Fun in First

A Teaching Blog by Jodi Southard

Jodi

Brain Break Tic-Tac-Toe

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Are your kids restless yet?  Yesterday was rough.  It was gloomy and cold, and we couldn’t get outside.  At least the sun has come out on and off today, so we were able to be outside for a bit.

With all the chaos going on right now, I knew that I wanted to create something for parents to use with their own kids at home during this extended period of time.
These Brain Break Tic Tac Toe boards will be perfect for not only my own kids, but others that may need to get up and moving. Parents can play with their child or siblings can play together.
The best news is that they are completely FREE!

This FREE Brain Break Tic Tac Toe includes 3 sets of activities for children that may be stuck at home. The first set includes quick exercises to get children up and moving. The second set includes longer activities to be completed throughout the day. The third set is completely editable to allow you to type in your own activities.

I created this with 3 different versions.  The first one includes Tic-Tac-Toe games with quick exercises to complete.  The second version includes longer activities to stretch out throughout the day.  The third version is completely editable for you to add your own activities.

This FREE Brain Break Tic Tac Toe includes 3 sets of activities for children that may be stuck at home. The first set includes quick exercises to get children up and moving. The second set includes longer activities to be completed throughout the day. The third set is completely editable to allow you to type in your own activities.

I hope that this helps to keep your little ones busy at home.  Also, teachers, feel free to email this file to parents of students in your classroom 🙂

Feel free to pin the picture below for later use and to spread the word.

This FREE Brain Break Tic Tac Toe includes 3 sets of activities for children that may be stuck at home. The first set includes quick exercises to get children up and moving. The second set includes longer activities to be completed throughout the day. The third set is completely editable to allow you to type in your own activities.

 

 

FREE Online Learning at Home

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We have definitely seen where tough times bring out the best in people, and this pandemic has shown us that all over again.  With schools closing, teachers and parents everywhere are scrambling to figure out how to make this all work.  It has been truly amazing to see teachers and educational companies come together to help.

I have received so many emails from companies over the last couple of days that are offering their online services for FREE, and I wanted to put together a list for you.  Some of these sites are always free, while others have add-ons or are free for a certain time period.

Online Learning At Home

 

I have also made this “clickable” to allow you to go directly to each website.  Just click on the picture above to download the clickable PDF.

Teachers and parents, we are in this together!  Stay positive and stay healthy!

Building Teacher-Student Relationships – A 5 Day Challenge

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My main goal each year is to establish strong teacher-student relationships.  Building these relationships will make the entire school year go much more smoothly.  Even though most of your relationships are pretty established by mid-year, they can always continue to improve.  For this reason, I held a 5-Day Challenge on my Instagram.  These simple tasks were easy to implement each day.

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

Here are each of the five challenges in case you missed it, or you want to start implementing these now.

Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge #1

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

The first challenge is to greet EVERY single student as they come into your classroom every day.⁣
I know that many of you already do this, but it is always a good reminder.  The mornings can be especially busy, and it is easy to get distracted as more and more students come into your room.⁣
Make it a point today to greet every student using their name.
Make eye contact as you welcome each child into your classroom.⁣
You could give a high five, a hug, a handshake, or just a smile.  Whatever works best for you and your students.⁣

Challenge #2

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

The second challenge is to have a REAL conversation with every student. I know that I am guilty of going through a day and realizing that I never really had a conversation with each student, especially those quiet students that can easily fade into the background.
If you need to, make a list of all of your students and check off their name after you have had a true, meaningful, interaction with them. You may be surprised at how easily it is to let some of your students slip by and go all day without you actually talking to them as an individual.
Some easy ideas include; complimenting their shirt, asking them what they had for dinner last night, discussing a favorite book, etc.

Challenge #3

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

This goes well with the last challenge. You may have found some of your conversations with your students to be forced or all one sided with you doing all the talking. This is especially true for our shy students. I want you to ask every student a question related to their interests. Some examples are, “How is basketball going? Are you excited about your next game?” “How is your new puppy?” “How was recess today? What did you play? Who did you play with?”
Again, if it is easier for you, make a list of your students and check them off as you have these conversations.

Your students truly want to know that you care about them and that you listen to them.  Really get to know their interests and learn more about them.

Challenge #4

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

This is one that I have really been working on. Try to give each student specific positive feedback. I want to emphasize “specific.” Just telling a student, “Good job!” will not cut it. If a child does not know what it is that they are doing a good job at, the feedback will not serve its purpose. We need to be really specific if we want that behavior or motivation to continue.

“Wow, Mary. Your handwriting is beautiful today!”

“Jack, I love how found the answer to that questions by going back into your book.”

“Table 4 has done a fantastic job of getting their books opened quickly to page 12.”

Challenge #5

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

This one will be a little more time consuming, so  stretch it out over the next couple of days if needed. Make positive contact with each of your students’ families. I like to write a letter and mail it home, but you could also send a text, a message through Remind, or whatever app you use, or make a phone call.

Do NOT use this contact as a lead in to discuss a problem. Truly just make this a completely positive interaction. Let their families know something specific that their child has done that has been positive. (Increasing their reading level, something funny they said, a nice thing they did for a classmate, etc.)

Want to keep the conversations going?  You may want to check out these two products.

I’d love to hear how your 5-Day Challenge went.  Remember to pin this post as a good reminder for the beginning of each school year as well.

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

Daily Math Notebooks

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If I had to come up with the number one thing that the majority of my students struggle with when it comes to math each year, it would definitely be story problems.  The whole process of reading through the problem, figuring out how to solve it, and explaining their thinking afterwards is so challenging for first graders.  We work on this skill over and over throughout the school year because it is such an important skill.

We use our Daily Math Notebooks to allow us to work on problem solving as well as multi-step problems, which again, are SO challenging for young minds.

This Daily Math Notebook will provide your students with daily math practice. Students will practice word problems, multi-step problems, written explanations of their answers, and many other math skills. This works well in a whole group or small group setting as well as a math intervention group.

I love these because we can quickly review our important math skills each day.  We really focus on not only solving word problems, but explaining our thinking when we solve them.

In my former school, we used two school-wide strategies everyday that I still carry over to my classroom now.  The first one was called RUTA-C. This stood for Read, Underline, Think, Attack, Check.  This is a great way to help students work their way through story problems.  There are many other acronyms that you could use as well.  Some of the ones that I have seen include:

  • CUBES (Circle important numbers, Underline the Question, Box Key Words, Evaluate and Eliminate, Solve and check your work)
  • STAR (Stop and read, Think about your strategy, Act and solve your problem, Review the Answer)
  • RISE (Read and reread the problem, Illustrate, Solve, Explain)

Whichever one you decide to use, stick with it and use it consistently.  This will really help your students with working through story problems.

This Daily Math Notebook will provide your students with daily math practice. Students will practice word problems, multi-step problems, written explanations of their answers, and many other math skills. This works well in a whole group or small group setting as well as a math intervention group.

 

Another prompt that we use in our Daily Math Notebooks is, “I know______ because ______.”  This is one of my favorite ways to have students answer questions, because it allows them to explain their thinking in a logical way.  “I know that Abby has 9 pencils, because she has 5 red pencils and 4 blue pencils and 5+4=9.”  Without this prompt, so many of my students fall into the trap of explaining how they got their answers with sentences like, “I am smart.” or “I used my fingers.”

This prompt also works well when explaining their answers during reading comprehension.  “I know that Goldilocks was scared when she saw the three bears, because she screamed and ran out of the house as fast as she could.”  It truly is a great prompt to use in many areas.  Click on the picture below to download the freebie picture to post in your classroom.

Want to add Daily Math Notebooks to your math instruction?

Check them out by heading over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. DAILY MATH NOTEBOOKS

What are teachers saying about Daily Math Notebooks?

“LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!!!!!! Was hoping you had a math version of your reading comprehension and here it is!!! LOVE IT! THANK YOU!!!” -Rhonda

“Perfect for my small group and I am able to use the same packet for both my high and lows and adapt what work I ask them to show or how we think about the problem.” -Taylynn

“Quick daily review of important math concepts. Can be used in the classroom in many different ways. For me, I project it on my white board and complete it daily with my class every day during our math meeting. This has been a quick, simple, and useful addition to my daily math instruction.” -Jeffrey

Click on the picture below to head to my store, or PIN it for later 🙂

This Daily Math Notebook will provide your students with daily math practice. Students will practice word problems, multi-step problems, written explanations of their answers, and many other math skills. This works well in a whole group or small group setting as well as a math intervention group.

