Dollar Store Scores

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a super-fan of the dollar store.  It's the place where dreams come true.  I promise.

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I've had the occasional lottery fantasy here and there.  In my fantasy, I've just won and I'm in my favorite department store.  I run past the racks, grabbing anything and everything I want with no regard for price!  So far in my life, my excursions to the dollar store are the closest thing to this fantasy coming to life.  

I love going in there knowing everything is going to be the same dirt cheap price.  As teachers, we are crafty and creative by nature.  We can turn everyday items that others perceive as "trash" into practical classroom tools and projects.  When I go to the dollar store I find myself taking a second and third look at everything they have to offer.  You never know, you may just find the most amazing and useful thing for your classroom in the home cleaning section.

On one of my recent treks to the dollar store I came across this gem.  This beauty was just laying there in the office/school supplies section waiting for me to scoop him up and take him to my classroom.  I bought several of them to put in my students' toolboxes and a few extras to have on hand.

Students with reading disabilities often benefit from enlarged print.  The problem that I have is that it is not always easy or convenient to get every single printed piece in large print for every single student.  Additionally, when I'm not with them in their general education classroom, their teachers may give them things to read with small print but they might be too shy or unaware to tell them that they are having a hard time reading.  

In my opinion, this magnifying reader is a winner across the board.  My students are able to use this when reading in my classroom AND I can give them one to take to their classroom for reading items in there.  

Us special education teachers tend to accumulate a variety of different tools and we want to give them out to our students.  The problem is...we don't always get them back.  Students, being the young children that they are, tend to lose things.  At the grand price of $1 I can afford to let them take one back to class and not have to do a count every day to make sure that I'm maintaining my supply.  

Here is a look at the reader that I found, I'm sure that there are many different options in each dollar store throughout the country.  Happy hunting!

Spring Cleaning

It's typically about this time of year that I start thinking about next year.  I start dreaming of how I want to rearrange my room and how I want to change my decorations.  I think it's because we are approaching the homestretch as far as the year goes.  It's there...I can see it just on the horizon.  We have a lot of changes going on at our school next year and I am so excited to revamp my room.  It's also this time of year that we special-education teachers can begin to feel as though we are hitting a wall.  

Even though we do evaluations all year long, the window between November and March tends to be the most packed for me.  Between back to back IEPs and benchmark assessments, we can begin to go a little nutty and feel as though we are losing control.  

I found myself browsing through motivational/inspirational posters during my break and I thought that next year I wanted to incorporate them into my decor.  And then the thought came to me, "Why not now?"

I decided that I could kill two birds with one stone by whipping up some posters and a banner for my room this weekend.  I'm happy to say that my room now has a fresh vibe and some new positivity spread throughout.  While the goal is that the words will be inspiring for my students, I know that they will be inspiring for the adults in the room as well.  

We all need inspiration from time to time which is why I put up the 8/5x11 posters for free in my TPT store.  I was able to find the quotes online by doing a google search for "inspirational educational quotes".  There were a MILLION great ones, but I limited it to four for now.  

On my way in to work today I stopped by the dollar store to pick up some frames to display them and, of course, the dollar store didn't disappoint.  These "Certificate of Achievement" frames are the perfect size for the 8.5x11 posters.
  

The Finished Product!

My favorite quote I found is by Margaret Fuller:

"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader"

This quote was screaming to me, "Make me into a banner!"  It was super easy to assemble and it looks amazing!  This one is for sale in my TPT store.

1) Lay flags face-up on top of backing to ensure that they are in the correct order.
2) Flip them over one at a time and tape the backing to the flag.
3) Continue down the line, making sure that they are evenly spaced apart.

Now it's time for me to take a deep breath and jump back in it tomorrow!!!

Spelling Strategies

Spelling is consistently the hardest thing for my kiddos.  Kids with dyslexia and other learning disabilities are known for this.  The battle for me is that I have 4 students working on the same spelling list, but they are all having trouble with achieving success for different reasons.  These reasons could range from typical dyslexia issues to attention issues to short term/long term recall issues.  

To tackle this problem I have developed a pretty successful routine for my students to practice their spelling every morning as a quick and quiet activity when they come in to start their day.  This involves several components, so bear with me.  I am lucky to have 1:1 iPads in my classroom which makes this much much easier.  If you don't have an iPad for each student but you have a few of them, this would be great as a center rotation.  If you don't have iPads at all, you can do the same activities with the students referencing a paper list.  Here's a preview of what my room looks like first thing in the morning with spelling all set up.

