Have a chatty class? Do your talkative students get louder and louder during small groups until it feels like chaos? Do they talk when you'r...
Three must-have visuals for the special education classroom! Set your students up for success by teaching them the major life skill!
Design and make a straw rocket and use this simple experiment to explore the trajectory of spaceships when they are launched from Earth.
20 Free Name Activities for the First Week of Kindergarten. Check out these amazing hands-on and fun name activities! Integrates multiple skills.
Free, fun and useful Kindergarten - 1st Grade, Common Core aligned lesson plans, math games, calendars, behavior charts, materials and more!
I can't believe back-to-school time is coming up so quickly! I've been thinking about my classroom decor and decided to go a little different route this year. I want to try and use as many actual photos as possible to make things super clear for my students and help with explicitly teaching classroom procedures. I've made some new visual posters and wanted to share them with all of you. My first change was with my class rules posters. I have used a modified version of the Whole Brain Teaching rules for the last several years. I also wanted explicit Voice Level posters for my students. If you haven't checked out A Day in First Grade's blog post about her morning meeting, it's a must read {here}. I loved how she gave her students three choices for sitting on the carpet. Last year, I had a lot of students who didn't want to sit criss-cross applesauce. I think my students will be much happier with these options. If you're interested in any of these visuals, you can download them all below for free by clicking on the pictures! I hope these are helpful in your classrooms!
Ever since I was a child, I have loved watching the Olympics. It’s my dream to one day attend an event in person, but for now, I’ll settle with getting…
Use these four great classroom time savers to help you stay on track with your schedule, teach more efficiently, and save your sanity.
Here we are again - another month of AMAZING bloggers getting together to share some Bright Ideas. This time I'd like to share some ideas for those wiggly, bouncy, chatty, energetic, wonderful, kinesthetic learners. We all know 'em. We all have 'em. I think kinesthetic learners would pretty much describe almost every child in my class in 1st grade. Maybe it's the age, or maybe it's just my group of lovelies this year - but either way, I think all primary teachers can agree that it pays to have some strategies in your back pocket to break out when you see the wiggles start kicking in. Not to mention that most children learn best by doing. All of the ideas I'm going to share are ones I use in my classroom. I'm not claiming to have created these ideas, and I'm sure many teachers use the same ones, but I just wanted to share what I do. I hope you will see something that inspires you and you can try out in your own classroom. I named these ideas just to help explain, but if there is another name for them that maybe I don't know about or if there is an original creator, please feel free to let me know. I will always give credit where credit is due. So let's start with some ELA ideas: Whole Body Spelling is using your whole body to form letters to spell a word. You could do this with sight words or other spelling words. You can do it in the classroom, but my students love going outside to do this. We even go out in the winter and do this in the snow. Write in the air is just a quick way to practice spelling. We use our fingers in the air as if we are writing and spell words out loud together. This is a hard one to capture in a picture, but here is my attempt. Maybe you can tell that they are spelling the word again. :) Listen and Jump is something we do when reviewing sight words, rhyming words, or vocabulary words. In this picture all the kids have sight words and when I say a word that they have, they jump up in the air. They LOVE this one! Sometimes I will give them other words and say if your word rhymes with "cat" then jump up or if your word starts with a "b" sound jump up. This is also fun because a couple kids might jump up at the same time. Again - simple, but gets 'em moving. Lifesize Making Words - We use letter cards to spell words. As we stretch out the sounds the kids will either