K-2 Word Wall To-Go

 Dear Word Wall,

     This year I promise to make you look 

B-E-A-utiful, keep you updated and organized, and make you super functional and kid-friendly.  I promise I won't let you down!         Love, Beth

   So... last year at the beginning of the school year I was so overwhelmed by moving to a new school in a new district that I never really got my Word Wall up and running.  I taught weekly word wall words and did various word work activities with my kids each day using the words, but I didn't display them cumulatively on a word wall display in the classroom.  So this year I'm going to be on the ball!!  I have a plan to make my Word Wall interactive and magnetic too!  I have this air conditioning unit in my classroom that is metal, so I am going to put the Letter Headers across the unit in several rows and add the high frequency words we do each week to the wall with magnetic strips on the back so the kids can come up and take the words on an off if they need a word for Writer's Workshop, etc.  This unit has EVERYTHING you need to keep your word wall up and running.  It has super cute Letter Headers, all the K-2 word wall words you could ever want (to go along with any reading series you may have), AND lots of word wall activities to do each day with your kiddos!  

   The first 5 people to follow my blog, TPT Store, & Facebook page gets this unit for FREE!

Follow Simply SWEET TEAching on this page of course.. :)

Follow my TPT Store HERE

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Click the picture below to find this unit in my TPT Store!

 

  

Bahama Mamma gets back to teaching...

     My wonderful husband and I just got back from an amazing cruise to the Bahamas yesterday with friends, and I just had to share some of our great pictures!  This was our first cruise, and we had the best time!  We did the 5-day cruise out of Charleston on the Carnival Fantasy, which was SOOOO much better than driving all the way down to Florida to cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale.  We loved exploring the ship, chilling at the pool with a nice cold drink, and doing fun excursions at the ports at Nassau and Freeport.  We went snorkeling in Nassau which was INCREDIBLE!  I would totally recommend snorkeling to anyone who hasn't done it before. The beautiful coral reef and tropical fish were so cool!!  I seriously pondered getting some plastic fish and my snorkel and going snorkeling in the bathtub today...haha jk.  We also had a fun little tour of Nassau by a local which was awesome!  My husband is a firefighter and took a fire academy class with some guys from the Bahamas here in the states last year, and they always said to come visit them one day.  So when we found out we were going on a cruise there, we Facebooked them and told them where we were going to be and they met us at the port!  Ty and Tito were the two guys who showed us around.  They took us to the beach and around the whole island.  It was great!!  But now the hubby and I are unpacking, doing laundry, cleaning, etc....all the post-vacation chores.  So now I guess it's back to thinking about school stuff!!  Less than 1 month before I get to meet my new 1st grade class...how crazy is that?!?

We love our followers!

I just made a new common core math unit to go along with the standards in first grade for "Operations and Algebraic Thinking." Since we love our followers so much... I have decided to give it away for FREE to the first THREE FOLLOWERS who COMMENT on this post. If you are a follower, leave a comment about common core math... a cool activity, resource, or just your thoughts :)

I created these activities to use in math tubs. I have found great success using math tubs in my classroom. My class is split up into 4 groups based on their needs during each unit of study. The students work with partners in the tubs while I pull small groups. It's a great way to differentiate, and the students love working in the tubs (standard specific activities) around the room. You can purchase this unit or my "Numbers and Operations in Base Ten" unit at my teachers pay teachers store by clicking the picture above. I hope this is a helpful resource for you :) 

Have a wonderful evening!

Back to School GIVEAWAY!!

  Our first BIG GIVEAWAY is here!! Yay! We have teamed up with Lizzie from A First Grade Fairy Tale and Nicole from Kinder Confections to do a fabulous giveaway!  We have created 3 awesome units, two of which are focused on the new Common Core standards. 

 If you want to be the recipient of these awesome units, here is what you have to do:

1) Follow Simply SWEET TEAching

2) LIKE Simply SWEET TEAching on our Facebook Fan Page

3) Follow A First Grade Fairy Tale

4) Follow Kinder Confections

5) Comment on this blog post and leave your EMAIL address, of course!!
 
      The FIRST 10 people to complete the above list gets these for FREE!!!

