Utilizing School Day Holidays

Cassie here from Texas Forever (Formerly Mrs. Thomas's Class) and today I want to share with you a few tips for how to survive holidays in the classroom. 

By now I am sure most of you have seen this meme floating around social media

Props to you all! This week I am still on maternity leave, so I haven't had to endure this craziness, but I have in the past so I feel your pain. Hopefully it wasn't too bad! 

There is a positive:

I'm excited for this even for my personal self! 

Back to the point.

Halloween is definitely one of those holidays where, if you can celebrate, it's usually crazy and full of sugar. If you can at all costs, avoid the candy, and if you have candy only have it at the end of the day. (First year teacher mistake, candy at like 11 - worst idea ever)

If you can celebrate Halloween, I have always enjoyed having Halloween themed activities. It keeps the students a little wild, but still learning and having fun. I am not in the classroom currently, but during my tutoring sessions I created some activities to do with my tutee. 

The left photo I wrote words with blends on a pumpkin and then I said either the blend or word and had him tell me the blend and then he got to cover it up with those cute felt stickers from the Target dollar spot. 

The photo on the right are blend puzzles. He put them together, told me the word. You can see the witch fingers we have been using those to read during tutoring with the lights, also both from Target Dollar Spot. (Best place ever, right!?) I also found skull erasers I bought for him to put on the end of pencils to point to each word as we read. 

Sadly, I know some of you CAN'T avoid the sweets, and then I know that some of you can't have homemade snacks at school. It's an awful predicament, but I do have some advice. If you HAVE to have sweets - save for the last 30 minutes. It will keep the students somewhat focused (or as focused as they are going to be), and then save your sanity. If you CAN have other food for snacks. By all means, be healthy!!! Here are some of my favorite ideas.

       

These are for Halloween - but there are so many ideas for every holiday! 

This is a no brainer for those veteran teachers out there who have experienced classroom parties, but I remember as a first year teacher I didn't know this was the MOST IMPORTANT party part. 

Set the tone EARLY. 

If it's like this year and Halloween parties were luckily on a Friday, Monday or the Friday before start explaining your expectations for the party day. Don't let up at all that week, don't give an ounce of leeway or you will lose your students. No matter how much you think you won't, it could be all over by Tuesday and that's a wasted week we all sadly can't afford in the classroom. 

SO important. Send home letters at the first of the year about parties, reminders the month of big parties, and small reminders the week of parties. I have heard too many times too many teachers so upset because a parent walks in their classroom with cupcakes and soda at 11am. There goes your teaching day, we know this, but parents may not understand this. Why does this ruin your teaching day? Imagine a group of 20 5 year olds seeing all of that sugar walk into the classroom - their little eyes get wider, their hearts start pumping, and their desire to do any work for you, GONE. Just make sure you have some sort of routine where you send home reminders constantly. Parents get busy and make honest mistakes of forgetting what was set in place in August. 

and last but not least......

HAVE FUN! 

Your students will remember that day forever if you are just as excited and enjoying the time with them as they are with you. :) 

I hope this helps. Sorry it's the day of, but remember, Halloween isn't the only holiday that involves the kids getting crazy!!! 

Save this for Christmas and Valentines Day - FOR SURE! 

Have a great Halloween weekend!!

Mystery Readers and Skeleton FUN

I LOVE this time of the year! Holidays everywhere!!! Hey friends, it's Kristen from Loving Teaching Inspiring (the blog that really needs some attention...).

I just moved to first grade this year and I'm loving it but, I'm really struggling with fitting in the fun crafts. These 6 year olds (literally only one year above Kindergartners) have a lot on their agenda each day but I know they still need the fun!!! I decided to implement Friday mystery readers which has been a great success!

A couple weeks ago, my high school BFF came to be our mystery reader! She read a class favorite, Skeleton Hiccups. We then made these adorable paper plate skeleton skulls.

This craft was so easy! I simply cut a paper plate in half and gave the kids scrap pieces of white and black paper. I love the way the all look a little different but still equally adorable! I hope this encourages you to do a little craft even if it's as simple as these.

P.S. Isn't that skeleton shirt the cutest?? I can't believe I will have another beautiful baby girl in March!!!

Halloween Write the Room

Hey y'all! It's Kourtney blogging from Mrs. Payton's Precious Kindergarteners! (It's a ghost town over there y'all...just bare with me!)

Seriously cannot believe it's already the end of the first 9 weeks for me! I'd love to say we have established a routine, but I just overhauled my schedule and so we are learning a new routine! The good news is, we have learned how to do everything and I just completed assessments and my kids are SO SMART!

