Freebie Fridays - Week of August 19th, 2016

It's Friday the end of another week! I hope those back in school had a sensational week and those getting their classrooms set up had plenty of time to do so! I'd love to see your classroom set up! Post pictures on my Facebook page.

Link up to 3 of your favorite freebies that are not trademark violations. If you download leave that positive feedback to show us you care for our hard work and it would be great if you would follow the stores too!

Today's freebie is an old one, but a fun one. Add One More and Subtract One! Two different fun games. Click the pictures to check it out! If you like it leave that positive feedback!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings! Keep on smiling!

Positive Fridays - Week of Feb. 12th, 2014

Happy Friday everyone!  We had a weather change here in FL again going from nice weather to chilly cold weather, but I survived.  I know many of you have to deal with the snow and ice.  I do not envy you at all!  I am blessed not to have to deal with that here in central FL!

This was our first full week after Winter Break, the week before was a 4 day week!

• My school has started an awesome dog bone behavior system.  The children earn dog bones from other teachers (we can't give them out to our own) for making amazing choices in school.  I have had a blast handing them out to children whom I have caught walking responsibly in line or in pairs coming back or to somewhere.
• My class earned 5 dog bones today alone!!!  Our goal is to get 25 total so they can earn a reward.  I also love this reward system because it ties into math with me as my children keep counting or adding 1 more each time we get one!  whohohoo!
• We have had a fun week learning about Penguins and writing about what we would do if we were a Penguin.  They came up with some super cute ideas!  I need to get some pictures of these adorable Penguins that I have received a bunch of compliments on from other teachers!  We have also been having fun learning to add, worked on the letter Ff, and learned about different kinds of weather.
• It is also fun seeing all of the smiling faces and children who greet me who I don't even teach, not just the little ones, but the older ones say hi to me and call me by name with a great big smile on their face. These children in this amazing school are incredible bucket fillers.
• Finally, I had 2 terrific parent conferences and I look forward to another one next week.  Together we will help my smart students continue to soar!

I hope everyone else had a fantastic week!  We have Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday off.  So it is a 3 day weekend here.  How about where you live?

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling.

Positive Fridays Week of September 22nd, 2013

TGIF I know many of you are absolutely happy it is Friday and the weekend right around the corner.  I hope you all had a super week with your students.

This week I had no subbing on Monday through Wednesday, but I did have two more interviews on Wednesday.  The first one was about 50 minutes away and was for a Kindergarten position.  The interview was fairly short, but I feel like it went well.  They were just starting to interview so it may be awhile until I hear good news.  The 2nd one was an hour away from my house, but the interview lasted close to an hour.  I interviewed for Kindergarten and 3rd/4th grade gifted.  If I got the gifted position I would have to work toward getting that on my certification by taking classes, which I told her I'd be happy to do.  I feel like it too went well.  Both appear to be wonderful schools with great family involvement and terrific children.  I'm still holding out hope to hear from last week's schools to give me a shot too.

I had the opportunity to sub again on Thursday and Friday in Kindergarten and was requested again!  It is always nice when I am asked to come in and don't have to find the job myself on the phone or computer.  Today, I will bring you Thursdays positives and as I did last year I'll have Fridays in next week's Positive Fridays so I can put up the post earlier!

• I was in for a new teacher at the school who had terrific lesson plans.  I loved her class list as it even listed the children as boy or girl and how many of each. 
• The children came in asking my name over and over again so I talked to them about the first part of my name Hop and we talked about animals that hop.  Well one little girl said I'm going to call you Mr. Bunny so that is exactly what a few of them called me all day.  Too cute!  Their parents are going to think they are crazy, I bet. LOL  Usually, the little ones call me Mr. H, Mr. Hop, Mr. Hops, Mr. Hoppy, or Mr. Hopper!  They are adorable and I don't mind one bit!
• We learned about apples today, read a book on apples and did some apple worksheets and coloring.  I also fit in a couple of The Learning Station songs and the books How Full Is Your Bucket?, and Green Eggs and Ham.
• The children were very well behaved, worked hard, and were respectful toward me and each other.
• The other Kindergarten teachers who always ask me to sub for them to were a great help as always when I had a question or two and they give me insight on the children they know, which helps me help the children!
• I got several enthusiastic hi's from other Kindergarten children, 1st graders, and 2nd graders as well as a few hugs, lots of smiles, and handshakes.  I also saw the 3rd grade teacher and ex ed teacher who I have subbed for this year both were full of smiles and said hi to me!  I love schools where everyone is so welcoming!
• One last positive, one of the students, picked me a flower (really was a weed) and gave it to me!  I of course acted like it was the greatest thing on the face of the planet!  Such a sweet girl!

