Are you on the Sunshine Committee this year? Some schools call it Social Committee. Whatever the name, it serves the same purpose. Usually there is a little arm twisting at the beginning of the year to get staff members to pay their dues. If your school normally doesn't allow the staff to wear jeans, you might ask your administrator if your committee could give people who pay dues a "Jean Day Coupon" that allows teachers to wear jeans on one day of their choosing. It's like a "get out of jail" card. Through the years, there has been some grumbling at some of my schools about our committee. I think this happens when there are not clear cut guidelines. There needs to be guidelines in writing and transparency with the finances. Here are a few topics to discuss when you are ready to write some guidelines: Leadership: officers and their duties I highly recommend the treasurer giving a report at the faculty meetings at least quarterly. Boss Day in October: Will the committee purchase the gift? If so, what is the budget? Appreciation Day/Week: Which staff members do you recognize? How and what is the budget? Morale booster activities: when and budget Staff parties: When, where, budget Showers: baby/wedding - Does the committee provide anything for the shower, if so what is the budget. Is it for the first baby and first wedding or other? Death: Does the committee send something from the faculty? If so, what and what is the budget? What relationship to the staff member should it be when you do this? I.E. Immediate family member Holidays: Does the committee purchase holiday gifts for any staff members? If so, who and what is the budget? I typed up a few things that I have done at some of my schools that you might like, too. These are fun activities that boost morale. Do you have a staff member that is your PTA representative? If the PTA ask you for suggestions, you might suggest that they organize food during your conferences. I helped organize this at my daughter's middle school. Her school had a week of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Students had school for half a day and then teachers met with parents the other half. Our PTA organized food the first three days for the teachers. We knew that the teachers had conferences at different times and wouldn't eat at the same time so the food had to stay fresh for a long time. We organized a salad bar one day, a nacho bar another day, and heavy appetizers the final day. This was the most popular thing that our committee organized. Click HERE to download this freebie. Looking for more tips? Check out my Beginning of the Year Pinterest board. Click on the picture below. Fern has a few tips to share with you, too. Be sure to hop over to her blog! Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too! Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips. We hope you will share your ideas, too. Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip. We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post. Click HERE to read Melinda's tip. Do you have a staff morale booster tip to share? Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win. Looking for more ideas? Click on the pictures below. An InLinkz Link-up Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

Note: This blog post contains resources from our TpT store and our Amazon Associate store. --------------------------------------------- 1. An animated read aloud of If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff In this book, the story follows a mouse and all the fun and chaos that ensue when you take a mouse to school. It's known for its repetitive and circular storytelling style, where each action leads to another, creating a humorous and engaging narrative for young readers. The book is loved for its whimsical illustrations and the way it sparks children's imaginations as they follow along with the mouse's adventures at school. 2. Engage your class in a variety of activities inspired by the book: Decorate a shoe box as a lunch box. Try your skill with a yo-yo. Write on the chalkboard. Do a simple science experiment. Build a house with blocks. Write a story book. Read the book aloud to a friend. Kick a soccer ball. Shoot a basket. Have a snack! 3. If You Take a Mouse to School Reader's Theater 4. Writing Activity Have the students create their own sentences: If you take a ___________ to school, ______________ will _______________. Free Writing Paper 5. Review of School Rules Complete the sentences: If you take a child to school, he/she will _______________. Examples: listen nicely, raise his hand, be kind, ask for help, put supplies away, follow directions, make new friends, etc. 6. Illustrations Review Examine the illustrations of the boy and mouse getting ready for school. Student may write or discuss what they do to get ready for school each morning. 7. Favorite Animal If you could bring your favorite animal to school, what would it be and why? Students could bring a stuffed animal representing their favorite animal. Students may research facts about their chosen animal, or write a pretend story of their animal's adventures in school. 8. Print All Around Us As students read the book, encourage them to examine the pictures. Notice there a words and numbers everywhere. Encourage students to walk around the room to notice print in the real world. How about at home? At the grocery store? At the movies? Etc. 9. Math Application Shapes, shapes, shapes! There are shapes everywhere in this book. Have students draw each shape they see in the book on a piece of paper or poster paper. Don't forget to find shapes in your own classroom as well! 10. Mouse Puppet 11. Paper Plate Mouse (Alter the Easter Bunny LOL) 12. DIY Mouse Costume Perhaps the teacher could show up to school as a mouse? Wear gray pants and a gray jacket :) 13. Mouse Trap Online Game Mouse Trap 14. Printable Crossword Puzzle If You Take a Mouse to School Crossword Puzzle 15. Printable Task Cards for Center Activities and Games If You Take a Mouse to School Reading Comprehension Task Cards Have a scavenger hunt or play SCOOT! 16. Printable Craftivity If You Take A Mouse to School Interactive Notebook Activity From our Amazon Affiliate store: If You Take a Mouse to School If You Take A Mouse To School Puppet & Props U-Build Mouse Trap Game You may also like this blog post: Shelly Anton is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. ** This means there are Amazon affiliate links in these blog posts. This does not mean you pay a dime more when you purchase a product through the link. It just means I am trying to save you valuable teacher time by making it easier for you to find great resources for your students, and I earn a few cents for my research and time. Thank you for all you do for kids!

