Monster Awards

This school year is coming to an end and I am so sad that I will not be ending the year with the festivities, farewells and sweet hugs that I have always been accustomed to.  My little ones did an amazing job with their distance learning and a huge shout out to all the parents that became home school teachers on top of the million and one things they already do.  THANK YOU!!!!

I wanted to start by sharing a fantastic read aloud that helps young children understand exactly what a pandemic is.   My own son was struggling with missing school, family members, and friends, so I pulled out this sweet little book that a coworker recommended.  It was a perfect way to help him understand that other children feel exactly the same way he does.  It is a great story to share with any young child struggling to understand why things have changed.

 

It is hard to believe that this is my last full week with my Firsties.  We will not be able to hold our usual Awards Assemblies, or even send report cards as we would normally do, so I wanted to have a little something virtual for them.  In the past, I would send Monster Awards along with their report cards.   This year, I will send a virtual Monster Award to each of my students.  If you previously purchased these certificates, please re-download them HERE for the updated version.  The resource now contains full size certificates and they are editable.  

 

 

Monster Brag Tags

Why does summer seem to fly by?  It seems like just yesterday I was packing up my classroom, and now I'm already putting it back together again.  Each year, I try to change things up a little bit.  Last year, I gave up my beloved behavior clip chart.  I had used a clip chart for about 10 years, and I was honestly terrified to let it go.  Old habits die hard, I tell you!  I made the leap though, threw out the clip chart and never looked back.  It was the best decision I could have made.  My focus became to really encourage positive behaviors and have constructive conversations with those students that misbehaved.

This year, I wanted to take it a step further.  I wanted to find additional ways to motivate and reward students for making good choices, as well as celebrate their accomplishments.  I did a lot of research over the summer and it kept leading me back to brag tags.  Angie Olsen at Lucky Little Learners has written several great blog posts about brag tags.  If you want to read more about how to implement them in your classroom, check out her post here.

I have a monster classroom, so I was determined to find monster brag tags.  I found lots of Class Dojo resources with cute little monsters, but I struggled to find brag tags with monsters.  I decided to go ahead and make my own set of monster tags for my little MON-STARS!

Many teachers prefer to hang their brag tags on ball chain necklaces, but I opted to use binder rings.  I figured if their tags are attached to their backpacks, they would probably have a better chance of getting returned the following day.   I won't send brag tags  home everyday.   My students take their graded work home on Wednesdays, so I thought this would be a perfect day for them to share their brag tags with their families. They will be responsible for returning them to school the following day. 

I am storing my students' brag tag rings in a pocket chart designed for storing calculators.  It has pockets that are just the right size and already numbered.  

I recently updated this resource and added a few more brag tags,  I purchased this mini toolbox on Amazon to store the additional brag tags.

Here is a little explanation of some of the tags in this resource:

I have my fingers crossed that brag tags are a hit in my classroom this year.  I look forward to rewarding those homework heroes that have all of their homework complete for each six weeks.  I also hope that those little Sight Word Star tags encourage my little ones to learn all their sight words for the year.  If you LOVE monsters, then you can check out the monster brag tags here.  If you do not have a monster themed classroom, but want to give brag tags a shot, there are so many different varieties available from other fabulous teachers.
 

Christmas Monsters

It is the last day of December, so I figured I better post my Christmas Monsters before ringing in the new year.  We made these monster ornaments as parents gifts before the break.  I have a monster themed classroom, so I really wanted to stay with the monster theme.  I also wanted it to be something that they could completely make on their own.  Here is a look at one of our little monsters:

They were really simple and required minimal materials.  We used burlap for the face as well as an assortment of googly eyes.  The horns, mouth, and heart were all made using different sized ribbon.  I just used cardstock for the teeth.  Here is some of the burlap I used.  I actually just purchased the polka dot one on clearance, so I think it'll be a cute monster for next year.  I love the glittery gold polka dots!

I used a popsicle stick to reinforce the top.  They glued the horns on the popsicle stick first and then we attached the burlap on top.  The popsicle stick made it easy to attach the ribbon to hang it.  I also had them sign the back of the popsicle stick.

My students were so creative with their little monsters.  I love the diversity!

Here are a few of their monsters up close:

I attached the cute little monster poem below to the ornament and sent them to their new homes. 

 

Monsterrific Daily Five for Math

Hi Friends!

This year has gotten off to a great start! I absolutely love my students and look forward to a monsterrific year with them! 

Today, I wanted to share a little freebie for all the monster loving teachers out there.  I had a request from a sweet teacher to make Daily Five icons for Math with a monster theme.  They go along with the reading set that is also available on my blog here.  I don't currently use the Math Daily Five in my own classroom.  I think the Daily Cafe calls it, Math Daily 3.  I added a few extra icons for those interested in expanding it.  I definitely plan to read the book by The 2 Sisters,  I love the Daily Five for literacy, so I am super excited to learn more about implementing something similar in math!  If you currently use it in your own classroom, I'd love to hear more about how you use it in your classroom.

