End of Year Ideas and FREEBIE

The end of the school year can be a crazy time.  With a little preplanning, it can actually be fun and only a little crazy.  

I am a BIG believer in a picture is worth a thousand words.  I love to take pictures of my students in action and put them on our class website.  I found that when I did this consistently, my parents consistently read the postings on my website.  I cannot stress the consistency part enough.  If you want your parents to look at your website, you have to be consistent with your posting. Pictures of their children are the perfect incentive for them to check your site. I usually uploaded pictures at the end of the week showing what we had done.  Sometimes my posts were just a sentence or two about what was happening in the picture.

Posting pictures is a great way to communicate with parents. If you haven't done this yet, I would encourage you to try it.  You will be pleasantly surprised at how pictures build positive relationships with your parents.  I tell my parents at Back to School night that one of their children's weekly homework assignments is to do "show 'n tell"  using our pictures.  Parents feel like they have a better understanding of what is going on in the classroom when they see all of the Kodak moments.

These pictures are also useful for the end of the year slideshow. I had a huge collection showing all of the fun stuff we had done that year.  Each week I chose a few of the best ones to add to my EOY file. Then in May, it was a simple thing to add these pictures to a slideshow. A few minutes each week adding these to my EOY file, made my end of the year much less hectic.  You can add music to the slideshow.  Some years I have added theme songs from movies.  Other years I have used songs that had special memories for my class.  One year I began the song with the instrumental version of the Van Halen song "Right Now".

Click on the picture to listen to this.

I invited the parents to join us for our "Hollywood Premiere" starring their children.  We ate popcorn, watched the show, and laughed at all of the happy memories.

Are you planning a Hollywood theme next year?  I have a Star Student packet that is editable and integrated with social studies, language arts, and other subjects that works perfectly with this.  One of the activities for the star student is to decorate a star for the class Hollywood Walk of Fame.  You could make a Walk of Fame if you want to do a Hollywood themed end of the year party.  Here is a free sample from my star student packet.

Click HERE to download this freebie.

I have some more end of the year ideas on my A+ May Pinterest Board .

  

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

How do you celebrate the end of the year?

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.
Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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FREE Fluency Center

Does your school use the Dibel's test?  After giving the Dibels, I found that I needed to strengthen my students' fluency skills. My schedule already seemed completely full. Where would I find more time to give my students practice reading so they could become more fluent readers?

One thing I found that helped with their fluency skills was making fluency centers one of my standard centers.  I knew I wanted this center to have the same format each week so I wouldn't have to explain the direction. This saves me valuable class time.  Plus, the center had to work with students on a wide variety of reading levels.

The answer was my Sentence Shuffle Centers which I have for reading levels K-5.  To honor our mothers, my Mother's Day Sentence Shuffle Center is FREE.  

I also have a Fluency Check Center that is FREE, too

Click on the picture above if you'd like to see more Sentence Shuffle Centers organized by reading levels.

Would you like to read more of my posts about fluency?

Post #1: Fluency centers are great for teachers with small classrooms.

Post #2:  Fluency with r-controlled theme.

Check out my A+ May Pinterest Board which has more fun ideas.

  

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

How do you incorporate fluency lessons during your day?

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Inside Recess: Weather and Spring Theme

Melting snow and slush followed by spring showers means it is time for mud season.  It also means you are at your wit's end when it comes to activities for inside recess, right? Would you like to try something new, that will hold your students' attention and keep them quiet at the same time?  

My students have always loved to paint with water colors. Integrate science with this activity by playing weather sounds while your students paint.  Tell them to paint what they are visualizing in their mind when they hear the music.  Below are some videos you can use.

Click HERE for rainy sounds video.

Click HERE for thunderstorm sounds video.

Click HERE for wind sounds video.

Click HERE for bird sounds video.

Management tips:

• Ahead of time get a pitcher of water.  Get two pitchers if you have a large class.

• Have one volunteer pass out paper to the class.  I like to use white construction paper.  I usually cut the large sheet of paper in half.
• Tell your students to write their names on their paper and then turn the paper over.   Their name will be on the back of the painting.
• Have another volunteer pass out a cup or bowl that will be used for water.  I usually put one between every two students.
• Have another volunteer pass out a paper towel.  Give one to each student.  Some students like to dry their brush after dipping it in the water.
• Tell your students to get out their water colors.  Make sure everyone has a brush.  I usually purchase a packet of brushes at Dollar Tree in case someone has lost their brush.
• Once everyone is ready, I explain the directions for today's activity (listening to the video and painting what they visualize).  Students are not allowed to talk during this activity because everyone needs to be allowed to hear the video and let their creative juices flow.  :)
• I also tell them that they only get one piece of paper. They need to take their time and do their best.  When they finish, they will sit quietly until the painting time is over.
• When everyone is ready and understand the expectations and directions, I pour a small amount of water in the bowl or cup.

