What a nerdy life I live...

So as I sit here on the oh so exciting Monday night I have actually made some pretty interesting things! I spent my Christmas money today at Staples getting random supplies the best and my absolute favorite.... SCENTED MARKERS!!

Now that I have admitted to being the biggest nerd ever on to the other nerdy things I did tonight, poster making. While at the store I purchased a flip chart (which happened to be the ONLY thing I went into Staples for but obviously that didn't go as planned). I have been seeing several ideas online for classroom posters that I have wanted for some time and so I present to you my super awesome and amazing new classroom posters.  

Ok get ready to stretch your neck out while checking out these first two (sorry some day I may become super computer savy and figure out how to turn these darn things once there are on the page)

This lovely poster I hope will help me to get my students back on track with their interactive notebooks. After staring at this on a picking it apart with my OCD brain I made a digital one that I have added to my TpT sight and you can find the link to that here What goes where?. 

This one I saw on another bloggers page and added a few things to each definition to better suit what I use with my students to remember these. 

This classroom management strategy is one I found on Pinterest and is very similar to one I am already using but I did not have a super cool poster so as you can guess I had to have a poster duh! 

This poster came to be through the ideas presented on several different posters on Pinterest. Most came from younger grade levels so this modification I hope will help my high school students understand how they can use the left side of their notebooks to showcase their notes in a visual way.

So now that it's nearly midnight I must put away these wonderful markers, wash my stained hands and go to bed. How do you see these being useful in your classroom? What could I have added/changed to make them even more awesome? Have an amazing New Year and thanks for reading!  

Motivating High School Students...oh the struggle

OK so this post may be more a rant/vent session than anything but my frustration level has been reaching an all time high lately due mostly impart to students feeling this sense of "I don't care" or "what do I have to do to pass" attitude! Now don't get me wrong those that are motivated and at least not negative about coming to school these days I am eternally grateful for but the majority are about to have me pulling my hair out (notice I said about).

Now as I spend my downtime searching Pinterest (as I hope most other females do because it's AWESOME) I find myself wishing I taught younger students just so I could utilize all the cute and fun stuff they often do! I have one class of 8th grade students and the motivation difference one year can make would astound you but little kids get excited about everything! They want to please you and please their parents still (I am sure some of you elementary teachers are ready to throw the book at me lol) and I am longing for something to help bring this into my high school students. So behold I give me my latest attempt....

Homeworkopoly!!! 

 Now I have put a considerable time into this and when I say considerable I mean like more than I have ever worked on a bulletin board before in my life and more than anyone ever should! Thus my desire to post this onto the Teachers Pay Teachers website. Now this bulletin board is one I plan to leave up for quite a while and use as a reward system for my classes. Each week the plan is that we will set a goal for the class to achieve and when they meet or exceed this goal they earn a chance to roll the dice and move their piece around the board. Where ever their piece should land will be the reward or incentive for that week/section. I used several suggestions from my own students and I assure you they are PUMPED about starting this in January. You can purchase this item by clicking the Homeworkopoly link above which will take you to my TpT sight where you can purchase your own ready to laminate and display bulletin board (as if you don't already have enough to do this Christmas Break)! I will let everyone know in January how it's going. What do you use to help motivate your high school students?  Until then enjoy your time off  and Merry Christmas!   

Table Tubs

As all teachers do I struggle daily to ensure that my students have the supplies they need to be successful in my class. While at the National Agriscience Teacher Ambassador Academy one of the greatest things I brought home was the idea to create "table tubs". Now I will not sugar coat this because there is no way around it; these things were not cheap to get started! I purchased all the contents when on sale and still search to find coupons and sales to re-stock them but it has proven to be well worth it. 

Here are two pictures of my tubs! 

So as you can see I keep a variety of items in these tubs and almost half way through the year the majority of what I started with is still there. Here is what they contain: Post-its, markers, colored pencils, scissors, highlighters, glue sticks, small pencil sharpener, large eraser, crayons, ruler, and sometime a calculator. At the beginning of the year these also contained a small stapler but when I discovered the students were stapling their arms (go figure) I took all of them out. I have to clean these out probably once every two weeks or often have TA's available that I assign to rework the markers and such to make sure all tubs are even and neat. Other ideas to house these are small clear storage tubs with lids, shoe boxes, or any other small box you may have to hold all these things. My classroom runs much much better with these and I highly recommend the investment.Other ideas I have mainly because I am desperate for supplies is to offer bonus points for things like scissors, post-its, and glue sticks. I know some of you are using things similar that probably work much better what suggestions do you have on improving my tubs? Or share with us how and what you use in your tubs! 

P.S. You have until December 16th to apply for the NATAA experience!! It is one I promise you will not regret. Click the link above to go straight to the application page.