No Cost Rewards

Classroom management..is there an instruction manual? Ha...my classroom management techniques are always changing, as I am sure yours are too. Some years what I do works beautifully and other years I really have to get creative. This past year I was constantly trying to find that perfect thing that would work for some of my students. I loved them all dearly, but some were a little harder than others. As a teacher, I always feel like, what am I doing wrong? How can I help this child to be successful and want to learn?! Kelly and I sat down and came up with a reward system that we are going to implement this year and see how it fits in with our already existing classroom management techniques. The best part about this reward system is that it cost us NO money at all! These Terrific Tickets are in our Teachers Pay Teachers store for only $2!! We are super excited about it. Here is a sample of three of the tickets:

You can find them here in our store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Terrific-Tickets-classroom-incentives-and-rewards

We also have a school-wide positive behavior system through PBIS, but we are always trying to find new and fun ways to get children motivated.

Guess Who's Getting a Smart Board?

We are!!!! It is actually going in my classroom, but it is for the whole kindergarten team. Kelly and I will probably be the ones who will use it the most. We are very excited and hoping that maybe next year if not sooner Kelly will get one in her room too!

I was wondering what everyone does with their Smart Boards and what are some good resources out there? Do you still have a calendar, 100s chart, weather graph, etc. up in the front of your room or do you do all of those things on the Smart Board? 

The Smart Board has taken up most of my chalkboard space where I usually have all of those things that we do during our morning routine. I am excited about this new adventure and looking forward to using it and doing fun things with it. Thank you for your ideas! :)

Wow!! Another Award!

I haven't been blogging for a little while, some other things came up. When I came to check on things today I see that we have been giving another award!! So cool, thanks!! We love that people are starting to find our blog and are reading what we have to say and share. :) We were nominated by Shawna over at KinderGarden Seeds, and by Catherine at Kinder Cuties, and by Janelle over at Mrs. Janelle's Kindergarten Kingdom! Thank you so much ladies!!!

Here are the requirements for accepting this award:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you. Already done! Thanks again!
2. Include a link to their site. Did that up above, click on their website names to check them out!
3. Include the award image on your blog.
4. Include 7 random facts about yourself.

• Kelly and I both share a love for Mexican restaurants. We are always hunting one down and looking for an excuse to go out to eat Mexican.
• Kelly and I both also share a love of photography and are loving our amateur photographer status. We are always trying to learn more. Kelly does better at this than me. Sometimes my head just spins with aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. Hard to keep it straight sometimes.
• Kelly used to be an avid ice skater. She was part of a team that participated in all kinds of competitions, isn't that cool!? She likes to teach skating part-time to children now.
• I taught in a Montessori school for five years before going in to the public school system. I still use some of the techniques in my classroom today.
• I secretly would love to be a children's book author. I just think that would be so much fun. Kelly and I are always writing our own guided reading books and I just love it. Problem is, I am not a very good artist, so illustrating them is another issue. :)
• We love technology!! Unfortunately, we still write on chalkboards in our classrooms. There is a joke in there somewhere I am sure. We keep holding out for something great in the technology department, maybe even a dry erase board. Ha! Dream Big!!
• Kelly has just recently moved into a new home. She lives there with her husband, daughter, dog, and now even a few mice! She says she needs a cat, but her husband has allergies! Maybe I should loan her my cat for awhile, she would have lots of fun chasing mice around!

5. Nominate 15 other blogs for this award. (I cheated and only did 10. It was hard to find someone not already nominated. There are so many wonderful blogs out there!)
A Special Kind of Class
What's the Buzz?
Our Kinder Journey
First Grade Delight
Teaching 4 Real
Shoot for the Moon
Me and My Kindergarten Gang
Langston's Learners
Time 4 Kindergarten
Lil' Country Kindergarten
6. When nominating be sure to include a link to their site. Click on their names to go visit them.
7. Let bloggers know they have been nominated. Doing this right now!

Thanks so much for the recognition, this was a lot of fun. We were able to find some great blogs out there that we hadn't found before. Happy blogging!! Til next time....

Let's Talk About Sight Words

As I am starting to think about the school year coming up and what theme I want to decorate my room in this year, I started to think about sight words. This made me wonder, how does everyone handle sight words that go home? I have heard some people use word rings and others use pocket words. Kelly and I have always used a "Sight Word Can". We ask parents to donate empty and clean frosting containers and then we put a cover around it that looks like this:

Then after sight words are taught in the classroom we send them home on a sheet of paper for the parents or child to cut out and add to their can. We also send home some ideas of how to use the sight words and game they can play so it isn't just boring flashcards. Ha!! We would love to hear about all of your wonderful ideas and how you help young children learn their sight words!