Unboxing of Elementary Box

I'm really excited to share my first unboxing video with you! I reviewed my Elementary Box, which is a subscription box for elementary school teachers. Let me know what you think!
- Miss Butterfly

FREEBIES... I Knew That Would Get Your Attention!

Hi everyone! During my massive amount of free time this summer (ROFL ROFL ROFL) I've been working on something I call Today's Special. In my classroom this past year we had Morning Meeting. As part of it, we did Today's Special. I would find out about a little-known holiday such as "Tell The Truth Day" or "Don't Step On A Bee Day." (These are real holidays that someone somewhere somehow declared.) I would write up a paragraph about it, and include a picture and a question of the day. It was just a way to add a little something extra to our Morning Meeting. (I found it challenging to come up with good Morning Meeting activities for my 9 and 10 year old students whose primary disabilities were emotional and behavioral... they benefited from the routine of a Morning Meeting time, but I couldn't do the usual circle time activities such as doing nursery rhymes or counting sticks, since they were well beyond that. In the future I will probably include checking the weather using the weather.com website, and things like that.)

Anyways, during last school year I did this day by day, but I am hoping to continue it this coming year. I have written up a whole month of Today's Specials for September, and I am giving it away for free on TPT. I will eventually write up booklets for October, November, and so on, and sell them for $1.00 or something to make a little extra school supply money... but for now I just wanted to give the world something for free!

I also have several other freebies in my store that I made during the school year  I have a set of Zones Of Regulation Problem Solving and Think Sheets, which I just found out has already been downloaded by 1, 425 people. That is impressive! It includes a guided problem solving sheet that you can work through with students to help them identify choices for solving a problem, and what the positive or negative consequences of each choice might be. It allows them to choose one to try, and later analyze whether that choice worked for them, and if not, what they will try next. It also includes two different versions of a "Think Sheet," which guides students to identify what event happened, what zone they were in, how they handled it, what the result was and whether that result was something they wanted and needed, and what they may need to do to get into a more comfortable zone. It also guides them to find ways to make a situation better... they may need to clean something up, fix something, apologize to someone, etc.

Then there is the Old Orange game, which is a spin-off of the classic Old Maid game. It is a rhyming game using simple 3 and 4 letter words. Like the classic game, the cards are divided evenly among players, and players first go through their decks of cards to find matches.. in this game, matches would be rhyming words. They then take turns drawing a random card from the hand of the player next to them, without seeing which one they are taking. In the end, when all of the cards have been matched up, one player will be left with the Old Orange... because nothing rhymes with orange, of course!

I do have one other thing that I am selling for $1.00. It is a book study unit for "Sideways Stories From Wayside School." When we were kids, my brother and I loved the Wayside School stories. So, when I was looking for a way to get a group of 3rd grade reluctant readers to practice reading comprehension skills, I thought of Sideways Stories. I created the book study unit, which is pretty simple. It consists of looking up some new vocabulary words for each chapter, and then completing a story map for the chapter. Each group of chapters also includes a special project or activity for students to demonstrate their understanding of the story and characters.

I will let you know when I update things in my store! I try to keep everything either free or for a fairly low price, because I know how much I, as a teacher, appreciate not having to spend a lot of money on things to enrich my students' education. So, go download stuff, and let me know what you think!

First Day of Rec Camp

So, Rec Camp started yesterday. I have not been feeling very enthused about Rec Camp this year. It is a huge commitment with a lot of work involved, and what I really wanted this summer was to relax and recover from the awful school year. I eventually compromised and said I'd help organize Rec Camp but take 3 weeks off in the middle.
On the first day, though, once the kids started appearing, I realized how much I love Rec Camp! It is a day camp like no other. Ruddy was there for the first time, and he seemed to be having a lot of fun. We had about half kids that have been there in the past, and half new kids.
At Rec Camp every camper has a 1:1 counselor. Being one of the organizers, I don't have a 1:1 kid, and I spend most of my time just floating around and making sure everything is going smoothly. At one point, though, one of the new kids, a 5-year-old named Liam, went "number 2" and asked his 1:1 counselor to help wipe his butt. The teenage counselor was squeamish about that, so I went in to do the, um, duty.
When I went into the bathroom, Liam was still sitting on the toilet, so I waited outside the stall while we had this conversation.
Liam: "Can you go get a book and read it aloud to me?"
Me: "I can't leave you alone in here. Does your mom read to you when you're going poop?"
Liam: "I don't know. I've never pooped for this long before. I must have eaten a lot. When we were driving on vacation, I had to pee and poop so many times, my mom said next time I'll have to wear a diaper! Isn't that funny? Sometimes I get diarrhea! One time I had diarrhea coming out of my mouth and my other place!"
Me: "When it comes out of your mouth, that is called throwing up."
Liam: "Oh, I was throwing up and had diarrhea at the same time!"
(Sound of something dropping in water)
Liam: "Did you hear that? Did you hear some plopping sounds?"
Me: "Yes I did!"
Liam: "That was just my poop coming out!"
Eventually the enthusiastic little chatterbox finished up, I helped him wipe his little butt, and we went on about our business. The teenage counselor who was working with Liam thanked me profusely for doing the dirty work.
Me: "When you've wiped as many butts as I have, it is no big deal anymore!"
Teenage counselor: "I don't think I'm going to get to that point. I'm happy just wiping my own butt."
Gotta love Rec Camp!