Must Have Monday Linky

I'm linking up with Freebielicious today for Must Have Monday!

I don't have very many "Must Haves". I don't get any money for my classroom from my admin or PTA, so everything in my room has to come from my wallet...and with 5 kids and a military husband, that wallet doesn't have a lot of extra change in it lol!

A few things that I do spend my pennies on are:

Felt puppets from Art Felt. I spent so much time at their booth at I Teach K last year in Vegas! I think I spent more time there than all the other booths combined lol! I love to do finger plays and songs with my students, and love having these puppets to go along with my favorite songs! This is great for phonemic awareness! The best thing about Art Felt is that they include a print out of tons of different songs with each animal you order - so if you get a squirrel you get a sheet with a bunch of rhymes and finger plays that you can use that squirrel in!

 

The kids love using these in our Felt Board Center to retell the stories and I love walking by and hearing them singing familiar songs as they "play"!

My other "Must Have" is a comfy reading corner:

I have my students read to our plush friends (mostly from Kohl's Cares line) and those plushies serve a secondary purpose as manipulatives when we talk about positional words and as a way to calm upset friends - it's amazing how quickly kids calm down when holding my "special monkey". I spent some money on a rug and pillows so that the kids and myself are comfortable when reading. The canopy is from Oriental Trading Co. and is still in perfect shape after a year of hanging in our classroom! When parents and admin walk in and see this reading corner, they are always impressed and its one of the things that helps make our room super cozy.

My final "Must Have" are sticky Velcro dots! I use these to attach just about everything to my walls and cupboards! At the end of each year we have to take everything down, except for those little dots. So I leave them up and the next year its easy to slap my posters back up!

If I want to change something out during the year - like my Ten Frame cards, I can just put up a new set without having to worry about whether the posters are level or running out and getting more tape. I just make sure that I always put the female side on the wall, and the male side on the cards, so that no matter what set of posters I want to put up, I can just slap them on without worrying if the Velcro is going to match up!

EDIT: I forgot a "Must Have"! Many of my students need to use the small pencils because they need help with the correct grasp and don't have the fine motor skills to control a longer pencil. I usually buy a big box  because I give some to parents to use at home and inevitably pencils break or get lost, so a big box is a must. I usually get my box at Staples or Office Depot, but rarely find them on sale.  The other day though, I found them on Amazon, AND they have erasers! The ones I usually get don't have erasers, so this is a major plus! I bought this pack of 72 half pencils with erasers- they even come pre-sharpened! This is a deal! 

Those are my Must Haves, head back over to the linky to see what other teachers consider theirs!

Advice for New Teachers (and Veteran Teachers TOO!)

Advice for first year teachers …

and everyone else too!

When I was invited to participate in this linky party, I thought about all the advice I have been given throughout my career. Then I thought about the advice I would give to new teachers in my building. It was hard to decide on what was the "best" advice - there are so many great tips out there! But then I realized that one of the things that I'm still working on would probably be the Best Advice Ever for others as well....ready for it?

"Don't compare yourself to other teachers; just be the best teacher you can be."

This is my best advice for 2 reasons:

1.) If you compare yourself to another teacher who you think is doing better than you, you may become depressed and discouraged. When she has the Pinterest-Worthy bulletin boards each month and you can barely manage to get papers returned in a timely manner, it can make you question everything about yourself. But you have to remember, that everyone has different challenges, different priorities, and just because the grass looks greener, doesn't always mean that students are getting a better education! Be true to who you are, set your own priorities and do the best you can for your students. You don't have to run yourself to exhaustion to keep up with someone else nor do you have to beat yourself up about not being as good as someone else.

 
One of my good teacher buddies is a craft wizard. She can whip up a bulletin board in 10  minutes that looks like it should be in a magazine! When we do our Genre Parade each year she's the one who has every kid in a homemade (by her) costume, pulling a float down the hall that looks like it could be in a Macy's Parade. Meanwhile I'm the queen of Pinterest-Fails and have to bribe my 16 year old to come help me set up my bulletin boards so it doesn't look like a two year old did it. (Thankfully she works for chocolate - otherwise I'd be broke!)  The point is though, that I'm doing the best I can for my students, regardless of whether it'll go viral on Pinterest or not. Crafting is not my strength, so instead of comparing myself to her, I ask her for help when I need something crafty. In return, I set up her SmartBoard or get her logged back into her email, because she's not technologically-savvy. Instead of comparing, we collaborate, and all of our students benefit!

2.) The other reason not to compare yourself to other teachers is that if you set the bar by the teachers you see around you, you could be setting it too low. If you're only doing better than the teacher down the hall, are you truly doing your best? Honestly, there are some teachers out there - probably in your own building - that you KNOW aren't doing their jobs well. And if you're comparing yourself to them, you could be tempted to pat yourself on the back. Instead, ask yourself "Am I doing the right thing for each of my students? Am I teaching every lesson to the best of my abilities? Am I doing the best possible job I can?" It's not enough to be a mediocre teacher and be better than the bare minimum, instead, you should think of the old Army logo "Be the best that you can be!"

There have been times when I've looked at other teachers and thought "If she's still getting positive evaluations, what the heck am I working my butt off for?" But then I remind myself that it's not about getting a "4" on an evaluation form or a pat on the back, it's about my students. 

There you go, something to think about for the new school year! Be sure you check out the other blogs in the linky - they all have great advice too!

An InLinkz Link-up

5 Tips For School Supplies + FREE School Supply Labels

5 Easy Ways to get School Supplies Organized

If there's one thing a teacher learns at the end of the year when cleaning out cabinets, it's that school supplies fall into 2 categories:

A) Self-replicating supplies that will seemingly never run out.

B) Supplies that don't last a quarter, let alone a year.

Here are some ideas for solving both of these problems:

1. Store all of your supplies in a single area. If you have 10 different stashes of glue sticks, chances are you won't be able to find them when you need them OR you might end up buying more when you don't need to!

 

Grab some Dollar Store Bins, label them, and set them out at Back To School night so parents can put the supplies into each bin, which will save you some work! If you don't organize the supplies as you get them, chances are you'll end up cramming them into whatever cabinet you can find a spot in - resulting in those 10 stashes of unfindable glue sticks! Grab the supply labels here for free!

2. Keep a list of supplies that you'll run out of - whenever someone asks if you need something for your classroom you can refer them to the wishlist - things like wipes and tissues are always needed but might not be on your mind when someone offers to get something for your classroom.

Taking pictures of the items you need (like in this pin) or attaching labels, can ensure you get the exact items you want!

3. Use, don't hoard. It can be tempting to hold off on using supplies so that you won't run out and then need them for a crucial project.

But, its much better to let your students benefit from the supplies you have, rather than hoard them until the end of the school year. If you run out, you'll make do with something else - and you might discover an even better way to complete that project!

4. Don't let the potential for mess keep you from using supplies! Students will benefit from using different media like markers, tempera paint, water color paint and colored pencils.

Sure, they can be messy, but if you set out your rules and expectations clearly, the mess will be minimal. If you can't handle it on a daily basis, consider setting aside at least one day a week for markers in Writing Center, paint in Art Center and water colors for Crayon Resist Sheets (freebie!) in Word Work Center. Chances are it will become your students' favorite day of the week!

5. Adjust your supply list. If, at the end of the year you still have a ton of glue bottles, consider marking it off your school supply list for the next year.  Most districts need the school supply list completed before the end of the school year, so again, keeping all your supplies organized in one place will help you adjust your list. If you ran out of items before the end of the year, consider asking for double next year!

If you can't adjust your supply list, at least you'll know which items to put on your Wish List or add to a Giving Tree display!

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