What the Teacher Wants!

Back to School Part 1

I wanted to throw it back (to school) and re-post some of my favorite back-to-school ideas!

I have a few random pictures of what I've been doing in my classroom to get ready! I love the energy of my school during back-to-school time! Everyone's excited, but slightly bummed that summer is over. That feeling goes away once we all start working in our classrooms and prepping for our new students (ok, well that bummed feeling *mostly* goes away).

I LOVE to think of fun ways to welcome my students to my classroom with my back-to-school bulletin board. Check out *some* past bulletin boards HERE.

This year, I took some inspiration from my husband who LOVES Minions (he's a little kid at heart). We watch Despicable me with our niece and nephews and my husband laughs louder than they do. ;) Sure do love that man! Anyway, I found a piñata at Walmart that just CALLED MY NAME and then I found these cute Minions on TpT. Off I went to decorate!

I cut the headers for this board on my Silhouette Cameo (best crafting tool, ever!).
The names on the Minions are just Avery mailing labels. Easy-peasy.

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Each year I do a Donation Door for our Back-to-School Night. Parents can come by and grab a sticky note off of our door that says the name of a school supply. They can send in the donated school supplies with their child to school the next day! It's an awesome way to get a variety of supplies for your classroom and not just getting 3,934 boxes of tissues. ;) {You can check out another donation door I've done, here}

I did print on SUPER sticky notes (found at Target) and I used a tutorial from this cute blog.

Arrows are vinyl and made with my Silhouette Cameo with KG Arrows font.

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A few years ago I found this CUUUUUTE behavior mangament idea from Growing Kinders. I've always done Brownie Points as a whole-class incentive, but this year I'm doing Mr. Potato Head. I'll pull off all of his parts (hehe) and if the students are working quietly, I will add one part at a time until he is all put together. Once he's all back together, there will be a MYSTERY prize that the whole class will win (lunch with teacher, extra recess, or maybe popcorn party).

With pretty much everything, I got mine on Amazon. Praise all that is holy for Amazon Prime. ;)

End of Year Emoji Fun!

This year it's all about emojis! I can't wait to start this end-of-year memory book with my students. It's got everything you need to end your year with ALL THE FEELS! There are 3 versions (kinder, 1st, 2nd/3rd).

We've got to have a fun bulletin board to end the year with! This is a interactive writing activity for the end of the year that your students will love...and you'll love how easy it is to create a cute/meaningful bulletin board.

Each year we have a class awards ceremony. I've made these emoji themed awards (30 different awards)! They come in color and black/white, with an editable option so you can type your students' names and your name (and you only have to type your name once- it will autofill your name to all other pages)!

Math Manipulative Organization and Management

Organizing and managing (passing out) math manipulatives can be a PAIN! It takes extra time during the lesson to get them out, pass them out and then to put them away at the end. I like to save time with this tip that my team at my last school used.

My most used manipulatives are stored in little tupperware boxes that each of my students have inside of their desks!

They keep these boxes right inside of their desks. The tupperware/Gladware boxes are the kind that are "disposable" and found near the Ziploc bags. These boxes have lasted 7 years! Whenever we use a certain manipulative, my students can quickly grab it out and be ready for our lesson.

Inside of their boxes I put the most used math manipulatives that we have. It took me a few years to accumulate all of the manipulatives that I wanted in their boxes.

If you'd like the number cards, you can click here. (Tip: copy the number cards on various colors of card stock to keep them from mixing up their cards with other students at their table)

America, Presidents, and Symbols

We'll be learning all about Washington, Lincoln and Obama, and President Trump! This is by far one of my favorite thematic units to teach! We will also learn about 10 of the most famous U.S. Symbols and we'll it all while integrating social studies with reading, writing, and math. There are REAL pictures in this unit, as well as clipart pictures. :)

President's Day and U.S. Symbols Unit

*UPDATED January 20th, 2017
(Now includes President Trump)
This President's Day and U.S. Symbols unit is a great unit to celebrate America {available in color and black/white}!
This unit includes:

*President Lincoln Poster
*President Washington Poster
*President Obama Poster
*President Trump Poster
*Tree Map
*Graphic Organizers
*President Application
*President Picture {___ for President}
*If I Were the President Writing
*Dear President Trump
*U.S. Symbols book {includes 10 U.S. Symbols}
*U.S. Symbols Student Book
*Asking/Telling Literacy Center
*Hot Seat Vocabulary Game
*The Presidential Race {Graphing Math Center}
*Count Them Up! {Money Math Center}
*Class President {Tallying Math Center}
*Abe's Hat {Could be used as a writing center or whole group}
*President Washington Craft and Writing Activity
*President Lincoln Craft and Writing Activity
*President's Day Word Search

There's lots in this unit! So click [here] to check it out!