It's Simply Elementary

Organize · Simplify · Teach

Five for Friday Randoms: The FINAL Countdown!

By

Hey hey all!! Welcome to my first post on my new blog following my official Blog Reveal!!! I’m excited to be bringing you a few highlights from the week and I’m linking up with Kacey over at Doodle Bugs Teaching for FIVE FOR FRIDAY!
Speaking of BLOG REVEAL!! . . . .

That brings me to my first highlight of the week! Alexis from Laugh Eat Learn finished up my blog design last weekend so this week I’m throwing a HUGE GIVEAWAY to celebrate my blog reveal!!
Click the image above to head to my post to read all about Alexis – the FAB gal who designed my blog –  ANNNNND to win a LIFETIME LICENSE TO MY TPT STORE!!  You have TWO MORE DAYS TO ENTER!! I’m so giddy with the response for this giveaway so far!! Hurrrrry and enter to win! You’re almost out of time!! 

Also this week, I got some exciting mail!! . . . 
Mail to *ENJOY* is my most favorite kind!!! . . . My new Erin Condren teacher planner arrived!!! Anddddd even though I’m still winding down the current school year, I always get excited about a fresh clean planner just WAITING for me to get my hands, flair pens, and washi tape on it!! 🙂
Here’s the cover I went with this year!! I’ve had a different one each year and I LOVE the Teacher Planner!! 

Do you LOVE setting up your planner?! It’s the first thing I do when I start getting organized for the new year!!

Speaking of the NEW year . . . . I can’t believe my 2nd graders are JUST about ready to head upstairs to be THIRD GRADERS?!?! WHAT?!?!? #gasp #ihopeididenoughtopreparethem  Do you ever hit that OMG point at the end of the school year and hope that you did enough?! Our DRAs went SUPER well, and their progress in math and writing blew me AWAY, but I stilllllll have fingers crossed that my kiddos can find it in themselves to keep growing up into 3rd graders over the summer who make good choices next year! 🙂 🙂 #hereshoping 
Ready or not, 3rd grade, HERE THEY COME!! 
ANNNNNYWAY…. It’s official in just 8 more school days from now…. they will OFISHALLY be 3rd graders…
and I will be attaching this little tag to some goldfish for them as an end of the year treat as they move on to 3rd grade!  You can check the tags out in my store HERE or by clicking the image above! 

And with just 8 days left, the PENCIL CHALLENGE IS IN FULL SWING!!
Many of you asked after a post about it on Facebook and IG last week, so I thought I would briefly explain how I VERY SIMPLY do the pencil challenge in my classroom! . . . At this point, simple is all I can handle!! 🙂
I have seen SO many varieties of the pencil challenge for the end of the year, so here is how it SIMPLY works for me in room 201….
WHAT? A challenge to keep, not lose nor eat (I kid, but seriously) nor destroy your challenge pencil.
WHO?  ANY grade that uses pencils!! . . . .EVERYONE! <3
WHY? Because my Ready to Write cup is ALWAYS empty no matter how many times I fill it.
WHY ELSE? To TEACH RESPONSIBILITY to KEEP TRACK OF A PENCIL!
WHEN? Desperate times when your pencil supply is low gone.
HOW?:
1. Give each kid a pencil (or more?) with their number on it. (Our kids are numbered alphabetically for lots of reasons and I LOVE this system because it make SO many things like this challenge so easy!)
2.  Explain the rules of the pencil challenge.  This may include that they must keep track of their pencil, not take it home, not destroy the eraser, help their classmates keep an eye on their pencils, etc.
3. Do a PENCIL CHECK! however you see fit and reward them if they still have their challenge pencil and it’s in good condition!!!
For my PENCIL CHECKS, I randomly choose one group a day to RANDOMLY (mid lesson, before lunch, packup time, etc.) go up to and say “PENCIL CHECK”!  If they can show me their challenge pencil – the one with their number on it – they clip up on our behavior chart!  Again, you can use a reward that you see fit and do you pencil checks however you’d like, but man oh man, we’ve been able to have a Ready to Write pencil for a whole WEEK now!! It WORKS!!! I’d love to hear if you try it and what kind of spin you put on it for your class!
Lastly by not leastly, today was an exciting mail day at school!! 
Our Field Day T-Shirts came!! I designed them and scanned it into the computer and had it sent off to a little local T-shirt making company that made them for our class! We will be super snazzy for field day!! I’m not a HUGE fan of red, however, I love how the shirts turned out and my kids absolutely love them, so I’m one happy teacher 🙂
What was your week like?! Comment below or head on over to link up with us at Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Comments