Safer, Smarter Schools program – Pre-Kindergarten through grade 12 school-based prevention and personal safety curriculum series.

A blog for educators, especially kindergarten teachers, with tips on classroom practice, including freebies!

Get some cardstock, neon paper, a circle hole punch, and colored pens ready for our 5 minute or less Easy Paper Jellyfish Craft!

Rainstick A rainstick is a long hallow tube filled with beads or beans, and has small pins arranged helically inside. Rainsticks were originally made to create the sound of a rain storm and it was believed that they could bring rainstorms. A rainstick is held at a 45 degree angle allowing the beads to fall gradually to create the sound of falling rain. Rainsticks can also be tapped to make a more controlled sound and can be used as a shaker to create percussive rhythms. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainstick) Rainstick Craft: Materials Needed: 1. Aluminum foil 2. Glue 3. Scissors 4. Crayons 5. Paper towel roll 6. Small dried beans Instructions: 1. Trace two circles around the paper towel roll on construction paper (as seen in photo). 2. Draw a bigger circle around each circle just drawn (as seen in photo). 3. Draw spokes connecting the inner and outer circle (as seen in photo). 4. Cut out the circles along the outer circle lines and cut along each spoke up to the inner circle line. 5. Cup one circle along inner circle line and glue it on to one end of the paper towel roll. 6. Cut out 2 pieces of aluminum foil 6 inches wide, and 18 inches long. Twist the aluminum pieces into a spring shape (Most foil rolls are the perfect width when cut in half). 7. Put the aluminum springs into the roll. 8. Pour beans into the roll. 9. Cap off the other end with the other circle as done in step 5. 10. Decorate the tube as desired. Have fun making rain! This craft idea was from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ . I am participating in Family Moment Monday.

We love teaching about Community Helpers to kids! They feel safer and like the communities they live in are orderly and have people that can help them.

First grade anchor charts are great tools for reminding kids about concepts in math, writing, spelling, science, and more! Check out these great ideas.

Water beads are an amazing sensory material for children who are out of the mouthing stage.

Food allergy awareness isn't just for adults. Our non-food allergy kids need to know these 10 things so they can help keep their friends with food allergies safer while at school. Becuase it really does take all of us to keep food allergy kids safe.

Here are the 9 best pig craft ideas for Kids and adults. Help them select their own options and let them work on their own imagination.

I just love this color changing flowers science experiment! It is really easy to do and the kids love watching the flowers change color. We think it is the perfect science activity for spring! I even created printable recording sheets that kids in preschool and early elementary can use to show their observations.

Learn how to create and implement strategies for safer literacy stations for your clasroom this fall so you can succesfully do guided reading.

Our new Color Splash® Multi-Surface Markers are colorfast, quick drying, and fade resistant, almost like a paint marker that writes on so many surfaces. They are water removable on non-porous surfaces like metal, glass, glazed ceramics, plastic, and vinyl. The multi-surface markers … Read More

Our Paper Plate Jellyfish Craft is a brilliant Summer Craft for Kids and can be enjoyed as part of an under the sea theme at school or preschool.

Slime is always a popular craft activity for kids! In just 5 easy steps, you can join in on the fun. Experiment with different colors and add fun items like glitter and beads! You can also use this as a … Read More

These Winnie The Pooh Activities, Crafts and Recipes are adorable to make for or with the Winnie the Pooh fan! Great ideas for Winnie The Pooh Parties!

Hatch a baking soda dinosaur egg with science! This fun and easy chemistry experiment will capture the imagination of all ages. Includes game

