A Dab of Glue Will Do: What Works Teacher Appreciation Linky and Giveaway

My name is Jennifer Hamilton and I am a former kindergarten and first grade teacher turned stay (work) at home mom that does TpT full time. {Here} is my store.

Teaching is one of the most underappreciated jobs, in my opinion. You spend countless hours, in addition to our regular work week, making sure that you have only the best for your students. You sacrifice time and energy with your own family for your job. You spend a ridiculous amount of your own money on your room and students. You don't really get summers 'off'. You are in this profession because you LOVE it. If you did not love it, you would not survive for very long. You love all 22+ of your kids like they are your own. You would risk your lives for them. I could go on and on and on with this list. Even though it seems like you are not appreciated at times, you are. To celebrate your dedication, commitment, and sacrifice, The Inspired Owl and PAWSitively Teaching put together this fabulous What Words Teacher Appreciation Linky and Giveaway. Each blogger will post two or three tips that help them in the classroom and then you can complete the Rafflecopters for your chance to win two ridiculously good looking prize bundles.

When I was teaching, each student at my school was responsible for bringing a school issued binder to and from school. This was a way to send home graded work and/or notes and for the parents to send money or communicate with their teacher. It was a great tool, but the binders are big and bulky and it was always a pain trying to find a place to store everything until I started this awesome trick. You will need to purchase Universal Organizer Racks in the dishwasher rack section at Walmart.

I buy enough so that there is one slot per kid. Tape them together using packaging tape and place on a shelf where students can reach.

I use my numbers mentioned below and put one in front of each slot and also a number on the binder. I find that by doing this students will be able to independently find where their binder goes every single morning. It keeps them in a nice orderly fashion and allows you an easy way to grab any binder that you may need quickly.

I am ~~kind of~~ very much obsessed with organization. Our entire house is labeled. It drives my husband nuts, but he knows that it makes me happy so he is very sweet and lets me label everything in the pantry, bathrooms, etc. {However, he did draw the line on labeling the garage and all of his tools.} I found organizing my classroom so much fun and it was great because it was always evolving and improving (especially once Pinterest went crazy).

At the beginning of the year, I give each student a number. I usually assign them in alphabetical order. It never stays completely in alphabetical order throughout the year due to kids moving and the school receiving new students, but in the main, the students are in alphabetical order. Once I have their number assigned, I put that number EVERYWHERE. It helps organize the students and all of their supplies. Here some more examples of how I use these numbers in addition to the binders above. I will do a more in depth blog post at a later time about this, but I wanted to quickly share these with you now.

You can download these numbers for FREE {here}.

I always find that the first ten minutes of the morning are a little hectic. You have kids coming in at staggering times, parents asking you questions, students asking you questions, teachers asking you questions, attendance, lunch choices, announcements, and let’s be honest, any last minute prep for the day. I found my mornings so much easier when my students came into the classroom and got right to work. Trust me, this is not something that just happened. It took a lot of teaching and reteaching, but they learned it and those first ten minutes of the day make the rest of my morning golden.

I tried several different things for students to do for morning work. I tried free journal time, free choice reading, AR reading, sit on the carpet and wait quietly (HA!), and none of these worked quite like doing this morning work product I created. You can find this product {here}. It did take a little bit of time to teach the kids how to complete the pages, but once they got it, they could complete it independently while I dealt with the craziness of student arrivals.

This product contains ALL Dolch Sight Words, in groups of five. Every single week you will have five words and six activities to complete. These activities are as follows: rainbow words, word scramble, word shapes, read, trace, write, ABC order, and write a sentence. Each morning the students complete an activity and one day they do two activities. I turn these six pages into a little booklet, front and back and two to a page to save on paper. Once students complete their morning work, then they can work in their jot journal or read a book quietly at their desk.

Now we will get to the good stuff: the GIVEAWAYS! The Inspired Owl and PAWSitively Teaching went above and beyond to bring you the best giveaway possible. Prepare to be amazed with the awesome prize packages. Remember, if you take the time to complete all of the steps in the Rafflecopter, you will significantly increase your chances of winning. Good luck everyone and thanks for stopping by.