How to Create a Class Handbook that Rocks!

The Teacher's Back to School Survival Guide

I'm excited to be joining some of my favorite upper elementary teacher bloggers who have put together a Teacher's Back to School Survival Guide with some of our best tips!

Most schools have a handbook of guidelines and district policies, but have you ever thought of creating a handbook just for YOUR classroom?

My back to school survival tip is to take a little time now to create a class handbook that rocks! It's easier than you think, especially with the tips and samples I'm including in this post. A class handbook is a fantastic way to communicate your classroom policies right from the beginning of the year. It also sends a message to parents that you care enough to keep parent informed. When you make it attractive and thorough, it shows that take pride in your role as an educator.

Why You Need a Class Handbook 
Have you ever had parents tell you during a conference that they didn't know their child would lose credit on late assignments or that they needed to sign their child's daily reading log? If you sent home a handbook during the first week of school with information about that policy, you can politely direct the parent to that handbook.

Creating a handbook also forces you to think through ALL of your classroom policies in a logical way. There's something about explaining your policies in writing that makes you examine them more closely. Finally, a class handbook is a real time-saver when you get a new student. It's a nice way to welcome the child and to help him or her feel more comfortable about your expectations.

What to Include in Your Handbook
You might want to include the items below in your handbook. If the list seems overwhelming, include only the most essential information now and update your handbook next year.

• Welcome letter
• Best way to contact you
• Class website or blog info
• Homework and grading policies
• Snack guidelines
• Birthday party policies
• List of classmates's names
• Classroom lunch schedule
• Supply list or materials requested
• Brief descriptions of your instructional methods (i.e., cooperative learning, literature circles, reading workshop, etc.)

Click to download a PDF sample of my class handbook pages. You can't edit it, but it will give you some ideas for what to include. You can also download two free printable handbook covers.

Class Handbook Tips
Consider these tips in mind if you're just getting started:

• Ask a colleague to review it for both clarity and grammatical errors. You don't want your first communication with parents to be confusing and filled with errors!
• If you're worried about the amount of paper needed to print copies for all students, you can create a digital version and it email it to parents or upload it to your class webpage. 
• Before you print copies of your handbooks or send it out digitally, ask your principal to review it to be sure all of your policies are approved by your administration. Also, if a parent disagrees with one of your policies and takes your handbook to the principal, you'll be glad that it's not the first time your principal is seeing it! 
• Print at least 5 extra copies to have on hand for new students, and be sure to keep a copy for yourself. Staple and punch three holes along the left edge of each print copy to make it easy to store in a binder.
• Give each student a handbook on the first day of school, but DON'T spend the entire first day going over it! Instead, only cover the very most important information on the first day, and space out those discussion with other first day activities. It might take you a week to go through the whole handbook, but at least they will remember the information! 
• Allow a few days for parents to read your handbook and provide a deadline for it to be signed and returned. Ask that it be stored in their child's binder for future reference. If you email a digital copy or post it on a class website, send home a paper permission form to be signed by students and their parents. 

I hope you found these class handbook tips to be helpful. Creating a handbook that rocks will save you time later in the year and will pave the way for student success in your classroom. What do you plan to include in YOUR handbook?

If you're short on time, check out my newest teaching resource, a collection of editable files that make it easy to create your own class handbook. Click the image on the right or this link to take a closer look at Create Your Own Class Handbook. You'll be able to preview all the handbook pages and cover designs from that page.

By the way, I added it to my Back to School Super Start Combo, so if you've already purchased that item, you can download Create Your Own Class Handbook for free. Go to your My Purchases page on Tpt, locate the Back to School Super Start Combo and download the zip file again.

To visit all the blogs participating in this event, click on the logos in the link up at the bottom of this page to visit each blog. By the way, I'd like give a big shout out to Kristen of Ladybug's Teacher Files who designed the awesome logos for our blog hop! She is so talented!

An InLinkz Link-up

How to Become a Millionaire on a Teacher’s Salary

I know what you're thinking... How can someone become a millionaire on a teacher's salary? It sounds impossible, but high school teacher Andrew Hallam accomplished this milestone by age 40 on a regular teacher’s salary! No, he didn't invest it in lottery tickets, either! Instead, he learned to live without incurring debt, and he understood how to invest his savings in safe ways to provide the greatest return.

