What's My Number? and a Freebie!

I am so excited to be doing my first post on Focused on Fifth.

I will be discussing how to play "What's My Number?" with your students. Head on over to Focused on Fifth and check out how to play and download the freebie. Who doesn't love a freebie?

Focused on Fifth: A New 5th Grade Collaborative Blog and Huge Giveaway!

I am super excited to be one of the collaborators of the new 5th grade collaborative blog, Focused on Fifth! 

To celebrate, we are having a huge giveaway!

 Check out all these prizes you could win.

We are giving away 10 bundles of 10 products for fifth grade worth over $35 to 10 lucky winners. Plus, one grand prize winner will receive the bundle PLUS a $35 gift certificate to TpT!

What are you waiting for? Head on over to Focused on Fifth and enter to win!

LaborLESS Blog Hop and Giveaway!

I hope you are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

To say that teachers work hard is probably the biggest understatement. There is no time clock to punch when you are talking about your children (students).

Today I am linking with Laura from Where the Magic Happens, Krista from Teaching Momster, and Lisa from PAWsitively Teaching! We have joined forces once again to bring you an amazing giveaway!

We have come together to give you ideas on how to work smarter rather than harder. Being a teacher can be hard. It's certainly exhausting, stressful, and in the end so rewarding. We also know that there is just NEVER enough time to do it all. Below you will find a few of my favorite tips that will save you time and energy inside and outside the classroom.

Organization is key to a successful year. When I look back on my more stressful years I realize that they were also my most unorganized years as well.

I teach 5th grade so my students are dangling on the edge of no longer being children but not quite teens. They no longer need to be "babied" but they are not ready to give up all the cute organizational tools that fill primary classrooms. That's a good thing because those organizational tools ultimately save us time as well.

These are my book boxes. They are magazine files that I purchased from amazon.com  I go crazy when it is silent reading time and I have half a dozen students that "just finished" a book or "left their book at home". They then spend a big chunk of time searching for a new book to read. No more! When my students arrive tomorrow they will learn that they are always going to have a book "on deck" in their book box. So when they finish the current book they are reading(or leave it at home) they can go right to their book box and grab their next book.

My next idea saves a bunch of time in the morning. This is my lunch count/attendance board.

I pick one dependable student to be in charge of this board. The first thing they do when they come in the classroom in the morning is pass out the magnetic name tags (seen here in the little basket).

The students then put their name in the appropriate spot (school lunch or lunch from home). That same dependable student, after morning announcements, goes around and picks up any tags that are still on desks (ie. absent students). He/she adds those names to the absent section of the board. When I am ready to enter the attendance and lunch count into the computer, all I have to do is look up and check the board. I no longer have to interrupt the students, who are working on morning work, to find out who is buying lunch.

Do you like the chalkboard frames I used for my attendance board? You can get them free here and here.

There is nothing more stressful than coming home from a long day of teaching, discovering that you need to be back out the door soon to a game (practice, PTO meeting, event, etc) and having no time to prepare dinner. I don't know what I would do without these babies.

This is what my kitchen counter tends to look like on a Sunday afternoon in the fall and winter. I cook beans in the small crock and freeze to use later in chili and soups. In one of the bigger crockpots I will make a meal for that night (stew, spaghetti sauce, chili, etc). We use the leftovers as lunches or freeze for a quick dinner in the weeks to come. The last crockpot usually contains a soup that we will have for dinner later in the week.

My Pinterest Board "Crockpot Meals" has over a 150 pins to easy crockpot recipes. You can check them out here.

When I started using my crockpots for more than making baked beans and chili, A Year of Slow Cooking was a great site for inspiration.

It doesn't get much easier then this product - just print, copy and pass out. My Back to School Color By Numbers is a great fun way to reinforce place value understanding. Who doesn't love to color? Use it for homework, morning work, or even at a center.

Top all these great tips and ideas with these top-notch prizes!

A $100 gift card to Amazon

A $50 gift card to TpT

2 $25 gift cards to TpT

1 $10 gift card to TpT

Enter the giveaway below and have a chance at winning one of these wonderful gift cards that you can use to purchase more LaborLESS materials and activities. Then start hopping and see the amazing ideas that other bloggers have to share.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Pick 3 - September Linky

What happened to the summer?

