FLASH FREEBIE!!! They're Here...Editable Behavior Clip Chart Calendars for 2013-2014!

One of the questions I get a LOT is if I can make editable versions of my behavior clip charts I had posted HERE and HERE. Well, I think I finally figured out how to do it, and VOILA! They are here!

I modified the calendars so there's lots of flexibility with how you use colors on your charts and what those colors stand for. You can:

1) Use seven colors (pink, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red) in that order, with your own description of each level (for example, I use "Role Model" to describe the pink level, which is the highest on my chart).

2) Use seven levels, with your own description of each level, on a black-and-white chart to save on ink costs (students simply color in the squares at the beginning of the month).

3) Add your own clip chart levels and color codes by inserting a table on top of the PowerPoint background. This allows you to use any colors, in any order, with any description of each level.

Additionally, I have left the "Behavior Codes" section blank for your own behavior descriptors, and I have left the parent note section at the bottom empty for you to add you own notes to parents (for example, if you request that parents sign the calendars nightly, you can add this note into the bottom of the calendar).

They're normally just $2.00 in my TpT store, but they are FREE until tomorrow night! Click the product cover above to download.

Have a great night!

Five For Friday... On a Saturday, and May Currently!

So, I've been meaning to link up for Five for Friday for for.ev.er! But of course, time seems to slip away, and on Friday nights, after getting the kids to bed, this happens:

I know I can't be the only one this happens to. Right? RIGHT???

So, I'm a day late, but here goes!

1. We have FINALLY started getting some warm weather! First it was cold, then rainy, and finally this week, we hit the 70s!

We enjoyed a little time at the park. They both look so big in this picture!

2. We finished up our plant unit this week. This is the awesome work of one of my kiddos. (Check out that handwriting!)

If you're interested in this craftivity and the other experiments, reading responses, and other goodies from my unit, check it out by clicking below:

3. This week marked the beginning of our end of year testing. What?! We go until June 20 (gulp!) but we started testing our kids with BAS already.

Which, of course, necessitates lots and lots of this:

(Iced, french vanilla, cream and sugar... Yum...) 

And maybe this is a weird thing to notice, but on the cups in the ads, there's always like the flavor above the "coffee" (like where "iced" is on this cup), but that's never what it has at the store... Hmm...

4. I posted my Friday Folder comment sheets a few days ago, and came back to tell you a little more about them. First of all, a sweet reader notified me of a typo on the Spanish version, so I fixed it up and it's available to redownload on TpT.

 (Click the image above to download for FREE)

I was asked about how I used this form, so hopefully I can give a couple helpful hints!

For several years, I've used the communication folders from Nicky's Folders. They are awesome... I've used the same ones for about the past three years and I'll definitely be able to use them again next year. (Plus they're only about $1 a piece... Totally worth it.) They have a view pocket on the front, like a lot of binders do, and I slip the sheet inside. I print them on cardstock - it's easier to slide in and out that way.

I fill out the date, behavior and work habit codes, and make notes on them about any tests, things to work on at home, etc. Then, I fill the inside, which comes with printed labels on each pocket:

Any work that needs signed goes on the left, and other work to keep at home goes on the right.

My students bring the folders home on Fridays and back on Mondays, and it works like a charm!

5. Finally, I gotta brag on my own kiddos a bit... Check out my daughter's drawing (she'll be 3 in August):

(That's a face with hair, eyes, a circle nose, a smile - which is hard to see - and the straight line up is a tongue! Plus an A in the corner for Avery.)

And as an added bonus, in being even later than usual even for me, here's my May Currently!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching and Oh' Boy Fourth Grade!

Friday Folders Made Easy - Free Download!

This week, I printed out my last Friday folder cover sheets of the year (sniff sniff). I've used Friday folders for the past few years and LOVE how it helps improve communication with parents while minimizing the random graded papers in kids' backpacks. I used to have these really intricate behavior and classwork forms and comments for each student. I typically run about 30 kids a year, which meant slaving away over those forms each Thursday night.

The form I used this year has been the easiest yet (I found something similar on Pinterest and modified it to fit my students, although I can't find the original post to save my life!).

I have many Spanish-speaking families, so I use a bilingual version, but one in English is available in the same download.

Just click the picture above to get this form FREE!

Also, I hit over 300 followers on TeachersPayTeachers and I'm ALMOST at 150 here... Maybe it's about time for a celebration? Check back soon!

Have a great start to your week!

Finally! Updated Clip Chart Calendars

Well, I thought I could outsmart this whole flu thing that had been going around. I didn't get a flu shot and ended up regretting it... BIG TIME. I was totally out of commission for like four days, and I'm just FINALLY starting to feel like my normal self nearly two weeks later. Sigh.

But now I feel back to normal (almost), and I've finally finished something I've been meaning to do - updating my clip chart calendars for parents! I use a clip chart in my classroom (I have two for free downloading in my TpT store), and I have been using these charts to communicate how students do each day with parents. It has worked WONDERFULLY! The students have poly folders with prongs that we use for homework folders. I print one calendar per kiddo each month on cardstock (easier for the kids to slide in and out) and slip it into a sheet protector in the prongs. If you don't have access to color ink, I've included a black and white version that the students can color in the key for. The kids color the calendar themselves as I circulate to make any little notes, and BAM! In about 2 minutes my 28 kiddos have their clip chart colors available for parents to see and sign off on.

It has been GREAT for documentation, because each month I pull the calendars and file them away for each kiddo. Plus, it's rewarding to see good behavior (or improving behavior) charted out for the kids in a visual way.

This is what each calendar looks like:

Click the pic below to snag your free clip chart calendars:

I'm linking up with Manic Monday!

Involving Parents in Home Reading

Several years ago, I found a wonderful post on Jessica Meacham's site about bags students could take home with books and other materials for sharing with families. I teach in a high-poverty area, and many of my students do not have books at home to share with their parents, siblings, and other relatives. Each kiddo takes home a book every night, but I wanted something a little extra that was a) motivating and that b) put a lot of books in my students' hands. This was the beginning of our literature bag program.

Since each pack includes many books (sometimes as many as seven or eight), my students have to get a parent's permission to check them out. In the four years I've used these, I've only had one pouch and one book lost! You can grab my permission slip (in English and Spanish) HERE.

After a couple months of school, I introduce my students to literature bags, which I display in an awesome book organizer I got through a DonorsChoose.org grant from Lakeshore.

Each one of my literature bags is in a School-to-Home Organizer from Lakeshore. (Again, I got these through a grant... Love DonorsChoose!)

I created cards to go into each School-to-Home Organizer, and numbered the pouches. Some of my bags have books that are in Spanish, and I've noted that with star stickers so my students know which ones have bilingual texts in them.

The pouch has two sides... One contains the books (which you can see when the organizer is closed), and the other contains the contents card and a thin composition book.

The contents card has a brief note to parents with a list of titles included in the pouch, so parents can check the contents before returning it to school. There are also a couple of writing prompts and suggested activities (which are basically the same for each literature pack... I also have math packs with similar cards and other ideas). Parents and students can write in the composition book and/or draw a picture. I don't require this (or participation in the literature bag program as a whole), but almost all of my kids and their parents participate.

These are just a few of the books in the Ocean Life pack. You'll see each is labeled with the literature bag number as well as my name and school.

My students L-O-V-E these packs, parents always have positive feedback about them, and best of all, it gets families reading together. What's not to love about that?!