Welcome! Here is the view of our first grade hallway at Wayland Bonds Elementary! This year we decided to go with a camping theme. We made our doorways look like log cabins by making logs out of butcher paper. We all bought a pine tree from Mardels. I also had my mom sew red and white checker curtains for each of our windows. Each one of our doorways has our names on them out of the wooden letters you can purchase from Hobby Lobby or Michaels. Here is the camping welcome sign as you enter the first grade hallway. We each took laminated scrapbook paper and glued it to the wall with a cloths pin. Now we can easily hang the student's work in the hallway without having to use a lot of tape! This awesome idea came from my teammate Ms. Fleming! My Classroom Pictures Here is a look into my classroom! This is my teacher desk. I got rid of the traditional desk I had in my classroom. I never sat at it and it took up a lot of space. I love using this table as my desk! All my office supplies are stored in the drawers that are located behind my desk. Pictures of the drawers are below. I have each pod of desks labeled with group signs. Click HERE to download my group signs from my TpT Store! The baskets on the shelf are each student's individual book basket for their independent reading books. I use this pocket chart to store the student's library and lunch cards. Weekly Activities and Worksheets This is how I organize the week's worksheets and activities. Sharpened Pencils When my students need a sharpened pencil they just come get one from the drawer. This prevents the students from interrupting my lesson using the pencil sharpener. To keep sharpened pencils always on hand I have my student helper help me at the end of the day sharpen all the pencils. I found this storage container at Wal-Mart. Need a Color/Found a Crayon When there are crayons found on the floor, the students simply put them in the bin. Then whenever someone needs a color they can just come to the bin and get the color they need. This helps prevent a big interruption when a student needs a certain color crayon. I purchased this storage container at Wal-Mart. Click HERE to download my pencil and crayon system labels on my TpT store! Centers In order for the students to know what math or literacy centers they go to each day they look to the center wheels. Each section of the wheel has 2 to 3 names written in it. Each day the students go to the center that their name is located. When that center rotation is over (about 20 minutes later), the students follow the arrows to their next center. I have a total of eight centers. The students do two centers each Monday through Thursday. Then, Friday is used as a day to finish any unfinished work. I found the storage containers that I put the worksheets and games in at Mardels. Each center tub is labeled with a sign. Click HERE to download my literacy and math center signs from TpT! Each student has a math and literacy center folder that holds their center work for the week. They take these folders to their centers each day. All center work stays in these folders until it is due. Anytime a student has extra time they are to check their center folders and finish any unfinished work. These folders are stored in the pocket charts to prevent a desk full of folders and paper. FREE Centers! The writing center has many different supplies for the students to be creative in drawing, coloring, and making stories for their writing. I have included stencils, colored pens, stickers, markers, stamps, shaped scissors, etc. for the students to use. In the Science center I have scales, measuring tapes, magnifying glasses, etc. for the students to explore with. Morning Work Drawers Planning morning work can be so time consuming and also take a lot of copies - so I needed a new system. My teammate Mrs. Fletcher from Fletchtastic in First came up with this awesome idea! Each morning the students come in and get their morning work drawer for the day. The students know which drawer to get for the day because they have a folder with a morning work calendar that is labeled specifically for them. Each day on the calendar has the morning work drawer number they are to complete. The drawers are filled with file folder games, worksheets, and activities. Each activity is meaningful and reviews the skills that have been taught in class. After morning work time is over, I go around and check each worksheet and activity the students completed for the morning. If they missed any problems they get immediate feedback. Also if they complete their morning work on time they receive a small sticker on their morning work calendar. I couldn't believe it when my first grade students learned the morning work system and got it down so quickly! I bought the drawers from Michaels. They were so much cheaper than the drawers Mardel's sells! Click HERE to download the Morning Work Calendars and Teacher Planning Pages from my TpT Store! Files I have organized my math and literacy worksheets by skill. This makes pulling a worksheet for a center or activity really easy. Click HERE to download my Math File Folder Labels by Skill on my TpT store! Click HERE to download my Language File Folder Labels by Skill on my TpT store! I also use these boxes to store my files in. I got them for free using my Scholastic points! My themed worksheets and activities are stored in my unit binders. Using these binders to store all my unit stuff makes it so much easier to find and pull the things you need. I can't even imagine how many file cabinets and what a big mess of paperwork I would have if I didn't use these binders! Click HERE to download my unit binder covers and spines from my TpT store! Construction Paper/Fancy Paper All my construction paper, writing paper, border paper, etc. is stored in my file cabinet in hanging folders. Teaching Carpet Area Each of my students have an assigned square they come to each time we meet at the carpet. This prevents many problems like students sitting by other students that they talk to, sitting far away, fighting over where they sit, etc. Cubby Boxes Each student has their own cubby box. I use these cubby boxes to place each students graded work in. I placed it right behind my desk, so I can easily turn around and place their work in their cubby box! I got these cubby boxes at Sam's. Read Aloud Books To keep the books I use as my read aloud books separate from my other books, I have organized them into these magazine holders. Each holder is labeled with the unit or theme of the books. I got these holders at Mardel's. This holder has all my fall themed books that I use during my read aloud time. Click HERE to download the labels I use for my book holders from my TpT Store! Organizing Books I have the books that the students read organized by reading level. I am really particular that my students are reading books that are within their ZPD range. By organizing my books by reading level it really helps the students be able to easily find and read books that are on their level. Click HERE to download my leveled book bin labels from my TpT store! Organizing Supplies To prevent my students from playing with scissors, glue, etc. when they are not supposed to- I do not allow them to keep their supplies in their desk. Instead many of the supplies are kept together in certain parts of the classroom. Each one of the bins has the different supplies stored in them. I bought these bins at Lakeshore and they came in a package of four. Click HERE to download my supply labels from my TpT store! Each one of these supply tubs are assigned to a certain group. This has a group supply of red pens, glue bottles, scissors, etc. in them. This is a fast way to pass out the supplies when needed! I bought these tubs from Target for $3.00 each. These numbered bags are used to place different student materials in that