Today I'm sharing one of my favourite tasks for building community in the classroom. Students are able to share an important aspect of themselves (the story of their name) with the class and with me, their teacher. Through this task we are also working on important skills, like reading comprehension, writing, and reflection. Day 1 To begin, I asked my students to write any name they wish they had on a sticky note. They then placed it in a mason jar. I read my class the story "The Name Jar" by Yansook Choi. We stopped at several points in the story to predict, make connections, infer, and ask questions. At one point, we paused in the story so that students could journal about the name they wrote down on the sticky note earlier: - Did they choose their own name? Or another? - Why? - If you chose another name, where did you hear that name before? Day 2 At the end of Day 1, students were given homework. (Stick around to the bottom of this post for a chance to get your own copy of this sheet.) I make it very clear, that while names all have meanings, your family may not have chosen your name for that reason. They might not know the meaning, and you can choose to look it up with your family if you wish. I also focus a lot on nicknames and your own feelings about your name. While I've never taught a student in foster care, or one who was adopted, I do think it's important to mention that this could be a touchy task in those situations, so be sure to know your students first, and modify as needed. Students use the homework task, and the journal write from the previous day, to write "The Story of their Name". Some possible options to include are: - who you are named after - the meaning of your name - a name you'd rather have - your feelings toward your name - nicknames you may have - the person (or people) who chose your name - how your name was chosen This piece of writing is then self, peer, and teacher edited, and a "good" copy is made. Day 3 I found this excellent step-by-step self-portrait from "Art Projects for Kids". I modified the task so that instead of drawing the left or right side of their face, they would draw the top half. Students find that folding their page into quadrants as she suggests is very helpful. Under the document camera I demonstrate each step, and students copy, adapting to their own facial features. Each student gets a mirror to look in to help them personalize. The final pieces are put on a bulletin board for display. Students also coloured in a bubble letter version of their names to complete the display. (I used the font KG Red Hands Outline for this.) Day 4 Once we've completed the task, the last job is to reflect on our work. I pulled some elements from our Arts Education curriculum (very relevant regardless of where you teach) for students to self-assess on. I've used the proficiency scale language our school has moved to for all reporting. A few students found it helpful to complete their reflection while looking at the finished product on their bulletin board, but most didn't need this. Want a copy of both my homework and reflection pages? Follow the image or button below to grab your copy. Take Me to the Free Download Pin this post.
One of the fun and hands-on activities from my Seasons K-2 Unit Study is this 4 Seasons Flip Book. Actually, there are two seasons flip books included: one that’s more picture-based with simple language and one goes a little more in-depth. You can get both season flip books in one quick download today. Just click ... Read More about 4 Seasons Flip Book {2 FREE Levels}
Amazing things can happen with just one dot.
Ensuring students know the value and power of their courage is crucial for upper elementary students’ social-emotional learning and growth. Get easy-to-implement ideas, courage activities, suggested titles for books on bravery, and courage lesson plans to help you create a classroom community where
Free International Dot Day Activity (Creativity Challenges) Teachers, are you looking for some free resources for International Dot Day? Dot Day takes place on September 15th. The inspiration for the day comes from the book, The Dot , by Peter H. Reynolds. In the story, the main charac
Responsibility activities for kids: Fun activities to teach kids to be responsible/ Personal, social, and environmental responsibility activities
Birthdays in the classroom can be tricky due to cost and food restrictions. Here are bonafide tips for how to celebrate student birthdays in a special way.
Check out these 5 No-Prep Reviews Games for any classroom or any subject! Click to see what no-prep review games you can add to your teacher toolbox!
I wanted to share how I use (and have used for several years) a token economy in my classroom. I taught at different PBIS/PBS schools for 7 years, and a token economy is the perfect addition to what your school is already doing! I’ve used this system in 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades, and absolutely ... Read more
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
3rd grade teacher Deanna shares how she saves time and works more efficiently.
Tunnel books are fun and unique! We made ours using a postcard for a prompt and wrote a haiku to go with it. I've made these with grade 4 and up, but younger students could enjoy this activity in "centers", with the help of parent volunteers, or by having the various parts prepped for them ahead of time. There are lots of different directions you could take this project. We added a pocket on the back for holding a written story that we added later. See a few of our student examples below!For a convenient step-by-step pdf of this lesson, visit my TPT Store
Getting started with book clubs-made easy! Set routines that will ensure your book clubs will run smoothly through the year.
You hear it all of the time. What’s inquiry-based learning? What is an inquiry-based lesson? It seems to be all the rage in education...
Inspiration, tips, and sources for creating a nature themed classroom for your middle school or high school students!
