Orange Ya' Glad it's a Blog Hop!

Glad that you were able to join us for the third annual Orange Ya' Glad it's a Blog Hop! I am the...

If you have hopped with us in the past, some things will be familiar, and some things will be new!

This year, all of our bloggers are focusing on free tips or ideas that they can share with you to get your school year off to a great start.  Some ideas will have a freebie, others might just be a stand alone concept.  The idea is to try and share things that will solve problems and create a happy and stress free first few weeks!

Let's talk about Feature Friday.

This year, I really want my students to take ownership of their writing. I want them to be engaged and to interact with each other throughout the process. My hope is that Feature Friday will make this happen.

What is Feature Friday?

Feature Friday is an interactive way to integrate technology and writing. Students take photos throughout the week on iPads, iPhones, or with cameras (whichever you have access to!) of any classroom happening, activity, or student that interests them. Then, on Friday, you pick one photograph to share on your classroom website. It is important that you choose pictures that students have taken. This keeps Feature Friday genuine and kid-centric. The student or students who are pictured in that chosen photo become the Feature Friday Stars! 

Making Connections and Writing Collaboratively

Feature Friday is not only a fun way to share photos, it is also a great way to get students to write about what they see! My kindergarteners will be able to write about our Feature Friday Star the VERY first week of school because we will write orally first, and then I will type directly onto our classroom website as we repeat the sentence.

Here is an example of a Feature Friday post on our classroom website. If you do not have a classroom website, you could simply send an email to your entire class with a picture and a few sentences to explain it. If you are interested in using a classroom website, check out Weebly.com. It is super easy to use, looks very professional, and it's FREE!

(Disclaimer - The photograph below is old. It is not an actual Feature Friday picture taken by students. The description was not written by students. This is just a sample of what Feature Friday will look like. The student's name has been changed for privacy.) 

Connecting Families

We all know that families are busy and it is often difficult to get them to regularly check the classroom website or read the weekly newsletter. This year, I have decided to ditch the newsletter. I am going to solely rely on Feature Friday. How? Feature Friday bracelets.

Every Friday, when I pick one photo from the week, I will project it on the board. The students and I will congratulate the Feature Friday Star (the child in the photo) and present them with their Feature Friday bracelet before we write the description together. The bracelet will be taped around their wrist so that family members see it. 

Imagine the excitement from my sweet students when their picture has been chosen, they have been congratulated in class, they received a bracelet, AND they get to share it with their families! My hope is that parents and relatives will be just as excited! Teachers, here's the exciting part...The Feature Friday bracelet prompts families to check the website (or email) to see their child as the Feature Friday Star!

I am so excited to integrate collaborative writing in this simple, yet creative way for students. I think it will really help them to understand that all pictures can be written about and shared with others. Sharing the pictures on a website or emailing them to parents, will make children SO proud of themselves. ...And, as an added bonus, it will draw parents toward your classroom website. What more could you ask for?!?

If you'd like to start Feature Friday in your classroom, grab this Feature Friday bracelet freebie!

Please click HERE to download the file.

We will be having an Instagram giveaway again!  At the bottom of each post, there will be a letter. 

 The letters all work together to give you the name of a type of orange!  This year is a bit tricky...it's a two word name!  **Hint: The numbers in the top right corner signify the order!" 

Once you've solved the puzzle...take a picture of the answer.  

Post it on instagram and hashtag it with #orangehop2015.  We love original ideas...so, do something fun with your image! Check out some images from last year's IG hop below!

We will go through the pictures and select a winner!

Next up on the hop is...Sabra from Teaching with a Touch of Twang!

Exciting News! - Florida Blog Hop!

Happy back to school season!

I'm excited to announce a fun Florida-centric blog hop!

I'm joining with some wonderful Florida bloggers to give you some great back to school ideas that will give you all you need to start the year off right!  You can look forward to seeing tips from the following Florida PreK-5 bloggers!

Lollipics - Teachers Are Sweet!

Do you love lollipops? I do! ...and I know for a fact that my kindergarteners do!

