August 18, 2019
New Website
November 14, 2017
New Baby
The last few months have been very busy. For one, I had my first baby! Nicholas was born on September 13th. I couldn't be more in love. It's amazing how your whole life can change in a matter of minutes. Since his arrival, I've been busy learning how to become a new mom. Now that I figured out mommy life, I look forward to getting back into the swing of things. I get to enjoy my time with him during the holiday, and I start back to work in January.
April 16, 2017
Monthly Calendar
I can’t believe
it’s been over a year since my last blog post.
It’s been quite a year! I’m still
a librarian in Texas. When I wasn’t at
school or working on Teachers Pay Teachers items, I was traveling. Just this year, I visited Florida twice, Ohio
three times, Tennessee, and New Mexico twice.
Did I mention that I went on an Alaskan cruise and spent the summer in
Australia and New Zealand? We had an
opportunity to take two trips of a lifetime and we took it. Unfortunately, all the traveling didn’t leave
much extra free time.
For the last few
months, I’ve been working on a few items for my school. I decided to post these on Teachers Pay
Teachers in case teachers need something similar. I’m only going to share one of the items
today. I’m not sure if you are familiar
with the Leader in Me program, but our school is a Leader in Me school. If you are a Leader in Me school, then your
school follows the 7 Habits. As a Leader
in Me school, there’s certain criteria that you have to do in order to become a
Lighthouse School. Students and teachers
create goals on a monthly basis and we needed a way to track those goals, so I
created my monthly calendar for all staff members and students. Students keep track on whether they
accomplished their daily goal by coloring in the day with either a green or red
crayon. If they color the box green,
then the student accomplished their goal.
If they colored the box red, then the student didn’t accomplish their
goal. Teachers actually post their
personal and profession goals and calendar outside their door for the whole
school to see. Besides tracking goals,
there’s plenty of other uses for the calendar.
What’s great
about the calendar is that it is completely editable. On each day, there’s a text box where you can
write anything that you would like on there.
The color, size, and font can all be changed to fit your needs. The clip art is from Scrappin Doodles and
Educlips. Educlips has become my new
favorite stores to shop from. If you
haven’t seen some of her items, please check out her store on Teachers Pay
Teachers.
December 14, 2015
Christmas in the Library
Christmas is my favorite holiday! This year the parent volunteers wanted to decorate the library. It took them a few days to decorate but it turned out awesome! The parents decorated the windows leading up to the library, the library doors, and the ends of the bookshelves. See the pictures below for results of their hard work.
How do decorate your library or classroom? Post below.
How do decorate your library or classroom? Post below.
December 7, 2015
Leader in Me Part 2
My school has come along way since starting the Leader in Me program two years ago. The lighthouse team has played a big part in implementing the Leader in Me program at our school. The following information and posts are all from my elementary school. We worked together as a lighthouse team to create all of the following items below. The ideas featured from this blog are from one of the staff members, Pinterest, Instagram, Leader in Me Online, or from Google search.
This is our newest bulletin board. I actually came up with this idea at one of the lighthouse trainings. I wanted to showcase the future careers of the students. This bulletin board shown showcases 5th grade. This is the first of many to come. I will continue to feature each grade level until each grade has had a turn. The title of the bulletin board reads, "Leaders of the Future: 5th Grade, and When I grow up, I want to be...". I took a picture of each student and taped a speech bubble to the picture. Each student had to write what he or she wanted to be when they grew up and why, and place their picture on the correct career. The students enjoyed this bulletin board, for it's an interactive bulletin board they can participate in. Students, staff, and parents all were interested in the students' future career plans.
Next to the Leaders of the Future bulletin board, is the Leaders of the World, career of the month bulletin board. Each month, I research a career. I find information on the job description, education required, colleges locally that host that career path, and salary information. I post the career information on sentence strips for everyone to see. I then draw a picture from featuring the career of the month. This month our school learned about the career of a veterinarian.
This year our school theme is Cougars are Leaders. Teachers had to start the year off with a Leader in Me themed bulletin board. As usual, the teachers did a great job with their bulletin boards. Here are a few that stood out.
One of the newer bulletin boards that I started was, Cougars Being Proactive. I wrote a letter home explaining the first habit. I asked the parents to take a picture of their child following habit 1. I even listed some examples on how to do this. I also asked the teachers to email any pictures of their students being proactive. This bulletin board will continue for the other 6 habits. We will do one each month. This is the result of our collaboration.
Last year we started 7 Habits Shout Outs. If a staff member or student sees another student following one of the 7 habits, then he or she can write how that student demonstrated following one of the 7 habits. The teacher or student then turns in the form to the office. Each morning the principal will read a few shout outs on the morning announcements. Shout outs are displayed in the cafeteria for all to see.
One of my favorite activities I participated in doing, is the RCE Leaders board. Our school abbreviation is RCE. We asked the teachers to send two to three students from each class that always follow the 7 habits. We took each child's pictures and spelled the words RCE Leaders with the pictures. The students loved seeing their picture on display for the whole school to see.
Each teacher had to post a class mission statement outside their classroom door. The teacher and students collaborated together what's important in their classroom. Each mission statement was different. The pictures below show some of the different class mission statements.
Something this year that we started was having teachers post their personal and professional goals outside their classroom door. Teachers will set a goal for each and keep track using a calendar. When the teacher met their goal for that day, he or she will color the day on the calendar green. If the teacher did not make their goal, the teacher will color the day red. Teachers and staff are also asked to post the habit of the week, leadership quote of the week, and classroom goal of the week.
