Looking to learn about the great white north, eh? You will love this free printable Canada for Kids reader to color, read, and learn!

O'Keeffe's paintings make great inspiration for kids' art projects, so let's check out 10 of the best Georgia O'Keeffe projects for kids!

Kids will have fun learning about other countries, famous landmarks, and geography with this France for Kids FREE Printable Mini Book.

Blank books provide a great way to encourage kids to write. Here are 3 easy ways to assemble blank books for your writing center, literacy center, and beyond.

Haven't tried a book tasting with your students yet? This fun reading activity is an awesome way to introduce genres in your elementary classroom or library!

• The Wind and Water pillar. 2 that never get along , no matter what. The wind pillar.. Also known as Sanemi Shinazugawa , hates Giyuu , the water pillars guts. Or so he thought. He basically bullies the water pillar for being 'too full of himself'. Giyuu on the other hand , doesn't mind these actions and ignores them. One day , Sanemi has had enough. So he decided to take matters into his own hands • | This contains.. | -Smut (All my stories mostly have Smut) - Lime -Angst -fluff -bullying?? The art isn't mine! 💕 if i find out who made the arts , ill give credit! ✨

Discover the perfect All About Me preschool activity designed for young kids! Get a free printable worksheet that's simple, engaging, and ideal for emergent readers. Download now!

I want to share an idea that has saved me some sanity in the past two years when many students are demanding my attention at once.

Teaching our little learners about fall is such a fun unit to get to explore this time of year! They'll love learning about the fall harvest, weather, leaves, and so much more! There are so many fun ways to go through this unit and watch them learn. It's even more fun as you read through

Learn about Israel for Kids with these FREE Israel Mini Books. Color, read, and learn Israeli facts and information for kids of all ages.

David Sax on analog ideas and products, such as Moleskine notebooks, that remain viable and popular despite advances in digital technology.

I am all done with parent conferences and it feels great! I had the most terrific year and I’m so happy to share my students’ progress with their parents. During parent conference time, I always love to have lots of student work to display. I absolutely love to incorporate student pictures into student work. This ... Read More about Silhouette Autobiographies and Read Across America

These FREE Printables and Unit Studies for Eric Carle's Books will help you expand on what your kids are learning through these beloved books.

Memory wheels are a great end of school year activity for upper elementary and middle school students. Learn about memory wheel templates.

"This doesn't change anything, i still hate you." "God i love that." Shes lost in a world full