The Preschool Summer Review Worksheets & Activities No Prep packet contains 32 printable activities for preschool and kindergarten students.

This "lapbook d'automne" is a great way to celebrate the season while working on writing with a bit of Science and language (vocabulary) practice.

Explore these ELA websites & activities for your middle school English students. These lessons, websites and activities will help you teach virtually!

Everything you should do (and not do) when trying to teach your kids about Cambodia!

❄️❄️Hibernación, Migración y Adaptación❄️❄️ Ese recurso incluye las siguientes actividades: -Hibernación -Migración -Adaptación -Animales que Hibernan -Investigación de Animales -Aves que migran -¿En que lugar hibernan? -Hibernan o no Hibernan -Hibernación vs Migración -Puzzles lugares donde los animales hibernan (color) Sígueme en :instagram Sígueme en mi tienda en TPT y recibe notificaciones de mis nuevos productos. **Recuerda dejar feedback para recibir créditos en tu cuenta de Teachers pay Teachers. Los cuales pueden ser usados para comprar más recursos. Muchas Gracias :D.**

This is one of those perfect novels to share with your upper elementary and middle school students. It is rare to find a story that connects with so many

These printable bull masks are a simple craft for all the farmyard fans out there! There's color and plain templates to decorate.

Teaching Habitats to your primary students will be a breeze with my collection of resources to help make your life easier. There's even a freebie!

25 callback cards to help regain attention from a classroom of students. Related Products• Calendar Math Reference Wall• Digital Daily Math Meeting for Calendar Math Skills• Partners, Pairings, and Planning for Cooperative Learning• Mix and Match MathThank you!Reagan Tunstall and Kristina GrantTunst...

Ring in the new year with these January Writing Prompts! Fun, educational, and imagination building ideas for Opinion, Narrative, and Informative writing.

What a fun way to kick off the start of the school year! Celebrate the number 3 and everything that is fabulous about 3rd Grade. .....so you are thinking, "Great, now where do I start when I am so overwhelmed getting my classroom ready?!?!?!" I totally get it, because even after 15 years of teaching I still find that crunch time right before school starts, a bit hairy. Here's some magical tips to make it easy-peasy. But before all the activities, just start with a good ole' wiggle party with Kool and the Gang singing "Celebration". Do you give snacks? How about snacks centered around the number 3? In the past, I have given "Officially a 3rd Grader" snacks of Goldfish crackers. Get it? O'fish'ally. However, this year I think I am going to give 3 Musketeers! 3 Musketeers = 3rd Grade. P.S. The labels are actually brag tags that I just repurposed! If you use brag tags, you can use them indifferent ways. (Think motivational posters, labels for holiday snacks or presents.) You can download these "Officially a 3rd Grader" Brag Tags for FREE! Use the number 3 in writing. If you would love to just print these activities out, visit here. This first tip checks off so many items on my to-do list. * Informally assess the students for writing abilities. * Put up a quick hallway or bulletin board display. * Set up procedures for my writing time. What can we write about? * 3 things I did this summer. * 3 things I want my teacher to know about me. * 3 of my favorite things. * Lists of 3 (favorite foods, hobbies, places...) I love these short little writing assignments because it helps me get to know my students, their personalities and their abilities. Use the number 3 in math. If you would love to just print these activities out, visit here. I like to be floating around the room during this time to get an idea of who has good number sense and who needs some extra support. Read more about how to help students who are struggling with number sense >> here <>> here <<

