Back to School Activities for the First Week

Tired of doing the same old thing the first week of school? Need something new, fun, and interactive? This pack includes everything you need to get your year started off right. With an emoji-themed pack, it's sure to get your students' attention!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT!

Included in this pack:

• Back to School Book (10 pages for the students to fill out)
• Find the Friend (Getting to know you game)
• Yay or Nay (Reviewing expectations with game and writing)
• Emoji Me (Craftivity)
• Summer Feelings (Writing)
• Fave Board Game (Getting to know you game)
• Bell Ringer (Coloring page)
• 1st Day Gift (Printable tag to go with crazy straws)
• Bookmarks
• Photo Booth Letters
• All the Feels Bulletin Board (writing and bulletin board)

All of this is included for you AND MORE! 

CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT!

How to Backwards Plan and Organize Your Teaching Life

Of all the things that you can do to organize your teacher work life, creating a year plan is absolutely at the top of the importance list.

I’m ALL ABOUT backwards planning! Curriculum mapping and planning for the following school year is a huge part of our end of the year routine. 

A year plan makes it easy to discuss things as a team while looking at the “big picture“. This is our piece of mind. This is our bible. It allows us to embrace our creativity while knowing we are also meeting the needs of all the data driven aspects of our job.

Because we refer to it often, I print a huge copy for my team to refer to throughout the year in addition to our own personal-sized copy.

A thorough curriculum map helps ensure teachers:

• are planning with purpose
• have increased comfort/knowledge with grade level standards & expectations
• cover all key areas of focus during the school year
• unify disjointed scopes and sequences
• find clarity and direction for the school year

Honestly, I can't imagine beginning the school year without it. 

For an assortment of reasons, it is definitely in our best interest to be completely aware of exactly what we plan to do with our kiddos while ensuring that we will “hit it all” during the school year. The best and most efficient way to do that is with backwards planning.

Creating a year curriculum map is essential to an organized and well managed school year. 

Click for a comprehensive guide to backwards planning. 

Winter Lips Got You Down?

NOTE:  This is a sponsored post, but the opinions are my own.

Prep Your Lips For Spring!

I live in a cold and dry climate and I love to spend my off time outside.  Add that to the fact that the coldest weather of the year is here so it's time to hydrate your face, body, and lips. Luckily, EOS products are here to keep you comfortable. I have probably 5 of those little lip balms in my purse, car glove compartment and even in my ski jacket.  Life SAVER! 

Because I lack that skill of putting on your lipstick without a mirror, I usually use the natural colored balm, but I also like a little tint, so I have a few of those too. 

The Top Five Tips and Benefits Of EOS

1. Smooth lips

EOS stands for Evolution Of Smooth (did you know that?), and this line can prove that your lips stay happy against the storm. The popular egg shape is easy to stash in your pocket or purse with a smoothing balm you can apply anytime.

2. Tinted and shimmer

When you want to feel fancy, EOS lip balm products will do the trick. Lovely shades match your lips and can add shimmer when you're ready to perfect your pucker.

Tinted colors accentuate your natural lip tone for a subtle flush. In addition, shimmering blends are soft and shiny for a touch of glow atop your pout.

3. Medicated varieties

Lip care isn't always about the look. If you suffer from dry lips (hand raised high) or skin problems, you can be assured this brand will look out for your well being. Medicated and SPF balms are great for day to day use and will keep you protected no matter what the season. 

  

4. Cutesy packaging

If you're familiar with EOS, you know the packaging is key. This brand went above and beyond with colors to please their buyers and lovely prints for a lip balm that will stand out among the crowd.

5. Tasty flavors

With EOS lip balm, you can find bundles of flavors that go together or standalone balms that taste as good as they feel. Lip balms such as Pomegranate Raspberry and Strawberry Sorbet evoke the feeling of freshness on your lips (or wips as my kindergarten students call them.)

Sweet and Vanilla Mint are great for winter freshness upon your pucker. These long-lasting balms provide healing qualities and are easy to stash in your purse or pocket.

Choose EOS For Springtime Flavor

EOS lip balm products provide flavor as well as style. These portable necessities are perfect for daily wear and can be carried around in your bag whenever you're on the go. If you want to go glam or casual, EOS is a great brand for all your beauty needs.

