When I start the new school year, I pick a book of the day for the first two weeks. I create a variety of activities to go with each book. I use a lot of books that focus on social and emotional learning, including kindness, friendship, and respect. But, I also add in some fun ... Read More about 8 Books for Back to School
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Discover the perfect All About Me preschool activity designed for young kids! Get a free printable worksheet that's simple, engaging, and ideal for emergent readers. Download now!
Read back-to-school "The Kissing Hand" book then try these activities or crafts perfect for the first day with preschool & kindergarten!
Class books are a wonderful writing activity for preschool and kindergarten students! This post has tons of great class book ideas to use with your students. These class-created books cover the beginning of the year, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Valentine's Day, Easter, and more! Students will love writing and illustrating their own books to be enjoyed by the class!
Creating self portraits at the beginning of the year is a great way to have students celebrate their differences and what they like about themselves. Great back to school activity!
The first day of school is full of so many things: anticipation, wide-eyes, school supplies, new faces, maybe a few butterflies. And I...
Do your kids LOVE to color? Here is a great way to combine coloring with learning with this FREE Countries of the World Printable Book!
The pencils are sharpened, your classroom is clean and the bell rings…gulp…here they come! My feelings on the first week of school are conflicted. On one hand, it’s one of the most important weeks. Explaining and practicing the class procedures and expectations sets the tone for the rest of the school year. Success is vital. On the other hand, I’m so excited to start teaching my historical content that waiting until all the expectations are explained requires a lot of patience! Every teacher has their own plan of action for that pivotal time. Here are 5 things I can’t live without during the first week of school: One: An Icebreaker. I aim to try and make kids feel comfortable in my classroom on day one. One of my favorite little activities is Fact or Fiction. Each student receives a small slip of paper and they’re instructed to write one fact and two fictions. Then each person (including myself!) introduces themselves and we all try to guess which statement is the fact! It’s a great way to quickly learn about each other. Two: Classroom Information and Expectations. This is every teacher’s staple, I know, but it had to go on the list because it’s a must-have! When you’re making your own, spell everything out – from the obvious grading procedures and late work policy to how to pass back papers and when to sharpen pencils and go to the bathroom. Trust me, leave no stone unturned. Your classroom will function much better if you set the tone from day one. (Oh, and don’t forget a seating chart!) Three: Fun and Games. On the second day of school, I love to start class with a little game. It’s a great way for the kids to start practicing our classroom procedures and expectations while getting familiar with their teacher and classmates. Here are some of my favorite games that I use during the first week of school: (P.S. Some of these activities can be found in my Back to School Activities resources! Click the grade level you’re teaching to check them out: Sixth, Seventh, Eighth) InstaFriend: This activity gets students moving around the room and interviewing fellow classmates! Their InstaFriend paper has a series of descriptions and characteristics. When they find a student who matches the description, they write their name in the box. Each name can only be used once! Right or Wrong: I love skits. LOVE THEM. I like to introduce students to the idea of skits during the first week by allowing them to create their own based on our class expectations. I first divide students into small groups of 2-3. Each group then randomly receives one of our class procedures or expectations. As a group, they have to work together to create two mini skits – one showing the RIGHT way to follow the expectation, the other showing the WRONG way. They get to be silly and I get to reinforce my class expectations. After each skit I happily point out all the positive behaviors as well as each time a class policy was violated. It’s a light-hearted way to grab their attention and create a positive atmosphere all while practicing the laws of the land. Classmate Bingo: I love to play this game at the end of the first week. I give each student a blank bingo board with a large selection of personal characteristics, hobbies, etc. at the bottom. The students choose 16 off the list and create their customized board. Then, I randomly select characteristics from the list. If a student has that characteristic on their board, they have to write down a student’s name that matches the characteristic – but no cheating! They have to use what they’ve learned about others during their first week of school to try and win the game. Four: A Pre Test. After a few days of class information and fun, it’s time to start getting down to business. Each year, I make a short pre-test on the information they’ll learn about that year. It gives me a chance to see what the kids already know and gives them a feel for what subject matter they’ll be learning about in the coming weeks. FYI: Your pre-test probably won’t take the whole class period. Make sure to have plans for other activities, too, on the day you give your