Sometimes they paint while I play music.  When I do this, I have them fold their paper so it has 4 rectangles.  I play 4 different types of music.  They paint in different squares when I change music.  This is great activity to hang up on your bulletin board.  I love all of the colors and designs. 

What do you do for inside recess?

Be sure and check out my Brain Break Pinterest board for ideas that you can use when your students need to get up and move. Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Places You Can Go with Books - Dr. Seuss & Social Studies

Oh! the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss is a book that the social committee at my former school gave to members of the staff when they moved away.  This was the perfect gift because it is full of advice when you are beginning a new adventure. 

When we start a new journey, we often need to be reminded of those things we've heard our parents, teachers, and others tell us.  In true Dr. Seuss fashion, he dispenses his timely wisdom in this book that can be easily used by a child who is moving to a new state, a student beginning college, or a adult who just retired.

(Click on picture)

This is one of my favorite memes.  As a teacher, you would think I was one of those kids who instantly loved reading and was in the blue birds group in first grade.  You couldn't be further from the truth.  I did not fall in love with reading, for reading's sake until 3rd grade.  Up until this point, reading was a chore, much like making my bed.  Something I had to do because some authority figure told me I had to do it.  There was no love or interest on my part - whatsoever!  I often think as teachers we think a student who isn't a strong reader must have a learning disability.  Granted, a learning disability can cause frustration when a child is learning to read.  But, there are many students who aren't zooming up the reading levels because of a lack of interest or connection.  

So what changed you ask?  In 3rd grade, my teacher read the Little House on the Prairie series to my class.  At the time, the t.v. show based on this series of books with Melissa Gilbert was popular.  People told me that I looked like Melissa Gilbert.  Basically we both had brown hair and freckles.  But, I could completely relate to Laura from the book because she seemed to get in trouble with little effort on her part.  Her father seemed to understand her best.  Once I bought my first Little House on the Prairie book from the book order my passion for reading was ignited.  The more I read, the more my fluency improved, the more I wanted to read, my comprehension and reading level improved and it continued from there.  It was this long line of cause and effect.  You start the chain of reaction and positive things happen!  

I have this life long love of reading.  My husband at one point in our almost 25 years of marriage made a separate category in our electronic checkbook for books.  One year he asked me if I realized how much I had spent the previous year on books.  I looked at him and said, "And your point is . . . .? "  The first few things I look for when we move with my husband's job transfers is the number of local libraries, used book stores, and thrift stores with a good selection of books.  Can you relate?

When we moved to Chicago from Texas, our daughter was going through adjustments.  It is hard moving to a new state, new home, new school, new climate, both parents with new jobs, and all of the other adjustments.  The social worker at my school was one of those amazing types who went above and beyond for everyone.  My daughter didn't go to my school but my social worker had chatted with her when she was helping in my classroom.  I had asked my social worker if she had any advice for me to help my daughter.  She and the sweet librarian at my school gathered several books that had characters who had moved to a new school for my daughter to read. These characters gave my daughter someone she could relate to when she was having a tough time.  Books are a friend in good times and bad!

Books are a magical place to me!  You can travel back in time, to the future or to distant lands  . . .  all from the convenience of your classroom or home.

Have you seen this?

Kara @ Happy Go Lucky made this adorable sign and even made it into bookmarks, too.  I thought you might like to print it and share it with your co-workers and students. I love it! 

Don't forget to enter my Dr. Seuss Mega Giveaway!  I will announce the winner on my Facebook page on the 25th.  

Looking for more tips?  Check out my Dr. Seuss Read Across America Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Did you know that there is a big TPT site wide sale this week?  It is time to go to "my purchases" and leave feedback so you can earn credits to use at the sale.  My entire store will be marked down 20%.  Use code HEROES and save an additional 10%.  I am already wish listing a bunch of goodies that I plan to buy!

Click HERE to visit my store.

Be sure and visit my store because I plan to add a new freebie that will be perfect for Read for America.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

How do you celebrate Read Across America?

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Dental Health Resources and a FREEBIE

February is Dental Health Month. This month is a great time to invite your local dentist to visit your class.  Many of them will even bring a little goodie bag for your students.

Do your students ever lose their teeth at school and then can't find their tooth when it's time to go home?  It can create quite a commotion at dismissal time.  I found these little tooth treasure boxes and tooth necklaces help solve this problem.  Quite a few come with each order, so you may want to ask a teammate to split the order with you. Click on the pictures below for more information.

I know that as teachers we often teach lessons about brushing and flossing teeth this month.  Those lessons are important.  Sometimes we need to reach out to parents, too.

