DIY Integer Manipulatives

Hi guys!

I hope you are all having a wonderful, well deserved, summer break. Today I am here with an easy DIY for the coming school year. Integer manipulatives!

Now I know that there are several items like this on the market like two colored counters, but let's be honest. Those things are made out of paper, and they will get filthy, bent up, and lost. I wanted to find something a little sturdier, so I decided to make my own! This project is super easy, and only cost me about 7 dollars.

You will need:

• Scissors
• 2 plastic sandwich bags
• 1 paper plate
• Tile spacers

Tile spacers are found at any hardware store in the flooring section. They are typically placed in the corners of floor tiles to ensure that they are evenly spaced. They also conveniently look like little plus signs!

I bought the 500 count bag, but there were several other sizes and amounts available at my local hardware store. These cost me about 7 dollars at Lowes. 

Step 1: Separate half of the tile spacers into one of the plastic sandwich bags. These will be your positive (plus sign) integer manipulatives! (Told you this was easy). 

Step 2: Cut two of the edges off of the sides of the remaining tile spacers to make negative (minus sign) manipulatives. I used a paper plate to catch all of my extra little pieces. 

And that's it! Put the negative signs into a sandwich bag and you're done! 

I like these because they look like positive and negative signs, which I feel will help solidify the idea of integer relationships for the kiddos. Two color counters work for this as well, but by the time you get them passed out, explain which color represents which sign, and get everyone on the same page, the class is over. This simplifies the process because you can work with positive and negative signs! Plus these are made of a pretty sturdy plastic instead of paper so they should last forever!

Thanks for reading!

Ms. B

Classroom Management

As a new teacher, I have to say that classroom management stresses me out the most. Teaching math? No problem. Create engaging lesson plans? You got it! Getting a group of 13 year olds to listen and do what I say? Yikes!!

I've worked long term substitute positions in two different schools that implemented a program called Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports or PBIS for short. Basically, it is a school wide behavior management system that encourages and rewards students for exhibiting positive behaviors. There are usually large rewards outside of the classroom at the end of each quarter for those who qualify, and students that do not qualify stay at school with a teacher. What I really love about this program is that it highlights and rewards positive behaviors, and puts less focus on negative behaviors. It also gives the students incentive to focus and obey classroom rules.

The school I am currently working for does not use the PBIS program, but I wanted to bring the philosophy into my class. I do this in a few ways. I typically show a short, silly, 1-minute video at the end of the class period on Fridays to reward positive behavior throughout the week. I also try to come up with an activity or game for the students to complete on Fridays to get them out of their seats and interact with the material in a different way. More on that later. For now, I want to focus on these bad boys.

That's a lot of positives!

Enter the Behavior Punch Card! I created these using clipart from Creative Clips which you can check out here. The idea is simple. I print these out, cut them up, and distribute them to the students. When the students exhibit positive behaviors that I want to continue, I punch one of the thumbs on their punch card. When their card is full, they may turn it in for a reward! Easy peasy. And here's the beauty of it. The students are responsible for keeping track of their own cards! (See an ongoing theme here?) If a student loses track of their behavior punch card, they can begin a new one, but they lose their old punches. 

Thumbs up for positive behavior!

The cards are also easily adaptable. If I lose track of my hole punch, (likely) I can use stickers, stamps, markers, you name it! There are 10 punches on each card, so students will typically be rewarded every two weeks. I've also thought about offering a couple large rewards so the students can "save up" punches if they choose.

 So what happens if a student has negative behaviors in class? To put it simply, they lose their punch for that day, and of course further consequences will be assigned if necessary. I'm also playing with the idea of the students "selling" a punch if they forget classroom materials, but I haven't perfected the idea yet.

I'm really excited about using these in my classroom this year! If you are interested in using them yourself, they are available on my Teachers Pay Teachers store for free. That's right, FREE! You can download the file here. And as always, feel free to leave me comments on your own management strategies. I would love to hear them!

Thanks for reading.
-Ms. B

The Great Pencil Debate

Oh pencils.

Why do students consistently come to class without them? I already know through my experiences as a sub that pencils are a constant problem (especially for math class). So what can you do?

I've seen ideas like this all over Pinterest, and I just don't like them!

A great way to lose both pencils and student focus!

 I feel like students will just play with the colorful flag pencils, and with over 100 students, I don't have the time to keep track of 20 pencils that belong in my special teacher cup. I've seen other variations of this idea that involve keeping pencils at the front of the room and holding the students hostage until they are all returned, which seems both extreme and unfair to me.

The biggest issue I have with these ideas however, is that we are not teaching the students responsibility. We are reinforcing the idea to them that if they need something, someone will give it to them with no consequence. Responsibility is a BIG character trait that I want to teach in my classroom, especially with middle school students. 

I've thrown around a couple ideas in my head that will keep my sanity (and my precious pencils) intact. I've considered a bartering system where I trade one of my pencils for one of the students' items. The only issue I have with this idea is that the student is still able to borrow with almost no consequence. I also don't want to have students go back and forth to their lockers to retrieve an item to trade for a pencil. They may as well go back and get a pencil of their own, which is what I'm trying to avoid.

 Another idea I've had is to have them "buy" a pencil from me by turning in their positive behavior cards, a classroom management technique that will eventually be linked here. I like the idea of them having to "buy" a pencil from me, because it reinforces the need to be responsible for classroom materials, and it comes with a consequence. Super bonus is that I don't have to pretend to keep track of 20 magical teacher pencils that I know I will never get back. However, I am iffy about this strategy as well because I don't want students that have worked hard to fill their positive behavior card have to "sell" it to me because they forgot a pencil once the entire quarter. I've considered finding sad face stickers to cover up the punches on the card so the student "sells" me one punch instead of the entire thing. I've also considered putting negative marks on the back of the cards, but I don't necessarily want to highlight negative behaviors (or keep track of the extra positives once the card is full). I'm just not sure what to do. I will post an update when I come up with a strategy that I am happy with. 

What are some of your strategies for keeping track of pencils? Let me know in the comments. =)

-Ms. B

The First Post

Hi guys!

Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy seeing and reading about my experiences as a first year teacher. I just got my first teaching job at a Catholic school in Southern Illinois teaching Middle School math (yay!). Middle school math has been my dream job since I began the teaching program at my university, and I am so excited to finally have my own classroom! Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of my ideas for classroom setup, and beginning of the year procedures to (hopefully) keep my class running smoothly throughout the school year. Any comments/advice will be greatly appreciated by me and my kiddos. 

I hope we can create a great community of support here for other first year teachers, and educators in general. I would love to hear all of your comments/ideas about the lessons I post, and what works or doesn't work in your classroom. Until then, have a great summer break!

-Ms. B