They love, love, LOVE centers! One of their favorites? Write the room! Years ago, when I first started checking out the world of Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest, I had no clue what a Write the Room Center was...but once I introduced it to my students, I have never looked back!

All of my centers have an icon..here's Write the Room.  I leave the sheet, the markers, and the clipboards at the center for the students to pick up when they get there. (Check out those glasses in the caddy...I started using those last year! Those are a score from the Target Dollar spot!)

Then I place my picture cards around the room. Sometimes the kids count things too.  I told them they are detectives...sometimes I forget where I put the cards...it's always a mystery.:)

Then my sweet children, find the words and record...I mean...y'all these glasses.  I.can't.even.  LOVE!

And there you have it.  Learning made fun!  Want to try write the room next week? Here's a free one for you!

I hope your kids enjoy! AND - RUN don't walk to Target and get some glasses for them to wear while they are hunting for the words...they will love it...and you will smile every time you see them.

Until next month, 

BOO-yah! You've Been BOOed! [FREE!]

Happy Halloween! It's Dianna here with you today from Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching! Click my button below to follow me along my journey!

It's the season to spread some BOO! So get started SPOOKING a few! Start a little fun this season, put smiles on faces & TREATS at their places!

It's a great activity to build school morale with the entire staff! You can also play with your friends or neighbors too! Keep it a SECRET, nobody will ever know who BOOed who! 

It's simple to get started, just BREW your SPELL! Take a day to make 2, 2 treat bags & 2 copies of each! 

Join the fun, the season is here. So spread the BOO & keep the CHEER!

Click on any of the photos or HERE to grab this for yourself!

Happy BOOing!

Fun and Creative Ideas for Your Classroom Halloween Party!

Hello friends!  Happy October from Cara Taylor at Creative Playground!  I have to be honest... Halloween is my favorite time of year because of my birthday.  But this year, I'm turning a "milestone" age, and it's getting me down.  So I'm trying REAL hard to get out of this funk and what better way than to have a party!  A classroom Halloween party that is!

     Year after year, I've come to do the same ol' thing when it comes to parties... Have snacks and watch a movie.  Very easy and manageable, especially when you have no parent help.  But with the birthday this year, I decided to celebrate a little different this time and have a party around a theme.  And what better theme than candy corn?

     After doing some research, I discovered that October 30th is National Candy Corn Day!  So it makes sense to use this as our "featured" candy for our theme.  It also lends well for classrooms that don't really celebrate Halloween or have students that don't participate in this holiday's festivities. 

     I decided that centers would be awesome and easier to run with so many different activities.  If your students are used to centers, it will be easier for them.  But if they're not familiar with the center "do's and don'ts" I might not try this set-up.  It's supposed to be a fun time; not a time you're pulling out all your hair!

  

  Prepare by getting your candy corn... There are a variety of different types, colors and flavors.  So think ahead about your use of them and that should help with what kind to get.  For example, if you'd like to do a sort, choose the Fall Holiday Mix of candy corn that has various types of shapes in it.  If you'd like to do a taste test, choose different flavors of candy corn.

 

   I'm an artsy-fartsy type of girl, so craftivities are right up my alley!  I wanted to use the Halloween monster theme and candy corn, so I came up with this cute craft monster!

     Is this the cutest monster or what?  I'd suggest having all the templates made for your kiddos; I like doing it on white paper so the kids can color it the colors they like.  The last step would be to glue on the candy corn teeth.  This can be done in a pattern or randomly.  You can even make it into an addition and subtraction center, with adding more and taking away teeth.  How fun!  Students could write their own story problems as well.

     I have many center activities planned, like this game above.   Each student in the group has a game board and they spin using the spinner to find the sum of the numbers.  If they have that number on their board, they cover it with a candy corn.  The first player to cover their board is the "winner".  What a fun way to practice addition and incorporate candy corn!

     Another center game is this candy corn shape find.  Again, students have a board similar to this one.  A shape card is pulled and if the student has that shape on their board, they cover it with a candy corn.  Perfect way to practice shapes!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Halloween-and-Fall-2116543

     To throw in a little writing, classroom books are a great idea!  This is the cover for a book about when we all become pieces of candy corn.  The students have a sheet to write and draw about their adventures.  It can then be put together into a book for the classroom library.

