Parent Teacher Conference Form

It's been a busy start to the school year, but then again, isn't it always. I've enjoyed getting to know this group of third graders, I must say they're a fun bunch and they talk a lot have great communication skills!

Last week I held my very first Parent Math Night thanks to my Team BFF. It was her idea, all I did was tweak the Powerpoint and add some cute graphics to the information packet. 

In the midst of getting ready for that I started Parent Conferences. I'm that teacher that likes to schedule them three weeks out from actual conference day, that way I have time on conference day to work in my classroom. As of now I only have 5 that day and my last one ends at 11:20am, I have an entire afternoon to get work done!
I've had several requests for my conference form so I thought I'd share it here, feel free to tweak it as it directly relates to my district requirements. 

I hope to get back to my regular blogging schedule. I've got some amazing ideas to share, I just need the time to blog about them.  

Presidential Cookie Contest

During the 2008 Election my teammates and I decided to hold an election using the Presidential Cookie Recipes from Family Circle.

Here's a picture of the team election bulletin board.

2nd Grade Election Results



Cookie A Recipe- Michelle Obama



Cookie B Recipe- Cindy McCain

I had such a blast doing this that I had to do it with my 3rd graders in my new school back in 2012. I've created a document with the recipes and ballots. Last time I had 4 parent volunteers make the cookies and send them in. Each student got one of each cookie and marked their choice on the ballot. They placed the ballots in a ballot box and the teachers tallied them over night. The teachers annouced the winners the next day. *Beware of food allergies!*

 

The recipes for this year have been posted on the Family Circle website, click here for your very own copy.

Do you think you'll use this idea in your classroom? What other election activities are you doing?

Classroom Tour 16-17

This is me before Open House, outfit courtesy of Lane Bryant!

Welcome Bunting

Instead of calling them Brag Tags, I settled on Smart Tags since our school motto is "Coal Miners are SMART." This is where students will store their brag tags through out the week. They can wear them on Fridays.

Guided Reading Area, Fiction and Nonfiction Posters courtesy of "A Year of Many Firsts."

Students will store their water bottles to the left of the sink, under the Hydration Station poster.

Construction paper storage, weekly subject copy drawers and brag tags.

Here are all 108 set of brag tags, in all their glory, took all summer to laminate, cut out and punch holes in!

Teacher toolbox and storage containers. I don't have an official teacher desk so I store all my items here.

Anchor Chart Wall

Cubby Area

Storage and Library Area

Workstations, Library Area, Storage

Desk Area... see my glowing Essential Oil Diffuser... my new favorite item!

Learning Targets, Rules, Whiteboard

Decided to do a selfie theme for my classroom wish list this year.

Schedule, Hand Signals, Super Improver Wall

Writing area, #thirdgrade door.... I intend to use my new fancy Polaroid Zip to take photos of the students in the classroom and put them on the door.

View from the door.

SMORE Folder, Parent Flipbook, Chevron Water Bottle for each student, mini water bottle for the parents.

There you have it, my classroom set up for this year. I hope to focus in and blog about each area weekly.

The Teaching Oasis

The Teaching Oasis was started in 2010 after my father passed away. I started creating and selling resources as a way to cope with the grief I was experiencing. In January of 2013, I decided to turn it into a nonprofit and started offering all of my resources to teachers across the country for free.
Continuing to pay for a web domain and hosting was no longer feasible. But still wanting to share as much as I can, I decided to load everything from www.teachingoasis.com (now inactive) into folders on Google Drive (now inactive). 
Unfortunately, Google Drive has changed the way it shares documents. I get hundreds of requests every week for access to documents that, in the past, had a direct link where you could download it with no issues. I've done some research for a free database I could use to continue to share my work, however, I haven't been able to find a web document hosting platform that doesn't require a paid subscription.
Over the next few months... many months, I'll be transferring the documents over to Teachers Pay Teachers so that there can be a more reliable way to access the resources. Here's the link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Teaching-Oasis. Feel free to bookmark it and share it with others!
 

Made it Monday: Summer Recap

Next Monday teachers in my district head back to school for Teacher Work Week. I've enjoyed not teaching summer school and allowing myself downtime to reflect on this past school year. I've also created some amazing memories with my family and friends. I've been blogging regularly during the summer and hope to continue once the school year starts. Let's take a look back at all the creations I've shared this summer...
6*20 SMORE Folder Insert- This week I shared the new design for my SMORE Folder's (Take Home Folders) this year. 

6*27- Long Range Plans- This week I shared my long range lesson plans for the upcoming school year. 

7*11 Hydration Station- This week I shared an idea about creating a Hydration Station in my classroom this year. Hop on over to this post for a copy of the sign. 

7*4 & 7*18- Brag Tags- Thanks to my great friend and coworker I jumped on the Brag Tag bandwagon and created tons to share... hop on over to this post for a wide variety tags to use in your own classroom. 

7*25 Student Welcome Gifts- This week I shared the gifts I created for my students. I can't believe I'll be meeting them in two short weeks!

8*1 Parent Resources- This week I talked about the Parent Flipbook and the Parent Handbook I'm sharing this school year. 

8*8 Student Birthdays- This last creation focused on how I want to celebrate my students birthdays this school year. I've got everything ready to go in their cute birthday bags. 

This blog as well as the Teaching Oasis website is supported by donations from readers like you. The website domain, monthly hosting and clip art can become quite an expense, please consider making a donation to keep all this possible. Thank you for your continued support and have a great school year!

Made It Monday 8*8*16

This week I decided to focus on student birthdays. This past year I gave students a card and a gift certificate to the local Sweet Frog frozen yogurt shop. It was pricey, but super easy... when I remembered to go buy them. This year I decided to scale back a bit.

Each student will receive a Happy Birthday Brag Tag to add to their chain.

I ordered these Happy Birthday Wristbands from Teacher Created Resources. Well technically I ordered it with my supply money from school.

I saw this class student birthday card from Teaching Maddeness. I decided to incorporate this idea into my classroom this year. I'll have a class set of these sheets run in color at the beginning of the school year. The day before a student birthday I'll have classmates sign the card so I can have it waiting on their desk the morning of.

This idea came from Doris Young at Third Grade Thinkers, she had cute Smile Treats waiting for her students during Open House. I already had my Welcome Gifts but thought this would be a great inexpensive birthday gift. You can find them at your local Wal-Mart.

In addition to the 1-Brag Tag, 2- Class Birthday Card, 3- Birthday Wristband and 4- Smile Fruit Snacks, we also do the Go Noodle Koo Koo Kangaroo Birthday Hooray during morning meeting.

That's how I'll be celebrating my students this year. We start school in September so I spend the 1st week recognizing August Birthdays. The last week of school I recognize July Birthdays. What do you do for your students on their birthdays?


For more Made It Monday ideas, hop on over to 4th Grade Frolics!