stand up or hold up their letter. Sometimes we have vowel teams and those kids link up their arms and say their sound together or we put a Super E at the end of the word and have him/her flip the vowel sound. The person holding the vowel turns around in a circle and says the long vowel sound instead. Acting out phonics is something that really helps my lower readers. They seem to remember things like flipping the vowel and linking arms and so on. Great visual for the whole class. Finally, and probably our MOST favorite, is a variation of the game Hullabaloo. This is such a cute game and my 3 and 5 year old girls really love playing this at home. In the actual game there are rubber mats that have pictures and words with things like animals, food, instruments, etc. You spread these out on the floor randomly. Then you turn on the "announcer". The announcer says things like "Slither over to a yellow mat" or "Hop over to a food". The kids move around and find the mats he's talking about. Then he will say something like, "If you are standing on the elephant you win - take a bow." It's super cute! So I decided to make this into a classroom game to practice word families and as we learn new spelling patterns. I use these pack of foam shapes that I got from the Dollar Tree. Then I write words on them using a sharpie. Right now we are working on long vowels so the pack of words I'm using has CVCe words, vowel teams, and also includes blends and digraphs. But in the beginning of the year I just use CVC words and slowly add in blends. We spread out the words on the floor and I will give directions like, "Tiptoe over to a word that rhymes with feet" or "Crawl over to a word that has a long e sound." We just stand next to the word instead of on them and then I have them read the words they chose. I play this with small groups of children so it is more manageable and because I don't have a ton of room, but it could be played as a class too. In the actual game kids can share mats, so sometimes we do that too. I also use these same cards at our reading table with fun fly swatter to swat the words if we don't have time to spread them all out on the floor. This is also a class favorite and super quick to set up when I don't have the time for the full thing. Now for some kinesthetic ideas to use in math: First up is skip counting. We use numeral cards that I quickly printed on the computer and laminated and each child has a number. We sit in a line or a circle. If we are counting by 2s for example, we will count around the circle and whisper the odd numbers and then shout (not too loud) the even numbers while those children stand up. Then we switch it up and count by other numbers. If we're counting by 3s, we would whisper 1,2 and shout 3, whisper 4,5, and shout 6, and so on. For Greater than/Less than we use the same numeral cards. We make numbers between 0 and 120 (first grade common core standards). Then I have a student stand in the middle and hold their arms like the sign. We practice reading it together. For example: 57 is greater than 46. We will also make numbers and put them in order from least to greatest or vice versa. Sometimes we turn the numeral cards into necklaces using sheet protectors and string and they don't have to hold up the numbers. This next one is something I am planning on getting when I have the money, but wanted to share it with you. In my classroom I have made a Lifesize Tens Frame out of a dollar store plastic tablecloth and washi tape for the lines (sorry no picture). We have kids stand in the tens frame to practice counting, adding, and subtracting using our bodies. But I also just found online this giant 120 chart and blow up dice that I think I will HAVE to get. I also saw another one that was even bigger where the kids move around on it. How fun! Finally is my version of Math Hullabaloo. This is the same idea as the reading version, only using numbers. Again, I write a bunch of numbers between 0 and 120 on the foam shapes using sharpie. Then we spread them all out. I give clues such as, "Dance over to a number with 6 tens" or "Slide over to a number greater than 30." Super fun! Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my Bright Ideas for Kinesthetic Learners. If you enjoyed these ideas, please consider following my blog on Bloglovin' over on the side or following me on Facebook or Instagram.
