We recently posted a poll here on Novel Novice asking you to tell us your favorite genre. Then we realized there were SO MANY genres and subgenres (and subgenres of subgenres) that we couldn’…
Superhero theme matching printable for toddlers and preschoolers! Fun, free busy bag activity for your superhero fan!
Are you looking for fun Summer Reading Activities that the kids will love? We've got them for you. Scavenger Hunts, Bingo, Roll & Read, Reading logs & more.
In this blog, we have 10 crafts and crafty projects for teens to get into this Spring.
Morning, lovelies! Monday is always a bit of a slow start for me...but we're easing our way into all of the fun we have in store for you this week with just the right amount of pretty. Starting with a...
You’d think that in this day and age, when people aren’t reading all that much, banning books wouldn’t be all that high up on the to-do lists of the powers that be. But, sadly, it’s still an issue, even in 2013: just look at the recent — eventually…
Spring is bustin’ out all over! Celebrate with some spring reading, and encourage your patrons to enjoy a good book under a blossoming tree!
Make reading children's books an even bigger and better experience with these 15 ideas!
Ok, let's get back to talking about school stuff. I bought at a lot of items for the upcoming school year at the end of last year, as a way to not end up in August panic mode. However, no matter how prepared you think you are, I am sure that all of my fellow teachers know that there will still be a list of items you need. If you are like me, this means 50 post-its in random places, each with one item that you think of as you are watching TV, working out, etc. Oh, the post-it notes that we find around the house. My husband loves it It drives my husband crazy! Anyway, as I was feeling ahead of the game, I figured I'd take a trip to The Dollar Tree to pick up a few items that are still on my list (the one that I made from my stack of post-its...lol). I grabbed a basket and began my shopping. I mean, how much can you fit in a basket, right? How about THIS MUCH? Yes, ladies and gentleman, for the first time in my life, I spent over $50 at The Dollar Tree! Thank goodness for TpT earnings! I'm sure you are wondering...is there a NEED for each of these? The always correct answer would be YES! I am going to break my purchases down below in hopes that you might see something that you NEED as well and then you can be savvy and grab it from The Dollar Tree too! Are you ready for my breakdown and justifications? Here we go: Super Blow Pops 4-Packs These are a part of my birthday gift for each student throughout the year. You can read about my birthday rewards here: A Simple, Cost-Effective Birthday Wish Computer Paper (40-packs) for Homework Superstar Rewards, Birthdays, and whatever else may come up. Office Depot charges $6.99 for a pack of 100. Though these are a bit thinner, I still consider them to be a great deal and I should be set for the year, maybe even next year too! If you were to use your inferencing skills, you might think I make my students brush after every meal all year long. However, this is for our first week Toothpaste Activity. Students work in groups to squeeze an entire tube of toothpaste out as fast as they can on to the paper plate. Then, the next task is to take the toothpicks and try to get as much toothpaste as possible back in. I maybe give them 10-15 minutes before they realize that they aren't getting it back in. That's when we have a discussion about words. I let them have an open discussion about words or phrases that have been said to them that have hurt them. I write all of the acceptable words and phrases on the board (and if an inappropriate one comes up, I don't freak out, I just tell them that the word is so hurtful that I can't even write it on the board). Then I take a step away from the board and say, "Students, these are toothpaste words. When I asked you to squeeze the toothpaste, it was like the words that sometimes come out of your mouth, some of which are hurtful. Then I asked you to put those words back in and what happened?" Students will recognize that they can't take the words back and a discussion begins about how carefully we should choose our words, even when we are angry. This is an amazing lesson, and my students referred back to it often. You can grab a print out of the directions and a reflections sheet here: Toothpaste Activity Squeeze toys! Gosh, these are so fun! My students loved them last year. In my class, these are used to identify the person in the group who is sharing. The only person that is talking is the one holding the toy, and they