FREE science emergent reader book about the human body systems. Great science activity for preschool and kindergarten.

So my awesome Peeps have put me in charge of sharing something meaningful with you this week! My class loves center time so I wanted to share just a little about how we rotate centers. This year I am going to split up my literacy & math centers. So I am only going to share about my literacy center rotation today. I have 8 literacy centers. Each child gets to go to 2 centers for 20 minutes each while I am pulling groups. I try to put a higher student or 2 with a lower student. That way if they need help there is usually someone there to help. Also when I pull groups according to reading levels there are still children in the center. I take their pictures on day 1 and print them to use for center groupings. The pictures are put up with sticky tack. So if we need a group swap it's easy to move them. The centers in the middle are on velcro. That way each morning I take the bottom center off and move all the centers down one spot then the groups get 2 new centers each day. How do you swap your centers around? Click below to go grab my center sign freebies. Don't forget to check back next week for a tip from one of my Peeps!

Did I miss anything while I was out? What did we do in class yesterday? Do I owe anything from when I was absent? 😵‍💫 It can be a lot. Especially when multiple students were absent. Trying to remember all of this information is taxing. That's why I love my system for organizing absent work. It put the responsibility on the student to gather their work, and everything they need to know about what they missed is ready and waiting for them.

Classroom jobs work great in middle school, too! Learn about the 10 jobs I use in my classroom and the system I use to keep everything running smoothly.

My Zettelkasten workflow is the basic Zettelkasten method, but modified to work for me as a fiction writer.

I'm so excited to share with you my newest TPT product! I'll be teaching a human body class this upcoming semester at our local co-op. I needed a human body project for kids in my class that will allow them to organize and store the information we learn. I came up with this file folder

This moon craft is great for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, or older kids. It's a great art extension during a space theme in the classroom.

A mask is an alter that serves to hide the system. Masks may be situations specific or not, for example a system my have a mask that specifically deals with visiting the doctor. Masks are not inhere…

Classroom jobs work great in middle school, too! Learn about the 10 jobs I use in my classroom and the system I use to keep everything running smoothly.

1-2-3-4 System in my Bullet Journal. Traditional Time Management Time management is about organizing and optimizing the time you have at your disposal. Some traditional time management methods are: Time Blocking - Used for dividing your day into blocks of time, in which you attribute a specific event, task, or activity to each block. Timeboxing - Used for limiting an event, task, or activity to a specific amount of...

