Get ready for an engaging and productive start to the school year with our Self Portrait First Day of School Worksheets. These worksheets are designed to spark creativity and self-expression in students, allowing them to delve into their unique identities and share their experiences with their new classmates. Whether you're a teacher looking to facilitate interesting icebreaker activities or a parent wanting to encourage your child's self-confidence, our Self Portrait First Day of School Worksheets are the perfect tools to foster a positive and inclusive classroom atmosphere.
You landed the job and you're a brand new teacher! Check out these tips for first year special education teachers in this blog post!
Freedom Homeschooling lists free homeschool life skills electives for all grades. Home economics, personal finance, auto repair, and more!
Science units are wonderful for teaching science concepts in a special education classroom… especially those with multiple grades. The science units help me differentiate and teach and reteach the science concepts year after year. Focus On Vocabulary Many students struggle with all of the vocabulary and language that come with science concepts. From scientific tools […]
Beginning of year special education forms - As an inclusion intervention specialist, your first week of school can get hectic fast. You are playing the...
Being a new special education teacher can be overwhelming and stressful. Check out The FIRST thing to do as a new special ed teacher.
Looking for an introductory First Grade Self Control Activity? Your students will love this fun story and craft for practice!
Scissor salad is a fun way to practice how to use scissors and build fine motor scissor cutting skills. Get free labels and worksheets!
Worksheets for 1st grade math, first grade math worksheets for free for the basic math topics taught in grade 1.
This week was our first week back and, boy am I tired! My class is great though...very inquisitive and eager to learn. They take their work seriously and are actively working most of the day. Who could ask for more?? We did quite a few things this week, but I want to share with you one "get to know you" project we did that really came out great. I seriously can't stop staring at it! I saw this pin on Pinterest. I love how it looks and thought it would make a great welcome sign. Now, on the pin, the hands seemed to be just colored in. I wanted something a bit more. So we started with creating Circle Maps about ourselves. What made us special? What are some things that have shaped us? Where did you go in your life? etc....Most of the kids finished these Circle Maps in class on the first day of school. I then asked the students to trace their hands and arms on a piece of 11 x 17" piece of paper. They then had to draw, write, decorate, etc...the traced in hand with items from the Circle Map. The goal was to teach their fellow classmates about themselves in a visual way, without giving away too much information (ie: I didn't want them to write paragraphs.) That is pretty much how far we got in class. So, the first homework assignment the students had to finish the project at home. I gave them this sheet so that they could be a bit more focused on their project and add a bit if they wanted. (but if you are going copy-less, just forgo this. They can write the information on a sheet of paper instead.) The next day, the hands came back to school...and they were great! I had the kids get into groups and share what they decided to put on their hands and why. The kids learned a lot about each other in that 15 minute session! You can see some of them used words as well as pictures to tell about themselves. I love the one directly in the center of this picture! Others just used pictures, like the one in the middle here. When I went to put them around a piece of poster board, like in the original pin, they didn't fit :( I think if I had used a smaller piece of paper to trace their hands to begin with they might have. Oh well! I decided to put them up as if the hands were all in a line, raising up.....and it came out great! I overlapped the hands, so I was able to get 5 or 6 on one piece of large construction paper. I then mounted them on my wall. I love it! All in all, this was a fun little project that served as a great way for the kids to get to know each other and make a nice display! What is something you do during the first week of school to help the kids get to know each other and for you to learn a little about them? Follow me on Snapchat for even more teaching ideas!
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.
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
(Click on any photo to be taken to the resource) You are going to LOVE this unit. It’s easy to implement, it’s comprehensive, #representation, and your students are going to walk away with a great foundation of important social studies skills. We lay the foundation in literally every other academic area, social studies shouldn’t be […]
Using sentence frames to get ell students writing. Click here for more:
These first day of school activities for elementary students involve playdough, which is a favorite amongst kids! Check them out here!
Handing little learners a pair of scissors for the first time in a classroom can make teachers a little uneasy. Spend time focusing on how to cut with scissors, as well as, seeing what tool learners are ready to use is important. What Scissors to Use? There are many levels of development a child needs
This paraprofessional training binder has you covered from the first day of school until the last. Everything you need to support staff in the special education setting.