The reason I started using the iPads was because my students weren't always reading the words correctly as they were practicing.  When it came time for the spelling test I would say the word and they would look at me very confused because they had been saying a different word in their heads all week.  With the iPad I can record my voice saying each word so that they hear the correct pronunciation as the practice.

First, I use the Educreations app to create a slideshow tutorial of the weekly spelling list.  My one critique of the Educreations app is that when you insert a text box you only are allowed to use blue font.  This is not good for a special educators, we like to make different letters different colors.  My solution to this is to handwrite my words (consonants = blue, vowels = red).  The downfall of this, however, is that my handwriting is not good.  It's the best I can do for now.

After I make the presentation I go online (with my laptop) to the Educreations website.  From there I login and access my lesson.  There is an option to copy a direct link to the lesson.  Select and copy.

Next I go to QRStuff.com to create a QR code.  In all honesty, I googled "QR code generator" and this was the first one that came up.  It works great but I'm sure there are a million of options for this out there.  It's very easy, just paste your Educreations link into the "website URL" window and a QR code will pop up.  

Next, I copy the QR code and paste it into a word document.  You can then copy and paste to make as many as you need.  I do one for each student.  And.....PRINT!

That's truly the hardest part about this whole process.  Now the fun stuff!

After printing, I stick the QR code into a library sleeve that is secured to the side of their desks.  If you're going to do it this way, be sure to leave a long tab on one side of your QR code, otherwise it will not stick out of the sleeve properly.

I downloaded a template to make these sleeves for free from this website and printed it on colorful card stock.  And of course, after looking at them in pictures I decided they needed a little flair so I made some buttons to add to the front.  Available in my TPT store.

When students come in every morning, they know the drill:

1) Get iPads
2) Scan QR code to open lesson link
3) Practice spelling

The fun part is step 3.  I have several different options for them to practice their spelling.  Usually I have the option I want them to use already waiting for them on their desks.  Sometimes I let them choose which one they want.  Below are the options that I am using right now and after those are some options I have found online that I'm planning to incorporate.

Rainbow Writing - Students write each word and trace over it several times using a different color each time.  My spelling practice/test sheets are free downloads in my TPT store.  I found that my students took too long numbering their pages or would make mistakes and then have to start over.  This saves A LOT of time for everyone.  

Velcro Letters - Students pull letters from the top (extra letters on the back) to spell the words on the velcro strip.  My letters are from the dollar store with velcro dots added to the backs.

Sand Writing -  Students trace the words in sand on a sand tray. Side Note: My sand trays are lids to tupperware boxes.  They have a nice lip on them that keeps the sand in. 

Mom 2 Posh Lil Divas has 75 ways to practice spelling and they are all really good!  One of her ideas is to spell the words with play dough.

 

My next project is to make this play dough to use.  My mom made some for my niece using this recipe and she said it holds up great without drying out.   

Scribble Doodle and Draw has some great ideas, Im planning on implementing the paint in a ziploc baggie.

Happy Spelling!!!

Present Levels Remix

When I was going to school to be a special education teacher, I was told over and over again, "Get ready for all the data!"

I knew that there was a lot of data collection, I figured it couldn't be that hard.  What I was not prepared for was the task of keeping data for 15+ students across four grade levels on a regular basis...HELP!  

My classroom services students with mild-moderate learning disabilities.  This means that the majority of my students spend most of their time in their general education classroom.  This makes it very difficult for me come IEP time to get a good understanding of where they are at with their present levels.  It also doesn't help that each teacher has a different style of working and collecting student info.  It would be great if each of them had a nice little binder waiting for me with student work so that I could dive in and get what I need.  That's very rarely the case.  We all have our own organizational styles and that's fine with me.  

What I've done to tackle this issue is I've typed up a present levels form that I can fill out when I meet with the general education teacher prior to the IEP.  It helps to give our conference a direction and to work efficiently.  To expedite the process I went through each of the standards and notated a reference in the measure section to the curriculum so that we have a starting off point for each standard.

One thing that I never quite developed is that beautiful teacher handwriting.  My penmanship skills peaked in the fourth grade.  For that reason, I like to bring my laptop to meet with the teachers, type directly in the document, and print it out when I'm done.  If you have beautiful handwriting, I'm jealous...you can just print it out and fill it out by hand as you go.


See my mini-tutoral to find out how to add your curriculum reference points to your document.

Below are some samples of my third grade PLOP packet. There is a peek at the blank document and a shot of what my document that I use looks like. Of course, it's up in my TPT store, stop by and check it out!

 
  

What Do We Do With Our Free Time?