pre-test! Five: A Writing Activity. True fact: when I tell kids they’re going to do a writing activity, they groan every time. It’s a signal that the “real work” is about to begin. Luckily, they’re always relieved when I assure them that this activity will require very little research because it’s about a subject they’re experts in – themselves! I have a few different activities to choose from each year. Here are some suggestions: Student Survey: What are your strengths? Weaknesses? What do you hope to learn in this class? These are just some of the questions I ask students in the survey. The more I know about my students, the better I can help them achieve success in my class. Write Away: A staple of many: write a letter to a future you! I ask students to write goals for the year, dreams they wish to see realized, and questions they want to ask their “End of the Year” self. I tuck these letters away and revisit them during the last week of school. I’m Ready: Like every middle school history class, we do a lot of writing and students always have to back up their reasons, statements, etc. with evidence to support their claim. In this writing activity, students have to identify which class rule or expectation they believe is most important and provide evidence to support their claim. This activity both reinforces my classroom policies and secretly gives me a preview of their writing proficiency. Have I left anything out? If you have any fun plans for the first week of school, share them in the comments. I’m always looking for new ideas for my classroom!
These FREE Printables and Unit Studies for Eric Carle's Books will help you expand on what your kids are learning through these beloved books.
No David by David Shannon is a classic book to read in kindergarten. Here are free No David activities, videos and book ideas listed all in one place.
Ever wondered how to make a book? This little tutorial will show you how to make one with just 1 single piece of paper! This is perfect for kids!
Haven't tried a book tasting with your students yet? This fun reading activity is an awesome way to introduce genres in your elementary classroom or library!
Starting the year with rich and engaging read alouds sets the tone for the rest of the year. These incredible back to school books will...
Here are five things every teacher should do for a successful back to school year. In this post, I'll share the top five necessities.
Book reports and summaries are a thing of the past. Engage your middle and high school students with five book report alternatives that will leave them asking for more and, most importantly, building vital reading and analysis skills along the way. 1. Assign one pagers at the end of a novel. One pagers are engaging, allow for creativity, and lead to higher level thinking and analysis. Assigning a one pager is easy and works for any novel. Follow these simple guidelines: • Make it standards base
Learn About the 7 Continents! Exploring the 7 Continents has never been more exciting! It’s a Small World Continent Study is filled with over 35 activities to help your students gain a greater understanding of the seven continents. This 130+ page unit is filled with great resources, posters, printables, activities, and projects that will open […]
A list of back to school must have picture books that are ready to help all students enjoy every moment in the classroom!
Just about every teacher LOVES clipart and LOVES free stuff!! This freebie clipart bundle includes 78 pieces of high quality graphics. To get your FREE school supplies clipart, click here! Best wishes! You Might Also Like:Tech Rules Poster – EditablePlay to Learn Coordinate Graphing: ClaimSwat the Old Black Fly Game16 ELA/Grammar Printables!
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Find over 40 books to engage your middle school boy and encourge him to read even more great titles. Find a ton of new favorites.
Who doesn't love Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault for the first week of school! It's a great go-to book because it's short, inter
Blank books provide a great way to encourage kids to write. Here are 3 easy ways to assemble blank books for your writing center, literacy center, and beyond.
We had our first day of school with students Wednesday and I forgot how utterly exhausting and mind blowing that first day is! We did lots of rules, routines, and procedures but also made time for some fun first week things. Here is what we have been up to! You can purchase these Scholastic Order Form activities from Clutter Free Classroom HERE! I also introduced the students to the Activ Expressions! They were literally asking me about them ALL week long and so Friday, we took a Multiple Intelligence Survey using the device! I adapted this activity from Laura Candler's printable survey which you can download free HERE! You can download the flipchart by clicking the image below. Important Note: You must have Promethean Activ Inspire software installed on your computer to OPEN and use this file! Please do not download otherwise! I also made some labels to go on my Activ Expression bins. You can download those by clicking the button below! I have also decided to implement brain breaks into my classroom this year! We needed a little wake me up on Friday morning so we watched this HILARIOUS parody of I'm Sexy and I Know It, called I'm Elmo and I Know It! I am definitely adding this to my brain break file! I plan on making some brain breaks sometime this week. Stay tuned to find out how I plan on incorporating this bad boy into my brain breaks! I absolutely can't wait for it to get here!!
