Great gift to give a teacher to say thank you Mini packet of smarties Attached to a choice of card 1 Thank you For teaching our SMARTIE pants 2 Thank you teacher I’m now such a SMARTIE Great fab gift More you buy less they cost each

Time sure does fly when you’re having fun! At The Primary Peach we’re having a blast! SO much fun, that it’s been a WHOLE YEAR since we first started! We’re so excited, that we’re celebrating! What better way to celebrate with a GIVEAWAY!!! But first…a FREEBIE! (You’re going to want to head over to The ... Read more

At the beginning of the year I was getting the above question about a million times a day. I had explained to my students that they always h...

I created these mini posters solely to help my students remember their choices for when they complete their classwork. It's a great way to solve the "when I'm done" problem and help save your sanity! Works great for early finishers! This is only a small "sample" of the much larger version you can find HERE in my store. The larger version contains many more options for early finishers, black and white printing options, and editable cards so you can create your own). Download includes: 1 version of the main poster (girl theme) 4 idea cards (silent read, journal write, etc.)

I usually write a list of activities on my whiteboard for students to work on when they finish early. To save on time, I've created a set of task cards to hang up instead. (I printed them on card stock and attached magnets to the back.) Click on image below to download my set of task cards for FREE! :) The cards include the following activities: * Boggle Words * Boggle Math * Silent Read * Study Sight Words * Buddy Read * Math Games * Reading Games * Spelling 3x Each * Complete Unfinished Work * Read with Whisper Phones * Free Write * Spelling City * AR Tests * Class Website * Write a Book Review * Spelling Words on White Boards In my TpT Shop, I'm offering a set of task cards that I will customize for your own classroom! Click HERE to check it out! One activity I included is writing a Book Review. It's nothing fancy, but click on the picture below for the freebie download of the Book Review Form I created to use in my classroom.

I had a super Friday with my class! I just wanted to share some highlights of my week: My students had good behavior for the most of the week and lots of lost teeth (3) in one week! My students are loving Erica Boher's Lost Tooth Club. One of my students even asked me where the club meets lol she was pretty excited. We are now reading Junie. B. Jones, Toothless Wonder as our chapter book during snack time. My students are loving Pete the Cat of course so if it gets them excited it is a highlight for me! They are really liking the listening center and doing well even though this is the first week we've started them. We have practiced for 2 1/2 weeks and this Thursday actually started rotating a little. I did 2 centers yesterday and 3 today. Usually we do all 5 in one day but I wanted to ease them into it and they are doing really well. We have stamina for about 12 minutes and then I usually get interrupted. I know with continued practice they will do fine with centers though. They are a quiet group for the most part but really love my attention sometimes at any cost. I saw this in a friend's classroom and knew I had to get it! What a wonderful tools for students! My students now don't have to ask me what to do when they are done. They can just choose on the the options. I love using these awesome frames from Lakeshore! It is so easy to slide work in and out and the brighten up the room too! I just wanted to show you how they looked with writing actually in them. Another thing I love using in my class this year are poetry notebooks and reading response journals. I used poetry notebooks last year but I just love how my kids are taking their time with it this year and really doing an awesome job with highlighting, reading, and crafting a bit. I haven't used reading response journals before but I really like using them with first grade. Right now we are doing a shared reading response together on the board and then they copy it into their response journal. Later in the year I will have them response on their own after we've discussed the book. This is from a nonfiction book we read about Big Cats and Pet Cats today. This student is showing the similarities between pet cats and big cats. Finally I am super happy to announce there were no fits thrown on Friday! Which has now made me day. I have one student who has crying/screaming/dangerous fits almost every day sometimes more than once a day. Thursday of last week he didn't have a fit and got extra computer time as a reward and today he got a trip to the treasure box because he didn't have a fit today! It makes everything better when the class doesn't have to listen to one of his fits. P.S. I have made a calming box with a special spot. He throws the items around and once it is finally worn out of crying (15-30 mins) will use the tools. Any other suggestions for calming down would be wonderful! Well friends have an awesome weekend! Hope you can reflect on the highlights of your week with a smile.

