Get your school lunch station organized now!

School is officially back is session for my kiddos and I have been looking for a way to keep school lunches simple and easy! Stay tuned because I have an easier option I'll be sharing next week. This week is working out perfectly. I took my handy dandy labeler and labeled 4 containers in the fridge (fruits, vegetables, cheese, and ham). I then sorted the dry items into their own container (Diva, Monkey, and Both) depending on what each eats. This way I only have to grab 1 item from each fridge container and 2 from each dry goods container. 

Below: Ziploc bags filled with cherry tomatoes, raspberries, bell pepper slices, cubed cheese, and ham. (10 of each, 2 for each day)

Below: Some of the items I purchased through the Winn-Dixie BOGO ads. I plan to get away from the processed foods within the next couple weeks, but we needed to get easy to pack items for the first week. These are portioned into the dry goods containers.

Newest board...

Summer is over! I can't believe it flew by so fast! I am officially back to work as of today and I had to take a small break and let my creativity loose. Our school theme this coming year is Candy Land and I wanted to set the tone for the school year with a nod to Conscious Discipline.

Here is my newest bulletin board in our main hall.

Throw Kindness Around Like Candy.... It was inspired by another board I has seen on Pinterest that used "Confetti" instead. I love how it came out and hope you do too!

What will your school theme be for the 2016-2017 school year?

DonorsChoose Tips and Tricks to Fully Fund Your Project!

                             8 Easy Steps to Fully Fund Your DonorsChoose.org Project!

1. Create your account and take an interesting picture of your classroom. You want this to be a FANTASTIC picture because it will the first thing your donors are looking at! Be sure if any students faces are showing that you have gotten written permission from the parents/guardians to show them. There is a form on DC that helps with this. I like to include this in my beginning of the school year packet so that it is easier to keep track of and I can get them back easily.

2. Look around the web or even through other projects and come up with a list of ideas that would be useful in your classroom. You may even have ONE great idea in your head! If so go with it.

3. Create a catchy and interesting title. This is very important! If you want an iPad, don't say "iPad Needed for my Students." Use something clever such as "Extra! Extra! I Teach, I Learn, iPad!"

4. Most projects fully fund if you keep the amount under $400. Now that means that your items would need to be around $300 due to shipping, taxes, and optional DC donations to support the site. If your project is very large, consider breaking it down into two or even 3 separate projects, titling each as Part I, Part II, and Part III. Also consider that projects related to Health and Physical Fitness fund quicker than others.

5. Write catchy opening sentences. This is what will show up with your project in the brief synopsis on the opening page. I recommend opening a Microsoft Word document and keep everything in it so that it is easier to change up your project each time without reinventing the wheel.

6. Once your project is submitted, make sure to allow updates via Facebook! This keeps your project visible and aids in donations to it. Be sure to put a link to your site in your email signature too. You never know who is going to contribute to educational projects.

7. Now that your project is submitted, DONATE to it YOURSELF! This is so important. It really seems to jumpstart any project. Even if it is less that $5, every bit helps. Even have a good friend of yours donate to it and you can return the favor and donate to their too. If you have a promo code, be sure to use it. If you do all of the above, you will have 4 donors instead of just 2, making it more likely to fund.

8. Make sure to thank all donors as they support you. Make sure to leave something genuine in the comments. You never know when they will support another project and they may support another of yours depending on the reception from the teacher.

Your Thank-You Package will need to include 6 great photos of your students using the materials along with an Impact Letter. You may need to have students write thank-you notes depending on the dollar value of donations. Anything over $50 by any single donor tends to require them.

It is officially April! Our Spring Break is now almost over (14 hours left). :( Now to make it through the next 7 weeks before summer.

I have had the best March ever! DonorsChoose.org is one of my most favorite sites for my classroom. I love coming up with great projects for my students and best of all is that they cost me virtually nothing to do so. Except for the small amount of money I use to jumpstart them of course.

I will have a post up soon about the very best ways to create and fully fund a project of your own!

Here is what I have had come to my classroom this month alone:

• 10 Chromebooks with their own mouse and personal headphones along with mouse pads
• A class set of personal dry erase pockets along with dry erase markers and Expo cleaner
• Snacks to finish out the school year (pretzels, animal crackers, nilla wafers, etc.)
• Science items such as microscopes, bio-dome, light cube, robotic insects, bug goggles, etc.
• A charging station for the Chromebooks

The possibilities are absolutely endless! Good luck and happy funding of your own!

Word Walls are a wonderful tool!

As I have mentioned before, I have moved into a shoebox. Ok, not really but it does feel that way. :) I miss my big classroom! Now I have to really think what I want to put up on my walls. Due to this, I have moved my word wall to above my cabinets. The words are big enough to be seen, and it is the only way they can be grouped together without being smushed. Tada! What does your word wall look like?

Makin' an entrance!

I have been able to start working in my classroom earlier than planned this year. Yeah yeah, I know ya'll are saying that it is way too early, BUT in my mind the earlier the better! I finished up my door and entrance area in side my room today. I now have the smallest room in the school, but I am determined to make every inch of space count. I am putting up everything that is important and leaving the cutesy stuff until last.

Here is my door. On it is my calendar, behavior chart, and pocket chart for ID's. I hang these yellow pocket charts upside down so that the tags can clip on easily. ;)

The next pocket chart is for my days of the week. I have a clothespin that clips onto the current day.

My final picture is of my Super Improvers Board. I love this baby right here! My students are so excited to move up levels, and all rewards attached are freebies such as stinky feet day, sit by a friend at lunch, sit at teacher's desk for the day, etc. They love these and they cost me nothing. Win win!

Summer working....

Just a sneak peek of my classroom. I had to switch rooms again this year, so progress in my room is slower than I would like. I plan on taking the opportunity to purge much of my stuff! :) Still a bit of work to do to match books to their labels, but the hard part is done. Have a great weekend!