Items filtered by date: July 2012

"They may not be easy to see, but these are 5 things I want you to know about me!"

That's what the sentence says at the top of the paper.

It's a quick and easy icebreaker for the first day or first week of school, that’s also a terrific writing prompt for September, and fun way to get to know your students.

When completed, they make a cute back to school bulletin board too!  Make sure you do one yourself, so you have an example to share with your students, so they know how to do the assignment, as well as get to know their new teacher a little better too.

Older students can draw their own self-portraits in the blank oval.  So that they don't feel overwhelmed drawing themselves, remind them that this is just a section of their face from the nose up, or even just their eyes.  You can also give students a choice of the other 17 facial tops to fill in and color.

They should color their hair and eyes to represent themselves.  I find that younger students are less overwhelmed if they have this sort of template to follow and have a bit more fun with the activity, if they don’t have to start from scratch.  You also won’t have to listen to whining: “I can’t draw a face; or “I don’t know how to draw.” 

Little ones also tend to draw a tiny circle instead of a big one, or they draw an entire stick body.   You can include the template in your “Welcome to school summer letter” or Open House packet, and have students return them on the first day of school, so they can share with their new classmates right away.

Another plus of doing it this way, is that parents can help little ones write down the 5 things.  Some teachers like to have an Open House activity that students can do with their families.  This would be perfect.

Another option, if you don’t do a summer letter or Open House,  is to hand them out the first day of class and have students put them in their backpack or "Take Home" folder, for a home-school connection, to be returned in the next few days.

Make sure you provide time to share their completed projects, so everyone gets to know each other.  No matter what my students’ ages, I always had them applaud each child’s sharing. This is a big deal for many “shy” kiddos.  Writing in different colored markers also jazzes things up.

If you have the time, turn this into even more of a keepsake, by having a room helper or students trace eachother's handprint on flesh-colored construction paper.  Fold it over and cut once for 2 handprints.

Have students glue their paper hands  “holding” their writing prompt, in such a way that they can fold the wrist portion over and have them "flop" open to reveal their writing.  

You can punch a hole in the top and hang them back-to-back and suspend from the ceiling or line them up as a cute border, just below the ceiling in the hallway.

Click on the link to view/download  5 Things Icebreaker Portraits   Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away!

"By learning, you will teach; by teaching, you will learn." -Latin Proverb

22 pages. A quick and easy icebreaker for the first day or first week of school. A fun way to get to know your new students and a wonderful back to school bulletin board!

If You Take A Mouse To School and If You Give A Mouse A Cookie: Fun Back To School Books

Whenever I can, I like to make up lessons that go with favorite books. It’s a plus to have an activity that reinforces standards, for students to transition to, after reading a story.

If You Take A Mouse To School, and If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, by Laura Joffe Numeroff are 2 wonderful stories to read in September. I do a take off of these books with my easy reader: If You Give A Mouse A Letter He'll Want The Whole Alphabet.

Students read the sentence, then trace and write the letters.  When everyone is done, read the booklet as a whole group to review concepts of print as well as upper and lowercase letters.

Run off a set of the 52 upper and lowercase mouse letter cards, laminate and cut them apart.  Pass them out to your students.  As you read the story, whomever has those letter cards drops them into the mouse pail.

To make a mouse to "feed", run off my template, cut him out, glue him to brown construction paper and slit the line above the letter box. Staple a Quaker oat box or Baggie behind the slit.

Besides the easy reader, this 32-page packet includes:

• A feed the mouse template
• Upper and lowercase matching skill sheet
• Upper and lowercase trace and write skills sheets
• 4 "What's Missing?" upper and lowercase skill sheets
• Circle the letters of your name skill sheet
• An upper and lowercase letter assessment
• 26 upper and lowercase letter cards + covers to make Itty Bitty Booklets
• 2 assessments +
• 3 certificates of praise

The packet will help with Common Core State Standards: RF.K1d & L.1.1a.  Click on the link to view/download If You Give A Mouse A Letter Packet

Shapes are another standard that my Y5's have to master, so I also did an If You Give A Mouse A Shape packet.

Here you'll find two easy readers, two graphing extensions + several worksheets.

One easy reader is entitled: If You Give A Mouse A Shape (These are 2D shapes.)

The other is: If You Give A Mouse a 3D Shape. 

Along these same lines, is the If You Take A _________ To School class-made book, where students think up another animal they'd like to take to school and then write and illustrate their page. 

