Are You Having An Un"Bear"able Day?

So the end of the school year is near (Praise the Lord) and it is the time of year that I begin to think of all of the things I can't wait to do better or differently next year. The one thing that has been a constant for me in all of my years of teaching is my behavior system....the Bears! All of my former students ask me if I still do the bears & say they loved the bears...that's what they remember most about my class?!?! Really?!?! So here is how it works....

 

Each student has a set of 4 die cut teddy bears in a pocket chart labeled "Who is Having an Un'Bear'able Day?" Everyone starts with brown on top and then the colors of a traffic light... green, yellow, & red.  If someone breaks a rule (rules are posted close by) they have to pull the brown (warning) bear and put him in the back. If another rule is broken then the green bear is pulled and the student misses 5 minutes of recess or play time. Yellow bear is next and 10 minutes of playtime is lost. Notice the brown bear's smiling face gradually turn to a sad frowny face....just like Mrs. Young's face!

If a students gets on red bear, they get a Sad Red Bear note sent home for the parent to sign and return. They will also lose half of their playtime. During this time they can sit or stand in time out or walk the walking track that goes around the playground. This is a picture of the Red Bear note that goes home...I don't know where this poem & picture originated but I have put in a request with my clip art lady to make me a new sad bear so I can redistribute it.  

Brown Bear- Way To Go

Green Bear- Oops! That's OK!

Yellow Bear- Oh No! Be Careful!

Red Bear- Oh No! Your Behavior is Un"bear"able!

The poem on the Sad Red Bear note says...

Many days I try real hard and do the things I should. 

But today I wasn't trying, my behavior wasn't good.

My teacher thinks I'm special but she doesn't like the way

I kept the class from learning when I misbehaved today.

So maybe if we talk it out, tomorrow will be good

Because you helped me to remember to do the things I should. 

The parents enjoy getting this "gently" worded sad note & it reminds students that everyone makes mistakes. Over the years I have tried other Behavior management plans but none have been as effective as this one. I hate that it is so big and takes up such a large space on a wall (althought it is over an AC unit that I can't put anything in front of anyway) or on a door but there is something about it being public that encourages the students to be on their best behavior since they can monitor their bear color. At the end of the year I send the bears home in a memory book that I make for each child. Those that never pull bears love getting them and the parents of those well worn bears get a kick out of seeing how worn out their child's bears are.

What about you? Do you have a behavior management plan that you absolutely love?

Have a "Bear-y" Good Day!

Hoppy Number Lines

We have been working on addition & subtraction and working towards being able to do it fluently thanks to Common Core Curriculum. Not an easy task for kindergarteners! If you are fortunate enough to have an ActivBoard then check out my free Bunny Hop flipchart for using number lines by teaching students to "hop" forward and/or backwards on the number line. Of course I needed something hands-on for my kiddos so I made these cute printable versions of the number lines and a matching addition & subtraction worksheet for each. Get them for only $1.50!

       

        

If you have any fun, hands-on activites for addition & subtraction please share! Pretty please!!! I did find a cute idea that I can't wait to try! Students will go "Bowling" using empty water or soda bottles. Students take turns bowling and writing the subtraction equation.

9 pins, 4 hit: 9 - 4 = 5
Give each bowler 2 turns.
So the second turn would be
5 pins, 2 hit: 5 - 2 = 3

or you could reverse the system and have them add to find the total pins toppled in two tries.

This will be great since we have an end of year reward trip to go bowling! Love it!

I also made a Summer themed Addition and Subtraction flipchart for ActivBoard because it looks like we will be working on this for a while longer!

  

   

Be Blessed & Enjoy Your Weekend!

Number Word Buzz Freebie

Buzz right on over to my TPT store and snag up this quick number word freeibe! Don't forget to "pin" it on Pinterest and/or Google +1 it to help me get more traffic to my store:)

 

While you are there, check out the new Growing in a Spring Kinder-Garden learning center games packet and ActivBoard users will want to check out the April 2012 Calendar for ActivBoard and Easter Punctuation Games and Free Bunny Hop Addition and Subtaction with a Number Line!