pass it around until everyone has held it and shared. Great for group discussions. Bonus points because they look forward to discussions because they get to touch the toy. They do get a little icky after a year, which is why I got these replacements. I love the caterpillars and wish they had more than just those two! Mini Tote Bags in packs of 2! I have a strict policy on signing out books from my library overnight. I keep a separate sign out sheet and everything. My biggest concern is that the students don't ruin or lose my books. I am going to decorate these and call them the book overnight bags. I'm even contemplating adding something else to the bag, like a little bear or something. I'll post them when they are ready for use! Smarties Smarties are part of my Welcome Bag, which you can read all about here: Welcome Back Bag. They are also great for use with test motivator notes. In other words, I like to have them on hand at all times. Why pay $3 for a large bag at Walgreens when I get can get the same amount in two bags for $1 each? The snack stock Seasoned teachers will probably know right away why I bought these. There are always going to be kids who skipped breakfast and then feel sick around 9am because their bellies are empty. Instead of sending them to the nurse, give them a pack of crackers. Problem solved, no learning time missed. You're welcome new teachers! The basics: bright, neon colored index cards and colorful eraser caps. Items teachers can never get enough of! Enough said on that! Stickers, stickers, stickers! In my Coupon Reward Post, I talked about a great rewards system that I use where students earn tickets that can be used for different items. I've decided that sticker sets can easily be worth 40 tickets. I love that I found stickers that will appeal to boys and girls. I also love that I can still find Lisa Frank stickers. What a throwback to my youth! Sets of 2 Posters! That's right, TWO! These posters were a great find in the teacher section (yes, The Dollar Tree has a teacher section) since I am going with an owl theme and I am going to be teaching science this year! Score for Mrs. O! Now you know why I left The Dollar Store with more bags than ever before. I might have spent more than $50, but I came out with so many wonderful items, I felt overcome with joy for only spending $1 on each item I needed had a reason found a reason to purchase! If you aren't hitting up your local Dollar Tree, you are probably missing out, and spending way more money than you need to! I know it's still July, but the store ads are out, and I'm getting up early to find the best deals on scissors and pencil sharpeners. I think I'm officially in back to school mode!
Here is a project grade 2 did last week. It comes from this book. Take a piece of heavy paper like manila tag or cardstock.......... Using pastels color little bits at a time in bright colors. Color in the entire page. Take some black acrylic paint and paint over entire page. Using a wooden skewer or toothpick scratch in your design. Here are the finished results from Grade 2. We were following the book and scratching in a grid design but you can easily do a full picture like the one posted at the beginning. Thicker lines tend to look better. Great work Grade 2. Why don't you give it a try?
Daisy Making Girl Scout Sign Clipart. by Clipground
It seems fitting to award Malala Yousafzai the Noble Peace Prize just days before International Day of the Girl. Malala’s mission—advocating for girls’ access to education—aligns with the sentiment behind
This cute quilled pumpkin is an easy Halloween paper craft and party decoration! Click for photo step-by-step instructions.
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101 books that should be read to every child before kindergarten! An ultimate book list with a free printable book list to take to the library.
Exploring sunography: Making sun prints with kids
Are you ready to help us find the nation's missing laptops with top secret government information on them? My kids were, and this led to pr...
Good Behavior Reward Coupons Summer is here and the perfect time to create a reading program for your charges. You should create a specific reading chart and a reward system to encourage each indiv…
Looking for the best middle grade books to read in 2021? This list features 55 highly anticipated middle grade books to read in 2021!
As a former English teacher, I know the importance of literature in providing talking points for kids. Even when I taught at the middle school level, picture books did wonders for opening students' minds and conveying themes and messages too difficult to convey otherwise.
