I don't have a pencil Mrs. Palleschi!!!

Sound familiar????  I think I've probably gone through about 4 boxes of pencils this year!  I think I've finally come up with a solution for keeping track of them while teaching responsibility at the same time!  I took a simple cardboard box and taped it shut.  Then I poked holes (evenly spaced) in one side of the box with a sharp tool I found in my classroom.  I have 20 students, so I made 20 holes.  A screwdriver would probably work well. Then I used one of our NEW pencils to create the size holes I needed in my box.  I wrapped it up with cute wrapping paper and re-poked the holes through the paper.  Voila!!!!  A cute, simple storage solution for our pencils.

Management of my new pencil system is simple.  Students pick up their pencil in the morning (each student has their own student number which corresponds to the numbers I put on the pencils).  They are responsible for keeping their pencil in a safe place all day.  We had a conversation about where a good place to keep them would be.  At the end of the day, students must put their pencil back in the correct hole in the pencil holder (great problem solving since I did not put numbers on the actual pencil holder) as a ticket to leave!  So far so good!  I may have told them they have to sleep at school if they lose their pencil.

MOTIVATION STATION!!!

I'm just stopping in quickly to show some pictures of how I display my student motivation board for my Books and Beads At-Home Reading Program!  Sharon K. writes: 

"Love it! Would you have a picture of how you display the bead collection/necklaces in the classroom?".

I have a bulletin board that displays student necklaces.  I purchased the necklaces from 8seasons.com.  They were SUPER cheap and work perfectly with Books & Beads!!!  I also purchased these cute little charms from 8seasons.com that say "I Can" on them so each student would start with something on their necklace.  I bought little star die cuts and wrote the students names on them.  I used a pushpin as a "hanger" for the necklaces.  

Students earn 1 red pony bead for every book they read.  Chapters books earn 5 pony beads per book read.  Students earn 1 very special star bead for every 100 books read!  We use Raz-Kids in my classroom as well as books from the class library.  Students are free to read any book they wish!

Want to do this in your classroom???  It's easy!  Click on the picture below to go right to my store.  Books & Beads is just $3.00 and the kids and parents LOVE it!!!

Teacher Week Day 4: When!!!

It's been a few years since I've been in the classroom.  I've been busy at home with my three little ones.  I'm ready to go back but I'm teaching a new grade this year so there are lots of changes all around.  I'm moving up from first to second grade - something I've wanted to do for a long time!  I just love the second grade curriculum.

The first thing I did to get myself ready is read the Grade 2 curriculum.  Here in Ontario we've got different books for each subject and it's broken up by Overall Expectations and Specific Expectations.
This is what our Language Curriculum Document looks like!

To organize myself, I made a chart (colour coded of course!!!) in Powerpoint.  I divided it by subject and then by month.  I thought about what would make sense when and started plotting the learning expectations on my chart.  For example, in second grade we learn about growth and changes in animals.  I thought the best time to do this would be in the spring when we can go outside and examine nature coming to life.  I save the more difficult concepts for later on in the year like multiplication and division to give my kids a chance to develop their basic skills first.  Here is what my long range plans look like!

The numbers correlate to the expectations in our curriculum documents.  Kind of like the Common Core Standards.  The items I've indicated to go year long are those we will do everyday like our Poem of the Week and writing journals.

I've also made reference to some of the activities we will be doing in our learning like making a fruit salad for our fractions unit.  I can't wait to make Leprechaun traps in March as part of our Structures/Mechanism and Movement Strand!

I print out poster sized plans and attach them to the wall behind my desk.  This visual really helps me stay on pace with my units.  It's great for planning upcoming units too.  I always know what's coming up next.

How do you organize your day?  Link up with us and share your plans!

Teacher Week Day 3: Organization Station!!!

Hello friends!  It's Day 3 of our Teacher Week blog hop!  Today's post is all about staying organized.   Music to a teachers ears right???  Here are 3 ways I keep things straight in my classroom!

1.  LABEL, LABEL, LABEL!  I am a bit label crazy!  It's helps me stay organized because I am also a huge lender-outer (is that a real word?) of my stuff and have a hard time remembering what I've lent out! My colleagues are very honest thank goodness but my personalized stamp definitely seals the deal!!!  I used to print stickers with my name on them and stick them to my books.  Then I decided to invest just $25 to get myself a personalized stamp!  SO MUCH easier, cheaper, faster!!!!  I stamp all my books, centres, games and anything else that gets laminated!  I even ask my kids to bring me any book they find in our classroom that doesn't have a stamp on it.  It's like a fun little treasure hunt for my students!  Just google "teacher stamp + from the library of" and you'll get a ton of results!!!

2.  Long Range Plans!
I keep a huge print out of my long range plans attached to the wall behind my desk.  I'm teaching a new grade this year so I don't have a picture of it yet but I will post it as soon as I can!  Having the whole year mapped out in view keeps me on track.  My long range plans are colour coded, divided by subject and have approximate teaching times for each unit.

Did you know you can print poster-sized pages at home???  Dragonflies in First has created this easy to follow tutorial!  Check it out here!

3.  Product Catalogue!
Yup!  That's right!  I made my own product catalogue :)  If you are like me you have probably downloaded a whole bunch of awesome freebies and other units that you sometimes forget you have. I used my good friend Ashley Schroeder's "What Do You Own" template to put together a binder full of product covers.  I simply flip to the section I need (i.e., Math Resources) and find the unit I need (i.e., Fractions).  This is a definitely plus when planning!

Now it's your turn!  How do you stay organized in your classroom?  Link up with us and share your great ideas!

Teacher Week: Classroom Digs!

It's day #2 and it's all about the WHERE!

I mentioned yesterday that I don't go back for another two weeks but that doesn't mean I haven't spend much of my summer planning what my room is going to look like!

