Kids will have fun while learning where do I Live with this printable activity perfect for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students.

A Kindergarten blog about effective teaching and making learning fun.

Teaching kids about our world, geography, maps, and more. Kindergarten Social Studies Lessons made easy #kindergarten #socialstudies

Social-emotional activities have never been more important for younger kids.

As a kid in school I loved when my teachers celebrated creativity in the classroom. In fact, when I reflect on my own education, the moment...

This is my first ever Picrew! I kept it simple so I could learn how everything works, but I still wanted to publish it for people to enjoy :3 This is for NON-COMMERCIAL USE only! You can use it as a profile picture on social media accounts, but please credit me (especially if you can't see the watermark anymore). And of course: don't claim it as your own art. Send it to your friends and see what kind of kitty they make <3

I love spending the final weeks of school working on projects with my students! While we complete a variety of projects throughout the year, my students become project-making machines after testing!! And we love every minute of it!! At this point in the year, the stress of fitting in curriculum has vanished, students have…

Personal Space: Social Story Printable & Fun Activities. Explore 21 fun personal space activities (discussion cards, role-play situations, worksheets)

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 […]

Help students reflect on their choices and their consequences through one of these 5 engaging activities for elementary students.

One of the important concepts we teach in early elementary is about the great big world we live in. Students will learn about the world beyo...

We wrapped up Friendship Week today. We did a lot of discussing what it means to do a friend and what are some fun/safe things you can do with your friend. I created this fun matching game to use in our sensory bin. I dyed some rice for the first time and it turned out perfect! It also reminded me of grass, so I found pictures of kids on the playground. On the cards I wrote words that describe what a good friend does, like share, help, kind, etc. Then, we picked a card, read the word, and discussed the word more. I added these fun "Buddy Builders" from Amazon and they were perfect "friends" for our park. This book is a great way to talk about the nice things our hands can do. Especially, if you have any kiddos who like to use their hands in an unsafe way ;) I also dyed noodles for the first time, too! We used those noodles to make friendship necklaces! We also used a bead kit for friendship bracelets :) Click on image to grab this bead kit! These peanut butter and jelly color matching cards were a huge hit! We played restaurant and worked together to serve the correct colors. I got these from The Homestead Teacher! Grab them HERE! We like to think of words that start with each letter. When we are out, we will see a letter and I always have to think of something that starts with that letter. It totally helps connect learning, so I made these "F is for friends!" page and we decorated the 'f' different supplies. For our play dough invitation, I printed off this cute friendship clip art set from Creative Clips! We put the friends in our play dough and pretended we were playing at the park! The last game we did was this fun math activity! We had to help the boy get to his friends by rolling our dice and counting each circle. It was a great way to practice some counting, number identification, and taking turns! Grab these activities HERE! *NOTE: the play dough friends are not included in this due to terms of use, but they are free for you to download HERE!

Guide to using Social Studies Simulations to step away from the lecture podium and engage your students with hands-on history activities.

Long time no see! As I hope you are doing, I’m busy enjoying my summer!I have been relaxed with the pups, gone to the aquarium, shopped with friends, binge watched How to Get Away with Murder (this show is addicting by the way), and gone to several concerts including the Oak Ridge Boys. My new […]

Learn how to create simple models and maps with early years students with this free geography printable!

Social App designed by Amin Salehi. Connect with them on Dribbble; the global community for designers and creative professionals.

Welcome to our series on social emotional learning in the elementary classroom! We are going to be chatting about some effective strategies and procedures you can easily and quickly apply to your classroom for improvement in student self-awareness, self-control, and social skills. During the month of January, we will cover four different SEL topics. January has always been my favorite month to teach, because I was always able to do a reset with the students I already had a relationship with. We could then really hone in and improve SEL skills to in turn take a deep dive into instruction. The less you are having to stop and redirect student behavior, the more time you have to teach. We know that is more important now than ever. This month, we will cover four topics that I felt were most needed right now that could cover the most behaviors: listening, making good choices, kindness, and resilience. Let's talk LISTENING and FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. Why is listening important? Active listening is a vital skill in the classroom, as well as in life. You listen to directions, announcements, instruction, conversation, and more. As a student, I was not always the best listener. I tried really hard to listen, but I lacked the strategies to comprehend what was being said. I was more of a visual learner, so auditory was difficult for me. I think we sometimes forget that our students need to be explicitly taught the strategies and skills we expect them to apply. I have found that students need explicit SEL instruction all throughout the year. The problem is that we don't have the time to do that. I tried to think of ways you could easily and quickly incorporate it into your day, because it's so important to keep your classroom running smoothly and to decrease undesirable behaviors. The best time I feel to teach these, if you can, is first thing in the morning, during morning meeting. I have come up with some quick mini lessons, along with quick and fun activities, to teach each SEL topic. This week, we are going to look at some strategies to increase active listening in your classroom. Listening Strategies and Tips Call and Response The first thing you need to have in place is a call and response. I would only do one or two at a time. One that I always do is: Teacher: 1, 2, 3 Eyes on Me Students: 1, 2 Eyes on You When I teach this, I practice it a ton. It is important that students STOP AND LOOK AT YOU. Do not let them continue what they are doing. They will not be actively listening if they are still doing something else or talking while you are talking. Be firm about that expectation and wait until everyone is focused on you. We want to establish a muscle memory of them stopping, looking at you, and listening until you are finished. It's so important to have high expectations here. There are many different call and responses out there to choose from. Just be consistent with one or two for a while before changing to a different chant. Voice Volume and Tone If you know me, you know that I am not loud at all! Ha! I am pretty quiet so I use that to my advantage in the classroom. The lower I talk, the more they have to really listen. I also make sure that I keep a calm tone when I speak. This is also very important to have a calming environment because they tend to mirror what they are seeing. Something that I have found that has helped a ton with listening is buying a microphone headset and speaker. I just got one off of Amazon. It saves my voice and my energy, and I can use a calm tone that students are more likely to listen to. Keep Directions Short and Direct Stick to one-step instructions. Be direct and clear with your instructions, as well. If you can also add a visual, that will greatly help students. As students get better with one-step instructions, begin to slowly introduce more steps. Echoing One of my favorite and most effective ways to give instructions is through echoing. I will say the instruction in a sing song voice. The students know to echo me when I use that voice. Not only does it help them better comprehend the instructions, they also are busy being engaged which cuts down on opportunities to get off task or misbehave. Read Aloud Books The best way to begin a discussion with students about an SEL topic is through a read aloud. We want them to understand why listening is important. It helps us to be a better friend, we learn more, we are more caring, we understand what to do next, etc. I really love the book, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! by Julia Cook. The character in the story is having a very bad day because he chose not to listen to others. Students get to follow along on how those choices affected his day. His mom gives him tips on how to be a better listener and how to follow instructions that students can also apply. (I have made a resource that contains all of the mini lessons for teaching students to be better listeners, along with quick activities for a week focused on this topic.) Two other good ones are Lacy Walker, Nonstop Talker and My Mouth is a Volcano. Songs and Videos I love to incorporate music to help students better remember a strategy. You will get a song I wrote in the unit call "I Am Listening", but I have also linked some classroom approved videos you can show before or during your mini lesson about listening. Be a Whole Body Listener I Am a Good Listener (begin at 1:00) Why is Listening Important? Listening Game The Dance Freeze Song The Listening Game: Cosmic Kids Listening Mini Lessons Incorporate mini lessons into your morning meeting devoted to listening. I like to focus on one topic or skill per week. These lessons are quick and to the point. I also like to create an anchor chart with my students so that they have a visual reminder to refer to. Students also make a mini anchor chart to add to their SEL notebooks. Listening and Following Directions Activities Practice the Strategy For each lesson, I review the anchor chart and sing the listening song to open the lesson and review what we have learned. I then read a portion of the read aloud, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! I do this similar to an interactive read aloud, including text dependent questions that also start discussions about listening. After the story, I teach a new strategy that we then practice. I will take you through each day of this unit. We already covered day one and the anchor chart, so let's move on to day two. On day two, we learn a new listening strategy and then students listen to the story Go Away Big Green Monster. I do not show them the illustrations; they have to draw the monster by listening to the description. This is a fun way to practice active listening! They love to share their monsters with one another. On day three, we learn another listening strategy and play Listen, Draw, Check. You can use this game in all content areas for review. The game is very similar to Battleship. They have to be really great listeners and follow the directions to match my game board, which we check at the end. On day four, I introduce the students to an SEL animal character. Each character is a different animal and has a poem. For this activity, students have to follow the oral coloring instructions and color their Listening Lion. They also get a copy of the poem to trace. Finally on day five, we read the whole story and then discuss what lesson the author was trying to teach the reader. I then assign a writing activity (differentiated sheets included) in which they have to apply what they have learned about listening and following directions. This is a great way to wrap up the unit and assess their understanding. Listening and following instructions are skills that apply to so many parts of the school day, so they are vital to a smoothly run classroom. When you are having to stop and address behaviors, it is draining. Let's set our students up for success by giving them the tools they need to thrive in the classroom. I would love to hear and share with others if you have any great listening strategies! Thank you so much for stopping by this week! Be sure to come back next week for our next SEL skill, MAKING GOOD CHOICES. The following two weeks will be all about KINDNESS and RESILIENCE. You can grab the Listening and Following Directions Activities below or by clicking on any of the photos!

