It's a friendship easter egg hunt!

Do you ever see easter eggs on sale after the holidays for pennies? I do, but then I also buy them =)
They've been sitting in a closet for a while and my amazing intern finally got some use of of them.

In each easter egg we put a scenario or quality of a good or bad friend. Students had to go around the room and find the eggs. Then open the egg, read the scenario, and sort them into a basket at the front of the room.



*Tip: we had about 40 eggs. So we told each student to find one and then help a friend find an egg so that everyone had a chance.

Work Habits pre and post test

It seems like forever ago I was posting about my work habits, organization, and responsibility lesson.
Today I finally found time to update my pre and post tests. Check them out:

Pre Test

Post Test

Room Organization

Here are a few updates to my room =)

The back board has our " I Can" statements and highlights the book we are reading. It helps me remember my lessons in a single glance.

We have a CD that plays when students work independently.

Our character ed book of the month.

Check out my books

I've been working on ways to organize the books I have in my office. So far I've accounted for only about 275- yep and I'm not done. I have them organized, but I love using books for lots of topics. So while I might have one book in my "friendship" basket, it might also be perfect for conflict resolution or tolerance. So I love Shelfari, because it allows me to make multiple tags for the books. This means I can click on any topic and see all the books I have in my office that would relate. It's a great way for me to inventory and let other counselors know what books I own if they are in need.
Check it out: http://www.shelfari.com/pawsitiveschoolcounselor

New Year, New Room

I share my classroom with two other teachers, but I am lucky enough to have a wall =). I  put all my "guidance stuff" on the back wall. 

Everyone teases mea bout my love of animals and especially dogs, but I have found that using this theme helps me build a relationship with the kiddos.

The 1-5 paw chart is part of my "behavior plan." I clip the entire class up as they follow my three rules:

Be Remarkable

Be Responsible

Be Respectful

At the end of class I write their "score" in my grade book (#teacheranchor #cjayneteach). When the class has 5 5's they get a reward day. That's normally the day we watch a Trevor Romain video or do extra Go Noodles.

Students who do a great job get to "put their name in a cup." Each month I put out 6 books students can win. They put their name in the corresponding cup of the book they want to win. Then at the end of the month one student will be drawn and they win that to keep forever. It's part of my closing the gap plan to improve literacy scores.

The Martha Speaks board is to help isolate problem behaviors, such as blurting. I got the idea from the wise Amiee Dean, Behavior Queen. The students start with 10 bones and as the problem behavior occurs I take one away. So say for example the class keeps talking over me, we would focus on blurting. Each time someone blurts I take away a bone. However many bones are left at the end of class they get that many minutes to "free talk" or whatever reward I've decided on. 

Note: For your "problem students" you know your "Richards" as Amiee calls them I have a separate plan for them. I won't take away a bone if they blurt. They most likely have more individualized behavior plan, so I don't take away from the class for this behavior. I will however let them earn, so if they do raise their hand I might give a bone back. It's been very positive so far.

Speaking of my Teacher Anchor. I can't live without this amazing binder and planner from C Jayne Teach.

The Anchor is full of helpful worksheets and planning guides. When you factor in how organized it keeps me, helps me document my connection to common core standards, and keeps me solution focused for groups and individuals, it's worth every penny.

They sell out fast so make sure you pre-order! I love the personalization.

I use my binder for individual notes, small group notes, lesson plans, and meeting notes.

The Teacher Anchor contains this individual conference form, which I made copies of and put in a special section of my binder.

Here is the blank example:

Here is an example of how I use it for individual work. Don't panic, Brooklyn's furry confidentiality is safe. 

Teacher Organizers Aren't Just For Teachers

Thanks to my friend Chandra over at C Jayne Teach I am getting organized for the new year. My new Teacher Anchor just arrived and I am thrilled. #cjayneteach #teacheranchor

Here's how I am using mine (sorry the pics are blurry my camera phone just couldn't do the Anchor justice):

Connecting our curriculum to Common Core Standards seems to be a reoccurring theme at conferences and meetings I attend. I love that all the standards for K-3 are included in this planner and you can get the standards for other grades on her website. These easy sheets allow me to write down when I taught those standards, which will be easy to fill in as I write my lesson plans and then can use as part of my evaluation at the end of the year.

This fantastic page is at the end of each Common Core section and allows me to write down what lesson I did to meet standards. For example: 5th Grade- Socratic Seminar on fear or 3rd Grade- "Invisible Boy" lesson on friendship (see standards it met here.)

Instead of subjects I broke down my sections into the different parts of my program, including; Individual, Groups, Classroom Guidance,  Program Planning, and Other. Under other I will write down meetings, IEP/ 504 planning, parent conferences, collaborations, etc. 

I love that each day I can write down students I need to see or walk in.  

Treat Yo Self

It's my birthday (and also the last day of testing which is a birthday treat all in itself)! I must admit I am terrible about surfing the web and day dreaming about all the things I would by for myself from a custom dog necklace to office supplies for next year.

