Freebie {WBT Super Improvers Chart}

Love Whole Brain Teaching? Love freebies? Today is your lucky day!

I just posted my Super Improvers Chart as a freebie on TpT!

See how I used it here.

Get it here for free!

Classroom Digs

It's about time I showed you guys my new classroom! I quite underestimated the work it would take to move rooms and switch grades. Live and learn...Two weeks of hard work later, and I'm 95% done. That 5% is my filing, sorting, and clutter hiding curtain hanging. But it will just have to wait until next week... tomorrow is already Back to School Night!

So here it is! My new teeny, tiny second grade room!

The overall space when viewed from my kidney table, ready for my kiddos to come. The bulletin boards are covered with flat sheets from Wal-Mart. Can't beat $4 a sheet, especially with all the awesome color choices! Even better this is my third year using them, with very minimal fading. How 'bout those desk caddies I picked up at Dollar tree! A perfect match! The black magazine files are our book boxes, they were passed on to me by a former teacher. So thankful. :)

  View from the back of the room. Love the crayon B over my desk. I was drooling over the ones on Pinterest, and I was delighted when I received one. I need some curtains to hide all that storage. I'm pretty jealous of my colleagues who have closed cupboards.

 View of my kidney table, that little corner is ready to be used for Guided Math and Reading. My CRAFT board from Ladybug Teacher Files is ready to go. I loved using it last year. My anchor charts for math will go next to the CRAFT board. And my Language Arts anchor charts will go next to the pocket chart. 

 The view from my desk. A peek at my writing wall, where we'll display our best writing. My word wall with my chevron and lime letters. The blank bulletin board says "Presenting," that's where we will stick our Student of the Week posters. The two bookshelves separated by my student computers hold my library books. I'm in serious need of second grade books!  To the garage sales and thrift stores I go! But I'm loving the chevron labels I made myself. Can't have too much chevron, can you?

 

 My Calendar Wall. So not loving my calendar, but I haven't decided on a new one yet. I am in love with the chevron numbers from Amy Lemons. Those hand signals from the Organized Classroom come in mighty handy{pun intended}. I'm giving the Whole Brain Super Improvers Chart another try this year. Fingers crossed. I didn't love it last year, but I think that my tweaks will make it work this year. I used my Silhouette Cameo to make it.

 The front of the room. My brand new Whole Brain Teaching Subway Art from the Tattooed Teacher. Can't remember where I got the voice levels printable from, let me know and I'll link it. :) The word of the day label is from my store. The manners poster is something I typed up after some Pinspiration. :)

A close up of our Clip Chart. I am so loving the chevron! It's available in my store.

And there you have it a peek into my home away from home. It's work in progress, but it's really coming together. I can't believe we're only two days in and tomorrow is already Back to School Night. Anyone else think that's a bit crazy??

Head on over to Blog Hoppin' to check out some truly fabulous classrooms!

Happy Teacher Week!

I'm Still Here...and Teacher Week

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. School is back in full swing...today is the first day of school!! I've spent the last few weeks frantically setting up my classroom and prep-ing for my switch to second grade!

Last week was teacher week, which was full with meetings, prep-ing, and a Whole Brain Teaching Seminar. Coach B, himself, came to teach our staff about classroom management! I was pretty excited to have my coworkers learn about WBT and from Coach B no less! Coach B kept picking me as his 'volunteer.' I was glad I was already familiar with WBT, because standing up in front of a room of 100+ adults is not my thing.

On to the linky...

Did you know it's Teacher Week over at Blog Hoppin'? Today is Let's Talk About Me Monday! So here's a little about me...

1. My name is Lauren. Today is my first day teaching 2nd grade, I'm so excited! I loved third but wanted to try something new!
2. This is my fourth year teaching. I work at a charter school in a small, isolated, desert town in California. 
3. I am married to a wonderful man. He even helped me setup my classroom this year. Seriously... he got my student computers on the Internet, all my computers to print to my new printer, my doc camera setup, installed a shelf, stuffed my envelopes, passed out textbooks, and he sharpened pencils! He even loves Jesus and plays the drums! I'm one lucky girl!
4. I love teaching! But it wasn't what I pictured myself doing. In fact I was a pre-med in college! But all that changed when I did an internship at the hospital and almost passed out while watching a minor procedure. Not for me! I continued with my Psychology degree thinking I'd be a therapist. It wasn't until after college that I realized how much I loved teaching. Looking back on my life I can see the signs all along. I can see that I was born to be a teacher, it just took 22 years for my eyes to be opened. 
5. Last year, I made a huge change to the way I teach. I started really implementing Whole Brain Teaching!I love it and my kids love it. I had never experienced such student engagement before! Sticking to it isn't always easy, but it is so worth it!
6. I am obsessed with chevron and chalkboard right now. But who isn't?!
7. I love to travel! My last year of college I was bitten by the travel bug. I visited Israel, South Korea, France, and England. I even lived in Israel for a school year! While living there I visited Hungary, Spain, and Austria. Someday I'd love to visit Lisbon, Prague, and Australia. My goal when I finished college was to visit 6 of the 7 continents...I don't really want to see Antarctica. I can't stand the cold!
8. I was born in Canada, but raised in California. I'm a California girl at heart. Don't think I could ever leave it for good.
9. I love to craft. Pinterest is my guilty pleasure. We don't have TV...so it's where I spend most of my down time. 
10. I am a bit OCD. I had to chill out a lot with all my traveling right after college. But I still keep my markers, crayons, and colored pencils in rainbow order. :) 

Head on over to Blog Hoppin' to meet the other teachers!