My school is on break this week so that means I have so much free time to myself, right?  As a teacher, there are certain things that people often say to us in conversation.

"I could never do your job!"
"You must be so patient."
"You get so much time off, you're so lucky!"

Don't get me wrong, we do get a good amount of time off.  We need it, our students need it, it's necessary.  That being said, the majority of teachers end up going in to work during these long breaks to get stuff done.  It's near impossible for me to get one thing done in a single sitting due to the volume of activities going on around me.  I usually start several projects in the 5-20 minute breaks I get between students and then little by little, my classroom begins to look like a giant junk drawer.  During these breaks I like to take my time getting organized and regrouping.  

Before I left for the break I noticed that my students' desks were getting a little out of control.  I give them a lot of tools to keep at their desks throughout the day.  Sticky notes, highlighter, reading window, dry-erase marker...just to name a few.  They use each and every one of these tools so it's important that they have them handy without having a distracting mess on their desk.  

My good friend, The Dollar Store, came through again and I was able to find some good bins with attached lids for their desks.  I thought they needed a little something to jazz them up though, so I made some cute labels (3x5)to add a personalized touch.  I love them so much I'm going to put them up for free on my TPT store, because every kid needs some pizzazz in their life...it just makes the day better!    

As a sidenote: I originally did the tags with just the chevron background but after I printed them out I decided they needed some red to help them pop.  In my TPT file the red background is already included.  I printed them on card stock and used velcro dots to attach them to the bins.  The good thing about using velcro is that if you need to repurpose the bins down the road you can just put a new label on them without worrying about peeling crusty tape off.

The file on TPT is a PDF, see mini-tutorial below to for help on how to add text to your PDF. 

   

Step 1: Select the "Show Edit Toolbar" button.

2. Select the "Text" button.

3. Click and drag your cursor where you want your text, you can move it around later if you need to.

4. Type your text.

5. Highlight your text and select the "Tools" tab at the top of the screen.

5. Select "Show Fonts"

6. Choose your font and adjust your color.

8. Enjoy!!!

Hooray For Sales!!!

I finished loading my CCSS math posters to my TPT store tonight. To celebrate I am throwing a sale!  From now until Thursday all my Common Core math posters will be 20% off.  Enjoy!!!

Reflections on Teachers and Third Grade "I can..." Math Posters

My elementary school growing up was relatively small.  At the time it did not seem like it but, now, after working in several different schools I see how quaint it truly was.  We had three teachers in each grade level and they were pretty much the exact same teachers throughout my elementary career.  My sisters and I often had the same teachers as we moved down the line.  Each time I would get a teacher that one of my sisters had I always felt like I had a little bit of an in.  Being the youngest, I always got the inside scoop before the first day.  I knew my third grade teacher had an obsession with Pee-Wee Herman, my fourth grade teacher played the guitar, and I knew that my fifth grade teacher loved the color brown.  I was, for some reason, very bothered by this.  

I love bright fun colors so I just couldn't imagine why someone would want to wear brown every day.  I mean it, it was every day.  Some days it was mixed in with shades of taupe, but there was always some element of brown. She even had brown chalk.  Sometimes I think back on my teachers and I wish I had the opportunity to go back in time to see them now as my 30+ year-old self.  I wonder if they really were that strange or if it was just my perception.  I think back on this particular teacher and I remember she had very long finger nails and she would clack them together constantly.  She always wore kaftans or knee-high boots...brown of course.  I wonder how much of it was her and how much of it was just her teaching persona.  

I had a student a few years back who would obsessively ask people what color things were.  

"Do you have a car?  What color is it?"

"Do you have a boom box?  What color is it?"

Do you have a phone?  what color is it?"

This would go on and on indefinitely.  Until one day, I told him "My favorite color is hot pink and everything I own is hot pink. Now you don't have to ask me what color anything is anymore, because everything I own is hot pink."

He sat there and thought about it for a minute and I thought this was it, I had solved the problem.  Until he said, "Do you have an exhaust on your car?  What color is it?  Hot pink?"

And that's how every question about anything I owned went for the rest of the year.

"Do you have a couch?  What color is it?  Hot pink?"

"Do you have a microwave?  What color is it?  Hot pink?"

"Do you have an x-box?  What color is it?  Hot pink?"

There is some truth to hot pink being my favorite color, I definitely gravitate towards it, however, everything I own is not hot pink.  But in his mind, he believed it, and my defining trait for him is that "everything she owns is hot pink".  I didn't stay at that school long enough for it to become part of my official persona, but whenever I choose a hot pink item for my classroom I smile and think back wondering where that kid is now.