     Grab and Guess is a fun way to pull in estimation, which is an easy skill to focus on with a bunch of candy corn.  I put a little twist in this activity, with having the students estimating how many are LEFT in the bag, forcing them to think about missing addends!  Sneaky, we teachers are!  The recording sheet is seen below.  If you'd like a copy of this center and printables, click here.

    Another way to pull in estimation is to have an ongoing Estimation Station activity in which the students make estimates as to how many candy corn are in each jar.  I like to have more than one jar, so they can practice various skills.  Try to have different sizes of jars and have two jars with the same amount.  Great way to talk about volume and using mental strategies for counting and estimating!  For a copy of this printable, click here.

     I have all these centers in a Candy Corn unit that can be found in my store.  There are many different games and activities, along with recording sheets.  

     There's also craftivities included in the unit, along with all the templates you need to make the candy corn monster above!  I've also written a candy corn big book, that explains all you need to know about candy corn and more!

      

     I have this unit on sale right now, so it's a great time to grab it!  Make sure to get the free printables by clicking here!

I'd love to hear how you celebrate Halloween in your classroom AND how you overcome those "milestone" birthdays!

Until Later my Friends,

Let Them 'PLAY'....There Are 'DOUGH' Many Benefits!

I hope you are ready to get your hands dirty today because I have some fun planned for you where flour may fly!

I am so excited to be here to share my very first post as a Primary Pack collaborator!

I am Jenn Drake from...

I am a kindergarten teacher from Long Island, N.Y.

I am also embarking on my first year as 'mom of a kindergartener'- AND I get to do it all over again next year when my PreK-er goes into kindergarten!

My boys are my resident 'guinea pigs' and are willing to try out my crazy and fun ideas before I bring them into my classroom!

Enough with the 'small talk'...lets start PLAYING!!!

This year I have instituted play dough centers in my kindergarten classroom!  My students, so far, do not seem to object to this initiative!!!   I am embarrassed to say that for many years I saw play dough as simply something that students played with...I never really realized the benefits something as simple as play dough could have.  With all the teaching I am required to do, how could I 'sacrifice' precious teaching time to play dough??!!!

BOY was I WRONG!

As I started selling on Teachers Pay Teachers a few years ago, I noticed 'Play Dough Mats'...I never even really gave them a second glance...

And then on Pinterest...more play dough...

Hmmm....did these teachers have less 'teaching' to do that they could 'play' all day??!!

I made play dough with my students a few times during the year but it was always for fun- little did I know I was missing out on some really great learning experiences!

Then the lightbulb came on this summer....

I was sitting with my boys while they 'played' with play dough...WAIT?!!  This isn't just 'play!'  Look at all they are learning, and doing, and figuring out, and solving...and what if I had them do this...or that...WOW!!!

So I am here today to help 'shed light' on how to incorporate more 'play' into the academics of your day...as well as fine motor work and more benefits...all wrapped into one!

Here are just a few of the benefits of bringing play dough into your classroom!

In addition, it is a HUGE stress reliever...ever find yourself squeezing a ball our dough in your hand and feeling more relaxed?  It's the same for your students!

Additionally, if you go the route of making your own doughs (it is SIMPLE- I PROMISE!!!) you will be tapping into their need for sensory input, as well!

I always had a 'go to' recipe for making dough- but it had to be cooked.  I love making the dough with my students so I researched this summer to find a 'no cook' recipe and found an amazing resource... The Imagination Tree!

PLEASE visit her site...she has gazillions of recipes and ideas for using play dough- as well as other fine motor and sensory resources!

AND her no-cook recipe....that she advertises as 'the best no cook recipe' REALLY is!

I have used her 'basic recipe' as the base for many doughs I experimented with so far...I even know the recipe by heart!

So over the summer the boys and I made 'cookie' play dough...

By using cocoa powder and vanilla extract it had the color and smell of actual cookies!

To make it even more authentic it needed some chips....

Those 'chips' are foam!

They had a lot of fun making BIG cookies, small cookies, cutting cookies in half, stacking cookies, putting the cookies in certain positions (in, on, next to...), etc!  Can you see how the 'learning' can come in?!

So now bringing it into the classroom even further...

Use the dough to make 'cookies' on a ten frame (you can even call it a cookie sheet if you'd like!)

Use the dough to form the number, make that number of cookies and practice writing the number!

 

Use if for the ABC's too...make the letters, find the pictures that start with that letter and cover them with a cookie, and practice writing the letter!

Later on in the year, when you begin teaching addition and/or subtraction, use the cookies to help act out or show a number sentence!  PERFECT for classrooms with food allergies and/or in schools where food is not permitted to be used for activities!