We hear this a million times a day! "I'm done, now what do I do?!" Well..I decided that I'm going to list the options of what my students can do when they finish an assignment early. This has REALLY helped the disruptions in my class. I personally put these labels on my board and only display the options they are allowed to pick from. For example, if the class is taking a test, and one of my student's finishes early, I remove the "clean desk" option from the board because that task can get noisy and disruptive during a test. The labels include: • Read • Write • Practice Spelling Words • Unfinished Work • Boggle • Draw • Reading Games • Math Games • i-Ready • Study Sight Words • Book Review • AR Test • Study Vocabulary Words • Puzzles • Help a friend • White Boards • Flashcards • Clean Your Desk • Computer You will received a PDF version and an EDITABLE version that you can edit to have any title you want! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you enjoy this interactive tool as much as my students and I do! As always, be sure to leave feedback and earn Tpt credits for your future purchases. Check out my Zebra edition by clicking here. Thank you. Learning is a Hooot

Do you have your first interview for a special education job? Use these 5 special ed interview tips to rock your interview and GET HIRED!

How do you welcome first-year teachers to your school? A new teacher orientation is a great way for mentor teachers to welcome new staff and share school-specific information.

I’ve posted before about my teacher binder. As an organizationally-challenged person, I had to find that one thing that would hold me together as a teacher… and my binder is it. I love this thing. It’s within an arm’s reach at any given moment (home or school) and keeps me sane. And honestly? Creating it was simple. Unfortunately, my teacher binder had seen better days, so it was time to perform a little overhaul. While I’m working on my own, I thought I’d share 5 steps to creating your own teaching binder! 1. Plan first. For me, the easiest way to do this was to gather all the papers I thought I wanted in my binder, and split them into piles. This will help you know how many dividers and what size of binder to buy. Don’t forget that you can use the space in front of and behind the dividers! 2. Get the supplies. Pick a binder you LOVE (for me, color is huge) and splurge for the heavy duty one. Believe me- you’ll be using this thing a lot. I also picked dividers that had pockets and were easy to write on (and erase, if I change my mind later). A friend gave me Vera Bradley binder clips, and I use this one to pin my lesson plans to the cover so that the 2-page spread opens instantly when I open the binder. This binder clip also adds just enough “cute” to make me smile whenever I look at my binder! It sounds silly (seriously who has designer binder clips) but I probably see it 20 times each day. Worth it. 3. Think about the covers. What are the things you constantly need to reference? For me, a cute cover with my name on it would be okay- but really, I need my class list, my current Post-It list, and the weekly newsletter (with spelling & vocab. words, academic focuses, etc.). Normally, this would have a class list, which I didn’t show for obvious reasons, and there’s usually a Post-It list or two. Still… I like how clean and neat my binder looks on my desk! (Plus, the color stands out if it does find its way into a pile.) 4. Think about order. What papers do you need access to the most often? My lesson plan pages go in the front because I reference them throughout every day, and my calendar goes next. (I love Google Calendar, but a written one works best for me. I printed this one for free from The Twinery Blog.) I put any lists for quick reference (computer logins, school schedules, curriculum maps, policies, etc.) in the reference tab. My Student Info tab holds my data (so useful when I plan my small groups at home!), but also copies of anything like IEP’s, ILP’s, RTI plans, and documentation. The back includes things I might need to look up once a week while planning, but not daily, like my standards lists and my archive of planning pages/ meeting notes. Once you’ve decided, write on the dividers. (I used a skinny Sharpie- on most surfaces, nail polish remover will take it right off if I ever change my mind!) 4. Hole punch everything and try it out! This is the perfect time of year to give this baby a trial run and give you plenty of time to tweak it for next year! I found out that having a “meeting notes” section was just not enough for me, so I added some extra subsections. You’ll find what works for you! I plan my teacher binder as something that I will take to every meeting, take home every night, and use constantly throughout my day. It means that whether I’m at home, in my classroom, or somewhere in the school, I have everything I need to stay organized and up-to-date! There are plenty of other guides out there to making a teacher binder, but it’s my hope that this can help you make the one that’s right for you. Yes, it takes a bit of time… but I put mine together in about an hour (minus shopping) and it has saved me so much more than that!