I'm a member of a great group of relatively new bloggers who decided to come together for a great giveaway. But giveaways are more fun if they have a little twist. So, we've also made this one a blog hop. Each blogger will be running the same giveaway on their blog. So after you enter here, head on over to each of the other blogs and comment to enter there as well!

Here's what you'll win:

1. From Tales from Outside the Classroom: Captain Cool, which practices addition and subtraction in function machines.

2. Ms. Fultz’s Corner: Egg-citing Math Bundle, which practices addition, subtraction, and multiplication.

3. All that Glitters in First Grade: Shape Fun, which practices the basic shapes circle, hexagon, octagon, oval, pentagon, rectangle, square, and triangle.

4. Ms. McDonald’s Fourth Grade: Decimal War, which practices decimals from tenths, hundredths, thousandths, and mixed decimals.

5. Young and Lively Kindergarten: Growing in a Spring Kinder-Garden Learning Center Games, which practice beginning sounds, color words, rhyming, number words 0-14, counting 1-20, real/nonsense words, reading CVC words,punctuation, & Time to the Hour.

Here's how you enter to win:

1. Follow Tales from Outside the Classroom's blog and TpT store. {1 entry}
2. Follow Ms. Fultz's Corner blog, Ms. Fultz’s Corner TpT store, and Ms. Fultz's Corner TN store. {1 entry}

3. Follow All That Glitters in First Grade's blog and TpT store. {1 entry}
4. Follow Mrs. McDonald's blog and TpT store. {1 entry}
5. Follow Young and Lively in Kindergarten's blog and TpT store. {1 entry}

This means you can get up to five entries here and up to five entries each by commenting on the other blogs as well. That's 25 chances so go get yourself entered to win! Entries will end on Sunday, April 1st at noon CST. Winners for each blog will be announced that night.

Other Easter Blog Hunt Pages:

It's a Party!!!

Jeannie over at Kindergarten Lifestyles is putting together a linky party for kinders- 2nd grade and putting lots of blogs together in one place! Click on the picture below to head on over there. Sign your blog up and/or search some of the blogs there to find some fresh, new ideas!

Woo Hoo! I got an award from Lori at Teaching with Love and Laughter! I love how bloggers are so

sweet to one another & love how networking helps increase followers and collaborating!

 

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you ~ Lori at http://teachingwithloveandlaughter.blogspot.com/

2. Pass the award on to 5 other Lovely bloggers ~ This was fun to do. I just started following these great blogs. Many of them are still fairly new at blogging like me. I even visited some of their teacher stores and pinned lots of great activities.

1.   Monica at The Schroeder Page   Check out her Leprechaun Door idea! I can't wait to do this with my class! I even found a paper punch of tiny footprints & punched out tiny green footprints to leave scattered around the door as more evidence AN D I found a tiny dollhouse hammer (for working on shoes) to leave out on the second day for more evidence in solving our mystery.

Here are some newer bloggers...

2. Angela at The Daily Alphabet

3. Lisa at K is for Kindergarten

4. Robin at Little Blogfish 

5. Tonya Dye at Super Second Graders

3. Follow the person who sent it to you! Following you now Lori! 

Thanks again!
Kelly

The Leprechauns are Coming!

Ahhh....finally made it to another weekend at last! I'm counting down the days to spring break (10 school days) and working my tail off to get caught up on my homework. Can someone remind me why I thought going back for my master's degree would be a good idea? It is so time consuming! Well, enough whining but thanks for letting me get that out!

