Superhero Secret Skills Review for Primary Students

I know I am always looking for Secret Skill Review for my Primary students.  I have found that if you wrap your review in something SUPER, students tend to do their best because they are having fun!  Here are some Superhero Secret Skill Review ideas!  

Addition and Subtraction Skills

Students will have a SUPER time proving what they know in addition and subtraction.   These pages are a great way for kids to both prove what they know and take a brain break to color either at the beginning of the year or, even, at the end of the year!  Super Secret Skill Review at it's best! 

Sight Words

Sight Words are a jumping spot for reading.  These Super Secret Skill Review Sight Word pages are super simple to use!  Just print and go!  The best thing is, they can be used as Morning Work!  Then, they can be used to assess students ability to read the words! Two in one!  Win-Win!!

Direction Following

This one!  How often do we get a chance to see exactly what students can do with direction following.  These Super Secret Skill Review pages can give you a clear idea of what students can really do with direction following.  They read each step and follow those directions provided.  From this, you can see exactly what your students are capable of, whether it is at Back-to-School time or the End of the Year!  Super easy to use too!  

So, as you can see, these Super Secret Skill Review pages are a great way for students to show-what-they-know and for you to get the information you need to assess from them!  LOVE IT!!  Let me know what you think by dropping me a comment here on the blog!  And, you can join me over at Instagram and Facebook to keep up with my journey there!  I'd love to have you follow along!  

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How to have a TWEET First Day of School! And Beyond!

Tweet, tweet!  The school year is about to start and you are wondering what to do to 1. Teach your students about your classroom and 2. Not bore them to death doing it!  Why not TWEET Your First Day of School!  Let's take a look! 

Teach Your Classroom

Students love getting up and moving the first day of school.  Plus, to be honest, they are just tired and need to move!  So, this fun little booklet gets the job done!  

There is some prep for you with this First Day of School activity.  Of course, printing the materials before the first day and assembling the booklets is key!  

You also need to have students access some materials around your classroom.  For instance, I always have them "discover" the dictionaries, as these are going to be key in our learning.  Another great thing about this activity is that your students dive into the classroom library! During this time, I ask the kids to pick out four great books they find that they would like to read.  This preps the possibility of students being able to read later in the day when everyone needs a break! 

Another thing this booklet does is gives the students an opportunity to talk to each other!  We tend to want to avoid this on the first day, BUT isn't that how we create community!  They need to get to know each other, even if some of them have been friends for years.  They still need to know what it is like in our classrooms.  Parameters can be established within this simple activity.  An example of this is how we talk to each other and how long within the classroom setting.  This activity will do that!  

Plus, it gives you the chance to expose other areas of your classroom to the students.  I always have the students find the clipboards, because this is a key tool in our classroom.  I list the clipboard rules out and have them available for students to view when this activity is going on.   This way, students are able to know their location and know the rules that go with them.  

The Secret is in the Tweets!  

You may have been reading this wondering how students know where to go!  Well, the secret to getting the students to the right location on the first day of school is to TWEET them!  

Simply by putting up these cute tweet signs, students have a marker for where they are to go.  They also move around to find these tweets at different rates, so you won't have kids gathering in huge groups.  If you do, this is your opportunity to step in and express the need for them to move about and not be social, but to concentrate on completing the activity.  To be honest, this is the first step in developing your expectations in a way that is facilitative and allows them the opportunity to grow in success through redirection!  

What Else is There?

Every year I have tried to accomplish this entire product on the first day of school, but, well, I've failed!  So, there is MORE that can be done, even past the first day of school!  Here's what you get!  

Tweet Tweet our Class is so Sweet Little Book helps your students understand rules and procedures!  Students get to reflect on what they are learning by writing it in their own words!  This can also double as a direction following activity, giving you an idea of what students are capable of doing with directions.  

My Tweet Friend allows students the chance to work with a friend discovering things about each other by using letters in their names!  The kids LOVE this activity because it gives them a chance to interact with a friend and discover similarities about themselves!  For you, it can guide you in understanding how well kids can use and interpret Venn Diagrams from their past experiences and how their handwriting is in an open ended activity.  

As you can see, there is so much packed into these first day of school activities that you can fill your lesson plans with them so quickly and easily!  Students just love them, and so will you!  Let me know what you think!  I'd love for a comment below about your first day of school activities!  Or, follow me on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with all the action!  