I am thrilled to be working with Laura from Laura Kelly Designs & Me & My Inklings to share these tasty {personalized} treats with you! Yes, I said PERSONALIZED. If you're a teacher like me, chances are you love a fancy monogram or freshly labeled bin. So, you can imagine my excitement when I discovered I could personalize a lollipop! 

Laura has designed some adorable clipart that is just right for your classroom, school, staff, or community. Her easy to use site even allows you to upload any image that you wish! When ordering my lollipops, I had to things in mind. 1 - Meet the Teacher night and 2 - How can I keep these going all year long?

In the image below, you can see my Meet the Teacher lollipop which says "You color my world!" with a cute crayon doodle. These will be a HUGE hit with students and parents. I mean, what kid doesn't love a large rainbow candy?! I will definitely be sharing more of these once I get all set up for that night!

On the right, is my "Today a reader. Tomorrow a leader." lollipop. I chose an image of a book for this one. I love the unique contrast of the green book against the plain white lollipop! These will be perfect for students when they hit a reading milestone during the year!

If you are interested in snagging some of these colorful creations for your classroom this fall, be sure to check them out today! There's a deal waiting for you!

Here's how...
1) Visit LollipicsForTeachers.com
2) Choose the image that fits your fancy (birthday, welcome back, etc.) and add your personalized text
3) Use the promo code TEACHER to get your set for $1 each (minimum order of 30)

Be sure to also enter the giveaway below! 

You can win an Ellison AllStar Machine, cute Dies, and more custom lollipops. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*I was compensated for this giveaway with my own set of custom Lollipics for my classroom.

Bulletin Board Ideas

Hello friends! As back to school time approaches, bulletin boards are a constant topic. Today, I am linking up with Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Angie from Lucky Little Learners to share some tips and tricks to make your bulletin boards beautiful (and not too stressful!). Hope you enjoy!

If you haven't noticed already, I am (just a tad) OCD in my classroom. There is a place for everything, everything is in its place, and everything is tied together with COLOR. I have used blue, green, and brown with small pops of yellow for the past two years and absolutely love it! Why do I keep my color scheme the same? 1 - It's expensive to purchase this stuff! Using it from year to year is important to me. 2 - A color scheme can go with almost any theme you wish.

Why blue, green, and brown?

There has been research done that shows the color blue produces a sense of calm. Yellow on the other hand, can be a very strong color for students who struggle with attention disorders or students who have autism. Think about ambulances and stop/yield signs. They are either red or yellow. These colors spike our attention and make us very aware of our surroundings.

When creating a classroom environment, color scheme is KEY! Pick a few colors and go for it. Your bulletin boards are going to be the pops of color that "ground" your classroom and pull everything together for a cohesive look. Layer borders to give your bulletin boards more detail and "curb-appeal" from far across the room. I use brown paper in the back of my room so that I can add more color when the student work is added. In the front of the room, I use the brighter green paper (seen in the first image with the chevron border).

You can see from the images above that I have many different colored bulletin board papers and borders in various arrangements. However, all of the colors are in the same "family".

Here are the links to the specific borders used in my classroom:

Key border: Dollar Tree

Brown and lime chevron borders: Creative Teaching Press

White wavy border: Creative Teaching Press

Lime polka dot border: Teacher Created Resources on Amazon

Lots of Dots brown border: Creative Teaching Press

Brown Bordette: Pacon on Amazon

All bulletin board paper is the Fadeless brand from my local teacher store.

This year, I knew I wanted to put a quote above my boards to fill the blank space. We are not allowed to paint any walls, so this idea added a large pop of color. Our grade level theme is Fantasy, so I chose a Mary Poppins quote that I just ADORE for kindergarten. This is the focal point of our classroom. Your eye is drawn to it the moment you walk in...and you may just start singing "oohhh a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down". 

How do I create one for my classroom?

If you are interested in creating a large quote for your classroom, it is VERY simple. Just create a PowerPoint document and insert a text box on each page. Type one letter per page and choose a thick font you love at a large font size. I used KG The Last Time at size 667. Click format and change the font fill to "none" or "transparent" and the outline to "black". Print it on bright paper. I used the green from this pack and teal from a pack parents donated last year. I layered the two for a textured look. When you print, be sure to click on "Fit to page" or "Shrink to fit" so the edges of the font don't get cut off! 

