Maniacs in the Middle

A Classroom Management System for Middle School

A Classroom Management System for Middle School

Having a classroom management system in middle school is so hard!! A lot of it is too “elementary” for them and they just won’t buy into it! If you want a management system to work for any grade level, there has to be buy in from the students. When I was in college I had a professor who was like Mr. Feeney to me & he told us, “a child will do anything for a Jolly Rancher.” I used this to my advantage & made it into my classroom management system!  Jolly Rancher Wars is a weekly challenge where my…

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My Teacher & Tech Must-Haves!

My Teacher & Tech Must-Haves!

Welcome back to Josie’s Favorite Things of 2020! Tonight I am focusing on my teacher and tech favorites. Remember, these are all items I have personally and LOVE. I chose items that I ACTUALLY use as a teacher. These items are for the teachers in your lives or yourself if you are a teacher! This is not a post for parents on what to give their child’s teacher for Christmas!!  (But if you really want to know what your child’s teacher wants this year: it’s a hand written note, or gift cards & wine.) 🙂 These are items that I…

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Josie’s Favorite Things

Josie’s Favorite Things

Hey there, friend!! Welcome to my first ever “Josie’s Favorite Things!”  I remember my mom waiting for the Oprah’s Favorite Things episode every year when I was younger. I love all the Gift Guides I have been seeing, but I wanted to put my own personal twist on them. Rather than putting together a bunch of popular items that I may have never even tried, I decided to put together a list of my tried and true products. These are items that you see me wearing all the time, items I repurchase, items I have used for years, and honestly…

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Outdoor Home Office with Amazon Home

Outdoor Home Office with Amazon Home

*This post is sponsored by Amazon Home. Like many of you, I am working from home more than usual these days. My district is currently 100% virtual through at least the middle of October. We are required to teach live 3 days a week and have asynchronous lessons on the other 2 days. I choose to stay home and record lessons, provide feedback to my students, grade, and plan on the asynchronous days. At the beginning of this unusual school year, I was going crazy working inside the house on the days that I didn’t go into school. I knew…

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How to Use Merge Cubes This School Year

How to Use Merge Cubes This School Year

If you haven’t heard of Merge Cubes, then I think you may have been living under a rock for the past few years! If you want a class set of Merge Cubes and a free subscription, stay tuned until the end of this post! Three years ago my technology coach came to me with a Merge Cube in her hand. She was so excited to show me this new augmented reality cube to use in my science classroom. All you need is a cube and the app! The app reads the code on the cube and creates augmented reality through…

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