The Bucket Fillin' Classroom! Having fun with classroom management

Hello all!  I hope you're having a super day, and enjoying beautiful weather like we are here today :)

I am BURSTING with excitement to share my newly completed project with you...I guess the more appropriate term would be my latest "labor of love."  You know the type I'm talking about, the ideas that you tweak and obsess over until it's JUST right, reflecting just what you had imagined it to be?!  A Bucket Fillin' Classroom is my sweet little bundle of joy :)  I piloted this complete management and incentive program last year with my students and it was a HUGE success!  

Ok, so I'm sure that you've read or heard of the cutest story called "Have You Filled A Bucket Today?" by Carol McCloud.  If not, go order it now...no, RIGHT now...click here to do that immediately, hehe. This sweet story explains that we all have invisible buckets we carry around with us.  They are filled up with the kindness of others, and by us displaying kindness to those around us.  Cute, right? 

I first heard about this story when our school implemented it into our anti-bullying program.  I was in love...what a neat concept.  Top that off with finding these cutie-patootie mini buckets in the dollar bin at Target, and my story-turned-management system was born:

So, here's a little bit of how it works...I start off the year with all of the activities in my "Bucket Fillin' Classroom" mini-unit.  We discuss how we can be Bucket Fillers (or Bucket Dippers, booo) in the classroom, school, and at home.  They understand that ALL of their actions and responsibilities are now a part of this system.  That means, behavior, as well as school work/homework, are all managed in this program.

I set up a mini-bulletin board in the front of my room, complete with each student's bucket, and posters explaining the system (mind you, these are my OLD posters...before I gave them a facelift, which I'll show ya'll in a second, hehe):

You can use any item you'd like as the "bucket fillers" that students earn and drop in their mini buckets...I've used carnival tickets for YEARS.  I'm actually amazed to say I bought a large roll 3 years ago and I STILL have enough tickets to get me through this upcoming year...yowza!

Students have so many opportunities to earn bucket fillers.  If I catch them doing something kind for another student, for helping me with something in the classroom, for completing a classroom job, kind of like their pay...and my new mini-unit also includes forms that the parents can fill out and submit to me if their student did something at HOME to demonstrate being a "bucket filler"...so cool!  I don't have a separate Homework Club.  Instead, I have a leveled system, where students will earn a certain amount of bucket fillers if they complete the homework every day, a few less if they complete it a few days, or none if they do none of their homework :(  (side note: I actually use a Universal Homework system in my room...I'll be blogging on that VERY soon!).  

Then, every Friday, students "cash in" their tickets for non-monetary prizes!  You can take a peek at some of the coupons I included in my mini-unit, including "Lunch with the Teacher", "Choose-a-Job", of "Seat Switch", all worth a different amount of bucket fillers/tickets.  I do have a prize box, with small candies and the like, but that's completely up to you.  

Oh my word, it's my second year into this system, and I am in LOVE..and so are my kiddos.  Win-win :)  Here's a sneak peek at my mini-unit and all it has to offer:

If you love it, head on over to my TPT store to grab it for yourself!

Happy Bucket Fillin'!

Happy Friday! Math, math, math...

Hello, friends!  Happy Friday...I hope you all had a great week.  And it's been quite a week at that!  Our first month of summer vacation is coming to a close here, and my colleagues and I spent it in Math Workshop...my brain is overflowing with LOTS of new information!

We were informed this week that our state (NY) is continuing to grow with the Common Core standards by utilizing modules.  Now, we've already had them in place for our ELA standards, and this year, we're receiving a new curriculum for math called The Story of Units.  Something about getting new curriculum makes me giddy inside, hehe...or is it just me?!  I'm SURE I'll be posting a TON more about all this new curriculum has for us...but in the meantime, I wanted to share my amazing finds for the week!

I started scoping out the stores weeks ago for some awesome back-to-school supplies.  And now, it's shopping time!  And where else would a teacher start?!  TARGET DOLLAR BINS!!  Check out the neat-o things I scored for only $1-$3:

I got these bad boy Math Bingo games for only $1...ONE DOLLAR!!!!  I grabbed 5 of them (let's be honest, I tried to leave some for the rest of ya'll).  The best part is they can be used to practice all 4 math functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).

Next, these Presidential flash cards are NOT math related (obvi, hehe), but I'm going to be putting them in my Brain Boxes (more on those, later!).  And again, these were only $1!!

I'm already BURSTING with ideas on the task cards I can make to go with these.  These were a little more pricey at $3 a package (still...I'll take it!) and I like having smaller, more personal sets for the kiddos.

Lastly, again, NOT math related, but these $1 mini dictionaries and thesauruses are going to be perfect for my Writing Center, and for all of the Word Activities I have planned for this year!

So, there ya have it...my shopping confessional for the week!  I'm sure there's much more to come over the next few weeks, but I have to pace myself :)

Happy Friday!

{TPT Products} Writing Topic Grids SCHOOL YEAR Bundle!!

Hi sweet readers!  I just put up my first post after a little hiatus, and couldn't help but jump right into another post :)  I've been working super hard on my new TPT product...a labor of love.  So without further adieu...drum roll please....

...introducing my Writing Topic Grid SCHOOL YEAR BUNDLE, yippee!  If you've read my other posts, you know that I use these grids in my classroom to give my kiddos their writing topics.  I had found that giving the whole class the exact same writing topic was stifling their creativity.  I am a HUGE believer in the power of *choice* to spur students on in their learning and success.  You can read more about the grids in my classroom here.

I was spending a bit of time redesigning them, and am so happy to say the ENTIRE redesigned school year bundle is now available at a 20% discount rate in my store!  If you'd like to try it first in your room and see how your kiddos take to it, you can grab a sample FREEBIE!  

As always, I'd love love love to hear your comments and feedback.  Have a great night!

I'm BAAACK!

courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles

Hello, hello, hello!  I cannot tell you how SUPER excited I am to be sitting down at my computer right now and writing my first blog post after a bit of a hiatus...oh, how I've missed blogging :)

I had to take a bit of a break for several reasons, and also to enjoy a little bit of the start of the summer, but regardless, I've been busy working this past week on new products, new ideas, and a schedule to keep me blogging and connecting with all of you sweet bloggies (hmmm, maybe my new term?  Obviously, this refers to you sweet readers and followers, hehe).

I'll be posting a BRAND NEW POST for a new product in just a moment.  It was a complete labor of love and I can't wait to share it with you :)  Hope you're all having a great summer, and can't wait to catch up on all of your sweet blogs.