Back to School Tips, Tricks, & Freebies!

Well, here we go again.  A new school year!  We've been in school for 2 weeks now.  In kindergarten, these past weeks have been all about setting the rules and procedures for the year.

I've also introduced my kiddos to reading and math centers.  There has been a LOT of hands on activities because I want my kids to learn how to work together and be engaged in learning.  We've used play dough, shaving cream, bingo dot markers,  clothes pins, and marker & white boards.  OH my!  The kids have been learning and having fun.  It makes me happy to see them enjoy learning especially at the beginning of the year. 

Tips for the Beginning of School:

*Over plan!  It's better to have more than less.
*Tell your class that you believe in them!
*Tell them your expectations every day.  
*Build relationships with your kids and their families from day 1.
*Follow through with what you say!
*Be as organized as possible!
*Be flexible - you don't know what each student is going to bring to the table.  Be ready for anything.
*Rest as much as you can!  Good luck with that one :)

New Tricks that I've Found Useful:

*I use colored tape to organize my white board.

*I use a 5 frame when I want 5 (or less) students to give me their answer.  I mark a dot for each person who gives me an answer.  Then, I have the class tell me how many more kids we need to participate.  It's a perfect way to introduce the 5 frame informally!

*Use carpet samples from Home Depot as erasers! 

Reading & Math Centers for the Beginning of the Year:

Okay, so I may have spray painted over 200 clips for this center.  I wanted each kiddo to have his/her own bag with pictures and clips.  I spray painted the colors to match, so the kids knew to put the right color in the bag.  They were engaged and loving this center!  Click {HERE} to grab the counting cards.  Click {HERE} for more. 

Roll, Count, and Dab!

Click (HERE} for the play dough letter pack!

Here are some back to school printables you might find helpful:

I printed the uppercase & lowercase letters from this pack and put them in protective sleeves for the kids to practice with an expo marker.  Click {HERE} to check it out.

Brain Breaks that Kids LOVE!

What are your favorites for the beginning of school?
Have a great year!

Back to School! Rules and Expectations...

Welcome Back….to school!   I LOVE back to school, setting up my classroom, buying new supplies and finding new ideas to try out for the new school year.  This year, I have two new teammates, so I am hoping to get some great new ideas from them!  One of my new teammates asked me,  “What is the most important thing to do with the students at the beginning of the school year?”  Hands down, I said it’s so important to lay the foundation of what you expect and model for your students what ‘it’ should look like, sound like, etc.   The beginning of the year, especially the first few days or even weeks are exhausting!  Topping that off with going over rules and expectations it can be boring! 

How do you make it all work and get your students to ‘buy in’ to your expectations, routines and rules?  You have to make it F-U-N!  Of course, you have to set your rules and start to build the foundation of how you want your classroom to run, but it doesn’t have to be boring!

I love using the book, David Goes to School by David Shannon in my first grade class.  We read it several (million) times and each time, I add a little more D-R-A-M-A!  I love having my class ‘act out’ the book.  I ask who would like to play the character of David?  (MOST hands go up!).  Once having a “DAVID,” you tell all the other kids to be the role models and ‘act’ the correct way.  David gets to be, well David!  Read the book and allow the kids to ‘act’—there will be LOTS of LAUGHS!  The kids will want to act it out over and over!  I will choose another ‘David’ and do it a couple times.  Then, I use it as a ‘dangling carrot!’  I’ll say, “Boys and Girls, that is all the time we have this morning (you will hear—ohhhhhhhhhhh!), but if we are able to follow directions (not like David!) and work well this morning, maybe we’ll have another chance to act it out after lunch.”  Your students will be so excited and say, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”  You will have the BEST BEHAVIOR ever!  Just make sure that you do allow time to ‘act’ it out again! Because it is a short book, it takes all of five minutes and the kids already have it memorized! 

Using this book is a great way to start a discussion about what rules we are going to have in our classroom.  I love making a class ‘Rule Book’ that becomes part of our classroom library.  I have done this several ways, often depending on how my students react and participate with the book.  One way is to strictly create a classroom rule book and have the students illustrate each page.  Another idea would be to have students pair up and choose a ‘classroom rule.’  For that rule, they have to illustrate a page of following the rule correctly and illustrate a page following the rule incorrectly (like David!).  The kids love this and really get into it.  When the book is all put together, I have the pair share their pages.  They love it! 