Keep their brains active and get them engaged in their learning with this project-based Social Studies choice board! These projects will activate prior knowledge and motivate students to seek out new skills they have not yet mastered. This choice board includes sixteen project choices that involve multiple real-life social studies applications, including: physical geography culture history current events government and politics landmarks symbology economics It's up to you to decide how to use this choice board. Here are some ideas: Summer Use Students complete one square each week Students complete four in a row or four corners over a certain period of time Students complete as many as they can over the summer School Year Use Students complete projects independently or in groups, with "just-in-time" teaching support provided Students work on projects during "genius hour" or enrichment time This resource is geared toward students who are independent learners, or who have support available at home or in school to help with these projects. I created it with middle schoolers in mind, but it is also appropriate for many high school students or more advanced upper elementary students. This resource is licensed for single-educator use. That means one teacher or one parent may use it with all of their students/children. If you are a school administrator and wish to distribute it to all students in your school, you must purchase licenses for each teacher (at a discount). Looking for multi-subject choice boards? Many of these projects also appear here: Multi-Subject Choice Board Growing Bundle: Summer Enrichment/Distance Learning You may also like: Math Choice Board: Project-Based Learning for Summer or Distance Learning STEM Choice Board: Project-Based Learning for Summer or Distance Learning Physical Activity Choice Board for Distance Learning PE/Gym Class Art Choice Board for Distance Learning, Homework, or Independent Projects Life Skills Calendar for Homework or Extra Practice: Great for Distance Learning Music Choice Board for Distance Learning (Band, Choir, Orchestra) FACS ⋅ Life Skills ⋅ Home Skills ⋅ Adulting Choice Board for Distance Learning Health Choice Board for Distance Learning Self-Care Bingo for Teachers in Quarantine or on Extended School Breaks

FREE geography matching activity with the 7 continents of the world. Perfect for toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten to introduce the continents.

Printable downloadable Canadian geography exercise. Suitable for children of all ages to practice understanding maps, visually represent the Canadian provinces & territories and practice labelling province and city names. Icons represent what each province is known for, they can be matched by province. Print out the image and label pages and assemble Canada like a puzzle. Full instructions for matching provided. Suitable for homeschool and classroom use. You will receive a pdf file download when you complete the checkout process. Print this download to use it.

Our literature-based learning often lends itself to discovering other places and cultures, which is one of many reasons we love this method! Learning about Italy, Japan, and China have been some of our richest homeschool moments so far. Along with learning about other countries and their continents, we learn where those places are located on the globe. In order to help my girls learn the 7 continents, I created a set of printable Continents Cards that we use in a variety of ways. Note: This post was originally published in 2014. The Continents Cards and the post have been freshly

President’s Day is the perfect time to learn about what is means to be a good citizen! This is truly a must-have unit for all kindergarten and first grade teachers. Citizenship, expectations at school, social skills, friendship, and behavior are all tied together. I am so excited to teac

A suncatcher craft is just so cheerful. Add them to the windows to add color and cheer to any room. Here are some fantastic Suncatcher crafts for

Looking to grab students' attention during the first week of school with fun and easy science experiments? These super fun back to school science experiments are perfect for your first week of school science activities.

33 Evidence-based (and FUN!) SOCIAL SKILLS ACTIVITIES for KIDS + 🎁 FREE PRINTABLE activity. Explore: starting conversations, respecting personal space, expressing emotions

Fill in the directions on a Compass Rose in this simple worksheet.

Make this fun papyrus paper for your next art project! The texture adds a unique touch!! Great activity while studying Egypt

Imagen 20 de 20 de la galería de Primer lugar en Concurso Iberoamericano de Vivienda Social IX BIAU / Argentina. Fotografía de Equipo Primer Lugar

PERSPECTIVE TAKING SOCIAL SKILLS ACTIVITY PACK Contains: 18x 'Walk in Their Shoes' Scenarios 6x 'Perspective Detective' Mini Worksheets 6x 'Complete the Thought' Mini Worksheets Includes colour AND black and white versions of all activities Develop empathy, perspective taking, social thinking and general social skills with this series of activities. Appropriate for social emotional learning, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, and counselling subjects.

Can research actually be fun and engaging for kids? You bet! These Research Project Posters are super student friendly and help guide your students in what exactly to research. And they are perfect for students to display their research!

Teaching behavior expectations in kindergarten is important, especially in the first few weeks of school. This often sets the stage for your class for the entire year. For students to fully understand what is expected of them, it is important that teachers address and teach these expectation. I usually spend a lot of time during the first weeks of school teaching student expectations and classroom behaviors. We complete sorts of good choices and bad choices in the classroom and discuss what makes them good and bad choices. We complete these sorts whole group and students also complete individual behavior reflection sheets. These work great during the first few weeks of school or when students may need a review. These include different levels of difficulty beginning with students simply deciding if an actions is a good or bad choice, to a student sort of good and bad choices (this is a freebie at the end of the blog post) to finally illustrating or writing good or bad choices. Also we color an emergent reader reviewing some of the classroom expectations. These can also just be used as little coloring pages when a classroom expectation is introduced. In your classroom, you may want to challenge your students to focus on a certain expectation for a week. Included are posters that would work great for this: These provide a visual and focus for students when expectations are being taught. You can make it a game and provide an incentive if students can meet this expectation a certain amount of times in a week. Once these expectations are taught it is important to keep students accountable to their actions. I have been using a visual think sheet in my classroom that is perfect for this. It is very appropriate for your early learners in pre-k or kindergarten or special ed because it includes pictures for students to show what they did. Students simply color in the choice they made and a better choice they can make. These are great reflections for students, communication for parents and documentation if necessary. You may also want to post these cool down methods where students can reflect on strategies to cool down, instead of getting upset. You can find this entire Behavior Think Sheets and Activities in my TPT store and the Free Good and Bad Choices Student Sort here:

Are you learning about the continents? Here is a fun word search to do with your elementary students.