Today I had a ton of fun making a Books of the Bible Lapbook. Print out all your pieces. Assemble the accordion books. Attach the cover to the front of the lapbook. How it looks when you first open it up. Bible notes on the left hand flap. Bible vocabulary on the right hand flap. The beginning part of the Old Testament books on the first insert. Under the Bible notes tabs. Just a close up of the first set of pockets. The accordion books are folded up. The match book vocabulary can be either written in or pasted in. Turn the first insert page over and here are the remaining pockets etc... for the OT. Then we have a 400 years separation note stuck to the bottom part of the page. Turning to the middle we start the NT pockets. And continue over for the remainder. How it looks when both inserts are open. On the back of the right hand insert. A full listing of the books of the Bible. Yes, so that's it. It is quite a project, and I suggest doing it in small parts as a child learns the Books of the Bible by rote memory. So, if you're interested in this lapbook feel free to download a FREE copy here. Thanks so much for visiting.
Too many classroom icebreakers require students to take big social risks with people they barely know. Or they don't really help students get to know each other. Or they are just plain cheesy.
Time to inspire and motivate your students with these 4 fun bulletin board ideas that are perfect for schools, classrooms, or libraries!
Stop taking away recess and using other punishments to control your students. Find success with 10 powerful classroom management strategies!
Amazing things can happen with just one dot.
A read-aloud book such as Our Class is a family is an amazing way to build a positive, safe, and supportive community in your classroom!
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!
Engage your ELA students this Halloween season with these spooky podcast episodes for the classroom! FREE podcast pages and activities included!
Whether you're a homeschool mom looking for a great book for your 5th grader or a classroom teacher trying to build a great library, finding texts that are engaging and a great fit for your readers can be tough. I've compiled this list of the best books for 5th graders to help save you time and give you a
Free printable preschool worksheets pdf for teachers and homeschoolers. Fun preschool worksheets for math, English, fine motor skills, and more!
Friendship-building activities help children in K-3 develop strong social skills. When relationships are an important factor in education, kids succeed in school and life.
Learn about fascinating South American country of Argentina for Kids in this free printable country study for elementary age kids to color, read, and learn!
We spent the last two weeks learning about animal classification. This all came about last year when we were doing our rain forest animal reports. Many of
Get started with a preschool question of the day in your classroom! These fun questions will make your morning routine meaningful and fun!
Use this picture book list to increase literacy skills and comprehension of science concepts in your grade 4 5 6 classroom.
This FREE handout is a great activity for warm-ups or even early finishers. This handout was inspired by the book Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg. Here is the BLANK version. This is a good opti…
Children's books about perseverance and determination that encourage growth mindset, grit and working towards goals and meeting challenges.
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Here's a very special Mini Passport Book, which you can print out and assemble with the kids for your learning journey when you travel!
As a teacher, I am always on the hunt for the perfect tools at the cheapest prices for my ELA classroom. Taking care of our students and keeping our learning
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! […]
Hey Friends! It's Theresa here from True Life I'm a Teacher! Here in my part of Georgia teachers go back to school on July 27th, and my sweet seconds will be coming on August 3rd! Ready or not?!?! The first week of school is a time of routines, procedures, expectations, relationship and community building, and sometimes feels like herding about 300 wet cats. One of my favorite things to incorporate are LOTS of read alouds that lend themselves to having conversations about rules and expectations, and how we should treat one another. Perhaps my favorite thing about these books is that it's almost as if the characters in the books become part of our class. We think back to what Alexander did when he was having a terrible day, or how Albert kept trying, and thinking, and reading to learn and discover new things. We refer back to the characters throughout the year when students in our class face problems and challenges in real life. Below you'll find my 26 (because 25 would be silly, right?) favorite back to school read alouds! Since I've included a bunch of books, I'm not actually writing about any of them...just giving you some ideas for books I personally LOVE! Each picture links to Amazon just to make it easy - you can read reviews, a summary, and order should you choose! You can find the entire list HERE! You made it to the end! I sure do hope you found a new book you'd like to read this year (and maybe not even at the beginning of the year)! One of the books I mentioned above is "On a Beam of Light" which tells the story of Albert Einstein. I actually just discovered this book a few weeks ago, and pretty much fell in love...with a book. Surely, I'm not the only one this happens to? Anyway, throughout the book there are several words that just "spoke to me" - made me want to yell, "YES!" The words serve as motivational reminders for students, teachers...anyone really, and I knew I had to have them represented in my classroom! Below you'll find a printable of the words. You can grab it here, or by clicking on the picture below! Enjoy :) Want to save the list for later? Just pin the image below! SaveSave
