Owl-ways Learning: 2015

Monday, September 7, 2015

Laborless Bloghop and Giveaway!

Hello everyone!

ARE YOU REAAADDDY!!!

It is Finally here!

Today I am linking with Laura from Where the Magic Happens, Krista from Teaching Momster, and Lisa from PAWsitively Teaching! I have joined forces once again with my bloggy friends to bring you the best, most amazing giveaway on this Labor Day weekend!
All of us have been thinking about good ways in which to treat our readers and followers. We thought hard, and I mean it! Really, really hard… and decided that we can treat you to our best ideas to work smarter rather than harder… at school and home!
I know what it takes to be a great teacher, the stress, the time, the energy… I could go on and on! I also know that we crave time to ourselves and our families.

So here I go!

How many of you struggle with how your kids turn in homework? For the past 8 years of my teaching career I have NOT found a system that works for me... UNTIL NOW! My favorite classroom tool to use is close pins! They are so versatile, I use them for everything!

My kids all have their own number so last year they used a close pin to clip their homework and put it in a basket by my desk. Well the only issue with this system was, it took them FOREVER to turn in their homework because they had to get their close pin off a hanger from the front of my room and that took too much time with 28 kids.

This year I decided to use the same system but tweak it a bit... I bought mini crates for each of my kiddo's locker for all of their extra school supplies. So as I was sitting there grading papers after school one day last week, I had this brilliant idea to put their close pin on the mini crate. As the students unpack, they can grab their pin and turn in their homework in seconds instead of m.i.n.u.t.e.s.

After a long day at school, I love to come home and snuggle with these guys. Whether it's a good day or bad, their love is unconditional. I also love to craft and make things for my classroom. This year I made a fence for above my lockers. It came together BEAUTIFULLY!!! More to come about my fence later! :-) {don't mind the messy bedroom!}

I LOVE to reward my kiddos for their hard work so I made this homework club to reward them each month if they complete all their homework! The chart is displayed on the front of my desk this year and I have all of my coupons cut out and stored in a small coupon organizer I bought at Target's dollar spot last year.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Homework-Club-1482903

If you have trouble with homework like I do this may be a tool to help you out! I started a monthly homework club. Each month all of my students start out in the club. If they do not complete an assignment during the month then they are out of the club. If they complete their homework for the month and are left in the club, they get a homework pass to use on a homework assignment of their choice.

I have included the following items in this pack:
Parent Letter
Homework Club Poster Printable
Student Numbers
Homework passes for each month (September-May)
1 color copy to fill in the month of your choosing
1 printer friendly copy of homework pass

NOW go check out our AMAZING GIVEAWAY! Don't forget to visit all of my sweet friends below! :-) Good Luck!!!!

Top all these great tips and ideas with these top-notch prizes!

A $100 gift card to Amazon

A $50 gift card to TpT

2 $25 gift cards to TpT

1 $10 gift card to TpT

Thank you for reading! And now don't be silly and get your hands all over this awesome giveaway!!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Back to School BLOG HOP!!!

I don't know about you but I can't believe it is August already! I am not ready for school to start, although I am excited to get back into a daily routine again. I've linked up with my sweet friend Tammy from The Owl Teacher for her Back to School Blog Hop Giveaway! Be sure to visit my other teacher friends to gain some new ideas for back to school season AND enter our giveaway! Links to their blogs are at the bottom of this post. You can also enter our giveaway--we have THREE different prize packs up for grabs: grades K-2, 3-5, and 6+.

I am giving away a copy of one of my best selling products in the 3-5 bundle. It is my Cereal Box Book Report! You can read more about it and check it out HERE!

Today I want to share with you how I set up some things for my Meet the Teacher night. We have our Meet the Teacher night after school has already started so I have already given out most of the letters and forms needed for the year, but I still have some things I would like from parents so I have set up a few stations for parents to visit while they are in my classroom. I like to have parents sign in so I know who visited. After they have signed it, I ask them to visit the stations I have set up around my room. Some of the stations include meet the teacher, classroom supply wish-list, e-mail address sign-up, classroom reminder sign-up, and a treat for coming You can see below how I set it up. {I included a picture of my desk just because I LOVE how it turned out!!!!!} Make sure you read to the end because there MAY be some FREEBIES for you to snag and a giveaway to enter!!!!! ;-)

You can snag an EDITABLE copy of my Meet-the-Teacher letter HERE... for FREE!!!!

I purchased this adorable wish list set up from The Pinspired Teacher.

If you haven't heard of REMIND you must try it out!!! It is so awesome to be able to connect to parents this way WITHOUT giving out your phone number! Read more about it on their website or download the app for free! This letter is a freebie I found on TpT HERE.

This treat was a hit last year--and easy to put together! I picked up some Extra gum at the Dollar Store and taped them to these adorable tags I found for free HERE!

I hope you are able to use these tags or ideas for your upcoming open house or meet the teacher night! You can snag my table signs from my TpT shop HERE! Be sure to look around my store because I have some other freebies you may be able to use for back to school season! I hope you all have a great year!

PRIZE PACK ONE: grades K-2

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PRIZE PACK TWO: grades 3-5

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PRIZE PACK THREE: grades 6+

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Mrs. D's Teacher FAVORITES Giveaway!