I've also included the Mary Had A Little Lamb nursery rhyme in this packet.

Thanks for visiting today. I'm onto yet another project.  So many fun things to do, so little time... I bet you can relate. 

“Little by little does the trick!” –Abraham Lincoln

6 pages. This is an easy and fun way to learn more about your students. Send the note and supplies home the first day of school, or include in your Open House Packet and have students bring their completed bags the first day.

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

A kajillion years ago, just before I was student teaching, I had a professor ask us to bring 3 things in a lunch bag that represented us.  We’d be sharing it as an icebreaker during our next class.

I really liked this idea and filed it away in my brain, thinking it would be fun to do with my “someday” students.  Many “some days” have come and gone and I’ve since seen variations of the “me bags” all over the Internet and on Pinterest.

When I was an aide, only ½ a jillion years ago, I did a writing prompt with my 2^nd graders entitled: “The Cat’s Out Of The Bag.”  I had an “all about me” checklist, written on a cat’s belly, that they filled out and then read to their classmates.

Later, they colored, cut and glued the cat, to the outside of a brown lunch bag, and after sharing them with their classmates, they hung their cat on the front of their lockers, so passers by could also get to know them.

My kiddos really enjoyed doing them, and we got lots of compliments from hallway visitors. I thought this would be a nice creative twist to my icebreaker bag of long ago.

Here’s what you do:

Make up your own personal “Cat bag” and share it with your students so they get to know a little bit about you too.  I included a family photo, (my students always thought it was cool that I have an identical twin), a small stuffed poodle to represent our pet Chloe, a tiny book because I love to read, a pen because I love to write, and paintbrush because I enjoy art.

No matter what grade I taught, I always made samples.  My students really enjoyed getting to know me this way, as well as being able to “see” something and refer to it, as they worked on their own project. 

Examples also made things easy to explain and acted as an attention grabber as well.  Run off the note to the parents, along with the cute cat and “The cat’s out of the bag” sign.  There are two on a page to save paper. 

Attach them to a brown lunch bag and send them home with students on the first day of school, or during your Open House. 

Not only is this an easy and fun way to get to know your students, it will afford an opportunity to give them some practice sharing in front of their new friends. 

This is a wonderful alternative to Show and Tell.  Plan to have 2-3 children (or as many as time will allow) share their bag each day during snack time, or at the end of the day before dismissal.

Click on the link to view/download The Cat’s Out Of The Bag packet.  Thanks for visiting today.  Do you have a getting-to-know-you project or icebreaker you’d be willing to share with us?  I’d enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or post a comment here.

Feel free to PIN away.  My "Pin it" button is at the top on the menu bar.  To check out more back-to-school ideas, click on the link, and stay tuned for more articles with lots of FREEBIES through out the summer.

“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you can help them become what they are capable of becoming.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

An Apple (Activity) A Day Keeps Boredom Away!

One of my favorite units that I did with my Y5’s was APPLES.

I think they really enjoyed it too, as visiting an apple orchard and picking 3 different kinds of apples was our first fieldtrip.

I feel it’s important to have lots of hands-on centers for little ones, to help them increase fine motor skills through cutting and gluing.

Doing centers helps with a variety of life skills and forces them to listen in order to follow directions.

As they become independent, they are empowered and their self-esteem soars.

Seeing their creations hung on our “Wall of Fame” in the hallway, also helped give them a sense of pride.

Knowing I was going to display their work, was a good incentive, to give their best effort.

Through art, I could also incorporate reading, writing, math, and science; sometimes all of them in one quick project, which covered a variety of report card standards.

The 92 – page Apple Art Projects Book has a large variety of activities in it and includes directions, patterns and pictures.

These make terrific center activities, something for students to do when they have completed other work, a nice home-school connection project to be given as homework, or something to tuck in your substitute folder.

The results are wonderful back to school bulletin boards, or hallway and door displays.  Some can be suspended from the ceiling.

The crayon-melt apple poem was one of my favorites.

The poem introduced my students to rhyme; the rhyme taught them the science fact they needed to learn about apples; twisting the 3 color crayons through a sharpener was a terrific fine motor skill, and the result after I put a sheet of wax paper over their shavings and applied a warm iron was awesome!

I also reinforced the 3 colors with this rip and tear apple, which strengthened finger muscles as well.

Students enjoyed making the Life Cycle of an Apple on a paper plate, which was a quick and easy way to get some science in.

