Back at it

What a disappointment. I started this blog over a year ago with the ambition and desire to stay true to posting consistently. Needless to say it’s been a year since I’ve done so and I am not proud of it. We all know how it goes, because we are all super busy-whether it be work, family, or just a Netflix binge :) However, I’ve snazzied it up a little, found awesome people to follow, and found my motivation to get this blog going. Plus it is a requirement for the master's program I am in to either blog about our classroom, life experiences, class work or start a wiki page. If that isn't enough keep me motivated, I don't know what will be. School started just last week and I’ve been blessed with 21  new, eager to learn, third graders

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 Here is my behavior chart I will be implementing this year. 

Simple, but hopefully effective. Students start each day with a green, yellow, and red stick in their envelope. Students are always given a warning about their behavior before any consequence is given. After the warning is followed by another misbehavior, the student takes away their green stick-another warning (I'm a firm believer in second chances). After that, the yellow one is pulled- recess inside practicing whatever the behavior is the correct way. The red (hopefully not needed) will be used if the behavior continues after all of the warnings, with this a "Behavior form" is filled out and to be taken home for parents to sign. At the end of the day if students do not pull any of their sticks they are given a star on their "star chart" which is a simple 30 box graph. When students fill out the entire chart, they trade it in for a new colored graph and get to choose from "Ms. Phipps' Coupon Box" which are just simple coupons such as Have Lunch with Ms. Phipps and a Friend or Sit in the Teacher's chair for the day. We'll see how it goes! 

Another new thing I am trying this year are interactive notebooks. I am hoping to make their learning more visual in reading and math so the concepts "stick" and they always have a reference to return to. There are a lot of premade pages out there for both subjects, but of course they are spendy. So I decided to start creating some of my own-they aren't fabulous, but hey we all got to start somewhere. Rounding is such a tough concept for some students to grasp, so I thought I'd start with some of those pages.  

 A page created for the math interactive notebook to help with rounding. Snag it at  my teachers pay teachers store :)