Mind-Boggling and Markdown Monday 1.25.16

It just wouldn't be a Monday without a little boggle. Here's your weekly Boggle board. Just download and project it for you and your students to have a little mind-boggling fun!

Not sure how to play Boggle? Click HERE for the original game rules.

Need a Boggle board that you can edit yourself? Click HERE for a free editable board.

Want a blank boggle board template for your students to use with classroom boggle? Click HERE.

How about a variety of editable boards to change with the seasons? Click HERE for a bundle of fifteen boggle boards that you can program yourself.

----------------------

----------------------

It also wouldn't be Monday without a little markdown fun. Markdown Monday is a fun little linky hosted by Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations. Participants select one of their Teachers Pay Teachers products and mark it down so you the buyer can earn substantial savings. 

This week I am marking down one of my most popular products, Editable Punch Cards Monster Theme.

Contained in this packet are 5 pre-programmed punch cards and 5 editable punch cards with 7, 14, or 20 punches. Use the punch cards to track student behavior and provide rewards. When a student performs the behavior you are seeking, punch a space on his/her card. When the student earns a particular number of punches he/she receives a reward.

These punch cards are larger in size than typical ones. They easily fit in a pencil pouch or toolbox and are harder to lose or misplace.

The brag tags referred to on the pre-programmed punch cards are simply small cards with positive messages. Brags tags are a little like trading cards; they are sometimes called behavior beads. Students collect them and store them on a metal ring, cord, or thin chain. They are a visible/concrete symbol of student success and achievement, something a student can brag about. There are several styles of these available on Teachers Pay Teachers with many in my own store. A simple search using “brag tag” or “behavior beads” will lead you to them. A few are even free.

The blank punch cards are editable. You are able to add your own text and graphics and determine your own goals and rewards. Simply use the “insert” feature. Then select “text box” or “picture or clip art.” I have included text boxes on each blank card for you to begin with. You are free to use your choice of font(s) and graphics. However, please be respectful of copyright.

You'll have to  hurry if you want to save on these fun, engaging punch cards because their special markdown price only lasts until this Friday, Jan. 29, 2016. It will then return to its regular price.

Be sure to check out all the other Markdown products over at Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations. There are always terrific deals to be found each Monday!

New Year Incentive for Braggin' about Great Work

"I forgot my homework, Ms. A.!"
"I left my homework at home, Ms. A.!"

Sound all too familiar? Sure was for me, until I started using brag tags as an incentive in my classroom.

So just what are brag tags, you might be thinking? Brag tags are badges/mini-awards that students earn by completing a specified behavior. They are incentives for good behavior, good habits, and good work. Students collect these cute tags and hang them on a metal ring, cord, bracelet, or necklace. They can wear these bracelets and necklaces or hang their rings in a prominent place to display their accomplishments. They get to brag about what they have accomplished, thus the name.

My kiddos LOVE collecting them and can't wait for me to introduce the newest set. No more homework woes, just lots of braggin' about great work and terrific work habits! Please visit my TpT Store to see all the cute tags that I've created for my students. Here's a small sample.

Test drive some brag tags in your classroom with this free set, just in time for the New Year. These just might be the thing to motivate your students to start the year off on the right homework foot. You can download your set HERE.

Monday Made It... Oh So Simple, Oh So Cute...and a gift.

I am almost embarrassed to add this made-it to Tara's great weekly linky over at 4th Grade Frolics. ALMOST! 

When you are finished reading this blog post, be sure to hop over to Tara's blog for loads of fun Made-It's!

Start with...

2 bottles of hand sanitizer from the Dollar Tree
2 cute linen bags with handwriting lines from Target
1 slightly used black Sharpie marker

End with...

2 really cute and useful bathroom passes.

Something else really useful at this time of the year might be a TpT gift certificate (HINT: There is normally a BIG back-to-school sale in early August). Would you like $25 to spend on TpT? Fill out the Rafflecopter below and help me celebrate Merry Christmas in July to snag some TpT bucks or some products from my TpT Store.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Since you've read this entire blog post and since it's Christmas (in July), I have a little gift for you that you can use as a gift for your students. You can download your set of no-cost gift coupons HERE.

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas in July!

Two for Tuesday

I can't believe that it is Tuesday already! Where does the time go? It's time to join Chalk One up for the Teacher for...

This week I selected two of my favorite products to share with you. Both will be listed at a 50% discount through this coming Thursday.

Year 'Round Homework Punch Cards

Contained in this packet are 10 pre-programmed punch cards and 10 editable punch cards containing 20 punches. Use the punch cards to track student behavior and provide rewards. When a student performs the behavior you are seeking, punch a space on his/her card. When the student earns a particular number of punches he/she receives a reward.