Click on the link to view/download the Apple Art Projects Packet.

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you can stop by tomorrow for more back to school ideas.

Do you have an apple activity that you could share with us?  I’d enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com or take a moment and post a comment here.

Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find worthwhile.

“We should say to each [child]: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel.  You are unique -- you may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. 

You have the capacity for anything!” –Pablo Casals

Be True To The Red White And Blue

A big part of going back to school is teaching a variety of routines.

One of the things that my Y5’s were learning for the first time was The Pledge Of Allegiance.

Like many schools through out the US, we started our day with announcements.

Our principal’s voice would boom over the PA system and lead us in the Pledge.

My Y5’s were doing a wonderful job with memorization, but when I asked my little ones what they were saying, they were clueless, or had a very different interpretation of what some of the words meant.

For example, many of them thought indivisible meant being invisible.

I told them that it was important to understand what they were pledging, and asked them if they wanted to know what the words really meant?

Their curiosity was peaked and most of them raised their hands in agreement.

I designed My Pledge Definition Dictionary with kid-friendly synonyms they could understand.

As long as teachers are required to increase students’ vocabularies, why not start with these very important words!

This packet also includes a certificate of praise as well as a copy of The Pledge of Allegiance for students to practice tracing, as a means of memorization, so that they become familiar with the words.

Click on the link to view/download My Pledge Of Allegiance Definition Dictionary Packet

I feel that knowing about our flag is very important.

The Easy Reader booklet My Flag is a wonderful way to learn important facts about the flag, as students trace and then write key words, cutting and gluing matching pictures to the appropriate sentences.

The booklet can be used as an introduction to The Pledge of Allegiance or a review and has 3 different endings, which makes it very versatile.

Click on the link to view/download My Flag.

The 49-page Flag Activities Packet, covers the history of our flag, information about the flag, and includes links, articles, art projects, skill sheets and writing activities.

It’s a wonderful resource for something patriotic to do with your students.

One of my students' favorite activities was making their own personal flag.  These are a great way to learn about your new students and make a terrific back to school bulletin board too.

Click on the link to view download the Flag Activities Packet.

Finally, the I’m Proud To Be An American Writing Prompt fits well at the beginning of the year when you’re teaching the Pledge, or looking for an activity for Constitution Day.

Use students’ finished pages as an easy bulletin board, or collate them into a class book.

Click on the link to view/download Proud to be an American Writing Prompt

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you can also stop by tomorrow for more back to school ideas.

Do you have one to share?  I’d enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com or take a moment and post a comment here.

Feel free to PIN anything that you think others might find helpful.

“I find that a great part of the information I have acquired was by looking up something and finding something else on the way.” –Franklin P. Adams

1-2-3 Read With Me!

Here are 4 easy readers that are great activities for the first week of school.

My First Day Of School, is a quick and easy activity that will engage your students on that busy first day.

Take their photo and include it, to make this a real keepsake.

I've also included a page for preschool, Y5's, 1st grade + a blank page for you to fill in whatever other grade is appropriate for you.

How Do You Go To School, helps reinforce how children get to school. Students will enjoy reading this booklet and sharing how they arrive.

To make it more personal, have students put an X by the picture on the cover, of how they get to school, then have them write the name of their school on the last page.

Children read the sentence using pictures as clues.  They trace and write the key word, then cut and glue another picture to the matching numbered boxes.

The easy reader School, reinforces the idea of students liking school!

Children use picture clues to read the sentence. Students trace it and then write the main-idea word.  Children then cut and glue a picture to the matching numbered boxes.

The packet includes:

• 14 word-wall word flashcards +
• Covers to make an Itty Bitty Word Book
• 3 picture cards,
• A class book writing extension with two different writing prompts
• 2 math skill sheets
• A graphing extension +
• A certificate of praise

Finally, We Go To School works on days of the week.

Being able to read (sight words) word wall words is a Common Core State Standard. I listed the parts of a calendar as part of my word wall and thought an easy reader that addressed this concept, would be a fun way to learn them.

I included a quick and easy schoolhouse days of the week slider in this packet as well.

I hope you find these easy readers a nice addition to your classroom activities.  They work well for Daily 5 or a Reading/Writing center too.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you can pop back tomorrow for more back to school ideas.

Feel free to PIN anything you think might be helpful to others.

“Whoever retains the natural curiosity of childhood is never bored or dull.” -Unknown