Secret Santa Reveal!

I had so much fun joining my fellow second grade teacher bloggers in a secret santa gift exchange this year!

I received a gift from the super sweet Allyson over at Going Strong in 2nd Grade.  I was to excited when I received my box full of goodies!  Here is what she got me…

The box she sent was full of all of these goods!!! A Jamberry nail set, an adorable ornament, zebra paper, a zebra border, a candle, scented hand sanitizer, chocolate, and amazing pens!!! I was so excited when I saw all of these little treasures. 

Thank you Allyson for the amazing gifts!

Check out what some of the other second grade teacher bloggers got below…

An InLinkz Link-up

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway!

Hey Everyone!

Are you ready for an awesome giveaway?!?  Today is Day #6 of the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway sponsored by Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs.  You could win a $30 Target gift card and $20 in TpT bucks! 

$5 TpT gift certificate to Teaching with a Mountain View

$5 TpT gift certificate to The Price of Teaching

$5 TpT gift certificate to Luckey Frog's Lilypad

$5 TpT gift certificate to Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs

$30 Target gift card

Enter for your chance to win below!  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bright Ideas: A Teacher's Best Friend

I am so excited to be linking up again for this month's Bright Ideas Link Up!

This summer I decided to revamp my classroom library.  One thing I did was level all of my books.  This is probably the third time I have rearranged the books in my classroom library, so as you can imagine, they have many different letters and numbers written on them with permanent marker.  This year, I wanted to make sure I didn't confuse my kiddos, so I needed to get rid of all of the old letters and numbers on the books. I knew I could use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to get permanent marker off of the books, but I was fresh out of those.  So… I decided to try a different solution…

Yay Germ-X!  This wonderful little tool not only sanitizes but it also cleans permanent marker off of many different surfaces.  

If you are wanting to revamp your classroom library and, like me, have various labels written on them, just grab a bottle of Germ-X and some paper towels.  Here is what you'll do…

Add a dab of Germ-X on to whatever you are wanting to clean off.  Let is sit for just a few seconds.  Then just wipe it off with the paper towel.  The first wipe usually leaves a bit of a smudge so you may want to add another dab of Germ-X to get off any smears on there.

Here are my before and after pictures…

So next time you need to clean off some permanent marker from old laminated stuff or books, save a few bucks and use that teacher's best friend- Germ-X! :)

If you like this idea, check out some other things I'm doing in my classroom by following me on Instagram.

Looking for more bright ideas?  Check out these post below from more than 100 amazing bloggers.

Thanks for visiting!

An InLinkz Link-up

Bright Ideas: The Simplest Way to Manage Hallway Behavior

Hey everyone,

Hallway behavior can be a tricky thing to manage.  When you see a class coming down the hallway, you typically see the teacher either A: walking forward with the class doing silly things behind them, or B: walking backward and almost running things (or, if you're like me, tripping over your own feed) while your students giggle.  I have decided neither of those work for me and found the simplest way to manage hallway behavior.  Check out my Bright Idea!

Alright, are you ready for the simplest way to manage your class's hallway behavior? Here it is: walk BEHIND your class :).  Simple, right?

Look at that awesome hallway behavior.  And I didn't even tell them until later that I snapped these shots :).

Now, I know many of you probably already do this… but I also know there are many teachers that still go home each day with a knot on the back of their head from the pole in the middle of the hallway they couldn't see because they were walking backward so they could keep an eye on their class :).  

Let me tell you why this works…

This works so well because it makes your students feel very responsible and they feel like they have a bit of freedom.  They feel like "big kids" without their teacher "hovering" over them.  Walking behind them also allows you to keep an eye on everyone and easily monitor their behavior.  Your students know you are watching them and are therefore more likely to display the appropriate hallway behavior.

So there you have it.  The simplest way to manage hallway behavior.  I hope this tip helped save some headaches :).  If you liked my bright idea, feel free to join me on Instagram or Facebook for more bright ideas.

For more bright ideas from more than 130 fabulous bloggers, browse through the link-up below and choose a topic or grade level that interests you!  Enjoy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Bright Ideas Link-Up: A Simple Classroom Management Idea

Hey everyone!

I am so excited to be linking up again this month with all of these wonderful teachers for the Bright Ideas April Link-Up!  

This time of year can get very hectic in the classroom.  The kiddos (and teachers ;) ) are getting into "summer mode."  This is the time of year that our regular classroom management systems that we've used all year begin to fail us.  Sometimes we just need a little extra something to help those kiddos stay focused and keep their behavior on track.  A few years ago I was perusing Pinterest, I saw the simplest and most adorable classroom management idea from Teach-a-Roo.  It is called "Pickle and Ketchup".  :)  

 This is the Pickle and Ketchup I made for our classroom.

Many teachers use these differently, but in our classroom I have the pickle and ketchup stuck on our whiteboard.  Everyday if a student doesn't get work completed, they write their name in red under the ketchup.  This means they need to "catch up" on their work at recess time.  I LOVE this because it makes it easier for me to keep track of who needs to finish some work.  To pick a "pickle," I will sometimes pick a student that was an excellent role model that day and had great behavior.  Sometimes I let the students vote on a classmate that they think should be the "pickle."  Then I let that student pick their reward (we have a list of choices such as: pick first at recess, pick an item from our treasure box, pick up a duck buck from their teacher, etc.).