I'll be back next week to tell you all about Fridays positives.  I also hope to find more sub work unless I finally get that "You're Hired" that I am so looking forward to!

Please leave your positives, I bet you have a bunch to tell me about!

Thanks for hoppin by with Mr. Bunny!  Keep on smiling!

Positive Fridays: Week of September 9th, 2013

TGIF it's Friday!!!!!!!  Unfortunately, I did not sub at all this week, but I have a couple of great positives that I would love to share with you.

Monday there was no school due to a teacher professional development day.  I had no work on Tuesday, but on Wednesday I went to a sub class in Volusia County.  It's a 3 day class, but because I'm a teacher, I only have had to go the one day!!!  On Wednesday, during the sub class I learned a neat way to learn student's names.

• We were told that everyone has one thing in common we all like food!  Who doesn't right?  So the teacher would start off say my name is Mr. or Mrs. ___________ and I like _________.  You fill in the blank with a kind of food that you like that starts with the same letter as your name.  So for example I could say My Name is Mr. Hopkins I like hamburgers.  Then the first student would say his name is Mr. Hopkins and he likes hamburgers.  My name is Patrick.  I like pizza.  The next student would say his name is Mr. Hopkins and he likes hamburgers, then point to the first student and say his name is Patrick he likes pizza.  My name is Sabrina and I like salad and so forth until every child has gone. The kids know each others names, we don't especially as a sub!  They said this would work best from 2nd grade and up even in high school or college!
• We were also told the best way to build a great positive relationship with children really quickly is to smile and nod over and over again all day long!  That fits me like a T and it is highly likely why the children really love me!
• I came home finding out I made the short list of getting invited to a job fair in Daytona Beach, which means an interview for the county!

Thursday, I also did not sub, but I did some more good news.

• I received another call from Volusia County this time for a job interview Friday in Deltona for a Kindergarten, Kindergarten/1st Grade, and 3rd grade.
• I was also called back about the job fair and given my time, which is 11:00 on Monday!  Eastern time as I'm in FL!

Friday is usually an easy day to find sub work, but I didn't get sub work because of the interview in Deltona.

•  I felt like it went well and when I came home I had a message on my machine requesting references so I believe that's a good sign.  I am hoping so.  I really like the principal and Kindergarten team leader!  They were very nice ladies and thanked me so many times for coming in and making the long trip, which I told them I would gladly do daily.

Next week I do have some sub work.  Monday is the job fair interview, Tuesday I am an assistant in ex ed all day and Wednesday, I finally get to be with Kindergarten for a half day.  Yay!  I love the little ones so much.  I would have had Kindergarten all day Monday as well, but I had to not take it due to the job interview, got to get me a job!  I will miss those little ones though.

Please leave your positives in the comments.  I sure do enjoy reading them.  Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!

Positive Behavior Plan/Money and Pin It To Win It!

First off do you want to win some of my teaching products?  It's pretty easy to do. 

Go to my Pin It To Win It Pinterest Page http://pinterest.com/topcntryfn/pin-it-to-win-it/ 

Pick a pin or more than one and pin it to a board of your choice. 

Next click on the picture of the pin and go to that blog post about that product. 

In the comments type in your e-mail address just like you would do for a contest and a link to your pin.  You have until Sunday Feb. 24th at 7pm Eastern to enter!  Good luck everyone.

Now how about a really awesome positive behavior plan that I used while teaching 2nd grade.  I stopped using it part way through my last year of teaching 2nd because the school developed another positive plan and 2 were just too hard to juggle.  This one incorporates money, which fits 2nd Grade Common Core Standard!  On yeah!!!

First you'll need plastic coins and some Crayon Banks like these ones from Party Palooza.  If you google it you can find many places that carry them.  Click the picture for the ones from Party Palooza.  I forget where I got mine.

Next when your students are making good choices, maybe only a few opened their book, or some were quiet in line when others weren't, etc.  you would give them a coin.  I started with pennies in 2nd grade and then nickels and so forth.  Then every other Friday, I had my students count their coins and go shopping in my treasure chest store.  I had prizes valued at everything from 5 cents (plain pencils and erasers) up to $6 or $7 for an inner tube from the Dollar Tree, Teddy Bear, etc.  I had many prices in between. 

Besides teaching children to make good choices, this also taught my students to save money for something they really wanted and it helped reinforce counting coins!  You could start this even in Kindergarten using pennies and I've heard of teachers using it in 1st grade.  My students learned to tell me how much change they should get back!  I believe this would work for any grade level!  Older students put a student in charge of cashier every week or two instead of you doing it!

I know many classes don't do treasure chest anymore, but you could do this with your other rewards.  Assign money amounts for no shoes, eat with teacher, wear slippers, etc.

Is this something you'd like to try?  Have you tried it before?  Tell us about your behavior plan in the comments.