My amazing friend Chandra Verbic, owner of C Jayne Teach, must have known I am on a decorating/organizing kick because she just introduced a new line of teacher supplies for next year. Here are just a few reasons why it's amazing:

1) It's cheerful. Even on those awful, terrible, no good, very bad days just looking at her mugs, planners, and notepads will cheer you up. It's impossible to be grouchy around these colors.

2) I am a firm believer in a good morning for our students. As I am asked to tackle behavior more and more I almost always start by looking at a students schedule and morning routine. What are the procedures for morning arrival? Are they arriving to classroom with simple, organized directions for starting the day or do they walk into a free for all? So when she sent me this picture of her new morning tray, I literarily lit up. What a fun way to organize papers, but also help students get in smooth routine for a good morning. I LOVE IT.

3) Customer input is really valued. I love that Chandra really listens to her customers and uses their input as she designs new items. Her "Teacher Anchor" was already top notch, but she has made some wonderful updates based on what teachers think.

Counselor's Calendar

I am always looking for ways to track what I do and gather data on my time spent on direct and indirect services with students.

Right now I have developed a Google Doc that I keep open on my computer on periodically throughout the day, sometimes at the end of the day, (or after one of THOSE days I'll do it the next day) I input what I did.












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 I have broken the form into three parts: direct student services, in direct student services, and non counseling tasks. I am also trying to track what topic I see each class/student about so I can see if I am doing more of one than another. I once had a principal tell they didn't really have "crisis" at their school- using some basic tally data a year later she pulled out of the curriculum so I could be ready for all the crisis they had =). I also like to track the grade (is one grade seeing me more than another, is most of third grade seeing me about friendship and I could do a classroom lesson) and if it was planned or unplanned (is the same teacher sending students down unplanned each week - happens all the time to me).

I like my doc, but it's not perfect for sure. Then today I got an e-mail about Counselor's Room.
It's a resource that helps track time, create surveys, and provides resources for counselors. For example, when you click the logo at the top of the page it doesn't take you to the home page.

I do like that the calendar function can link with your Google calendar and will help sort the activities you are doing into recognized ASCA categories.

New Year, New School

There is nothing quite like changing schools mid year! Yep, I moved. It's been overwhelming and I am still wrapping my head around it all, but like all good counselors I am just going with it.

So here are pictures of my new office, my lesson plans from my first week, my favorite new classrooms in my new school, and more.

My new office (it's 1/4 the size of my old office) and new classroom (I share with art!):

My dog bowls for crayons and my Target pencil holders.

Since I share the room with art, there is a special objectives section on the dry erase board. This way I can write our objectives on my days and it's easy to clear for the art teachers.

My office. I used a dog treat jar for candy. 

Let's Go Camping

Not only is Bess Turner a 3rd grade wonder in the classroom, but she's an incredible artist. So it's not surprising that she's featured today as I continue to share the classrooms I love. I am sad to say that I didn't get many pictures of her classroom, and the ones I did really don't do it justice. I would encourage you do check out her artwork and think about having a few custom pieces made for your room. Find her on Etsy!




The Busy Beavers know exactly what job they need to do today.

I love that you kind find hilarity in every corner.

Cabin Leaders- look at that impressive use of Modge Podge and scrapbook paperwork.

Whoo needs to go to the bathroom?

 

I think you might like....

Dogs. 

What on earth made you think that? Haha.

Well it's true I love having a dog themed program. So I thought I would share some of my other favorite dog themed rooms, ideas, resources, etc. I'll try to update this often so keep checking back.

First, my newest crazy dog idea.

I asked each teacher at my school who is a dog owner to help me choose a character education trait and somehow capture their dog(s) showing off that trait. One of our teachers is an amazing photographer, as you will see below, so I am batting my eyes at her to help us capture each scene. I will then use the images we capture on bulletin boards, in my new classroom, and if we are successful create a calendar for the teachers for each trait of the month.

Here's what Mrs. Jackson came up with for "wisdom" featuring her dog Taylor. The competition for most creative is on don't you think.

Taylor. Image by Kristen Jackson

I know what your thinking, I want to hire her! I did and you won't regret it. If you are in middle TN just ask and I'll send her your contact info.


What do you think of these for endurance?

Gracie girl

Our character education traits from: http://www.coreessentials.org/

More websites, inspiration, and dog themed stuff I love:

For the classroom:
Teaching Pawsitively- this teacher just has adorable written all over her. I am definitely adding her to my Feedly so I can follow her.

A pug themed classroom!- I adore the "attitudes."

School Girl Style- single handily my favorite classroom for dogs ever. Literally ever. I wish I could hire her to recreate this in my room.

Doggie Decor- Schoolgirl Style also has some adorable products on her TPT Store. It makes me want to redo my entire classroom and buy, buy, buy.

DOG- as in the Daily Organization Guide- My friend Mrs. Richardson simply has the best organization guide for her 1st graders. Her classroom is pretty cool too.