Pickle and Ketchup- So simple! :)  The kiddos look forward to finding out or helping pick the pickle for the day.  I love this little classroom management tool.

If you enjoyed this bright idea, please consider joining me on Facebook for more great ideas.  You can also join me on Instagram- @thepriceofteaching.

For more bright ideas from 150 different bloggers, please browse through the link-up below and choose a topic/grade level that interests you.  Thanks for visiting!

2nd Grade Product Swap & Blog Hop: Writing Tools Flip Book

Hey everyone!

Welcome to the second grade product swap and blog hop!  EIGHTEEN wonderful second grade bloggers have joined together to swap and review each other's products.  Best of all, we are giving away all of the products to one lucky winner!

If you are looking for the start of the hop, head over to see Casey at Second Grade Math Maniac  to start hopping.  As you check out all of the fabulous products, make sure to follow each blog on Bloglovin' as well.  There will be a Rafflecopter at the last stop.  This is where you can enter to win all of the products being reviewed!

I am so excited that I got to use Nicole's Writing Tools Flip Book.  My second graders are loving it and I love that they have all of these great writing tools right at their fingertips!

Click on the picture to check out Nicole's Writing Tools Flip Book in her TPT shop!

Here is the preview of the writing tools flip book:

These flip books are so easy to put together and they make such a great reference tool for my students.  Here are a few pictures of my kiddos getting their Writing Tools Flip Books all put together!

Here is one of our flip books all put together!

I use one of these flip books to show my students how to use their flip books.  I absolutely LOVE this flip book.  My students have been using their flip books everyday during writing time.  There are so many different writing tools included in this flip book.  It includes powerful words, transition words, writing hooks, a writer's checklist, and even proofreading marks!  This flip book will help your students develop as writers and they will always have these tools handy to help them in their writing.  I highly recommend this for every teacher!

Now it is time to hop on over to the next stop on this wonderful blog hop!  Click the button below to head over to Nicole's blog, Mrs. Rios Teaches.

Enjoy!

Bright Ideas Blog Hop

Hey Everyone!
I'm so excited to be participating in the Bright Ideas Blog Hop!

In my classroom, I like to make read-to-self a relaxed and cozy time.  I want my students to be able to curl up with a good book and enjoy that time with it.  So one thing I do during read-to-self is turn off all of the harsh classroom lights (I have heard they are bad on our eyes… yikes) and turn on a bunch of lamps and hanging lanterns.  I even like to turn on a few strands of twinkle lights :).  This makes the atmosphere of the room nice and cozy and just perfect for reading.  The second thing I do is let each student read at a different "Book Nook".  Let me explain…

We have 6 different book nooks in our classroom that students rotate through: the barber chair, the pretty chair, carpet squares, whisper phones, crate seats, and t-shirt pillows.  These book nooks are different places the students can read in the classroom, instead of just sitting at their boring old, stiff seats.  It helps make our read-to-self time more relaxed and comfortable.

Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy, my phone doesn't take the best pictures :(.

Here are all of our book nooks.  Each book nook is written on a cute cutout and each student's name is written on a clip.  Everyday I rotate the students one clip space… I don't rotate their clip to the next book nook, just to the next clip space, so sometimes a student may have the same book nook for a few days in a row.  I keep a certain number of students on each book nook (depending on how many we have available in our classroom).  So, for example, we only have one barber chair so there is only one clip on that book nook but we have multiple carpet squares so a few clips can be on that book nook.

These are our book nooks…

This is our Barber Chair.

 We call this our Pretty Chair. 

These are our Carpet Squares.

We also use Whisper Phones.

And we have some Crate Seats. 

But the favorite of all book nooks is… T-Shirt Pillows! 

The t-shirt pillows are always a student favorite.  They love to curl up and read with a t-shirt pillow on the floor.  And the best part is… they are SUPER easy to make!  I made all of these myself.  All you need are a few old t-shirts, some inexpensive stuffing (I got mine from Walmart) and basic sewing skills.  You just sew all of the open edges of the t-shirt, leaving the neck open.  Then stuff the t-shirt as full as you'd like it.  Last, sew the neck closed.  Ta-Da! It is as easy as that.  They can be hard to store if you have larger t-shirts, so I had my handy husband make me a chest/bench to store mine in.  It worked out perfect because I also needed a step for my kiddos to reach my SmartBoard…

 

Of course I had to add some bright paint to it… but it is perfect for storing t-shirt pillows and a perfect step for my kiddos to reach the SmartBoard.

My kiddos love, love, love when they get to read with a t-shirt pillow.  Don't they just look like such cozy readers…

I was always that student that did not like read-to-self.  I hated sitting at my seat staring at a book… but I do remember LOVING read-to-self in one class where I got to sit in a bathtub full of t-shirt pillows.  It was always a special treat to get to sit in the tub of t-shirt pillows and I loved my reading time in there.  I wanted to make my students have special little reading memories and help those reluctant readers enjoy read-to-self time a little more, so I started these books nooks.  

Next up on the blog hop is Casey from Second Grade Math Maniac!  Casey has a great post all about organizing math stations.

Alternatively, you can search by topic using the link-up below and move along to any other blog on the blog hop!

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up