I wish I would have taken pictures before the start of the school year when everything was nice and clean! I've made a few changes this year - all pinterest inspired!! This is our morning meeting area, calendar area, classroom library - the hub-bub of the room. I love love my new carpet! This is our calendar area. And the yellow and blue strips in the pocket chart is our daily schedule that we read every morning during our morning meeting. My benches hold part of our classroom library. You can see the headphones behind the bench - this doubles as our listening center area. The CD/tape player is sitting on the floor to the left of the benches. The blue pocket chart is a regular sized one that I folded to make shorter. I use this every day to sort pictures into beginning sound categories, build sentences with our star words, etc. You can also see my reading strategies by the tree. Here is my word wall - pinterest inspired! I use velcro to attach my words so that I am not messing up the paper - I am hoping the paper will last a long time - this took forever to put up and I don't want to do it again for a long time! My number cards that I made - pinterest inspired as well. You can also see my vowel cards that I made and my "sound-spelling" cards that I made that go around that small blue pocket chart. We refer to them when we do our interactive writing. Our "star words" This is our pocket chart center. I have been creating a pocket chart story that goes with each theme we are working on - it has done wonders for my kinders in regards to reading those color words. I also make a book for their browsing boxes that matches the pocket chart story. You can see the zip-loc bag hanging by the pocket chart- that holds the words to the sentence strips. They are to match the words to the words on the strip! My shelf that holds our Star word books, ABC book (abc pages to work on each letter) and on the bottom are our "Activity Workbooks" that go with our reading series This is the wall to the right when you walk in. It has my Literacy and Math workstation rotation boards. Lucky Ducks and my morning work. Students check here every morning to see what their morning work is for the day. Math calendar books. You can also see my write the room cards for math and literacy - it was "M" week and our theme was Monsters! The blue and red tubs are for literacy workstations The green and yellow tubs are for math workstations This is how I organize my workstations. The top paper shows my literacy rotations (they last for 2 weeks) the bottom is math workstation rotations. The center paper tells what is in each tub - this is all beneficial if I have a sub Our classroom bucket - we are filling it very quickly this year!! This is my voice meter that I made - it works very well!! Our writer's workshop check list - Are you sure your story is finished? This was pinterest inspired - this took 4 mini-lessons. I did one page a day (large size) and then I made copies of the pages (shrunk them) and made the starts and it is a perfect anchor chart for Writer's workshop. We also did the Rate your writing one day for a mini lesson. You can hear my students all the time saying "wow that is star work" or "That is not very good star work" they are harder on each other than I am! These are my baskets that sit on the window ledge behind my small group reading table. There is one for each group. I put our supplies in them for each reading group for the week - keeps me organized! This is the shelf below my group baskets. Sorry - the bottom shelf is a mess!!!!. The baskets on the shelf above hold leveled books that we pick out to put in our browsing boxes. This is our retelling station housekeeping My mailbox that I made a few years ago! These are hanging right next to the door - stores all of the important information that I need at my finger tips Our focus for the week needs to be posted for visitors Pete the Cat - not sure what wonderful blog I got this from :( My new chairs. Students who are at the listening center can choose to listen to books on CD's after they finish their listening center story and response sheet. Or they can choose to read books in the library or do retell - which you can see the legs of the retell easel in the background My new organization tubs that I got this year - love them - they are from Lakesore
Download 2-Digit Addition Without Regrouping Coloring Worksheets for Children to improve their essential early writing and reading skills for practice.
Fun STEM activity for outdoor play and makes a great science lesson! (Includes a printable rocket template).
Cutting practice has been a hot topic around here lately. Logi-Bear is desperate to learn to cut,but Royal is the one that is really at the cutting age. I try to do most of our cutting practice incognito…in the form of crafts! But sometimes you just need a bit more, right? I made these strips
Throughout the first week of school, our focus during math is introducing 2D shapes. I made some fun posters to help my students remember the names and properties of each shape {and they referred to them all year long!} {clip art from Love Two Teach borders from Teaching in a Small Town} My class absolutely loved these! We learned each poem and talked about the characteristic of each shape. We even learned that Sandy Square has a booooyfriend ;) {Download the shape poems here and ignore the fact that I clearly need more ink ;) I copied 2 to a page so that they printed out smaller than a regular sheet of paper.} After we learned about each shape, I hung the posters up in our classroom for future reference. We also played this super fun shape game! After we met our new friends and talked all about the shapes, we sat in a big circle {applying what we learned about circles!}. Then I walked around with a bunch of shapes in a bag and had each student pull out one shape. They told their neighbor what shape they pulled out {to practice identifying and to help their neighbor if they weren't sure} and then we played the Shape Game! After everyone had a chance to stand up, we switched our shapes and played again. It was a lot of fun :) To see what else we did during the first week of school, visit my blog, Miss Kindergarten!