Day 3 of our unit was Dr. Seuss' birthday, and all birthdays MUST have cupcakes! :) Our focus book for Day 3 was: I just LOVE this book because it teaches SUCH a great lesson on preserving the environment. My kiddies were SO into this book and we had a fantastic discussion afterward. We discussed how the Once-ler hurt the environment, and the kids were really kind of mad at him for cutting down all the beautiful truffula trees and for hurting the animals' habitats! After we read the book I asked to kids to each write a letter to the Once-ler telling him why he should not cut down the truffula trees (great mini-lesson on friendly letter format!) They came up with the CUTEST letters to the Once-ler! I took their letters home and mailed them to the Once-ler :) When I got to school the next morning, I checked my box, and guess what?! He wrote us back!! (We had some seriously express mail lol) The kids were soooo excited to find a big letter from him! Inside the envelope he also sent us some Truffula Seeds to plant! We decided to go plant them by the fence on the playground. I just LOVED this activity! My friend, Mrs. B, and I came up with it last minute the night before!! I am SOOOO glad we thought of it! Next year we want to have a little packet of seeds for each child to take home with a cute little note or poem attached to it :) Day 4 our focus book was: This book is great for reviewing nouns (even though they are silly ones!) We each graphed the number of pockets that each student in our class had. Then we interpreted the data in many different ways. We also worked on our flip books. I completely forgot to take pictures of these little activities! Boo! Throughout the week, I met with each of my small reading groups. On normal weeks, the books we read are leveled, but this week was a fun week, so we all read And really, what kid doesn't love The Cat in the Hat??! :) We worked on our descriptive writing by designing a new hat for The Cat and writing a detailed description of it. I hung all of the hats up on the board and each child got to read his/her description. Then the class had to try and guess that child's hat based on his/her description. During the writing process I told them that the goal was for their classmates to be able to picture the hat in their heads, and to be able to figure out which hat it was in just one guess. Some of them wrote the most detailed descriptions ever! This was a fun activity for my kiddos. Day 5: We read this in the morning and completed our flip books (posted a little ways down!!) You cannot read this book and NOT make oobleck! So in the afternoon we did a science investigation with oobleck! We first discussed the differences between solids and liquids, and the kids had a great conversation going. As a class we predicted whether we thought oobleck was solid or liquid based on what it looked like, and what we knew about solids and liquids. I made a record sheet for the kids (which I am not quite sure how to load on here yet!). They predicted whether a cotton ball, yarn, a penny, a paper clip and a pipe cleaner would sink or float in the oobleck. Then they recorded their results. I had them stir the oobleck with a popsicle stick very slooooowly and very quickly and record what happened each time. They learned that when they stirred it slowly that it was easy and felt like a liquid. But when they stirred it quickly it was just the opposite! Then they got to feel the oobleck. I had them poke it over and over again very fast-they thought it was a solid! Then I had them touch it very sloooowly-they thought it was a liquid! It was soooo fun to listen to their discussions about why it was a liquid and why it was a solid. We never did figure out which it was!! Oobleck has properties of both a solid and a liquid!! It was a great science lesson! **I strongly suggest having another adult (or two!) help you prepare the oobleck and help during this lesson!! Thank you to my former student teacher for helping!! :)** Since the week is over, my kids turned in their flip books. They included rhyming pairs from each book, a sentence or two stating their opinion of each book, and a picture from the book. And here is what my mini bulletin board looked like this week :) I included the Reader's Oath (which each child signed!) and we kept track of allllll the Dr. Seuss books we read together this week!! Very simple and not a lot of prep time :) 15 books in one week... not too shabby :) We have LOTS more that the kids want to continue reading next week, and I am soooo okay with it! “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” --Dr. Seuss
We've all heard how important it is to read to your kids, it's especially important to start early on. Babies might not understand what you're saying, but every word you say is helping the baby
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Squishy circuits allow for a blurring of science and art. This can be more tactile than playing with regular electrical components. Easy to make and use!
The spices in my pantry are getting a bit old and there are some things in there that I don't think I have cooked with in ages. We recently received the
For many kids, a long hard day at school can be stressful and tiring. These activities for unwinding after school take very little time to set up, and can be an effective way to relax and recharge energy levels. Just 10 minutes to unwind after school can make a difference in study habits, homework skills, and […]
Learn to make your own sailboat craft using materials around the house, and then float it down a homemade river in your backyard!
