Michigan Meet-Up, Flash Sale!, and Instagram... Help!

Yesterday was our Michigan blogger meet up and it was a huge success!  We met at PF Chang's and, after a few people took the VERY scenic route due to some ca-razy GPS systems, we ate and chatted and had a ton of fun!

So... here's who came... 1st pic at the top is me and Patty from 2nd in Line.  Next to us are Amy from The Resource(ful) Room, Julie from Make, Take & Teach, and Marsha from A Differentiated Kindergarten.  Below Amy, Julie, and Marsha are Kelly from All That Glitters in First Grade, her mom who is a 2nd grade teacher, Betsy, and then Laura from Enchanting Elementary.  At the very bottom is a pic of our tasty dinner and then to the left of that are Ellen from Primary Classrooms are Oceans of Fun, Maria from Kinder Craze, and our resident directions expert, Kara from Sped-Ventures.

And here we all are with the signature PF Chang's stallion thingie...

Also... today I'm having a...

My TpT Store

And finally... during out meet-up yesterday everyone was talking about Instagram.  I'll admit it.  I didn't really know what it was.  And I also didn't know if I could do another thing.  But I downloaded the app during the meal, signed up the second I got home, and am having fun trying to figure it out!

I'd love it if you followed me on Instagram.  Right now I only have to pics up... one of my dog and one of my coffee today... but I want to try to post "life" pics and a few school things from time to time.

I'm still not quiet sure what to do with it, so I'd love your help to figure Instagram out!

I'd love to check you out too!  My username is mrsbainbridges_blog... come and find me!!!

That's it for today.  Tomorrow I have some things to show at Monday Made-It and I'll have a new Facebook Fan Freebie up tomorrow after I post my Monday Made-It post so be sure to download the freebie that's up there now and check again tomorrow for the new one!

I'm off to obsess over making more themed buntings this afternoon.  They'll be 20% off as I add them to TpT too!

I made this scrappy owl one last night have have to admit that I LOVE it!

If you have any ideas for themed bunting banners that you don't see in my shop, let me know.  I'm really having so much fun making them!!!!

Just Decorated My Classroom From the Comfort of My Home!

Ahhhh... summer.  Not knowing what day it is, sleeping in, watching "The Golden Girls"... what could be better?!

I'll tell you what... I just decorated my classroom for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patty's Day, and Easter all from my dining room!

How did I do this you ask...?  {And why...?}

Well, last year I just couldn't keep up with holiday decor in my classroom.  First off, all of my bulletin boards have permanent displays.  Second off, I just could not find time to keep up with decorating!  I tried my best, but there never seemed to be enough time to put things up and, when they finally got up, we didn't have time to enjoy them!

So, in my making of bunting frenzy that happened this week, I made printable bunting banners for those six holidays.  I printed them out, laminated them {how did I ever survive without a home laminator?!}, and assembled them this morning.  It took me about 4 hours to do all of them {printing, cutting, laminating, cutting, and assembling}, but I'm so excited!

They are all ready to go so all I have to do is pull them out and hang them up!  I have wire that runs across my room, so it will just be a matter of quickly clothespinning the banners to my wire and... decorated!

Don't look at my messy floor and house, but here are how they look... I love them!  Halloween is my favorite one!

I'm so happy with how these turned out!

I have a pack with all 6 available in my TpT store.  It's on sale for a few days at $1 off!  Just click HERE to check it out!

Speaking of buntings... did you download this freebie from my Facebook page?  There will be a new freebie posted Monday, so if you haven't grabbed this one... go go go!  It's only available to "LIKE"rs of my blog on Facebook!

I LOVE how it turned out!

And last... yesterday I blogged about other bunting banners I had created and promised some winners!

So... #4 Sarah, #8 Karmen, #11 Courtney, #33 Carol, and #46 MsR, I have e-mailed you the bunting banner you liked best!

I'll be spending the rest of the afternoon working on a surprise for the bloggers who come to our Michigan meet-up tomorrow!

If you haven't RSVP'd and think you're going to come, let me know!  You can check out the blue and white little button there at the top right of my blog for more info!

Happy Friday!  It's date night in the Bainbridge house so I can't wait for my hubby to get home from work!!!'