From Beth @  Simply SWEET TEAching's TPT Store

From Nicole @ Kinder Confections's TPT Store

From Lizzie @ A First Grade Fairy Tale's TPT Store

   We hope you enjoy our units!!  Have a great rest of the summer and stay tuned for more great Back to School resources from Simply SWEET TEAching!   
      Love, Katie & Beth

Common Sense is No Longer Common: The Facts About Teacher Accountability

      Let me just say that THIS POST IS A MUST READ!!   I know we try to keep Simply SWEET TEAching all about purposeful and practical educational resources & ideas...but I just HAD to share this with all of you!  I had dinner tonight with some friends from high school (who are ALL teachers by the way), and one of them shared this article with us.  It was written by April Hays, a teacher in South Carolina, about how well-intentioned ideas for teacher accountability in hopes of improving student achievement  have gotten out of hand and why common teacher accountability practices such as merit pay will never truly be effective.  It is so well-written and really puts things into perspective!  I usually try not to get too caught up in educational politics, but you can tell this teacher really has her students best interest at heart and has high expectations for student achievement, but at the same time wants the world to understand how unfairly teachers are treated and how a "one size fits all" testing era will never meet the needs of or accurately assess the diverse learners we teach each and every day.    - Beth

 
Common Sense Is No Longer Common  by April Hays
      I have just taught all day long in a third grade classroom. The kids were fine. The day went smooth. But I have come to two conclusions. I either:

a. Have a brilliantly blessed cranium, or
b. Am missing a few vital neuron connections in that cranium.

     Now assuming I have been brilliantly blessed, I’d like to propose legislation that would dramatically change life for the better here in SC. Read on.....

1. I would like to see all branches of law enforcement held accountable for the crime on our streets. If there is crime, surely that means they aren’t doing their jobs. We, as tax payers, deserve to live in safe neighborhoods. Regardless of whether the police serve retirement villages or drug infested prostitute hang outs, they will all be held accountable. If a policeman patrols a community with no crime, he will be paid. If a policeman has a community with crime, he will not be paid. Additionally, police may only use positive measures to enforce the law. They may no longer use any type of weapon or rude words. This may scar the self esteem of us citizens. We would then need counseling services, and the police would be responsible if one of us snaps and blows up a public establishment. If we are following the law, they must pull us over and tell us “Good Job” and perhaps give us a piece of candy. Note: personally I wouldn’t care if they congratulated me or not. If I knew I wasn’t going to get a ticket and my insurance go sky high, I’d drive at least 70 on my way home from school every single day.

2. I would like to see accountability on all dentists. If there are cavities in our mouths, obviously the dentists aren’t doing their jobs. We go to the dentist for a reason – to prevent our pearly whites from rotting out. Why can’t these highly paid professionals do their job? There should not be a cavity in any mouth in all of SC. If there are, then the dentists are falling short, and they should have their licenses revoked. They should not be allowed to practice dentistry in our state.

3. Doctors, also, should be held accountable on the job. If a doctor has a patient that has cancer, that doctor is not doing their job. Why do doctors become doctors? To heal people. Thus, if they aren’t healing people, they aren’t doing their job and should not be paid. Doctors are highly paid individuals, and we citizens deserve to be healthy. If we get these incompetent doctors out of practice, that would reduce our medical costs. Then this hoopla over health insurance would no longer be an issue (told you I had a blessed cranium).

4. Owners of gyms, health clubs, and all registered dieticians should be held accountable on their jobs. If there is obesity in their cities, obviously they aren’t doing their jobs. If health clubs and gyms have any member that weighs over 130 pounds, their establishments should be shut down. Obviously they are incompetent, and thus, should not be allowed to perform these services to the people of our state. If these individuals were held accountable on their jobs, we’d all be thin. There would be no diabetes or heart disease.

