Miscellaneous

=Morning Message Book:=
 * Pre-make a book with 180 blank pages. Record a morning message each day. Leave blanks for kids to fill in missing sounds or words. Kids love to go through the book and reread messages.



=Class Books:= = = =Classroom Savings:= = = =Classroom set up:=
 * Turn student work into class books. These books can be writing about a field trip, or a school event, or even an art project. At the end of the year let each student select one item they would like to keep. (We also send home class posters/ graphs
 * Subscribe to or facebook [|couponmom] and [|krazy coupon lady]! Save your weekend coupon inserts (and ask class parents to do the same for you). By buying items on sale and using store coupons, manufacturer's coupons and store club card in combination you can get many items for free!
 * Staples (and Office Depot) have fantastic offers in their weekend ads- using rebates you can get items (such as photographic paper) for under $1! BE SURE to read the fine print- sometimes your 'refund' comes in the form of store credit, which means you are still spending money from your own pocket.
 * Parent volunteers lined all bulletin boards with felt. Smaller rectangles of felt are used to back artwork. This saves on paper- I have used the same felt for 6 years! It also quiets the classroom. Pins and staples don't leave holes. If you sign up for a teacher's discount card at JoAnn's fabric store, you receive 40% off of your first total purchase.
 * [[image:IMG_2350.JPG width="320" height="237" caption="Backed with felt- just pinned on!"]]

=Book Orders:=
 * We have used Scholastic book points to purchased iPads for the classroom! (As well as book sets we use for guided reading).


 * To pump up excitement, we read a few book selections from catalogs we will be sending home. At a center once a month, students work in partners, browsing through catalogs and conversing about which books look interesting to them. We have a conversation about what kinds of books might be found in January (winter, snow, MLK jr) and search for them.


 * Catalogs go home and parents may order online or send in check. Emailed reminders are sent once a day for a few days before orders are due.


 * When books arrive, I remind them that not all parents are 'book order' parents- (my mom was a 'library mom' and never bought books). They know that every book they buy helps our classroom to get books too. Each child comes to the front of the class with their tote. I show each item they got- this allows other classmates to become excited and they can say, "Can I have a playdate with you and we can read that book?" We all say thank you to the child for helping our classroom.

=White Boards:=
 * We don't like the smell of sprays! We use cut up pieces of microfiber cloth (also used for dusting). Gets off even the toughest to dry erase markers!

=Healthy Eating:=
 * We read the book __Eat Healthy, Feel Great__ by William Sears, M.d., Martha Sears, R.N., and Christie Watts Kelly. It classifies and explains Green Light (healthy), yellow and red light foods. It points out that you can 'train your taste buds to like a new green-light food' by tasting a little bit every time it is served.
 * We have a Green Light Foods chart at school- green paper with every child's name on it. When they try a new green light food at home and come in and tell us about it (they can tell us as we are placing a squirt of soap in their hands for snack) they get to draw a smiley face near their name. Parents LOVE this, and kids are excited to try a new healthy food and be recognized for it!

=Parent Questionairres=
 * Before our fall parent-teacher conference, we send home a questionairre. Parents can fill it out electronically or hand write and send in. We ask for specific words to describe their child.
 * When writing progress report comments in the winter, we refer to these questionairres. Parents are always impressed that we are able to describe their child so accurately![[file:fall elect. parent quest.doc]]