GradeCam- Making teachers' lives easier!

GradeCam is all the rage at D'Arbonne Woods.  I've just signed up and loaded my classes.  I can't wait to give my kids a test this week to try it out!  

Here's how it works:

1. Add your classes.
2. Add your students with a personal number ID to each class.
3. Add an assignment, and choose how many questions are on the test.
4. Print out your answer sheet straight from the website.
5. Give your kids the test.
6. Hold up each answer document to a camera (your webcam, document camera.. anything that's hooked up to your computer from what I understand!)

GradeCam tells you which answers are incorrect, and then gives you data on most missed questions and average scores.  You just physically write the grade on each student's paper.  Other teachers have told me that it took about 30 seconds to grade a whole class' test.  What a huge time saver!  

The best part... It's free for 60 days!  You can earn credits by inviting other teachers, but after your free trial runs out, it's $15 a month.  I think that's totally worth it!  If you're interested, click the link below.

www.gradecam.com/signup?referrer=acowyk

Target Finds for my Classroom!

I love Target.  I love dollar stores.  When these two things combine, you get the Target bargain section.  Many a dollar of mine have been spent on their $1 items!  Here are a few ways I've used these bargains in my classroom.

These file folders are adorable.  They come in 3 packs for $1 each.  I have three set up as unfinished work folders- one for each class.  Students can go grab their work from that folder when they have a few extra minutes, and I can easily determine who isn't finished yet.

I also set up my makeup work station with these file folders.  I have them labeled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Last Week.  These were two of my biggest struggles while student teaching and subbing, so I hope these two sections of my classroom will eliminate some headaches.

Each of these miniature buckets were $1.  As you can see, I'm storing office supplies in mine.  I prefer this to digging through drawers to find what I'm looking for!  In each bucket, I have Sharpies, highlighters, blue and black pens, colored pens, mechanical pencils, thumb tacks, binder clips, paper clips, and miscellaneous items (like staples and rubber bands).

Frustrated by papers with no names?  I'm going to hang up unidentified work here so students can claim their papers.  These little blue glittery clips came in a pack of 5 for $1, and the white and gold baker's twine was on a spool for $1.

This cute magnetic notepad is hanging on my filing cabinet.  I am such a list maker.  Some lists are just too long for a sticky note, so this was definitely a necessity!  

I'm in love with these packs of notecards!  8 cards and 8 envelopes are in a pack for $1 each.  Every time I go in Target, I look for more, but I haven't seen any in a while.  These are handy to keep around, especially if you're an elementary teacher, for when students bring you gifts!  You can write them a quick thank you note quickly so you won't forget.

My wonderful sister-in-law picked up all of these books for me!  Yes, $1 each!!!  They are all abridged versions of classics with super cool covers.  I am tickled over these.  One of my goals this year is to expose my fourth graders to some of these classic novels.  She got me The Story of Doctor Doolittle, The Secret Garden, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Wind in the Willows, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Treasure Island, The Jungle Book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and A Little Princess.  

Grace and Faith Bows

My cousin-in-law (is that a thing?) has started an Etsy page where she makes the most adorable bow headbands and clips for your darling little girl!  Kyndall's own baby girl can seriously rock those big bows!  These would make wonderful gifts for birthdays or showers.  Check out her page!

GraceAndFaithBows

Teaching Hint: Seating Charts

Use sticky notes to help with seating arrangements. You can easily move them around, and you won't have to erase! Color code based on ability or your different classes. 

After my first day, I already know that my original seating chart needs to change. :) I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the school year!

Mrs. Baze's Classroom

Have a look around my room!  I have been truly blessed by friends, family, and coworkers who donated or let me borrow items for my room.  Without them, this learning space would be a lot more empty and a lot less colorful!  I can't wait to show you how the room evolves throughout the year.  Those empty spaces will soon be filled with work that make my students and me proud.

Snacks for the School Teacher!

Tomorrow is the big day! Back to school. I've been watching videos and doing research about healthy recipes and name brands, and I'm determined to incorporate these ideas into my daily life. I wanted to share a few things that I found at WalMart for snack and lunch at school!

Terra Sea Salt Sweet Potato Chips are non GMO and gluten free, as are the KIND Vanilla Blueberry Healthy Grains, which will be my sweet fix.  I also got Emerald Smoked Almonds, which are salty and not as healthy as plain ones, but they will be a good source of protein if I'm running on empty!  My favorite flavor of Chobani is Coconut with Dark Chocolate and Honey Roasted Salted Almonds. Whew! That's a mouthful. This can be a quick snack or breakfast. 

A couple of lunch options are pictured above. Sandwiches, nothing too thrilling. And not the lowest in calories. I'll have to do some improvement on my lunch, but for this week I wanted quick and simple. We've been buying the bakery bread instead of pre-packaged. It's cheap, and I think it's much tastier. This loaf of French bread was a dollar!  The downside is that I have to freeze most of the loaf, because the expiration date is usually just a couple of days after I buy it. 

Coming soon: breakfast ideas and a tour of my classroom!

DIY in the Kitchen!

This project is certainly nothing profound, but after some YouTube inspiration by a few of my favorite channels missglamorazzie and Niomi Smart, I recycled and made something practical for my kitchen!

In our tiny one bedroom apartment, we had a shortage of space in general, but especially storage space (drawers, cabinets).  In order to contain all of our stuff, we bought several of these wire shelving units from Target and Walmart so we didn't have piles of junk all over the floor!  I had a shelf to hold my most often used cooking materials.  Though we have a house with lots of cabinet space now, I'm sticking with this open shelving idea.  There are a few reasons that I like open storage:

1.  Obviously, it provides extra storage if you're short on cabinets.

2.  If you are short on furniture, which we are in our three bedroom house, this shelving fills empty space on the walls.

3.  If you are short on decor, it provides some visual interest.  I use a lot of practical things in my kitchen as decor, such as coffee cups.

4.  It's super easy to look at a shelf and grab what you need, rather than rummaging through many different cabinets until you can find what you're looking for.

My containers:

-  I have a set of three canisters that we got as a wedding gift.  I have regular flour, sugar, and self-rising flour in those.  (On a side note, we received several sets of canisters for our wedding.  I guess it wasn't taking it off our registry when people purchased them. We returned all but one set, but I really wish we kept more of them!  I definitely would have used them.)

-  I have brown sugar and macaroni noodles in canning jars that used to contain green beans canned by my mama and Nannie.

-  Corn meal is kept in an old spaghetti sauce jar.

-  Powdered sugar and tea bags are contained in old candle jars.  Missglamorazzi taught me that if you put used candles in the freezer, you can break up the remaining wax much more easily and it will come right out!

As I collect more jars, I want to transfer other ingredients into them as well.

I found the little tags in a set of scrapbooking materials that I never used.  I labeled the back of the tags with the expiration date for the product.  They are tied on with pretty white and gold baker's twine that I got in the Target dollar section.  I've noticed chalkboard stickers in the dollar section before, which would also make for super cute labels.