Andrew wrote Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School to share his knowledge with other teachers so they could take charge of their own financial futures. I read the book a few months ago, and it totally changed the way I think about saving and investing my money. Before I read this book, I never felt confident about managing my own investments. Books about finances tend to be dry and difficult to understand, so the concepts always seemed just out of reach. However, Andrew’s writing style makes Millionaire Teacher an easy read. Not only is the book witty and entertaining, Andrew makes the concepts easy to understand, probably because he's a teacher. He does a terrific job of breaking complex financial concepts down into simple ideas using stories and analogies. For example, he shares his version of entrepreneur Willie Wonka and the chocolate factory, and uses it to explain how the stock market works, elaborating with manufactured details to illustrate the basic concepts of finance and investing.

Even if you don't think you have a single extra penny to save and invest, you should read this book. After a few chapters you'll be convinced that you CAN save for the future. Andrew explains how you can manage your money yourself, and he describes how to avoid the pitfalls of hiring a financial manager.

Are you worried about losing your savings if you try to manage it yourself? If so, you’ll be glad to know that Andrew doesn't promote risky strategies like picking individual stocks or timing the market so that you try to buy low and sell high. According to Andrew, "It's not timing the market that matters, it's time IN the market." His strategies are based on setting up a portfolio of a few rock-solid index funds and bonds and holding them over time. He explains exactly how to do this and where to invest your money so that you are not paying high fees.

Why You Need to Read It NOW!
If you aren't convinced that you need to read this book now, remember that the sooner you apply these principles, the greater the payoff in the future. That’s why these concepts are especially important for young adults to master because they have time to ride out the ups and downs of the stock market. Small regular investments now will pay off in a big way in the future. For that reason, Millionaire Teacher would make a terrific gift for any new teacher or teacher-to-be, but it’s also a great read for veteran teachers. In fact, it’s an awesome book for just about anyone who wants to take control of their finances and achieve financial freedom by the time they retire.

I wish I had read Millionaire Teacher years ago, because I’ve made a lot of mistakes due to my lack of understanding about how to invest wisely. However, now that I know how easy it is to manage my own money, I'm excited to begin applying these principles to my own finances from this point forward. As they say, better late than never! To check it out for yourself, click one of the title links in this post to find it on Amazon where you can look inside the book and read buyer reviews. I know you'll find it to be a life-changing guide to financial success!

Disclaimer: Amazon affiliate links are included in this post.

How to See the Content YOU Want on Facebook

Facebook is such an awesome way for educators to connect and share ideas, but until recently it's had one big, frustrating, drawback. Until lately, there was no way to see ALL the posts from your favorite pages. Who likes to find out about flash freebies, helpful tips, and special sales a day late? Not good! You'd think that clicking the Like button on your favorite pages would mean getting all their posts, but Facebook doesn’t work that way. I guess I can understand why … our Facebook feeds would be swamped if we saw every post from every page we like.

Fortunately, a new feature that Facebook recently rolled out allows you to customize your news feed so you can see your favorite content at the top, marked with a blue star. Yay! As soon as I learned about this feature, I knew I had to share!

How to Customize Your News Feed
To customize your Facebook news feed, find your favorite pages and follow these steps. Why not try it first with my Teaching Resources page?

1. Click to find Teaching Resources on Facebook, and be sure you have Liked the page. 
2. Hover over the "Liked" button and click “Posts in News Feed." 
3. Choose “See First" to see my new posts appear at the top of the your news feed.  

That’s it! Take those three steps now, and you should start seeing all new posts from Teaching Resources appear at the top of your news feed. To see those posts, click the "Home" link at the top of Facebook or the words "News Feed" on the left side. All new posts from Teaching Resources and your other favorite pages will be identified by a blue star. If you click away from the news feed, those posts will drop down into your regular news feed.

I hope you love this new feature as much as I do! You'll never again miss out on teaching tips or resources from your favorite pages that could have made a difference in your classroom! By the way, over the next few days, I plan to do several giveaways and offer some special discounts. To be sure you see those posts, mark Teaching Resources as a page you want to see first!

The Magic Solution to Missing Assignments

Fun Friday Works Like Magic!

