Compliment Jar {Classroom Incentive & Craftivity}

Hi, Cupcakes!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I spent a lot of time with family, which is always a good time!  When I wasn't with my folks, I was workin' hard on a new little pack :) 

Several months ago, I posted about using a compliment jar as an incentive in my classroom.  After the post, I got a bunch of requests for the template... So, I asked my sweet friend Maribel if I could turn her Cricut creation into a pack for you all, and she said yes!  Woohoo, and THANK YOU, sweet, sweet girl!

Here it is!  compliment jar {classroom incentive & craftivity}:

In this little ditty, I included templates to make your own whole group Compliment Jar.  The idea is, kiddos need to earn compliments from you or other teachers/administrators/adults in the building for their excellent behavior.  For each compliment received, a star goes in the jar.  Once 12 star compliments are earned, the class gets a prize of some sort!

I also included templates to make smaller jars for table group incentives.  Tables must earn 5 star compliments in order to get a reward:

You can use the small jars to create a little craftivity {yay!} to get your kiddos thinkin' about how to earn those compliments!

Aaand, I thought I'd make a poster to display as a reminder for our little friends!

If you're not feeling what I wrote, I also included a blank one that you can write on :)

If you're interested in this idea, or want to learn more, then head on over to my TpT shop to grab your copy!!

Please give a BIG thanks to my pal Maribel by following her blog!!

Did you follow?  If so, leave a comment below with your email address for a chance to win a copy! :)  Winners will be announced before bed tonight!  Congrats to #33 Jen and #24 Stacy!  Emailed you! :)

I'm linking up with Monday Made It!

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Five Pics for Friday!

We're down to seven, friends!!!  Seven more days of school!

Here's a little recap of my week, Five for Friday style :)

Today we had a cupcake party!  You might remember I threw one last year... it was so yummy I knew I had to do it again!  This year I had help, and one of my friends baked fun tie-dye cupcakes.  DELICIOUS.  The pics above are of MY cupcake :)  Strawberry frosting, marshmallows, M&Ms, oh my!

One of my littles made this one... chocolate all the way!  Even the marshmallows are chocolate flavored!

Today we also worked on our Father's Day donuts.  The kids ate it right up {pun intended} and had so much fun making these treats for their dads!

This one does not include the word "athletic" because, as one of my sweeties informed me, her dad "is NOT athletic, so I'm not going to put that one!"  I thought that was too funny!!

We worked on this Signs of Summer acrostic poem, too.  The green reads:

Sand castle

I'm Under the water

Manicure are good

Milkshakes

I can Eat fruit

It is Really hot

and the white one reads:

Sunshine out

Under the sand

Manicure color red

Melting ice cream

Eat fruit

Read in the shade

{^ LOVE that she included reading!!}

Head on over to Doodle Bugs to link up!

Happy weekend!!!

I Went to Ikea! {and a Wedding}

Eesh, I have been busy, busy!  And I think I'm going to be from now until summer break {in 11 school days}.  I'm pretty sure I have something to do every weekend day in June, too!  This weekend I went to a wedding down the shore; so fun!!  Here are a couple pics from the event:

{if you follow me on Instagram, then you know I'm slightly obsessed with my new yellow wedges by Michael Kors... left them on all night!}

{my date for the night, since hubby was IN the wedding}

{stole my handsome husband for a photo opp}

Backtracking a little... before the wedding, I was alone in my hotel room for a few hours, so what else would a teacher do but browse Pinterest for teaching ideas?  I found some fun ones, and realized I needed to go to Ikea ASAP.  So, on the way home, I forced politely asked my husband to stop, and he begrudgingly excitedly said of course!  And that's how I ended up at Ikea for the first.time.ever!

Here's what I got:

{three of these fun little stools! $7.99 each}

{a bajillion of these fun little cups! $1.99/set}

{a chalkboard/whiteboard easel! $14.99}

*I figured the stools would make for cute seating either in the library, or around a little table.  In fact, I saw a little table at Ikea that I might need to go back for!

*I have a couple ideas in mind for the cups, like this for example:

They would hold things in place, like highlighters & red pens, scissors, and glue sticks.  The two empty spots in the caddy will be for crayon boxes.

*The chalkboard/whiteboard easel could be great for center work!

Do you use items from Ikea in your classroom?  I'd love to hear!

A Little June Fun!

With 16 days of school 'til summer {yes, I might mention the countdown in each new post}, I am trying to squeeze in as many fun things as possible!  My sweet co-worker found a really cute and easy craft online, and today we decided to do it!

Don't you just love it?!  I *think* the idea comes from a cereal website, but I really don't know! Anywho, to make this simple craft you'll need the following:

*2-3 big boxes of cereal {we used Trix, Fruit Loops, & Apple Jacks}

*Ziploc baggies {sandwich size}

*clothespins

*mini-mini or regular mini pom poms

*pipe cleaners, tiny googly eyes, & glue

First, choose your poms and glue them to the clothespin so that the head is on the smaller part that opens {I accidentally put the mini-minis upside down in the first pic}:

I glued the eyes to the head pom after I glued it to the clothespin; it was easier.