Corkboard Connections is a blog written by Laura Candler who enjoys connecting terrific teachers with amazing resources!

Stop taking away recess and using other punishments to control your students. Find success with 10 powerful classroom management strategies!

Free Jonah and the Whale printables, easy craft ideas, and fun activities to enhance your study of this popular Bible story.

Make a Keyboard Puzzle I designed this for those of us who will have young beginners in the fall. There are many...

Activities for Orange Shirt Day for upper elementary and middle school with teaching ideas and resources to engage young learners.

Teaching character education in the classroom gives students the practice and knowledge to become upstanding members of their communities.

Teaching self control to kids can often times become a tricky topic. When a child hears, “Use self control”, do they even know what that means? So often we expect kids to know exactly what we mean or how to behave, but we fall short in our teaching and explanation. We cannot expect a child ... Read More about Self Control: What it Really Means to Kids

"Why even do this?", students might ask when they are not sure why they need to complete certain tasks. Student motivation and engagement are possibly the most important variables in the learning process. Identifying clear objectives and providing students with a purpose for carrying out various activities will more likely engage them as they will see the benefits of completing the proposed tasks. Because most of my high school ESL learners need a lot of motivation in school, I like to assign di

Do your students need a lot of repetition and practice to master skills? Do you have students who need direct instruction in order to generalize their skills? Want to make lesson planning easier? If you answered yes, then thematic units are for you!! My job got so much easier when I began using thematic units ... Read More about Why You Should Be Using Thematic Units

