Made it Monday 7*11*16

Another Monday... another idea... we're just getting back in town from being in Havelock, NC for my husband's family reunion, I'm exhausted... that North Carolina heat is oppressive...I'm keeping it simple this week.

Road trippin' with husband...



Teach.Create.Motivate. Hydration Station

While exploring on Pinterest I ran across this pin and thought it was a great idea, a hydration station in the classroom! Why hadn't I thought of that? I allow my students to pretty much eat and drink whenever they want during the day but those nasty water bottle spills irk all my nerves! I have a pretty long counter space and have decided that the space next to my sink will now be our new Hydration Station. Students will house their water bottles in this space to free up space on their desk and avoid liquid disasters! Click the picture below if you'd like a copy for your classroom.

Click Picture for Link

Hop on over to 4th Grade Frolics for more Made It Monday ideas!

Made It Monday 7*4*16

For the past week I've been researching Brag Tags on Pinterest. One of my best friends teaches 1st grade at my school and she was sharing how she wanted to start Brag Tags in her classroom next year. She was going to purchase them but I told her that I could just make them for her. While reading up on them I decided that they were an awesome idea and that I'd love to implement them with my 3rd graders next year.

Basically Brag Tags are little badges that students earn throughout the school year. Brag tags can be academic, or character related. The following blog posts helped me understand them a little better.
 

Angie from Lucky Little Learners has a great FAQ's about them. This post answers any questions you might have about them. She also sells her Brag Tags on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Aimee from Primarily Speaking also has a blog post on Tips and Tricks for using Brag Tags in your classroom. You can check out her Brag Tags on Teachers Pay Teachers as well.

Jamie from Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher has a wonderful blog post as well. You can check her Brag Tags on Teachers Pay Teachers too.

Sample Brag Tags I'm Creating

So after all my research I think I've wrapped my brain around how I intend to implement them in my classroom. I've answered some questions below.

Super Improver Brag Tags I'm Creating

• Where will I get the brag tags? I'm in the process of making my own. There are some great ones on TpT, but I have hundreds of dollars worth of clip art and I really need to use it! School Life.com also has some you can purchase. I intend to purchase some special brag tags from them such as Happy Birthday, 100 Days Smarter, Honor Roll, Read Across America.
• How will I make my brag tags? I started making them in PowerPoint, basically copying and pasting each design into a template I made. Then I discovered this YouTube Video by Diane from 5th in the Middle and learned there was a much easier way to do it!
• Where will I get the necklaces? I'm going to get mine from School Life.com. The 24 inch Ball Chain will work perfectly for my students.  
• How will I store my brag tags? I'm going with the storage I saw on the Primarily Speaking blog post. I found the compartment organizers at Michael's for 50% off last week. That made them $1.49 a piece and I purchased 7 of them... enough to store the hundred+ brag tags I'm making.
• How will I display them? I'm thinking of using the bulletin board to hang them on. Every student will be able to wear them on Fridays. I'm debating if I will allow them to wear them any day they earn a badge. I'm also thinking I'll let students wear their brag tags to lunch if they have a family member coming to eat with them.
• Will students take them home? They will only go home on the last day of school. They will be stored in the classroom all year and free for parents to see during back to school night, conference time, classroom parties or anytime they're in the building.
• How will students earn tags? That question will be answered in a future post! Check back soon...

Hop on over to 4th Grade Frolics for more Made It Monday ideas!