Messy Desks??

This year I have had several students leaving their desks a complete mess! Being the clean freak that I am, their mess was driving me crazy!! Their pencil boxes had pieces of trash in them, textbooks were on the floor and facing all different ways, pieces of papers were sticking out of them, trash was found under their desk and the list goes on. I have heard about the "Desk Fairy" leaving tickets on student's desks that were clean along with a treat or pencil. I honestly do not have the money to buy treats, pencils or toys for a treasure box. I do have paper and a school copier to make classroom coupons. I first explained to my students that I had contacted the desk fairy to pay our class a visit every once in a while. I mentioned to them that I will have no idea when she will stop by to check their desks. I also told them that I had asked her what I can do about messy desks and she told me that she has a friend "The Desk Police." The desk police comes when the desk fairy visits and places tickets on messy desks. In the morning when my students walk in they get very excited to see tickets on their desks. The students that received a ticket from the desk fairy bring it to me to exchange it for a class coupon. 

Very Clean Desks!

Students who received a ticket from the police serve lunch detention. Here's a picture of some desks that did not pass the clean desk inspection.

This system has really helped out with keeping my classroom looking clean and organized. You can find the kit in my TPT store to use in your class. Click on the picture below to grab yours :)

DIY Whisper Phones

I have been wanting to make whisper phones for my class to use during Read to Self and guided reading groups. I found this picture in pinterest and was sad to see that the blog is no longer available :( If by any chance you come across the actual site please let me know so I can give credit.

UPDATE: I have finally found the owner of this picture!! WooHoo! Thanks Kickin it with Class for sharing!

So I decided to jump in and blog about it. I stopped by Home Depot and ask for a 3/4 in. PVC pipe. The pipe is 10ft long and it's only  $2.18. I then saw a man in the aisle with a cutting machine and told him I was a teacher and was making phones for reading and asked very nicely if he could cut the 10 ft pipe into 3 1/2 inch pieces.

I was going to buy individual PVC elbow pipes for 0.42 cents, but then I saw a bag of 10 for only $2.20 saving me $10 for a total of five bags.

 Once I got home I had my strong husband assemble them. 

He had so much fun!

Once they were all assembled I wrapped color duct tape around them and WAALAA they are all set and ready to be used.

My class loved using the whisper phones!

Here's the price break down:

1  3/4 PVC Pipe 10 ft long = $2.18

5 bags of Elbow PVCs = $11.00

Duct Tape = already had it

Total for each piece = $0.52 each phone (25 phones)

Now thats an awesome deal!!!

Work on Writing Folder Kit

I made these work on writing folders for quite some time already and I am just coming around to sharing them with you all. My students LOVE the folders as do I. These folders act as "privacy folders" because they have a big "Writer at Work Do Not Disturb" sign on the back of them.  It was extremely easy to put the folders together. I first purchased colored manila folders because they are just too cute in color. I put 2 folders together and taped together. I then printed my kit onto white paper (I would probably use sticker paper now that I discovered it) and glued them onto the manila folders. Once I glued everything I wanted on my folders, I took them in to get laminated at a store just because our school's laminater is too thin. 

On the picture above you are able to see the "Do Not Disturb Writer at Work" sign on the red folder. On the outside flaps of the folders I put fry's word so my students can easily look up a word and spell it correctly. I also placed a Digraph Chart on there (sorry I don't remember where I got it from so I just smudged it out). I have a work on writing section next to my word work section. In the orange slots my students are able to grab their Work on Writing Folders along with any other materials they need with it.

On the picture below you can see the inside part of the folder. My students use this portion of the folder to help them pick something to write about and give their brains a head start. 

You can find the Work on Writing Folder Kit at my TPT store. Just click on picture below to grab yours.

Homework Managment

I have a homework system that I think I have almost perfected that meets my needs. I pass out homework on Mondays which includes a list of homework that needs to be completed for that week. My students then turn in homework on Friday morning. I use to have my students go up by groups and turn in homework to me, then I would check to see if anyone did not turn in homework so they could serve lunch detention. This was extremely time consuming and sometimes I would check to see who turned in homework until the end of the day, at this point it would be too late for them to receive some kind of punishment. I finally came up with this awesome idea where my students simply come in the morning (without me having to tell them) and grab their clothes pin with their name on it, clip their homework and sit back down. Once announcements are over I can just look over to see whose clothes pin is still on the basket and its really helps me identify the students that never turned in homework. I also use the same system for incomplete work. It's AWESOME and I LOVE it! Check out the video I captured of my students turning in their homework.

Blog Design

I just got done designing my own blog. I love it!! Hopefully it stays this way for awhile. I usually like to change it to a certain "Holiday Themed" when necessary. Hope you like it as much as I do. If your interested in having your blog designed for a small fee, just drop me an email.