Here's to surviving winter and getting ready for spring!

Animals That Hibernate Classroom Ideas

 Winter time is a great time to explore lessons around animals that hibernate!

Animals that Hibernate Books

I have a few favorite books we tend to read every year!  Here are just a few (click on the cover to find the book on Amazon-affiliate link).

As a class, we read Bear Snores On as part of our Engaging Readers Series.  The series also includes an informational text, so we did a little fact collecting!

We also did some retelling of the book The Bear Snores On!  This book is so adorable and lends itself to some great conversations!

You can read more about the lessons and activities we did for animals that hibernate over on my blog.

Click below to read more!

• Animals that Hibernate

Phonics & Sight Word Practice That Builds Confidence

Hi Peeps!
I love incorporating phonics and sight word practice with chunky monkey. This phonics strategy is awesome for beginning readers.

It is important, however, for beginning readers to address the strategies in realistic situations as well as in isolation.

In 7 Key Components to Effective and Engaging Instruction I stressed the importance of working on both phonics and sight words in independent and guided practice. This incorporates rigor, builds mastery, and improves fluency.

It is essential that students build confidence in working independently with phonic and sight word skills. One of the best ways to do that is by incorporating these important reading skills in as many things as possible.

I often have my students highlight or circle phonic chunks as well as the sight words we are studying for the week in worksheets and readings that we do throughout the week. Students notice the chunks of focus are not found in isolation. They are in every day text.

THIS is common core. Real life application. Understanding new learning in the context of where it is found in the real world.

Read More about how your kiddos can deepen their understanding, fluency and reading confidence.

Whale of a Time

Hi blog hoppers!

I wanted to quickly stop by and let you know that I have been having a 'whale of a time' recently, completely and utterly inspired by some sketches I've been doing and books we have been reading here at home.

My little boy Sam (he's in Kindergarten) has just hit his sweet-spot in reading and literally cannot stop pulling books from our shelves. He has also started drawing All. The. Things. But I will save that for another post!

If you have missed some of the whale resources I have shared recently, be sure to pop over and get them today.

• Whale Coloring Page
• Whale Reading Activity
• Whale Wh Words
• Whale Screen Wallpaper

When, why and how to teach children about whales?

Besides being awfully cute and engaging, whales make a perfect stimulus for many learning activities in the classroom:

• learning the consonant digraph 'wh'
• learning to write animal information reports (there are loads of interesting and awesome facts about whales to research)
• responding to literature (there are a plethora of beautiful texts featuring whales)
• learning about our world and environment in science (children on the east coast of Australia may be currently witnessing whales and their calves in the ocean and at the beach - use this as a springboard for learning about these fascinating creatures)
• looking at photos and pictures of whales and their habitat to inspire some lovely expressive artworks

Please stop by my blog to find these goodies, I would love to share them with you. I look forward to sharing some more ideas with you next week. 

- Mel (From the Pond)

Ready to Organize Your Writing Folders? Free file!

Are you looking for ways to organize your student writing folders?  I have a PLAN for YOU!

Many years ago I had made writing folders for my older students.  The other day, when I was "cleaning" out my catch-all drawer, I stumbled across them again.  SO, I cleaned them up and made a free file!  SWEET!  These are GREAT for any grade level!

Swing by my blog to read more!

You can read more by clicking: WRITING FOLDER Organization FREE FILE!

The First Few Days of School in Kindergarten

Are you ready for the first few days of school?  I have shared some of my activity ideas to get your year off to a great start.

You can read more by clicking:   The First Few Days of School

Back to School Essentials

Hi Peeps!
Are you approaching "back-to-school" mode? I'm in it full-swing over here in my neck of the woods. My school year starts up in just a couple short weeks!

I wanted to share with you some essential ideas and tools that I use each and every year to make heading back to school a little easier.

From management, parent communication, establishing behavior routines and expectations through curriculum and planning musts, to first weeks' essentials - I'm yapping about it all!

Hop on over to my post and grab some ideas for Back to School Essentials!

PAPERLESS Number Talks!

WHY DO I LOVE 
PAPERLESS NUMBER TALKS
A couple of years ago, I started using digital/paperless Number Talks during my guided math block. The results from this simple, powerful teaching practice blew me away. They instantly became the perfect math warm-up! My students were engaged in meaningful discussions focused on mental math and computational strategies. They were building their understanding of number sense and flexibility in number thinking. The benefits of this daily (5-10 minutes) Number Talk routine was also evident throughout the rest of our math time. 

To make Number Talks effective for my students, as well as for me, I started carefully crafting problems into digital slides each week. It didn't take long for me to realize that digital Number Talks are AMAZING! All I had to do each day was open up a slideshow and my Number Talk lesson was ready. Such a time saver! Since Number Talks are all about the process of mental math computation and sharing strategies, the digital/paperless format was perfection.

HOW TO USE PAPERLESS NUMBER TALKS IN YOUR CLASSROOM

1. Teacher presents each problem and gives wait time.

2. Students mentally figure out the answer (no paper or pencil) and give a thumbs up to show that they have at least one solution. *Students can put additional fingers up if they have more than one way to solve the problem. Example: Two fingers up means I have two ways to solve the problem.

3. Students share their thinking as the teacher records (students can also record). During this time, the teacher is asking questions like: "How did you get your answer?" and/or  "Why did you use that strategy?". Incorrect solutions and methods can and should be part of Number Talks.

I personally like to do Number Talks at the beginning of my math block, but it can be done at any time that works best for your schedule. 

BENEFITS OF PAPERLESS NUMBER TALKS

•Encourages math communication from all students

•Provides structured practice for mental math

•Promotes the value in using mental math to compute

•Promotes the importance of being flexible with numbers

•Uses a variety of strategies for computation

•Helps strengthen students' understanding of place value

WHEN SHOULD I START NUMBER TALKS
You can start Number Talks at any time of the year, and I've made it really EASY for you! You can get 40 weeks of PAPERLESS NUMBER TALKS in just one click here!

3rd-5th Coming Soon (Summer 2018)

These Number Talk lessons were designed to engage your learners in meaningful math conversations focused on mental math and computational strategies throughout the year. As I mentioned before, they make the perfect math warm-up! All you have to do is upload the Number Talk digital slides (PowerPoint)- PAPERLESS and ZERO prep! Everything is already done for you! 

Each day of the week has a specific Number Talk mental math focus. The predictable and student friendly structure of the digital slides allows you to spend more time talking about math instead of giving directions/expectations over and over.

Make it Monday

 Students will mentally think of equations that make the number in the circle using the given numbers. 

True or False Tuesday

Students will mentally solve the equations to determine whether they are true of false. 

Work it Out Wednesday

Students will mentally solve the equations and share their thinking. 

Time to Subitize Thursday

Briefly (5-10 seconds) flash each slide. Students will share what number was shown, as well as, explain their thinking in determining the number. 

Fact Fun Friday

Students will mentally solve the equations and share their thinking. 

Every week has 5 slides/problems for each day with the exception of Make it Monday. I've also included editable/blank slides in case you would like to create your own problems.

Number Talks have never been easier! 
KINDERGARTEN PAPERLESS NUMBER TALKS
FIRST GRADE PAPERLESS NUMBER TALKS
SECOND GRADE PAPERLESS NUMBER TALKS

What If You Had Animal Teeth?

We sure love the What If You Had Animal Parts book series!    Swing by to see how we turned this book series into a 4 week, close read!  We dig in deep so students can learn, but have fun along the way!  Click HERE to read more!

Sub Plans Made Easy with a FREEBIE and a SCHOLASTIC GIVEAWAY!!!

Hi Peeps! Traci Clausen with Engaging Teaching here... sharing about that fabulous topic... making sub plans!

Taking a day off as a teacher means writing sub plans. We all know how much that weighs on whether or not we take that day! In my little world, life has been in the way a lot recently and that has resulted in quite a few sub days. For these days, I am so thankful for the things that make planning for a day I can’t be in the classroom so much easier.

Stop by my latest post and grab a copy of my sub plan template and a FREE editable version that you can edit for yourself!!


Leaving Scholastic News for my sub to use with my kiddos is a big part of keeping my sub planning simple.

Don't forget to enter the SCHOLASTIC GIVEAWAY while you are visiting, too!

Visit Engaging with Traci Clausen for a chance to win and to grab your FREEBIE!