First Week Must Dos 4 comments Back to School, Freebies, Popular Posts There are so many things that teachers must do the first week of school. Do these sound familiar? All of these things (and probably a few others that I missed) must be taught, discussed, and practiced (repeatedly) if you want your classroom to run smoothly all year long. See the last item on that list? That's my favorite 'must do.' In my eyes, all the items in the list are equal in ranking when it comes to importance, but I truly enjoy teaching my kiddos good work habits from the start. Good work habits, in my classroom, include: We all want our students to be neat, to pay attention to detail, to follow directions, to take pride in their work, and to pace themselves when working. When I say "pace themselves" I'm talking about not rushing. I want my students to focus on the task at hand and thoughtfully complete that task. Rushing rarely yields stellar results. Our students don't always come to us doing all of these things. And, that's OK, they are little kids. They aren't born knowing the skills that make up good work habits. They learn these skills. My favorite way to teach these important habits is in context. What I mean by that is, I use back to school activities, projects, and assignments that I have planned for the first week to introduce and reinforce these skills. I usually start teaching these skills on day one. I like to start with neatness. Of course, being neat also entails paying attention to detail, and not rushing through a task. My favorite project to use on day one is a class book. We talk about what a class book is and who will be reading it. When kids know that other kids will be reading their work, they are typically motivated to do their best. They want their peers to love what they have contributed to the special book. This makes the class book perfect for encouraging students to take pride in their work. You can cover so many work habits with one simple project! Once we talk about the class book and its audience, I show them an example of neat work (see below). I point out that I colored in the lines (yes, accidents happen, and that's OK). I also point out that I used colors that make sense (I don't have purple hair, so I didn't color myself with purple hair). A page like this is perfect for focusing on those coloring skills. The next day, we make another class book. One that includes more writing, so that we can focus on neatness as it pertains to handwriting. I review the skills we talked about the day before, and I remind the students of who will be reading this book. Then, I show an example and point out the use of neat handwriting (Do you like my typical second grader response? Hehe). When I say neat handwriting, I simply mean that the words can be easily read. Over the course of the week, we end up making several class books, which gives the students several opportunities to practice using neat handwriting and coloring, paying attention to detail, pacing themselves (not rushing), and taking pride in their work. It's easy to get student buy-in when focusing on these skills in this capacity because they want to make a really awesome page for that special class book! Class books are one of my go to projects that help reinforce notions of neatness, attention to detail, pacing, and taking pride in one's work, but I love to do craftivity projects too! Craft projects are perfect for teaching all these same work habits, but are also great for reinforcing the important skill of following directions! You're probably thinking, crafts during the first week? Really? Yes! I'm not talking about hard core, super involved projects here. It is the first week of school, so keep it simple! You can still teach your students to be neat, to pay attention to detail, to follow directions, and to take pride in their work with simple activities. Take this project for example. It's a writing project disguised as a craft. More specifically, it's a first week journal. Each day, the students write about that day. With this kind of project, you can model neat coloring and handwriting, attention to detail, and pacing (remember, when I say pacing, I mean not rushing through the work). Then, they can practice those skills. Whether you have students cut and assemble the book before they begin writing, or after they finish writing on all of the pages, you can use that portion of the project as a means to reinforce following directions and paying attention to detail. If you walk into my classroom the first week, you'll likely see my second graders completing a craft like this. Well, actually, this exact craft. Hehe. I like to get student work up on the board ASAP, and this is a quick and easy project for that. It's simple enough and provides great practice with attention to detail and following directions. I typically pass out all the templates that the students need. Then, I model how to cut out each piece. Once I cut a piece, the students cut that same piece. As I model, I talk about what I'm doing. I point out that when cutting rounded or circular shaped pieces, I really need to slow down and carefully follow my cutting line. I even teach them where to set their cut pieces so they don't misplace them. This reinforces the notion of neatness beyond writing and coloring. Then, I repeat this process with the gluing phase of the project. I display the craft on the board so they can see it and attend to detail and follow directions more easily. Breaking it down step by step makes it easy for them to follow directions. It also puts them at ease because they can easily see what is expected, and ultimately they end up feeling successful at the end of the project. While there are so many things we must do that first week of school, remember to take time to make sure that good work habits are on your list of must dos. Focusing on these habits from the get go will pay off in the long run. The activities pictured above can all be found in my Return of the Nerds Back to School Activities pack. You can check it out here on TPT. One last thing before you go. I'd love for you to use this class book to help teach your students some great work habits this coming school year. You can download it for free by clicking here. Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by today! DON'T FORGET IT: PIN IT! Share It:

