Valentines, Monthly Vocabulary Word Cards, and Opinion Writing.

I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how happy I am to write this post.  Because.....

I just went back to school this week. I have been out for a month. 

I had an injury.

I was running in front of a speeding train to save the life of a young child who fell on the tracks and got her shoelace caught in the rails, when the train nicked me in the leg as it whizzed by.

Just kidding....

Truth is,I fell and hit my head on the street while walking the dog and gave myself a concussion.  True story. I'm sure it looked quite graceful. Don't ever get a concussion. It has not been pleasant.

The upside is I watched A Lot of Netflix.  A Lot.  As in 3 seasons of

which was unbelievably good. I highly recommend it. I also watched all 5 seasons of

which was also fantastic.

So anywhoose...

I did manage to be a productive member of society this week and I'm linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching to share my Five for Friday.

 I found this super cute project on Pinterest here and I made a few of them for my son's teachers.

I made these Valentine's for my students this year.

If you like it, you can grab the FREE label here.

We have been reviewing opinion writing so this week we wrote our opinion on which we liked best: indoor or outdoor recess.

I was psyched to find this thread spool thingie (I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it's called) at JoAnn Fabric's this week. I now have the perfect way to neatly store all my "brag tags" in one spot that doesn't take up a ton of room.

I uploaded a new product this week that I needed for my classroom.  I added this monthly vocabulary word list to my writing center to help my young writers.

How has your week been?

American Symbols

I am thrilled to be linking up with Cole From Teach Glitter Grow to share my Top 3 picks for President's Day. Actually, since we are working on American symbols in my class right now so I figured I would share some resources I have found with you. This has turned into 3 categories because I had so much to share!  I hope it's helpful! Make sure to check out the other blogs that have linked up for more great ideas

A video on the Statue of Liberty

Watch this 3-minute highlight of Washington DC for Kids. Take a trip through our nation's capital with your students and lead a discussion with them pointing out American symbols that they see in the video.    

 

Make the Statue of Liberty crown and torch with just a few materials such as paper plates, cardboard tube, and a cereal box. Click here for directions and a complete list of materials.

 

 

Aren't these liberty bells from Fluttering Through First Grade darling?  Click here for directions on how to make them.

 

 

These bald eagle directed drawings would look great displayed alongside some facts about our national bird.  Click here for more info.

 

 

 

Why is the Statue of Liberty green? My class LOVES this experiment on oxidation.  Using pennies (dated 1973 or later when pennies were made of copper), we used paintbrushes to coat them with vinegar, salt, and water.  WE talked about where Lady Liberty is located and how our little experiment might re-create her environment.  The next day, the kids are thrilled to notice that the pennies have turned green-just like the Statue of Liberty.

 

 

 

Kids are always fascinating by The White House. I share this mini anchor chart from my American Symbols unit.

 

 

Then they enjoy doing this "lift and flap" to reveal facts about The White House.

 

 

I love this White House writing craftivity below.

 

This adorableness is a freebie from Adventures in Mrs. Martin's Room so make sure to grab it here.

 

 

We also spend time doing close reads on each American symbol.

 

 

For the resources above and more, check out American Symbols products:

 

 

 

 

 

 Do you have any great ideas or activities that you use for American Symbols? I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

 

 

 

 

 

Bragging about Brag Tags

I love using brag tags in my classroom as positive reinforcement.

My students are absolutely obsessed with them!  My classroom management system is described in detail in another post that you can find here.

Students store their brag tags in these pocket charts I found at the dollar store.

Students collect brag tags they earn and they can wear them on Fridays.

I love the brag tags. The only thing I didn't love was storing them. 

First, I tried this:

But there was 2 problems with this method.
 
      1. We aren't supposed to hang things on the wall in our new school. Oops.
      2. I have a friend who can't keep his hands to himself.  Ahem.

So then I tried hanging them inside my closet door at school. I don't have a picture of that because it was just ugly. Ugly as in...

brag tags on the floor...
brag tags tangled up...
brag tags thrown inside the lego bin that I took away last week when no one was cleaning up, because who has time to untangle brag tags.
brag tags just thrown everywhere in the closet.

It.was.a.hot.mess.


So then I tried this...

But there is no way I could afford this for my 65+ brag tags.

Then one day, I was walking through JoAnn Fabrics because I had a medical condition that forced me to go shopping. True story. I'll tell you that one another day.

Anywhoose.....I was walking through JoAnn's and found one of those thread spool thingies.  It probably has a more sophisticated name but I have no idea what that is so here's a picture of it.

Immediately I thought of my brag tags and HOLLA!  I think it holds 120 spools of thread or something like that. I got it on sale and with a teacher discount for less than $18.  Bam!

As soon as I got home I used a Sharpie to label it with the names of my brag tags. If you have more patience than me and want to go all fancy you could probably make labels and go all "Martha Stewart" but I'm cool with it like this:

You can hang it on a wall or off a hook or stand it on a shelf or table since it has a "kickstand" in the back.  I love it because the tags hang so nicely and they are not getting tangled anymore or taking up an entire bulletin board or wall space (Mr.Alan and Mr. Nick-you're welcome).

See how nicely they hang?

Here's a side view:

Some do touch the ground but I'm ok with this since they aren't tangling.

And now this mess:

Is all nice and neat now.

Life changing for me, folks I tell ya!  Life changing.

pin for later

 

Want to try brag tags in your classroom?  Check out these brag tags and these FREE ones.

 

 

 

 

 



Do you use brag tags?