'm working on a polka dot theme pack, but I've also got a jungle theme pack lined up, synonym, antonym, homophone, and word go fish, as well as a Harry Potter literacy pack. I can't wait to get all this stuff up and running! I'll have some previews soon.

If any of that sounds interesting to you, click the link on my side bar to my TPT store and follow me


P.S I wanted to say hi to my new followers! Thanks for joining me in my little blog-venture!