Tracking data for the Leader in Me Program
To keep track of Accelerated Reader progress, I started a graph for each class. I placed 35 stings for each of the 35 classes on a window. On each string, I placed the teachers' name and Velcro up. When the class earned 10 points, I placed a 10 point circle up. The points go by 10's, and each time the class earned another 10 points I would place it up there. The point circles go up to 300 in value. After the 6 weeks are over, we award the class with the most points. Once the new 6 weeks starts, I take down all of the circles. The gold star on the picture means that class met their goal or surpassed their goal. Each teacher decides how many points each student will have to earn for that 6 weeks.
Each week each teacher picks a student for the leader of the week. Teachers select a student that follows all of the 7 habits. Each student has their named called on the announcements and their picture or name is placed on a bulletin near the front office.
Our school has two long hallways, so this year we made banners to display the 7 habits. Each hallway has the 7 habits displayed, like in the pictures below.
Leadership quotes are important to post around school. Here are a few that we have so far.
My principal came up with street signs using the 7 habits language. A local vendor used the PVC plastic to make the signs. We have a total of 14 around the school.
WIGS or Wildly Important Goals is something new we started this year. We post the goals that teachers and students need to do. Once they complete that goal, they can move their paw print over. We also have a gumball machine and a puzzle one that I do not have a picture of.
Library Leader in Me Photos
The Leader in Me themed photos below are all from the library.
Traits of a Good Leader bulletin board on the check in and check out desk.
The library bulletin board
The library classroom with the 7 habits hanging from lanterns.
This is how the top classes for A.R. are displayed in the library.
Here is the section of the library featuring the Leader in Me books and books about great leaders.
Be A Leader And Bury Your Head In A Good Book.
This is our newest bulletin board. I actually came up with this idea at one of the lighthouse trainings. I wanted to showcase the future careers of the students. This bulletin board shown showcases 5th grade. This is the first of many to come. I will continue to feature each grade level until each grade has had a turn. The title of the bulletin board reads, "Leaders of the Future: 5th Grade, and When I grow up, I want to be...". I took a picture of each student and taped a speech bubble to the picture. Each student had to write what he or she wanted to be when they grew up and why, and place their picture on the correct career. The students enjoyed this bulletin board, for it's an interactive bulletin board they can participate in. Students, staff, and parents all were interested in the students' future career plans.
Next to the Leaders of the Future bulletin board, is the Leaders of the World, career of the month bulletin board. Each month, I research a career. I find information on the job description, education required, colleges locally that host that career path, and salary information. I post the career information on sentence strips for everyone to see. I then draw a picture from featuring the career of the month. This month our school learned about the career of a veterinarian.
This year our school theme is Cougars are Leaders. Teachers had to start the year off with a Leader in Me themed bulletin board. As usual, the teachers did a great job with their bulletin boards. Here are a few that stood out.
One of the newer bulletin boards that I started was, Cougars Being Proactive. I wrote a letter home explaining the first habit. I asked the parents to take a picture of their child following habit 1. I even listed some examples on how to do this. I also asked the teachers to email any pictures of their students being proactive. This bulletin board will continue for the other 6 habits. We will do one each month. This is the result of our collaboration.
Last year we started 7 Habits Shout Outs. If a staff member or student sees another student following one of the 7 habits, then he or she can write how that student demonstrated following one of the 7 habits. The teacher or student then turns in the form to the office. Each morning the principal will read a few shout outs on the morning announcements. Shout outs are displayed in the cafeteria for all to see.
One of my favorite activities I participated in doing, is the RCE Leaders board. Our school abbreviation is RCE. We asked the teachers to send two to three students from each class that always follow the 7 habits. We took each child's pictures and spelled the words RCE Leaders with the pictures. The students loved seeing their picture on display for the whole school to see.
Each teacher had to post a class mission statement outside their classroom door. The teacher and students collaborated together what's important in their classroom. Each mission statement was different. The pictures below show some of the different class mission statements.
Tracking data for the Leader in Me Program
To keep track of Accelerated Reader progress, I started a graph for each class. I placed 35 stings for each of the 35 classes on a window. On each string, I placed the teachers' name and Velcro up. When the class earned 10 points, I placed a 10 point circle up. The points go by 10's, and each time the class earned another 10 points I would place it up there. The point circles go up to 300 in value. After the 6 weeks are over, we award the class with the most points. Once the new 6 weeks starts, I take down all of the circles. The gold star on the picture means that class met their goal or surpassed their goal. Each teacher decides how many points each student will have to earn for that 6 weeks.
Each week each teacher picks a student for the leader of the week. Teachers select a student that follows all of the 7 habits. Each student has their named called on the announcements and their picture or name is placed on a bulletin near the front office.
My principal came up with street signs using the 7 habits language. A local vendor used the PVC plastic to make the signs. We have a total of 14 around the school.
Library Leader in Me Photos
The Leader in Me themed photos below are all from the library.
I made the 3D letters using the top lid from the big copy paper boxes. Once the letter was done, I painted the letters and used laminated die cuts patterns and hot glued it on the letters.
7 Habits of Library Students:I found this on Teacher's Pay Teachers. It basically lists the 7 Habits and how it relates to the library.
Readers are Leaders
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