Communication Binders

Happy Sunday! I bet some of you start school tomorrow, so maybe not so happy? ;) We start next week, and while I'm excited, I know I'm going to dread not being able to sleep all night, getting up early, etc. I worked in my classroom ALL DAY LONG yesterday. I don't even know what I did. Haha! If you look at my classroom, it looks completely finished, but every time I go, I leave with a bigger list than what I came with. All those little things add up!

So I finished my Take Home Binders yesterday. I don't know why I didn't take pictures. Grr. I'll come back and add them tomorrow. I did, however, make a new Take Home Binder packet for you!

Click on the picture above to take you to the item on Tpt.

Jungle themed, of course! It's super cute, I think. I also made those ziplock baggies reinforced with duct tape to hold my Word Club cards, but again, no pictures.

I have a thousand other things to make, so this will be short and sweet, but I wanted to give one of you the chance to get this new packet for free! Be the first one to leave a comment and like my Facebook page and the new Jungle Take Home Binder Pack is all yours! :)

This is the cover for your take home binder.

Here are the labels for the pockets. 

This is the label of the behavior system to add on to the front of the agenda, so the parents will always have what each color/code means.

There are labels for your behavior system. Labels for your word or math cards. 2 homework pages. THe front and back page for the outside of the binder, and the labels for the inside and back pocket. Pretty much everything you need to get your binders started.  Love it and hope you do to!

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

Parent Helpers- FREEBIE!

Coooommmmeeee and Get It! :) New freebie for you!

I must say I haven't always liked parents in the classroom. For a while it freaked me out to have someone in there "watching" me. Then I really needed the help, so I let it happen. Then I realized, that was exactly how I learned and figured out that I wanted to be a teacher. I started as a mom in the classroom helping my son's teachers. I loved what I was seeing, I got lots of ideas, and I loved being able to help someone who did so much for my child. So, I want to repay that favor that my own children's teachers gave to me. So I'm happy to let parents in my room. I've noticed that parent help isn't as utilized or wanted her at my new school, but I hope to change that. Soooo much help and good can come from allowing helpers in the classroom. Just think about all that cutting out and stapling that gets done, and it doesn't have to be by you! Score!

I hate tons of forms and I know parents do too, so I made a one stop shop for a Parent Helper Sign up. Everyone signs up on one page, rather than trying to get one back from each person. Easy peasy for me, and all they have to do is sign their name. It's a win, win.

If you like helpers and love simple and concise, then grab this freebie for yourself. Share it with your friends, and come back and see me. :) Click the picture below to download or you can get it on TpT, whichever you prefer.

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

Just Around the Riverbend

OK, so, I'm not Pocahontas, but every time someone says "just around the corner", in my head I sing, "just around the riverbend, waiting just around the riverbend." Weird, I know, but pretty much everything in my head is a song. :) Haha! Back to school time is coming up! I'm a planner and definitely NOT a procrastinator, so I've pretty much worked on school stuff every day this summer. I can't help it, it's what I do. In fact, I can't imagine waiting until the last week or two to suddenly get everything up and running. I would go insane. My husband, on the other hand, would be just like that and it would be great. I'm sure a lot of you are like that. I just can't!

What kinds of things have you been doing?  I've been organizing my digital files. Printing off stuff for the year, laminating galore, decorating my classroom, making my Jungle Books (take home binders), putting together my parent folders for the first day, etc. I have trainings and conferences these last 3 weeks before school starts, so I wanted everything as done as can be. I know I'll still be doing a ton of last minute stuff, but maybe I can keep my head above water.

Today, I wanted to talk about the first day parent folders. Mine aren't done, and of course, I don't have any of the official school stuff yet, but have them at least started.

Here's the front. I will also have a label with my class, name, and room #, but I want to do all of my labels at the same time, so I haven't printed them yet. 

Then, on the inside, the left side will be for stuff that needs to stay with me on registration day. The right side will be for stuff they can take home. Again, I still have to print the labels. 

Here's what I have in there so far. 

My awesome brochure from Vistaprint. I LOVE Vistaprint, especially their free stuff. AWESOME! This brochure wasn't free, but I had a Groupon for $70 worth of stuff, so I went ahead and had these made. They tell all the crucial info like discipline plan, snack info, what the Jungle Book is, Homework policy, my info, etc. that they will need before we have Parent Orientation  later in the month. 

My business card and cute magnet for them to hang their work on their fridge. Again, Vistaprint rocks and these were free!

My "Meet the Teacher" Introduction letter. Cute!

Discipline Plan with class rules, rewards, and consequences. 

Supply List! Yea for school supplies! I pretty hit up every school supply aisle in every store I'm in. Love the Target Dollar Spot! 

This awesome "Successful Student" sheet. I have it downloaded to my DropBox, but there is no information sheet, so I'm not sure where it came from! Thanks to whoever made it. It's great!

Then I have my Student Information Card , which you can get from my TpT store, just click on the pic. These are the perfect cards with all the student/parent info in one place. 

That's it so far, but they will be jam packed soon! What's in your folder? Did you say that in your "What's in your wallet?" voice? I did. :)

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney