Brain Breaks with GoNoodle.com!

Have you heard of GoNoodle.com?   Well...you need to go, if you haven't!  It's a super fun brain breaks website for your class.  It features tons of dance and kid-friendly videos to move to.  It also has relaxation videos.  You and your class can create an avatar.  This avatar grows and becomes a champion as your class accrues more minutes doing brain breaks or exercises.  My first grade students last...

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It's Been Awhile!

Hello again!  Wow...it's been awhile...a LONG while!  If you're still sticking around...I THANK YOU! Why have I been MIA, you ask?  Well...since my last post 10 months ago, I bought a house in England, visited family & friends in CA, one of my dogs passed away, friends came to visit, and the most exciting and educationally-related change is... ...I'm back in special education, as both a resource specialist and...

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Write.

To write your mind is to create your story. One of my New Year Resolutions is to write more...create. I often tell my students that writing is simply putting down what you are thinking on paper. Writing can be about anything that is in your mind.  Writing can be recreating your day's story or creating a fantasy.  Writing is beautiful. My students used to often say to me, "I can't write."  I tell them, "There is no I can't. What you think in your head, you can write.  Just say the word slowly to try...

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Motivation (Intrinsic & Extrinsic)

During my undergraduate years, I remember taking a psychology course and within this course, I still remember learning about the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.  The topic still intrigues me and I'm always drawn to articles related.   Motivation.  According to Psychology Today, "Motivation is literally the desire to do things." There are two types of motivation: 1: Intrinsic Motivation.  It is that inner desire or drive that makes you do something because you want to because...

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Ms. Lulu Teaches' 2014 New Years Resolutions

Yikes!   It's almost 2014 and as I've sat here for the past 2 hours, I've perused the net (as I usually do) and looked back at what I've written and shared with the WWW (hehehe).   Now, I don't normally do new years resolutions, let alone share it...but I've seen results in writing things down.  It's an accountability thing, as well as affirmative statements turn to successes-type of action here. Ms. Lulu Teaches' 2014 New Years Resolutions Write more...Create.  Whether it is in a journal, blogging,...

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Bring Coloring Pages to Life in 3D with ColAR Mix App!

Recently, I stumbled upon this cool website/app called http://colarapp.com/ .  You need to check it out.  Kids can turn a picture into 3D art with a mobile phone or iPad.  1) You print a coloring page from the website. 2) Kids color the page in crayon or colored pencil (markers don't seem to work).  3) You or their parents download the ColAR Mix App onto mobile phone or iPad.  4) Using...

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Great Apps for the CC (Common Core) Classroom

Thanks to Frizzle, a Scholastic blog, here is an excellent website that lists Great Apps for the Common Core standards classroom! They are not all free, but I've downloaded a few on my iPhone and I love them as a teacher and organizer, while my students are engaged with these tech savvy websites to help them learn and play in the areas of language arts and math. I'm interested in this Shake-a-Phrase app, but hesitate in buying it right...

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Behavior Think Sheet

If you read my Beginning of the Year Information, you would find the documents I sent out to my first graders' parents this year.   Within this document it talks about my class' behavior plan and how I incorporate ClassDojo, which my first graders love!  I talk about giving my students 3 strikes when they break a class rule.   1st strike is just a verbal warning and a negative point on ClassDojo. 2nd strike is to take...

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Beginning of the Year Information

Hello there! I just wanted to share with you the information I send out to parents the first week of school.  In this pdf file, you will see: -Introduction to me  -Class information -New school year questionnaire  When I send several papers home at a time, I make sure they are in different colors.  One, so it's colorful.  Two, so parents can see the different & separate information.  Three, in case...

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Recite.

Okay, so if you are about making posters of quotes then this is the site for you!  Recite is where you can "turn a quote into a masterpiece."  Pretty neat.  You can type just about anything and they have a plethora of backgrounds and cool fonts that will create your quote into something awesom...

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