Just in time for Thanksgiving!

    Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love getting together with my family and eating lots of yummy food.  However, we know that it is so much more then that and I also enjoy the whole reflecting on what we are thankful for part! It's a great strategy to make sure you can always make the sunshine... having an attitude of gratitude. 

    So I have made this book to help my students practice an attitude of gratitude.  I just love this book because it is a great way to get younger people to think about being thankful for the simple things in life like nature all around us.

    This idea was given to me the first year that I taught by a fellow teacher who had hand drawn the whole thing!  I have recreated it with cute clip art and I want you to have it too.

Click on the turkey to make this great book with your students.  The file includes a student version and a teacher copy with instructions!


If you download this please leave me a comment.  :)  Also, please feel free to make a link on your blog to this great resource.  I hope you enjoy it!

Pssst.. We love fairy mist! (A classroom management tip)

Has one of your little darlings ever felt down in the dumps?  Were they in need of a magic fairy to make their day all better?   Then let me let you in on a little secret.  Over here in my class where we are always trying to make the sun shine, we use rose water for its aromatherapy benefits. 

According to aromatherapy and my own experience, rose water offers a soothing property to the nerves and emotional /psychological state of mind. It is regarded as an anti-depressant. Rose water/oil is increasingly used in treatments for conditions of stress like nervous tension, peptic ulcers and heart disease.  Rose water is also used as an antiseptic. Not to mention is really does smell heavenly!

When I have a student that is having a bad day, feeling glum, or even if my entire class is just feeling lethargic.  I will have them close their eyes and then I tell them they are going to be sprayed with fairy mist.

THEY LOVE IT!

Plus it really works!  

This is my favorite brand to use.  I usually pick it up at Whole Foods but you can order it online also!  Click on the picture for a link to purchase your very own fairy mist!  Did I mention you can get it for only $5 ?!

It always makes them feel better.  There's nothing like a cold shot of fairy mist in the face to lighten the mood! 

Here is a label you can print and put on your bottle to cutesy it up :)

Click on the picture for you copy.

I'm back with a vertical, horizontal and oblique line activity and FREEBIE!

This weekend I went to lunch with some amazing fellow teacher/bloggers!  You can see Rachelle and Natalie's post all about our get together here @ whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com  These amazing women have certainly inspired me to keep up with blogging!  So here is my first new post in a few months.

This is a fun, quick and easy activity that you can do with your students either in whole group or small group instruction.  Here we are practicing vertical, horizontal and oblique lines.  I have my students draw a picture of their choice but they can only do horizontal lines in black, vertical lines in red and oblique lines in blue.  

 I keep a visual reminder on my own white board after I model for them how to draw something using these three colors for their corresponding line.

Here are a couple of my students and their fabulous line drawings.  They really enjoyed this activity.  I asked them what type of lines they were for a simple assessment.  It was a easy way to assess their learning.  

I made a freebie for you just in case you want to use this in a center.  You can do this with crayons, markers, colored pencils or paint!

Get the freebie here!  There are two versions, one is has more scaffolding then the other.

Let me know if you download this and use it!  I would love some feed back.  Thanks!

Classroom Library and Safe Place

Considering this is what my room looked like just a few weeks ago....

   ...I can say that this is basically my PRIDE and JOY!  I'm not even going to pretend that I am humble about it because I am not.  I LOVE the safe place that my husband and I made together.  I LOVE the barn owl stuffed animal that I put in the top.  I LOVE that I only spent $18 to make it.  I am so excited for my new little darlings to see it on the first day of school!     

I used:  branches found at the community compost pile, peacock feathers, white netting used at my wedding (purchased at IKEA in the curtain section), a barn owl stuffed animal, floral moss, pillows, screws, and pieces of ply wood.

We made a base for the branches to be screwed into through the bottom.  We figured out the angle of the branches and then cut them at that angle so that way when they were screwed in they would be at the right angle.  Hope that makes sense?!

Figuring out the angle for the branches.  After it was all screwed together I covered the base with fabric using a glue gun so that my students won't be able to get slivers even if they tried!  Ha!

I tied the white netting on just how I liked it.  Then I used the floral moss to cover up the screws and for decoration.  I added the feathers and owl for the final touches :)

The library baskets are not sorted yet.  I work at a charter school and a part of our charter is parent volunteering.  I am going to have one of my parent volunteers sort them by genre.

So you may be wondering... What is a safe place?

Well a Safe Place is something that at our school is a requirement for every classroom.  The main things that distinguish a safe place from any other spot in a classroom would be:

*  A safe is a place where students can go to when they feel the need to remove themselves from the group.

*  This is a place that is NEVER to be used as a punishment.  (You would never tell a student to go there.)

*  Students are still responsible for their learning and work.

*  It is meant to be a special place.  It can look like a  chair, couch, rug with pillows, tent, tee-pee, etc.  It's a location in the room where they can go and not be bothered.

*  It is a place where students can go to practice self regulation strategies like using a mantra to calm down.  Feather breathing, yoga, thinking happy thoughts, etc.

*  There should only be one student in the safe place at a time.

The students should have some input in making the safe place special.  So this year my students are going to write/draw about a time when they felt happy and/or safe.  Then they will crumble them up and put them in a plastic egg.  Together we will make a "birds nest" since we have an owl themed classroom this year and put all of the eggs in the nest.  The nest will be placed in the branches at the top next to the barn owl.  

Some other ideas to make your safe place special and kid included would be to have them bring pictures of their family.  Make class expectations together for the safe place.  

