13 pages.

Why not have your students help create the decorations for your classroom with this cute apple-themed "welcome" banner.  On the 1st day when things are hectic, it's nice to have an independent activity that students can be doing.

4 pages.

Attach a glow stick or bracelet to this bookmark, as a cute treat for the 1st day of school. There is a bookmark that says: Welcome to school; Welcome to preschool; Welcome to kindergarten and Welcome to 1st grade.

1-2-3 Come Make Some Banners With Me

More and more schools are telling teachers that they only want them to put up student-made bulletin boards that showcase their work, so I thought I’d take it a step farther and have student-made banners too.

I LOVE how festive a classroom and hallway look, when they are decorated to the nines with children’s “mess-terpieces.” As I’ve shared before, I have spent a small fortune on decorations for all of the seasons, months, and themes that I taught, so I like to design lots of FREEBIES so that you don’t have to.

A “Welcome” banner suspended from the ceiling in your room or hallway, is a wonderful way to greet children on their first day of school.

I thought it would be fun for them to help create that banner by coloring it.  A "full shot" of the banner, isn't that good, so I decided to just show the 1st pennant and the first letter in welcome, so you can still get an idea of  how they look.  The 1st and last pennants also come in black and white if you want your students to color them as well.

The first few days are often very hectic with all sorts of rules and regulations to go through, along with a lot of forms to fill out for each student. It’s nice to have an independent quiet activity little ones can do, so you are freed up to get some of that one-on-one stuff done.

Even if you have already started school, your students will enjoy having a part in decorating their classroom, making it look comfy with their special creations.

I have designed a color as well as a black and white version, of the cute “saying” pennant that starts your banner. (There are 3 "saying" options for the cow.) Because I’m all about things looking symmetrical, I suggest putting a duplicate at the end of the banner as well.

Run off and pass out the pennant pieces to your students. They color and cut them out. When everyone is done, gather on the carpet circle and put your banner together, spelling out the word “Welcome.” To add a bit more pizzazz you could tie ribbon bows inbetween each triangle.

So that you have enough pieces for each child, and your banner looks great from both sides, put the other set back-to-back. This will give you 16 total pennants.

If you have more than 16 students in your class (At this point with budget cuts I think we can only dream of small class sizes.) make another banner for a total of 32 pieces.

This can be hung as one long streamer down the hall above your door, or as 2 separate banners across your classroom ceiling. If you don’t have that many students in your class, allow early finishers to color the extra pennant pieces. You could also do one.

I tried to think of the more popular themes so that the Welcome Banners would match your room. Click on the link for the OWL welcome banner, the COW welcome banner, the APPLE welcome banner.

The WESTERN welcome banner & the PIRATE welcome banner, both feature a different pennant for each letter.

I've included a pennant for preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade.  I thought they were a bit too cutesy for older grades, but if you don't, and want one for 2nd or 3rd grade, drop me an e-mail and I'll make you one.diane@teachwithme.com

I've seen a lot of frog themed activities, especially about "leaping into a new grade, so I also made a  FROG banner.

Superheroes continue to be very popular so here's a SUPER HERO banner  as well. To view/download them, click on their links.

Why not  change your banner every now and then, as you switch themes.   If you’d like me to whip together another themed-banner, simply shoot me an e-mail and I’ll see what I can do.

Thanks for visiting today.  If you’d like to see all of the wonderful educational FREEBIES that I PIN, simply click on the “Follow me” heart on the right of the blog.

“Our success multiplies each time we lead someone else to success.” –Susan Collins

1-2-3 Come Make A Back To School Icebreaker With Me

"It's 'owl' About Me" is an easy and fun activity that help your new students learn about each other.  Completed projects also make a cute bulletin board.  If your boards are already filled, use these as a boarder on a hallway wall for an eye-catching display.

I LOVE owls, and by the looks of items available in stores, and PINS on Pinterest, I guess I'm certainly not alone.  The word "owl" can be used for a variety of word plays, such as this  "Owl" (all) about me activity.

Run off the template on white construction paper.  Have students answer the numbered questions, by putting their short answers in the matching numbered areas of the books. The questions appear on the template.

Students color and cut out their owl, and share it with their classmates.  Collect them and scatter across a bulletin board. I've included a large owl, with the questions inside, for you to use as the center of your board.

I like to use bright-colored material, burlap, or pin-dot wrapping paper as alternatives to plain b. board paper. 

To add more pizzazz to your students' work, give them wiggle eyes and a photo to glue to their creation.  Click on the link to view/download the It's Owl About Me Icebreaker.

Thanks for visiting today.  As always feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful. My "Pin it" button is at the top.  If you'd like to see all of the other wonderful educational things that I PIN, simply click on the "Follow me" heart to the right.

"When a person points a finger at someone else. they should remember that 3 are pointing back at them." -Louis Nizer

4 pages.

This is a quick and easy icebreaker for the 1st week of school, that will help students learn about each other, or later in the year, when kiddos writing skills have improved.  Completed projects make a cute bulletin board.  I've provided a large owl with the questions, for you to display in the middle of the board with your students' owls surrounding it.