One my biggest struggles as a 5th grade teacher was getting kids to do their homework. I'm guessing you can relate! I was never a fan of loading kids up with homework, but I did expect them to complete whatever was assigned. Most of my homework was finishing classwork, returning a signed paper, or reading for 20 to 30 minutes. Yet precious minutes of class time were wasted every day while kids looked for missing assignments or worse, wasted my time trying to explain why they didn’t have it.

Then I discovered the magic solution to missing homework... Fun Friday! I can’t take credit for the idea, but I can tell you that it works! It was definitely the most effective system I've ever used for dealing with the problem of missing assignments.

How Fun Friday Works

Fun Friday is a weekly event that 3 or 4 teachers organize and implement together. On Friday afternoon, each teacher hosts one activity in his or her classroom for 30 minutes. One or two teachers take a group of students out to play or organize indoor recess activities. Another teacher hosts a free time in the classroom where students play board games, draw on the Smartboard, use iPads or play with a class pet. Sometimes a teacher will offer a special arts and crafts activity.

At least one teacher supervises a “study hall.”Students who have not completed all homework for the week attend the Study Hall and use that time to make up missing work. Each week teachers rotate activities so that all share the responsibilities equally.

If there aren't 3 or 4 teachers at your school who want to participate in Fun Friday, you can implement the program with just two teachers. One will take students outside or provide indoor recess, and the other will split his or her room between a study hall and a quiet reading or game room.

Why Fun Friday Works
My students loved Fun Friday and looked forward to the chance to get together with friends in other classrooms. It was one of the few rewards that actually motivated them to complete every single assignment all week. I kept a homework chart where I checked off those who completed all assignments for the week, and I was pretty strict with my requirements for Fun Friday. If a student even had one missing or late assignment during the week, they went to Study Hall. If you think this is a bit extreme, let me say that after just a few weeks of implementing Fun Friday, most kids would earn it every week. I was amazed at the difference this program made and how much time it saved me from dealing with late and missing assignments.

Fun Friday Sign-up Freebie
One thing that helped make Fun Friday easy to implement was a sign up chart. Right after lunch on Friday, I allowed those who had completed all assignments to sign up for their preference of activities. I’ve created several variations for you to try that you can download for free from the Odds 'N Ends page on my Teaching Resources website.

Convincing Administrators
Over the years I did have a few principals who needed to be convinced that the 30 minutes we devoted to Fun Friday were not wasted. My rationale was that we easily made up this time by not having to deal with missing and late assignments all week. Also, everyone, teachers and students alike, are downright brain-dead by the time Friday afternoon rolls around! Have you ever seriously tried to teach a lesson on a Friday afternoon? Trust me, it’s a wasted effort. You’ll just have to reteach it on Monday!

Do you implement a similar program in your classroom? Have you found it to be effective? If you haven't tried it, I hope you'll test it out. I believe you'll discover the magic of Fun Friday, too!

5 Fun Ways Pets Can Help Children Learn All Summer

Guest post by Christina Berry from The Lazy Pit Bull

This is the time of year when teachers and parents alike begin to wonder what they can do to help students keep their academic skills sharp all summer long. Is there a way to keep kids active and entertained while also engaging them in learning activities? There sure is, and you might be surprised to know that it’s the family pet that can make all the difference for kids this summer.

If your students – or their parents – are asking you for ideas for staying busy this summer, suggest that they try enlisting the help of some pets – their own as well as shelter pets and neighborhood pets - to keep kids reading, writing, and doing math all while they’re enjoying a few weeks away from school. Here are some ideas to get you started, and you'll find a printable version at the end of the article to send home with your students.

1. Walking Dogs

Walking the family dog should be on every kid’s chore list for the summer, whether the child is old enough to go by himself or if he’s accompanying a parent or older sibling as they walk the dog. The exercise benefits everyone, and there are fun ways to incorporate games and challenges into it, using math skills. The student may not even realize he’s practicing math because it will be so much fun!

Parents might consider purchasing an inexpensive pedometer for kids to wear while walking the dog. Create challenges like taking 1,000 steps per walk. Make a chart so kids can keep track of the steps they’ve taken over the course of a week, and then offer a reward once they’ve reached a certain number of steps. Bonus: have them try to figure out how many steps the dog takes, too (hello, multiplication!).