WAIT!  One more thing!!!!  If you downloaded my 100 Club from TpT, go re-download it!  It got an update late last night... think more buntings!!!!

I'm Having Too Much Fun Making...

printable bunting banners!!!!!!

It all started because I wanted to be able to type my students' names on some small paper buntings I made last year.  I made a "Welcome to 3rd Grade" bunting banner that hung outside my door this year and I had students' names written on small pennants all about it... the student name thing was a last minute thing so they were just hand written.

I wanted to type them this year so THIS was born...

 Find it on TpT

A file that says "WELCOME to *whatever* Grade" with mini-chevron buntings that you can type on!!!

But then I needed a pack with all letters so I could make other banners during the year... so THIS was born...

Find it on TpT

That pack has 52 pennants- one for each letter of the alphabet in capital and lowercase all in fun and colorful Chevron prints!

But then I realized I had polka dot digital paper... and crazy animal print digital paper... and the digital paper from my blog design... and digital paper that looks like NOTEBOOK paper... and hot pink, green, and black digital paper, and pretty gray and yellow, and rainbow... the list goes on and on...

And so, all of THESE were born!

Find them on TpT

I'm having so much fun making these!  Are you a fan of my blog on Facebook?  If you are, there's a new freebie for FB Fans only there just for you!  Hint, hint... it's one of these printable bunting things!!!!  Here's a sneak peek...

If you'd like one of those 9 sets {sorry, friends... not the top editable chevron set}, just leave a comment and let me know which one is your favorite and your e-mail address!  I'll choose FIVE winners on Friday and send you the set you chose!  :)
 

First Day Tips and Tricks... Updated and Free for You!

Last summer I put together a collaborative handbook with first day tips and tricks from some of my bloggy friends.

I have just added a HUGE update that took this file from 14 to 36 pages FULL of new ways to make your first days and weeks successful!

I hope you will take a peek, check out the blogs inside, and leave some feedback on TpT too!

Click the picture to check it out!

100 Club AND Nighty Reading... {How They Work Together in My Room}

Gooooooood morning and happy Tuesday!

First up today- I am helping out the talented Ashley Hughes {aka- The School Supply Addict} with her 4,000 follower giveaway and today my prize is up for grabs!  You can win my "Special People Flippy Book" set with flippy books for Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Grandparent's Day!

Click the pic to head to her blog to enter!

And... the meat of the post today...

How my 100 Club and nightly reading work together in my classroom...

Thank you all so so much for your interest in the 100 Club!  If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, this is an optional "club" my students can join by reading books.  They can join the club at 50 books and then get recognized again at 75 books and then 100!

I've gotten quite a few questions about how this works with nightly reading and so that's what I'm going to fill you in on today.

First of all, we don't do reading logs.  What?!  No reading logs?  How do we know our kids are doing their required nightly reading?! 

I should say we don't *JUST* do reading logs.

Students do fill out a log of their reading... it looks like this:

Students fill in the date, book title, genre, strategy (I'll get to that in a second), number of pages read, and the AR reading level (or color) of they book they've read.

Then they write about their reading- telling how they used the strategy they selected.

So, they might summarize their reading, tell a prediction they made, make a connection, or tell how the author helped them visualize.

This is our RRJ (Reading Response Journal).  I LOVE THIS.  It's more than just a reading log because I can see my students' understanding and metacognition.  I can see who is really reading.  I can monitor their thought process as they write about the same book over several nights.  Not only that, but they are writing every single night which is huge!

I read these each morning (Tuesday-Friday) and write a brief comment back to students.  They always race in from their special to find their RRJ at their seat and immediately flip to see what I've written.  Sometimes it's just a smiley face, but they love to see it in there!

So, how do these two things work together...

In my room, the 100 Club is optional.  If a student wants to be in it, they just fill out both forms- their RRJ reading log AND their 100 Club recording sheet.  If they don't want to participate (which most DO!), they just don't fill out the 100 Club sheet.  It's that simple.

Here's a pic of the 1st sheet of one of the 100 Club recording sheets...

