My (Not So) Elementary Life

Earth Day Resources

It is crazy to think that we are already almost at the end of March. Spring is officially here (although the weather still hasn’t figured that out yet) which also means Easter and Earth Day are coming up.

Last year I created this Earth Day pack and just recently updated it to include more activities. I wanted to share the updates with you in hopes that it may come in handy for your classroom Earth Day learning.

My favorite part of this pack is the Earth Man Craft.

This pack is once again structured like all of my other themed resource packs. Some of the things included in this pack are listed and shown below.

Writing Prompts

KWL, Anchor Charts, Circle Maps & Facts Pages for various Earth Day related topics including classroom chart parts

Graphing Sheet along with class graphing chart parts

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle activity pages

Cut and Paste Activity to decide what is good or bad for the Earth which also includes pieces to create a class chart to be used during whole group instruction

Nonfiction Earth Day Reader

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Posters to display in the classroom

Earth Day Vocabulary Cards

If you previously bought this pack you can redownload it to get the updates. Celebrating Earth Day makes me happy because it helps to remind me that it is Spring, my second favorite time of year (next to fall).

Spring Fever

Anyone else having some major Spring Fever? How about a fun craft to help curb that Spring Fever and dress up the halls/bulletin boards?

If you are looking for something to help curb the spring fever in your classroom, you can check out this craft (which also includes a few activity pages) by clicking on any of the pictures in this post. Happy Spring friends :)

Transitioning Using Content Vocabulary, Sight Words Etc. Bright Idea Hop

I am very excited to be participating in the Bright Idea’s Blog Hop.

I love seeing posts that help bring me back to what blogging really is about, sharing great ideas. During the last hop I found a TON of amazing ideas from some amazing bloggers that I just had to store away for future reference. They were just that good. If you have been hopping along you should have come from Jessica’s blog, The Littlest Scholars.

Today I am going to share one of my most favorite ways to transition in the classroom. Not only does it cut down on the quadrillion questions from students about what they are to be doing, but it also is helping students develop a greater vocabulary or practice skills/ideas used in the classroom each day. They are learning while transitioning.

In Kindergarten we have several sight words we have to learn each week. In order to transition, students are not to move or “make the transition” until they hear me say the “Word of the Day” which is most often one of our sight words. Our word of the day is displayed in the front of the classroom and we discuss what it is during carpet/calendar time in the morning.

Thank you to Kristen Smith for the help with the pictures :)

We talk about the sight word/word of the day and use it in sentences, spell it etc in order to understand everything there is to know about the word. Then when it is time to make any sort of transition in the classroom students do not make that transition until they hear me say the word of the day. Students learn to stay seated and listen to all directions by practicing this technique each day. It soon becomes routine and let me tell you, if you happen to forget to say the word of the day in a transition time the kids WILL let you know.

Sometimes I will mix things up and use a different words as our word of the day. During holidays I will oftentimes use fun words like turkey or stocking as our word of the day, always making sure we talk about the word during morning meeting. Other times I will use content vocabulary. For instance, when we are studying apples at the beginning of the year, I will use terms like apples and fall and we will then discuss how these terms are related to our study on apples.

There are so many possibilities with this idea. The main idea is to help make transitions more effective with an added bonus of practicing and reinforcing key vocabulary and sight words in the classroom.

Using this technique in the classroom helps keep me sane as a teacher. It has DRASTICALLY cut down on the amount of questions you get about what students should be doing once they go back to their seats after being on the carpet or after they get out their pencils etc.

You should be able to drastically cut down on this very scenario happening.

Students are listening to you and your directions the ENTIRE time and not focusing on doing what they are to do after you say the word of the day.

I hope some of you can find this helpful. I know it has been one of the best things I have implemented in my classroom.

Next up on the blog hop is Fern, from Fern Smith’s Classroom Ideas. Fern has a great post for
you all about professional teacher behavior! Just click on the button below to check it out!

