HELPERS, FROGS, FREE PRINTABLES, OH MY!

I am so excited because this coming school year I can have helpers! Well, I did have "helpers" in my 6th grade classes but it was a limited role in that I only had one person do everything and used "little jobs" as rewards or motivators for my students to look forward to. Who'd a thought that sweeping my nasty old floor would be a reward? It must have been the candy that was earned behind all that sweeping....LOL!

Anyway, as I looked around Pinterest this past month I noticed a few good resources about helpers and figured I had to decide what I will do. Since I will have 3 classes [exactly what I will have I still don't know, to be honest] I decided that the best way to tackle it is to have one boy and one girl from each class as helpers of the week. I like the application process I pinned somewhere in Pinterest Land and will certainly use that....kinda like a "get-to-know-you" activity in the first few days of school. Which students won't want to do that? Imagine reading these some time into the school year and possibly even opening up the application process again using it as an editing activity? Hmmm....need to write that down.

Anyway, I was, at one point [haven't yet ruled it out], considering going with the black, green, and gray chevron with frog accents theme as seen on the awesome Inspired In Style blog. I made these cute helper posters to hang somewhere in my room if I just-so-happen to go with the frog theme:

I plan to hang a cute black or green or gray ribbon from each and either use color-coded [by class] clothes pins with names on them or coordinating name plates color-coded [by class as well] to display who earned the coveted roles for each week. Cute, huh? :)

Well, that's all I have for now! Go on and check it out, download it for free if you like .... just click on the pictures! After all, it is SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED!

P.S. The frog clip art comes from www.mycutegraphics.com! :)

Binder Covers

After seeing all of the cute binder covers and what not on Pinterest and TPT, I tried my mouse at making some. I have the one I originally made a few years ago using Thistlegirl graphics that I customized for my lesson plans, grade books, and other binders....I do really like it:

I just had to redesign it a bit to keep up with the cute ones I seem to see everywhere. This is one I've come up with so far:

So....off I go to play with Power Point and the cute graphics and backgrounds I have. What a SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED way to spend a Sunday morning!

The Teacher's Toolbox....

Thanks to this pin on Pinterest, two good friends/coworkers and I, along with many, many summer-pinning teachers, took a rather dull, garage-oriented tool organizer and created a FABULOUS toolbox to use in our classrooms!  I know I am safe in estimating MANY teachers because when I went to purchase my tool box from Home Depot, there were NONE on the shelves! A floor guy had to pull some down from the tip top shelf for me to buy 2. When one of my friends went to buy hers, there was only one left!  The remaining boxes that were there when I bought mine were sold within DAYS! Glad I bought two....another friend couldn't find any...anywhere in our town! Here is what I bought:

So, we got together yesterday and had a little "decorate our toolboxes" party. We had a GREAT time! I contemplated painting mine but didn't want the hassle. The gray actually looks good with the colors I chose! Here is how mine came out:

Here is all three of ours together:

Didn't they come out great?!?

A great BIG SHOUT OUT goes to the first one of us FABULOUS teachers that created this and pinned it for us all! If you read my blog please know that I really appreciate your idea and THANK YOU for giving me a cool project to make with my girls! This is truly SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED! Heck....I think I might make another one for my student teacher...if I can find some! How awesome would that be?!?

Drops of Science Success...

I really want to boost learning...well really my students' DESIRE to learn...so I created in Vistaprint [with a little help and inspiration from Pinterest...again!] a "Drops of Science Success" reward punch card. This card will reward students that make a C or higher on unit tests, quizzes, or ISN checks. 3 punches for each A, 2 punches for each B, and 1 punch for each C. What makes this a reward is for every 12 punches they earn, they get to choose from a list of reward options....which I really need to finalize! :) I do know that home-made gourmet cupcakes WILL be on that list! I wonder if my daughter will leave me her secret recipe when she goes off to Disney for a semester?!? Hmmmm....

Anyway...WHY reward a C you ask? Well....everybody has to start somewhere! I want students who have been so used to making Ds or Fs to WANT to earn a C....and we all know what results from that! Hopefully they will thirst for that B or even that A and try to do as best if not better than their best to earn those grades. My fingers are crossed!

Well....go ahead and use this idea if you like. I posted a picture of card I made above and by no means do I hold any kind of claim on it. I also created one called "Road to Science Success" that has a highway in the background [Yes...Vistaprint, too!]. Anyway you look at them, you know they are SCIENCE DIVA CERTIFIED!