Saturday, August 4, 2018

Fundraiser Fatigue?


Do you get Fundraising Fatigue?




Do the words “Fundraiser Fatigue” describe your feelings when thinking about student clubs and/or organizations? The amazing opportunities students are provided through these extra curricula’s are often overshadowed by the door to door sales or hosted events to raise adequate funds. All this can be exhausting in addition to your “day job”. If you can relate to this I would encourage you to pick up a copy of the book “Club Funding Smarter Not Harder” written by Ryan M. Judge.


Judge is a former Family, Career and Community Leaders of America advisor who perfected and eliminated traditional fundraisers. I recently had the pleasure of reading and reviewing his book. The publication is easy to read and outlines how to acquire business sponsorships to fund your club or organizations needs in an effort to reduce teacher burn out, parent frustration, and fundraiser competition within your school.





I appreciated the texts attention to detail, providing helpful insight into a proven model for success. Judge not only provides essential documents for setting up a corporate sponsorship model but also how to begin networking with local businesses to support your program. The book provides all the information and tools you need to maximize your donation dollars with sponsorship levels and ideas on how to give back to your donors. He shares with his readers letter templates to get started along with tips on how to personalize each letter and set up an efficient contact database. Judge's simple to follow process and materials are worth the read for anyone looking to let go of the “fundraiser fatigue” as we begin a new school year.


To help eliminate your fatigue, Judge includes how to incorporate his model into your club or organizations handbook and suggest getting students and parents involved in the process. He shares his best practices for including all members. Involving parents and students can add diversity to the outreach of companies, personalized your approach and lessen the workload of the advisor.




If you are interested in spending more time planning your student’s next learning experience versus a fundraiser check out this book. 


You can purchase “Club Funding Smarter Not Harder” on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or by visiting www.theseasonedgroup.com/publications and use the code: SUMMER by September 8th to SAVE $5 on your order!


Do you use business sponsorships to fund your club or organizations events?


Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Back to School SALE!




Summer is ending, but the back to school sales are just beginning! Do not miss this ONCE a year BIG savings. With several ways to save be sure to stock up on some of my customer favorites!





Save 50% on last years top 5 sellers by visiting my Teaching Success FCS Etsy Store! In addition to these great items, other lessons and activities will be discounted for a limited time. The Back to School sale will end August 15th – don’t miss out!




Prefer to shop Teachers Pay Teachers? Pop into my Teaching Success with FCS store for the Back to School sale August 1st and 2nd use the code above to save! Selected items are up to 25% off of their regular price.  This is the greatest savings all year!



Looking for a new best practice to make formative assessments EASY?  Check out the Formative Assessment Toolkit!



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Friday, May 11, 2018

Teacher Appreciation SALE



Happy teacher appreciation week! 




Teaching is a true passion from the heart, one that requires dedication, patience, and empathy. One who unselfishly fills hearts with kindness, little minds with knowledge, and souls with spirit can never be thanked enough! Each of you deserves a gold star for the work you do! 



To show my appreciation for all your hard work and as a thank you for supporting my curriculum passion I have the BEST SALE of the year going on through Sunday, May 13th! Visit my Etsy Shop: Teaching Success FCS to check out innovate lessons, engaging activities and instructional products.


**New lessons/activities Posted – Go Check Them Out!**

Monday, February 19, 2018

Classroom Toilet Trouble


I love to play games and I love to incorporate them into my lessons.  Games are a great way to engage students! 


Toilet Trouble is a new popular game that can be used to bring laughter and increase student engagement in your classroom!  Don’t miss this opportunity to utilize a new game to perk up a review session or help your students to get to know each other!  Check out how to incorporate this game into your curriculum.


1. Toilet Trouble Test Review. Students take turns, when it is the players turn he/she spins the toilet paper, then the player is asked a question from a review sheet, if he/she gets it correct they get to avoid flushing the toilet, if he/she gets the question wrong they must flush the toilet the number of times indicated from their spin. Keep playing until all questions have been answered. 


**Students play in groups of no more than 4



2. Bathroom Break Review. With a few minutes left in class or during a lesson, ask for student volunteers. Students who come forward will spin the toilet paper. If a student’s spins a 1 they must summarize one thing they have learned. Spin a 2 and the student must flush twice. Spin a 3 and win a prize! This is a fun way to end class, an exit ticket plus game = fun lesson!

**Can also be played at the end of the class using review questions, answer the question correctly or flush!




3. Flushing Friends! Put students into groups of 4 to 5 and provide each group with a 20 Questions about YOU handout, taking turns each student spins the toilet paper, on his/her turn they must answer the number of questions (1 or 2) spun, student spins a 3 and they have to flush!