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
Help your 1st grader develop of love for reading with these 20+ first grade read aloud chapter books! These stories will help their imagination soar.
What is blackout poetry? Poetry writing that all students can feel successful with. Here's how to teach it. Freebie included!
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
I love creating crafts and kids learning activities. Learning should be engaging and fun. You will find activities to help young children love learning.
Classroom community building activities and free ideas and lesson plans to kick off the school year or implement at any time.
I have a confession, number lines are not my favorite tools for adding and subtracting with my young learners. I always teach how to use them, but I don't spend very much time on them. My main issue is that, students will not always have access to a number line. I don't want them dependent on a tool that they may or may not be able to get their hands on. However, after doing a bit of research about some of the additional benefits of number line learning, I started to rethink my feelings about them. Besides solving basic addition and subtraction equations, familiarity with number lines helps students as they work with all sorts of other math tools. Graphs, thermometers, clocks, and rulers all include number lines. Not only can our work counting forward and backward on a number line help us to add and subtract, it can also lay the group work for upcoming mathematical concepts. Since I had a change of heart about the importance of number lines, I decided to devote more time to them this year. Here are a couple of quick activities I used with my students that they really enjoyed. First up is our Life-Size Number Line. I used this big number line for a whole group activity, but you can easily adapt it for a small group or center activity. I created it by printing the numbers 1-20 and laminating them. I made my line with some masking tape and then placed the numbers on top. The line wasn't straight and the numbers were't perfectly spaced, but that didn't matter at all. I made several slides for our interactive white board with basic addition and subtraction equations. (A regular white board will work just as well.) Students came to the number line individually. They read the equation to the class and then they solved it on the number line. They loved it so much that I used it with them the next day to solve word problems. (one prep and two activities #forthewin) Not only did the kids love it, I really liked using the Life-Size Number Line because it was an easy way to make sure students understood how to correctly move the number line. If you would like to use this activity with your students, click on the picture below for a free copy of the Life-Size Number Line . Another number line activity I incorporated was a quick and easy number line game. (I'm always looking for ways to use my Target Dollar Spot erasers and this activity was perfect.) All you need are some kind of game pieces, a number line, and a spinner (if you don't have a spinner, just use a paper clip and a pencil). This game works well with two to three players. To play, students take turns spinning. If a student lands on plus five, he moves his game piece forward five spaces. If he spins minus two, he moves his piece back two spaces. The game continues until the first player reaches the end of the number line. This activity was wonderful practice for students counting on and counting back. Since we've covered addition and are nearing the end of our subtraction unit, the Number Line Spinner game gave students a chance to begin mixing their facts. I plan on adding this game to our Early Finishers menu since the rules are so simple and there are so few pieces. If you'd like a FREE copy of this my Number Line Spinner game, click on the picture below. There you have it, two simple ways to add a little more variety to your number line routine. Thank you so much for stopping by. Happy teaching!
We Don't Eat Our Classmates book activities unit with reading comprehension worksheets, printables, lesson ideas, craft for Kindergarten & First Grade
One of the best things to do on the first day of school is plan cooperative learning activities where students can get to know one another.
Pete the Cat rocks a new school year in his school shoes. Make a Pete inspired class book of how you are rocking your school shoes.
Matching colors is so much fun with this free matching color activity for preschoolers. While my daughter is quite a pro at matching colors, she is still learning to name the colors consistently. Using color matching and color sorting activities for preschoolers allows me to see her progress easily and find out what colors she is still struggling with (like purple and orange). Get the Free Color Matching Fishbowl Printable for Preschoolers to help your students or children learn to identify and name all of the colors!
A summer review packet for rising first graders. To get a FREE copy of this summer review packet with your students, when you get to the blog, click on the picture.