I would not use the 100 Club as a replacement for a reading log system; I would (and do) use it in addition to.  When I taught 1st and 2nd graders, they had to write their book title down on their homework sheet every night and they had to do the same thing as my 3rd graders: write it again on the 100 Club sheet to count it for that.

It's not hard.  It won't hurt them.  And no one ever, truly, said anything negative about it.  The funny thing is that sometimes kids would read a book for their RRJ that they didn't love and they wouldn't want to count it for the 100 Club!  I loved seeing that kind of thinking about reading and the pride the students took in wanting to reach their goal in the club... that they wouldn't want to get there reading books they didn't love!

I hope that helps answer some questions.  If you have others, please ask as I'm happy to share!

If you're interested in either item- the RRJs or the 100 Club, they are both available in my TpT store...  Just click the pics to check them out!  Both files include an editable element so that, using PowerPoint, you can customize some things to fit your classroom needs.

Monday Made-It Full of Freebies!

Get your printer ink ready, friends, and get comfy... this is a long post full of printables for you to show off what I've been doing this past week!

First of all... last week Krista at Stellar Students shared her RAK jar and I LOVED it!  However, we're a Bucket Filler school so I wanted to do something like her, but more Bucket Filler-y.  So, this was born...

Inside of this jar are lots of little cards with things students can do to fill a bucket!  I'm thinking we'll pull one a day during our morning meeting and the challenge will be for each student to do that task at some point during the day.  If you want a copy of what I made, click the picture below!

Krista was kind enough to allow me to share my file with you all.  If you want to see her original file (which also has free printables!) click her blog button below!
I also updated my class schedule cards.  I made some last year with Scrappin' Doodles graphics, which I love, but I felt like they were still kind of little for my 3rd graders.  So, my true graphics obsession is KPM Doodles.  I just bought my 80th graphics set from her... that's right friends... EIGHTY! sets and I LOVE them!  So, I made new schedule cards for my class...

I displayed them on my front door, much to my hubby's dismay!, so I could take a picture to show you...

The good news is... you can click the picture below to download the cards!  I added a few that I thought might be needed by other teachers too.

I know you've seen the inserts for the 3-drawer containers that are all over Pinterest.  My building is being cleaned so I can't go in to show you what I'm talking about, but I also made some drawer inserts!  Most of them say "Copy", "Grade", "File", but I wanted some because I store stuff for my reading groups in these drawers too... see?

Right now they just have stickers with the group numbers on them, but soon they will have these gems on the inside!

I also made cards for my writing area because those drawers just have labels on them too!  If you click on the picture below, you can download my group cards, writing area cards, AND I made "Copy", "File", and "Grade" cards too!

Phew!  Can you believe there is ONE MORE THING I have to share?!

I've been seeing printable for teacher binders everywhere online and on Pinterest and I had to make my own!  My current binder looks like this:

And the talented Ashley Hughes has a paper pack that is perfect for this binder... and her pack is free on TpT!  Click the pick to check out her paper pack.

So, anyway... here are some snapshots of how my binder pages turned out...

 

So there are something like 13 different sections in my binder for grades, AR, parent contacts, Success Time (which is our RTI time), schedules, etc...

I also added a section for subs...

It is complete with a packet of information to answer any question a sub might have...

 and a page of sub rules that found on Amy Lemons' blog... (this is Amy's pic, btw)...

Here's what I put in my binder.  It's laminated and says at the top that the sub can put it up on the board and go over it with students.  I love my 3rd graders so much but we had some real issues on sub days this year.  My favorite was when I got a glowing note from a sub and as I was praising them up and down for it, one of my girl's eyes were bugging out of her head and she was frantically shaking her head "NO!" because they had actually had a horrible day!  Gotta love their honesty... and how they tell on themselves all the time!  Anyway, I think this will be a big help this coming year!

I also updated everything for my 100 Club for Reading!  I LOVE this "club"!  If you didn't see my blog post about it, click the picture below to go see what all the fuss is about.  If you want to motivate your kids to read, this is the thing for you!

  
So, that's what I've been doing!  My printer is tired and my little laminator is too... not to mention the billions of miniscule pieces of laminating that are in my carpet!

If you download any of these freebies, please leave a comment.  I'd love to know how you plan to use them and that you love them too!  I love hearing from you ladies and gentlemen!

I can't wait to check out what everyone made this week so I can get busy on some new items inspired by all of you!  So, link up with Tara and show off what you've been making!
 

Last thing- Michigan blogger meet up!!!  It's THIS Saturday!!!  Patty from 2ndinline and I are getting together this week to work on some surprises for our friends who attend!!!!  Hope to see you there!  Please please please RSVP- just click that blue and white button over there on the top, right side of my blog.  See it?  Feel free to spread the word on your blog too!  The more the merrier!

100 Club Winners & TpT Newsletter!

Hubby just chose my random comment number for the 100 Club pack and I felt like giving away two so the winners are...

Check it out on TpT

Also, I'm so happy!  I made the TpT newsletter today for one of my freebies!  Click the pic if you haven't checked this out yet!

Last- I'm running a coupon code on my blog shop... you can use the code 5OFF when you checkout to get $5 off a $20 purchase!  This code will be active for the rest of the month!  All of my newest products (and some oldies but goodies) are there.  The link is at the top of my blog.

Happy Sunday!  Check back tomorrow to see what I've been making this week and lots of freebies!

Get Those Kids to Read-- 100 Club!

We all know that the more you do something, the better you get at it... and that includes getting our students to read!  And read a lot!

A few summers ago, I read The Book Whisperer and loved it!  If you've not read it, it's so inspiring and motivating!  Well, as I was waiting for my new professional reads to come in the mail this summer (Teach Like a Pirate and  Comprehension Connections), I revisited The Book Whisperer for inspiration while I waited.

Now, the first time I read it, I wanted to do something like she did in the book to motivate my students to read, read, read and so I started something in my classroom called "The 100 Club".  Is it just me or will kids do anything to be in a "club"?  {On a side note, I had 23 out of 26 kids miss three or fewer homework assignments this past year so they could be in my homework club!}

Back to the club... to be a member of this club, kids just have to read.  And they can read as few as 50 books to join.  Kids reading 50 books, on their own time- NOT during Daily Five in class, can be BRONZE members.  Kids reading 75 books (again, on their own time at home or school- NOT during time I give them for reading) are SILVER members.  And the biggie... kids who complete 100 books (home, own time, etc...) are GOLD members in the club.

I have a banner hanging in my classroom and I add students' names on a sticky note to the level of the club they've completed...  I made this banner on VistaPrint.

they get a Brag Tag...

 

and they also receive a printable award!  At the end of the year, we have a celebration for the club members!

Students have a recording sheet they keep in their FALCON folder (which is a school to home to school folder) and they write down book titles as they read them.  I also use this as a way to help them remember to take AR tests since they're writing down things they've read at home!

The way I have it set up is that they have to read 35 assigned "types" of books and then 65 of their own choosing.  The 35 include things like 8 chapter books, 2 books about our state, a book by an author from our state, 5 biographies, 5 math concept books, etc...

Now, if you're thinking that 100 books is too many and that this isn't possible... when I first started it three years ago, I was worried.  I actually thought parents would be mad at me for suggesting such a thing!  This is #1 OPTIONAL and #2 COMPLETELY do-able.  Parents were very receptive and excited to see their children excited about reading and making a goal.

I did it for 2 years when I taught 1st/2nd grade and had HUGE participation.  One of my 2nd graders completed it FOUR times!  If you require nightly reading and you have 170 days of school, students have to read almost one book per night and they can complete this.  And it's at each students' individual level so they are choosing books that are readable for them.

I love this club.  One hundred is such a magical number and kids get so proud and excited to have accomplished the feat of doing 100 of something... and it's BOOKS... so that's even better!

After re-reading The Book Whisperer, I was so re-energized about the 100 Club!  I completely re-vamped my awards, reading list, etc... and added a ton of goodies to the pack!

I have just listed it on TpT and will give away a set to a random commenter tomorrow!  So, let me know what you think in the comments and check it out on TpT if it sounds like something that could help your kiddos love and grow as readers!  This would work for grades 1-5 and I think even K could use this program with parent support!

Click the pic for more info!

Find the 100 Club on TpT or TN or my blog shop!
You can use the coupon 5OFF at my blog shop to get $5 off a purchase of $20!