While that dries, fill your Ziploc about halfway with cereal, push out the air, and seal.  Separate the cereal in half inside the baggie, then use a pipe cleaner to twist-tie the baggie at the center, creating wings:

Curl the pipe cleaner to make cute antennae!

Then push the butterfly clothespin into the center of the baggie, from the bottom:

CUTE, right?!

We also worked on our summer kids last week {let's just pretend it was June for the sake of this post}!  I think they turned out adorable!! And my kiddos did a fantastic job with their writing :)  I couldn't get a great pic but here's a collage of the finished product:

If you're still in school and looking for something fun to do, this craftivity is available in my TpT shop! :)

Okay, I'm off!  Talk to you soon, my sweets!!

Classroom Set-Up Starter Kit! {Chevron Theme Bundle}

Hi everyone!  Happy Sunday!  Many of you are already off for summer vacay, so it's a very happy Sunday for you :)  I still have a few weeks left, but summer is so close I can taste it!!

Even though I'm itching for sun and sand, I couldn't help but put together a mega pack of chevron themed decor for back to school!  Check it out:

This baby has everything you need to set up your bright chevron classroom!  {And if I missed anything, hit me up and I'll gladly whip it up!}  Keep reading to see all that's included!

First, I made a set of fun classroom labels:

There are 84 supply labels, 30 around the room labels, clock labels, table signs #1-6, word wall letter cards, and student numbers #1-36.

I also included ABCs and 123s:

There are {of course} 26 letter posters, and number posters #1-20.

And I added the hand signals & voice levels that I blogged about the other day:

There are 6 hand signals, and 5 voice levels.

I *think* I covered everything!  I'm so excited to bring this bright chevron pack to life in my classroom!  If you love chevron like me, then check out my classroom set-up starter kit! {chevron theme bundle} on TpT!!

I also made each pack available for purchase separately, just in case you don't need the whole thing!  Follow these links to go to the individual packs:

classroom labels! {chevron theme}

abc's & 123's! {chevron theme}

hand signals & voice levels! {chevron theme}

I hope you love, LOVE this set as much as I do!!

Please let me know what you think! :)

Want to win the whole set?  Leave a comment with your email, and I'll choose a winner TONIGHT!

Congrats to #37 The Frizz, and #79 Jenna!  I'll email you tomorrow! :)

I am linking this post up with Tara's Monday Made It linky!

I can't wait to get crafty this summer and link up as often as I can!  She keeps me motivated, and the ideas from others are endless!!  Be sure to check it out!

Hand Signals & Voice Levels! {Chevron Theme}

Whew, it's officially HOT in New Jersey!  My classroom is getting sticky and my students have a full blown case of summer fever... 19 days left until school's out!

While I *can't wait* for summer, I can't help but think about next year.  I've been going over the things I tried that didn't work {hey, it happens!}, as well as the ideas I used that worked really well.  I can tell you two things that worked really, REALLY well:

Hand signals & voice levels!  Do you use these in your classroom?

Before this year, my only "signals" were holding two fingers up for bathroom and a pencil in the air for a sharp pencil.  Then, every time I called on a student to answer a question, I'd hear, "Can I get a drink?" or "I need a tissue!"  It drove me insane!!!  So over the summer, I made myself a set of hand signals.  And can I say it's made a WORLD of difference?!

Here are the signals I use now:

1 = pencil

2 = bathroom

3 = drink

4 = tissue

5 = question

a-ok = I'm done

I added that last one mid-year because I got tired of hearing "DONE!" 22 times after every assignment!  Now my littles flash me the a-ok signal and I give them a little nod and a smile.  It's perfect!!

I also love the visual of a voice level chart:

*Most of the time* my group will be on the appropriate level!  If I forget to mention what voice level we should be on, you can bet that one of my babes will remind me!

I put these bright chevron management tools together into a little pack: hand signals & voice levels! {chevron theme}.  You can grab it on TpT if you're interested!  This set is also included in my brand new classroom set-up starter kit! {chevron theme bundle} pack... which I will blog about this weekend!

I hope you LOVE them!!  I'd love to hear what you think! :)

Happy Memorial Day! Handprint Flags :)

Happy Memorial Day!  I hope everyone had a GREAT three day weekend!

Mine started out good with a little game night...  and took a turn for the worst when I came down with a bug on Sunday :(  I was stuck in bed aaaall day, womp womp!  On the bright side, I did watch 10 out of 20 DVR'd episodes of The Young & the Restless.  Hah!

Anyway, enough of that nonsense!

On Friday, my kiddos and I had a little fun with paint!

Even I got my hands dirty!

We made flags with our handprints for Memorial Day!

To make these flags, here's what you'll need:

*red, white, & blue paint

*three foam brushes

*giant popsicle sticks

*silver star stickers

*red & white ribbon

*single hole punch & scissors {not shown}

*blue construction paper {not shown}

Paint your kiddos' hands like I painted mine above, and press down on precut pieces of blue construction paper.  While the handprints are drying, glue the popsicle sticks under the paper.  Punch a hole in the top left corner and loop & tie red and white ribbon through the hole.  Once the handprints are dry, have your little ones place silver stickers on the blue palm print!

And there you have it!  The cutest Memorial Day flags!

This idea comes from one that I pinned the other day.

Follow the pin for the original post: