Tournament of Books: March Madness for the Classroom

Hello, friends!

It's Christmas break for me and I'm taking a few minutes to plan ahead for the new year!  Last year our first graders hosted a Tournament of Books and it was a huge success so we're getting ready to host one again this year!

The first thing I did was put up this huge bracket in the main hallway of our school.  It generated a ton of buzz around the school, especially before we shared any details about what we were actually planning!  The Brown Bag Teacher has bracket printables free on Teachers Pay Teachers.  They are perfect for getting your bracket ready.  To build the bracket, I started from the middle and worked out on each side, using black duct tape for the lines.  It wasn't a quick project, but it turned out perfectly!

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10 Tips to Recharge Over Winter Break

Woohoo!  It's almost here!  As teachers, we give our all to our students and sometimes, we just need a minute to take a breath so we can bring our best every day.  Winter Break is the perfect time to get this must needed rest to recharge and come back in the new year refreshed and ready to go!  Here are 10 of my favorite ways to do just that.

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Parent Presents, PART TWO

HI, Friends!! It's Erin, from Very Perry Classroom again!
 Last year, I shared what we made in my classroom for our parent presents from students.. Since I am teaching first grade right now, and have many of the same students this year as last year,  I needed to make something different. A lot has been going on, and I started to worry that we weren't going to finish our presents (or even DECIDE on what to make) in time! Then, I went to Michael's.... Which is dangerous for any crafty teacher in December, but, lo and behold, there was a SALE! :)
I found packs of six of this style of ornament for 50% off....

(P.S. I wish I had seen this one before! What a cute idea!)

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Using Sticky Notes for Interactive Read Alouds

Do you love sticky notes as much as I do?  I have them in every color, every size, lined, unlined, tabs and extra sticky.  You name it, I probably have a sticky note for you to use.  One of my favorite ways to use sticky notes is for Interactive Read Alouds.  Read on to learn how I use them and for a freebie!

Hey there, this is Paige from Our Elementary Lives and this is my FIRST blog post on the Primary Punchbowl.  I just recently joined this fabulous group of ladies and couldn’t be more excited.  You can read more about me on my blog here!   

Interactive Read Alouds are one of my favorite things to do in my first grade classroom.  It is an activity that teaches many standards and they are fun.  You can read more about WHY you need to be doing them on my blog here.  Like I said above, one of my favorite ways to use sticky notes is for Interactive Read Alouds.  When I’m planning an interactive read aloud, I use my editable sticky note templates to type on, print and stick into the book that I’m using as an Interactive Read Aloud.  

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Writer's Workshop Story Starters

My little friends can spend an entire Writer's Workshop just thinking of story ideas. Does that happen to your class also? I am not a fan of staged writing prompts from the teacher, so getting them to pull from their own experiences can be difficult. That is why I send home a special letter at the beginning of the year. Read on to learn more and grab it for free!

Hi Friends! Sarah from Mrs B's First Grade here today!

Writing is *probably* my favorite time of day with  my firsties. However, when I have one friend that spends the whole time not even writing a word, I get very frustrated! Please tell me I am not alone...

I encourage my students to be "Writing Factories" and turn out page after page during our workshop time. I do not give my students single pages of paper. Instead, they get several pages stapled together so that they are encouraged to write more and more. Does it work? Yes!

So, how do I help those friends that do not know what to write? Well, one way is to have my parents help me at the beginning of the school year. I hand out a letter during our Meet the Teacher night and ask parents to list 12 story titles that their child could turn into a story. I always love reading what they come up with.

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It's Our Birthday! {A Blog Hop and Giveaway!}

The Primary Punchbowl is celebrating our first birthday and we have a ton of fun in store for you!

You can grab fun celebration freebies from many of The Punchbowl contributors.  Click here and head over to The Tales of a Sassy Teacher to get your next freebie!

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Student Data Binders

Hey everyone!

I'm LOVING third grade so far. It's been an adjustment but let me tell ya, I made the correct choice when I switched not only grade levels but also districts. We are finishing the first quarter this week Thursday and have a four day weekend for Columbus Day. I'm excited for the weekend but sad to know a quarter of the year is already in the books.

With the switch of schools and districts a lot more has been placed in my lap. It's all been for the better. We are requiring the students to not only set their own goals but to track them. Each student in our school has their own DATA binder.

In my classroom, I have the students track their spelling tests, reading selection tests from our curriculum, Accelerated Reader tests, math facts and math tests. Yes, I realize that is a lot to track but we do certain ones on certain days. It only takes a few minutes each day for students to fill in their new data and color in their bar graphs.

I have a meeting with each of my students weekly to discuss their goals for the week. During this conference we discuss their prior weeks goals and their goals for the following week. These are the mini goals they set for themselves.

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Print Your Own Posters!

Hello, friends!  It's Elisabeth from Literacy and Lattes here with a fun bulletin board tip!

I love to use my cricut to cut letters for the classroom, but sometimes I want things in a color or pattern that just isn't easy to do with the machine...or sometimes you just need a giant house on a giant bulletin board!

So...I'm here to share how you can print your own posters!

