Don't let a short schedule keep you from providing engaging library programming. These 30-minute library lessons are perfect for librarians!
Time to inspire and motivate your students with these 4 fun bulletin board ideas that are perfect for schools, classrooms, or libraries!
Create your own DIY Little Free Library with these step-by-step instructions. You'll love feeling part of your community this way!
Plan engaging library lessons for your K-2 classes by creating a routine, adding variety, including music and movement, and have fun!
A monthly library book display is a great way to bring awareness to different topics, seasons, and celebrations. Check out these ideas!
Beautiful ways to decorate those little corners around our homes.
A HUGE collection of back to school free resources just for school librarians! These free resources can help make the transition back just a bit easier!
What do you do when dream of having an arched wall library in your home? You hack robe inserts from Bunnings and make it! I am so excited to finally share my DIY Arched Wall Library! This project has been months in the making and I couldn’t be happier! Ever since we built our home, we have always r
Welcome them in and they'll never want to leave.
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!
Are you wondering what to do with a stack of old, unwanted books gathering dust on your shelves? Look no further! These are our favorite DIY home decor projects using old books.
Free library games and resources, including printables, worksheets, and slideshow presentations designed to help kids build library skills.
Time to inspire and motivate your students with these 4 fun bulletin board ideas that are perfect for schools, classrooms, or libraries!
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!
Portrait Source All images Piet Mondrian works [Public domain] via Wikicommons This week a curated list–all items in the style of early 20th century Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian. I…
This is such an easy way to update your IKEA Billy Bookcases - fill all of those shelf holes and make a huge impact without a lot of work.
Check out these fun activities from Award Winning Author/Illustrator Jarett Lerner to do at home or in the classsroom. Includes comics, drawing, and more.
This fairy-tale, family tree castle is a great activity to encourage children to talk about their families and the people (and pets) that are close to them. In the UK, the royal family is a useful …
Classroom team-building games are a must at the start of a new school year! Here are 16 of my favorite icebreakers and classroom team-building activities!
These wide leg jeans feature a classic five-pocket style and comfortable fit around the hips. Crafted with a front fly for easy dressing, these timeless jeans can be tailored to fit perfectly with …
Discover a bit of fun and mystery with the top 30 best hidden door ideas. Explore entrances to secret rooms featuring hinged bookcases to walls and beyond.
Easy Matisse Art Project for Kids - A Henri Matisse art idea for kids of all ages with inspiration shape templates to inspire, draw or cut out.
Free Jellyfish art tutorial for kids and adults! This stunning jelly can be recreated with a few watercolors and a bit of clear glue. This mixed media art project creates lots of interesting textures and designs that are sure to delight your students.
These "quiet critters" are amazingly effective!
We are currently doing a short study of the human body. We recently finished up our unit on the Brain and Nerves, and here are some of the activities we did and resources we used.
November is a great chance time to teach children about gratitude. Even toddlers can learn to appreciate their blessings. A great place to start is teaching young children to be thankful for their body. You could easily break this topic into smaller lessons (my hands, my eyes, etc.) but this is a simple lesson generally ... Read more
I want to try all of these.
Last summer I added Mo Willems' The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to my classroom library. Of course, this addition was a no-brainer. Willems' books are always super popular, especially Pigeon books. Just as predicted, my students loved this book. It is the perfect length for the beginning of the year, when attention spans are extra short and students need a little break from all the procedural training they are receiving. Since I knew this book would be a hit, I decided to make it the centerpiece of back to school. I created some basic "Pigeon themed" math and literacy activities, as well as a simple craft. I used these activities intermittently during the first week and was able to glean some great info about my new students' basic math and literacy skills, as well as their fine motor skills and listening skills. One of the Pigeon themed activities was a number/number word/counting mini book. Students traced and wrote the numbers 1-10, as well as the number words 1-10. Then students illustrated a picture to go with each number. We broke this activity up over a couple of days. Students took part in a listening activity. Students had to complete a picture according to a series of questions/statements that I read aloud. (If you've every made a glyph with your students, this activity feels really similar.) Students also put together their first puzzler for the year. This puzzler focused on number representations. Students cut and glued the puzzler pieces to tell what number is represented in the box. By the end, students have a completed picture that they can color. I use various puzzlers throughout the year. This the Pigeon puzzler is a great introduction to how to complete a puzzler. Students loved making their simple, one-page craft Pigeons. All that was required was the Pigeon pattern (I used white card stock), scissors, and glue. The class Pigeons made a really quick and cute back to school bulletin board. In addition to these activities, students worked on counting/cardinality, geometry, place value, number bonds, handwriting, the alphabet, rhyming words, sight words, and more. The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! is a perfect springboard for a variety of skills. For a math freebie (from the printables featured above), click on the picture below. This freebie provides practice with ten frames, counting, and number identification. If you have not added, The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to your classroom library, I highly recommend it. There are so many directions you can go with this book. More importantly, your students will love it and be totally engaged. What a great way to start the year, by reading a book that students truly enjoy. :) For more details about the all of the Pigeon inspired activities I used with my students, be sure to click on the picture below. Of course (like most), I'm not certain what this year's back to school days will look like. Whatever the setup, I know I'll be using The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to help me kick off the year. Thanks for stopping by. School Is a Happy Place is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associated Program, an affiliate program that allows this site to earn advertising fees. Please know that all of the recommendations on this site are authentic and come from personal experience.
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…
Let's Cultivate Greatness: Spread positivity and teach service with these great student council project ideas.