The good news is that it is once again time for the Pick 3 Linky hosted by PAWSitively Teaching and the Inspired Owl's Corner.

Here are my 3 picks!

I know many of your are already back to school but September brings the first day of school for me. So right now my head is fixed on first day activities and open house ideas.

The first few days are all about getting to know your students. It is so important to take the time to get to know your students and let them get to know you. When they know you care about them, they are more willing to take risks and be invested in their own learning.

The activity below is one I have thought about doing for a while. This year I am finally going to do it and hang it up in the hall in time for Open House.

click image to view original pin

I always like having a treat for the parents when they arrive at open house. Last year I gave out peppermints. This year I want to change it up. Who doesn't love popcorn?

Click image to view original pin

I absolutely love this idea. This will be my third year using the parent wish jar at open house.

click the image to view original pin

It is great way to start to get to know your parent. The answer to the following question is very telling.  "If you had one wish this year for your child, what would it be?" I usually pull the jar back out around conference time to see how we are doing on accomplishing their wishes.

If you would like to see more pins like these, check out my Open House board here.

Be sure to check out the other blogs and see their 3 Septemeber ideas to inspire.

Do you have 3 pins you would like to share? Then link up below. I would love to see your ideas.

An InLinkz Link-up

What a Difference a Coat of Paint Makes!

The summer is winding down and I am trying to wrap up all the items on my summer "to-do" list.

I have never been one to do a theme for my classroom. Although this year is no different I am sticking to a basic color scheme as I make some much needed updates to my classroom.

Some of my furniture was looking a bit shabby. So I decided to do some painting. It's hard to see from the picture but this bench was bright red with lots of black scuff marks on it.

After a few coats of paint it looks like new.

These stools are perfect for extra seating. They slide right under the table when not in use so they take up no space at all. But they definitely needed an update. 

I spray painted the legs black and painted the seats a light aqua.

My desk is an old, ugly, metal desk that weighs a ton. It needed an update as well. (And I forgot to take a "before" pic so this is a "during" pic.)

After some contact paper and these great banners by Kayse Morris my desk looks brand new. Did I mention you could download Kayse's banners for free? Check them out here!

I also covered my crate seats with some new bright blue material. 

It's amazing at what a little paint, contact paper, and material does to spruce up the classroom.

Have you made any updates in your classroom this year? I would love to hear about them.

Pick 3 - August Pinterest Linky

I am once again joining PAWSitively Teaching  and Inspired Owl's Corner for their Pick 3 Linky. I truly love this linky. I always come away with so many wonderful ideas for my classroom. Here are my three picks for this month.

Last year I made water bottle labels for my students. I had a personalized water bottle on everyones desk on the first day of school. I like to change it up each year. I would hate to be considered predictable. These would be great to make and give out at dismiss on the first day.

Click image to see original pin

I love taking pictures of my students on the first day of school. It always amazes me how much they grow up during our year together. I love passing the pictures out on the last day of school. It's a great keepsake. My teammate found this idea last year and made a similar frame. She was generous enough to share it with me. The pictures were adorable!

Click image to see original pin

 I am going to have my students complete this in the first page of their math notebook. The next day they can pair up and share their data. Such I fun way to start the year in math.

Click image to see original pin

If you would like to see more pins like these, check out my Back to School Pinterest board here.

Be sure to check out the other blogs and see their 3 August ideas to inspire.

Do you have 3 pins you would like to share? Then link up below. I would love to see your ideas.

An InLinkz Link-up

Made It Monday - July 27th

Like so many others I have so many things I want to accomplish this summer. So far I have started many but have finished few. I am linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics in the hopes that it will help me get motivated to finish my many projects.

I made these adorable bookmarks for my students. I am going to send them out this week with a letter reminding them to do their summer reading. I am also going to encourage their parents to join Bloomz before the school year starts so we can work out any issues before September. You can get these cute bookmarks here for free from Catherine Reed.

Next, I finally finished my Back to School Color by Numbers Activity. I can't wait to use it with my students in September. 

You can enter for a chance to win this product by going here.

Now head back to Tara's blog and see what everyone else has been making.