I absolutely LOVE IKEA and even though the closest one to me is about 3 hours away, I always make a point to go a couple of times a year. A few years ago, I did a post on items from IKEA that teachers can use in their classrooms. You can check out that post HERE (most of those things are still available!). Below are some of my finds from my most recent trip... There are tons of alternative seating options at IKEA. Most of the office type chairs are sold in two parts... the seat and then the base. The seat part is a great floor seat.. similar to the rocker chairs people are using. Here are just a couple of the options that I thought looked the most comfortable and affordable... If you need some basic stools for your students to sit on while they work... IKEA has some awesome cheap rugs. The rugs I bought for less than $5 over 5 years ago are still holding up and look great (even after 180 days of use a year by primary students). I use rugs for silent reading but also for my low table where students sit on the ground. These are a few of the rug options... I grabbed up two of these larger circle rugs... my kiddos will love them! Two students can fit on them for partner reading. I loved this green dot rug.. look at the price! You can't really tell the size but this would be a great rug in a small area where 3 or 4 kiddos could sit and play a game together. This would be a great addition to any classroom. IKEA has tons of deals like this! They also have a TON of chair pads.. the ones with the strings that you tie to the back of the chair. these would also be great for your floor kiddos. I picked up these round versions that go on stools... they have rubbery grippers on the back that will prevent them from sliding on hard floors. If you are looking for "spots" to keep your students in one place while sitting on the rug these could be an option... they are actually placemats! They have a rubbery backing so they won't slip on laminate flooring and are just the right size for primary kiddos. This is a longer cushion pad... two kiddos would fit perfect on this for partner read! I wish I had about 12 of these! If you want to go kind of big and you are looking for a couch, this is so cute. I almost grabbed this up but couldn't decide on a color... It comes in yellow or a dark gray. These stools are so cute... they would be great at a tall table. The don't wobble and are sturdy. They have a ton of other stool options. I love stools because they can be stacked or pushed under tables so easily! Here are some lower stool options. They will work on regular height tables. If you are brave enough for pillows (I always tell my kids no heads on the pillows....if you get my drift) they have a ton of cheap options. This dish rack would be perfect for organizing tablets! Just slide the tablets into the slots and place any iPods into the silverware holder portion. I purchased this shelving unit (in white) to transform my fluency station... These picture frames are perfect for displaying learning objectives at small groups.... If you can screw into walls and cabinets these would be perfect for so many purposes... displaying student work, displaying pics from the year or I think they would be great for hanging headphones. Just slip the headphone over the wire and you are good to go! This is my dream item at IKEA...I would love to have two of these to hold my differentiated tubs for literacy and math rotations. It holds 12 drawers (3 drawers for each group) that can hold different leveled materials. If you want to whimsically figure up your data this calculator is super cute...I would love for my principal to come in while I am punching in numbers on this ridiculous thing... I have never seen this section in IKEA before (maybe it's new or I am just blind) but they have cute party favor type decor. I often use the tissue balls in my classroom. I love these options! This section also had these number paperclips and quotation paper clips. These would be a fun little teacher gift! I also grabbed up this cheap tub to store rugs and pillows. Finally what my kiddos will be most excited about BEADS (for fun friday). These are super cheap! IKEA also has these rolls of paper (should have grabbed a dozen for my artsy kiddos!) for super cheap! What items do you use from IKEA in your classroom? If you have any questions make sure to leave them in the comment section!

Here’s 10 ways to use a parachute in the music classroom. Activities will help students learn and practice music concepts. Parachutes can be used for so many fun activities in the music room. I’ve discovered that they are especially helpful during the latter part of the school year when students are more “squiggly” than ever! […]

This guide gives you some tips on dropping hints of romance without explicitly stating it, or having your characters shout it from the rooftops.

Hello dear friends. Today I will share a cute crochet doll amigurumi pattern. You can find all the details step by step in the description of the pattern. Her hair, her dress, even her bag! Overall, it’s a very realistic doll. It actually reminds me a bit of Japanese anime characters. Color selection is very […]

Growth Mindset: The Power of Yet Recently my 1st grade classroom has morphed into a K/1 combination classroom and then resulted in HUGE gaps (academically, socially, & emotionally) between my s…

This list of must have picture books for your classroom library includes a wide range of titles from seasonal to teaching points. Free activities too!

Counselors near and far have been excited for the arrival of Disney Pixar’s movie Inside…

