April Printables

Remember when I made monthly printable stationary for teachers? No? Me either. Well, I kind of do but it seems like forever ago. What happened? Life. Throw together teaching, mothering, sort of keeping up a household, a traveling husband, doctor's appointments and a lot of other randoms and that doesn't leave a whole lot of time to dabble on the computer. I knew I wanted to get back to making TeacherPRINTS whenever I could fit it in and somehow I managed to do that this month. Which was perfect because I had a lot of creative inspiration flowing around in my head for what I would do if I had a chance to make an April TeacherPRINTS. So, here it is and I love it. It's just what I pictured it would be and I hope you like it, too. Not a teacher? Don't be sad. You can use these printables, too. Here's a peek...

You can get the April TeacherPRINTS in my TpT shop HERE. You don't have to be a teacher to create a free login on TpT. Want to win a free copy? Follow me on instagram and stay tuned for a giveaway for these lovely printables. And if you're still reading, yeah! Click on the picture below to download a free print from this month's April TeacherPRINTS. I love reading The Lorax to my students around Earth Day and this has got to be the best line in the whole thing.

{free printable} June Calendar

You probably know by now that I love a great printable.

Mainly calendars {obviously} but I love anything functional,

with a purpose, and that I can write on.

Here's a free June calendar for you to enjoy!

Just click on the picture below to download and then print...as many as you want. :)

 

MLK Mobile {freebie}

If you need another activity for studying Martin Luther King, Jr.,

then you're in luck!

I actually shared this last year, but thought I would mention

it again.

I'm actually doing this with my students tomorrow,

but today my student teacher, Julie, and I were preparing it

so I snapped a few pics. :)

Here is a chart Julie whipped up in no time after I told

her I wanted something to brainstorm ideas for our

different dreams.

 And here is our example of the mobile ready to go!

We copied the clouds on colored printer paper...but then decided to

glue on white construction paper to make it more durable,

since it will be my example year after year.

I would recommend copying on construction paper for your students.

Click on the pic below to download your free copy!

Now I'm off to watch the new episode of Pretty Little Liars!

Anyone else watch it???

My husband reminds me all the time about how its such

a "high school girl" show!

I don't care though....I love the suspense! :)

MLK mobile FREEBIE and last chance for giveaway!

Happy Friday!!!

Boy, am I ready for the weekend!

Every year I have my students make a mobile
about MLK and I just couldn't find it in my files this year!
I got it from a resource book years ago but
can't track down a copy of it.
So I just made one similar today for my kiddos to make
next week.
I thought about waiting to post this until AFTER we
do it so I'd have some pretty pictures for ya to look at,
but then thought you might want this NOW so you can do it
next week too.
Click on any of the pics to download.

I use a hole punch and yarn to connect the small clouds to
the big cloud and usually make them different lengths so they
aren't crammed together.

This is also your last chance to enter my giveaway!
Click HERE to enter and good luck!
I'll be announcing the winner sometime tomorrow :)

Enjoy your Friday night!

Welcome Fall!

I'm loving the weather we are

having here in Kansas!

Lows in 50's and highs in upper 70's,

low 80's.

Can't really get much better than that!

Anyways, I'm home for most of the

week because my little one

caught hand, foot, and mouth.

She can't go back to daycare until next week.

Here goes the rest of my sick days!

She's doing ok and actually eating

and drinking some stuff.

Other times she spits out her

food and starts to cry because it hurts, poor baby:(

I'm loving this extra time with her

though and for the most part she is

in good spirits so we are having fun.

Makes me miss summer when I was

home all the time and I can't

help but wish sometimes I was a stay-at-home mommy:)

Ok, enough rambling, I wanted to share a game

with you all so here we go....

 

 

 

My students need lots of extra practice

with rounding so I came up with this game.

Click on any of the pictures above to download

a copy.

I think I might also make a Halloween

version, so if I actually do that

I'll share that too!

Daily 2.5

Sooooo,

I feel like this is more

where I'm at when it comes to the

implementing the Daily 5...ha!

In my defense...I read Cafe and The Daily

Five right before school started. I 

instantly LOVED them and wanted

that for my classroom, but I was a little hesitant.

Mainly because it would be different than what

I've done before and we use Open Court Reading.