Take a peek inside 7 special education sample schedules to get some schedule ideas for your own special education classroom!

Learn about the mistakes new teachers make that set them up for a year of challenging classroom management problems and other avoidable issues.

Starting to teach 3rd grade for the first time can be a thrilling yet daunting experience. Excited and eager? Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Maybe a mix of both? Whether you’re a brand new 3rd grade teacher or coming back after a break, you’ll find everything you need to feel prepared and confident here! PLUS -

Here is the newest addition to your classroom management routine! Download the *FREEBIE* I'm Done! Now What? early finished tasks! Includes 13 different activities that you can choose for students to do if they finish work early. Thank you! :) Be sure to check out other resources in my store!

Thrive on a teacher's salary to make your salary last as long. Click to learn more!

Ready to start an education business of your very own? It can feel daunting, but it doesn't have to be. Click here for 4 simple steps to get started now.

Will you be teaching Kindergarten next year? If you are moving grade levels to Kindergarten, I have some helpful tips and what to expect!

I’ve been spending some serious amounts of time this summer leading conversations around the country focused on the integration of social studies and literacy. And for the last few years, I…

The ultimate Chat-GPT guide for educators of any grade level. This downloadable e-guide includes basic tips for getting started with Chat-GPT and 150 prompts that cover lesson planning, classroom management, and student engagement. Here are what educators are saying: "This was a lifesaver. My students have been talking about Chat-GPT for a few weeks now and I was starting to feel a little self-consious about not knowing how to use it. This guide not only took me through the basics, but gave me practical prompts I have been using to really stand out and engage the classroom. Thank you!!" (R.M., High School English Teacher, Stonybrook, NY) "Thank you for this easy to use guide! This has really made me a better teacher and colleague--and it's so much fun...It took a technology I was scared of and made it into something I use daily!" (M.B., Kindergarten Teacher, San Diego, CA).

Please note that the fonts and some clipart have been altered from what is shown in the product picture. See the preview for the updated design! My kiddos often need a reminder of what's an acceptable choice once they finish their work early! I have this poster hung in my classroom for students to reference once they're "all done!" Included are 3 versions, editable and ready-to-print! If you use this product in your classroom, I'd love for you to share on Instagram and tag me @grade3inaz so that I can see! Thank you for your purchase and support :)

This is a chart you can hang in your room for your early finishers. They are tasks the students can do when they are done. ...

Try DOODLING!!!!! Get inspiration from Mr. Doodle; Sometimes, the solution to your problem just won’t come into your head, yet your thoughts are spinning at a 100 kilometres an …

Early Finishers Activities are a must in your classroom. We have all heard the dreaded, "I'm Done, Now What?" Usually, it comes right when you are in the

Pregnancy has gotten way better now that I'm not in the first trimester anymore. First trimester was just terrible! As I look ahead and think of the back to school season I'm setting 3 goals for myself...focusing more on things I am NOT going to do while I'm a pregnant teacher and I encourage you to do the same if you're also teaching and pregnant... 1. I will not put myself last Putting ourselves last if part of our nature as teachers. We always think of everybody else's needs and put them before ours. This year I'm determined to find the selfish person in me and think of myself a little more often. I will sit down when I need to, have a snack if I'm hungry and slow down if my body is telling me to do so. I'm not saying I will not do my best to teach my students but this year I'm going to take really good care of my students AND myself. 2. I won't hesitate to say no This one is the hardest for me. I like volunteering. I love being the one to help in committees and run the extra mile, specially when I see no one else is stepping up to do it. But this year will be a little different. This year I will slow down and prioritize. I will understand I do not need to be part of every committee, project and special event that my school does. It's ok to say no once in a while. 3. I won't be afraid to ask for help The other day while I was setting up my classroom I had to move a very heavy box to the other corner of my room. I tried picking it up and knew I could do it but it was probably more than I should be lifting. I remembered one of my colleagues had very kindly offered to help me out with anything when he found out I was pregnant. So I thought to myself...why not? I called him and he was there right away and willing to help with anything. Colleagues are there to help. If you need to go to the restroom, go knock on your neighbor's door, call the office. Even if you need to go six times a day trust me, they WILL understand. Can you think of any other goals you set for yourself when you were pregnant? I would love to hear them!