4. Toilet Team 'Flushdown'. Divide the class into 2 teams. Each team will send a person to the front of the room. The teacher will then spin the toilet paper, and ask the two students a question. The first student to answer the question correctly will earn a point for their team. The other student (team) must flush as many times as what was previously rolled by the teacher. If the student is the recipient of a ‘flush’ their team also loses a point!


Popular holiday games such as Toilet Trouble can often be found a few months later on the shelves of local thrift stores or at yard sales for a minimal cost. Adding this game to your classroom will bring a lot of laughter, fun review, and creativity to your lessons!

What ideas do you have for using Toilet Trouble in the classroom?

Find additional great lesson plans at my Etsy Shop - Teaching Success FCS and be sure to follow this blog to be notified of future lesson plans and teaching ideas!

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Minimalism in the Classroom - Teaching Students Personal Finance and Consumerism


If you have not viewed the documentary 'Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things' you must add it to your list! This well-produced film addresses a lot of great topics for a personal finance or a consumerism class. 


Mark and Joshua are former business professionals who rediscover themselves after climbing the corporate ladder by reevaluating their needs and wants. Their drive for becoming minimalist is to live a meaningful life with less. The film focuses on how one can manage his/her spending and still live a fulfilled life. 

To preview the documentary click here!

In addition, to the 1 ½ hour documentary that you can purchase from Ryan & Joshua's website or view using a variety of video accounts such as Netflix or Amazon Prime. They also offer web series, a TED Talk and an assortment of podcasts on their website at https://www.theminimalists.com/.

Show this film as an introduction to budgeting, with a highly engaging storyline leave the film for sub plans, or discuss spending trends and economic impacts with your consumerism class.  This film has many learning opportunities and is perfect for a personal finance or consumerism class!

Want to use the film in your classroom?  No worries, I've created materials to help students follow along and be reflective.  The movie guide is now available for purchase at my Etsy Shop. The download includes a student movie guide, answer key, and reflective questions. (click below to purchase) The reflective questions may be answered individually by students after viewing the documentary or used to lead a class discussion.




What are other video's you use to teach personal finance?



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Thursday, January 18, 2018

Hot Potato Review!



No Prep Review Game!

This is one of the easiest review games EVER!  To start locate a potato, real or stuffed, you can purchase stuffed potatoes from my crafty friends on Etsy.  



Next, find some good music, your review questions, a cup, and 2 sets of numbered jumbo craft sticks 1-20. 



**If you have purchased and created the Formative Assessment Tool Kit just grab 2 sets from your baskets.


Have students stand in a circle around the classroom.  Start the music and have students pass the potato while the music plays, at random stop the music, ask the student holding the potato a review question.  


If the student provides a correct answer they stay in the game, if they don't they go back to their seat.  


How to keep the students engaged who are now out of the game?  

Using 2 sets of Jumbo Craft Sticks numbered 1-20, each time a student is eliminated from the game and sent back to his/her seat give them a numbered stick, starting with 1 and counting forward.


In a cup place a stick with the same number as given to the student.


When a question is answered incorrectly from the game, draw a stick, the person who has that number will be given a chance to answer that question correctly and re-enter the game!

Students still standing after you have asked all your review quesitons are WINNERS!  


What games do you use to review content before an upcoming test or quiz?


Be sure to follow this blog for future updates!

Sunday, January 14, 2018

What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?




What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? The content and activities of the Successful Entrepreneur Lesson will help students explore the personality traits, skills, and challenges faced by different entrepreneurs! The lesson addresses national standards on teaching entrepreneurship with a focus on specific student learning objectives.



This lesson opens with a vocabulary activity that will engage your students and allow them to successfully master the definition of entrepreneur.

Photo Credit: Bryli Burns (age 7)


A card sort activity helps students learn the traits of successful entrepreneurs in conjunction with a researched based activity where students research an entrepreneur to create a gallery. This gallery is then used as an in-class activity to reinforce the objectives of the lesson.


In addition to all the other great resources in this lesson, it also includes a rubric for easy teacher grading and a professionally designed PowerPoint to teach and guide!



Several review activities are suggested in the lesson to meet the needs of different students. These review activities include worksheets, questions, and formative assessments.



You will not be disappointed with all the different assessments embedded into this lesson. Tracking student growth will be easy!



To purchase this NEW lesson please visit my Etsy Shop – Teaching Success FCS or CLICK HERE!


What activities do you do in your classroom to inspire young entrepreneurs?

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