These punch cards are larger in size than typical ones. They easily fit in a pencil pouch or toolbox and are harder to lose or misplace. The brag tags referred to on the pre-programmed punch cards are simply small cards with positive messages. Brags tags are a little like trading cards. Students collect them and store them on a metal ring, cord, or thin chain. They are a visible/concrete symbol of student success and achievement, something a student can brag about. There are several styles of these available on Teachers Pay Teachers, including many in my store. You can check them out HERE (some are even free).

The blank punch cards are editable. You are able to add your own text and determine your own goals and rewards. You can download the set of cards to use with your students HERE.


3-2-1 Back to School ELA Bundle

Are you looking for FUN and ENGAGING Back to School themed ELA activities to review or introduce key language arts concepts? Look no further! This bundle contains SIX products to help your intermediate students practice identifying parts of speech and kinds of sentences, as well as recognizing fragments, sentences, and run-ons. Included are THREE Zap! games, TWO Mystery Pictures, and ONE pack of Scoot cards. Each item is available separately in my TpT store, but you can grab the bundle HERE.

Be sure to stop by Chalk One Up for the Teacher to see what other great items are being shared on this Two for Tuesday!

Five for Friday 1/2/15... Quick Giveaway

YIPPEE it's BAAAAACK!

I really like to play several games on Facebook, among them Bejeweled Blitz, especially since they added the Daily Challenge feature.

Bejeweled is not my favorite, however. I really, really LOVE to play Boggle, so much so that it seems as if I've been attached to my Smartphone playing Scramble with Friends (Facebook's Boggle equivalent) all during break.

All was not a complete waste, however, my Boggle addiction gave me a great idea! I occasionally play Boggle with my kiddos at school, but it is just too much effort to make a bulletin board with Boggle letters or draw the grid on the board. Over break I made editable Boggle Boards using PowerPoint. LOVE!

There are boards for every month of the school year as well as some special occasions. Just project them on a whiteboard or large screen TV, change the letters as you like and SNAP... instant Boggle game. You can read more about them or download them HERE. There's even a FREEBIE board to try out as well. You can check it out HERE.

I worked as busily as possible on lots of other teaching items also. One that I'll be using the first day back is New Year's Nouns. The 24 task cards and 16 interactive notebook foldables cover all the types of nouns: collective, singular, plural, abstract, concrete, common, and proper. You can read more about this packet HERE and see what my fifth graders will be learning and reviewing during the first week of January.

I just finished this teaching product, a Homework Management System in a Winter Theme. I have it all printed and ready to start using on Monday morning.

If you've been following me for a little while you may remember when I blogged about my homework management system. You can read my original blog post HERE, but I've mentioned it in several other posts as well. I was in need of some new punch cards to record student homework assignment completion and my brag tag collection (small award tokens) was getting a bit thin before Christmas break. I needed to print more in time for classes this coming Monday. Rather than print some I had already created, I decided to whip up a brand new batch in a winter theme. Here are the three parts to the system.

PUNCH CARDS

BRAG TAGS

NO HOMEWORK COUPONS

I am really happy with the way this packet turned out. So much so, that I'd like to give away one or two packets in the hope that you'll want to try this system with your students. Just leave a comment below including an email address and I'll pick a name (or two, depending on the number of comments) at random on Sunday night (Jan. 4th) and email you the packet.

Speaking of homework... sigh! I have homework, lots of it! Papers to grade, lessons to plan, masters to print and ready for xeroxing. Have I done it? Am I doing it? I did manage to unpack my teaching satchel and print a few pages... and there it lies! I do still have two more days to get it done, right?

Be sure to drop by Doodle Bugs for Teaching to check out more Five for Friday posts!

Throwback Thursday: Homework Management System

Welcome to...

What is Throwback Thursday? How does it work, you might ask? Simply look through your PURR-fect Previous Posts, perhaps a particular favorite of yours, and re-post it! Then add the TBT badge to your post and include your link below! Purr-fectly easy and simple! Your post doesn't have to be from LOOOONNNGGG ago; it can be from last month or even earlier this week. And if you don't have a post to share, perhaps an old photo or two from WAY BACK will do! Even a favorite pin is PURR-fect! Just join in the Throwback fun!

This post originally appeared on The Teacher's Desk 6 on Nov. 23, 2013.

I have the luxury of knowing and working with my sixers while they are still in fifth grade. This year's crop were hesitant homework completers last year so I knew going into this current school year that I would need to work on this very important skill/habit. BUT what to do?