Do you have a safe place in your room?  Can you think of another way to have the students contribute to the safe place?

PS This is how the white netting was used at my wedding...  We were married under my favorite tree in my parents back yard.    

Training at Tavaputs Ranch

Well it has been one busy summer for me especially July and August!  When we came home from our trip to New Mexico our house had been flooding for a few weeks.  Sooo... we have been doing a complete kitchen renovation and today my husband and father-in-law are doing a complete bathroom reno!  So, I am finally finding some time to blog.  Not that I haven't been blog stalking! Trust me I make time to check up on all of you, and have found many new ideas and tools for this coming school year!

I just came back from a three day, two night school training that was held up at Tavaputs Ranch in eastern Utah.  It was about a two hour drive from where I live.  You can check it out here: www.tavaputsranch.com  It is a beautiful fifth generation operation.

That's me driving, next to me is one of our SPED teachers.  In the back is my partner teacher in the green and next to her is one of our kindergarten teachers.  We had a fun ride up together!  

Check out that view!  From the top where we were to the bottom of the valley it is deeper then the Grand Canyon!

This is the main cabin.

The help!

We had a blast and it was a very informative training.  I just love the first of the year trainings that our school does.  They are very focused on the idea that to be able to work together we first need to be able to play together.  We think that is true for our kids as well.  That is why during the second week of school all of the grades go on different field trips that focus on bonding and team work.  It has helped to set a good foundation of a community of caring that carries us for the rest of the year!

Dollar Tree Finds and Measurement Idea

Well I had been home for six straight days!  I went for a walk down to the river twice and drove to the post office but that was it.  Mostly I have just been painting the house and working on the computer.  I told my husband I was going to go crazy if I didn’t get out of the house.  So.... I was incredibly spontaneous and…. Drumroll please….. I went into town and had my oil changed (gasp) AND went browsing at Dollar Tree.  This is what I found.

 These fabulous ocean creatures grow to be 600% bigger then their original size.  Soo..... I am planning on using them in a math measurement station.  First, my students can measure the length of each ocean creature.  Then we can put them in water.  Each day they can measure them and record their observations.  When they are finished expanding we can calculate how much they actually grew!  Sounds like fun to me :)

This one is my fave!  I swam with sea turtles on our honeymoon in Maui!

I also found these little pillows that will be added to the safe place in my room.  It is a requirement at my school that each classroom have a designated safe place.  It is a place where students can go when they need a break if they are feeling emotionally overwhelmed or stressed.  I like to teach my students meditation strategies that they can use while they are in the safe place so that they can come back to work.  Also so that they have those skills for the rest of their lives!

 Aren't they the cutest meditation pillows?

And last but NOT least..... I found THESE!!  I had spotted them in someone elses blog and buckled in the knees when with my good fortune they had them here at my small town Dollar Tree!!

I am going to sort my fake money for whole group instruction as well as for math station work!

Whew, I'm glad I got out of the house!  We even had visitors tonight.  Our good friends are here from Las Vegas with their precious six week old baby! 

Inspired and uplifted through Yoga

I'm back!  I've been in beautiful New Mexico for the month of June.  Every summer my hubby and I as well as 2,000+ other amazing souls from over 40 different countries go to New Mexico to attend 3HO's Summer Solstice Yoga Festival.  I've learned a lot from attending these festivals and made some really great connections with people from all over the world. 

This year I have been particularly inspired by this incredible book:

(Click on the book for a link to purchase it.)

I'm inspired through this book because as a part of my Masters program I need to work with secondary students and this is the perfect curriculum!  I will be working with the high school students teaching them yoga, meditation and art!  This is a fabulous book and even has a chapter to do Yoga and Art with children!  

Last school year I used Yoga a lot and it was my saving grace!  One of the techniques that came in very handy I learned from a mentor of mine Shakta Kaur Khalsa.  She is the author of several books including

 (click on the picture for a link to purchase the book)

I had several students that have a difficult time managing their emotions appropriately and would have violent outbursts.  This little trick helped one student in particular go from having meltdowns several times a week that would last for several hours to a meltdown once or twice a month and with this breathing technique they could calm down in five minutes or less.

How to teach Feather Breathing:

First, gather craft feathers with stiff top feathers and soft fluffy bottom feathers.

Next, show students how to hold the feather in both hands five or six inches away from their mouth.

Demonstrate how to blow on the bottom fluffy feathers while thinking the word calm.  Continue breathing long, slow and deep allowing the belly to expand on the inhale and squeezing all the air out on the exhale. 

Tip: If a student is so upset that they won’t hold onto the feather, let them calm down a little bit and then just start tickling their face, neck and arms until they are calm enough to grab the feather.

You can also use the feather to help students wake up!  To do this have the students blow on the top stiff feathers quick and strong.  Have them inhale deeply to end.  They can meditate on the word energized while they breathe.

..Check out the guest blog I wrote for What The Teacher Wants about children's yoga HERE...

I leave you with a picture of some of the Utah attendees from last years Solstice.  :) 

Oh ya, when we got home at one o'clock in the morning we arrived to a flooded house due to a broken kitchen pipe :(  So for the last week my hubby and I have been doing a complete kitchen renovation!  Our refrigerator was sunk into the floor! 

Thanks for stopping by!  I've had a blast getting all caught up on the fabulous teaching blogs!  I can't believe how fast this summer is going by!  

Let me know if you have any questions about teaching yoga in your classroom, I'd love to help!!