Management Mondays or shall I say Stress Management

You can’t outrun it. You can’t hide from it. You can’t even negotiate with it! So how do you reduce end-of-the-school-year stress? As corny as this may sound, I think the first step is to admit that the end of the school year will appear whether you’re ready for it or not. Maybe it’s just me, but I tend to freak out more over a date than I do a to-do list! You can find my to-do list on Thursday's post.

Some things that are currently left on my to-do list are parent volunteer gifts and I just wanted to give you some ideas of what I have found out there--

Over at What the Teacher Wants- 

This cute little tag goes with measuring cups! Is that not DARLING? 

On the back-

This one goes with Bath and Body Works lotion, soap or hand sanitizer! CUTE!

You can go over to her site and download these for....wait for it----FREE! Yes....FREE! A big thank you to her (because as we all know times are tough this time of year!) 

Check out Erica's FREE card over at TpT-- click here

From --this post-- I informed you of the Thirty-One party that I hosted. The guest special was for every $31 you spend you get a mini zipper for $2.31! That is a super deal- they are normally $10! So, there were a lot of friends that did not want theirs so I racked up! I bought 6! I will give those to my parent volunteers with gift cards to WalMart inside (who doesn't go to WalMart?) 

Here is a picture of the mini zipper pouch filled with crayons. 

The next items on my list are to print. I'm having my end of the year program on Friday, so I've got some certificates and such to print. I always rely on my friends over at FedEx Office to print all my super duties like this! I could use up 2 ink cartridges in just one night! OUCH! It's super easy to use- you can either upload your items to a flash drive and take it in and they will print it for you or you can upload it via online and pick it up on your way home! 

*TIP* If you bring your own paper--it's way cheaper! 

How do you keep afloat at the end of the school year? What works for you? 

I'm thinking of you all!

Management Monday {Transitions}

I remember that in the classroom, transition time was the hardest to keep the kiddos focused and on task.  Times such as moving from the carpet to their seats, lining up at the door, and cleaning up centers was the time I had most of my behavior problems.  So, to ease transition time, there are lots of fun things you can try.


Last week, our Queen Bee wrote about timers.  That's one awesome way to help kids move smoothly between activities.  If you need some ideas for cute ones, This Next has some great options.

Another transition tool you can try is wind chimes.  I kept some metal ones with butterflies in my classroom used them often to signal the end of activities.  They were too high for my little ones to reach, so I was the only one that could ring them.  I found some great ones to show you if you want some for your room!

a classic wind chime from Bela Donna etsy shop (you get to choose the color)

cute schoolhouse wind chime from Teacher Gifts

beautiful shell chimes from Celery Street (perfect for an ocean-themed classroom)

My all-time favorite transition tool to use in the classroom is music!  My class name was always Mrs. Jackson's Jitterbugs.  So, I created a playlist on my ipod called, "Jitterbuggin'."  Then, I chose one of those songs to play as the kids went back to their seats, or any other transition time.  For example, I would play the song from "Pirates of the Carribean," and ask the kids to act like pirates as they walked back to their seats.  They LOVED it and it significantly cut down on behavior problems!  So, I put together a playlist for you today.  For each of these songs, you could do these movements for transitions or brain breaks...

1. "Car Wash": pretend to wash cars  
2. "Move It Like This": free dance
3. "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me)": act like pirates
4. "Cupid Shuffle": line dance 
5. "Fly to Your Heart": pretend to be fairies and fly
6. "Life is a Highway": pretend to drive cars

Try out these songs with your students and see what happens!  The possibilities are endless for song choices!  So, I hope you've enjoyed these ideas for transitions today.  What do you do for transitions in your classroom...please share!  

Management Mondays

This is me today and probably the rest of the week!

Do Mondays ever seem to be the longest days ever?? Well, today is just dragging on FOREVER and guess what? Our school system has not yet taken spring break! AHHH!! On another note, I am excited to share with you some things that I have been doing around my classroom to make it a little "less hectic" around here during the school year. I did not come up with any of these ideas, and cannot remember where I found them, but they work for me and my kids!! 

Our fish nets (remember I have the ocean theme) are used for both unfinished work and daily homework. This way we do not forget anything inside our desks. The "tiddy turtle" checks these everyday before we go home to ensure that all homework is taken home. 

These are SUPER EASY to make--first I bought the top file jackets from walmart, then laminated and I placed a large strip of magnetic tape of the back. WALLAH!  

Another tool that we use almost everyday is our "fish hooks". I'm pretty sure I found this tip in the book called The Organized Teacher.

These are also simple to make. I went to walmart, purchased the magnetic buttons in the craft section and there ya have it! :) Simple I know. We use these for work  that either needs to be added to something later or work that we have glued and it needs to dry before taking it home. 

These past few weeks have been absolutely horrendous because of how late our spring break is this year. Even my GOOD kids are getting in trouble. Ugh!! So, I went searching last week on blog land and found the greatest solution to my problem! 

I found this idea at What the Teacher Wants and I could not have found it at a better time. What you do is take the number of kids you have in your class and double it. (Example-I have 15 therefore I bought 30 eggs). In one basket I put 15 eggs with the students names inside. In the other basket I put 15 eggs with "prizes" inside. They are silly things like sit with a friend for 15 minutes, free pencil sharpener time, extra 5 minutes of recess, free ice cream (you get the point). You can even go print the prizes for free at her blog! 

This has been super effective. When my students see me walking toward the basket--they freeze and make sure they are doing what they are supposed to in hopes of picking the "prize egg!"

Management Mondays

What time is it?!  We are late for lunch!!! Hurry and pack up, it is time to GO!!! These are the frantic phrases I have found myself saying many times during the week.  One thing new and old teachers alike struggle with is time management.  There is just never enough time in the day to fit everything in!  Well, I do not have a magic wand to help me manage my time, but I LOVE using timers.  I have a student that is the time manager (also known as the bee keeper) for the day.  If I say we are going to work on a project for 10 minutes, the "bee keeper" will set the timer for 10 minutes.  Then the "bee keeper" will let students know when there is 5 minutes or less left on the timer.  Once the timer goes off students are trained to stop working and listen for directions.  This gives me the opportunity to assess students' progress and determine if more time is needed. We are currently using the timer on my iPod touch.  It is easy to use and kid friendly! There is also a variety of sounds that can be used to notify students that time is up! I will put my iPod under the document camera, so students are aware of how much time they have to work.  I have found that the timers help me and my kids work more efficiently! You can use any type of time, you just have to train your kids how to use it.  So if you are struggling with time management, set the timer and go!