Behavior Management with guitars

Every year my school chooses a different school wide theme. One year it was something like "Rockin' our way to success." All I have is this link to show you what my inspiration was, and if this is your blog let me know please!
Guitar Inspiration

So my Dad (who has lots of cool and expensive tools in the garage) showed me how to cut out a guitar from wood. I drew it on the wood, and then we sort of took turns using the saws and sander. I say sort of because he did the bulk of the work, but did let me do stuff after watching him do it first. And that, my educator friends, is modeling at its finest. :)

Once cut out and sanded down, we primed it. Then I took it home to paint. I made the first one for myself (this picture was taken today, after using it for three years...)

I made some for my friends at school,

and one for my friend's son:

My most recent one was for a male teacher, so I didn't want to girly it up. He also loves the Houston Texans, so I went with a football theme.
 The front and back: 

Half way through: I painted the top part of the guitar to look like a football field. I painted it green, then measured out the yard lines. I used a white paint pen with a small tip to draw the lines and write the numbers. Then I traced and painted the Houston Texans logo to the bottom left, and the football in the middle. 

The idea is all the students start in the middle of the guitar- where it says "KICK OFF" and then for good behavior they move up towards "TOUCHDOWN" and for not so good behavior they move down towards "EJECTED." The teacher can decide exactly what happens at each interval, but this gives students many chances to correct unwanted behaviors, and rewards those who do well.

Do you use the clip system in your classroom? Is it effective?
I welcome all comments below! 

Wordless Wednesday: Celebrate Freedom!

The idea is to post a picture and minimal words so here ya go!

(and thank you Miss DeCarbo at Sugar and Spice for hosting the linky!) 

Celebrate Freedom Week (which is state mandated in Texas) is next week. Are you ready? 

the BOOST is here

Teachers Pay Teachers has graciously decided to have a one day back to school sale! They're calling it a BACK TO SCHOOL BOOST:

Everything will be on sale in my store TODAY only! 

Back to School BOOST!

Teachers Pay Teachers has graciously decided to have a one day back to school sale! They're calling it a BACK TO SCHOOL BOOST:

Everything will be on sale in my store Wednesday, August 20th so start wish listing those items now! 

ThrowBackThursday: Teacher Tool Box

Last year I created my teacher tool box- and I absolutely LOVE it, still, over one year later. So I thought I would resurrect my old blog post about how to make it, and I am putting all of my teacher tool box labels on sale for today only (links are at the end of this post!) 

Oh where to start??? I have tried LOTS of things the past few days...but I'll stick with my TEACHER TOOL BOX! I know there's a lot out there....and I was inspired by my friend Jessica over at Literacy Spark...

I bought this from Lowe's:

It is a Stack On 18 Drawer Storage Unit. I wanted to get one like Jessica's but of course the Lowes I was at had a limited supply- and it took me asking three different people and finally pulling up what I wanted on my iPhone and showing it to someone before I finally found the right aisle to go down!

To make this would be long story short (yes- I had other "hiccups" like lack of printer ink, cardstock, etc.) Here is my finished product:

First I had to make my labels. Literacy Spark (Jessica) has made hers for sale.  In all different colors, too! But of course I couldn't find that tool box, so I had to create my own stuff. I will add more colors later on, but for now here is the orange and turquoise that I used.   Now I have 8 different colors at my TpT store to choose from!

Besides buying the "tool box" from Lowes, I needed a color printer, white card stock, double sided tape, scissors, and the labels. After creating and printing the labels I cut them out:

After cutting, I applied the double sided tape to the FRONT of the label on each end. 

I then placed the label into the drawer, pressing the double sided tape inside the drawer so it would stick properly. 

Then I put the drawer back into the tool box. Repeat 17 times and then you're done!

If you like what you see and want to make your own let me know! I used orange chevron with a turquoise box around the text, but I can make any color combination you want! 

The orange/ turquoise combo is in my TpT store here for fifty cents. You can email me at theeducatedcrown@gmail.com for specific color combinations/ specific labels and I can create them just for you!

Click on the picture below to take you to the product:

Two for Tuesday- 50% off sale!

So sad but true...which is why I want to start participating in Two for Tuesday every Tuesday! I'm linking up with The Teaching Tribune. 

This means I put TWO of my Teachers Pay Teachers bundles on sale for 50% off! 

The first bundle I am putting sale is my Parts of Speech Task Cards bundle. It is normally $6, but it is only $3 for a limited time! You get 173 task cards covering 6 types of speech, plus an answer key to go with each set. Ideal for students first grade and up to reinforce identifying a specific part of speech in a simple sentence. Everything can be printed in color or black and white. I recommend printing on card stock and laminating for durability. Great for SCOOT, small group, work stations, review, etc. 

This bundle includes: 

24 basic nouns, common & proper nouns
24 action verbs, and past, present, and future verbs
24 adjectives
24 adverbs
24 pronouns
29 prepositions
24 mixed practice (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

The second bundle I am putting on sale is my Prefixes Bundle. It is normally $10, but now it is just $5! It contains a plethora of printables and activities covering dis, mis, pre, re, and un. I used in my second grade class, but can be used with first graders learning about prefixes, and older students to reinforce vocabulary skills. Also contains quizzes and answer keys! 

Happy Tuesday! 