I could never say enough positive things about using a work box system in the classroom-- for any child. I've used them with typically developing peers in the classroom as well and it's an amazing way to in-bed practice and skill maintenance, all while working on attending to a task as well. Over the summer I did a whole post on how I structure this system in my classroom. You can check it out {here}. But one thing I've never done is actually post photos of the activities I have in my boxes. My boxes have grown since I last posted a photo this summer. I have 83 work boxes available in my classroom at all times. I know that sounds like the only thing that make up the shelves in my classroom are work boxes, but I promise it's not. It might be close, but it's not! I don't have a lot of remaining storage in my classroom. So to constantly be changing out activities and finding a storage system for previous activities is a little challenging for me. So I prefer to just have a lot of boxes available. We also need a high number of boxes to complete each day. Let's break it down. I have 10 students total, 8 of whom complete work boxes at some point doing the day. Children complete anywhere between 1-10 boxes a day. Right now, as a class, we are completing 28 boxes a day. We come to school 4 days a week, so that's completing 112 boxes a week. And planning so strategically that a child doesn't repeat a box during the week. It's a huge planning challenge. And my paras are awesome at catching my goofs! I'm hoping to come across some appropriate shelving between now and the end of the year to expand our boxes even more. Sounds crazy I know, but it will make the planning challenge so much easier when there is a larger amount to pick from. So the whole point of this post-- what's in the boxes?! I use a combination of handmade activities, printable activities, and existing manipulatives from my classroom to make up my boxes. Our lowest tasks are simple "put-in" activities and our higher tasks include activities like capital and lowercase matching using clothespins and sight word matching mats. I've been trying to come up with more and more put-in activities so that's what I'm going to share with you today. In another post I'll share another category. For this activity I saved a small peanut can from the grocery store. (Yes I washed it out) I simply cut slits in the lid--these lids are super easy to cut into which is nice. It's the perfect height for dropping these mini popsicle sticks into. This activity is another saved container- an almond one. I have saved a ton of these! They are a great size and again, the lids are easy to cut into. This one has a circle in the middle of the lid and heart erasers to put into the container. This activity I found on pinterest. I simply saved a Parmesan cheese shaker, washed it out and added q-tips. When students open the box the cheese shaker is already open. (It would be too challenging for my little guys to get open independently- it's tough!) This task I clearly didn't make. It is courtesy of Lakeshore Learning. Students simply place the buttons in. This jar is one of three included in the pack and can be purchased by clicking {here}. If you wanted to make a more challenging task for a student you could place two jars into one task box so the student has to sort as well. This is the second jar included in the Lakeshore pack. I used another almond container for the activity. And obviously a hole punch to put the holes in the lid. Students have to put the beads into the container through the holes. I saw someone else blog about these small paint containers they found at the Dollar Store. They really are great! I bought four of them and used one for this work box. Students simply push the pom-poms into the container. This activity is similar to the Lakeshore bucket with buttons. I found the small yellow containers at the Dollar Tree in the baby section. They come in a multi-pack which is nice, BUT, they are a pain to cut holes in the top. It's a much harder plastic than I thought, and it cracked in the corners. If I hadn't gone through so much trouble to cut the slot in, I probably would have used another almond container. This was one of the first work box activities I made. I recycled a cookie dough container and cut holes in the lid. Then students just have to put pom-poms into the holes. I'd like to re-do this container at some point because most students catch on that the middle hole is big enough to just drop the pom-pom in versus pushing it through the hole. I don't know if you would call this a "put in" task, but I do. They're putting pegs in a peg board! I can also guarantee you that this peg board is older than I am. For this activity students push down the lever on the gumball machine to get a stone out, then they have to place the stone in the container. I liked the idea of students using their index finger to get the lever done-- additional fine motor practice. Sometimes more than one stone may come out, but that's okay. So there you have it. Those are our current "put in" activities. I hope you get some new ideas for your own work boxes from these. Next I'll share our sorting activities.