Happy Teacher Week!

My first Monday Made It!

With just a week of summer left, it's crunch time for the DIY projects on my to do list. Here's two of the projects I tackled today...

My beautiful Behavior Clip Chart. . . I'm seriously loving the chevron!

More about my Clip Chart here.

My version of Stephanie's {3rd Grade Thoughts} Whole Brain Teaching Super Improver Clip Chart...

 You can find Stephanie's post about 

Super Improvers and the Clip chart here.

My top three levels are cute and shimmery. I use my Silhouette Cameo to cut the font onto metallic scrapbook paper. I used PowerPoint to create the other levels, and I printed them on white cardstock. I'm lovin' it!

Here's a close up. . .

Next on the to do list, dye clothespins to match my Super Improvers Chart. I'm going to try using food coloring instead of Rit Dye, like Corinna from Surfin' Through Second did here. I'll be using metallic Sharpies to color the clips for the top levels.

Linking up to. . .

Classroom Management

Have you heard about the Clip Chart? Honestly, it's one of the best changes I've made in my classroom in addition to Whole Brain Teaching. My first year teaching I really struggled with finding a classroom management system that worked. Eventually I found out about the Clip Chart and Whole Brain Teaching, through Stephanie at 3rd Grade Thoughts. Both have really changed the way that I teach. Someday I'll talk more about Whole Brain Teaching, but for now I just want to talk about the Clip Chart. I'm by no mean an expert, but I do have insight into what worked for me and what didn't.

Rick Morris has a great eBook describing the Clip Chart in thorough detail, which is a must read if you're interested in the Clip Chart. I'll just go over the basics and how I've modified it to fit my classroom.  Here are the Clip Chart basics...


Each day students start on "Ready to Learn." When one or a group of them goes above and beyond they clip up to a better color. When they make poor choices they clip down, but a clip down is never permanent. Student's can always move back up the chart. That's what I love about the Clip Chart, one bad choices doesn't define the day. Students can always bounce back, and most do.

The levels I use are:

Now that I've covered the basics, I'd like to share the add-ons I use. Some were mentioned in Rick's eBook, some I gathered from bloggers like Stephanie, others are my own experiments. One of the add-ons mentioned in Rick's e-book is the addition of jewels and colored clips, which my kids absolutely love.  At the end of the day if they've reached the top section of the chart they receive a jewel on their clip, once they receive 5 jewels I give them a newly colored clip. Their old clip goes into the Hall of Fame. My Hall of Fame was packed this year, I actually ran out of space to put the Hall of Famers. :)

The only thing they love more than the colored clips is when I wear their clip, another one of Rick's suggestions. When they get to the very top of the chart (see above) during the day, and go above and beyond once more there's no place for them to clip up. So I wear their clip on my lanyard or collar. It is a somewhat rare occurrence, so it is a HUGE deal for them. They beam with pride for the rest of the day, especially when someone from outside the class notices that I'm wearing their clip.

At first when I used the Clip Chart, I still wasn't brave enough to jump into Whole Brain Teaching. So I used the Clip Chart with my Classroom Economy. Let's just say I spent way too much of my own money on rewards that year. I realized that the rewards I spent my money on weren't really working. Not for my pocket and not for my students. I honestly felt like I was doing my students a disservice. So I decided to switch things up again. I took away the rewards, and I let the Clip Chart do all the work. I was worried that the students wouldn't respond if there weren't tangible rewards. I was happily surprised to see how much more engaged they were when the weren't working for tangible rewards. Now all they get are bragging rights, no tangible rewards and they love it!

Here's my Clip Chart at the end of last year. I wish I had a better quality photo, but sadly I don't. I retired this chart, since next year I'll be using a prettier one. :)

Tomorrow I'll talk more about one of the best additions I've made to the Clip Chart and about some changes I'd like to try this coming year. But for now I'd also like to share my pretty new clip chart that will match my new theme.

If you're interested in purchasing a Clip Chart I have four design options in my store, just click the links below to view. 

• Chevron (seen above)
• Polka Dot 
• Bright Solids (like my original clip chart)
• Blackline (for printing on colored cardstock)

 I'll be back tomorrow to share more!