To start, simply create the image you want to print.  I like to use PowerPoint to create, but you can use Word if you prefer.  If you want to use clipart, I arrange my image to take up as much of the page as possible.  

Next, select "PRINT" and save your file as a PDF.

Now open your new PDF file - it might open automatically after saving.  

Then, select "PRINT."

Finally, select "POSTER" and set your scale.  I just set this by experimentation.  The preview shows how many pages your poster will print over so you can get an idea of how big it will be when you print the file.  

Once you've set your scale, print your file.  I like to print on cardstock so it's easier to assemble and a little more durable.

Now you have your pages and you're ready to put them together!

Start by trimming the white edges from your image and arranging your pieces.

BUT BE CAREFUL!  You want to leave the white edges on your pages for now.  This will help you put your pages together.  Trust me, I've made the mistake more than once and it's way more difficult to put the pages together when you cut flush to the image.  

Now that you've arranged your pages, carefully decide which of the white boarders you will cut off.  This is much easier when you're putting together a small object - two or four pages or enlarged letters - but when you're putting together something large like my 3x3 page house, you'll need to trim only certain edges.  I like to trim the white edges off the pages what I'm putting on top.  For the house I trimmed the edges on the outside pieces and left them on the center pieces.  

My papercutter is pefect for easily and neatly slicing the line.

Now you have a clean image without any white boarders.  

With the edges trimmed, you're ready to glue.  I like to use rubber cement - even though it smells horrible, it gives a nice smooth finish.

Finally, I tape the back of the seams.  It's probably unnecessary, but I think it helps keep things secure.  

Letters are a little easier, since they don't have as much assembly.  And seriously, how cute are these glitter letters?!?

I am loving how this board turned out!  The big house plus those dust jacket balloons...it's just perfect for "reading teacher nook" in the school library!

What are you excited to enlarge and decorate?  I'd love to hear!

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Teacher Hack!

Hi all! This is Chris from A Scoop of Learning sharing a teacher hack with you. I know there are TONS of teacher hacks all over the internet. Just like you, I have probably tried them all. Some turn out to be the greatest thing on earth and some not so much. However, I was just introduced to this latest hack that will make my life just a little easier this year.

A little background first, I have taught second grade for most of my career but moved down to first grade this year. I love it! The problem starts with these little humans being quite a bit smaller than the second graders I have been accustomed to. The fact that I'm also short does not help my problem, lol!

 The problem is this, when we take whole class assessments, they like to look at their neighbor's paper! What?! No way. Yes, yes they do. I know what you're going to say, just go order some privacy shields from a popular educational catalog (ahem). Well, I have those. They are big. Really big for my new tiny firsties. They would do the job just fine but they are big, bulky for firsties to handle and more difficult for me to see a group of students working quickly. Remember, this is the first time most of them are taking any type of whole group assessments, such as a spelling test. Therefore, I need to be able to walk around quickly during the test and see that they are even writing anything down:)

Here are the only two must-haves. Three pieces of standard sized tagboard and some packing tape.

I just taped the three pieces together like so. I did tape on both sides just to be extra sturdy.

Now this next part is only if you're a 'little' Type A, like myself:) I used my paper cutter to trim each side of the end pieces just a little. By doing this, they seem to fold a little better.

Last, if you don't have any restrictions on your school's lamination, you may even want to laminate them to withstand quite a few years. Luckily, I was be able to feed two of them through at once:)

Now, let's compare these 'home-made' privacy shields against the popular name brand. Just so you know, there are the SAME number of privacy shields for both types shown below.

Clearly, they take up MUCH less space. They are light enough that even my firsties can pass them out {perk!}, and they are short enough that I can see over them to do quick checks on progress as I walk by. The store bought privacy shields can be cumbersome for these littles to maneuver on their desktop. Trust me, I tried. They were constantly getting pushed off during assessments. These are small enough that they will stand on top of their desks and still give the students plenty of room to work. Win, win!

Now, here's the bonus...my new teaching partner has had her privacy shields for over 10 years and they are still going strong! Isn't that amazing?!

I would love to hear about some of your teacher hacks! Tell me your favorites in the comments below. Have a great Back-to-School season, friends!

Chris

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5 Easy Name Activities for Back to School

Hey!  It's Andrea from Always Kindergarten.  I hope your school year is off to an amazing start!  This time of year is always so much work and teachers are exhausted at the end of each day.  This makes finding the energy to plan and prep really hard.  I like to keep the activities simple and the prep to a minimum both for me and my students.  Since we tend to focus a lot on names at the beginning of Kindergarten, I've put together 5 ideas for working on names that are low prep and a lot of fun!

At the beginning of the year, I write students' names on sentence strips.  We use these for so many different activities.  A fun community building activity is to have students find a friend who has one, two, or even three of the same letters in their name as they do.  They love to look for similarities and differences in their names.  We also find a friend with more letters, less letters, or the same number of letters in their name.  It's great to get the kids talking and to learn each other's names in those first couple of weeks.

Some of our favorite tools to use for names (and word building) are letter tiles and magnetic letters.  Students practice building their own names as well as the names of their friends.  