These all work well for a play dough station activity for either your ELA or Math centers!

On the very first day of school each of my students got their own container of dough... MAGIC PLAY DOUGH- that started white but they made a wish and if a color appeared it would be a great kindergarten year...it did!  And so our play dough fun had begun- right from day 1!

And they keep that container and dough in their cubbies and we use it nearly everyday for writing 'warm up!'  The dough lasts up to 6 months in an airtight container. Although our 6 months isn't up, I am planning on having them switch out the dough next week!  They will choose from the many doughs we have made as to which they want in their own container!

So what have we been up to with play dough in our ELA and Math centers...

Students rolled out 'apple' dough on the mat.  They looked at the picture and stamped the first letter.

We used play dough to help with recognizing positions in math centers!

Because many of them cannot read the cues just yet, I provided an 'answer' board for them to reference and then they made the shape out of dough and placed it in the designated spot:

Some students worked on matching upper and lowercase letters!

We used our fall dough (clove, cinnamon and allspice) to practice reading, stamping and writing our sight words!

But that's not all!

This past week we made candy corn playdough!

This one, by far, has been their favorite!

And as promised...here is the recipe! 

I use these containers I found at CVS over the summer to house the dough for centers.  This week I got to make them look oh so festive (and yes...they didn't last long like this!) 

They used this dough to build words, ID sounds for finding positions all week long! 

They have been SO excited about it, that I am going to give them each their own baggie full to take home next Friday as my Halloween gift to them!  No Sugar but FULL of fun!  These baggies are from the Christmas Tree Shoppe, but I am almost positive I saw Ziploc had something similar too! 

And speaking of Halloween....look at the fun mats I got from Differentiation Station Creations!

There are a few different ways I plan on having the kids use them next week as we dive into our numbers 1-5 unit!

...and we are going to continue to practice position words, but with some 'spook'-tacular mats and licorice play dough!

So now it is time to think about how YOU can use play dough in your classroom?!

 

There are so many ways to use it for differentiation too!  Some students may need to practice letter matching and forming- where others are ready to move onto initial sounds!  A few foam manipulatives and these cute scarecrow mats from Differentiation Station Creations, makes for a festive and meaningful phonics center!

Thinking your students are too old for play dough...think again!  I am sure they would LOVE the chance to 'go back' to 'playing' with play dough!

 Wondering how to do this if you don't have play dough stampers (I got mine from Lakeshore via a fully funded Donor's Choose project!!)?

Check out these alternative ways we stamped when we made apple pie play dough!

You can use 'regular' letter stampers: 

Or even use magnetic letters to make impressions:

 

Make up some play dough kits for centers- ball of dough, letter stampers (these are from a craft store kit for making plaster stepping stones!) and a roller: 

and provide your students with CVC picture cards, blends, etc that you are working on.  S/he can roll/build the words from the cards in the same way they may have traditionally used dry erase boards and markers!  They can also use some of that dough to make the object they just stamped!

Ready to try some play dough learning fun with your kiddos?!

I put together this exclusive Primary Pack freebie:

In it you will find an EDITABLE candy corn mat- just like you saw above!  You can type in whatever word/letter you are working on- sight word, spelling words, vowel patterns, vocabulary words, etc!  Print and laminate and you are ready to go! 

Also are 4 position play dough mats to try out (2 for Fall/Autumn and 2 for Halloween) and 6 mats from my apple and fall A to Z packs!

Interestingly enough, just as I was getting ready to post this, Jamie White (from Play To Learn Preschool and another Primary Pack collaborator!) shared a link about how using play dough is so beneficial to children!  Click here and you can read all about it- as well as find 2 more play dough recipes!

Ready to 'roll' and have 'dough' much fun?

There are many creative and educational play dough products on Teachers Pay Teachers- both free and paid- so be sure to do a search for your grade level!  I found resources available from PreK all the way to twelfth! 

I will be back the 24th of each month, but each day The Primary Pack is full of wonderful ideas, links, resources and fun!  

If you are looking to see more from many of The Primary Pack collaborators, be sure to check out the Fall Blog Hop that is running from October 25th-October 27th!  

You can start right on my blog, Crayons and Cuties In Kindergarten!

You will learn all about my fall favorites...and walk away with some delicious and fun ideas!

As for me...I am off to make a batch of licorice play dough for next week (sub out the vanilla extract for anise and change the coloring to black!)!  I want our dough to be 'spook'-tacular for all the Halloween fun we will be having!

Hope to see you again real soon,