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! I know - it's a scary thought reality!!!! I'm sorry to even say the words......Back to School. But let's be honest. It's not that far away now, and closer for some than for others. So let's start thinking about how we can prepare. I don't know about you, but I have been stalking Target, Hobby Lobby and a few other places all summer long looking for the best deals and the cutest little bins, buckets, and supplies. Why, oh why, do we teachers spend so much dang money on our classrooms (and have so much fun doing it!?!). I know, I know!!! (I say as I wave my hand in the air like my new students will likely be doing soon enough.) We buy cutesy new things for our classrooms and spend our money on supplies because we love to see the looks on the faces of our little ones when they walk through the door and see their new HOME! It's one of the many reasons why we love teaching so much. As much as we all dread the end of another summer and the freedom we get with it, we also secretly love the excitement of the first day of school. Come on - admit it - you feel the same way too. If there ever comes a time when I don't feel that way, then that should be when I retire. I say retire because I am positive it will not be happening for a LONG time, if ever. I feel like I'm going to be one of those lovely, older, experienced teachers who doesn't want to retire and has to be kicked out. I'll have to dragged out kicking and screaming - dragging my chevron and polka dotted decorations behind me! So back to how we can prepare for going back to school. I don't actually go back until after Labor Day (I'm sorry if that makes you hate me right now, but you get out earlier I'm sure =) I will definitely be posting pictures of my classroom when I actually get around to organizing and decorating it. I also have to find room for all of this stuff... (remember I mentioned I had been shopping just a teeny bit). Even though my room is nowhere near ready I have been thinking A LOT about what I plan on doing those first few weeks of school. This will only be my 2nd year teaching 1st grade. It is my 12th year teaching, but I taught 3rd and 4th grades for 10 years. Last year I was in survival mode with the implementation of Common Core, all the changes with teacher evaluation, and being my first year in a new grade level. It was fun, but I have so many ideas for what I want to do differently this year. But before I talk about all of the things I plan to change (that will have to be another post), I have to get through the first week of school. Yikes!! So here are a few ideas I've been throwing around for that first week. I will start with some things from my Welcome Back Pack. I've always loved reading First Day Jitters by Julie Dannenburg on the first day of school and I also found First Grade Jitters by Robert Quackenbush - how perfect is that? I will start with this First Day Feelings survey and class graph after reading one or both of those books. The picture of the graph is just an example to show what it might look like. We will also make Jitter Juice from Babbling Abby's Fun with Firsties to ease the nerves and have a little snack break =) We will compare our summer with school like this example from First Grade Honeybunch. We will reminisce about our summers *tear* with a little summer writing (which is really my teacher way of getting a quick writing sample to see where they are at). We will HAVE to finish on a high note and not get totally depressed that our summers are over, so we will then come back together and talk about all the amazing things we will be doing this year in first grade - like learning to READ!!!!!! That's a big one! I will give some beautiful, could hear a pin drop, speech about how reading opens the doors to anything you will ever do in life like driving, traveling the world, and of course social media like texting, Facebook, etc. (I'm not totally serious, but I know they will think this is the best part =( Next, we're going to need to break up the sitting, because I don't know if you know this or not, but kids (and adults too) who are just coming back to school after a summer vacation are not so good at sitting for long periods of time and their attention spans are mere minutes at best. So it is extremely necessary to plan for multiple breaks in the day. My Find a Friend activities will give us that opportunity to get up and walk around. These are perfect for any student because there is no reading involved - just pictures. I would introduce this by going through the pictures and pointing out what they are and what they might think of when they see them (a little inferencing on the first day of school - take that Common Core!) Then they walk around and get other kids to sign their names next to a picture they like. When we come back together to share I have students share what they picked and why. For example, I might pick the dog and say that I have a black lab named Molly and tell a little about her. There are 4 different versions of this so I can do 1 each day to get up and moving. The next thing that I think we probably all do is some getting to know you activities or All About Me. I created an All About Me banner that will be perfect to hang up in the hallway or on a bulletin board. So excited to do these this year! There are a couple variations to choose from. I will probably choose this one I also have this super cute Math About Me craftivity that I like to do with the kids. We discuss how math and numbers are everywhere and how we can even describe ourselves using numbers. The craftivity above is a freebie in my TpT Store, but I also just wrote a poem to go with it. You can download the poem HERE if you'd like it. To finish off my pack, I also have included a Back to School interactive mini-book and some printables/coloring pages to fill time or use as morning work. In addition to all this FUN, I also need to take care of some business. That business will be ROUTINES, ROUTINES, ROUTINES!!!! I will be modeling like a crazy woman and pointing out when students are following rules. I will be positive and upbeat, but when needed we will stop what we are doing and go back to the carpet to review a routine or a rule. Here are a bunch of books I plan on reading those first few days as we discuss rules and routines and make anchor charts. I don't have any formal plans for these yet, but I am working on a few things to go along with some of these books, and others will be just discussions and connections. We will work through our class rules that first week (more to come in a later post on that) and more routines. So I hope you got some good ideas from my First Week of First Grade plans. I'd love to hear what you are doing in your own classrooms (or are planning on doing), so leave me a little note =) Click HERE to go to part 2 of this post - I Survived the First Week - Now What? Some more freebies and a chance to win!!!

Corkboard Connections is a blog written by Laura Candler who enjoys connecting terrific teachers with amazing resources!

The Kissing Hand is a classic book for many kindergarten classrooms on the first day of school. Here are 27 Kissing Hand freebies, activities and videos.

