Any Leprechaun Shrinking Hat Fans Out There? I Made Something For YOU!

Although St. Patrick's Day is fun and there are lots of fun activities we can do with our kiddos, I know that teachers don't have tons of time to be gathering different materials for this and that, finding files, etc.....sooooooo..... I know there are 1000s out there (data gathered from my Lucky Leprechaun stats!) and I wanted to make this week of planning EASIER for you.  I put ALL of my Lucky Leprechaun freebies into one file for you to quickly save, download and print to your heart's desire.  Included in the freebie kit are: Guided Drawing Shamrock with handwriting practice OR constructed response practice about Lucky, a skip counting puzzle with a message from Lucky, a before and after scientific sheet about the shrinking hats, AND an organizational list with links and directions for implementing all the fun into St. Patrick's Day. PLUS a new freebie that is a cartoon picture of Lucky with a Styrofoam cup and message for students to record what their cup looks like and color Lucky. 

Also included in the post is a link to an old post with FREE step by step directions on how to bring the magic of shrinking the cups to your classroom!  Enjoy and let me know about your experiences with Lucky! I can only hope that your students love it as much as mine!

 

Swing on into Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business and see what's going on!

Easy Segway to a GREAT Conference With Parents

When does your school have fall conferences? 

We have ours the week of Thanksgiving, so are just getting them set up.  Although I have done this for years now, I still always feel a little nervous in preparing for them and wondering if there are going to be some surprise questions or concerns.

But, as nervous as we get, I imagine some parents are more anxious since it is about THEIR child...what might we say about their child that they don't know?

I created this form to alleviate tension for both us and the families.  It is a very simple REMINDER, but also opens up the conversation and opportunity to make sure you plan the conference accordingly and use the 15 or 20 minutes to discuss what the parents want.

I feel like letting the parents know ahead of time that you care enough about their child to send this note home, sets the tone for a GREAT meeting to come!

I hope you find it helpful, too!

 

 

 

 

Must Have Monday with Kinder Alphabet and Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business



 

We all have those things that we NEED in our classroom.

We all have those things that we WANT in our classrooms.

And somewhere between needing and wanting are our MUST HAVES.

Those are the things that keep us energized, that make our classrooms our homes away from home....

 

 We, Lidia from Kinder Alphabet, and Krissy, from Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business, are so excited to kick off Freebielicious's Linky Party with Monday Must Haves by sharing what

we MUST HAVE in our classrooms:

First off, welcome to Must-Have Monday with Kinder Alphabet!

As teachers, we need things that will save us time and help us run our classrooms smoothly. I am going to share some must-have items that you might enjoy this year.

Stapler that does not jam

Are you tired of jammed and broken staplers? I think that I found the perfect one for stapling our little readers. This stapler has high reviews and is loved by many teachers. This is the one stapler that everyone hides because it so good that they do not want to share it! I can't wait to try it out this year. You can find it on the Target website.

Stapler for bulletin boards

How about stapling on bulletin boards? The Paper-Pro® Stapler gets rave reviews as the easiest and smoothest stapler for bulletin boards. Imagine that! You just need to take very good care of it and be gentle because it may break those little plastic parts. This is another one of those staplers that many teachers hide in their desks :) You can find it on the Target website.

Pencil Sharpener

I have had this pencil sharpener for a while. It is the BEST pencil sharpener that I have ever had! You can find it on the Classroom Friendly Supplies website. It is amazing.

Storage

Teachers always need little bins for storing classroom supplies. I found these bright mini-crates at Wal-Mart. They are only $1 each. 

Periscope App

Have you heard of Periscope? It has been trending so much since the Vegas TPT conference. I finally signed up. It is the neatest thing ever! Teachers are sharing so many classroom tips during LIVE video. We can go watch them and interact with them during the LIVE broadcast. Come follow along, you will love it.

Rules and Procedures

Classroom Management is so important. I wrote a detailed blog post about how I use rules and procedures in my classroom. Come read all about it when you get a chance. 

I hope that you enjoyed these Teacher-Must Haves.

Have a wonderful school year!

Mrs. Miner's Must Haves:

 I must have SHARPIES! I love Sharpies. I love them in all colors and in all sizes. They are my go to marker when I am creating anchor charts.

This pack just happens to be on sale at Staples (while supplies last) for $12.00 until 9/19/15.