Click the image below to get the FREEBIE.

Mon-Star Behavior

The school year has gotten off to a great start and I love my sweet class, but right from the start I noticed something else about my little lovelies...they are extremely CHATTY!!! My usual systems of behavior management just weren't doing the trick for this group.  I really don't like whole group consequences. It's fine if they sit out from recess a min. or 2, but this group would have been sitting out far longer than that, and it's really not fair to the ones that are quiet. I mentioned my dilemma to my bloggy buddy Tonya at Tonya's Treats for Teachers, and she shared this blog post from last year.   I loved her ideas and it really got my brain gears turning!

My classroom theme is monsters, so my chart definitely had to have a monster or 2 (or 4) on it.  I really liked Tonya's tally chart, and went with a very similar idea.  I decided to go with check marks and added the amount of recess they would lose at the top.  The recess time at the top is really just  a reminder for me during recess.  During the day, I simply put a check mark every time I have to redirect them for talking.  I keep it on a clip board, so it's handy during the day.   I like that the chart also provides me with an additional form of documentation. I also like that it's more private than a clip chart in the classroom.  The chart really seems to be doing the trick.   We also keep a citizenship chart in our Daily Folders, so this makes it easy to mark folders accordingly at the end of the day.  I simply write in how many check marks they received during the day.  If they manage to turn their behavior around, I do cross out checks on my chart.

Here is a pic of the chart.  It is editable, so you can add your students' names and even change or remove the recess time from the top. The blue portions show the editable fields.

I started with just the chart last week.  This week I knew I wanted to reward my students that didn't receive any check marks.  I decided to go with a mon-star punch card.  I will simply initial a monster at the end of the day if they have no check marks, Once the entire punch card is filled, they will receive a NO Homework pass.  I will probably give them a color changing pencil when they get 5 monsters complete.  The star counts as the 10th spot.

 

If you are in the same boat as me and want to give this a shot, they are both freebies.  You can click either image above to grab the documents. 

 

More Monsters...

I am getting ready for the new school year, so I have had monsters on my mind!!! My theme is monsters, and I'm really excited to add to what I already have.  I've had the same word wall headers forever! Okay maybe not forever, but 10 years is a really long time.  When I packed up my room at the end of  last year, I think I may have accidentally tossed a few of my old headers.  I thought for sure I had them saved on my computer, but apparently that wasn't the case.  So, it was time for me to make some new ones!!!  Here is how they turned out:

I will definitely be back to post some pictures when I get them up in my classroom.  I also made a cover for my spelling dictionary which is included with the word wall cards.

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If you love monsters as much as I do, you can check them out in my store by clicking here.

Even if you don't have a monster theme, they make adorable alphabet flashcards.  You could also hole punch them and place them on a ring.  Students could use them in a station with a variety of different topics.  They would work really well with grammar.  Students could list nouns or verbs that begin with each letter of the alphabet.

As always, I'd love to give it away for free to the first 3 people that leave a comment. PLEASE don't forget to leave your e-mail.
 

Monster Toolbox Labels and a Spelling FREEBIE

I wanted to share a couple of freebies tonight.  Some of you probably already know I'm obsessed with monsters (not the scary kind!).  My classroom is monster themed and I love all things MONSTER!  I've wanted to make a teacher toolbox ever since Create Teach Share first shared this fantastic idea.  I've seen so many gorgeous teacher created toolboxes on Instagram this summer, I just couldn't resist any longer.  I knew that of course, it was going to have to be monster themed.  I searched far and wide for monster labels and couldn't find any anywhere!!!  Lucky for me, I found this super adorable monster paper on Etsy.
I am sooo excited to get this into my classroom.  I have absolutely no idea where I am going to fit it, but it will have to find a home somewhere in my crowded classroom!

If you have a monster classroom and are interested in these labels, you can click the image below to get them for FREE.

I also wanted to share a spelling printable that I am excited to use this year.  Okay, I'm about to jump from monsters to superheroes.  But, this page is perfect for Mondays when you are introducing new spelling and vocabulary words.  Click either image below to check it out or grab this FREEBIE.

I ♥ Monsters

I've had monsters on my mind the last week, so I wanted to share a few of my creations.  My classroom theme is monsters, so I thought it would be fun to create some cutie monster clip art.  You can check them out on TPT. I am currently working on the color versions, so stay tuned.

I also created writing paper to go along with the fun monster read aloud, I Need My Monster.

I also REALLY wanted to read, A Monster Under Alex's Bed by Angelika Glitz. I checked it out on Amazon, and this is what I came up with:

 

I spend a lot on books, but $394 for 1 book is just not happening.  I considered it for a whole 5 seconds and realized that would be a bit crazy!!!

You can click below for the writing paper freebie. I plan to use the monster adjective page first to brainstorm great adjectives to describe their monster.  This will give them ideas for their writing piece.

 

 As always, the first 3 people to leave a comment will get the Monster Cutie clip art for free.  Just a way to say thank you for following my blog :)   Also, please don't forget to leave your e-mail.