Sunday, February 26, 2012

St. Patty's Day Craftivity Giveaway!

So I finished my St. Patty's Day writing craftivity!  It's a leprechaun with a Bag O' Tricks! I thought this would be the perfect thing for my kiddos.  This year I have a group that is so silly!  They will eat this thing up.  I'm pumped to see what they come up with as their leprechaun tricks!

You can snag it at my TpT store OR you can enter for the giveaway!  I'm giving away the Bag O' Tricks craftivity to one lucky winner!  All you have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment below.  I will pick a winner on the evening of March 1st (this Thursday)!  :)




Stay tuned for a new Biography Unit!  It's in the works!  It should be up this week because I will need to USE IT this week!  Ha! :P

Monday, February 20, 2012

Teacher Binder and a FREEBIE!

Ok, for real I'm back.  You see, my computer kind of bit the dust.  Sooooo....we got our tax return money on Friday and went out and bought a Mac on Saturday.  :D  This is one happy girl right here.  That means so much more time for blogging!  Yahoo!!!!



Real quick...I posted a 5-W worksheet in my TpT store.  I was glancing through the Common Core Standards and noticed how it mentioned the 5 W's a couple times, so I whipped something up real quick.  It's nothing special, but it's a resource!  The best part?  It's FREE!  Man, what a good day... You can get it here!

I don't know about you, but I'm so Type A it isn't even funny.  No really, it's pretty annoying.  Everything has a place, everything has a label, everything is color-coordinated, everything is straight, everything is written down, everything is...perfect...well, you know that's not true.  It can't be.  But boy do I do everything to try to make it happen, therefore driving myself CRAZY in the process.

So I got this nifty idea to create "Mrs. Kirby's Teacher Binder" where I keep absolutely everything in one place, all spelled out.  If I ever have a sub, she/he needs to look no further than this thing.


In the front left pocket I keep my checklist of things to do each week.  Things to create, things to copy, things to update...it helps keep my brain in order.  :P  Then the first section is "General Procedures".  I have a sheet for every possible thing they may need to know about during the course of a typical day.  There is a sheet for Basic Classroom Information, Homeroom Seating Chart, Math Seating Chart, Morning Procedures, Reading Intervention Procedures, Math Procedures, Centers Procedures, Specials Procedures, End of Day Procedures, and a 2-Hour Delay Lunch Schedule.  Yep, that about covers everything!




Next is the Technology Information section.  I put together "A Sub's Guide to the Promethean Board" with basic info on how to run the thing.  That's first.  Then I also have usernames and passwords for Study Island and AR, iPad info, AIMSweb directions, and a PowerTeacher Quick Entry Tips section.  Remember, this binder is also for me!  Anything I would need to know on any given day is included in this binder.




Then we have the Lesson Plan section!  You guessed it...lesson plans.  I use a template created by Beth Newingham.  You can find it here.  You have to go down the "Miscellaneous" section and you can find it under "Lesson Plan Template."



The Calendar section is next!  At the front of the section is our district calendar.  Then I have monthly calendars.  Busy Teacher's Cafe has the cutest printable calendars to fill in and print for FREE!  Check it out!




Student Information is next.  In this section, I have a copy of AIMSweb scores for my class, writing scores for each unit for each student, a reading fluency progress chart for each unit, and weekly fluency scores.



Next is a section simply for notes from Staff/Student Meetings.



Finally we have the PLC Notes!  Whenever we meet together as a grade level, I jot down some notes and then can find them easily.  :)



There we have it!  My daily life in one spot!  Hopefully I've inspired some of you to get a little more organized and be a blessing to your sub!  Being organized makes you FEEL good!  :)  And who doesn't want that?

Blessings...