Friday, August 28, 2015

Creative Teaching Press, GoNoodle and Class Dojo: A Recipe for a Happy Classroom!

I love the products from Creative Teaching Press! They make such a wonderful addition to any classroom. They add color! They add pizzazz! They just add happiness!

So, here it is another school year! I have been moved again this year to a different classroom and I thought OK This is a blessing in disguise. Now i can make my room just the way i want it because I am essentially starting with a clean slate!

Thanks to Creative Teaching Press, I was able to use some of their amazing products to just create away! Being an exclusive blogger, I get to use products and blog about them so I am excited to share all the amazing things I did with these products!

I love GoNoodle and Class Dojo so by creating awesome materials for my classroom using their characters, My kids have a fun yet educational classroom that brings a smile to their face!!!

My room!

My word wall and lockers! The locker tags and pockets are the chalkboard collection and turqouise dots from CTP!

Writing center!

Writing center!


Word wall using the chalkboard banners and letters from CTP!

Tweet area!


Front of my room!


My small group area! They will write on the Dry Erase minions!


My science wall and Birthdays! I used the turqoiuse dots letters, the double border and the black lettering from CTP!

My room!

My table caddies made with Chalk it up banners designer cut outs and GoNoodle and Dojo characters!


My table signs to hang from the ceiling made with painted palette designer cut outs and GoNoodle and Dojo characters!



My room!


My wall of sayings! My happy place!


My reading area!


My Reading area!

My reading area!


My pencil spot! I made the sharpen and broken pencil buckets with the pencils from CTP. The sign is made with the Turquoise dots designer cut outs and the letters!

Outside my door with my GoNoodle and Class Dojo Buddies! The banner is from Vistaprint!

Loving my mustache border from CTP for my outside wall display!

My Mail boxes!

My Math center

the inside of my door as you walk in!



My Door with my CTP mustache from the photo booth collection!



Here I used the paint chip border from Creative Teaching Press to outline the Critics Corner in my reading area!


I used the painted palette designer cut outs for my How we Go Home sign in my room. I also used the paint chip border for the post!


I used the Chalkboard sticker letters for my Hug your Heart and Kiss your brain treat jars!


I love Creative Teaching Press and all that I got to do with them! GoNoodle and Dojo are amazing and between the three my classroom is a happy place!

To see some more awesome ideas and ways to use Creative Teaching Press products, click below to visit Http://www.luckeyfroglearning.com






Monday, August 17, 2015

Monday Made it!!

I am linking up again this week with 4th Grade Frolics for her final weekly Monday Made Its! Now that the school year has started, she will be going to monthly Monday Made Its!!!


So, this week I made a Hug your heart and Kiss your Brain container! 

I found this cute set of glass jars and rack at Michaels! The best part was it was on sale for 3.00!!!!


I filled it with hugs and kisses. Then I took the cute chalkboard tags I found at Target and with the chalkboard stickers from Creative Teaching Press and chalkboard markers, I made two tags, one Hug your heart and the second one was Kiss your brain!




And there you have it, my finished Hug your Heart and Kiss your brain container. Now I can reward my students for their awesome thinking with a hug and a kiss!!

Click on the pic below to see what some other talented educators made today for Monday Made It!











Sunday, August 16, 2015

A New Pout Pout Fish Book!!!!

Can I just say I love The Pout Pout Fish! These books are awesome!!!!! Deborah Diesen is an amzing author!

Well, for those of you who have read these books and know why I love these so much and even for those who have never read them before, do I have news for you!!!!!!!!

There is a new book coming out and it will be available September 8, 2015!!! I have already pre-ordered mine!!!

The name of the book is The Not Very Merry Pout Pout Fish!


There are three other books in the Pout Pout Fish series! These books are:




There are even videos on youtube for these books!!!










So, If you have never read any of these, please give them a try! If you have read them, get ready for the new one!!!

To read more about this amazing author, please click her picture below to go to her website!!





Friday, August 14, 2015

#teachsmall

Hello, All!!

It is that time of year again, when we are all running around trying to get our rooms together, our activities planned and materials gathered! It is the time of year when we are refreshed and stressed, excited and nervous! 

You may be thinking why did she name this post #teachsmall. Well, #teachsmall is the hashtag that Remind  is using to show their appreciation for all that we do. For all the small things that we do. Yes we do a lot but it is the small things that make the biggest impact.

It is the phone call you make when you know a family is having trouble! It is the extra email you send when the child is not acting themselves and you are keeping the parent informed. It is the reminders you send when it is close to a special day to make sure the students have someone there!

Communication goes a long way! Remind helps us with this! 

I am a twenty one year veteran and I have dealt with many families over the years! I believe in open, honest and constant communication. I believe in all forms of communication. 

As educators, we communicate with many families and we have impacted many. Not often do we know the actual impact we have made.

I am fortunate to know of an impact I made by doing just what I felt any other teacher would do if they had this child. I never thought that a simple act of kindness would make an impact as large as mine did 16 years ago.

I was teaching in Savanna, Georgia. I had a little boy in my Kindergarten class. During the year, his family suffered a loss. They lost a family member and their home in a fire all in the same week. Now this family did not have much money and I knew that living in a hotel was way beyond their means. I paid for a night of their hotel and I brought a meal to them hoping this would lighten their stress a little. I never expected the gratitude that I received. 16 years later, I have received cards and letters as well as  an invitation to his college graduation! Every letter always ended with Your Kindness has kept us going and made my son who he is today!

We must remember that it is the small things that make the largest impact. Thank you Remind for reminding us of this important message! So please share on all forms of social media all the small things that make an impact. Use the #teachsmall! 

Enjoy the video that you can find on the Remind website. Click on the remind logo to watch it!




Friday, August 7, 2015

Something Awesome from Class Dojo

Can I just say, I LOOOOOOVE Class Dojo! They are awesome! Teachers request and they do the best they can to make it happen!

Well, First we wanted groups and they did it! It was released on July 21, 2015! Now we are going to have............. Wait for it!............. Are you ready???............................................... I am so excited!!!

We will have.....




What is Class Story?????

This is an awesome tool for teachers to share stories from class using photos! They can use text updates! This can be your newsletter! This can be your place to write reminders to your parents!!! You can share photos from field trips, projects and class activities!  

 These posts are shared only with the parents who have connected with Dojo! NO ONE ELSE!!! This is a safe way to share what is going on with your class without worrying about outsiders looking! Unlike class websites, Instagram or Twitter, only the parents who are connected can view the stories and photos you put in your class story! Only the teacher can post! parents can only share if they like it with a heart! This avoids any negative comments that could be made by accident! What is nice is that we can see when parents read these posts by receiving read receipts!



I am so excited to be able to share this with my parents! I am also a parent and I hope that my daughter's teacher uses Dojo and that she will be sharing things with us throughout the day and throughout the school year!

Now Class Story will work on all computers, IOS Devices and Android! Right now, it is in the testing stages! They want to get all possible bugs out before they release it to you to use! I will keep you posted and tell you when it is available for everyone to use! 

Can I just say that those hard workers at Class Dojo are amazing!!! I can not wait to see what will be happening next! 

To see more about this on the Class Dojo site and to sign up to be on the wait list, click on Mojo below!!!!