Getting Organized

Monday Made It – Done like a Thanksgiving Turkey!

July 21, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 55 Comments

Can you believe it? I’m actually posting a Monday Made It — on a Monday. Even while teaching summer school. I’d be in disbelief right along with you if it weren’t for the lower back pain screaming at me, “you sat WAY too long to make that darn planner!”

Let’s rewind, shall we? The summer before I started my rookie year (um, stop the world — that was 2012!) I endeavored to make a teacher planner I wanted to use. So I did. And I’m kind of embarassed, in retrospect, because um… no. It was not the best. But it worked! And I liked it, and so did other people that graciously purchased it from TpT.

No. Just no.

Last year, I updated it. Changed the fonts, made it more clean, and of course reflected the change in calendar year. Previous buyers got the update and they loved it! Wahoo. Right?

Better, but still. No.

You see, I’m an eternal perfectionist. I just cannot let something go if it’s not the best if can possibly be. This is a problem in relation to all things TpT. This is why I tend not to just throw my units up there mid-year — I can’t give them the necessary Sarah-love to get them up to my standards while spinning plates!

But it’s summer. And that means I have plenty (relatively speaking) of time to perfect, perfect, perfect.

Which gives you this:

Ahhhhh. Nice, fresh look. Clean fonts. Rainbow brights that aren’t too bright. Functional layouts. And oh yeah, 300+ pages not counting the editable PowerPoints. Yeah. I went there.

See, I can’t just have a planner with a calendar. That doesn’t work for me. I have a “book.” It’s got my calendar, my weekly overviews, my planning pages, and all of my student information, gradebooks, etc. This is my teacher bible, if you will. {Excuse the poor camera work that’s about to follow. I was trying not to wake a certain sleeping mister who fell asleep on the couch, so no light for me!}

It’s in a regular binder so that I can easily add, delete, or move pages as-needed. Like, you know, when white-out just won’t do and December needs to be reprinted. (Can anyone relate?) I have it divided into four sections: calendar, planning, important information, and data.

I probably utilize the information section even more than the calendar or planning, because it’s where I house my contact log for the very important school-to-home connection. It holds me accountable in making contact with my students and their families, and serves as an important piece of data if a child needs behavioral interventions.

And my very favorite piece of the planner is my student information page. I had a rougher version of this that I used last year and it was SO vital, especially when we began sharing students as a team for language arts. My teammates were able to photocopy this page and immediately have a snapshot of the student — from their demographics, to their likes, to other siblings at school.

All in all, this is really a Monday-through-Friday-for-three-weeks Made It. It’s been a labor of love and I am so proud to use it next year, and that I’m also able to share it with all of you. It’s on sale at TpT through this evening (20% off); you can check out some images of what else is included below:

If you’ve made it this far, I’m giving away this planner and a product of your choice from my TpT store! Enter using the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five for Friday (on Friday!!!)

July 18, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 5 Comments

… could it be? I’m actually posting the Five for Friday on Friday?! What is this sorcery?! It looks like I’m doing a wee bit better at this whole consistency bit.

So. Five. for Friday!

Ugh. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This was my afternoon. Teaching summer school usually has one great perk for me: leaving before rush-hour traffic! Well, not today. Today, when I left at my usual 1 o’clock, I was met with a twenty-five MILE back-up. So I took every backroad known to man. My 35-ish mile commute took me an hour and forty-five minutes even still. But, it’s Friday, and I’m home now! And only have one. more. week. to go!

I’ve been working on updating my yearly planner… and it has turned into a HUGE undertaking. We’re talking going from your average planner (calendar, blank weekly pages, yearly overview, variety of covers), to all of that, PLUS, gradebooks, rosters, alert pages, information pages, data, etc. and so forth. I am SO excited about this update because it is something I pieced together over the course of the year based on my own needs, and I just know it’ll really benefit all of you, too! Look for it this weekend on TpT.

I’ve started my back-to-school shopping… not in earnest, though. Just more leisurely. That is, until, I happened upon the newest limited edition Mr. Sketch markers in the B2S aisle. Okay, let me first disclose that I’m not a Mr. Sketch fan. I know, stop the world. I’m partial to Scentos if I *have* to have a scented marker, but I really just like plain-ole fine-line Crayola. Anywho, I thought let me try these out — I love the movies, and how bad could these be? Well. Let me just tell you. Nacho cheese is LITERALLY the worst smell I’ve ever smelled. Even after being a teacher and a Mom to two (sometimes) smelly boys. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT go smell it. Ever. I already did for you, and it’s awful.

No picture here, but there will be this time next week! One of my favorite people in the whole wide world is coming to visit me — my cousin and kindred spirit, Rudi. You see, Rudi and I are four years apart, have seen each other less than 10 times in our lives, live on opposite coasts, and yet she means the world to me. She is my firstborn’s godmother and the most incredible human being. I can’t explain how I feel so close to her despite the limited time we’ve spent together, but it just is — do you have a friend or family member like that? I hope you do, because it’s such a special bond. Expect LOTS of picture spam on Instagram of our visit!