This should be a fun week as we get ready for St. Patrick's Day. We are NEVER at school on St. Patty's day...we are usually on spring break but this year it falls on a Saturday. We will fingerpaint shamrocks with blue & yellow to make them green, go outside to find a patch of clover and search for a four leaf clover, & the mischeivous leprechauns like to play tricks on us and we will do our best to get a hold of some of his gold! On Friday, he will leave us clues to finding his gold & we just happen to get a hold of some of his gold! I LOVE the kinds of gold he leaves for us (Rolo's, minature Reese's, Hershery's Treasures and/or chocolate nuggests, Twix, butterscotch, etc) They all look so yummy in his pot of "gold". I actually found some gold chocolate coins on clearance at Walmart last week that will get the kiddos so excited! I also found some tiny leprechaun hats at the Dollar Tree this afternoon! I'm sure the leprechaun will leave it behind as evidence of his presence!  I will post my leprechaun clues that he leaves for us to find the gold a little later in the weekend. I have seen several bloggers that say they have students make Leprechaun traps to set up to catch him. That might be a fun project to make during rainy day recess next week!  I never have much for St. Patrick's Day so I created a flip chart for my ActivBoard to use all week. It includes some basic facts about St.Patrick's day and some fun games to play & review skills.

 

  

What about you? How does your class celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Weekend Freebies

Well this weekend didn't go as planned. It was supposed to start out with a kid- free night out with my husband and then lots of homework while the kids were gone to a sleepover. However, my family spent all Friday afternoon and night in my parents' basement while several tornados ripped through my town. Praising God for His hand of protection...no deaths but many damaged homes but they can be repaired and/or replaced.

So since I have so much work to catch up on I just added a few freebies to TPT that you might want to check out. Click on the pictures below to go get them!

These booklets can be used to help students write their letters/numbers quickly & correctly. Just make 1 copy of page 1 and several copies of page 2. Cut in half & staple together to make each child a booklet. Next, set a timer for 3 minutes & have students see how many they can write CORRECTLY in the given time. If they write any backward letters or numbers they have to erase it and correct it. After a few times of erasing, they decided to slow down and do it correctly the first time. We repeat with 2 minutes and then 1 minute. I have been impressed with how much their letter/number formation has improved since I started doing this!

It looks like the link on my TPT store isn't working...hmmm. When I click on it, it just goes right back to the main page. I'll look into it and see what is going on. Sorry for the inconvenience! Here is the direct link anyway...I'll keep working on it!
 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Race-to-Write-Alphabet-booklet
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Working-My-Way-to-20-Number-Writing-booklet

This is a simple (and short) fliphcart for Promethean board to practice distinguishing between story elements of characters & settings.

Shout Out to My "Secret" Group!

I have been selling things on Teachers Pay Teachers since mid October and thanks to Pinterest my sales and followers have continued to grow significantly. Then I was lucky enough to find a Facebook group called Pinning to Pin for Bloggers and my sales have exploded! This facebook page is a place to pin your things (blog  posts, Teachers Pay Teachers items, Teacher Notebook items, etc) and in exchange you pin other group member's things on Pinterest.  This will increase traffic to your TPT store or blog and it is so exciting to see how many emails you will get saying your pins have been repinned many times over.  Just thought I would share for any other bloggers out there that might be interested in joining us!

Brush Your Teeth!

I can't believe February is already over! We got so busy that I had to squeeze my dental health activities in today & tomorrow before we can move on to Dr. Seuss! Here is a quick freebie to print for next year if you are already finished with dental health month. Brush Your Teeth!



Leaping into March!

Teachers pay Teachers is having a sale to celebrate Leap Year with a Leap into March sale! Just click here to visit my store and stock up while it is all on sale! If you haven't grabbed all things Dr. Seuss and/or March yet, now is the time!

March Maddness!

Thank you to all of you who joined my blog and/or TPT store this weekend! I hope you each got your freebies and are ready to Leap into March! If you didn't get a freebie this time, just hang around and I'll be having another giveaway real soon! It was a lot of fun!

While my husband and son was gone to a fishing rod building show this weekend, I spent every waking minute working on my many little projects that I couldn't seem to get done! After many requests, I was finally able to turn the March Calendar for Promethean board into printable learning centers! I thought I learned my lesson when I did that back in January & February but NOPE, 2 days and many hours later it is finally done!