2. Labels. Again, labels of any size and/or color as long as they can be printed on and personalized. Every summer, I make a sheet of labels for every student in my class. These are for all of their journals, folders, their coat hook, their cubby, and whatever pops up throughout the year!  Click on the picture below for the free template to print your kiddos' name labels!

 

3.  Sorry, if this third item seems like a repeat.  BUT, I can assure you, it is NOT a repeat. Flair markers are used for entirely different things than Sharpies are.  I use Flair markers more as marking pens than markers. Writing quick notes, running records, my sight word and math fact fluency records, etc.  Color makes me happy and with these "markers", you have MANY colors to choose from.  I always get mine at Amazon because they always seem to be on sale (of course, they aren't right now when I just went to check for you).

4.  I've always loved shoes and I think my love for really cute-not-necessarily-comfortable-shoes for so many years has made my feet require comfortable shoes now. BUT, I refuse to give up on cute, even though, as I age, I REQUIRE comfort.  My absolute GO TO brand now is Crocs.  No, not the ugly, original Crocs, but the who would even know those were Crocs, Crocs. I wear them ALL year long. I have sandals, I have flats, I have clogs. I. Just. Love. Them. These are my latest addition to my Croc shoe collection:

With Crocs, you don't necessarily have to sacrifice the cute factor for on your feet all day long comfort.
5.  Last, but not least, is my newest find MUST HAVE for every teacher!
 It is called Hewlett-Packard's Instant Ink Program.  HP Instant Ink is an ink cartridge replacement service that saves you money on ink costs, and ensures that your printer never runs out of ink when you need it most.....and, the best part(s)?
You never even have to leave your house and you will NEVER run out of ink, oh, AND (there are SO many great things about this program) it is cheap...WAY cheaper than the hundreds of dollars a year I have spent in the past to pay for my EXPENSIVE ink. 
I chose one of the more "expensive" plans of $9.99 a month for 300 (up to) FULL color, FULL page prints.  I am not even joking, I couldn't make this stuff up.  Less than $120 a year to be able to print 3,600 FULL COLOR, FULL PAGE prints??? Yes, please. There were months I could spend more than that in 30 days on ink, let alone an entire year.
This ink program is a BLESSING for anyone, but especially for teachers.
You can go here to find out FAQ about this wonderful program!  I know you will love it as much as I do and decide this is a MUST HAVE for yourself as well!

 

 

 



Link up below with  your Must Haves and get your posts ready for the rest of the week!

An InLinkz Link-up

A FREEBIE to Create Small Groups for Math Fact Fluency & Letter ID/Sight Word Fluency

I know we are all expected to get our students fluent with math facts to some degree before they leave our classrooms.  I found an easy way to keep track of who needs work with what strategy and type of facts, allowing me to provide interventions and accelerations all at once.  Swing on in to Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business to grab your freebie AND see some of the changes I made this year to ensure that my students FLEW with their math fact fluency and sight word fluency!

Follow Up Freebie to Shrunken Leprechaun Hats-It's Not Too Late to Do It Either!

Did you shrink your students' leprechaun hats yet?? If so, you can swing on into MMMB to grab a freebie to get them thinking and writing!  They will draw their hats before and after, then write how they think it happened!  You will get the GREATEST ideas from them (albeit not necessarily to scientific!). It is so fun...then it is your choice if you choose to bring science into and explain how it was "likely" done. I opt to let them imagine and figure it out later in life....but it is entirely up to you, as well as the age of your students! Enjoy!

 

Ready to Go Lists for You to EASILY Prep a Magical St. Patrick's Day

I've been sharing the Legend of Lucky's Shrunken Hat for years now so it has become automatic for me to pick up the things I need throughout the weeks before when I am out doing errands and, of course, its easy for me to quickly print and prep the things I need for this project....BUT this year, I've decided to add some additional magic to our day and it had my head spinning...

What do I need to buy for these projects?

What do I need to prepare?

As teachers, we are ALL busy.  It is so easy to let fun days like this pass by because the planning and gathering materials becomes tricky and time consuming.  I knew I needed to write out my plans for the activities....so I decided I would do it for you, too

 (of course, the one for me was just on a wrinkled post it note). 

 I even separated out the buying, copying and prepping for each of the three activities in case you only want to have Lucky do one or two of the magic happenings on St. Patrick's Day!

