A Long Week of Preparing...

It is finally Friday and boy am I tired! This last week my school district had a long week of in-service and working in our classroom. For the most part I had my classroom set up and ready to go a few weeks ago, except for a few things I'm working on. In the midst of "trying" to get my final schedule set, I decided I needed a break. I had just picked up these Squigz a few weeks ago at a teacher sale in Cedar Falls, Iowa. These "little fun suckers" are just that! I was building stuff to hang from the desk, whiteboard, windows, etc. Who would have thought that suction cups could be just as fun as legos? My intention of buying these were for my student with autism. I thought it would be a good cool down activity and some how incorporate learning colors. 

Another thing I finished in the classroom this week is finishing all my labels for my organization nightmare! I downloaded the label from TPT for only $4.00! It was totally worth it since it came with already done labels and then one page of editable ones. I have these little circles everywhere in my room (book bins, supply containers, manipulatives)! Another little tip that I found amazing is that if you use circle velcro adhesive dots to attach it to your bins you can reuse the labels on different containers if need be.

My mom has been sending me tons of "teacher" shirts that last few months, but this last one she sent made me laugh so hard and give me a little more "umph" on my last week of preparing for the new year. 

Well, Monday brings on the new school year. 

Ready or not here I come!

 

 

Kiss Your Brain

When working with students of special needs, I found that every chance you get you should give them positive reinforcement. This may range from verbal praise to candy to a sticker to a classroom reward. Most of the time verbal praise will do the trick but every once in a while I like to praise with candy. I mean really...who doesn't like candy?!?!?! This is when I found the "Kiss Your Brain" candy bucket on Pinterest. I love the idea of this and that it is filled with Hershey Chocolate Kisses! All summer I have been contemplating what kind of container to use for this project. I thought about buying a container in the kitchen items at Walmart, an empty ice cream bucket, or just a candy dish. Yet for some reason in the middle of the night I woke up to realize why couldn't I use a Tide packet clear plastic container. The next morning I ran to my local Dollar General (because that is all we have in the middle of nowhere) to purchase my clear Tide packet container. Then the "Kiss Your Brain" container was born!

 

I plan to use this positive reinforcement after my students work hard after finishing a homework assignment or a progress monitoring probe for me. I want them to do their best, so if it takes a little "kiss" to get the job done. So Be It!!!

Sorry I'm Not Ignoring You

It has been a long last few weeks. I promise I haven't been ignoring you. Between having visitors in Iowa to going home for a week to help out to coming back and finishing up classroom things and going to some training days, I have had a busy last three weeks. Reversing back to visitors in Iowa, I was so excited to have my mom and family friend, Tracy, come to help me clean out my classroom and finish setting it up. Little did they know that they had a HUGE endeavor ahead of them!

I am SO BLESSED to have these two women in my life! They both did a tremendous job on helping finish up the huge projects in my classroom! Little did I know that they would get the floor this CLEAN!

My Momma was so excited to come and help me set up my classroom! Especially that I decided to use yellow and black as a bulletin to match her business colors!

 I was so excited to find my TouchPoint posters that I had made as a freshman in college!

 Thank you Mommy and Tracy!