Establishing consistent accountability when using the workshop approach to teaching and learning may seem daunting at first. After all, your students are producing, and consuming an immense amount of content during workshop on a daily basis…far more than you can (and want) to grade. The good news is, you don’t have to grade every activity. I know what you’re thinking…”If I stop grading every single thing…there won’t be enough accountability.” The reality is, there are other far more efficient ways to establish accountability and boost meaningful student growth. One of these ways is routine student self-reflection. If you’re ready to bring more student reflection to your classroom, these tips can help you establish routines that maintain consistent accountability in your workshop classroom. Creating Rubrics Together A foundational rubric will help you and your students create a common language that can make ongoing assessment more meaningful and fluid in your classroom. Begin by pulling the rubric your district requires you to use, or write a rubric that communicates your parameters for each level of understanding in your classroom. Rewrite this rubric in your own student-friendly language so you can share these parameters with your class. Making a slide or poster for each level on your rubric so it is easier for students to digest may be helpful. Set aside time in your schedule each day to create a one-week series of work sessions when you and your students can rewrite the rubric again as a class using language that is actually produced by your students. You may opt to: Have all slides/posters on display simultaneously while students rotate to stations where they work in groups to make meaning of each level of understanding. Students can then write their interpretations on the slides/posters, which can be aggregated on the final day. Display one slide/poster each day and host a class conversation that facilitates meaning-making for each level of understanding. Record student ideas as you work toward a common, and final definition for each level of understanding. At the end of these series of work sessions, you and your students will have a rubric that is unpacked by them, rewritten by them, and ready to be used by them. Working together as a class to write a final rubric that will be adopted as the foundation makes conversations about assessments more meaningful and productive. Rubric Drawers Once your class rubric is created, you can make it easy for students to consistently reflect on their work by submitting any assignments to “rubric drawers” that are marked with the definitions for each level of understanding. This built-in practice of self-reflection builds students’ intrinsic motivation to reach higher and produce quality work. If you notice your students have a tendency to submit work to the “wrong” drawer, this signals they need a follow up lesson on the type of work quality required to achieve each level of understanding. Using exemplars (examples of each level of understanding from a particular subject area or activity) can help students build a stronger definition for what work quality looks like. As students build their ability to accurately assess themselves, you can also have them attach a short note of justification for their self-scoring. This will provide insight about any misconceptions they may have about their work or the rubric levels your class has written. If you want to track the score students give themselves on an activity, provide a special pen or stamp that allows them to mark their score before placing it in the drawer. In addition, you can have students submit work with the help of a partner. Once an activity is complete, a student can briefly confer with their assigned partner to get feedback, and make a decision about which drawer a piece should be submitted. This provides an additional layer of motivation for students to reach higher, as they know a peer will be reviewing their work quality. Reflection Letters Another routine that can boost student growth through self-assessment is the writing of reflection letters on a routine basis. Students thrive when they know they have an important role in their assessment process, and will be eager to read your response. Begin by creating a prompt that asks students to reflect specifically on different areas of the assignment that will support their goal setting and goal progress. Also direct students to refer to their rubric to self-assess, and provide justification for their assessment as part of their reflection process. This routine will remind students the importance of keeping the rubric in mind as they complete their work each week, which will foster stronger performance. Set aside time to read these reflection letters and write brief responses which may include your own score using the same rubric, and comments that support your scoring. This written dialogue further emphasizes the value you place on student work and growth. If you find the need to differentiate this letter writing process to support the unique needs of students in your classroom. Here are some differentiation ideas: Have students dictate as you record their reflection. Have students circle their score on a rubric and mark evidence with color-coding or sticky notes. Provide sentence frames to scaffold independence. Self Assessment & Reflection In Your Classroom Ready to give self-reflection a try in your own classroom? Here are a few editable tools to help you get started. Once you’ve established student self-reflection routines in your classroom, stop by and share your experience. I look forward to hearing about the growth your students make, and the freedom you feel from teaching in a workshop classroom where accountability and engagement are off the charts.

These Reading Journal PDF printables help you track your reading and easily crush your book goals, even if you lack time or inspiration.

Making connections when reading these suggested picture books will help your students use their prior experiences to make sense of the text.

When we started working our way through all of the letters of the alphabet, we decided that we wanted to create something that we could hold onto and look

No more boring book reports! Check out 26+ FUN, creative and unique book report ideas and free printable projects too!

How do writers create characters readers love to hate? How can you create your own Dolores Umbridge or Ramsey Bolton?

Charles Leclerc and Juliette Swift have been racing rivals since the beginning of their karting careers. Unlike others, their rivalry continued off-track. Always trying to outdo the other. Will that all change after a drunk night in a hotel?

I am not afraid to tell that as a child I developed math anxiety. I was afraid of making mistakes and being laughed at. It just didn't click! Mind you, I attended an all-girls private catholic

Each school year, I like to create a name book for my preschool students to use. I put them together with all kinds of materials but to simplify things for my readers, I created this little name book template. Getting Started I create a book for

Are you looking for the best books for 3-year-olds? These are my top, must-read, best books for 3 year olds!

What Makes a Parent Love a Teacher ... and it's not what you might think! Read this terrific post by Jennifer Gonzalez to find out what really matters to parents. Be sure to download her free "deep data" chart for organizing your student data!

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

I love teaching letter writing in the classroom. Students love writing friendly letters to each other. I've got 6 ideas for making teaching letter writing easier for you including sample anchor charts, picture book ideas and extension activities.

Learn About the 7 Continents! Exploring the 7 Continents has never been more exciting! It’s a Small World Continent Study is filled with over 35 activities to help your students gain a greater understanding of the seven continents. This 130+ page unit is filled with great resources, posters, printables, activities, and projects that will open […]

Strengthening the piriformis muscle and other hip muscles that surround it will help treat piriformis syndrome and any related inflammation.