I was/am unsure of how it can all

mix together.

I started the school year teaching Read to Self

first and then Read to Someone. Those

were not too different to implement since

I have always had a silent reading time.

It was great to take more time this year

teaching expectations for reading with a partner

since we do it a lot in my classroom.

I also {heart} teaching EXPECTATIONS

because I am kinda picky...at least that's

what I tell me students!

Anyways, my moment came about two weeks ago,

when I didn't have any doubts about whether

or not I was going to dive all the way in

with the Daily 5.

I was feeling frustrated with our reading program. 

There are some parts that I like.

But, it needs to be WAY more fun.

That day I was also reading the parent surveys 

I had just received back and one of the 

first questions was, "Does your child like to read?"

It broke my heart how many "NO's" there were and they

were often followed by, "because they are struggling and get

frustrated."

I knew at that moment that I had to try something

different this year, and if anything is going

to work with along our reading program

{that I have to teach with FIDELITY.

Does your school district use that word

as much as mine? Probably not!!!}, 

the structure of

the Daily 5 would possibly

be my only hope.

The Daily 5 sounds FUN.

My students need to have FUN reading and

they need to LOVE reading.

So that's where I'm at. :)

One thing my students are doing great at is

during Read to Someone. They are fabulous

at stopping to check for understanding.

I actually think they ENJOY doing it:)

I made these cards for them to use

to remember to stop at the end of

each page and check for understanding.

 Each pair of kiddos grabs one before 

they find a spot to sit.

They help the kids a lot because it prompts

them the sentence starter of, "I heard you read..."

in case they forget how to start!

Walking around the room and hearing them say those

words and then retell what they heard

is so rewarding as a teacher:)

If you'd like a copy of the Check for Understanding cards

click the download link below!

I need to introduce Listen to Reading, but we don't

have the supplies yet, so I think I'll just have to

move on to Writing and Working with Words.

I got the idea to use CD Walkmans if I can

get enough of them {maybe 4 or 5} donated.

Has anyone used these before?

I just thought the mobility of them would be

good for my classroom since I don't have

a space for an entire listening center.

I am excited that I'm going full force with this and

hoping to see some great results this year:)

I thought I'd write about this to see if there is

anyone else out there new to using the Daily 5 this year.

If you are, I'd LOVE for you to leave a comment and tell

me how its going for you!

Mad Science!

Most of our curriculum

is pretty much laid out for us,

but I'm trying to make things more

exciting and engaging for my students:)

I was brainstorming ideas for

science while looking over the

benchmarks when I had the idea

for a Mad Science! theme.

We cover several different topics/units

throughout the year,

but I thought it would be fun to 

wear "lab coats" when 

we are doing science activities

and experiments!

I saw this picture and figured

I could design name tags

and print on transfer paper

and have a parent iron them on.

I'm planning on asking parents to

send an old, white, dress shirt to school

with their kiddo, but

I'm also going to check out thrift
stores to see if I can get some
for cheap!

Our regular science journals

could get a face-lift like this...

I just Mod Podge that thing right up!
Love that stuff:)

I also put the cover page on a spiral
notebook and the grayscale
print looks good too
but I think I definitely am
going to have to use the ink
for the color version.

If you'd like a blank copy,
{I typed in our units under
contents}
then you can download it by
clicking on the pic below.
You could have your students write
in the units you study as you go!
This fits a spiral notebook or
composition notebook pretty
good after trimming.

And I made one up for anyone
who wants to slip it into
the front of a binder.
You can download that
one here...

I really want to find

the time to do some good ol' fashioned

science experiments

like these by Mrs. Jump.
Just sprinkle them in throughout the
year during short weeks/half days.

These are only small changes to
my regular science routine
and I hope the kids
get excited about it.

I just need to find my old

science lab coat from college.
I hope I didn't get rid of it!

{I'm thinking I want to create more printables

to go with this!}

Minnie Minimum & Max Maximum

During my student teaching,

another teacher I worked with

came up with a cute little story

to introduce the words

"minimum" & "maximum".
She named the characters Max Maximum
and Minnie Minimum.
The kids absolutely loved it!

The only copy of the story I have

is locked up at school,

but I revamped the vocabulary posters

I made by adding clipart and a cute font:)

Feel free to download below

and use in your classroom!