Oh, the first day of school! It's such a fun, but chaotic day. Most of my first days are a little bit of a blur. This is why I have to write very detailed lesson plans or I'll forget everything from that day. I always try to have the same activities for that first day
There are three kinds of teacher-decorators: those who were born for Pinterest, those who can’t, and all the ones in between (such as the broke, the tired, and the I-have-no-time-to-decorate). However, making a classroom appeal to middle and high school students doesn’t HAVE to involve serious crafting or expensive, time-intensive projects. Check out these tips from me and Bonnie from Presto Plans as you prepare your classroom for the fall (or at any time of year that you want to give it a boost!) You might also like Sara's more recent blog post, Inside My Farmhouse Classroom Makeover. 1. Have a color scheme (if you can) Sara: My principal gave each teacher the paint for one accent wall, so that shade of turquoise inspired the rest of my blue decor: milk crates, bulletin board borders, etc. It helped unify the room to make it look pulled-together instead of random. I've also learned about the importance of contrast. Even a full-blown rainbow color palette can look clean and cohesive (instead of cluttered) if you pair it with black or white to balance it out. Bonnie: If you are looking for inspiration for colors that look great together, check out this Pinterest board. There are lots of combinations that will help you choose colors when you are shopping for classroom materials. 2. Stick to a few favorite fonts Sara: Just like businesses create a brand, you are creating a classroom “look” or persona that you will be known for... or, at least a mood you will create. (Friendly? Professional? Fun? Minimalist?) Try to pick a few fonts that most of your labels, signs, and other wall-hangings will consistently use. For example, I used the Google font Crushed to make and laminate labels for my whiteboard (see below), along with mint-colored painter's tape. 3. Make your classroom library a focal point Bonnie: Your class library should draw students in and works well as the focal point for any English classroom. Here are a few things you can do to make your library stand out: Give bookshelves a makeover by rolling them a new coat of paint and/or taking the shelves out and attaching wallpaper or scrapbook paper to the back. Put a few floating shelves on the walls near your library area where you can feature particular novels recommended by students. Add comfortable, flexible seating near a library to make it more welcoming. These items can be more expensive, so shop around online or scour garage sales until you find seating that may work. Use old books as decorations! When a book is unusable, find a way to repurpose it. One easy way to do this is to cut out the pages and write a reading-inspired quote in black permanent marker on top of the page. Frame the page and put it on your bookshelf! Sara: If your classroom library is small, nonexistent, or needs some attention, check out this blog post for more ideas about how to strengthen it. 4. Display student work Bonnie: Use student work as decor by making a framed gallery wall. All you have to do is pick up some inexpensive 8x10 frames (check your dollar store) and arrange them on your wall. When you get a piece of exceptional student work, add it into the frame! If you don’t want the hassle of buying and hanging frames, order a pack of mixed color picture mats and use them to frame student work on a bulletin board. Sara: Another way to get student work on display (while also practicing literary analysis!) is to have them complete this Quote Illustration and Analysis assignment; students use Canva (or any tool you wish) to make an inspirational or literary quote come to life. The results are stunning! 5. Use author-inspired decor Bonnie: Find ways to incorporate the authors you will be studying into your classroom decor. You can do this by featuring fun facts or by sharing quotes by the author. For example, I use an interactive Shakespeare Hashtag of the Week bulletin display that exposes students to one quote from a Shakespeare play each week. If you don’t want to make your own, you might even consider assigning an author to each student and having them develop a bulletin display with a biography, fun facts, and quotes that you can swap out weekly. Sara: Don't forget to interject moments of literary ALLUSION or author-inspired inside jokes as well, like my favorite light switch art... 6. Make your posters work together Sara: On at least one bulletin board or section of wall space, add some symmetry or consistency by hanging posters in a similar style (color, font, or other), or by displaying images that have a common theme. For example, check out these posters of stylized quotes to get some English class wisdom on your walls. Bonnie: If you are looking for some ideas of common themes you could use for posters, try some of these ideas that could work in any English classroom: funny grammar quotes or fails, literary terms or genres, author quotes, famous lines from literature, idiomatic expressions, or jokes using puns! To read more about my favorite bulletin board ideas for middle and high ELA, check out this blog post. "English is Weird" poster set 7. Make displays that are EASY to update Sara: Two of my favorite bulletin board spaces were ones that took VERY little effort in updating, so I didn't have the self-imposed pressure to redo the whole thing multiple times per year. For example, my Word Nerd Challenge is quick to update on a Monday morning because all I have to do is add this week's word to the list. (I made each word tile a magnet that can go on my whiteboard!) I also made low-prep Quote of the Week flipbooks of reading and writing quotes, which students often asked to flip FOR me. I used Command hooks and spiral binding to hang it on a cabinet. Do you have additional ideas? Tell us in the comments!