Another great tool for strengthening fine motor and working on names are Wikki Stix!  I have a love/hate relationship with Playdoh and sometimes, I just need a break from the mess it makes.  Wikki Stix are a great alternative and the kiddos love bending and twisting them into the letters of their names.

Bean names, a classic activity!  I write students names on construction paper with a pencil and then they glue on pinto beans.  It's quick to prep and is fantastic for strengthening fine motor.  

This is definitely one of my favorite name activities for the beginning of the year!  We learn how to use watercolor paints to create name art!  I write the students' names with a black sharpie and students paint inside the letters.  It makes a beautiful bulletin board that you can keep up all year!

What are your favorite name activities?  Let me know in the comments below!

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.  By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase.

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Wonderland classroom decor and themes on a budget

Hi, there! I am Erin, from Very Perry Classroom coming to you on my third week of Kinder Camp! Third week?! Some people in the U.S. are still in school! I can't believe I am on day 10/16 tomorrow! Where did the time go? I don't know about you, but I am enjoying every spare moment I have had so far this summer break, and it feels so good!

As I shared last week on our linky, I am moving to first grade! With the grade change, I have decided it was time to change my classroom decor. SO, I am moving away from "The Mouse " (Or the "Mice," rather), and going in another direction... A more colorful direction... towards Wonderland!!

I know so many of you have seen the AMAZING classroom that Hope King of Elementary Shenanigans has at Ron Clark Academy. Beautiful, beautiful work that I can only drool over... Seriously, check it out and prepare to dream and/or drool...  I did want a lot of the whimsy and color from the Disney version of the story, since I will still be in primary... SO, taking some of the concepts from both versions, I think I have an idea in mind! I can't wait to share more in August, when it is complete.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of the ways I will affordably be creating decor for my classroom!
When looking for a new classroom theme or design, Pinterest is your B.F.F. I mean, where else can you have a giant resource of ideas at your fingertips? For example, I wanted to find ways to use playing cards in my classroom design, and voila! Look at this adorable idea for a garland from Love to Crop!

I just need to head to Dollar Tree for some playing cards (2 packs for $1), or order some giant ones (About $6) from Amazon!

Another thing I am dying to incorporate is the White Rabbit... That little guy always seems to be in a hurry, and I can totally relate! :)

I found this cute image online at Learning in Wonderland, and can't to create my own similar version, using my Cricut dies. Should only cost about $2 in paper!

I have had a clock with Mickey ears for a few years now (see below), and I am ready to create a Wonderland clock!

One of my favorite scenes in the classic story is when Alice is in the garden with the flowers. I think buying a few of these large flower-shaped pinwheels from Dollar Tree ($1 each) and adding faces would help create a Wonderland atmosphere. 

Finally, I am in love with the "Follow Directions" and "Looking Forward" posters from Eureka Schools. 

($5.49)

($2.99)

I can't wait to fully share how my vision comes together! What theme(s) are you using/have you used in your classroom?

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We're Mixing the Punchbowl!

Hi!  It's Elisabeth from Literacy and Lattes starting off summer by sharing some exciting things happening here at The Primary Punchbowl!  So many of the bloggers behind the Punchbowl are mixing it up and moving to new jobs!  We wanted to share our changes with you...and maybe solicit some advice, too!

For the last 5 years, I've been teaching Reading Recovery (an intensive one-on-one reading intervention) in the mornings and literacy block, science and social studies in a first grade classroom in the afternoons.  It's the best of both worlds.  One-on-one and classroom.  But my true passion lies in helping struggling readers find success so when the opportunity to move into the Reading Room full time, I knew it was time to take the leap!  So I'm moving to another school in my district and taking a step out of the classroom.  I'm so excited, but it's also bittersweet to leave my school and the families that I have worked with over the past years.  

Even in the very beginning of first grade, some of my sweet little reading kiddos come to me with a sense of failure already on their shoulders.  Taking those little first graders and giving them a feeling of success?  There's no better feeling in the world.  Honestly, my job is seriously amazing.  I do think I'll miss having my own classroom of kiddos, but for real...opening the world of reading to a little learner?  Pure magic.  

So in my new job, I'll still be working with four Reading Recovery students one-on-one.  I'll also be "pushing in" to other teachers' classrooms and working with four small groups of primarily first grade students.  

I'll be working on a cart for half the day, so I'm working on an organization system to keep supplies easily accessible and ready to use! Since I'm teaching Leveled Literacy Intervention (aka LLI) most of my supplies are already pretty compact, so that's a big bonus right off the bat!

That brings me to the advice I'm looking for...

In my 11 classroom years, I never had another teacher truly push in to my room.  I've worked with tons of awesome teachers who pulled students out from my room, but that's a whole different story.  So...tell me in the comments: Do you have a teacher who provides services in your classroom?  What works for you?  What makes you totally crazy?  

Check out the other members of The Primary Punchbowl who are moving to new positions!

Are you moving, too?  Feel free to join us and link up to share about your new position!

Happy summer!

  

An InLinkz Link-up

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