Vistaprint 2012-2013

While Vistaprint.com did not offer it's usual awesome 4th of July sale, I still placed three orders and made out pretty good.


1st Order:

• a key chain- I <3 my school 
• sticky notes 
• hat- school name and paw prints 
• personalized T-shirt (for my son)- bulldog with son's name 
• notebook- horse picture, no customization 
• bumper sticker- I <3 my school 
• a customized tote (pictured below). I have decided to create reading totes and math boxes. All of the reading materials students will need (including sight word cards, reflection prompts, various reading tip bookmarks, personal dictionaries, and all of the other things they will need.) 

Total (including shipping) was $5.98 (saved $20.08). Now, most of the items had very little customization.

Reading Tote

2nd Order:

• small lawn sign- a "what Mrs. Kiwi is reading sign" I will attach a photo of the cover of the book I'm currently reading 
• small banner- Tweet all about if poster (pictured below) - students will attach daily reflections to the poster 
• business cards- Tweet all about it- students will write their reflections on these cards to attach to the poster. 
• return address labels- nonfiction stickers to label books in my reading area 
• notepad 
• sticky notes 
• personalized T-shirt (for my other son)- bulldog with son's name 
• pen 
• another reading tote (#2) 
• Thank you note cards 
• small rectangular stickers- to label my tech items in my closet 
• larger oval labels- to label tubs behind my desk 

Total (including shipping) was $26.22 (saved $102.84). Most of these had picture uploads to customize the items.

Tweet All About It Banner  

Tweet All About It Reflection Card

3rd Order:

• Personalized keychain (has one of my fav quotes on it) 
• more small rectangular stickers 
• more large oval labels 
• small car door magnet (see below) 
• Class Pass business cards (for restroom passes) 
• Return address labels- for fiction books in my reading area 
• Oversized postcards with a 100s chart on one side and a multiplication chart on the other- for my math tubs 
• sticky notes 
• rack cards- one side has ways to practices the words, the other side has the sight words for the year 
• pen 
• another reading tote 
• thank you cards 

Total (including shipping) was $47.71 (saved $132.76). Most of these had picture uploads to customize the items. The oversized postcards were pricey, but it was something I really wanted for my students.

Small Car Door Magnet

I am pretty sure I will be placing a couple more orders before school starts. I am trying to wait to see if some better deals come along.

I hope you have enjoyed my creations!

**As a side note, I have no idea why my bullet points and text are highlighted white.  I have tried multiple times to correct it and nothing I do works.  If you know what I need to do to fix this, please leave me a comment to tell me!  Thanks!

New Job Title

Earlier this summer, I was given the opportunity of becoming an intervention teacher.  With the RIT initiative hitting our district full force, my principal decided to add two intervention teachers.  I will be working with 3rd-5th graders who are considered tier 3 and are not in special ed.  


I am getting more excited about this change.  I am hoping that it means I will actually have some blog time this year, as I realize that I have now gone 11 months without a post...shame on me!  I am going to do my best to become a good blogger and actually blog!

No More!

I don't know about you, but it drives me insane to see backpacks every where. Now I have hooks for them to all hang on, but let's face it...kids are messy! Hooks or no hooks they still look sloppy. Last year I came up with a solution. I cover that area with a shower curtain.

Why a shower curtain you ask? A few reasons:
1- it is vinyl and germs can easily be sprayed off.
2- tons of colors to match my decor.
3- the rings help it slide easier along the pole.
4- the main reason I went with a shower curtain as opposed to a sheet or regular curtain...I can't sew!! I can very easily trim off the excess vinyl. No hemming, no fraying.

How did I attach it? I bought 3 clamps a Lowes to clamp to my shelf above the coat hooks. These were under $1 each. I then bought electrical conduit, trimmed it to a proper link (well, my dad trimmed it). Then just threaded it through the clamps. The whole project, including 2 vinyl shower curtains, the rings, clamps, and conduit was less than $20. I did replace the shower curtains for $8 at the beginning of this year, but reused the rest.
I LOVE this solution. Each day the curtain closes. No one sneaks into their (or someone else's) bag. No mess!




-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

First Week

We began our first week this past week.  I have 23 students this year, and so far it looks like one of the best classes I've have!  I was pleasantly surprised at all of the school supplies that were brought in.  My group last year didn't bring much, and I had to supplement a lot. We've had a busy week, and here is our schedule breakdown.

Day 1-
Started the day with a word search using the student's names for morning work.  This gave me time to greet each student, take attendance, and deal with my first parent issue of the year.