One of the most frequent questions I have been asked is how I use Unique in my classroom and how I plan! I have to admit, I am an avid fan of Unique Learning System, however, I do not use ALL components of the unit. I have been using ULS for about 5 years now, enough to have figured out which pieces of the unit fit best with my students. One of the good things about Unique is that they provide you with an abundance of materials. I have not met one teacher yet that is able to use ALL of the plans from the unit (and if you are one of those teachers more power to ya!). For me, the key is to find what works best for your students! Monthly Mapping The first thing I do is grab a monthly calendar and my blank planning template (I will post the link to this free resource below). I mark all the days that we will be off and out of school. Once I have those days crossed off I start my planning. I print the first page from the unit that lists all the lessons. I plan when I will give my pre-assessment and then when I want my students to have their post assessment. If you do not use the Unique GPS, I highly recommend it! You can see student weak areas, what they need to focus on and you can see their growth over the month. I love it! Next, I choose the activities that I feel best introduce the topics to my students and highlight them. After I have all the activities chosen, I add them into my calendar. Unique GPS data FREE Blank Template Download Template Here Selecting the Activities I have used Unique long enough to discover what works best for me and my students. It has changed yearly. This year, I used the following activities consistently every month: Leveled Book (Lesson 1) and corresponding activity Leveled Book Comprehension (Lesson 2) Easy Read Book (Lesson 3) and corresponding activity Easy Read Book Comprehension (Lesson 4) Vocabulary (Lesson 12) Literary Experience (Lessons 15 and 16) Vocabulary Sort (Lesson 18) Science Experiment (Lesson 28) History Timeline (Lesson 29) Supplemental Activities I use: Adapted Book Packs (samples of the packs in the picks below!) I created these book packs to help me supplement the curriculum because I needed more books! I started creating differentiated activities to go along with the books. Each adapted book set comes with at least 3 adpated books each book with 3 differentiated corresponding comprehension activities. 1 file folder game to cover vocabulary, 2 differentiated levels of vocabulary task boxes, and 1 counting card activity directly related to the monthly theme. Some packs include bonus materials! Science Adapted Book Packs I currently have 11 science themed activities listed and 5 science themed adapted book packs available. You can find the link to them above. I also have them available in a BUNDLE. Social Studies Adapted Book Packs I currently have 6 adapted book packs available. I also have these bundled for convenience. You can find the bundle here. Craft Activities related to topic Extension Activities from higher level unit N2Y activities Summer Themes: Summer Camp Theme Amusement Park Theme Planning the Lessons I don't have a ton of time in my classroom to teach science and social studies content. On top of all the IEP work, speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, specials, and getting them out to gen ed, I needed to integrate my lessons. So, my planning had to be simplified and integrated. During my small group/morning meeting I decided that when I was reading books, they needed to be adapted and content related. So my first step in my planning is mapping out my literacy activities. You can see those in the picture below color-coded in purple. After I have those planned, I go back and plan on my specific content related activities, which are usually only 15 minutes long. Those are in the picture below color-coded in green. The best part about planning this way, is once I have one month planned, I can pretty much easily plug in the rest of the year's lesson plans! I just re-use the same format and timeline from the first month. Some adjustments might need to be made based on days off, special activities, but for the most part, it's quick and easy to plug in my plans for the month! Ideas for Lessons Vocabulary I always like to introduce the topics from the unit by introducing the new vocabulary. Some things that I have done in the past to make these activities fun and engaging: Mystery Box- add items to a box and have the students feel items and take guesses on what the new unit is going to be about. Example: for the light and sound unit I put a light bulb and a tamborine in the box and had students feel and guess what the items were. Play Hide and Seek- Hide new vocabulary words around the room and have students find them. When they find a vocabulary word have them read it to you. Mystery Word- Put vocabulary words in a brown paper bag and have students choose a word from the bag and tell class and hang up the word Put students in charge of changing the words- Our words are hanging on the wall next to our white board, I like to lay all the vocab words on the table and ask the student to find ______ and hang it on the wall. After I have introduced the vocabulary we play the corresponding match game the next day. I like to incorporate the leveled books during my literacy lessons. Typically, I will introduce the first book, and have students find the vocabulary words and highlight them. For my lower level students, the adapted book packs I use incorporate the vocabulary making it quick and easy for you to assess using the books. I typically read the book and have my students make selections from the icons from a field of 2 or 3 depending on the student. I make sure to emphasize the unit vocabulary words during the story and direct instruction. We do the vocabulary sort around three weeks into instruction so that I know the students have a had good quality time to absorb the content. I usually use this as an assessment, and students complete either individually or with some physical assistance. For my higher level students they complete independently and have very little accommodations. For my lower level students they complete with some assistance (for physical needs) but I color code their sorts to make it more independent for them. Color-Coded Vocabulary Sort (Not from Unique, but strategy I use for differentiation) Adapted Books/Literacy I use both of the leveled books provided in the unit. I adapt them so they are interactive and the students can use icons to engage in the story. If the book warrants, I will use props to keep the kids excited about the story. I use these books to cover content, otherwise I would not have time! My typical routine for literacy is: Introduce the book Read and emphasize vocabulary Have students match icons to story from a field of 2 or 3 Complete literacy activity and discuss vocabulary Re-read book focusing on content Comprehension assessment I repeat these steps for the five books that I use during the unit. I created my adapted book packs so that I would always have a content related book to read and an activity to correlate! It makes my literacy planning so much easier! I love using the literary experience. I use these monthly but pick and choose upon availability of the books that correspond with that lesson. Adapted Books for "Plants Can Grow" Unit Adapted Book Packs Props for acting out story "Bunny in the Garden" Science Experiment I love doing the science experiments with the kids! I love getting them excited about them! I typically do my science experiment the third week of instruction however in this example (May) I needed to do it sooner due to the nature of the experiment (keeping plants healthy). I break my experiments down into smaller sections to increase engagement. Here is my typical routine for science experiments: Day 1- Introduce experiment- show items used in experiment, pass out experiment packet, look through experiment and discuss our steps. Day 2- Re-read experiment, discuss and make hypothesis, "check off" materials to make sure we are ready to go! Day 3- Conduct Experiment - following steps of experiment Day 4- Review our experiment, complete conclusion I try to do experiments on Thursdays because we have extra time on this day because we have no specials! One fun way I like to get them excited is to purposely leave materials for the experiment out around the classroom. When they find them, I say, "I guess you'll have to wait and see for experiment day!" Science Experiment "Keeping Plants Healthy" Crafts I like to do crafts related to the topics of our units. I usually just pinterest or try to think of my own. Also, if you have access to the intermediate level of the unit, they have crafts as part of their lessons! I usually pull from that unit as well. Craft for "Our Impact on the Environment" Unit Craft for "Plants Can Grow" Unit How do you plan your units? I would love to hear new tips and tricks! Drop a comment below if you have any suggestions for me! Follow my classroom journey on instagram for more ideas, tips, and fun!