you might need in the middle of a lesson. Instead of having to pass out each of the supplies you can have what each student needs in their bag at all times. They just grab their bag and come to the carpet or to their desk. It makes things so easy! I bought these bags from Oriental Trading. I cut the numbers out of material and then had my mom sew them on. Organizing Manipulatives My manipulatives are stored in these storage containers I purchased from Mardels. It is very nice having the storage containers with the lids. It prevents the manipulatives from spilling out when bumped into. I can easily pass out manipulatives or have the students come get what they need from the bins. Click HERE to download my math manipulative labels from my TpT store! Storing Games I had my husband make this cabinet for me. Inside the cabinet I have many storage boxes. Each storage box is labeled with a specific math or language arts skill. For example, one of my tubs is labeled rhyming. All my rhyming activities and games are stored in that storage box. I can easily find and pull out games for centers or activities since they are organized by skill. Keeping Desks Together I was tired of my desks looking like a train hit them by the end of each day, so I found a great and cheap way to keep them together. I use medium and large sized zip ties to keep them together. I place the zip ties on multiple places on the desks. It works really well! Here is a look from under the desks where the large zip ties were placed. I used the medium sized zip ties on the legs of the desks. I bought these from Lowe's. Here are the actual zip ties I used. My husband is really good at fastening the zip ties really tight...so he's the one that puts them on the desks for me. :) I am getting to borrow these awesome table tops from one of my teammates that went on maternity leave this year. She had them made to fit a group of six desks to hold them together. I am not going to want to give them back next year!! I've had a lot of people ask how the table tops were made. Unfortunately since I just borrowed them I don't know exactly how they were made. I think they were made like a countertop. Here is a picture of what they look like underneath. Hopefully that will give you a better idea... Keeping Items Organized Inside Cabinets The best way to keep my things organized inside my large cabinets is by using baskets. These baskets can be found at the Dollar Tree for $1.00! Here is an example of some of the baskets I have. Here are all my large books stored together. Inside this cabinet I have my anchor charts hanging up. See my blog post Storing Anchor Charts to see how I did this. Here is a look at my other large cabinet. I used more baskets, storage containers, and boxes to store my items. Keeping Items Organized Inside Drawers To keep my office supplies inside my drawers organized I used baskets and storage containers to keep the items grouped together. Since I don't have a traditional desk in my classroom, I use these drawers to hold all my office supplies. Inside Cabinets This cabinet holds my monthly bulletin board bags. Each bag holds monthly supplies, decorations, activities, etc. I have a free center and inside recess game cabinet. This prevents me from having to pull from different places to get out games for the students to play. My students can easily find and get out the games they want to play with during indoor recess or free center time. Free center games and activities cabinet. Inside recess game cabinet. Bulletin Boards Changing out bulletin boards during the school year can be very time consuming and expensive - so I came up with bulletin boards that I can keep the same during the school year and also ones that are good to have. Here are pictures of my different boards. Birthday Board Each student receives a birthday certificate and bag full of goodies on their birthday. This makes celebrating each student's birthday so much easier and a good way not to forget. Classroom Rules Board On the first day of school we sit down as a class and make our own classroom rules. These rules are created during a discussion by the students, while being facilitated by me. Surprisingly, student created rules are often the same as – or even tougher than – rules a teacher might create. The rules the students create become the standard for expected behavior by which all students agree. When students actively participate in establishing rules for the classroom and agree to them, they are more likely to follow the rules because they take ownership and know the importance of them. In turn, this leads to a more conducive learning environment with fewer classroom disruptions. These classroom rules, also known as our Classroom Constitution are signed by the students and posted in our classroom for all to see! Accelerated Reader Board Visit my blog post on Accelerated Reader Rewards to see what I do to keep my students motivated to read and take AR tests! Click HERE to download my AR Rewards from my TpT store! Star of the Week Board Each week one child in our class is chosen as the "Star of the Week." This is a special opportunity for that child to be highlighted throughout the week and share some important parts of his or her life with our class. Each student will be asked to fill out some information and collect some special items to display on our "Star of the Week" bulletin board. Calendar/Schedule/Behavior Management Board This bulletin board used to have all my calendar stuff on it but I have now begun doing my calendar routine on the smartboard. There are tons of great smartboard calendar lessons on the internet and on TpT that you can use! Click HERE to download my Daily Schedule Cards from my TpT Store! So instead this bulletin board has been changed to display many different useful tools that we use each day. First, we have the calendar with important dates listed. I also have our schedule posted for all the students to see. I think it really helps the students when they can see what is planned for the day. It also prevents questions like, "When is lunch?" or "Do we have PE today?". I have a tree made out of butcher paper. This tree gets changed out each season to reflect what a tree really looks like during that season. I also have our behavior management pocket chart posted here. Restroom Break This is a picture of the restroom break system I use. When the green sign is posted the students (one at a time) may move their number next to the restroom sign and take the pass and go. If the red sign is posted, then they may not leave the classroom to take a break. (Unless of course it is an emergency.) This prevents students from raising their hand and asking to go to the restroom in the middle of your lesson. Eventually the students catch on to when is an appropriate and inappropriate time to leave the classroom. Click HERE to download my restroom break signs from my TpT store! Outlaw Word Wall I don't have a traditional word wall. The words that we post on our word wall are words that cannot be sounded out to spell. That's why our word wall is called the "Outlaw Word Wall." These words are outlaw words because they break the traditional spelling rules. Anchor Chart Wall I use many anchor charts during my lessons. I found that I needed a place to display them so the students could refer to them if they needed to. I hot glued clothes pins on my back wall. It makes it so easy to hang and switch out the anchor charts when needed! Numbered Chairs Weeks into the school year the nameplates I place on each student's desk begins to take a turn for the worse. So I eventually tear them up. The students just rely on their numbered chair to find their seat. Click HERE to download my chair numbers from my TpT Store! Keep checking back year to year as I continue to update and add more things to my classroom each year! ...