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Love the Bird Theme? Check out My Watercolor Bird Theme Decor and More!  

How to Request Supplies You Need at Back-to-School Night (Or Open House!)

Do you spend a lot of time agonizing over how to request supplies you need during your Back to School Night or Open House?  Many teachers use lists to show parents what they need for  the learning that goes on in their classroom.  Have you ever thought to use a themed Giving Tree for this all important request list?  Here are a few ideas for your classroom donations!

Easy to Use Design

These Giving Trees are totally easy to use!  Inside each of the Giving Trees you will find the letters to complete your display, the 8.5' x 11" poster that communicates the fact that you need to get those supplies for your classroom, and awesome frames for you to write your supplies on.  Everything you need!

Displaying Your Giving Tree

These are super easy to display too!  All you need is a white board, a bulletin board, your classroom door, or a display board!  I've seen them done in all of these ways!  Here's how you put this together.

1.  Print out all of the materials you will need.
2.  Cut out the letters and other items.  You may want to laminate them because you can sue them year after year!
3.  Write your wish list items one at a time on each frame.
4.  Display your Giving Tree in your room!
5. Get those supplies!  Whoot!!

Things to Remember!

Think across your school year and subjects for your supply needs.  Think about those craft projects or those STEM activities that escape you right now! Holiday parties and events are another thing to think about!  Dig into your year and go from there!  

It is always key to thank parents for the supplies that they send in.  Simply sending a thank you note is one of the easiest ways to thank them.  One great way to show everyone what supplies were donated and say thank you all at once is to make a picture collage of all the goodies and send it out to all the parents at once!  It's a super fun way to show your thanks!

Themes!

There are so many themes available that you should find something that meets your needs!  If you don't see one here, I could probably whip one up for your needs!  Simply leave a comment or email me at classroombestdays@gmail.com to share your idea!  Here are the themes available in my store now!

                                    

            

       

       

       

As you can see, using Giving Trees to request supplies you need at Back-to-School Night or Open House can be a simple and fun process.  I'd love to see you try one out!  Drop a comment if you have other ideas of how to ask for supplies!  We'd love your suggestions!

Want to discover more about how to make your classroom more student-led during the first week of school?  Check out this blog post!

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Student-Led Learning: Classroom Design and Open Seating

Have you heard of Open Seating?  I hadn't and my first reaction was that it was just another name for Flexible Seating.  Was I surprised when I read that it was not!  Was I even more surprised when I decided it was just right for me!

I was tooling around the Net when I happened upon THIS ARTICLE from Scholastic.  The idea intrigued me, but, to be honest, I thought htis lady was NUTS!  Letting kids pick their own seats!  Well, the more my Professional Learning Community discussed this, the more it seemed to fit into the Student-Led Learning model.  We wisely began to look closer at this model and we decided to incorporate one more idea into this.  REFLECTION!  If kids really thought about what worked for them in seating, if kids really thought about location and issues with others around them, could they actually do this?  Could we trust them with this wisdom!  So, we made a decision!  We are trying it out!

With this came the idea that came the fact that students needed a way to be guided and to reflect upon the seats they were in.  Open Seating Posters and Reflection was built upon that idea.  Here is a little video explaining how I set up my classroom and how Open Seating will be used.  Sorry about the VERY quick change over! I'm still learning video!  

Back to School Fun With a Student-Centered Approach!

I have been back to school for a whole week now and it has been great!  I am teaching third grade this year, but didn’t have to change rooms (and that’s a huge praise!)  But that also meant creating a whole new opening of a school year!  New projects, new ideas, and keeping some oldies but goodies going as well.  I’m joining up with the Grace-Filled Classroom to share all about our ideas for Back to School.  So, let’s take a look!

Student-Led Learning

When new directives come down the pike, I tend to be the one that says, “Fine, you want this, I’ll give it to you full force!”  Crazy, I know, but I guess that’s the way I protest!  That is what is happening with Student-Led Expectations!  If I could figure out a way to make every standard applicable, you better believe I’d do it.  But that really is unrealistic.  But I was thinking, what about our classroom expectations?  That’s doable!  So, I had to apply that to third grades, who were readily able and efficient at communicating school and classroom expectations.  After a little bit of brainstorming, I came up with I Know My School’s Expectations. Now, I have plenty of new students to the school, but that doesn’t matter.  By third grade they can pretty much tell you the rules and procedures for anyplace in a school building.  The one specific to our school I had all the old students do.  Otherwise, they were required to brainstorm all of the things they could think of that apply to that location in the school building, the rules and procedures that made them tick.  Then, after brainstorming, we gathered together so that the students could share those expectations.  This was true buy-in.  It took minimal amount of time, and, it was student generated.  It empowered my students with a voice on the first day, but was not overbearing and overwhelming. Get them for FREE here!  

 I did fancy them up, but all are hanging in our classroom to refer to whenever we need too!

Student-Led Learning Again!

Another way I plan on having a Student-Led classroom is to have the students record the standard in their notebook so that we can actually track what we are learning.  I saw this on Pinterest and thought, “What a great way to do standards!”  Yes, I could have spent a ton of time creating these, they could be fancy, but what did that do for my students last year?  NOTHING!  So, today we started our first standard in our notebooks, and on my focus wall!  

Why not, let’s give it a try!  Students will be referring to this standard, and others as we go, instead of me pointing out to them what they need to learn.  This instantly helped me to also think about projects to prove their learning.  One of the ways students in 3^rd grade in Florida can be promoted is through Portfolio Assessment.  What if I actually started to have them KEEP portfolios of their successes.  This will also help me to have great resources for Student Led Conferences!  This is a new thought pattern that is coming out this very instant!  How cool is that!  Something else to begin planning for! 

First Day of School Stations

Can I just tell you that for a second year in a row that I totally LOVE this for opening day!  The students get to explore the areas of our classroom by getting up, getting moving, and recording their thoughts!   I still highly recommend this product, although it is no longer free. It also provides that opportunity for students to have that control of learning instead of the teacher!  Another great way to include the students as leaders!  

Getting to Know My Super Friend

You can find this activity at First Grade Wow!  If you teach primary, her blog has AMAZING resources, including Soaring with Superheroes, for FREE!   This was a wonderful activity from that unit that we completed on the second day of school.  I had purchased the bracelets at The Dollar Tree and each child cut out their name from the alphabet page.  Then they met up with a friend and shared details about themselves with each letter of their name.  We switched a number of times and had a wonderful time completing the task! Well worth downloading and using!!  Thanks First Grade Wow! (And I used it in 3rd grade!)

Golden Year Starts with Golden Things

And, to finish off my awesome week, I had an AWESOME moment!  One of my former student’s father is an Olympian and a medal winner in swimming.  He couldn’t find his daughter’s new class and I begged off on him to come in and share super fast with my class!  And he said YES!!  When he pulled these babies out, I just had to touch one!  The next thing I knew is he dropped them down with a clank, and then lifted them to my neck and put them on!  Be still my HEART!  As a former swimmer myself, this was like a dream come true!  To feel what it is like to have these medals around my neck.  It took my breath away-and I hugged him!!  It was FABULOUS!  What a great moment to start a great school year! 

Let’s hear what is happening in your class to start out the school year!  May it be as golden and blessed with great things as mine.

(Here's a little something about my student's Olympic dad!)

  

It's a Sale! And a Contest!!

If you haven't heard yet, TpT's big BACK-TO-SCHOOL SALE is August 1st and 2nd!  Let's all fist pump!  Anyways, TpT did this AMAZING thing!  They gave away gift certificates to GIVE AWAY!  It's the Best Year Ever and I get to GIVE too!  So, here's how this works!  

1. Head over to my Facebook page.  You can click HERE or you can go right up there in the corner and click the Facebook page button.  

2. Go to the contest post and tag a friend so they can play along.

3.  In the reply under your comment, post a link to a product you are going to buy!  It doesn't have to be from my store.  But here's a link to my store for you to check out! 

4.  Click the LIKE button while you are there so you can keep up to date with all of the news!

5.  Check back at 9 p.m. EST to see who wins!  It could be you!  

Have fun!  I will be checking in from time to time to see how it is going and to message the winner with their $10 Gift Certificate info!  

Smart Starting the Year with Kagan Strategies

         

     This week went by in a blink of an eye-literally!  I am so thrilled with my class and we have completed a lot of material, both curriculum based and team building, in the two weeks we have been in class.  I have to say, being in a new grade level, I was not prepared for introducing the Smart Start materials.  I was actually in denial, I believe, denial that I had to do it!  I wanted to really work with my students to get the best community that we could.  I know it is what I failed at last year.  Last year-stress over a new curriculum we didn’t receive until that back-to-school teacher week.  Stress over a new evaluation system.  Stress over a new email system! You name it, we got it, in the first teacher week back!  This year was so MUCH better!  But I still didn’t go for the gusto with the Smart Start materials.  I thought it would just flow.  Luckily, it did!

            Our focus story was The Lion and The Mouse, an Aesop’s Fable.  Here was problem #1.  It is a print and read story from Wonders Reading.  This is the thing I struggle with in this series.  Why would a company send 1. everything on-line and 2. expect teachers to have time to print it and use it!  Call me old fashion, but I want everything in my hands!  I can’t run to a printer down the hall all day, let alone print stuff all summer!  Then I also didn’t have an actual copy in my many, many book library!  That for me spells “disinterest”!  So, I put it off!  THEN…

            I actually found a copy and read the story!  LOVE!!  I really love that story!  I love the lesson it teaches, I love the pictures in the text that I found, and I LOVE that it is very versatile.  It not only teaches the moral of friendship, but it lends itself so much to Kagan Strategies!  This year that is one of my goals-to bring in simple Kagan, and other, participation techniques into my classroom.  I am really excited about this and can’t wait to see what I can do in my room!  So, here’s what I did with my kids!

            Our Standard focus for the story is Key Details. I pulled out my handy-dandy Kagan “cheat sheet” and discovered some great ideas to implement and tie into Key Details.  Our first one is “Find the Fib”.  

Our copy machine has some line issues!

I thought I would start with this one since it was an easy introduction to Key Details.  We discussed what Key Details were and shared some samples from the story.  Then I sent them to their seats and had them work on the page.  They created two truths and one fib.  It was also a great way to introduce team jobs!   Once at their seat, they could only work on the jobs given to them by their Team Leader.  Wow!  I have to say, cooperation increase, the interest level was high, and the product was pretty great!  Students also shared the outcome as a group, in front of the class.  This gave them their first exposure to presenting before a group!  Great start to get them ready for bigger presentation! 

            Next came Mix, Pair, Share with pre-made question that focus on the Key Details of the story.  Students got a card from their table basket that matched their actual table color!  How is this determined?  See my post here about how I found a freebie to help me use my tables to the best advantage that I can!  Each child then had a question.  They stood up, pushed in their chairs (an important manner procedure we are working on) and began to mix!  When I called “Pair, “ they found a partner to discuss the question with.  

It took a “Super Heroes Ready” a time or two to get this one down.  When I want my class’ attention, I call “Super Heroes Ready” and they call it back.  I had to explain that they had to listen to the question carefully AND answer.   A number of the kids didn’t realize they had to answer!  That’s why you practice so much at strategies like this!  The results-AWESOME!  It was even an opportunity for a student called “Super Heroes Ready”.  This is a strategy I learned from Learn Like a Pirate by Paul Solarz.  Students should be responsible for sharing their own learning and discoveries.  One student taught me that when their team was finished, they would show thumbs up.  So I had him teach the class!  The kids really love teaching the class and sharing their ideas!  It is worth a try if you haven’t ever done it! I am so glad I tried this idea, both of them! 

            Another activity included watching a video I found on Pintrest.  It was a VERY well done version of The Lion and The Mouse.  Watch it here!  It was really great and the kids wanted to watch it first.  I did set a purpose of gathering Key Details that were the same and different in each version.  The students then worked in a team to complete a Venn Diagram of The Lion and The Mouse!  

So much fun!  We did do a class share out also!  This was a great activity because it gave me an idea of who struggles with finding details and who excelled!  I will use this information to further instruction within our class.  So much good stuff!

            Finally, I didn’t get to the last part activity, which are Key Detail Cards.  This activity is a game where students create their own flash cards .  The idea for these cards was for students to create Key Detail flash cards and then play a Go Fish type of games.  Students would ask, “Do you have a…” and then collect Key Details.  The idea would be that students find that Key Details are the same across their thinking because they are from their text.  I am looking forward to using this technique this year! 

            Where can you find them all?  Right here! 

The Lion and The Mouse is one of my newest products and lots of fun to use with kids!  A great way to Smart Start your year! 

            What have you done this year to get it off to a great start?  Let me know!