December 5, 2019 Leave a Comment

New Year’s Activities for Goal Setting

The New Year is almost here and it’s always the best time to “start over”, right? Of course, Back to School is usually when we reset for a new year, but now that the kids are a bit older {and better writers!} January is always a great time for a check-in on goals for the year.

I’m sharing my favorite New Year Writing Ideas that will set your students up for success in the coming year! Each of the ideas below includes multiple options and paper choices so you can pick what works best for your students.

Caution: Awesome Year Ahead

Your students will definitely be mindful of their goals when they see these brightly colored displays around the classroom!

Have limited room? You can do the same activity with a smaller writing prompt.

You can find Caution: Awesome Year Ahead in this month’s Lucky Loot. It’ll be on TpT and in The Lucky Store on December 31st.

Are You Yeti for a New Year?

Every single time I walked by these hilarious yetis hanging in my classroom I cracked up! I mean, how can you not smile at these goal-setting guys?

You can either do a full-page or a half-page writing prompt with the yeti.

Bright Ideas for the New Year

These goals will really light up your classroom {sorry, I couldn’t help myself}

Your students can focus on a few goals in the longer writing prompt or make a quick list with the half-sheet.

You can find Bright Ideas for a New Year on TpT and in The Lucky Store.

Zooming Into a New Year

Zoom into the year with BIG goals! These cars are a bit more work than the other activities but I love that it allows the students to focus on something they can, will and want to achieve over the year.

Or, you can always go with the short version of this activity 🙂

You can find Zooming Into a New Year on TpT and in The Lucky Store.

Ringing Into the New Year

Most kids won’t even appreciate this good pun, but I do! Ha!
This activity is super simple to prep – just print and go! There are tons of color choices included

You can find Ringing in The New Year on TpT and in The Lucky Store.

December 4, 2019 Leave a Comment

6 Ways to Keep Kids Engaged in December

I don’t know if it’s the weather or all that we fill the month of December with, I just know that teachers everywhere are {barely} hanging in there till Winter break! {Tell me I’m not alone!}

I’m sharing 6 ideas to keep kids engaged {you sane!} in the craziness that is a classroom in December!

Make Snowflakes

Would you believe that I had never made a paper snowflake until I became a teacher? I know – crazy!

We were stuck inside for a rainy day recess earlier this week and I pulled out the coffee filters and markers to make some beautiful snowflakes. BONUS: I now have fun decor for the months of December and January!

You can check out the easy instructions from One Little Project.

Don’t have the time or energy to make snowflakes? Check out the Online Snowflake Maker. It’s a mess-free way to teach kids how to make beautiful images!

Snowman Slime

This one is a bit messy but wouldn’t your students just love making this snowman slime?! Head over to see Ashley’s blog to see this fun activity!

B.A.T. Books

Now that my kids are in the full groove of school work and the routine, I have a wide arrange of who can finish what in the amount of time I’ve given them. A few years ago I started using the B.A.T. Books to solve this problem.

As students finish up their work, they pull out their B.A.T. Books. I created the activities to be a bit challenging, but still doable for a student to do on their own. The December B.A.T. Book is filled with holiday activities that cover Math and Language Arts.

You can find the B.A.T. Books on TpT and in The Lucky Shop.

I also plan to send home the Winter Break. B.A.T. Book to keep kiddos using those brains during the break 🙂

You can find The Winter Break B.A.T. Books over on TpT or in The Lucky Shop.

You could also send your students home with Holiday Homework. This FREEBIE is filled with tons of ideas for families to do together over the break.

Find it on TpT and in The Lucky Store.

Snap Cubes and Pattern Blocks

My favorite thing about using these Snap Cube and Pattern Block Mats and Mini Books is that the kids have no idea they are learning!

To turn these puzzles into a math activity, I print the mini-book for students to fill in after they complete the picture. For the Snap Cube pictures the students work on 1 more, 1 less, 10 more and 10 less. For the Pattern Block pictures, the students focus on counting the number used.

I love that I can keep the Winter Snap Cube and Pattern Block Mats out even during January {because let’s be honest – we’re too tired to think ahead on planning!}

Find the Pattern Block Mats and Mini Books on TpT and in The Lucky Store.
Find the Snap Cube Mats and Mini Books on TpT and in The Lucky Store.

Crystal Snowflakes

DIY Crystal Snowflakes would be such a fun activity before the break. You could even turn these into a gift for families!

Christmas Word Search

Everyone loves a word search! Grab this Christmas Word Search FREEBIE!

What are your favorite ways to keep kiddos focused in the month of December?

November 22, 2019 Leave a Comment

Help Your Students Learn Their Address!

Technology is awesome and makes our lives so much easier, right? We can quickly tap a button and call someone or look up an address with the swipe of a finger! But the flip side of that incredible technology is that we’re becoming lazy!

We no longer need to memorize important phone numbers or addresses. And sadly, it’s trickling down to our children.

To help my students learn this important life skill, we started writing letters to each other. Not only are they learning addresses, but they’re also learning the proper way to write a letter and address it. How’s that for sneaking in some skills!?

To begin, I asked our secretary to print out each child’s address for me. Then, we walked through writing each child’s address onto their “page” in the address book. In the pack, I’ve also included directions for asking parents to help their children write their addresses together.

Once everyone completed their page {with the proper capitals, spelling, and spacing!} I bound the addresses into the Classroom Address Book.

From there, students were able to write letters and address their letters to classroom friends. Over time, students eventually learn their address {as well as many classmates’ addresses, too!} This activity is the perfect addition to our Work on Writing block in Daily 5! Kids can’t get enough letter writing and it’s definitely a crowd favorite!

You can snag the Classroom Address Book + Letter Writing pack on TpT or in the Lucky Store.

We watched this fun video to show why it’s important to write your complete address on an envelope. I love that the video included some solid shapes in there, too 🙂