Escape Room The Game

Printing to most teachers is really important, but also REALLY expensive.  Case in point: I have tried all different kinds of methods for bringing the cost of printing down. Getting ink from overseas (the cartridges worked about half of the time), buy the XL ink cartridges, and tried different off brand cartridges. Nothing ever worked so I usually just printed from my schools horrible printer that would leave those awful horizontal lines from the toner constantly being low. Printing it color was never an option aside from the one cartridge I would buy at the start of the school year. My mother introduced me to the greatest thing since sliced bread last summer: Hp Instant Ink Program! With this program you can choose from 3 different plans ranging from 2.99-9.99 a month and print in either black or COLORED ink as much as your plan allows!!!! Your printer monitors you ink level and if you are running low, ink comes right to your door without you even having to think about it. There a...

Last year I decided that I was ready for a new challenge. I wanted to focus on differentiation as much as possible. For each new topic that was covered in my room I would do a whole group lesson on the topic, generally with a Prezi presentation. Then I would have the students break out into their learning groups and rotate through a list of differentiated activities. Today I am going to walk you through a day (or two) in my classroom teaching figurative language! Before any activities or teaching has started, all of my classes were broken down into different learning groups based on pre-test scores. Each group was assigned a color. This color would correspond to the activities they will complete during independent time. Some of the supplies I use for this: I started the class with a bell ringer from my Bellringers  and informed the class that for the next couple of days we would be working on Figurative Language: After we went over the bellringer as a class, I handed out a copy of ...

I don't know about you, but on back to school night (open house) I always get a ton of questions about what supplies students should get. I decided that this year I would do something to help reduce those questions! Enter the "School Supply Board"!  The board has examples of the supplies I would like my students to have. I bought a tri-fold board and hot glued the supplies I wanted to that board. It was surprisingly simple and I am quite happy with the result!  Example Photos:

I have been teaching for over a decade now and there are some tried and true supplies that, if I didn't have them in my classroom anymore, I would be lost without!  The List Writing Utensils I Love I couldn't survive without my Inkjoy Pens. I use them for everything! I also have my flair pen for a little extra pizzaz. If you have not tried gel highlighters yet, let me tell you...they are awesome! What classroom would be complete without a little metallic sparkle? Coffee, coffee coffee Who doesn't need coffee to get them through the day? I have a Mr. Coffee Kcup maker in my classroom. It has been a lifesaver on more than one occasion. I also use my Contigo mugs (I have 7 now) because they keep my coffee hot for HOURS! I LOATHE chalk....but I love my chalkboard markers! These have only recently become more mainstream. It used to be next to impossible to find chalkboard markers. I am SOOOO happy that they are now commonplace and easy to find! Paper Pots My paper tissue pots ha...

Last summer I blogged about my undying love for Paper Pots . I must have started a trend at my school because everywhere you look there is another Paper Pot. It's pretty neat actually! Sadly, my beloved pink and green Paper Pots broke last year at the hands of the same student. Paper Pot serial killer...I'm still upset about it.  RIP Paper Pots I was on the prowl for my next paper pot fix when I found THESE: I am so excited about them! Do any of you use paper pots in the classroom?

There is nothing more pointless than the back to school convocation/faculty meetings. I swear that the higher ups just come up with an agenda and then say to themselves, "Nope...they still have too much time getting their classrooms together. Let's throw in another team building activity!" One year, I kid you not, the entire faculty had to pick out a rock, name the rock, and introduce our rock to another teacher.  In order to help ease the pain of this cruel injustice, I have created a back to school BINGO board. Print out a few and play with your friends. Just don't actually yell out, "BINGO!" Or maybe do and let me know what happens! ;) Back to school BINGO

I am obsessed with escape rooms! They are so much fun! I wish that I could do one every day. On my spring break trip to Atlanta I was able to do three in one day and it was super exhilarating! Before my state test I decided that I wanted to do a fun review game for my kids and decided to try my hand at an escape room. It took a lot of trial and error, but it was a MASSIVE success. I decided to share my escape room plans with you as best as I can in case you want to try something similar in your classroom. Step 1: The days leading up to the escape room I rolled a suitcase around with me (You will see why) Step 2: I broke the students into four groups Step 3: I created a newspaper article that informed students that I was taking over the world and handed one out to each group. Newspaper Generator Step four: I hid a card in my miniature file cabinet that said, "Don't just stand there in limbo, take a look in the classroom window." Step five: The first set of clues to deciphe...