Christmas Countdown: A Fun Way to Keep Your Students Learning!

December is one of the most fun- and most challenging- months of the year!  There are so many great activities to do- but the KIDS are so excited that it is hard to keep them focused and working hard!  This Christmas Countdown is a great way to take advantage of every opportunity to keep students learning.  

I am a firm believer in positive reinforcement!  So, I came up with this fun idea for a whole class behavior incentive for December using a Christmas Countdown themed punchboard.  

How to Create a Christmas Countdown Punchboard:

The board is easy to make with a few basic supplies: foam board, disposable cups, tissue paper, rubber bands, a glue stick, and a hot glue gun. Add a cute heading and some clipart at the top using glue stick. Then, hot glue the cups to the board.

Next, fill the cups with reward slips for the students to earn.

Glue the circle pictures to the top of green tissue paper and then rubber band the paper around the cups. Be sure the reward slip and the top picture match!

Now the board can be displayed and your students can start earning the rewards!  There is a different reward for each cup- enough for at least 12 days.

Work on one reward cup at a time. Each student receives their own page to color in with the matching picture. When the whole-class exhibits great behavior, they all earn a coloring clue!  

I recommend using a cute Christmas themed box to store the clues.  You can read the clues out loud to your class, or choose a student to read it to them. You can reward any behavior that is important to you.  

Some behavior ideas might include:

• listening carefully to teacher directions
• working without distractions
• walking quietly in the hallway
• lining up quickly and appropriately

When they color an entire picture (the clue box is empty for that picture), then they get to open the matching punch box cup and reveal the class reward!  Once students have enjoyed the reward, you can begin working on the next cup. Your students will love making memories with this project, and you will love how it keeps them focused! 

Want to learn more about this Christmas countdown resource?  You can check it out in my TPT store!

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Classroom Management: Fast Finishers

We've all been there.  Despite our best efforts at differentiation, some of our students complete their work very quickly!  Now they are standing by our side and asking "What can I do next?"

As you begin thinking about back to school, establishing a classroom management solution for your early finishers is one of the most important classroom routines you can plan for!

A reference display on a bulletin board or wall space makes an easy to manage system for our early finishers.  

I have used a couple different designs over the years, but the goal is the same: 

Create student independence through choice and a visual reference.

        

A few possible choices!

How it works: 

1.  Choose a variety of activities that students may complete when they are finished with their work.  Having about 6-8 student choices works really well.

2.  Create some sort of display for students to see a visual for the activities.  You could use a bulletin board, wall or door space, a pocket chart- the possibilities are endless.  If you don't want to create your own images, I have two versions available in my TPT shop.  Both sets have more than 35 options of activities!  They are quick and easy to print and hang.

          

3. Rotate activities throughout the year so students have new choices to keep it fresh and fun!  One idea is to use clips or clothespins so you can quickly update the display.

Hear what others have said about my fast finishers bulletin board sets:

"This product has made my year in Kindergarten run very smoothly. The kids know exactly what to do when they finish and I have noticed a great change in behaviors!" - Amanda H.

"I always had kids come up to me and say, "I'm done, now what can I do?" Now with these fast finisher posters, I haven't had anyone ask me! The pictures are a great visual for students and now they always have something to do when they finish!" - Julia K.

What are some of your favorite activities for your fast finishers?  Leave me a comment with some of the choices your students have.

Want to coordinate with your classroom rules posters?  Check out this rules set!

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Christmas in July!!!

Hi Everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July and are enjoying some much needed R and R. 

I am joining up today with other I Teach K-2 bloggers to bring you lots of treats this month!!!  We decided it was the perfect time to celebrate Christmas in July!  

Let's start with a freebie!  All of the bloggers have a special freebie for you on their blogs!  Just follow the links at the end of the post. 

You can click here to grab this freebie.

Here is the freebie I am sharing!  It is so great for the beginning of the year.  It has two activities, a "Find Someone Who" with lots of picture clues that is perfect for primary student

 An interest inventory is also included.  

Use it to get to know more about your students the first week of school!

Next, all the I Teach K-2 bloggers are throwing a sale!  I know many of you are already prepping for back to school.  Here is a great chance to head to our stores and stock up!

The sale is running now through July 9.

We are also having gift card giveaways! Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter for your chance to win these AMAZING prizes!

Enjoy!  

Jaymie

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

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Field Trip Must Have!

My daughter and I just returned from an overnight Girl Scout camping trip.  We had a lot of fun and can't stop singing camp songs "Bubble gum, Bazooka, zooka, bubble gum"!  It was a little soggy and muddy at camp, it has been pouring rain here for the last week.  Luckily, the rain decided to stay away while we were there. But... I am not looking forward to cleaning our four pairs of muddy shoes!

I got this nifty organizer in the Target Dollar Spot ($3 item) to take to camp, and it dawned on me while I was walking around how GREAT it would be for field trips!  First, it is waterproof. (The main reason I bought it!)  It is a great size, easily holds 8 1/2" by 11" papers.  It is made from heavy duty plastic, and I think it is super cute too (I love everything in the Dollar Spot)!

I love how one side has a completely clear pocket, perfect for holding a schedule, class list, etc.  It also holds A LOT! Here is what I had inside: all of my camp schedules and paper work (at least 10 pages), the girls' badges they earned, a small first-aid kit, cough drops, a sharpie, small tissue packs, chap stick, a small germ gel, my cell phone, and medicine boxes.  It all fit in easily!  It had a wrist strap, but that broke off after a while. It was still easy to tuck under my arm and carry around.