This might be the most exciting news I’ve heard in a while. I’m anxious to see how many children’s books are available, because can you imagine what this could mean for us as teachers? We could have a virtually unlimited library of read-alouds at our disposal, without worrying about where to store them or whether we can afford yet another Llama Llama book (and the answer is always). Will you sign-up?

It feels like a month…

September 9, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 6 Comments

It honestly feels like a month has passed since I went in for orientation, then work week, and then of course the much-anticipated first week of school! In reality, it’s only been two and a half weeks but ohmyword does it seem like longer!

I caught my son’s nasty sinus infection the first day of school and hardly have a voice — I’m hoping that changes by Monday morning! I’ve been laying low, trying to get as much sleep as possible, and trying to get into a groove with my class.

I now have 23 kiddos — seven girls and sixteen boys. Yes. I have more boys in my class than I had total students in my third grade class during student teaching! It has been a challenge to get a sense of their little personalities and what works for each of them, but I’m getting there!

I have some plans for this blog in the next few days (after I finish planning/starting assessments) and that involves rolling out the following posts (which are all in some form of ‘draft’ stage right now!):

classroom reveal
implementing the Daily 5 as a first-year teacher
reflections on a first first day of school
update on what we’re working on

I am spending some time tonight going through e-mails, catching up on blogs, and trying to figure out Scholastic Book Clubs. I’m eager to get my first red book box (you have no idea)! I hope everyone has had an amazing first few weeks of school and that you all haven’t succumbed to germs yet like I have — it’s no bueno!

Check!

July 26, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 17 Comments

Another project off my “to-do” list! I’m steadily making some progress, which is good, because I have less than a month to go!

I had pinned this a million years ago from Mel D. at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations and kept coming back to it. As I would go on my “errands” and see things that would be perfect for a traditional treasure box in the Dollar Spot or bargain aisle, I kept trying to decide what I wanted to do in terms of rewards in my classroom.

During my student teaching, I tried both approaches. I used a treasure box in one placement, and rewards like these in the other. The kids responded the most positively to the rewards that, I felt, meant something. That’s not to say treasure boxes aren’t valuable or important if that’s what works for your classroom — I think it’s important to do what works for you and your students! These kiddos, however, really liked the additional classroom privileges and duties that they could earn.

I’ve been brainstorming for a few weeks now — off and on — what rewards I could possibly implement. I came up with 12 to start with, knowing that I’ll likely tweak them once I get to know my kiddos and what they value the most:

The reward I’m most excited about my students earning and redeeming is definitely the “be an expert” reward. I look forward to collaborating with students on a mini-lesson that they’ll teach to their peers… I definitely think that will be a big hit and something valued by all my kiddos!

This system is within my “Be Oz-Some” behavior plan, so of course I had to make a label to that effect! I’m planning on creating a quick log for me to check off what reward a student chooses, and then write when they redeem it — that way I have some data about what’s working and what isn’t.

I would love for you to head on over and pick these up for FREE in my TPT store if you think they would be useful in your classroom! Not every reward will fit your style or classroom system, but I hope that a few will — and of course, there’s two labels to choose from too. (When I create my reward log, I’ll post that as a Google Doc freebie as well.)

Better Late Than Never!

July 22, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 9 Comments

I finally finished putting together my planner pack for 2012-2013! This project started out as just a personal project, but then I realized that it might be useful to other teachers, and so I kept going!

While I love my rainbow theme, I also know that it’s a bit ink heavy — which is why I ended up doing a blackline version of the planner pack to be printed on bright paper (this is what delayed it a bit).

I’ve already printed it out and set it up in my organizer for the year, and I am so so pleased with it! I’m a wee-bit of a post-it note hoarder, so this agenda (which is laminated for durability) is going to be very useful for me this year!

I’ve already started adding things to my August calendar because August is less than two weeks away! I cannot believe how quickly this summer has gone by, and really need to kick it into high gear because my to-do list keeps growing! I have my orientation on the second of August, and then my first day of new teacher orientation is August 22nd. (I just realized that’s a month from today. Wow.)

Despite how overwhelming my to-do list is, I couldn’t be more excited to see everything coming together. I worked so hard for so long to make this (my own classroom) a reality, that the late nights and sleepy eyes when my little guy is calling “Mommmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyy!” in the morning is just another part of this joyful process.

While I’ve listed this planner pack in my TPT store (it’s only $3.00!), it is the much-promised freebie for all of those that entered my giveaway! ~~I’m going to go-through the Rafflecopter entries tonight and tomorrow and e-mail it out in batches.~~ Check your e-mail if you entered the giveaway — I have officially sent them all out! I hope that it will be useful to those of you that entered!