Sound ridiculous? We teachers think so, too. Yet, there are legislators, the Superintendent of Education, and our newly elected governor that want these mandates placed on teachers. They have this mentality that if a teacher performs the right combination, the human mind will click into place and our entire population will be educated. Thus, under-performing teachers will not be paid. One of these so called professionals said on tv the other night, “if our show ratings went down, we wouldn’t get paid either”. Ding, ding, ding – they choose their cast. We teachers and doctors and dentists deal with anyone that walks into our places of employment. We can not pick and choose the “best”.
Classrooms are microcosms of society. Each year, I have kids with privileged backgrounds and kids with adverse living conditions. I have kids that live on the lake, and I have had kids that live in their car. I have kids that have loving, supportive parents, and I have kids with parents that simply should not be parents. I have kids that were born with high IQ’s (this is why they are labeled as GIFTED), and I have children that are like the rest of us – normal. I have children that have been through tragedies – deaths of parents, a handicapped sibling, a terminally ill loved one, and living arrangements that make me shudder. I have children that have been taken into custody of the department of social services, and I’ve had children that have never traveled out of Anderson County. I have had children born to mothers on drugs, and I have students with no mother at all. Yet, all of these kids are expected to perform proficiently, without exception. Something is clearly not right with this picture. These students with challenges, with hardships, and who were not born “gifted” deserve an education, too. They are the reason I went to college to become a teacher – to touch lives. When this passion is being trampled on by ignorant individuals, I take that as a personal offense. SC school children deserve teachers that love them for who they are, not for the scores they achieve.
Not only is this just outright ridiculous, it is also discriminatory. Many, many people are born with handicaps. These are documented, medical conditions. They are clearly outlined. These individuals have IEPs for a reason – they have challenges. These legislators do not have the qualifications, nor do they have the authority, to lay expectations on these students. IEP’s are legally binding documents that are taken seriously.

     Furthermore, teachers do not decide the content of what they teach, how they teach it, or how it is assessed. When students take the PASS test in the spring, it is illegal for us to discuss it in anyway. We are not allowed to discuss ways we can make it better, how we can improve, or how we could be better able to meet it’s demands. We are silenced. Yet, we are held accountable for the results. Always.
Anyone, regardless of position, who can not see why paying teachers based on student performance would not work, clearly has mental challenges themselves, and an obvious inability to think above a third grade level. I challenge them to take the third grade PASS test to prove my point.
As I stated earlier, I am either brilliantly blessed or missing a few screws. This seems like a total no brainer to me. I have no idea what could possibly be going through the minds of the people out there that think teachers should be held to those ridiculous expectations that no other occupations have to answer for.

Teachers/Educators/Administrators – we’ve got to stand up for our rights and demand integrity in the schools.

Parents – your child’s future is important. Take a stand. If your children have developmental delays/learning disabilities, these new mandates are discriminatory. Make your voices heard.

      As for me, I’m instilling in my students self worth. They are important. They are special to me, and I believe in each one of them. They will make their marks on this world. I guarantee. And if my salary is docked because one of my students has a bad day and doesn’t do his absolute best on the PASS test, I’m going to be floating on a yacht in the Caribbean.
Ignorance is, indeed, total bliss.

Proud Sponsor of the IKEA Clasroom

  So fellow blogger, Katie, and I had a little road trip, if you will, to IKEA Charlotte on Thursday, and boy did we rack up on some classroom goodies!!  Minus sore backs from lifting heavy shelves into the back of the SUV and one item out of stock, our trip was FABULOUS, as all trips to IKEA usually are.  We love the iconic IKEA experiences...spinning shopping carts in the ginormous elevator, eating Swedish meatballs in the IKEA cafeteria, and watching all the pregnant women and their husbands stock up on baby stuff... haha.  Each year I keep telling myself that I can't possibly buy anything else for my classroom or organize things any better than the year before, but I always prove myself wrong!  So here are some of the IKEA storage units I purchased and what I am using them for.  I can't wait to set everything up in my classroom!!  And of course, all the drawers will have labels...as any true Type A teacher would do.  If you are in need of some organization, IKEA is the place to be! Do any of you have these in your classrooms or have other uses for them?? I'd love your ideas!!
    - Beth

This would be for storing posters and other large paper items.

I want to use this for all the different kinds of writing supplies - handwriting paper, notebook paper, folded books, How-To books paper, letter writing paper, etc.

This is my personal favorite! This is the TROFAST frame. I bought two of these..  I am using the cute lime green colorful drawers like in the picture below and storing math manipulatives in each drawer like dominoes, pattern blocks, Base 10 Blocks, etc.

This is the small TROFAST frame and I want to use one or two of these to store my Daily 5 Word Work and Listen to Reading materials.