I've been off for 2.5 years and I'm changing grades when I go back.  Even though I haven't set up my new digs yet, I thought I'd share my inspiration for my new room.  I'm planning a big classroom reveal when it's all done.

Here's a before of the four corners of my room!

I know....not much to look at yet!  Here are some things I bought to help pull it all together!

As you can see, I am going with lots of colour this year!  Hanging lanterns, and borders that pop!  I bought a huge roll of fadeless black paper (I know, table cloths are much, much cheaper!)  I just find they rip easily and I don't want to re-do these borders again next year!  The tissue paper and chevron borders are hopefully going to look something like this.  Don't you just love layered borders???

I'll use the stars for my brand new Brag Tag board.  My good friend Angie Olson over at Lucky Little Learners has 2 awesome packs in her store!  Here's my inspiration for my BT board!  It comes from Bunting, Books & Bright Ideas!

And here are some things I have made!

First up is my Tattle Monster.  Yup - I definitely do NOT have time for tattles.  Don't forget I have 3 of my own kids at home!  I upgraded from the tattling turtle that I used with my firsties to this amazing classroom tool.  All I do is put scrap paper, pencils and my handy little sign beside the Tattle Monster.  When kids feel the need to tattle, they write it on the paper and feed it to the monster.  And let me tell you...the notes I get are HILARIOUS.    All kids want is to tell somebody and they don't really care who or what it is!  AND, the bonus is that they have to practice writing!  A win-win I think!  To make your own "Tattle Monster", get an empty kleenex box and paint it (I used acrylic paint because it's thicker and the colours are much more varied and bright).  Add some cute polka dots and use few egg carton cut outs and googly eyes to make the eyes.  Cut out some white foam sheets to look like teeth, hot glue gun them in and voila!  Your classroom should be tattle free in a jiffy!!!!

I'm going with Ombre Chevron for all of my little details like my word wall, table numbers, supply bins and student book bins!

How cute are those pencils up there?  I'm going to hang them on my classroom door whenever we go somewhere else in or out of the school!  You can get your own free editable set from The Lesson Plan Diva!

And the bargain of the century are these book shelves I picked up from Walmart for $19!  I bought two of them and I'm hoping to find one more so I have a full 6 feet of bookcases.  And, they are low enough that they should fit right underneath the bulletin boards at the back of my class!  I can't afford to lose any of my precious bulletin board real estate!

I'm going to re-organize my classroom library this year using these really cool labels from Ramona Recommends.

I picked up paint stir sticks from Home Depot and some zebra print duck tape to make subject dividers between my book categories.  Be sure to read about her awesome home library transformation!

Finally, if you are looking for some inspiration you have to check out my Class Decor & More Pinterest board!!!!  I'd love to add you as a collaborator too!  My one rule is that you only pin real pictures not product covers :)  People want to see what stuff actually looks like!!!!  Click the link to follow first, then email me and I'll add you!!!!

Class Decor & More pinterest board!

Now...it's your turn!  I want to see what your classroom looks like so link up with us today!

Teacher Week: Who

Hey everyone! It's Erin from Once Upon A Classroom!.
It's Teacher Week for our friends in the US but here in Canada I'm still enjoying 2 more weeks of summer!

I'm linking up with my friends over at Blog Hoppin' to share a bit about me!

Today's post is all about introductions.  So, here we go!

My name is Erin Palleschi.  It's pronounced Pal-esh-ee!  I got this name when I married my wonderfully amazing hubby Michael.  Almost 10 years ago!  Yikes!  Has it been that long???

Together we have owned 4 houses!

And together we have 3 beautiful children :)

I am going back to work this September after being at home for 2 1/2 years with these cuties.  AND, I'm teaching a new grade!  I'm moving up from first to second grade!

A few more things about me!

1.  I LOVE to travel.  I mean I have a serious travel bug!  Just whisper about going somewhere and I'm in.  I have a huge bucket list of places I want to see before I go :) So far I have visited 65 cities and 12 countries!

2.  I need coffee.  It definitely makes me "less hatey".

3.  I played soccer for over 30 years.  When I was young I played competitive soccer but most recently played in the "old lady" league for woman 19 and up!  (I'm much closer to the "up").  I decided to hang up my cleats because my soccer night was the same as my girls.  Gotta give them a chance to shine!

4.  I am a PARTY PLANNING maniac!  I LOVE to plan parties, especially birthday parties!  I go all out for my kids!  This is some of the stuff I made for my daughter's 5th birthday party.  It was so much fun!

5.  I am a teacher-author!  I opened my TpT store in November 2012.  It's been a really fun experience.  So fun in fact that I recently made the trip to Vegas for the 1st ever TpT Sellers Conference!

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So that's me in a nutshell!  Mom, wife, teacher!  I can't wait to hear about you!!  Here is the schedule for the rest of the week!

And...the great news is you can link up too!!!!

Dollar Deals!! Say What????

I am so excited to announce that I am joining forces with some of my favorite bloggers to bring you a new collaborative blog called Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals! With this blog, there will be approximately forty teachers sharing their excellent work in what we are calling a Dollar Steal!

What is a Dollar Steal, you ask?  Each day, one of my bloggy friends will be sharing a post about one of their products.  In their blog post, they will share a link to their product where you can purchase it for only $1.00.  Now here's the catch, you'll have to act fast because their sale will only last for THREE days.  After the three days, you can still grab their fabulous product, but it will be at it's original price.

I would love for you to hop over by clicking the button above and follow our new blog through email or Bloglovin in order to ensure that you catch all of our deals in a timely manner.  We are also giving away a $25 TeachersPayTeachers Gift Certificate.  You can enter by following us!!!



Thank you for joining me on this new and exciting experience.