Now, taking it one step further as you continue to instill the rules and routines, I use an incentive (for about a week or two) for ‘rule followers.’  When a student is demonstrating role model behavior with one of the rules, he/she gets a ‘Caught you following the Rules’ ticket.  You can decide how and what you want to do with the tickets.  Students can take them home with pride or you can have students write his/her name on the back and put them in a jar for a drawing at the end of the week!  Prize? Something simple!  I have also tried to catch EVERYONE to make sure each child gets at least one ticket in the jar.  Then, at the end of the week I will say, “Raise your hand if you have a ticket or tickets in the jar.”  ALL of the students raise their hand (I make sure, because I keep track!).  Then I say, “WOW!  EVERYONE has at least one ticket in the jar?”  I continue with positive feedback.  “YOU ALL know how to follow rules! This is AMAZING!”  You can decide to give the whole class a small reward, sticker, 5 minutes of extra recess or whatever.  All these little activities will be F-U-N and will play a part as you continue to set your expectations for your classroom.  You will be able to refer to the activities.  For example, when the class takes too long transitioning or is talking to much you can say, “Remember when we ALL had a RULE TICKET in the jar?  I KNOW you can ALL follow rules!”  It’s a great reminder.  

…and for YOU…I have a F-U-N way to start your year off right!  Click on the picture for a FREE product that includes classroom rule book pages AND the ‘Caught you Following Rules’ tickets!  It also has a QR Code (which is also a hyperlink if you don’t have devices in your classroom) with the story, David Goes to School.  I put it in my listening center after I read the book and do the acting out activity with my class.  The kids just LOVE it!  

I have a few other Back to School products that you can check out in my store, too!

Good Luck to you as you start the school year!  I hope you start the year out right with setting your rules and expectations for your students.

 

Organize It!

Hi everyone, it is Jane checking in with a few organization tips I have been collecting this summer.  After 15 years in the same grade and classroom, I will be making a move to a new grade and school in September.  When you are forced to clean out a classroom that you have been in for a long time you start to think that you could have been asked to star in an episode of "Hoarding: Buried Alive". 

 I am looking forward to a new room and a blank slate and I have been busy pinning ideas and making products this summer for  my new class.  My first goal was to organize all my paper resources.  This was no easy feat!  When I emptied my file cabinet with all my monthly themes I figured I better come up with some way to keep them all straight.  One quick trip to Costco for some binders and I was ready to go.  I now have binder covers made for all my monthly themes and subjects and have started the process of filing away papers for the year ahead.  I love the way they have turned out!

Binder Covers

Next stop was the local Walmart.  I wanted to get my composition books for my interactive math journals before they were all gone.

Where I live we do not go back to school until September 2, however, I was out on August 2 looking for these books.  I find so many teachers love using interactive notebooks now that you have to buy them as soon as you see them or they will not be there when you want them in September.  Luckily for me my local Walmart still had lots.  I love that the ones I found this year because they came in different colors.  I am hoping that it will make the process of passing out the notebooks a bit smoother as students can quickly identify their notebook by the color.  I plan to pick sticks with the student's name on them for their turn to chose a color.  I am hoping that will solve the problem of  students arguing over who gets what color.  I have a funny feeling that the purple ones will be the first to go.

Also, at Walmart I found these pencil pouches that I plan on using to store a whiteboard marker and a piece of black felt or a baby sock for erasing the marker on the whiteboards.  

Last year I found I was going through way too many markers.  Either someone left the top off or pressed too hard.  I am hoping by giving each student a pouch with their name on it and their own marker and eraser that it will help them to take more responsibility for the markers.  I will have to report back about how it goes.

 For the last three years my classroom has had a Hollywood theme, so I was really excited when I found these posters for really cheap there as well.  I am thinking about making a display showing my "I can..." statements.

Last but not least I have made a freebie I hope you may be able to use in your class as you start organizing your room.  I have been reading The Daily 5 Second Edition and thinking about how to organize my class materials for word work.  I have decided to go with a drawer system and let students take the materials they need for each activity from the drawer and then return the materials to the proper drawer when they finish.  These are the drawers I have purchased and here are the labels I will be using.  If you want you can get a free copy here.

I am off to look for some more ideas to organize my new class!

Exploring the Classroom

Hey everyone!  It's Alison from Ms. Lilypad's Primary Pond.  I can't believe it's back to school time again!  The summer just flew by.  Today I have a quick idea to help make planning for your first few days of school easier.

I have taught PreK through 2nd grade, and one thing I've discovered about the little ones is that they are always so CURIOUS about what you have in the room!  When I taught PreK and K, I had a lot of "stuff" in my classroom - blocks, counting bears, markers, etc.  I found that one of the best things you can do in the first few days of school is to let the kiddos explore that "stuff" - because they are dying to check it all out!

During the first few days of school when I taught Kinder, I wanted to teach the kids how to work in centers.  I needed to be able to focus on teaching routines and procedures, so I couldn't have them doing any real challenging "academic" work.  This is a perfect opportunity to let them explore your materials!  I would briefly introduce a certain type of material, we would talk about how to use it appropriately, and then I would add it to a center.  I would add just a few things each day so as not to overwhelm the kids.  Then, while they were in their centers, I could focus on helping them learn the routines and procedures, rather than worrying about whether or not they were doing an academic task correctly.  The photo above is actually not from the beginning of the year - I would let the kids explore play dough freely at first, and then not until later in the year would I expect them to do something "academic" with it (i.e. make the shape of a circle, as pictured).

When I taught 2nd grade, to allow them to explore the room, I set up a scavenger hunt.  I had a list of some items in my room, I paired the kids up, and then I had them explore.  They had to draw a picture of each item and write a brief note about where it was in the classroom.  This was way more interesting for them than listening to me talk about our classroom materials!

Make planning easier on yourself - let the kids explore the materials during the first few days of school!  I guarantee they will love it, and you will be able to spend time teaching routines and procedures!

Happy teaching!

Alison

Teaching With Pinterest

I am a superintendent of the 4-H Decorations project.  In this project 4-Hers create a decoration of their choice within certain guidelines.  Over the years I've seen some very creative items entered by the kids.  When talking to the kids about their projects this year I learned that many of them were inspired by Pinterest.  ...which got me to thinking about my own obsession enjoyment of the world of digital pin boards.

If I need a new recipe, ideas for baby shower decorations, or instructions on how to tie a scarf I know that I can find tons of great pins linking to tons of great websites & blogs.  How did we ever live without Pinterest???

As every teacher knows, Pinterest isn't just a place for quinoa recipes & photos of J Crew clothes.  It's the new Professional Development!  Professional Development that is free & available 24/7!  Even my district has recognized Pinterest as a valuable resource for teachers because they unblocked last year ~ yup, we can look at Pinterest on our school computers. :-)

I thought I'd share a few of my many, many pins.  If you want to see more, you can follow me HERE.  Enjoy!

  I love this idea for sight word practice!

 

 

 



This would be fun for the beginning of the year.

 

 

A fun, interactive way to teach number sense.

 

 

 

Great ideas for teaching math.

 

 

Here's a pin from my blog that I recently spotted!

 

Visit me!

 

 



Cheap and Easy Bulletin Boards

Hey yall! Natalie here from Teachery Tidbits.

 

 

Well, I officially started back-to-school on Thursday, so I am in full force get-my-room-ready mode. My kiddos won't start until Wednesday the 6th, but Open House is Monday the 4th sooo.....
there's some work to do!

One thing that I really love about getting my room ready is doing my bulletin boards. So I wanted to share a little tip that might help you when doing your bulletin boards.

 

 

I really love using plastic tablecloths for bulletin boards for a couple different reasons.

 

1. They're cheap. I buy the 99 cent plastic tablecloths from Wal-Mart. The price is right for a poor teacher like me!

 

2. They're durable. The plastic holds up pretty well, as long as you don't put tape on it.

Plastic + tape = major rippage

 

3. They're vibrant! Tablecloths don't fade or lose their color overtime, like butcher paper. The color stays bright all year long.

 

4. Fun patterns! Nowadays, you can get plastic tablecloths in lots of fun patterns. I mostly stick with solid colors, but last year I picked up that fun chevron tablecloth above and it made a HUGE statement for my bulletin board!

Here are some of my boards from last year that I used plastic tablecloths on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You do have to really make sure that you get all the wrinkles out though!

I obviously didn't do a good job on my genre board up there....yikes!

Those wrinkles are driving me crazy just looking at that picture!

 

But its also an easy fix! Just smooth and staple :)

 

Alright, that's it for me! Off to get more work done :)

 



Everyone LOVES Mail!

In my district, we get a "Welcome Back to School" letter a few weeks before we return to school. While I don't really like seeing this letter in my mailbox {because it signals that summer is almost over!} there is some excitement in the letter too! The beginning of the year is a fresh start, a time to see all of my friends again, and meet a whole group of new littles! This letter is a reminder of all that for me! 

To get my first graders just as excited as me about the upcoming year {and quell some nerves}, I always send them a postcard to welcome them to my classroom.  

It takes about 30 minutes to write out an entire class set, but the lasting impact it has on the kids is priceless! I can't tell you how many parents thank me for sending a quick note to their kids! 

You can snag your own set of these {FREE} postcards by "liking" Lucky to Be in First on Facebook!

    

Simply click on the Fan Freebies tab and download your own set!  There's a few other goodies in there for you too! Please note, this tab will only work from a computer {not phones or tablets!}

While you're there, make sure to click on the "following" tab and click on "Get Notifications" so Lucky to Be in First will show up in your newsfeed! I share lots of freebies {and flash freebies} so you won't want to miss anything! 

Hope to see you over at Lucky to Be in First!