Get your kids talking and warm them up with these fun Would You Rather slides! Over 100 different slides with bright clipart engage kids in learning about each other and sharing their ideas. Perfect for... a bellringer morning meetings class parties brain breaks to brainstorm for opinion writing class parties and more! These are great projected onto a screen so everyone can vote. To use during a virtual meeting, just click "share your screen". Then have the students read the slide and make a decision. Switch back to your live screen and have them use their hands to show their choice! (Directions are included in the resource and on the slides for students to look at.) School and fun topics included. One Google Slides version includes text boxes for students to respond with their choice, for use as a bellringer, warm-up, or daily activity. This is also included in a PowerPoint version. This file is a zip file that includes several presentation types: Keynote, Powerpoint, Google Slides (2 versions), and a PDF Here's a sample of the over 100 questions included: Would you rather... learn a new language? learn how to sew? sit on the floor? sit on a beanbag? have a class pet? have a class plant? clean your own classroom? cook your own lunch? loop with your class? have a new class every year? bring your own lunch? eat school lunch? meet a dinosaur? go in a hot air balloon? ride a horse? ride a camel? wear a raincoat every day? wear a hat, scarf, and mittens every day? go to the movies? go watch a play? hop on one foot for five minutes? stand on your head for two minutes? watch a movie? play a board game? wear a costume to school? wear pajamas to school? ************************************************************************************************************** This resource, once purchased, is licensed to be used in one classroom. To use in additional classrooms, please purchase multiple licenses at a reduced price! Thank you for your interest in my products! To learn about more affordable teaching products, follow my store! Buzzing with Ms. B

Teaching resources that engage and delight Foundation (K) to Year 3 students.