KINDERGARTEN MATH - UNIT 3 I am so excited to have my new Measurement and Data kindergarten math unit posted and ready to share with you. So far this year, my sweet kinders have learned so much in math. We have mastered 1:1 correspondence, reading and writing numerals to 20, counting to 10
In order to get ahead of the game, I decided to redesign our fall and spring checklists for Pre-K. Our old format led parents to believe we just filled in the information ourselves and didn't ask the students the information. So this time I chose to include the words "I can." Hopefully that will let them know that their child identified the information. If you would like a copy, click here. Spring Checklist Fall Checklist We use work sampling online to assess our students. If you are not familiar with this format, it has 54 standards that have to be evaluated on students over a 18 week period. I always find myself stressed at the end looking for documentation for these checklist items. We do all of the things more than once but each student cannot have the same documentation for the same area. It has to be child specific. So in order to keep me on top of things I took the standards and broke them down for the beginning of the year. I am hoping this will help me gather data on all students through pictures, work samples, or matrices in that month. Of course, I will gather documentation on these more than once but this will help me make sure I have at least one form of documentation by rating time.
Have you thought about having a class pet, but don’t want to add one more thing to take care of in your classroom? Well, I have the perfect solution---a take-home stuffed animal! Kids love it and there is no cage or tank to clean out! Having a traveling class pet was by far the most popular class pet I ever had. Kids couldn’t wait for their week to take home the pet and have it be part of their life for a few days. Of course, I had to include a journal for the kids to write in through the week. Tips for having a take-home class pet. 1. Choosing a stuffed animal is the easy part because kids love them all. But, keep the size of the pet in mind. Too large and it's difficult to transport home and then back to school. Too small and it feels too much like a toy instead of a real pet. 2. Pick a traveling bag for your pet. I like clear plastic bags so everyone can see the adorable pet inside. Make sure it's large enough to hold the pet and the journal. I found this bag on Amazon for under $10. (Search "clear plastic tote" for lots of choices.) 3. Decide on the requirements for the journal. The requirements should be based on the writing level of your students. Kindies can have a drawing journal where they draw a picture or two that shows what they did with the pet. Firsties can write a few sentences along with illustrations. For older students, they can write paragraphs and add illustrations. Make sure all requirements and suggestions are included in the journal, so kids know exactly what is expected. 4. What will you use as a journal? I like using a composition book. It's sturdy and will last the whole year. You can glue on a cover and then glue all instructions and suggestions to the inside cover. Click here to download this freebie from my TpT store. (Click on this image.) 5. Make sure you share the journal on the day it's returned and before it goes home with a new student. 6. A letter home at the beginning of the year, explaining the Take-Home pet is a good idea. That way, parents know what to expect. I also let parents know the take-home schedule a few weeks in advance. That way, the schedule can be adjusted if a family needs to reschedule the pet's visit to their home. Above all, have fun. Just like a live pet, the stuffed animal pet is a great way to teach responsibility.
I just finished making myself a new mini-poster to use during carpet time this year. I thought it turned out pretty adorably (how could it not with those cute kiddos!) so thought I would share it with you. Just click on the picture below to download a copy. Well, must run ... tomorrow I am back to work ... oh where, oh where did summer go?!?!
Songs for the classroom, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, teachers pay teachers, posters, transitions, hand washing, walking in the hall, lining up
This is a poster for using "give me five" as an attention getter for classroom management. Use the poster to teach students that when you say "give me five" they need to be listening and following the rules. 1. Crisscross applesauce 2. hands in our lap 3. two ears listening 4. two eyes watching 5. o...