Alternatively, you can search by topic using the link-up below and move along to any other blog on the blog hop!

An InLinkz Link-up

President’s Day Resources

I have said it a couple times before, but man is this month FULL of things to be teaching our little ones. I know many have had ALOT of snow days which makes it even harder to get everything in that they need to.

With President’s Day coming up, I wanted to share with you a little peek inside my President’s Day unit.

This pack is structured like all my other themed units and also includes a bonus patriotic heart craft.

Seeing what the kids write using these writing prompts is always so fun. These prompts/pages allow students to use their imaginations and get as creative as they want.

All my units contain various graphic organizers for you to use to help build schema for your unit. I feel it is necessary to continue supplying these types of organizers to my students in order to help with comprehension of information they are being presented. If we continue to offer these types of resources it will lead to them being able to independently use these skills on their own while reading and learning, which will lead to better comprehension of text and information.

An activity I have been adding to all my units is a one page reading comprehension passage. It includes 3 comprehension questions on the bottom for students to answer. All answers can be found within the text. You can have students color code the information they found to answer the question with the question in order to encourage students to make sure their answer is correct. One is provided for both Washington and Lincoln.

One of my favorite activities I include in my units is a labeling activity. Various options are provided to allow for differentiation within the classroom. A colored and black and white poster for both Washington and Lincoln is provided to discuss the parts of as a whole group and to then display during your unit. 3 differentiated student labeling activities are also provided for each president: one cut-and-paste activity, one fill-it-in using the word bank, and one fill-it-in with no word bank.

This unit also includes some fact sheets students can fill in. The information needing to be filled in can be learned using the reader included in the pack, but there are many sources to find the information as well.

Students will also love the colorful, vibrant, real life pictures in the classroom “big” book. They will be able to follow along with the black and white student reader. They will love having their very own book, just like the teacher :)

The pack also consists of directions and materials to make this Patriotic Heart craft (this craft takes some time and needs a lot of attention to detail so make sure your students are able to follow directions well.)

Looking for more President’s Day resources and cute ideas? Check out my President’s Day board on Pinterest.

To find my unit in my store, you can click on any of the pictures in the post or you can find it by clicking HERE.

I hope you were able to find some ideas that you can use to help teach your student’s about President’s Day. Have a good week friends and stay warm wherever you may be reading from. :)

Promoting Kindness at Valentine’s Day

We are definitely getting stir crazy around here with all of the snow, which tends to bring out the not so pleasant in my little sweeties. I am sure many, if not all of you, can agree at one time or another.

When I was creating my craft for Valentine’s Day I started thinking about what I wanted students to get out of it. Valentine’s Day is the holiday of love. We should always show love and kindness to one another, not just on Valentine’s Day, but what a great week/day to actually make it known in the classroom. This got my wheels turning and that is when my Valentine’s craft/idea was born.

This pack can serve many purposes in the classroom. Not only is it a cute little Kangaroo craft, but you can also use it to help promote kindness in the classroom. Students can work to compile the craft and then throughout the week you can have them write random kindness notes to each other and fill their kangaroo pouches with notes. Then at the end of the week, during your Valentine’s parties you can have students read the notes from their classmates.

In addition to having students write notes of kindness, you can hold discussions about being bucket fillers instead of bucket dippers. Create class anchor charts to show ways you can be both and stress the importance of being a bucket filler. Even if you have already done this during the year, it never hurts to go back and remake the charts. You may never know what your students will come up with now that they have been with their classmates and you as a teacher.

This is also a great time to have a class discussion about bullying. I know a lot of schools have an anti-bullying type of program in place and require teachers to hold weekly/monthly meetings in their classroom to discuss what bullying looks like and what you should do if you are faced with bullying.

You can find my Bucket Filler Pinterest board HERE. It doesn’t have much on it, but I plan to add to it as I find things.

You can check out this little craft (which can be customized for a boy (bowtie) or girl (hair bow)) by clicking on any of the pictures below or by clicking HERE. It includes all the pieces to create the craft, directions for use in the classroom, a Valentine’s Word Search, and an Acts of Kindness brainstorm worksheet. If you use it, I would love to hear how you used it in your classroom.

Girl with hairbow

Boy with bowtie

Dental Health Resources

February is a jam packed month. Groundhog’s Day, Dental Health Month, Valentine’s Day, and President’s Day and possible even something I am missing. All of this in the shortest month of the year. I am going to be sharing an in depth look at my Dental Health unit resources for Dental Health Month so that you can hopefully be prepared for this busy, short month.

This pack is structured like all my other themed units and includes a few extras as well. You can click on any of the pictures to find the unit in my store.

Seeing what the kids write using these writing prompts is always so fun. These prompts/pages allow students to use their imaginations and get as creative as they want. How to writing prompts are great for helping students work through steps of completing something.

All my units contain various graphic organizers for you to use to help build schema for your unit. I feel it is necessary to continue supplying these types of organizers to students in order to help with comprehension of information they are being presented. If we continue to offer these types of resources it will lead to them being able to independently use these skills on their own while reading and learning, which will lead to better comprehension of text and information.

One of my favorite activities I include in my units is a labeling activity. This particular unit includes a poster and a craft activity for labeling the parts of a tooth. These templates were created by me based off the diagram I created in PowerPoint of the parts of a tooth.

This unit includes vocabulary and fact posters, various Venn diagram activities for comparing, healthy and unhealthy teeth comparing activities, and teeth cleaning charts/lost tooth certificate.

The pack also consists of directions and materials to make this tooth craft. With just a position change of the bow you can make the tooth into a boy or a girl :) I love accordion legged/armed crafts :)

You cannot complete Dental Health month without some reading and these are some great Dental Health books. You can check each of these books out by clicking on the pictures below.

Looking for more Dental Health resources and cute ideas? Check out my Dental Health board on Pinterest.
To find my unit in my store, you can click on any of the pictures in the post or you can find it by clicking HERE.
I hope you were able to find some ideas that you can use to help teach your student’s during Dental Health Month. Have a good week friends and stay warm wherever you may be reading from. :)

Groundhog’s Day Resources

Groundhog’s Day is such a fun and quirky holiday to “celebrate” with your students. My Groundhog unit is one of my most favorite units. Here is a closer peek at what is included in this unit. (You can click on any of the pictures to be taken to the unit in my store.)

My favorite part of my Groundhog’s Day Unit & Craft Pack is this big eyed cutie. Seriously can’t stand his big eyes.

This pack also includes materials to learn about both Groundhog’s Day AND just groundhogs in general.

Seeing what the kids write using these writing prompts is always so fun. These prompts/pages allow students to use their imaginations and get as creative as they want. Seriously, how would YOU catch a groundhog?

All my units contain various graphic organizers for you to use to help build schema for your unit. I feel it is necessary to continue supplying these types of organizers to my students in order to help with comprehension of information they are being presented. If we continue to offer these types of resources to our students it will lead to them being able to independently use these skills on their own while reading and learning, which will lead to better comprehension of text and information.

An activity I have been adding to all my units is a one page reading comprehension passage. It reads exactly as my “big” books and student readers do and includes 3 comprehension questions on the bottom for students to answer. All answers can be found within the text. You can have students color code the information they found to answer the question with the question in order to encourage students to make sure their answer is correct.

Groundhogs Day Reading Comprehension Passage

One of my favorite activities I include in my units is a labeling activity. Various options are provided to allow for differentiation within the classroom. A colored and black and white poster is provided to discuss the parts of a groundhog as a whole group and to then display during your unit. 3 differentiated student labeling activities are also provided: one cut-and-paste activity, one fill-it-in using the word bank, and one fill-it-in with no word bank.