After reading Dr. Seuss' (Theo. Lesieg) Ten Apples Up On Top , have students write their name on red, green and yellow apples and then glue them in an ABCABC pattern, on top of their head shot.

1-2-3 Come Park It With Me!

If you do a unit on transportation, you'll definitely want to include "Park It!" in your lessons.

The original idea for the parking lot, came from a home-schooling mom over at "I can teach my child", who made one out of tape for her sons.  Click on the link to check out her wonderful site.

I wanted to make this easier, and something you could put away, so I designed the template. I used traceable letters so children could also practice writing with dry erase markers. They can trace the top letter, park their car, and then write the letter(s) under their vehicle.

The Dollar Store sells small cars 6 in a pack.  You can also pick them up at garage sales any where from a dime to 25 cents.

Instead of tape, I used tough-stick colored dots.  Don't get garage sale ones, because they will peel off easily. For an even more professional look, watch for all of those 40% off coupons from Hobby Lobby, JoAnne Fabrics & Michaels, to buy stickers that already have the letters written on them!

Here's How To Make Your Letter Matching Parking Lot:

• Print off on card stock or construction paper in your choice of color. Laminate & trim.  
• You could tape all of the parking lot cards together for one big long parking lot, or keep them separate, so several children can play with them.  
• This hands-on game will be so popular, you’ll want to make several sets.  
• Another thing you can do, is put all of the cars in a container and let each child pick one.  When you call out a letter, that child with the matching car, comes up and parks it.  
• Have an upper and lowercase set of cars so students can match 1-1, upper to lowercase and lower to uppercase.  

Click on the link to view/download the "Park It Packet." Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.  My "Pin it" button is at the top.  If you'd like to see all the adorable educational items that I PIN, simply click on the "Follow me" heart on the right.

"Time is the most valuable thing a person can spend." -Diogenes

1-2-3 Come Make A 1st Day Of School Treat With Me

I know some of you have already started back to school (The Charter across the street from me went back the 5th!!!) but here in Michigan and Wisconsin our public school kiddo's (gratefully!) don't start til the Tuesday after Labor Day!  Wa Hoo for that decision. 

So my brain is still "full-speed-ahead" designing some quick, easy and inexpensive treats for the 1st day of school.  My Y5's LOVED glow bracelets.  I gave them one during our Camp Read-Away activities, when they read in the dark with flashlights, while sitting comfy in tents.  If their tent was quiet, they received a "glowing report" and bracelet. (Click on the link to read all about it.)

I've seen all sorts of wonderful "bright" ideas on Pinterest (My current drug of choice...who needs caffeine when you have Pinterest!) So I thought I'd throw in a few of my own, to add to the collection.  The best place to go for glow bracelets is The Dollar Tree.  They sell 15 in a pack, so for 2 bucks you're good to go, unless of course you have more than 30 punkins in your class, in which case, stop off and buy yourself a sympathy card from me, or better yet a bottle of wine!

Click on the link to view/download "Come Glow and Grow With Us!"  freebie.

I have a Bright Ideas Behavior Modification packet using light bulbs.

I designed that because I wanted my students to have brilliant ideas, shine, as well as have all those light bulbs turning on, when they finally grasped a concept.  I thought I'd continue that theme and made a BTS bulletin board, with a matching bookmark. Click on the "Wishing a bright student a glowing year" packet to view/download it.

Finally, to "Wel-gum" my Y5's to school, I gave all my kiddo's a piece of bubble gum after we went over our rules.  "We CHEWS to follow the rules and regs of our room." They could chomp and chew 'til the flavor was gone, while they finished up work, and then I passed a brown bag around to deposit the gum, lest we lose it later.

When I went to check out gum at the grocery store, I came upon Extra. Of course that got my wheels turning to wish students an "Extra special school year."  You don't need to give them an entire pack, just tape on a stick of gum. Click on the link for the "Wel-gum packet."  Click on this link for the Extra gum tag freebie.

If you've missed the latest back to school goodies and want to see more, click on the link and pop on over to that section and scroll away.  I'm wishing all of my visitors the best year yet.

Thanks for stopping by.  As always, feel free to PIN anything you think others might find helpful.  My "Pin it" button is at the top.  If you'd like to see all the awesome educational ideas I PIN away my day doing, (so you don't have to) simply click on the "Follow me" heart to the right.

"The next best thing to knowing something, is knowing where to find it." -Samuel Johnson  (Hopefully you did, at TeachWithMe!!!!)

3 pages.

Quick, easy and inexpensive treat for your kiddo's on their 1st day of school.  Matching back to school bulletin board template too. To add pizzazz to the board, surround it with flashing twinkle lights or rope lighting.

2 pages.

Come grow AND "glow" with us.  A quick, easy & inexpensive little surprise for your kiddo's on the 1st day of school. You can buy Glow Bracelets (15 in a tube) at The Dollar store.