I'm a literacy lover...getting my Masters of Education in Reading makes that pretty evident. So, when it comes to teaching math in the classroom I often felt like I was doing a terrible job. My brain does not go the math route. And trying to convince my learners that math was amazing got a little
Defiance is an inevitable and generally not a welcomed part of a classroom. You are spending your day getting through your content, building community, and regularly demanding that students do tons of tasks. From time to time, they are going to have different ideas. Even walking down the hallway can be a struggle without one
Is homework stressing you out? Here are my top 6 strategies for simplifying your homework systems.
Every teacher needs a few fun, fast, easy, tricks up his/her sleeve. Here are a few easy classroom management tricks I've picked up over the years. Need a Second to Get Ready for the Next
KINDERGARTEN MATH UNIT 2 - GEOMETRY I am thrilled to be sharing my kindergarten Geometry Unit with you! The kids love all of the hands-on activities we get to do, and I love how easy it is to keep them engaged. I am sharing so many freebies with you right here on this blog
Origami and dinosaurs collaborate to create a kid-friendly, fun, and exciting theme that students will roar about! My Dinosaur Fact Book (title page) My Dinosaur Fact Book (inside pages) Newsflash
It’s time for The Kids Craft Stars monthly craft challenge! Every month we have a challenge between a few blogger friends and I, to in-cooperate a different craft medium or technique into a simple kid craft. This month’s
Do you have a future chef, farmer, or police man on your hands? You and your child can have fun exploring the job descriptions of the helpers in our communities with these fun paper hats! The free printables are easy to cut out and color, and your child will get a kick out of wearing them while you learn together!
This blog post is full of ideas for the First Week of Kindergarten. Includes book suggestions, activities, and links to accompanying ideas.
With this math project based learning unit your students will design a dream bedroom and apply the skills of area and perimeter, surface area, scale factor, adding decimals and multiplication. This highly engaging math pbl unit will show your students the real world applications of what they are learning in class! ** Now includes METRIC and CUSTOMARY versions of all measurement pages! Please open the PREVIEW to see what is included in this fun project! This math PBL includes: Project overview Outline of suggested daily plans Helpful hints for teachers Student pages for all activities (includes metric and customary versions of all measurement pages) 2 student reflection pages 3D model pieces for beds and dressers Extra grid paper for students to build their own 3D models of additional furniture Rubric for project Photo examples Your students will: learn about scale factor and apply it to drawing a floor plan learn how to draw blue print symbols to identify where they will put their door and window(s) use furniture dimensions to calculate the area and perimeter of their furniture use furniture dimensions to draw their furniture to scale on their floor plan calculate the area of their bedroom floor and the surface area of their bedroom walls and use this information to make decisions about flooring and wall treatments draw a final floor plan to show where all of their furniture will be in their room Extensions included in this resource Dream bedroom expenses: students will keep a running tab of how much money they spend on their dream bedroom design 3D Model: students will create a 3D model, to scale, of the dream bedroom they have designed. They will use the provided floor/wall templates to "build" the room, use the bed and dresser templates to get started with furniture, and then create nets to "build" any additional furniture they include. This is the perfect math PBL project for kids to practice using their math skills in a real world situation while incorporating art and design into your math class. Skills Included in This Project: scale area perimeter multiplication, division, addition surface area 3D nets of solids (furniture) organization visual spatial skills Customary and Metric versions are included for: walls, doors and window measurements and planning floor plan drawing sheet furniture dimensions list paint/wallpaper dimensions and costs flooring dimensions and costs 3D model templates for: floors, walls, beds, dressers You may also like my: Design a Food Truck Project Based Learning Million Dollar Math Project Geometry City Angles and Lines Project Follow me and be notified when new products are added to my store. New products are always 50% off for the first 24 hours they are posted! Thanks! Dawn - Hello Learning ⭐⭐ Did you know that leaving feedback on your TpT purchases earns you credits that will save you money? Go to your ‘My Purchases’ page and leave feedback on the resources you’ve purchased to earn TPT credits toward future purchases!
Learn about fingerprinting for kids & play detective! Fun ideas for a CSI or spy party or science activity for preschool & elementary ages!
