These are a few of my favorite things....

What are those luxurious things that you are so thankful for?  Here's my list..........

1. creamy chocolate
2. dinner dates
3. snow days
4. warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookies and milk
5. hot cocoa
6. bubble baths
7. candles
8. honeydew
9. the smell of clean babies
10. my husband's bathrobe (it's super fluffy-soft)
11. high thread-count sheets
12. cheese and crackers
13. fluffy towels that smell like fabric softener
14. lying in the grass soaking up warm sunshine
15. sleeping in
16. girly movies
17. good books
18. hot tubs
19. wine
20. naps during Sunday football
21. funnel cakes
22. the smell of fresh coffee beans
23. hot apple cider
24. my fleece scarf

And one of my own ideas.....

Okay. Here is one of my ideas.  I probably swiped it from some source (or at least got the general idea somewhere), but developed it for my own classroom.  I have an "Out of the Room" system.
Each child has their picture (laminated) with a metal ring clipped through a hole. I placed these pictures in a pocket chart. 
I hung three clips with "office", "nurse" and "restroom" by my door. 
If they are in the restroom, they hang their picture/tag on the hook.  This does 2 things.  One: It tells me who is out of the classroom at any time.  Two: Only one child can hang their tag on the restroom hook at a time.
At the beginning of the year, I had a lot of students that were going to the restroom several times per day in addition to our scheduled classroom breaks, so I started having them use the tag one time, then place it in a basket on my desk.  This gives them at least one emergency restroom break every day without having them leave the classroom constantly because they want to wander the halls. 

Ideas That I Stole from Great Teachers.....

OK. Here is my list of fabulous ideas which I snatched from super-creative, talented teachers that I am fortunate to work with. 

First, here is Ms. Zuskin's gigantic math calendar wall.  Is this awesome or what?

Here is a cool idea that I stole from the second-grade teacher (Ms. Beeson). In our reading curriculum, we have the students respond (answer) on a sticky note.  Then there is the challenge of how they turn it in and how you are supposed to grade a pile of sticky notes!

Ms. Beeson came up with a system for this organizational dilemma.  When you have an assignment that have to be done on a sticky note, have them put it on a sticky note challenge board.  Get a posterboard and section it off.  Place sticky notes on there (in desk number order).  Then laminate it.  When the students have filled in their sticky note, they put it on the number that corresponds with their desk number.  Right away, you can see who did their assignment and grade it easier!

 The above board is Ms. Owen's neat board (before kids put the assignment on there).  Below is my board after the kids have placed their sticky-notes on there.  I can see right away that a few students did not finish their sticky notes yet.  This is an easy way to grade their work at a glance without sorting through a stack of sticky notes that may or may not have names on them.

The next idea comes from the amazing Ms. Zuskin.  If you have plastic letters that students use to make words/in a station, put them in a letter box.  These boxes are available at teacher supply stores.  This is not the amazing idea.  The amazing idea is that she took alphabet stickers and put them on the bottom of the individual trays so that students would know right away where they letters went when they clean up!  This is what the box looks like upside down:



Here is an idea that I stole from Mrs. Hall (and modified it slightly).  For Christmas gifts for parents, we made sled ornaments.  Take kid's pictures sitting with arms out.  I had kids sit on a table and had them pose as if on a sled.  Then I printed it out, laminated it, and cut around the child.  They made sleds out of Popsicle sticks and painted them red.  Then we hot glued on yarn for the hanger and sled handle.  Of course, I whited out the kid's face for the Internet, not in real life!



I Wish...

I wish the printer never ran out of ink.
I wish all children had parents that read to them at night.
I wish jeans were considered professional dress.
I wish I'd never dropped the ball on a child's education.
I wish expo markers didn't smell.
I wish all pens were purple.
I wish pencils were sharpened overnight by magical elves.
I wish children were kind to each other.
I wish chocolate contained zero calories.
I wish I had a secretary! 

Show and Tell

Show and tell.
Child #1 didn't have his show and tell because his sister didn't pack it.
"Next!"
Child #2 brings in a Kindle Fire.  "I don't have any books on it yet, but I have over 100 games!"
"Next!"
Child #3 plops down in the chair with a stuffed dog.  "Now that's more like it," I think.
She begins:
"This is my stuffed dog.  His name is Dammit.  I got him from my grandpa."
"Wait," I interrupt, "What did you say his name was?"
"Dammit.  It's name is the same as my dog's name at home.  His name is Dammit because he pooped in my closet."
"NEXT!"

Ten Minutes of my day

7:39: Catch up on the news: who has brought a show and tell, who has left their backpack, who can't find their jacket from yesterday, etc
7:40: Answer 4 questions about if we are having outside recess or not
7:43: Locate the stapler
7:45: Say, "Yes, you can use the stapler.  Wait, do you know how to use the stapler?"
7:46: Pull staples out of  paper becuase they stapled it in the middle
7:47: Show child how to use the stapler correctly
7:48: Using tweezers, pull staples that are jammed in the stapler
7:49: Repeat answer about recess.  Threaten no recess if one more child asks