If you have followed me at all over the years, you know I am all about EASY, PEASY, you know, working SMARTER, not harder!

 

So swing on into Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business to grab your FREE St. Patrick's Day planning guide for shrinking leprechaun hats, making rocks turn to gold, and turning magic dust into a yummy edible green treat!

 

 

10 More Days Until Lucky the Leprechaun Arrives-Prepare Your Classroom!

St. Patrick's Day

is almost here!  A few years ago, I got tired of all the mischief the leprechauns caused and the traps all over the classroom (not to mention the chaos that was created first thing when students arrived), so I came up with the fictitious character that every child grows to love (although they never actually see him): Lucky the Leprechaun!  Lucky is more about creating magic than mischief!

This is Lucky! Isn't he cute?  He prefers magic to mischief!

 

I drew up a legend (from a long time ago.....he he) that he comes on St. Patrick's Day eve to classrooms to grab cups (Styrofoam cups) and turns them into hats that fit his head (of course the poem and his plea all makes perfect sense to the children!).

Sounds crazy and silly, but the kids love the legend and love to create a hat that they hope that Lucky will love when he arrives.

So many of my students wanted to draw lucky clovers on their hats, so I came up with a directed drawing and set it up just like the others that my students have been doing all year! 

 They loved it and guess what??? They are all drawing shamrocks everywhere AND they were so happy to be able to give Lucky a piece of luck especially from them on his hat....click the picture below to find out more about Lucky's adventures AND grab your freebie, too!

 

 



Naked Mole Rats??!! REALLY? Yup and the Kids Love Him!

If you teach at the primary level you have for certain introduced your students to Mo Willems very creative line of pigeon books and probably even the piggy and elephant series.  But, what about the Naked Mole Rat? Have you given him a spot in your library?

 

Every student (well that I have encountered) can't contain themselves when you mention underwear, let alone if someone(thing) is NAKED!  Well, Wilbur is, as are ALL naked mole rats, but he doesn't want to be.  Your students will be holding their bellies, laughing out loud uncontrollably (as will you) as you enjoy this book together.

When you are finished, you are surely going to want some follow up activities, so swing on into Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business to grab a freebie (or 2!) to help you foster your students' excitement of this new read!

 

Enjoy these activities!

Open House or Meet the Teacher Letter Freebie

Do you send out letters to your students over the summer? I always used to, but have started just giving it out at Open House since we started having that before school starts.  I still haven't decided how I'll be getting these gifts to my new students yet, but, one way or another, they are getting them.  Now, you can send them, too, because I FINALLY updated my Back to School Letter Packet with the new updated version as seen below.  Also included in the packet are several different versions of Jitter Glitter letters, a First Day poem for parents (must include tissues if you use this one!),  as well as two different choices for the "growing" gift you can give your students (for preK, K and 1st!).

 

 

Swing on into Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business to grab this freebie!

 

 

 

Top Secret Gluing Techniques Freebie

 

Do you have a love/hate relationship with white drip glue and kiddos?

I know I do! I love it because it is CHEAP and LASTS way longer than glue sticks and the kids can't lose covers OR forget to put the covers on for that matter. 

But, we all hate it simply because kids don't know how to use it...and teaching them has always been so difficult that I used to just give up and go with the easy to use, easy to waster, EXPENSIVE glue sticks...how about you? 

I thought there MUST be a better way to do this. There must be a way to get these kiddos familiar with this white, sticky stuff and to get them to use it effectively....

I wrote an "original" song that can easily be sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell" and created sheets that students actually practice the new terms they learn: dabbing, globs that take forever to dry, making frames, and dots in the corners!

It has made a world of difference in my classroom and I hope it can end this gluing nightmare in yours.  Even if you are one of the more than 40,000 teachers who have already downloaded this FREE product, please feel free to grab it again since I have made it more kid-friendly and (for our sakes only) prettier!

 While you are at my TpT Store, I would LOVE it if you made sure you were a follower of my store!

First Day Management Techniques

Swing on into Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business to get three of my most useful back to school tips! Find out what on earth ^^^^ this kid is doing and how it will save your sanity (not to mention your voice) for those first few days of school. 

You can also grab stop signs and find out how those never ending lines become easily manageable with them at the beginning of the year....

See you there!

Click here to swing in for some freebies!