Try DOODLING!!!!! Get inspiration from Mr. Doodle; Sometimes, the solution to your problem just won’t come into your head, yet your thoughts are spinning at a 100 kilometres an …

Differentiation. We hear it all the time, we believe in it, but sometimes we have a hard time organizing it. As a teacher, I want to do anything and everything that I can to help my students succeed. I’ve just always struggled with how to differentiate assignments without making it obvious to the rest of my class... UNTIL NOW. #differentiate #assignments

"I'm done! Now what?" Avoid hearing this phrase with this Editable Early Finisher Chart. This "I'm done" choice board provides visual directions to keep students fully engaged. With 50 fast finisher activity cards and editable templates, your classroom will be well on their way to a more focused lea...

So I don’t know about you and where you teach, but here’s something about me and where I teach. We have to write two professional learning goals every year. And we have to write them as S.M.A.R.T goals. I can’t think of what each letter in SMART stands for right now because I’m on summer ... Read More about Word of the Day

In response to yesterday's post, a couple readers, reacting to photos of children emptying glue bottles, asked me to comment on "waste." When I first started teaching, this drove me crazy; the urge in some children to just squeeze until it's all gone. Not only did it strike me as wasteful, but it also tended to overwhelm whatever else was going on at the art table that day. I've never been in favor of bossing kids around, even as a neophyte teacher, so I knew I had to approach the "problem" creatively. But first, I had to ask myself, why do they squeeze the glue and paint bottles until they're empty? I suppose I could come up with a list of things they may or may not be teaching themselves in the process -- cause and effect, air pressure, targeting, trajectory, gravity, viscosity, color mixing, whatever -- but I was, and still am, satisfied with knowing that if a child engages robustly in any kind of play, he's exploring something he really needs to understand. And when a lot of kids of a certain age do something, consistently, over years, such as emptying squeeze bottles, then whatever they're learning, it's probably something pretty important. It's enough for me to know that. So, being a clever adult person, I put squeeze bottles in the sensory table, along with water, and let the kids knock themselves out, figuring we would do this for a few weeks, then when the glue bottles reappeared the kids would have learned what they needed to learn about emptying bottles and be ready for something else. I let it run for a couple of weeks, waiting for a day during which our little bottle squeezing activity lay largely fallow. Figuring this was a sign that it was out of their collective systems, I then reintroduced glue bottles. But no, what the kids taught me that day is the great truth that glue is not water, and as a different thing, it also needs to be fully explored by emptying bottle after bottle. Back to the drawing board. As I was contemplating our glue bottles one day, trying to crack this particular nut, I noticed that some of them had larger holes than others. As I examined further, I even found one loose screw-on top with no hole at all. Wait a minute! This is how they all start -- the teacher gets to decide how big the holes are by how much of the tip gets snipped off. How about just ordering new glue bottles, then giving them tiny, tiny holes so the kids have to really work to get the glue out? Then they won't waste so much. Hmm? Hmm? Smart, huh? A week later, equipped with what I couldn't help but think of as my "miserly" glue bottles, I was feeling pretty confident. The first several kids, after much effort, eeked out a few drops or perhaps a thin stream of glue. Then one girl handed me her bottle, saying, "It's too hard. You do it." Then others did the same. Okay, so maybe the holes needed to be a little bigger. I carefully trimmed a bit from the top of each glue bottle until the children were no longer trembling as they squeezed. Some of them still were unable to manage it, so I trimmed a bit more . . . Well, needless to say, before too much time had passed, we were again emptying bottle after bottle. Alright then, this was going to have to go up a notch. If we need to learn about squeezing glue from bottles, then we were going to learn about squeezing glue from bottles. This was the advent of our first glue table, a place where it's important to empty glue bottles if you really want our garbage art to hold together. It's impossible to waste glue at the glue table. Since then, I've learned that if you really want to use glue, and want kids to focus on something other than emptying glue bottles, and you don't want to boss them around, you just put the glue in a small dish with a paint brush. I do it not because I'm concerned about waste, however, but rather because some kids appreciate things when they don't involve pools of glue. If it's too valuable to be used in excess, we don't bring it into the classroom. I want children to be able to explore and experiment freely at school -- that's what makes a play-based curriculum work. When it comes to educational materials, like glue, it's hard for me to think in terms of waste because it seems to me it's all being used in the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. That's what the kids have taught me about squeeze bottles and glue. I put a lot of time and effort into this blog. If you'd like to support me please consider a small contribution to the cause. Thank you! -->

Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good. But a lot of those tips won’t work if you fail to follow this one essential rule.

Early Finishers Activities are a must in your classroom. We have all heard the dreaded, "I'm Done, Now What?" Usually, it comes right when you are in the

Students work with a partner to identify polygons. They roll a number cube to get a polygon and then cover the corresponding shape or description. The game boards and directions are included. The shapes are triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, octagons and then students identify figures that are not polygons (they are not closed figures, lines cross, not straight lines). Your students will love playing this game! Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Look for the green star next to my name and click it to become a follower. You will now receive email updates about this store.

Right now I’m in the process of creating a series of STEM projects for students who are studying Ancient Civilizations.. Next stop, Ancient India! 🙂 During the summertime in Ancient India (and still to this day), a monsoon would come every year, raining buckets and buckets of water. In Eastern India, a second monsoon would

Misssss Stephannn!! I am done with my work! What do I do now?? Ugh, I have heard that so many times. I decided this year I would put that question to rest.. FOREVER! It just came to me one day, Brownie Points. I would give my students extra work and award them 'Brownie Points' for completing a page. I took a small file folder crate I found at Walmart and made a hanging file for each student. There is also a hanging file that is labeled completed. The work inside the folders is differentiated. Whatever a student needs a little extra practice on goes into their folder. It works so well! I can provide struggling students with extra practice and advanced students with a challenge or enrichment. Now, what do they get when they are awarded 'Brownie Points'? Once a student completes 3 pages correctly they get a treat... a pack of mini oreos or a piece of candy. I would love to find some brownie theme objects (like erasers or pencils) so I am not giving he kids sugar, but for now it is an excellent incentive. I uploaded the tag I staple to their treat to Google Docs. You can find it here: Brownie Points Another brilliant idea hit me on the ride home today. We are beginning our measurement unit in math, and I wanted a cute way to store rulers. So I came home and made this cute sign, printed it, and slapped it on an empty bread crumbs container. I won't lie, I was so excited about the idea I poured the bread crumbs out.... they were probably stale anyways. And here is the finished product! Love it! Click on the picture above to download it!

Included: one file with two separate letters introducing an IEP case manager to parents. IEP case management is a daunting process for the parents and teachers alike. Start the year off right with these two introduction letters. I'm a high school teacher and I've used both these letters for some ten years now. Once my school principals got wind of one of these letters, they made it the standard to be used by all case managers. I'm sure they will save you time and work well for you.

Ideas for early finishers/fast finishers in the classroom to help keep them engaged. No more hearing “I’m Done Now What?” Improve classroom management with these activities, chart, and system.