First day!

I had a GREAT first day! I'll post more about this week later, but I wanted to share with you this activity I did with my kids today. We were with our first period class for two hours this morning while 6th graders got situated in the new building and we went over first day procedures. Teaching 8th grade, that went by pretty fast and I am glad I had this activity on the back burner!

I printed off 6 different statements and had the kids respond in groups on sticky notes. I was unsure of whether they would take it seriously, but they totally did. And, they had some answers that I didn't even think of! 

Some of the questions were: 

What do you want to learn in math this year?

What do you need to do to be successful?

What do you want your teacher to be like?

School is important because...

And a few more that I can't think of because I am so gosh darn tired!

I was fully prepared for the sarcastic "we hate school and we wish it was still summer" answers...but I never saw them! I think this helped them to take ownership of what they need to do to be successful this year. 

Pre Back to School Traditions

Every year since I started teaching in 2006, I have spent the day before relaxing and getting a pedicure! Since my husband is a teacher, too, he started joining in the festivities! So, I love being able to wind down after a crazy week of meetings and feverishly setting up my classroom (which, by the way, is not quite ready for a reveal just yet). 

Can I also say that I love being able to blog from my phone? How fantastic to not have to wait to get home and sit at a computer! 

I am pretty excited about my first day back tomorrow. It's my first year teaching 8th grade and I am at a new school. I absolutely adore everyone in my department. Everyone is so supportive of one another and is so willing to help with anything you need. I love that. 

I'm also super excited that the second week of school I will be getting a student teacher! I can't wait to work with her.

So, what are your back to school traditions? And, if any of you have experience with student teachers, any advice you can give me would be awesome. I hope you all have a GREAT YEAR!

P&G Teams Up with Dollar General for a Product Giveaway!

It has been brought to my attention over the past few weeks that more than just a few people read this blog. Boy is it stressful to keep things interesting! I have been MIA for a week or so since this past Monday was my first official day back at work...the kids come on Monday and I am excited/nervous/stressed/anxious all at the same time. I am sure there are a handful of people who can relate! I am going to try to do a much better job at keeping up with this during the year. I seriously don't know how some of you seasoned bloggers do it!

Anyhow, the main reason for this post is that I was contacted by P&G (Procter and Gamble) and was asked to giveaway this awesome prize pack to one lucky reader. I LOVE LOVE LOVE febreze and can't get enough of it...so this was amazing to receive in the mail. Dollar General and P&G have teamed up to put together this prize pack. Did you know you can use P&G coupons at Dollar General to save $$$? I honestly haven't ever been to a Dollar General since there isn't one that is totally local to me, but I just may have to check one out!

If you win this pack, you will receive:

A $10 Dollar General Gift Card

CoverGirl Black Ink Eye Pencil

Tide PODS Spring Meadow (sample size)

Febreze Fabric Refresher Gain Scent Spray

Febreze Air Effects with Gain Fresh Scent

A Dollar General reusable shopping bag

I have used the Tide PODS before, and they are super awesome for when you don't feel like measuring things out! Just pop one in and you are done! Perfect for HE washers and washers of all varieties. Like I said, Febreze is one of THE most awesome products on the market and you will get 2 of them! 

What are you waiting for?? Enter now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

While you are shopping...

I am so excited about the Back to School Sale, I just can't stand it! I have so many great products that I can't wait to get to shopping!

Anyhow, here is a little promotion that I am running the days of the sale (Sunday and Monday)...I will be giving away a winner's choice item ($5 or less) to a lucky shopper in my store! Here is what you have to do to enter:

1. Purchase at least 1 item from my store. 
2. Leave feedback!
3. After the sale, I will use a random number generator to pick a "winner" based on the feedback. 
4. Be sure to check my Facebook page to see if you are the winner on Tuesday!

Any questions? Enjoy shopping the sale :)

Ready, Set, SHOP!

I have been waiting for this announcement for weeks since my wishlist is SO full! I'm sure many of you have heard from other blogs/facebook posts, but here is the news again:

Teachers pay Teachers is having their annual Back to School sale this Sunday & Monday, August 19-20. Everything in my store will be 20% (except the buy my store option!) + you can get an additional 10% by entering the promo code BTS13 at checkout.

Don't forget, the promo code is good on EVERYTHING, so you can use that to get a discount on the buy my store option if you would like :)

What are you waiting for? Go fill up those carts!

