Back to School / Back to School Night Form

In NJ, we don't usually have Back to School Night until 2-3 weeks after school starts. I'm not really sure why we don't do it before school starts, but it does allow us to get to know our students a little bit before we get questions from parents. Anyway, here's something I usually send out with my welcome letter before school starts. There's a form for parents and a form for kids. (Click either to download both.)

Parents are supposed to use 100 words or less to tell anything about their child that they think is important. I know some teachers who have created a box and say that everything must fit inside of it so they don't get pages and pages. This year I added the option for kids to use Tagzedo, Wordle, or a diamante poem. I'm interested in seeing what I get back!

Family Trees

My maternal grandmother Helen Margaret (Margie) Davo passed away in December. It was a sad day, but it was also an eye opening experience because I got to meet some family from Ohio that I had only heard tidbits about as a kid. You see, I'm one of 5 children, my father is one of 7, and my mother is one of 9. My grandmother had 3 siblings, and one of them had 10 children. My great-great-great grandparents had 13 children. You can see how I confusing that could be!

 

Michael and Magdalena Kempf, born the 1850s in Alsace Lorraine (my great-great-great grandparents)

my great grandmother Helen Margaret Bensoskey (changed to Benson) at school

my grandfather Ronald Davo Sr. in the Navy - he became an inventor!

Davo family in NJ around 1990       Davos in NJ around 2001

My grandfather Donato Pasquale Battista Sr., born in Italy in 1920

about 10% of the Battista grandchildren 2009

Anyway, all of my mother's cousins are out in Ohio and Michigan. After the funeral, some of us connected on Facebook. I used information and pictures that I inherited from my grandmother (she kept meticulous notes, plus every obituary, funeral card, engagement announcement, wedding invitation, birth announcement, birthday card, etc.) plus the following sites to piece together a tree that includes 1,659 people from 1644 (related by marriage from 18 steps) to immediate family members that were born this year.

I went out to Ohio on a last minute trip this weekend and met a small few of them. If you're interested in doing your own tree or working on a smaller scale with your older students, check these sites out. You'd be surprised what you can find with just a few names! They really will learn more than just about their families...both of my grandfathers fought in World War II, and many relatives worked on the railroad after coming here from Poland, Germany, Italy, and Ireland. We even have a Cherokee Indian whose father had a town named after him (Bono, Ohio).

www.myheritage.com - free site that allows you to start a simple tree and connect it with existing trees if you have a match; I love the Memory Picture Game - you get to know people's faces quickly! It also has statistic features that tells you everything from average age at death to number of children to most common name.

www.ancestry.com - must pay to use this site but it is worth it...I suggest you wait until you have exhausted all other options first before joining though
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp - site run by the Church of the Latter Day Saints - one of the best free sites out there!
http://news.google.com/archivesearch/advanced_search - Google News Archive allows you to check
newspaper articles; some require you to pay to see articles
http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ - Roots Web Social Security Death archive - no # needed

Click to download a simple tree template.

Ten Ways You Know it's Back to School Time

10. You long for the scent of smelly markers, sharpened pencils, and scratch-and-sniff stickers.

9. You start spending more time in your classroom than at home.

8. You get super excited about your new lunch box or pair of shoes.

7. You start turning down plans for the first week of school, knowing how exhausted you are about to be.

6. Other people are excited about end of summer vacations, while you just can't wait to get your class list!

5. The words "my kids" start coming out of your mouth more and more...

4. You have finally gotten used to hearing your first name again...and you secretly miss being called by your last name...just a little!

3. You are staying up later and later trying to get ready for school, and also knowing that you will be asleep by dinner time the first week of school!

2. You start knowing what date and day of the week it is again!

1. Back to school nightmares have started! (3 so far!)

Inspirational Posters

Since my last set of free classroom management posters were so well received, I made some self-esteem and attitude booster posters using my favorite quotes. Click on each picture to download. Please leave a rating on my Teachers Pay Teachers Account or comment here. Enjoy!

DIY supply tower and magnetic circle boards

 I was inspired by Pinterest (follow me here or ask me for an invite!) and Freecycle to create a supply tower and magnetic circle boards...total cost = $0!

Here's what I used for the supply tower (took about 15 minutes to make):

I had: 3 pieces of scrapbook paper, glue gun, scissors, 2 toilet paper rolls, and I got 3 tins (same color, different sizes - from Freecycle)

First, trace around each tin.

Cut out each circle.

I used hot glue to attach the paper to the bottom. It dried a bit faster than I liked and left the paper raised in some parts. I'd suggest spray adhesive or contact paper instead next time.

I used clear sealer so that my supplies wouldn't make marks on the paper. 

Again, next time I might use contact paper or I'd spray the paper before gluing it down.

Here's how it looks before the adhesive dried. You can see how it made the paper bubble a bit. I suggest using dark paper.

  I glued a toilet paper roll to the middle tin. This angle makes them look crooked, but they aren't!

 I glued the top tin on and added a bow!

 Top view

 So many uses...

School supplies!

Here are the supplies needed to create magnetic circle boards:

The lid tops and scrap paper from the previous project, scissors, glue gun, ribbon

 Trace the lids on your remaining scrap paper. If you are careful, you should have enough to cover most of each lid.

Glue paper to lid tops; don't worry if small parts aren't covered, you'll see what I do to fix that later...

I used spray gloss again to seal the paper.

I glued ribbon to the piece of lid that was not covered by paper and then curled it.

 I glued ribbon on to the back so I could hang them.

TADA! They are cute and magnetic!