Back to School BUNDLE giveaway

My Back to School giveaway ended a day early...but congratulations to Kickin it in Kindergarten for being the winner! If she does not reply to the email I sent her within 24 hours then I'll choose a new winner. 

Since it ended earlier than expected, I'm doing another giveaway, this time for my Back to School BUNDLE (regularly $2 at TpT)  It is great for grades first through third, to keep those kiddos busy the first week of school, as you run around organizing supplies, filling out transportation tags, keeping track of the mounds of forms the kids are turning in, etc.

Enter to win below, and if you win I will EMAIL you the Back to School Bundle. If you already follow me on Bloglovin' then all you need to do is enter and tell me the name you follow me as. Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Back to School task cards FREEBIE

I am giving away a set of 19 back to school task cards- they are printed, laminated, cut, and READY TO GO- no assembly required! I used these as time fillers during the first week of school and gave out stickers to those who answered correctly. You can also play SCOOT, put them in work stations, etc.- get creative!

to check out the product at my TpT store click here

All you have to do is enter the giveaway below. If you are the winner I will contact you Monday, August 11th for your mailing address, and the set will be mailed to you the day I receive your address. (Disclosure: This set does not include a printed recording sheet. I can email you the recording sheet if you win. I will also not share your mailing address with anyone, nor will I use it to stalk you.)

The giveaway closes on Sunday, August 10th, at midnight. (Central time) 

Good luck, and stay posted for more 'READY TO GO' task card sets from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

4, 3, 2, 1....BLAST OFF {to school sale}

It's that time of year when the teachers are just as anxious as the students to start the school year. What most students, and parents, do not realize is that most teachers have already gone back to work. There's classrooms to be set up, lessons to be planned, curriculum to learn, data to assess, copies to be made, and a long, long laundry list of 52,000 more things to do. There is also a ton of money spent, by teachers themselves, in preparation of school starting. 

Which is why Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing their annual back to school sale. It is also why I have put all of my back to school items on sale, as well as my $5 and $10 bundles. The sale is August 4-5 only, so start searching for those must-have items now!

I'm going to be doing some back to school giveaways in the near future, so stay tuned. 

Give away!

Summertime is here [finally!] and that means loads of freebies, blog hops, giveaways, etc. 

The first one I am participating in is from my dear friend Jessica at Literacy Spark- she reached 1000 followers recently and is celebrating BIG time. 

It is a five day give away, and there are tons of freebies up for grabs! I am one of the featured freebies today, so please check it and enter to win!

Spark Student Motivation {Summer Reading Programs} from Literacy Spark

My great friend and motivator, Jessica, has an awesome blog called Literacy Spark. 

She has compiled a comprehensive list of summer reading programs that have rewards.  

Please check it out and share it with your friends and colleagues!

Throwback Thursday

The button is a work in progress....maybe someday this can be a linky party? Maybe someone already does this and I'm not aware? Anyway, it's spring time, and with Spring time comes Spring cleaning! The gem below is my report card, circa 1992. Discovered as my mom organized the study. I am pretty sure I have every single report card from Kindergarten (maybe pre-school) all the way to my Senior year. I haven't spread everything out yet. I chose this one since I was in Second Grade and now that's what I teach! 

It gets better....my conduct and attendance:

my grades:

and last, but not least, an explanation of reading levels (please note that I was a level 6 the first half of the year, and a level 7 the second half):

These reading levels are from 1991-1992, second grade. I have know idea what they mean really, I don't know how it was assessed or anything. My third grade report card looked the same. 

I hope by next week I can find something else to share!

Second Grade Product Swap

Welcome to the second grade product swap and blog hop! EIGHTEEN wonderful second grade bloggers have joined together to swap and review each other's products. Best of all, we are giving away all of the products to one lucky winner!  

If you are looking for the start of the hop, head over to see Casey at Second Grade Math Maniac to start hopping.  As you check out all the fabulous products, make sure to follow each blog on Bloglovin' as well.  There will be a Rafflecopter at the last stop.  This is where you can enter to win all of the products being reviewed!

**My Product Review**

The product I reviewed is from Jessica at Literacy Spark. We teach together, so I get to use tons of her products all year; this is the just the latest in her awesome creations :) 

At my school in Texas, we are getting ready for the STAAR test for our fourth graders. STAAR stands for State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, so the test is our state-wide standardized test. In third grade, students are tested in Reading and Math. In Fourth grade, students are tested in Writing, Reading, and Math. Bleh! We try to make it fun, so the theme this year is "CRUSH THE STAAR" and we used the game Candy Crush as inspiration. 

The finished product: Crush the STAAR candy bouquet centerpiece 

Each team was challenged to create something motivational to go with the theme to display during our STAAR training. So the second grade team used Literacy Spark's Test Prep Candy Phrases  plus tons of candy and craft supplies to create the ultimate candy bouquet centerpiece. Needless to say, second grade "crushed" the competition! A few more pictures are below:

Luckily second graders do not take the STAAR test, but these labels are super cute and easily used with specific candies to give to students as motivators, rewards, holiday gifts, etc. Just print in color on thick paper, like cardstock, laminate if you want them to last a long time, and stick to the candy. We used hot glue, and curled ribbon to dress it up. 

Here is another picture to show all the different labels:

The next {and last} stop on the product swap is the maker of the product I reviewed!

Click the button below to head over to....Literacy Spark!