Students can also use apps on a smart phone to map their dog walking routes and keep track of how far they’ve walked. There are some dog walking apps like Woof Trax that earn money for shelter pets each time you take your dog for a walk. ResQWalk is another popular option.

Adding the tech element is sure to make the dog walking more fun, get kids moving, and help keep their number skills sharp over summer break.

2. Writing Stories About Adoptable Pets

It’s a challenge to get most kids to practice writing over the summer, but if you find something fun to write about, there’s a better chance your students will change their tune.

Ask students to visit their local humane society’s web site and choose an adoptable animal to write a story about. Encourage them to imagine where the pet came from, how the pet ended up in the shelter, and predict what kind of family might be good for him (who knows? Maybe it’s the student’s own family!).

Then, have kids visit the shelter to meet the pet in person and deliver the story to shelter personnel. Shelters love receiving work from kids, and they may even hang the child’s story next to the pet’s cage to entice would-be adopters.

This kind of recognition might be just the motivation your students need to keep up their writing practice over the summer.

3. Reading to Pets at Home… or at a Shelter

If you have students who are enthusiastic readers, suggest that they try reading to the pets in their own families. Sometimes reading to a non-judgmental animal who’s often content to simply sit and listen, helps build a young reader’s confidence.

Some libraries offer “Reading to Rover” programs where kids can practice their skills with therapy dogs. These programs are so much fun for both the two-legged and four-legged participants. Check your local library to see if something like this is available for your students.

And, some shelters and humane societies have reading programs where kids can visit adoptable pets and read to them. This type of interaction has proven helpful to young readers, as well as to the pets that enjoy the company and the socialization. This is also a great way to get kids involved in philanthropic practices at an early age.

Check out the website Crayons and Collars for a database of humane societies across the country that offer programs for kids to see if there’s one near you.

4. Earning Money by Pet Sitting

Lessons about earning and saving money are valuable for kids of all ages! Suggest that students set up a vacation pet sitting or dog walking business, as this is a good way for responsible, animal-loving kids to learn the value of money, plus other great lessons like keeping commitments, managing responsibility, and more. Oh, and don’t forget the ever-present math lessons when it comes to anything money-related.

Obviously, pet sitting or dog walking is more appropriate for older kids, unless a parent or older sibling is willing to be the child’s “business partner,” which could be fun, too!

No matter what age your students are, suggest that parents work closely with them when it comes to the money they’re earning, how much they’re saving (this is a good way to work on percentages!), and how much they’re pocketing. Kids can benefit from consistent reinforcement about good money management from teachers and parents alike.

5. Holding a Donation Drive

Summer is a great time for kids to learn about philanthropy. Animal shelters always need supplies and many of the things they need can be found secondhand in our own homes. Encourage your students to open their hearts and give to those in need!

With adult supervision and guidance, students can hold a supply drive in their own neighborhood to collect things that neighbors may not need but the shelter can use, like old sheets, towels, and other items.

Suggest that parents sneak in some math practice by working with their kids to create goals for items collected, and then keep track of the number of items they collect for their shelter.

Some shelters make toys for the pets in their care using empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls. Some collect milk jug caps to use as cat toys, and some make toys out of empty plastic water bottles. These are all things students can collect from friends, neighbors, and family without asking for a dime! Check with your local shelter to see what kind of supplies they need.

Recommend that students organize the collected supplies into categories, tally up the number of items, and then proudly deliver the donations to their local organization. I promise, that will be an experience these kids won’t forget.

Freebie to Send Home!

During the summer, it can be tough for teachers and parents to help kids balance work and play. Finding fun ways to incorporate lessons into pet-related activities might be just the key to help your students continue to build their academic skills all summer long. Before you know it, school will be back in session and students will have had a valuable summer full of good times and learning, too!

Download this free printable checklist with these 5 fun ways pets can help children learn all summer long! Teachers, send it home with your students to share with their parents, and you'll help them avoid the academic "summer slide!"

Christina Berry lives in Indianapolis where she is a wife, mom, Virtual Assistant and Social Media Strategist, Pet Lifestyle Blogger, movie lover, and recovering Diet Dr. Pepper addict. She loves helping bloggers and handmade shop owners create successful businesses, and she enjoys advocating for pets as a volunteer with her local humane society and a Pit Bull rescue. She blogs at The Lazy Pit Bull.