I have found as I've gotten older that I have transitioned to liking more neutrals with pops of color.  Which brings me to my latest set of Common Core "I Can..." math posters.  I set up the design and fell in love with it and then I thought...Is it too brown?  Am I turning into my fifth grade teacher?  Have I already turned into my fifth grade teacher?  After much deliberation, I decided the answer is no.  

These colors are great and I like the soft mellow vibe.  While I love a hot color, I know that it can be a distraction for my students.  I find that minimizing bright colors and mellowing out the room helps them to focus better.  I hope others like it too!

      

Valentine's Surprise

I am so excited for Valentine's day tomorrow!  My students get so amped up for every little holiday and I love seeing the joy on their faces when they get to celebrate at school.  It's one of the parts of my job that I just feel so lucky about.  I always like to get my students a few little goodies for each holiday and I've discovered a wonderful secret weapon.  I have fallen in love with...the dollar store!  Costs can add up quick when you have a classroom full of students to shop for, so when the holidays rolled around I thought I would check out some options.  I went to the dollar store to see if they had some small holiday decor items, I thought for sure they would have to have some gift bags of some sort.  To my surprise, they had everything!  I'm talking EVERYTHING!!!  I was able to get gift bags, pencils, erasers, and some small little candies for under ten dollars!  I was  a little nervous that the students would not be excited about them, but when they came bouncing in my room on the last day before break they were squealing with happiness.  It was confirmed after we got back from break when a student who had been absent when I gave out the treats came back to find hers waiting on her desk.  One of the other kiddos quickly told her, "You're going to love it, it's the coolest thing!"

At that moment I decided the dollar store would be my go first stop for large volume purchases.  As Valentine's Day approached I was hoping to myself that they would have just as good of a selection as they did during the holidays.  Lucky me, they sure did!  I was able to find some cute valentines, pencils, stickers, suckers, and some cute bags to package them up.  I can't wait until the morning when I get to see their grins when they walk in to find them waiting on their desks.  

Here is a little preview of the loot and the packaging.  My go-to dollar store is Dollar Tree.  There is another dollar store close by but I haven't had much luck there.  My advice is to scope out the different dollar stores around you and don't give up if one is not promising. 

Happy Valentine's Day!!! 

P.S. They also have an amazing selection of plastic bins...you can NEVER have enough plastic bins!

Lookin' Good

I am sure that every special educator can relate to this. You're going about your business at work and then out of nowhere you have a handful of administrators doing a campus tour and they decide to pop into your room to check it out. In my experience they have never come in at a good time. It doesn't help that no two days are alike for me. This is the nature of a special education classroom. You could have a beautiful schedule printed out in front of you and magnifecent lessons planned but it all could change on a dime when; A) your student won't come down from the top of the play structure, B) your students' gen-ed class has a last minute rehearsal you didn't know about, C) your student has fallen asleep, D) your student is having a melt-down in the media center, D) one of your instructional aides has callen in sick at the last minute without a sub. These are just a few of the fun things that change courses of our days. It's these things happening that make us constantly feel like we are barely keeping our heads above water. These are the reasons why I dread the walk-throughs. I would love for them to come in and see all my students engaged and working together, able to answer questions and tell anyone who asks what CCSS we are working on today. It just never happens that way. Half the time they come into my room I'm by myself working on paperwork. I'm always so frustrated when this happens because I wish that they could see those moments when the lightbulbs are actively engaged and the lightbulbs are going off.  My solution to this is to pack my room with multiple displays from every subject area.  I want someone to be able to walk into my room and say to themselves, "I think they are in fact doing some work in here!"

The other benefit of doing this is that my students take great pride in their work.  They love seeing their work and projects beautifully displayed for all to see.  Anything that I can do to build their pride and self-esteem is a no-brainer in my book!

Another fun thing about my job is that I teach 4 grade levels on any given day...yes that's right, 4!  It's tough for me to keep accurate postings of what standards are being worked on at each moment because one moment I could be working on letter recognition with one student and the next I'm working on fractions with another.  

I'm all about working smarter not harder and I am quick to find a solution to most of my problems.  With that said...I give you my Common Core State Standards posters.  I find that having a set of these on handy for each grade level helps for a swift and sophisticated display of student work.  These days administrators really REALLY want to see that you're working in the Common Core so I am always quick to slap one of these babies up alongside my student work.  