I did a LOT of thinking, a little praying, and a TREMENDOUS bit of Pinteresting! Beginning last spring,  I repeatedly began seeing pins for brag tags (used these years ago, but got discouraged with the trouble of finding/making them), punch cards (used these years ago also), and no homework coupons (use these ALL the time as gifts for my kiddos). These pins got me to thinking... and deciding... and creating!

I decided to set up a homework reward system for my sixers this year. Consisting of a homework punch card...

... Each assignment successfully completed and turned in on time receives a punch. For every five punches, a student receives a brag tag which are collected for special prizes (treats, pencils, erasers, etc.)...

... Fill up the punch card and earn a no homework coupon!

I am VERY happy to say that my sixers (and my fifth grade Language Arts students) are great at completing their homework and turning it in on time! They love to hear me say, "Yea, I get to punch you!" (we have new tags each month). They enjoy collecting the brag tags (I've quite a collection amassed in my TpT store with more coming), and they ADORE the no homework coupons! This system REALLY works for my students.

Here's a little FREEBIE for you, to get you started with your own homework reward system,  a thank you for reading my blog and following me through bloggyland, and for sharing your ideas with me. Just click HERE or on the graphic below to download your copy. 

Now it's your turn for a THROWBACK!

Five for Friday with Pins and Freebies

I looked at the calendar today... sigh! Just a little more than three weeks from today I will be sitting in a faculty meeting. WOW! Where did the summer break go? The time has passed quickly, and speaking of time---

It's that time! Time to join Doodlebugs for...

Do I need to say more? It's been like this since early Thursday morning. I'm waiting with fingers crossed.

We had a wonderful family celebration this week! The youngest in our family, my grand niece Kamryn, celebrated her 13th birthday.

I spent a great deal of time this past week doing some initial planning for the upcoming school year, particularly in the area of Interactive Notebooks. I found many wonderful ideas on Pinterest... of course... and started pinning and pinning and pinning. I found so many INB pins that I had enough to start a new board just for INB's. This has quickly become my favorite set of pins so I am sharing them with Teaching (Powered by Caffeine)'s weekly linky.

Have fun looking through all the pins. I dare you to NOT pin any of them!

Follow Angela's board Interactive Notebooks on Pinterest.

This week wasn't just all fun stuff! I did get some work accomplished. I use a behavior incentive program in my classroom for both my fifth and sixth grade students that involves brag tags, small little badges/awards that students earn by doing their work, performing well on tests, or exhibiting notable behaviors.

I had used brag tags YEARS ago but I tired of them. Back then it was laborious making the tags!!! Not now, though with computers, printers, and laminators at home! This will be the second year that I am using this system, and because I have my students for multiple years I needed a new set of tags. I suppose I could use the same ones from last year, but my kiddos will notice. They love getting new designs and often spend a great deal of time choosing a tag when confronted with a choice of tag. So, I was busy this past week creating four new sets of tags. To read more about each or to download a set, simply click on the pics below. To see all of the brag tag sets that I have created click HERE.

First up is this set of editable Back to School Tags. Included in this packet are five sheets of 18 count brag tags for a total of 5 different designs plus one blank page which can be customized to include school, teacher, and student names as well as grade and academic year. This is a GREAT starter set!

The second set of tags that I put together are for general classroom behaviors. Included in this packet are twelve different designs. Combine this pack with the one above and you've got your reward system in place.

Because I teach in a Catholic school, many of the tags that my students can earn reflect our faith. My kiddos learn special prayers and religious concepts for which they can earn a brag tag. This packet contains nine different tag designs for this purpose.

The final set that I completed this week is a homework management system that will motivate students to complete their homework assignments on time. It's a combination of punch cards, brag tags, and no homework coupons. I had a group of sixers last year who were notorious for not doing their homework. Once I instituted this system, there were few instances of late or missing work!

Here's how the system works.

Students are given a homework punch card. They earn punches by turning in their homework on time.

The punches earn them brag tags...

... and no homework coupons! YEA!!!!

Would you like a copy of this homework management system to try in your classroom? Then hop on over to my Facebook page. I am holding a giveaway for this product through noon EST on July 19th. That's tomorrow so you should hurry!

Still not too sure about brag tags?!?!? Here's a fall brag tag freebie for you to try. You can download it HERE or by clicking on the pic.

I'm linking this freebie with my friend Lynda from Teaching Science with Lynda. She has a great fall freebie linky going on right now. I'm also linking it with Freebie Friday. Be sure to stop by these blogs for more AWESOME freebies!!!