It is a month into school and we are still loving the way we pass out pencils. In past school years there has been a problem with students' pencils always breaking, or being los,t or not having any sharp pencils---at all!! (We are still trying to figure out how there are just no pencils in a desk...really, guys?!)

Over the summer, Memaw, Mrs. Patterson's Grandma, helped us sew 68 pencils bags. All the bags were made out of a thick fabric~we used duck cloth. It was very inexpensive at Jo-Anne's Fabric. We even got it on sale! We used ribbon from Walmart to keep the pencils from falling out, and to make it look a little cuter! Students simply tuck the top into the ribbon to shut the bag. No buttons, no snaps, easy to use!

Memaw sewing the bags!

Each child received their own bag with their cubby number on it (we used a black paint pen to paint the numbers on). Each bag holds 8 sharpened pencils. On Friday students turn in their pencil bags. The dull/broken pencils get replaced with new, freshly sharpened pencils. On Monday the bags are returned to students ready to go.

(Don't worry, this is no more 'extra' for the teacher! We have students sharpen pencils all week long, in the morning, and after school before they head to the bus. Student helpers fill and replace the pencils in the bag too.)

Sharp pencils, ready to be bagged!

Our student helpers can easily grab pencils that need to be sharpened

Students are not allowed to take these bags home. They stay at school All. The. Time. When our student helpers check pencils Friday afternoon they are making sure each bag has 8 pencils. If it does not, the owner of the bag gets an X by their name. If it does have all 8 pencils (even if it is just a small bit or broken) the owner gets a check mark by their name. After one month of checking pencils all students with all check marks will get a pencil/piece of candy/free time at computer lab/stickers/homework pass or anything the teachers want to pass out!






Here is how our bags look. We love them. Our students love them. It's a beautiful thing. In all, we spent $33 on fabric and ribbon. Since there are 2 of us that means $16.50 each!  #thrifty

Pencil bags in use

A Sequencing Review

It is day #2!

We are loving our newly decorated classrooms, and our students! We have decided to change things up this year and rotate students according to level to better accommodate our ESL students. To go along with reviewing, reviewing, reviewing during the start of school we are offering our Sequencing Review pages for $1 for the next 3 days. (that is a savings of $2.50!)


This Sequencing Review is perfect for primary grades. It includes sequencing posters, hidden words, cut/pasting in order, reading passages to sequence, picture sorting, and sequencing short films.

The first story in our Reading Street books is an excerpt from Because of Winn Dixie. This sequencing review has a reading passage to go along with the story. In our classrooms this week we will be using this to review. Even though your Two Teacher Friends teach 4th grade, this is a great review to start the year off. It is excellent to use as a teaching tool to see where each child stands. The sheets included can be taken as a formal or informal assessments and students have fun completing them.

Another part of this Sequencing Review packet our students loooove (they think it is so fun) is the short film sequencing pages. We have included 2 different Pixar short films for students to watch and put into sequence order. The best part of it is they are short and sweet. Long enough to assess your students, yet short enough to keep all students interested.
Hop on over to our TPT store to grab our Sequencing Review packet for primary grades.

Happy Back To School!