Exploding bag experiment! This fun (and safe) exploding science experiment is a must do for preschool and kindergarten. Easy and awesome!

Discover fun and easy Eric Carle activities to do with your child! Here are a few ways to create art, games and activities inspired by the popular children's picture book author and illustrator Eric Carle.

P urchase a Lock Smock for your own classroom, a teacher friend, or even your child's teacher HER E . T he Lock Smock is s...

We made sensory emotion balloons a few weeks back which were a huge hit. They have been squashed and squeezed so much that I keep having to...

Here's a fun and easy Fall Art Activity that Toddlers will love! Make colourful collages with golf balls, paint and a cardboard box!

Water beads are an amazing sensory material for children who are out of the mouthing stage.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. On March 2nd we always celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday! This month we are sharing some fun Dr. Seuss crafts and activities to help us get prepared! For Virtual Book

Are challenging student behaviors negatively impacting your ability to teach? Learn ways to encourage the behaviors you want to have in your classroom.

Colored Rice: How to dye rice to make a rainbow sensory bin! Plus more easy colorful sensory bin fillers. Rainbow learning activity for kids!

There is no doubt about it -- we live in a different world than we did just six months ago. Covid-19 has brought lots of fear and uncertainty to the world of education. What will school look like next year? Will we wear masks? Will we have students in the classroom or will we still

Hi there! I'm Miss Carole of Macaroni Soup , and it’s that time again! Many students are already back in classrooms, and those that aren...