As you are aware, there are many families who do not have access to health care.  Some of these children may be in your class this year.  Did you know that in some communities there is free or low cost dental care available to them?  Often times, parents do without because they are unaware of the resources that are available.  I found a site called America's Dentists Care Foundation that has links to different sponsored events. For example, on May 15-16, 2015, the Arkansas Mission of Mercy will hold an event in Little Rock for children and adults.  The event will provide FREE cleaning, fillings and extractions.  Click HERE to read more about it.  A link to events such as this would be a good thing to add to your class newsletter or website.

If you read my blog on a regular basis, you will know how much I love to integrate curriculum.  This topic is one that I thought would be fun to integrate with figurative language.  Have you ever thought about how many different expressions involve teeth?  Brainstorm a list with your class.  I made a little freebie for you.  You students can match the meaning to the idiom.  Or you can  divide your class into small groups.  Give each group an idiom and have them write a story with each or research the origins of it.  Click HERE to download this freebie.


Looking for more tips?  Check out my February Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

How do you study Dental Health?

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Reflect: Learning from Mistakes

When you were in undergrad, did your professors talk to you about being a reflective teachers? A teacher needs to look back at your lessons to see what worked and what didn't work, so you can improve them.  This is how you continue to grow professionally.  It is very easy to get caught up in all of the details and hectic-ness (if that is a word) of your job, and forget to look back over what you have been working so hard to do.  Sometimes, spending a little time looking over what you have done, tweaking  this or that, will make your future lessons more productive.

Reflection is a great skill to include with your lessons. Do you have a student that is a perfectionist or one who is afraid to take risk?  These students may have a fear of making a mistake.  You can use "today's reflections" like an exit slip.  There are colorful and black-white signs that you can use with your class to discuss what worked well today and what needs some improvement.  You can target this for a specific topic or keep it general.  

If your class is having trouble at lunch, use this to start the discussion about what works and doesn't work in cafeteria.  Sometimes it can be very informative if you have the students write their own reflections before the class discussion.  Students' insights are often spot on!

Click HERE to download these freebies.

Do you have a tip to share?

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Service Projects at School

The holidays are upon us and you know what that means, right?  Get ready for the  "gimmes" and "wannas" .  I want this for Christmas and I hope Santa gives me that for Christmas.  This is the perfect time to do a service project with your class.  It is a reminder that there are people who need our help.

I like to do service projects in which my students are helping other children.  My favorite service project is to collect gently used or new books, toys, or art supplies for the local children's shelter.  Contact the shelter about their rules.  Some shelters have you drop off supplies at another place because of security concerns.  

It is never fun to be sick.  Being sick at the holidays is especially hard because you are missing out on so many fun holiday activities.  Collecting books, toys, and art supplies for a Children's Hospital is good way to let these children know that your students are thinking about them during the holidays. Don't forget about your local Ronald McDonald's House, too.  Kids helping kids is the best service project to me.

Looking for more tips?  Check out my November Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post.  

Do you have a Service Project tip to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win.

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

  


Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Columbus - FREEBIE - Tuesday Teacher Tip

Celebrate Columbus Day with a science experiment and a freebie!  My students always enjoy our ship experiment.

Send home this note asking parents for supplies.

First, students will carve the shape of the ship out of the soap with a plastic knife. Just remind them that they can not touch their eyes when they are doing this.  I gave my students a plastic knife and paper plate so cleanup would be easier.  

Next, it is time to make a sail.  Hopefully, you have read several books about Columbus so they know how important the sail was for the ship.

I had different supplies that they could use to make the sail.  Materials included:  construction paper, card stock, tinfoil, tissue paper, and fabric.  They designed their sail and then glue it on a toothpick(s).  The toothpick was stuck into the bar of soap. Remind your students to write their name on their sail.

On sailing day, it is helpful if you have parent helpers because this can be a messy experiment.  Put ships in a ziplock bag when you finish sailing.  Make sure students wash hands thoroughly so they get all of the soap off of their hands when you are done.

I sailed my ships in a small child's wading pool like this one:

Click on picture for the link.

We went outside for the experiment.  My custodian was nice enough to fill the pool with water for me.  

If you don't have a parent volunteer that can fill a pool or a really nice custodian, you could use a baby bath tub.  There are traditional tubs or portable tubs like this one:

Click on picture for link.

It is small enough that you could use it in your classroom.  With the portable one, you could fold it up and use it every year.

The first time I did this experiment, I let my students, one table at at time, sail their ships.  Students quickly noticed whose ship sailed better than others and wanted to make changes to their ship.  After everyone had a turn to sail their ship, we went "back to the drawing board" to improve upon our design.  Isn't that what a good scientists does, observes experiments and makes changes based on observation?  We sailed a second time after we made improvements.  Then we recorded our results.

Click HERE to download this freebie

Looking for more tips?  Check out my Morning Messages Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post.  

Do you have a tip to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win.

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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