I started back to school this past week with my kids on Tuesday. I had such a great first week and I am so excited to be back making music with them. We spent our first few days going over music room rules and procedures (click here to see rules post), emergency drills, and jumped right into making music. Can I just say that I LOVE pinterest! I found so many great ideas for back to school games through Pinterest as well as from Susan during Level 3. I thought I would share some of the really fun ones that the students enjoyed our first few days back: "Up The Ladder" is a great game for learning the names of your new students. "Down, Down Baby" is from the Amidons. SO FUN! Apparently this is a favorite, because it's being sung on the bus! Hickety Pickety Bumblebee is a fun one to use with K/1. In first grade you could review four voices with "can you sing (whisper, call, speak) your name to me". With kindergarten, it might be a bit intimidating to ask them to sing their name to you on day 1 of music, but let's be honest we are still learning all their names several weeks into the school year. Pull this out with them a little bit later (maybe after you have presented the four voices) and do this then. Mamalama: I learned this in Level 3, and we take it a bit faster than in this video, but it is SO FUN! I even had a student get the last part after just a few listenings. CRAZY! What are some of your favorite first day songs and activities? Still looking for ways to set up and decorate your room? This music room decor catalog will give you lots of idea, plus a back to school tip on each page!
Teachers, you must send this letter home to parents on the first day of school. It will set the tone with parents for the rest of the year!
Does the first week of Kindergarten have you shaking in your boots? You are not alone! I've been at this for a little while now so you would think it would get easier with time but I am here to tell you it does not! I still get anxious right before school starts. What will they be like? Will I remember what to do at line up time? What if I don't set things up right and I mess up the whole rest of the year? (sounds dramatic but that is really what goes through my head!) I sat down as soon as school got out and wrote down my first week of lesson plans to put my mind at ease. It has really helped with my worry so far! I wrote down the first five days, plans and procedures I need to introduce, brain breaks, classroom community building activities, easy morning work to get started with and even got my welcome back gifts ready. My mind is officially at ease. I want to make sure I have a lot of fun and a LOT of books planned for the first week too. Here are a couple of fun crafts to go with the books I have planned. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. You can't skip this book the first week of school! Our focus will be all about names the first week (or more!). I put together all of my favorite books with some crafts to help teach all of those back to school procedures like cutting, gluing, and of course following directions. The Wheels on the Bus This one is fun for a little first sound fun. The students change the words to match the first sound in their name. A My Name is Alice by Jane Bayer Alphabet books are the best the first few weeks of school. A My Name is Alice Jane Bayer is the best! This is a fun activity to do after we read the book and they will make really cute self portraits to hang in the hallway the first week of school. Not only did I plan out the activities for these books but for lots of other favorites like Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, Rosie Takes a Walk by Pat Hutchins, No David by David Shannon, and Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell. So now I don't have to feel guilty when I am floating in the pool this summer (just kidding, I never feel guilty doing that!) But honestly, I can relax knowing all I have to do is hit print when I get back to school. These plans can work for you too! Click here to see them in my store! Or if you are not ready to think about school yet pin this for later! P.S. Get a FREE ALPHABET ACTIVITY when you sign up for my newsletter HERE!
These sound experiments are fun and engaging! They're perfect science lessons for 1st graders and are aligned with NGSS for teaching sound.
Spending the first week of school teaching classroom expectations and procedures is essential for a successful year. Glue is a tricky school supply for many little learners and there definitely needs to be instruction dedicated to teaching learners how to use this tool.Glue BottlesWhen learners are not taught how to use their glue correctly things
Back to School Activities that are great for an online classroom or inside a classroom.
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Discover engaging ways to introduce kids to famous artists and art movements. Enrich their creativity, cultural understanding, and appreciation for the world of art. Explore practical tips for parents and educators.