Next came the introductions, of myself, as well as the paras and resource teachers that will be in and out throughout the year.  We went over expectations, and collected the school supplies.

We had our first special class of the year and had to practice lining up.  I am extremely picky with my line and hallway behavior.  I use number order for everything- and number order is quite different than ABC order.  I talk with our specials team and our 4th grade team to separate out the kids who shouldn't be by each other.  I end up with a line order that helps minimize issues in the hallway, or during assemblies.  The kids think it is a random or, but nothing about it is random.

We came back from PE to a math lesson- yes a lesson on the first day.  They have to understand that my room is all about learning and we start on day one.

Lunch and recess follow math, then the afternoon starts with reading- another lesson?  You bet!  Mind you my lessons day one aren't meant to be hard, but we have to start sometime.  I do have a lot of procedures and practice thrown in.  We spend the afternoon reading, learning vocabulary, practicing procedures, and before I know it, it's time to leave!

Whew!  The whole week flew by in much the same fashion.  Maybe it's me, but my body and mind forgot how exhausting the first week can be!!  Getting back into routine with waking up and going to bed, being "on" all day, and having 23 little people around...let's just say there is a reason there wasn't a blog post this week, and I needed this weekend to recover.

Here's wishing all of you a fabulous school year!  I truly think mine will be one of the best yet :)

Happy New Year

Well, this is the week that both my children and I head back to school.  Time for all of the routines to fall back into place.  No more sleeping in, nothing on the schedule days.  In other words, back to reality!

I am really looking forward to the year.  I have 22 students on my class list and with one or two exceptions, they are great, well behaved kiddos!  That will be a nice change from my previous year.  I have been working in my classroom for the past several days and am nearly ready for the students to come. I really need to get some pictures and post them, hopefully I will remember to do so.

I have put into place several Pinterest ideas.  I have zip tied my desks, created a focus wall, made a mind jar for my refocus area, and a couple of center ideas are ready to go.  I have a few more on my agenda to complete before the first couple of weeks are up.

Whether you head back this week, or later (or are already back) I wish you a Happy New (School) Year!

Is ADHD contagious?

First the disclaimer: I know ADHD isn't contagious. I also know it is a real disease and this post is not at all meant to poke fun at or belittle anyone. That term is just the best way I can describe the craziness of my mind right now. Now on to my post...

Ever feel like your ADHD students (or personal children) have rubbed off on you? As I prepare my room for the start of school, I feel like my son (who has ADHD) must feel. I go from this project to that project not really finishing much. I put a poster up then get center materials prepped, then organize my files, then...well, you get the picture! At night all I can do is lay in bed thinking of all the things I need to finish before my students return. I assume it is the stress and uncertainty a new year brings, but I better figure out to get a handle on it before the kids start back.

All that said, one of the things I love most about our job is that we get a "do over" each year. We can redecorate, restructure our day, change up our classroom management plans, revamp our lessons. For me, it is this never ending journey toward perfection. Now, I know there is no such thing as a perfect teacher, just as there is no such thing as a perfect person. I do believe, however, that we shouldn't stop trying to become better each year. When I started out I thought teaching would be "same year, different kids.". Oh how wrong was I?!!

I am looking forward to this year, the challenges, the triumphs, and even the hair pulling out moments that I'm sure will happen more than once. Like every year, I have made changes that I hope will provide a wonderful 5th grade experience for each of my students.




-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Vistaprint Addiction

Hello, my name is Mrs. Kiwi and I am a Vistaprint Addict!  My last order was placed 8 hours ago.  I'm not going to mention how many items I have created, nor how much money I have spent.  As long as the total isn't in print, no one can prove anything!

If you haven't guessed by now, I love vistaprint.  I have created dozens of classroom resources and materials.  I am including a few of my most recent creations, at some point, I may treat you to all of my creations.  But, then again, that would be revealing the depths of my addiction, and I'm not sure I want to do that just yet ;)

These first 3 are all small car door magnets  to label each days topic of our Talk About It posters.

This tote will hang next to my door and contain a first aid kit, flashlight, class list, parent names and numbers, and other emergency information.  

Our school uses CHAMPS and this poster will help me manage the noise level in the classroom.

I saying I like and thought would make a cute poster.

Before I am asked, yes, I did create each of the above images.  I use a combination of mostly photoshop, a little illustrator, and a little MS Word.  I will plan to add some more vistaprint creations in the future, so stay tuned!