My sweet friend from Mrs. D's Corner has her annual B2S giveaway happening over on her blog! Head over and enter because you can win this awesome package of:

(1) 24oz. Teacher Tervis
(1) 5 pack of Dry Erase Pockets
(1) 12 pack of Flair Pens
(1) pair of Kendra Scott's Parker Stud Earrings in Periwinkle
(1) pack of 5 Super Sticky Post-it Notes

This package is valued at over $100 and is ready for you to win! Go back to school in style and be ready for anything the first days will throw at you.

Read more and enter this fun giveaway on Mrs. D's blog! Good Luck friends!!!!

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Go Back in School in Style

I have linked up with my sweet friend Melissa from Mrs. Dailey's Classroom for her fun back to school giveaway!! She has some fabulous items to send you back to school in style! You can win a Better Life bag and LOFT gift certificate!!! I have just recently learned what a Better Life Bag is and I must say--I LOVE the concept of the company! I hope to own one of my very own bags soon!!! As for LOFT, it is one of my favorite places to shop for clothes! You can enter the giveaway below!!! And be sure to do it ASAP because the giveaway runs Aug. 8-Aug. 11. Good Luck friends!

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Monday, July 20, 2015

Dollar Deals Resource Linky

Hi Friends! Hopefully you all have been enjoying your summer! I have been busy and haven't blogged in FOREVER! So sorry friends! Anyways, I wanted to share with you a fun celebration--DOLLAR DEALS! A few bloggy friends and myself have linked up with our friend Keri from Enchanted Kinder Garden to help her celebrate some milestones happening over her way!

I have marked down some of my BEST SELLERS for today ONLY!! Check them out below!! Stock Up on all of these fabulous resources so you are ready for back-to-school!

Don't forget to enter Keri's amazing giveaway on her blog!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

What Works: Teacher Appreciation Day 2!

Welcome to Day 2 of Teacher Appreciation Week! If you missed out yesterday, you can check out some great teaching secrets for your classroom HERE. Also, you don't want to miss out on the two giveaways we are hosting this week. If you didn't enter yesterday, you can do so now. Make sure you enter for both prize bundles so you have double the change to win!

Enter to Win Prize Bundle #2 Here

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Enter to Win Prize Bundle #1 Here

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Today, we are offering a collection of high quality classroom resources at a huge discount. Below is a list of Best Selling Resources that have been discounted by 20%. You can receive an additional 10% off at checkout by using the code THANKYOU.

An InLinkz Link-up

We have also put together a collection of $1.00 Deals to help stock up your classroom for the rest of the year and next year. I know I have added several of these deals to my cart. Don't forget to use the code THANKYOU at checkout for maximum savings!

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday, May 4, 2015

Teacher Appreciation: What Works GIVEAWAY

I am so excited to celebrate TEACHERS and all of their{our} hard work this week. Many teachers do not hear it enough... THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO! Without you, many things would not be possible. I hope you you all know how appreciated you are!

With that said, I have linked up with a few of my bloggy friends Lisa and Marissa for an AMAZING Teacher Appreciation GIVEAWAY! We are also sharing a few classroom secrets that work for us in our classrooms! Hop around and you may find some that will work in your classroom! :-)

I don't know about you but my class is super chatty this year!!! AND now that it is spring they are more chatty than usual. A teacher friend of mine had this great idea to give her students each a ticket to hold onto all day long. Each morning tickets would be passed out and each afternoon they would be collected. At the end of the day if they kiddos still had their ticket, their name was placed on the list for "Marvelous Movie Monday!" Tickets can be taken if students are talking when they aren't supposed to be. If a kiddo lost the ticket, they do not get another one. At the end of the week the students who had kept their ticket each day and never lost it, got to participate in watching a movie for 15-20 minutes on Monday.

I loved this idea so much that I decided to try it with my class! Instead of a movie on Monday, I offer my incentive on Tuesday. Students have a chance to earn iPad time. They can get on any educational app or game for 15-20 minutes on Tuesday afternoon. I call this "Techy Tuesday!" So far the kids are LOVING it! The students who do not get to participate work on spelling or math fact practice.{And boy do they remind me if I forget to pass their tickets out first thing in the morning.}

You can snag a copy of my "Techy Tuesday" Tickets HERE!

For the past 5 years I have done the same thing for spelling homework--three times each, sentences, and ABC order. This can get B O R I N G; both for the teacher and the student! So, last year I had the idea to create a spelling calendar/choice board where students could pick 3 different activities to complete each week. Each month I gave them a new paper with 9 different choices like phone spelling, Scrabble spelling, techy words, story time, etc. THEY LOVED IT!! I had more students doing their homework AND they were more successful on their tests!!
Giving students the freedom to pick what homework they do really had a positive effect on my classroom. Due to my computer crashing last summer I had to create new boards because I lost the file! I was so sad! So over the course of this year I have retyped them and will have them in my TpT shop soon so be on the look out if you think this is something your students would be successful with!

Now lets get to the REALLY fun-exciting-AMAZING GIVEAWAY!! Did I mention how AMAZING it is!?!?!? Below you will have TWO chances to win many goodies so scroll on down to learn what you could WIN! Remember that the more entries you have on the Rafflecopter, the more chances you will have win!!! GOOD LUCK friends!!!