Teacher Truth- I used to despise teaching Writer's Workshop. I understood the structure of the workshop model and the focus of each grading period, however, I didn't really know WHAT to teach each day during my mini-lessons. Fast forward a couple of years, and I had an amazing opportunity to visit an amazing teacher's classroom and observe her in action and I fell in love with her writing instruction! And then the next year, my amazing team and I decided to each tackle one subject and share our plans. I chose writing (even though it still wasn't my favorite) so I could spend more time learning about teaching writing and *hopefully* fall in love. It worked! Now that I LOVE writing, I wanted to share what I currently do to launch Writer's Workshop! I've taken pieces from what I love from different resources to make what works for me and my students. This post is a little peek into my mini-lessons, anchor charts, and mentor texts that I love! I posted them in the order that I usually teach each lesson, however you can change them around to make it work for you and your group of writers! For each lesson I shared an example of an anchor chart! In my classroom, I always prepped the anchor charts with the title and an image first, but added the content WITH my students during the mini-lesson! The books that I have posted are linked to my Amazon affiliate store. If you purchase them through the link, I will receive a small commission! This might just be one of the most important lessons to launch Writer's Workshop because it explains exactly what it is and what students can expect from their teacher and their own expectations. This is always the very first lesson that I teach when beginning Writer's Workshop and I love using the pie chart as a great visual! I begin this mini lesson using the book Arthur Writes a Story to get my little writers thinking about writing! After we complete the large anchor chart together, my students completed their own mini-anchor chart to glue in their writer's notebooks! I love using these mini-anchor charts because my students can reference them at anytime, even if the large anchor chart is not visible in our classroom anymore! After this lesson, I continue to follow this model for our writing instruction each and everyday! The independent writing time is always the most important and longest part of our writing time! For the next mini-lesson, we discuss WHAT writers actually write! Some groups do a great job at brainstorming different types of writing, while others need a little push! This would be a great mini-lesson to bring out different types of writing to show your little writers! Think cookbooks, Christmas cards, printed e-mails, grocery lists, newspapers, magazines, etc. You can put all these items in a basket to have your writers explore independently, or pull them out while you are making your list as a class! After creating a list as a class, students can either create their own list OR they can simply glue in a similar list into their writer's notebooks or folders! This is another important mini-lesson! It really allows your little writers to think about WHY writers write and why they should write! I love using the book Author A True Story by Helen Lester because it is a story from an author's point of view and allows writers to hear why an actual author chose to write! In my experience, sometimes writers have a difficult time determining WHY they write and might need some guidance to brainstorm ideas for the anchor chart! This particular mini-lesson sets up your expectations for HOW students behave during Writer's Workshop. Using the book Ralph Tells a Story, you can show students what not to do during writing time. This really allows them to brainstorm ideas of what they should be doing during writing! I always teach this lesson right after the {What Good Writers Do} lesson because it always focuses on writing behaviors. For this particular lesson, I reference back to Ralph Tells a Story to help my writers determine what writing should look like, sound like, and feel like in our classroom! For this mini-lesson, I always ask my writers what our classroom would look like, sound like, and feel like if one of our administrators walked into our classroom during writing time. Depending on your class and group of writers, you could complete this in one lesson or split it up into three different lessons! This particular mini-lesson discusses the tools that writers need in order to write. I'm going to be honest, if I'm struggling with time this is probably the first lesson that I would cut out because you could also discuss it in the What Good Writers Do mini-lesson. But, this is a good lesson to go over all the tools that your students can use in your classroom and your expectations for using them. Writing journals or folders? Pencils, erasers, pens for editing? Extra graphic organizers, writing pages? Writing prompts? Word wall or personal dictionaries? There are TONS of writing tools for the writers in your classroom! It's really important to talk about your expectations and even discuss with your writers how they should set up their writing journal or folder! It's common for little writers to not able to keep their belongings organized, so this is a great lesson to really focus on that! Using the book The Day the Crayons Quit is a fun book to use for this lesson because you talk about what would happen if you didn't have access to certain writing tools! "Mrs. Dills, I'm done!" If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that statement, I would probably own my own island! I don't know what it is, but at the beginnin writers always think they are completely finished as soon as they finish with one writing piece! This anchor chart stays up in my classroom for a very long time and I reference it A LOT! This book is a great story to read for this mini-lesson because they are SUPER short stories and allows you to discuss how writers could add lots of details to complete their story!. Then, you could discuss what else writers could do when they think they are done! Because of course, they've really just begun! In my first and second grade classroom, it was very common for my writers to freeze when they couldn't spell a word correctly- especially at the beginning of the year! Some would ask how to spell the word and some would just sit there and not write anything else! This mini-lesson really focuses on stretching out their words the best that they can instead of focusing on spelling the word perfectly. For this mini-lesson, I don't read a mentor text but instead I really focus on modeling how to stretch out words by listening for each sound and then writing them down. I go over each step with the students and then model writing my own story using this strategy. There are times that my writers still have a difficult time stretching out words for their writing, so during this lesson I also give them a personal dictionary. I didn't have a word wall in my classroom, but instead each of my students received a personal dictionary to keep in their desks. I like printing this 2 pages to a sheet and allowing them to keep it in a pocket in the back of their writing journals or folder! And FINALLY, it's time to really dig into story writing! I absolutely LOVE hearing from my little story tellers and I really look forward to teaching them HOW to write a story! This can definitely be broken into multiple days if you want to focus on modeling each step! However, it can easily be taught in one lesson! A Squiggly Story is such a fun little book about a little boy that is learning how to express himself, just like your writers as they learn how to write a story! This is another important anchor chart that I refer back to a lot during my writing instruction. A lot of times writers want to skip right to the writing part, but it's important for them to realize that there is a process! This is a great introductory lesson to the writing process for your little learners! I model this a lot in my classroom! This lesson really focuses on allowing students to come up with their own ideas for writing. I teach this after the {How to Write a Story} lesson because then I can really focus in on the first point, which is thinking of an idea! I like to reference the book Ralph Tells a Story again because the character in that book really struggled with thinking of an idea to write. The character in The Best Story has a similar problem, but she figures out that she should write from her heart! After reading the book, we talk about what is in our heart. Then, we talk about maps and their purpose. It would be really great to show students a picture of an actual map during this lesson! Then, I begin creating my own heart map and have students create their heart maps to keep in their writing journals to use throughout the year! Oh my goodness! I always, always, always have writers that get stuck or frozen and just don't know what to do! Stuck is the cutest book about a little boy whose kite gets stuck in a tree and he is determined to get it out! For this mini-lesson, I really like having my students brainstorm ideas for what they can do when they get stuck during writing time! So the anchor chart will look different each year because it really depends on the ideas that the group comes up with! Then, during independent writing time my students get to practice using those ideas if they get stuck! This might be one of my FAVORITE writing mini-lessons, which is crazy because not a lot of writing actually takes place! This mini-lesson shows the importance of illustrations and having them match your words! All of these book options are great because they have very little or no words at all, and students have to look at each illustration to tell the story. For this particular mini-lesson, I did not create an actual anchor chart with the students. Instead, I drew a simple picture and had students tell me what was happening in MY story! Then, my writers had to do the same thing! I had their return to their desks and they drew a detailed illustration. Afterwards, in pairs, students had to look at each other's illustrations and try to explain what was happening just from their drawings. This really helped them see the importance of their illustrations! To introduce the Writing Process, I like reading the book Rocket Writes a Story and discussing each part with my writers. Of course, this is truly just an introduction and students will not go through the entire writing process in one lesson! However, it is good that they have an understanding of each component and are aware of the process as they begin their writing units! I allow my writers to glue this mini-anchor chart into their writing notebooks so they always have a visual reminder of the writing process even if it is not currently displayed in our classroom! After students have an understanding of the writing process, we spend more time on how writers can fix or "fancy" their writing using the book Fancy Nancy! Although we go over editing and revising in a mini-lesson, this is definitely not the last time that my writers are introduced to this concept. I model editing and revising throughout the entire year and they have A LOT of practice working independently, with writing partners, and during writing conferences! For these lesson ideas in one easy FREE document, click here or the images below! For the mini-anchor charts click here or the picture below! For the personal dictionary click here or the picture below! For the FREE writing notebook cover and dividers, get the password to my Resource Library here! Or click on the image below to get the password emailed to you! Send it my way! Powered By ConvertKit For all of the subject covers click here or the image below! For the books click here or the image below for my Amazon Affiliate storefront! How do YOU launch Writer's Workshop in your classroom!? I hope this post gave you some ideas for your classroom! If you want to save these ideas for later, make sure to pin the image below!