STEM Class Activities for the First Week of School If you want to get to know a little more about your students, and get them started to think like scientists, mathematicians, and engineers, I have some great ideas for you! Get to Know You Activities for STEM Class Get to know your new STEM students with an All About Me activity! The Math About Me and Science About Me activities are perfect for this. With multiple options, depending on what grade you teach, there is something for everyone. These activities have your students think about things in a slightly different way. For example, in the Math About Me activity, their age can be displayed as a mathematical expression (such as 48÷4), while in the Science About Me activity, the banner asks students to write down how many solar orbits they have taken (their age). Collaborative Activities and Team Builders ABC STEM Game: Try to think of a "STEM word" for each letter of the alphabet as a class. You might start with "astronaut, architect, or ASK (the first step of the Engineering Design Process). Find Your Pair or Find Your Team: Use sets of colored straws, pencils, colored dice, or mini erasers. Pass out one to each student and then have them find the other student(s) with the same color/type of object. You can also use pairing cards such as these. This is great for when you want to build STEM teams, too! Find all my favorite STEM Team Builders and Icebreakers in this post: STEM Lab Rules and Expectations It's important to go over safety rules for all equipment, your specific rules to your classroom, and then to set expectations for students. You may have some you start with and you may want to ask your students to help come up with some basic ones too. Some ideas for STEM rules and expectations: Only operate equipment you've been trained to use. safety Report accidents right away. safety Clean up your workspace when you are finished. responsibility Listen to your teammates. It's okay to disagree but not be disrespectful. cooperation Sometimes you will fail and that's okay! Do your best and try again. growth mindset If you don't know, ask. curiosity What other rules and expectations do you use in your class? You may want to have a specific set of rules for things like robots, too! I created a free set of robot rules you can download below: Need a safety poster for your glue guns? This editable resource is available to download here: STEM Building Challenges Try some basic building challenges with your students so they can get a feel for hands-on activities right away! You can download Tower Task Card Challenges from my free resource library: You can also find STEM challenge cards to use with KEVA planks in this blog post: STEM Books to Read What better way to start off your school year than with books that inspire creativity and explore failure and growth mindset! Find all my recommendations over at this blog post: I hope you have a great start to your STEMtastic year! Pin these ideas to save them for later:
Team-building activities are great. Not only can they help build routines, attitude, and expectations, they’re also fun, and can help learners feel...
This is a big puzzle piece for students to fill in and cut out as a get to know you activity for the first day of school. Each puzzle piece is approximately 7 inches by 7 inches. All students are an important piece of the puzzle! Give each student a copy of the puzzle piece. They can decorate however they want. Cut out puzzle pieces and glue/tape them together to form a wonderful classroom mural. I always print extra for those they mess up. I also cut a few out in advance in case there are students who have trouble with scissors. Don't worry about your puzzle being a perfect rectangle. Print the extra puzzle pieces to fill in the missing pieces or cut blank puzzle pieces and scatter them. If new a student enter your classroom you can always add to the puzzle. It's never "complete." I typically find a big roll of paper and start with my puzzle piece in the upper left corner. Kids can share something about their puzzle piece or they can partner up and share something about each other. After sharing, they connect their puzzle piece to one that is already on the big roll and glue it down. Idea: Have paraprofessionals, Admin, custodians, classroom volunteers, etc. fill out a puzzle piece. Everyone is important!! Please check out Our Classroom Quilt for another great community building activity.
Use this first day of preschool handprint craft and activity for your little ones to decorate the room and a keepsake for parents
Teach children the basics to paint like Pollock in just 40 minutes. Great for grades K-2, kids learn new techniques with paint, yarn and becoming fearless
PRIMARY WRITING - UNIT 3 I am so excited to teach this narrative writing unit! This writing curriculum is geared for kindergarten, first grade and can even be used in second grade classrooms. In Unit 3 , we are learning how to write a personal narrative . We practice writing about what we l
Zoek dezelfde, thema Zomer. Werkbladen voor de Kleuterschool en Basisschool.
Which Back to School Activities Elementary can I use for Building Community in my Classroom? Which All About Me Activities are most engaging for my students?
Kick off the school year with fun Name Games! Foster classroom camaraderie and help students break the ice on the first day.
Learn how Project Pals make it easier for educators to find PBL projects that are just right for their classrooms. Upgrade project-based learning with this powerful platform.
ALL ABOUT EARTH Get ready for a month filled with so many fun activities to teach your kiddos all about our planet Earth . I teach this unit in April so it coincides with Earth Day. I’ve loaded up this blog post post with read aloud book ideas, free videos you can share with your students,
