Storytelling activities not only build imagination and creativity, but they can be a beneficial learning tool too! Great for the classroom.

Increasing reading fluency in our students is one of the main goals of any elementary school teacher. If they are not fluent readers, they are unable to gain meaning (comprehend) from what they are reading. There are a few components to being a fluent reader...

At my school we call them learning buddies but you might know them as reading buddies or big buddies/little buddies. Whatever you call them, some times it’s hard to think of activities to do with them. I often found myself planning things on the fly so I decided to compile a list of activities that […]

I do teach sight words throughout the week, but on Thursdays we always have an extension activity for one of them.

Crossing the midline activities for kids. What on earth are those? Sometimes in the educational world we start speaking a slightly different language than 'normal' people. Not that teachers aren't normal ... though ... you do need to be a little insane to work with small children all day long, don't you? Anyways. I had

Need some guidance for teaching preschool Spanish? You’re in the right place! Young children are the perfect age to soak up a new language. I'm currently raising my own three kids bilingually, and have taught classes to this age group as well. It's never too late to start, and 3-5 year olds are really fun to teach! In this post I've compiled my favorited strategies for you. To get started in learning Spanish together, you Can Do three things: 1. Outline some beginning topics. You can create your own list, with common preschool topics (think numbers, colors, greetings, etc.)Take a

To learn why crossing the midline is key for everything from emotional regulation, fine and gross motor skills, reading and writing, and better behavior, click through to read this post now or pin for later! #brainintegration #crossingthemidline #braingym #emotionalregulation #childdevelopment#learntoread

Science of reading activities can be so helpful for students of all ages. Reading is an essential skill to have in order to succeed in school and life. It’s not just about being able to read the words, it’s about understanding what you are reading and connecting those ideas with what you already know.

If you want to teach your little ones about the concept of opposites you will want to check out these fun opposites worksheets and activities.

Here are several A Color of His Own activities and crafts that go along with this book wonderful book that has a beautiful message.

Halloween math activities and reading comprehension can be so much fun with Halloween Project Based Learning! What upper elementary student doesn't love haunted houses and everything spooky? Turn that excitement into learning with a creative, engaging, hands-on Design a Haunted House Project! This project is not only perfect for classrooms already familiar with project based learning (PBL), but it's also ideal for teachers who are looking for ways to really engage students with a high-interest activity. Kick off your Halloween Project Based Learning Unit by showing several different videos or ads which highlight haunted attractions and persuade people to visit

First days of school can be stressful. There's an insane amount of pressure to make a great first impression. The administration wants you to go over the handbook of rules for the district. There's tons of forms that need to be filled out. You need to learn their names and it's hard because half the names don't match your class list. His name is Samuel but he goes by S.J. Her name on your roll says Mary, but she goes by Mary Beth. You want to start off the year on the right note regarding procedures and expectations, but you also want it to be a little bit fun, too. Yes, it can be complicated to plan out the first day. My first day was absolutely fantastic. Yes, I learned names. Yes, I went over the handbook. Yes, I went over forms. But we also did some quick exciting things that started us out on the right foot. In no particular order, here is what made my first day FANTASTIC. 1. I let my students collaborate on a story. I started a story on the whiteboard and each student could only add four words to the story. It ended up being hilarious and making ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE but no one cared. It was fun. They worked as a family. 2. That bring me to my next point--we don't call our classes, um, classes. Or homerooms. We call them families. So I have Mrs. Johnson's Family for my 1st period class and Mrs. Anderson's Family for my second period class. (Homeroom teacher names were changed for this post.) You get the idea. And it really does reinforce this idea that we need to work together like a family should. 3. I embraced and addressed my students' biggest fear. Each teacher has his/her students coming to the room with a big fear. Go ahead and address it. Since I'm the first year of middle school, the big fear is the locker. Will I ever get into it? Will I have enough time to get everything out of it? My students can't begin to learn procedures until we address the locker issue. Once they feel confident with their locker, they are ready to learn procedures. So, what did I do? I lined up my wonderful parents to come work with my students one-on-one the very first day of school on their locker. And it was the best thing for that first day. Address your students' fears with a solution. Don't think, "Oh I need to teach procedures! I'll help them with that later on in the week." No. Their Big Fear is ALL THEY CAN THINK ABOUT. Fix the fear, then they can face all the procedures and rules head on! 4. If you know me, you know that I ABSOLUTELY DETEST GETTING TO KNOW YOU GAMES. Why do I have to name a fact about myself that starts with a J just because my first name is Jordyn? Nothing starts with a J that I like! I hate jelly beans. I'm ok with jolly ranchers but they aren't anything special. I. HATE. GETTING. TO. KNOW. YOU. GAMES. I think I've made my point clear. Soooooo---what did I do to get to know them? I made a statement and pointed to two sides of the room. The students moved to the side of the room for their answer. Examples: 1. Team Cat or Team Dog 2. Would you rather travel every day or never leave home? 3. Team Math/Science or Team Language Arts? 4. Alabama or Auburn? (I live in Alabama, so this is a big deal around here. Feel free to change to whatever sports teams works for you. And by the way, the correct answer to me is the side of the room that was yelling WAR EAGLE!) We didn't do this as one big activity. I broke up the reading of the district handbook by doing a couple of these, then back to the handbook, then a couple more of these, then back to the handbook, a couple more of these, then going over forms. THEY LOVED THIS ACTIVITY! It didn't force the quiet kids to talk, but they did participate by moving. It let the other ones announce why they were on that side. It was just a great icebreaker for those of us who are anti-icebreaker. --->Do you need a GETTING TO KNOW YOU ACTIVITY perfect for the first few days? (And not icebreaker questions that tweens dislike---actually questions they enjoy answering!)

This resource covers information on the proprioceptive sense and includes proprioception sensory activities for kids.

SEPTEMBER NO PREP MATH AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES

Over 35 heavy work activities for kids, toddlers, and preschoolers that are designed to help calm and improve attention. Many of these activities can be done through natural activities your child is already doing!

These super fun crossing the midline exercises can be used in the classroom, in OT, and at home to improve brain communication and fine motor skills!

These printable cutting practice strips are an easy way to help your young learners work on their fine motor and cutting skills. Find more Cutting Practice Packs HERE. *The free download button can be found at the END of this post. Printable Cutting Practice Strips You’ll find horizontal lines, vertical lines, zigzag lines, and ... Read More about Printable Cutting Practice Strips

As a teacher, one of the things I get asked the MOST about is teaching kids to read. For some children, it comes so quickly and naturally. And for others... it doesn't. So this post is for the mama of one of those "others" (and I say that in a kidding and kind way, of

Trying to find a meaningful vocabulary teaching approach? Find fresh, powerful, and inspiring ideas to revolutionize the way you teach words!

Activities that boost fluency all year long…and that you only have to prep once!

This post is long overdue! It's been brewing for a while. :) Phonemic awareness is a huge part of my kindergarten curriculum. I wanted to s...

11 free, printable Dot Sticker Art Activities for Kids. Kids place dot stickers on pictures according to a key to make awesome dot art.

These interactive reading bookmarks are the perfect activity to reinforce using reading strategies during independent reading! The front side of each reading bookmark has a student friendly definition of the strategy with an aligning visual, details about how good readers use the strategy, and thinking stems to guide them in actively using the strategy during independent reading. The back side of each has places for students to actively use the strategy while reading. Students can either 1.) place 2" by 2" sticky notes into the boxes on the back and then transfer their sticky notes to their Reading Strategies Note Tracker, or 2.) just use the back as a guide and write directly into the boxes on their Reading Strategies Note Tracker. Please take a look at the product preview for a closer look at the bookmarks. READING STRATEGIES INCLUDED: Use Background Knowledge Ask Questions Make Inferences Determine Importance Synthesize Information Create Mental Images Monitor Comprehension Use Reading Strategies (all above) Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) Make Connections Text to Self Connections Text to Text Connections Text to World Connections Create Sensory Images Set a Purpose Make Predictions Draw Conclusions Use Context Clues Close Reading Use Spelling Strategies Read Fluently 2 PRINTING OPTIONS INCLUDED: 1.) Print Double-Sided (4/page): Directions are included for how you can print double sided from the PDF. You can of course make a master one-sided copy of both the front and back of each and create your own double-sided bookmarks using a copy machine if you would rather go that route. 2.) Print One Side Only (2/page): The front and back of two book marks can be printed on one side. Simply cut down the middle, fold the front to the back and glue them together. You could also leave it open (rather than gluing the front to the back) and that side for students to mark vocabulary from the text, a spelling pattern they are working on, etc. Looking for more ways to teach reading strategies? Check out these resources below! Reading Strategies Posters (contains the same information as bookmarks) Reading Strategies Word Wall Reading Strategies Graphic Organizers

A lesson plan! A lesson plan! My kingdom for a lesson plan!

Get a collection of fun drama games and exercises. These make for great warm-ups or activities to practice improv. A great way to have fun while developing

hold students accountable while they independently read with these easy to implement reading tips and tricks and strategies

Movement in the classroom is beneficial for many reasons. First and foremost, getting up to move in the classroom might help anxious students relieve stress.

Last summer I added Mo Willems' The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to my classroom library. Of course, this addition was a no-brainer. Willems' books are always super popular, especially Pigeon books. Just as predicted, my students loved this book. It is the perfect length for the beginning of the year, when attention spans are extra short and students need a little break from all the procedural training they are receiving. Since I knew this book would be a hit, I decided to make it the centerpiece of back to school. I created some basic "Pigeon themed" math and literacy activities, as well as a simple craft. I used these activities intermittently during the first week and was able to glean some great info about my new students' basic math and literacy skills, as well as their fine motor skills and listening skills. One of the Pigeon themed activities was a number/number word/counting mini book. Students traced and wrote the numbers 1-10, as well as the number words 1-10. Then students illustrated a picture to go with each number. We broke this activity up over a couple of days. Students took part in a listening activity. Students had to complete a picture according to a series of questions/statements that I read aloud. (If you've every made a glyph with your students, this activity feels really similar.) Students also put together their first puzzler for the year. This puzzler focused on number representations. Students cut and glued the puzzler pieces to tell what number is represented in the box. By the end, students have a completed picture that they can color. I use various puzzlers throughout the year. This the Pigeon puzzler is a great introduction to how to complete a puzzler. Students loved making their simple, one-page craft Pigeons. All that was required was the Pigeon pattern (I used white card stock), scissors, and glue. The class Pigeons made a really quick and cute back to school bulletin board. In addition to these activities, students worked on counting/cardinality, geometry, place value, number bonds, handwriting, the alphabet, rhyming words, sight words, and more. The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! is a perfect springboard for a variety of skills. For a math freebie (from the printables featured above), click on the picture below. This freebie provides practice with ten frames, counting, and number identification. If you have not added, The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to your classroom library, I highly recommend it. There are so many directions you can go with this book. More importantly, your students will love it and be totally engaged. What a great way to start the year, by reading a book that students truly enjoy. :) For more details about the all of the Pigeon inspired activities I used with my students, be sure to click on the picture below. Of course (like most), I'm not certain what this year's back to school days will look like. Whatever the setup, I know I'll be using The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! to help me kick off the year. Thanks for stopping by. School Is a Happy Place is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associated Program, an affiliate program that allows this site to earn advertising fees. Please know that all of the recommendations on this site are authentic and come from personal experience.

Follow this step-by-step lesson plan to teach your students how

Here are some helpful tips for name practice in Kindergarten. I also created some freebies for your first week of school.

Strategies, interventions, and techniques that teachers and parents can use to help kids with dyslexia improve their reading skills.

Use letter activities like alphabet collages or letter mats to help kids learn letter recognition and to reinforce letter-sound associations. Here are over 200 material ideas that you can use for your

Past, present, and future.

Worksheets for 1st grade math, first grade math worksheets for free for the basic math topics taught in grade 1.

ALL ABOUT EARTH Get ready for a month filled with so many fun activities to teach your kiddos all about our planet Earth . I teach this unit in April so it coincides with Earth Day. I’ve loaded up this blog post post with read aloud book ideas, free videos you can share with your students,

Do you struggle with finding interesting ways to teach ESL listening skills? Maybe you have an activity or two already but you want to be able to mix it up and keep things interesting. By the end of…

Recently, I have seen some debates on using centers and the Science of Reading. If you have been a teacher for a long time, centers were a HUGE part of Balanced Literacy. Recently, teachers have shifted away from balanced of literacy to research based Science of Reading. You can read my Science of Reading Post ... Read More about Centers and the Science of Reading

We can find work that can be done at independent level for all students and I'd to show you how I do that.

Read about ten activities to use in your classroom for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas for your upper elementary students. From STEM challenges to printables these activities cover curriculum and bring engagement to your students.

Impulse Control Activities for Kids: Fun activities, games, and resources that will help your kids practice self-control