That being said, I should mention that I am a young, dare I say "hip" gal.  Yes, I am a teacher, and yes, that means I fulfill many teacher stereotypes.  But one way I break free of the stereotypes is that I try to stay away from the cutesy cutesy stuff as much as possible.  Perhaps it's because my mother is a teacher and anytime I see something with apples or rulers in my room I feel as though I'm turning into my mother...not that that's a bad thing.  I love her more than anything.  BUT, I am an individual and if I'm going to spend 40+ hours a week in a tiny room I want it to reflect my taste.  I typically lean towards a tribal/bohemian feel so perhaps that doesn't float everyone's boat.  For those that are into it, I'm working on uploading my collections of K-4th Common Core State Standards "I can..." posters to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  As a side note; since I am in California my collections include the additional California caveats. I'll be starting with math and working my way towards the other standards.  

Here's a little preview of a fourth grade and a kindergarten poster.  Enjoy!

I'm in a book!

I'm in a book!  Well, to be perfectly honest, I had very little to do with the production of this book.  Let me rewind a little bit to explain.  I have been running a reading with therapy dogs program at my school for the last 3 years and it is the most amazing and wonderful things I have ever had the pleasure of doing.  It all started when, in my first 6 months of my job, my principal asked me to participate in a meeting with some lovely volunteers who were looking to bring their dogs to some new schools.  They had had plenty of experience with this and he received a recommendation for them from a family member.  It was all perfect timing because the subject of reading with therapy dogs had just come up in one of our IEP meetings.  Both of us had no experience with it, but we thought...why not?  After our initial meeting with the volunteers he said to me, "Do you think you can get everything set up and run the program?".  To which I, being new and wanting to make a good impression, said, "Sure thing, no problem!".  Luckily it all worked out wonderfully and it has been a great hit with the kids and parents.  

From the very first day, I was hooked.  I had one student who was an extremely reluctant reader.  That's even an understatement of how against reading he was.  He was, however, a huge dog lover.  He was so excited for the dogs to come, he talked about it all week.  The day finally came and he sat down next to his new furry friend and proceeded to read no less than 7 decodable readers.  It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.  He read more in that 15 minute time frame than he had all week with me.  I saw and continue to see the same thing over and over again.  As soon as the students sit down next to their dogs, they feel safe and willing to take risks as readers.  They understand that the dog isn't going to call them out for a misread word.  Another little girl, in anticipation of the dogs coming, told her parents she had to practice her reading at home so that she could get good for the dogs that were coming to school.  It is such a special motivator for students of all reading abilities.  

One day the local news came to do a story on our program.  There was an outpouring of appreciation and support from the community, but of course, with the positive you're always going to get some negative.  There were just a handful of "Negative Nellies" that felt it necessary to spend their time bashing something they really don't understand.  The ones that I remember questioned why tax dollars were going towards this and mocked the public education system.  It's sad to me to see and hear people be so closed off to something that is so touching, heartwarming, and uplifting for all students...perhaps those naysayers are the ones that need the puppy time after all.

Over all, it has been a tremendous benefit for my students.  I opened the program up to all students at school, not just the ones with IEPs.  This helps my classroom be a place that all students feel comfortable going to.  It's my goal as a special educator to fight the stigma that is "the special ed room".  Additionally, it gives me opportunities to work with and get to know students who are not yet on my caseload but are in the SST process.  I can't say enough what a positive thing this program is and how much it has helped my students grow as confident readers.  

Cut to today when I received a package in my mailbox at school.  I completely forgot about the woman who had called shortly after the program had started to ask me a few questions about how my program was run.  She informed me that she was writing a book to help others to learn the logistics of running a therapy dog program at their school or library.  We spoke a few times and she asked me some detailed questions and promised me she would send a copy when it was done.  So here it is, I can't find it online anywhere yet so it must not be available yet.  It really is a great informative book for anyone who is interested in starting a program at their school.

     

First

First thing's first.  I love my job!  No really, I love, love, love my job!  I'm an elementary-age special education teacher and I'm lucky enough to get up every day and go to a job that's exciting, inspiring, and more importantly...fun!  That being said, it's not always a walk in the park. Teaching is hard work.  Teaching special education is hard work.  Teaching special education in the midst of a major changeover of curriculum and instruction methodologies is hard work.  There are many times that we, as special-educators, get bogged down with the paperwork, the data, the meetings, the trainings, the paperwork...did I mention the paperwork?  With all these responsibilities it's very easy to lose sight of how fun it is to work with kids every day.  My goal here is to help other fellow teachers to find their way in the common core.  It's my hope that by doing this we can all work more efficiently and productively so that we can have more time to focus on why we got into teaching in the first place...the kids!