Engage your students with perfect activities with these lesson plans on problem and solution! Centers, assessments, crafts, and more!

This math education blog helps elementary teachers keep afloat with diverse and rigorous resources, activities, and ideas for the math classroom.

Get your FREE homeschool daily schedule printable. Colorful and fully customizable for your own needs. #homeschool #momlife

As promised I am back to share my newest 3D shape product. WOW! I feel like I have been working on this packet FOREVER! One reason this took so long to create was because I took my first leap into creating clip art because I was not able to find any cute 3D shape clip art. This resource has TONS of cute stuff and I am so excited to share it with you! This 36 page 3D Shape Fun packet includes 6 posters to teach 3D shapes and one 3D shape attribute poster to help students with the vocabulary terms. A 3D Shape/Color BINGO game with calling cards and 7 different BINGO boards. A student book to learn about the 6 3D shapes, concentration game, 3D Shape Sort with Data Analysis and an "I Have, Who Has 3D Shape Game" WHEW! Stop by my shop to check out this fun packet!

Reward Your Class Without Spending a Penny! Having a prize box can be EXPENSIVE! Plus it is hard to keep up with, and to keep fully stocked. Here are some of my favorite rewards that are totally free and very easy to implement. These can be used daily, once a week, or even once a […]

tips for successful parent teacher conferences, parent teacher conference forms, resources for parent teacher conferences, advice from veteran teachers

The Tempest is a story with betrayal, revenge, reconciliation, and devotion. It has something for everyone: slap-stick humor, violent men & monsters,