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Why do I love them so much? Because they love systems and I LOVE SYSTEMS. Even more than in my house, I LOVE having classroom systems. I think oftentimes we

Take your kids on a space journey with my printable planet book! Equipped with images and fun facts about the 8 planets, and a short fun quiz after!

When it comes to classroom management, some of the most common struggles I hear about from teachers are the lack of respect students have for their learning space, and a desire to maintain a more organized classroom. If you are struggling with these, I urge you to consider utilizing well-developed classroom jobs, and a classroom […]

Looking for a fun way to get your chatty class to quiet down? Quiet Critters are one of my favorite classroom management systems! Students get to have the pom pom critter on their desk, as long as they are quietly working. I use Quiet Critters during independent work time to keep students engaged and motivated to work and whisper! Quiet Critters are easy, yet effective. This Quiet Critter Set Includes: Labels for your jar Each label comes in 3 color options (bright, primary and black & white) You get 4 border options (3 circular labels and 1 rectangular label) Each border option has a label WITH and WITHOUT the poem Directions on how to enlarge or shrink the label to fit on your jar Directions on how to make Quiet Critters (with an editable letter for parent volunteers) Tips on how I use Quiet Critters in my classroom Quiet Critters Editable Rule page (in the 3 color options) with and without visuals *Quiet Critters and jar are not included but are needed to use this product. This product is semi-editable. The words "Quiet Critter" on each page are NOT editable. The images aren't movable. You CAN edit any of the black text (which includes the poem, the rules and the letter to a parent volunteer to make them). You will need PowerPoint to edit. The other labels will be a non-editable PDF. Still have questions? Please email me at [email protected] Copyright © Teaching With Coffee and Mascara. Permission to copy for single classroom use only. Please purchase additional licenses if you intend to share this product.

Welcome to your best source for free Lutterloh tips and system information! We are a couple of fans of the Lutterloh patterns who love to sew clothes that fit. You too can successfully make a wardrobe from your Lutterloh pattern book. Be sure to check out our side bar for links to Lutterloh dealers and all of our best tricks! DISCLAIMER: Some patterns and tools have been provided by the Lutterloh company for our unbiased review.

In European history, the Middle Ages, or Medieval period, lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. Click for even more facts or download the worksheets.

Find out how to organize your classroom to easily work on different levels of IEP goals while maintaining data collection on a regular basis.

Are you creating a fantasy world with magic? If you want to give your characters some interesting and unique abilities, here are some ideas.

Sweet Sounds - Quality Kodaly Resources for Elementary Music Educators

Looking for the right ADHD planning system for your ADHD brain? In this post, I share the ADHD planner that has worked for me.

Play Guitar chords in 5 different keys with correct fingerings! Follow the C-A-G-E-D system and learn open chords to play thousands of songs. As a guitar teacher correct fingerings are always something I keep an eye out for to help my students.

3rd grade teacher Deanna shares how she saves time and works more efficiently.

3rd grade teacher Deanna shares how she saves time and works more efficiently.

Tento nápoj ze dvou jednoduchých přísad je dokonalým elixírem zdraví a vitality. Nejenže posílí váš imunitní systém a ochrání vás tak před různými virózami a dalšími chorobami, ale také podpoří metabolismus a spalování tuků. Jedná se tak o velmi účinný nápoj na hubnutí.

Want to learn how to beat the school system with ADHD? This article reveals the 5 tips you need to internalize if you hope to overcome ADHD and school.

I have been working and observing in Montessori classrooms for a good fifteen years now and I’ve seen dozens of different ways to keep track of the mountain of information generated on a daily basis. I’m also a bit of an information junkie and I collect ideas like they’re about to run out (have you seen my Pinterest boards?!) […]

Having a classroom management system in middle school is so hard!! A lot of it is too “elementary” for them and they just won’t buy into it! If you want a management system to work for any grade level, there has to be buy in from the students. When I was in college I had a professor who was like Mr. Feeney to me & he told us, “a child will do anything for a Jolly Rancher.” I used this to my advantage & made it into my classroom management system! Jolly Rancher Wars is a weekly challenge where my…