Back to School Notebook for the teacher

So, I decided this year that with the variety of meetings and training that I attend each school year that it would be useful to have all my information in one place where I store all of the information that is given to me. I got the idea here.

My 3-ring binder doesn't look as good as hers, and I am going to wait for the year to start to label my dividers, but I have the essentials to get ready for a new school year.  I went ahead and used a 1 1/2" binder.  I am going to slip my planner in the front pocket.  Also, I'm going to print out my education Pinterest boards so I have all of my information right there for when I get board at inservice.  Hahaha.

How to print Pinterest boards here.

At the front of my binder I have a pencil pouch with some oversized index cards & post it notes in case I need to bookmark something or if I have a good idea/remember I need to do something in the class the next day.  There are some pens, a Sharpie, and thin Crayola markers.  In PreK, you never know when you might need to color something.  ;)  I also think those will come in handy with my planner.  I plan to add some White Out too.

Underneath you'll notice the Five Star notebook to take whatever notes I need to.  It will be a good place to brainstorm for my lesson plans as well.

I already had some basic dividers.  

I spruced them up with some scrapbooking paper.  I glued the paper to the front with a glue stick, cut off the excess, and punched the holes wtih a 3-ring hole punch.  They turned out cute!

At first I used the excess paper (They were 12 x 12 sheets) on the back of the divider to make a two sections in case I wanted to make a chart or put a few quotes there.

I opted on the rest of them to leave the vertical paper off so that I would have more room.  

I slipped the rest of the paper in the back sleeve of the binder to make it look nicer.  It may be replaced later by something official.  I like this for the time being.

After the pencil pouch & notebook, here are the dividers ready to go.

After that I took a pocket folder and cut it in half and trimmed it down to fit in the notebook.  Use a 3-ring hole punch if needed.  I turned it around so both pockets faces towards me.  Trim accordingly if the pocket folder already has hole punched.  I can put handouts, etc. in these.  We have a tendency to get things at our staff meeting that are supposed to go in our files in the classroom.  This will be a good place to temporarily store them.

Something I may do is write some of these reminders & encouragements on the back of the dividers' (or print them out and glue them!)

Back to School Prayer

The Kids Who Need the Most Love

Discipline

There are more on my Parenting & Education Pinterest Board.

That's all I have for now!

Looking Toward a Bright Future!

Here is a fun, simple fingerprint activity to do with young children.  I did this with one of my classes.  

Our school & grade was listed at the top of the paper.  I made that document on Microsoft Publisher.  

A parent volunteer cut out copies of the jar pattern for us.  The pattern came from the Mailbox.  I don't think the one I linked to is the exact same one, but it is close.  

We used a yellow washable ink pad for the fingerprints.  To minimize mess we had it available as a small group, and we made the rule that each child could only use his/her pointer finger.

After that we told the kids to make the fingerprints into lightning bugs/fireflies using colored pencils or crayons.

They turned out cuter than the sample I made for myself!

Teacher Tested. Kid Approved.

Welcome to my new blog!

A few things to start us off:

1)  Thank you to my co-teacher Trish for the AWESOME blog name!  I have been toying with the idea of this blog since May, and I couldn't think of a good name.  She came up with it in a snap.  ;)  

2)  This won't be an every day, or even every week kind of blog.  I'm going to try to upload ideas (most of the time with pictures) that have either come from our own great ideas, borrowed from fellow teachers, or borrowed from fellow Pinterest users.  

3)  I will try my best to give credit where credit is due.  I'm smart enough to realize that there are many people who have come before me who have great ideas.  I'm just clever enough to reuse them.

4)  Many (if not all) of the things from this blog will probably show up on Pinterest.  This basically exists as a venue for networking our ideas with other teachers out there.  I have another blog that journals our family activities.  This helps to keep those separate.

5)  I am very conscientious of student confidentiality, so I won't post names or pictures of kids in my class, other people's classes, or former classes of mine.  If you ever see blurred parts of an image, then it's probably where I have edited it for confidentiality.

6)  You may see a few non-educational ideas pop up on here.  After all, I try recipes and other things out in my home, and I will share my successes (and failures with you) when I have the opportunity.

Enjoy!