AND I am also going to blame Lauren at First Grade Diaries for getting me sidetracked on my Phonics Fun flipchart! She was able to finish some custom clip art that I requested. I needed more clipart to use for beginning and ending sounds and of course they were too precious to just sit in a folder on my computer so I just had to get them into a flipchart for my Promethean board!  Here is a preview...  I really wish there was a way you could listen to the sounds for correct/incorrect responses! My 10 year old son (he is ALL boy) helped me pick them and couldn't stop giggling so that might give you a clue as to the types of sounds that are included for negative responses...

   

Now with those project done I am going to have to push to get my homework done tongiht before they get home! Have I ever mentioned that I am a procrastinator and/or ADD?!?!

AND one more thing....

This year year our school system is doing something a little different. We have always held kindergarten registration in May and PreScreen the students and assign them a classroom before the end of the school year. Of course, we have a lot of additions and withdrawals before the new school year actually starts but overall has worked fine for us.  This year our new elementary supervisior has asked us to do an early registration/Open House tomorrow night (in February!!!) in addition to our regular registration day in May. The idea behind it is that we are losing many students to the local private schools that do early registrations.  It is a good idea in theory but I'm curious how much this will help us to attract and retain new kinders. So my question is how & when do you handle kindergarten registration? Just curious! And now that reminds me that I need to run by school to see if everything is ready for it!

Enjoy the few remaining hours of your weekend!

Join my Blog!

Spring is just around the corner and it seems like I have been couped up inside all winter long in front of a computer screen! Spring to me, means being outdoors and I can't wait to move back out to my front porch swing in the evenings with my hunky hubby instead of in front of a TV with my laptop!

I am so excited (& slightly disturbed) to see that I am at 40 followers on my blog and have 84 followers on Teachers Pay Teachers!!! I would like to boost my followers on my blog so I am going to give away a copy of my Cat With a Hat printable learning center games and/or my Read & Rhyme with a Cat With a Hat for Promethean Board to the next 10 people to become new followers on either my blog or my TPT store! Just "follow" me and then comment below with your email address or if you don't want to publicly post your email just send me an email to kellyyoungteacher@yahoo.com . Don't forget to let me know if you prefer the printable version or Promethean board flipchart version & I will email them out to you later this evening!

Those of you that are "old" followers need to stop crying now! I haven't forgotten you faithful friends! If you are already a follower...just get a friend to follow me and then tell me their name once they follow & then you and the friend will get a free copy! 

Cat With a Hat Printable Learning Center Games

or Cat With a Hat for Promethean Board FREE to the next 10 followers!

Hurry this offer won't last long!!!!

More Cat and Hats?!?!

It seems like this has been the longest week ever! We have only had school 2 days and a field trip tomorrow but I am already exhausted! Its hard to believe March is already upon us! I feel like these last days of school are slipping through my fingers like sand...there is still so much left to teach & learn. From here on out it feels like a race to get this little darlings ready for first grade.

So all things Cats and Hats are selling like crazy!!! I have had even more requests for more things so I whipped up this Addition and Subtraction stories with the Cat/Hat theme since the Puppy Love Addition and Subtraction stories have been very popular. Head over to my TPT store to check them out!

Have an awesome weekend! I have lots of homework to catch up on for my master's classes this weekend so I hope to get that done quickly so I can work on some more flipcharts & learning center games before my head explodes with all of the ideas packed in there!

Be Blessed!

I certainly am!

News Flash With Kermit the Frog

Love this short video clip of Kermit the Frog interviewing George Washington's father concerning his chopping down the cherry tree! The kids loved it & it went perfectly with our President's Day lesson described in my post "Honestly?".

It's Time to Celebrate the long weekend!

I am having a sale Saturday through Monday in honor of Presidents' Day & to celebrate the long weekend & all of those crazy teachers that are working on school stuff on their long weekend! Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking here!