Throwback Thursday - Homework

A lot of people have contacted me about how I do homework, so I am bringing back this post from a few months ago when I think I had about 10 people following my blog! I'll be sure to answer any questions you have :)

Originally posted on May 5, 2013:

Every year, my teaching team and I wrack our brains discussing what we will give for homework and how it will be graded. I do believe that students need practice outside of the classroom, but I don't like giving textbook homework--it's extremely monotonous. Besides, with textbook homework, the kids have a myriad of excuses: I left it in my locker, I was at my Dad's house last night and my book was at my Mom's house, I forgot the page number, etc. We have an online textbook that works *sometimes*, so I tell them not to rely on that. Also, we have about 60 more 6th graders this year than we have had since I started at my school...so not every student has one! Then, there is the other issue of who is really doing the homework??

Enter the solution: last summer we went to CAMT, the Conference for the Advancement of Mathematics Teaching, since it was in Houston and it was close. We signed up for it in March...and it seemed like a great idea at the time...until the day came. We had to be at the convention center (a good 35-40 minutes away) by 8 AM for our first session! What were we thinking!? Well, I am glad we went! We sat in a session led by Brad Fulton who is an excellent speaker! He suggested we do this:

Homework is given on Monday and is due Friday. It can either be one assignment that will cover the material for the time period, or it can be shorter assignments for each night.

1. Students must show all work to receive credit, and if they turn it in Friday, no weekend homework. (Let me clarify, no extra homework is given to those that don't, they just have the weekend to complete it for a late grade).
2. On Thursday night, before it is due, I post just the answers to the homework so that they can check their answers and know if they need to make corrections.
3. On Tuesday of the following week, we give the students a homework quiz. We modified this a little bit from Brad's class.
1. We "grade" the homework ahead of time for a total of 40 points if work is completed and effort is there. No credit for just answers without any justification. 
2. The quiz itself is worth 60 points and here is how it is broken down:
1. 5 questions are questions from the homework
2. 5 questions are questions from the previous week's material (that if they completed the homework should not have a problem completing).
3. The rationale is, that if a kid is trying and does the homework, they will get a minimum of a 70, where if I actually took homework up each day for a grade, the grade would be much lower. Whereas, a kid who doesn't do homework at all, still has some way to get some points. (Hey, a 30 is better than a 0!)

Let me clarify a few things...I am a middle school teacher. I am not saying that this will work for everyone. And, 99% of the time, 99% of their kids do very well and turn in their homework. And, for those that never turned in homework before, now do. I do this with my 6th and 7th grade classes and will do it next year with 8th grade. Some of my 7th graders who I had last year were hit or miss with homework and it hurt their grades...this year, I don't have that problem. 

It also provides stability for parents. They know that each week homework is assigned and they know the expectation of when their child needs to turn it in. It eliminates the excuse of, "Well, Johnny told me he didn't have any homework..."

How do you handle homework in your class? Let me know what you think of this process and if you are willing to try it and want more information, I can help you get started!

Monday Made It - No Name Board

I wish I had blogged about this last year after I made my no name board...but I needed to make a new one since the old one didn't totally go with my classroom decor. And, we ALL know how important it is to have things coordinate!

I found this pin last summer and thought it was a genius idea. How many times do kids leave your room and there are either papers on the floor that should be in binders OR a test was turned in without a name!? Too many to count I bet! This puts the accountability on the student. I don't grade something unless it has a name, so, if a student wants a grade and didn't get his/her paper back, they check the no name board.

Here is how I made mine:

Start with a wooden plaque (or you could use a piece of foam board that you have laying around) and some acrylic paint. I knew I wanted to paint mine a teal-ish color, but couldn't find the right color. I mixed mine to get the perfect combination. Paint the top and sides completely and let dry. I did 2 1/2 coats or so. You don't want any wood showing through.

While the paint was drying, I made my letters using my cricut and some adhesive backed vinyl. Don't fret if you don't have a way to do this. You can use any sticker letter that is available at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, JoAnn's or any craft store. You could also use cut paper, etc. So many possibilities.

Mark the center of your plaque so that your letters end up being centered. Ideally this is what should happen. Pay no attention to the fact that mine are completely of center because I measured incorrectly. It's going to be fine. In case you are wondering, I used washi tape to mark the center so that it was easily removable and wouldn't leave residue. 

Ok, they aren't SO badly off-center, right? 

Once, they are where you want them to be, apply a layer of mod podge on top. Let it dry completely!

Remember these from the other day? I made 7 of them by taking regular clothespins from Walmart and covering with washi tape. They look designer!

When the mod podge is dry, glue the clothespins to the wood by using either hot glue or wood glue. I used hot glue because I didn't want to wait for it to totally dry... and I kind of wished I had. 

I'll be sure to post a picture of it in my classroom when I finish setting it up!

Can't wait to see what everyone else who linked up with Tara at 4th grade frolics made!