I was thinking about how many of these same things I would be carrying around in a bag for a field trip.  I love how a field trip schedule would be easy to see on the clear side.  I would also add a whistle, some band-aids, a small pack of baby wipes, and name tags.  What else would you add?

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Emergency Sub Binder- Pets!

If you are like me, you often drag yourself to work sick.  Mostly because it is TOO much work to be gone!   I hate writing sub plans
(especially at 5:30 in the morning, which is when I am usually doing it!)
   
I decided to create a sub binder and prepare it ahead of time, that way I can leave it on my shelf, tell my teacher bestie where it is at, and not have to worry about running to school if myself or my children are sick.  Not to mention if I would ever have a true emergency.

I have created detailed lessons to fill an entire day around a pet theme.  I know my students will love it, and I'm hopeful any sub would be so happy to have such detailed plans to help them with the day.  The best part- it isn't just busy work and worksheets.  I won't feel guilty because I know my students will be having a rigorous day!

For morning work, they are going to draw and label as many kinds of pets as they can think of.  This activity should really get them thinking and focused on the days topic.

During shared reading time they will be practice their fluency with a pet poem that I created.  They will read Arthur's Pet Business and work on the beginning stages of showing evidence of character traits.  

   In Grammar, they will be working on understanding proper nouns, but thinking about the names of their pets!

During math block, they will be acting out addition and subtraction story problems with a park mat, and dog cut-outs. Then they will independently practice mixed addition and subtraction problems.

During phonics they will be working on both phonemic awareness and phonics activities.  They will first sort short a and short o picture cards (with segmenting practice).  Then they will practice writing the same short a and short o words.  Finally, they will have independent practice sorting and writing words with those patterns.  

This is the best part~ Differentiated Guided Reading plans.  I created 4 mini-books for the students to make at GR time, each with a detailed lesson plan.  The levels are B, D, F/G, and K+.

During Science, they will learn about/review mammals.  They will read a mammal book, review a mammal poster, sort pets and other animals, and identify and color the animals that are mammals.

They will have a writing lesson on opinion writing.  Then they will write which they think is a better pet...a cat or a dog.  They will have to write a topic sentence, and list at least 2 detail sentences for their opinion.

They will practice the speaking skill of "eye-contact" and have the opportunity to tell the class about one of their pets.

I also put some of my favorite pet books in the back of the binder for read-aloud time.  They can also be used as a filler activity, if needed.






Here are a few more of my favorite pet books to read aloud!  






At the end of the quarter, if I haven't had to use the emergency plans.  We will take a day off from our normal curriculum, and I will use them as a fun "theme" day!


If you are interested in checking out my sub plans, they are available in my TPT store.  I'd love to save you the work of prepping a bunch of lessons! Then you can rest easy when you should really stay home.

Did you know the Back To School Sale starts at midnight tonight? This set, and all my products, will be available for 20% off, and you can enter the promo code BTS15, to save an additional 10%!

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Math Bins

Hi Everyone!  Today I am sharing an idea that works for me for Math Intervention.  My district requires us to have a daily twenty minute block for intervention and/or enrichment.

The hardest part is always keeping the other students engaged in MEANINGFUL tasks while I meet with students who need extra support or enrichment.  

This past year I FINALLY found something that has worked great for me...Math Bins.  
My students loved them!  
They were always disappointed if we didn't have time for them in a day.  

First of all, I LOVE these containers!  I found them at Target.  They were a little pricey, but I am glad I decided to use them.  I love the size of the containers, they are wide enough to fit lots of activities! They stack SUPER easy and don't take up a ton of space, you can see mine fit easily on top of a shelf. Also, they are very sturdy and have easy open handles for the kids.

I placed two or three activities in each bin.  I took part of my math instructional time to introduce any new activities before students used them in the bins.  Lots of the activities would be "repeats" that we had played earlier in the year. I always included some fact games, review activities, and new activities that correlated with our current learning targets. I always made sure to include all needed materials: dry erase markers, cubes, dice, etc. That ensured no roaming around the classroom or interrupting the teacher.

Every few weeks I would change the activities in the bins.  Originally I thought I would change them every week, but it was too time consuming.  I found by including more than one activity in the bins students would stay engaged with the activities for about three weeks at a time.

I used a pocket chart to organize who went to each bin each day.  Students stayed with their "Table Groups" and had an assigned spot on the floor close to their table for Math Bins.  Each day, I rotated the numbers so students went to a new bin each day.

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Math Stations

Today I wanted to share my new lesson form I am going to use for math this year.  My math block includes 40 minutes of a whole group math lesson and 20 minutes of small group intervention and enrichment.  This year for my intervention/enrichment time I am going to try math stations.  My plan is to have five math stations.  This way students will visit one station each day and I will only have to change the stations once a week.  One of the math stations will be the computer component that goes with our district math program.  Then while students are working at their math stations I will have time to meet with students in small groups for intervention and enrichment work.

 

Click here to download

 

I am going to copy the form front to back.  On the front side of the form  I will list my daily math lessons in the long boxes and my math stations for the week in the left column.  Then on the back side of the form I will plan for my small group interventions, students for intervention, and notes on their progress.  I hope you find this form helpful!

 

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