My Teachers Pay Teachers sale has been extended!

I decided to extend my 20% off Teacher Appreciation sale on Teachers Pay Teachers through Friday! So if you didn't get a chance to take advantage of the big TPT sale on Tuesday and Wednesday, here is your chance to take advantage of saving a few dollars. :) Happy Shopping!!!!

Kerry's Teacher Pay Teacher Shop

Teacher Appreciation Week!!!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week! Have you heard about the big sale TPT is having? On May 7th and 8th you can save up to 28% by using the code TAD13.  My entire shop will be on sale during this time so you will be able to save 28% on all of my products! Check out my shop at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kerry .

Also if your shop is participating in the sale please post a link in the comments. I would love to come check out your products and follow your shop! :)

Spring is in the air!!!!

This year is flying by! Spring has sprung and I have been busy working on some new products for my shop. In the spirt of spring, I have created a ladybug counting book that can be found in my TPT shop.

What are you teaching about in your classroom right now? Any fun units coming up? We have our big ocean unit on the horizon. It is my absolute favorite unit of the year! I don't know if it's because it was the very first unit I taught when I was a student teacher eons ago or just all the wonderful animals and nonfiction texts available, but I just love teaching about the ocean.

New Year, New Projects!

My oldest started kindergarten this week, so my inner teacher was overly eager to volunteer to help in any way possible during meet the teacher last week. Her teacher asked if I would pull out and organize all the math workbook pages for the class, which I of course, jumped at the chance to help. So this has put me in the mood to start creating more teaching materials. I have a couple of freebies in the works, but was wondering if anyone had something they needed or wanted created for them. Respond to this post and I would be happy to help create what you need! :)

HUGE Teachers Pay Teachers Sale!

My Teachers Pay Teachers Shop is holding a back to school sale for the next two days! All of my items are 20% off and use the code BTS12 for additional savings! Don't miss out on these great items! In my shop you will find behavior management tools, classroom stationary sets, alphabet games, math practice, and much more. So check it out during the big TPT Back to School Sale!

School supplies make me giddy!

Oh, how I love school supply shopping! This weekend we went to pick up the last of school supplies my oldest daughter will need for Kindergarten. She is definitely my child! She was hopping with excitement over pencils and crayons.

I also love that Target's dollar spot has been loaded with teacher stuff! Last year I loaded up on bins for the classroom. My favorite Target Dollar Spot purchase was plastic magazine files (except they were larger) similar to these that Lakeshore Learning carries for $2.50 a piece. It took me most of the summer but I found enough blue ones to put one in each child's cubby to use a  mailbox, so their papers wouldn't get crumpled up.

What has been you best or favorite find on the back to school front?

Beginning of another school year!

As the beginning of another school year is looming, I know everyone is thinking about classroom setup and management tools. Today I would like to feature my behavior management plan that I created for my classroom many years ago.

I've always used a traffic light behavior management plan. It is simple for even my youngest students to understand. I've put together a packet of wonderful tools to go along with this plan. If you are interested, the packet can be found in my TPT and Teachers Notebook stores.

This packet includes the following letters and forms that I use in my kindergarten classroom:

Letter to the Parents:
This is a letter that I send home at the beginning of year to explain the classroom behavior system to the parents.

Weekly Behavior Chart:
I used this behavior chart in my student's Take Home Folder. In my classroom, I use a light system to monitor behavior throughout the day. At the end of the day the student's are responsible for coloring in the block for the day, either green, yellow, or red to reflect their behavior and then I initial the box to ensure the have correctly recorded their behavior for the day. I also require the parents to initial each night to let me know they have seen the behavior chart. I use the comment section to relay to the parents any issues or accomplishments that the child had throughout the day or the parent can comment in that section back to me about any follow-up they have. Later in the year I will often have the student write what their bad choices were for the day and what the consequences were for their action or what good choices they had made for the day.

Traffic Light Chart:
I print this out on card stock and laminate it to post by the "How are we doing today?" pocket chart as a reminder.

"Caught You Being Good" Slips:
I cut these out and keep them in a basket on my table. Anytime I see a student making exemplary choices, I fill out what I caught them doing as a way to celebrate good behavior. I send the slip home in the student's home folder so the parents can see what their child was doing well with at school that day.

Red Light Report:
I use this form when a student has a red light. At the beginning of the year, I transcribe what the student says on the form. As the year progresses, the student takes over the responsibility of filling out what choices they made and what actions they are going to take to fix the problem.