Here's another focal point example from my first grade classroom two years ago.
Kids and staff alike LOVED our tree. Plus, it tracked our AR progress!

Here's a quick tip to leave you with...

Imagine you just created a "fake" bulletin board on the ugly back of some cubbies, but you weren't sure if you want to use white or green lettering. :) Yup...that was me!

I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before, BUT all you have to do is take a picture of the blank board. Then, insert it into a PowerPoint and type right on top of it! (See mine above!) Mess around with the colors and fonts until you get something you love. Then, simply enlarge the letters, print them, cut them out, and tape them up. Ta-da! I wish I had thought of this sooner. I would have done every bulletin board this way!

Be sure to check out the links below to get more brilliant bulletin board ideas for back to school!

An InLinkz Link-up

Quality Teacher Shirts

Do you wear enjoy wearing fun teacher t-shirts in the classroom on Fridays? I do! I cannot wait to grab a few new ones this year as I move to kindergarten! If you are on the lookout for adorable teacher shirts, look no further. Aplusimages.com, teachershirts.com, and classroomfaces.com have everything your teacher heart could desire!

Last month, as I was prepping to travel to Las Vegas for the SDE and Teachers Pay Teachers conference, I heard about a company offering bloggers a FREE t-shirt with their logo. Of course I jumped on that opportunity! The online editing tool on aplusimages.com was very simple to use. I picked a t-shirt style and color, and poof! I had a beautiful new teacher shirt!

Within a few days, my t-shirt was on my front steps. Just in time for Vegas! Let me tell you...this shirt is perfect! The color is bright, and my logo is not one bit blurry. A+ Images was so thoughtful to include blogger instructions as well as directions on how to get the best results when you first wash the t-shirt. While in Vegas, I loved seeing all the other bloggers showing off their blog with a shirt. :) It's such a fun idea and helped to easily identify people that I did not know personally. 

A+ Images has many different t-shirt options. You can create your own with their custom shirt category, you can browse their teacher apparel, and you can even get a class t-shirt that includes all of your sweet students' faces! How stinkin' adorable is that?!?! Go to classroomfaces.com to customize the color and faces before you order yours for the new school year. I just know my students and parents will love them!

Interrupting Chicken: Books Bloggers Love

Because August marks the beginning of the school year and we are just starting to focus on classroom rules, I love reading Interrupting Chicken! This book is all about...how did you guess??...an interrupting chicken. The little chicken wants a bedtime story, but he constantly interrupts his father throughout the book. David Ezra Stein uses powerful illustrations and speech bubbles to show how and when the little chicken interrupts.

I use Interrupting Chicken during the first week of school to teach students the importance of being respectful and not interrupting others.  There is some repetition throughout the book which helps students to participate actively the entire time. One of my favorite aspects of this book is the fact that the chicken appears inside a book inside of the book! This is an excellent opportunity to show students the difference between the actual book and the story within the book. My students are always thrilled to read this story again and again!

After we have read the book one time, I show my class this video as a review. Then, we use this freebie from Mrs. Wheeler (see the pictures above) to apply the book to our real lives. We sort the cards in a pocket chart and discuss how we can all be "Respectful Students" instead of "Interrupting Chickens". Throughout the year, I may teach a few mini lessons on this same topic to remind students of respectful behaviors. This book is the perfect addition to your year, because students will never forget the interrupting chicken!

Do you love books? We do! Each month, I will be joining 12 teacher bloggers for a link-up called Books Bloggers Love. We will each share one of our favorite books to use for the following month and show you how we use it. Keep in touch and you will have a chance to win 4 of the 12 books that we blogged about each month! Enter below to win 4 books this month!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Classroom Improvements

Hey everyone! I am thrilled to be sharing some improvements with you today as part of the #2getherwearebetter monthly link up hosted by Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd & Lucky Little Learners. Today, we are talking about classroom improvements. We are thinking about this past year, learning from it, and making improvements throughout our teaching and our classrooms!

REFLECT

After co-teaching in two third grade classrooms this year, I have learned a lot about myself and other classroom management techniques. I have seen my co-teachers do things that I would NEVER have done or even thought to do in my own classroom (positive things, I promise!). I watched as they allowed a child to read and come to centers on his own time in order to not "throw him off" or provoke a meltdown. I have worked daily in classrooms that were so completely different than mine, but have grown to love their differences. 

This year was also an important one in my professional career. I completed my master's degree in Reading and began assisting in and teaching professional development opportunities at my school. As I look back on my first major presentation to staff, I laugh. It seems like I have come leaps and bounds since then. I am so grateful for these opportunities and for administration who believes in my passion and supports me. I was also blessed to be able to attend a week-long training in the Orton Gillingham method of multi-sensory education. This experience forever changed me as a primary teacher. It rekindled my love for emergent literacy and beginning reading instruction. Although it is a bit pricey, I highly recommend this training over all others I've ever been to!

a literacy centers professional development workshop I gave to new teachers at our school

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LEARN

Tip #1: Go with the flow.

So often we say this, yet we don't follow through. Every single year is different in our classrooms. Every single child is different. I'm probably {a bit} OCD. Everything has a time and a place. This year, with these specific students, I learned that my "Type A" ways are not always going to work. I learned to be flexible and to give students specialized attention if and when necessary.

Tip #2: Collaborate about classroom management ideas!

YOU may have never had a child on the spectrum in your class, but maybe your colleague has! This may be the first year that administration "stacked" your class, but maybe Mrs. Jones has had stacked classes every year! The moment you bring these topics up in meetings or informal settings, ideas will find their way toward you.

Tip #3: Work hard and become a leader. 

This is part of an old proverb, but it is 100% true! The only way I was ever able to present to my fellow teachers was by working extremely hard to fine tune my learning before hand. Teachers should be constantly learning and improving their craft. I cannot wait to flood my brain with information this summer during the SDE I Teach First and TPT Vegas conferences! Learning in order to help my students in the future, is something that truly excites me to the core!

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IMPROVE

Soon, I will be teaching kindergarten. I am SO excited that I sometimes wish there was no summer break. {Did I really just say that?} Teacher. Nerd. Truly, third grade was fun, but my heart is in the primary grades. I'm planning to improve a few things about my approach and classroom this year. Check them out below!

***Disclaimer: We are locked out of our classrooms ALL summer, so there are no fun classroom pictures yet. Plus, all of my supplies are tucked away inside the cabinets. Major teacher problems over here.

Communication: I have always had a classroom website and have emailed/called parents frequently. However, one of my co-teachers this year had a wonderful communication system in place in her classroom. The parents were the sweetest, and they had amazing relationships with my colleague. This year, I am focusing on strengthening my communication with this new & improved {FREE!} classroom website (Weebly.com), a weekly newsletter, positive phone calls home, and frequent emails/notes. I really hope to create a sense of community for the parents and their students. 

Decor: Teaching kindergarten means labeling everything. every. thing. ev. er. y. thing.

Lately, I've been focusing on making posters and labels for objects in my classroom. I decided to keep my blue and green color scheme this year, but to add read pictures in order to engage students throughout the day with environmental images. I cannot get into my classroom until early August, so for now, my kitchen counter will have to do...

labels with REAL images for all parts of the classroom

Classroom Library Arrangement:  Before co-teaching third grade, I taught first grade. My classroom library was the focus of the entire room. I had purposefully done this to see how students progressed during reading. I absolutely LOVED this setup, however, it may not work as well for kindergarten. I'm thinking of creating my library in a more closed-in space this year. I'm not sure exactly how I will arrange the furniture quite yet because I'm hoping to use alternative seating and very few tables. I'll be sure to keep posting more pictures as the new room decoration beings!

first grade classroom

So far, I have printed new kindergarten-friendly book bin labels and have them ready for the first day that I am able to make my way into the new room. Until then, I will keep plugging away at posters, object labels, and mini projects!

Place your library in the CENTER of the room to change things up and create an automatic focal point for students.

What areas of your teaching or your classroom are YOU improving this summer? Comment below and be sure to check out these other fantastic bloggers!

An InLinkz Link-up