Christmas Reading on the Move

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We all know that it is nearly impossible for 6 and 7 year olds to sit still for too long, but especially during the holiday season.  We can have all the procedures and expectations in place, and then…December hits.  We have to be able to find ways to keep our students engaged, but still learning.  These Reading on the Move passages are a great way to get students up and moving, all while practicing their reading fluency skills.

Christmas Reading on the Move is the perfect way to combine fluency with physical exercise. Children love and need to get up and move. In this Reading on the Move series of products, students will be moving as they read. It is the perfect way to add fun to fluency practice.

This Reading on the Move packet includes 3 differentiated levels of passages.  This makes it work so easily for the different levels of readers in your classroom.

How does this work?

Students read the passage.  Then, they roll the dice and perform the corresponding “Christmas themed” movement.  After completing the movement, they color in a Christmas light.  Then, they reread the passage, roll, and color for a total of 5 readings.  This helps to take away the dread of rereading.  (If you need a Winter Theme instead, check out my Winter Reading on the Move packet.)

What are teachers saying about Reading on the Move?

“Oh my! The kids were so excited about reading. It really added to the fun on those days before break. Thanks so much.”

“These are awesome!! The kids practice fluency but they’re having so much fun they don’t even know it!”

“My kids loved these…perfect for all those wiggly little bodies!”

Check these out by clicking on the picture below.

Christmas Reading on the Move is the perfect way to combine fluency with physical exercise. Children love and need to get up and move. In this Reading on the Move series of products, students will be moving as they read. It is the perfect way to add fun to fluency practice.

 

15 Must Have Indoor Recess Items

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Oh, the joys of indoor recess.  Living in Indiana, we tend to spend the majority of our recesses indoors from about November to March.  Here’s the deal…I hate indoor recess!  But, we have to make the best of it.  For that reason, I came up with a list of my favorite Indoor Recess Items for your classroom.  I personally use many of these for my Morning Tubs, but they are also great for that dreaded inside recess.

All of the items are numbered and linked below, or you can click on the picture and use the direct links from the PDF file for easy access.

Please note: These are affiliate links.  I do receive a small commission when items are purchased from these links.  This helps to support my little area of cyber space and keep the blog up and running.

15 Must-Have Indoor Recess Items

  1. Legos – Hello.  What elementary classroom doesn’t need Legos, right?
  2. Bristle Blocks – The students love building with these.
  3. Goobi Playsticks – These sticks have magnetic ends to stick to the metal balls.  The set also comes with plastic connectors.
  4. Playthings Playsticks – These remind me just a little bit of Lincoln Logs, but they are plastic.  My students love building houses, cars, and more with these.
  5. Brain Flakes – These are fun to creative with.  Such a simple idea, but the kids love them.
  6. Emido Building Blocks – Similar to the Brain Flakes, but thicker and very sturdy.
  7. Cash Register – You would not believe how much fun my students have with this cash register.  They instantly begin playing store and trying to buy and sell everything in the classroom.
  8. TinkerToys – Here’s a throwback, right?  These are made with plastic pieces though.
  9. Wood Cabin Logs – Basically Lincoln Logs, but cheaper.
  10. Topple – The kids love this game, and I like that it really does involve some strategy to keep it from toppling over.
  11. Zoob Builders – These may be my absolute favorite.  I have given them as birthday presents as well.  They are so much fun, and the students get so creative.
  12. Cossy Engineering Blocks – These were a new purchase this year, and they’ve been a huge hit.
  13. Play-Doh – Are you brave enough to let your students use Play-Doh during indoor recess?  I’m not, but I use it for Fun Friday and Morning Tubs.
  14. Guidecraft Interlox Squares – These are fun interlocking squares, but I will warn you that if your students are not gentle, they do break kind of easily.
  15. Emoji Uno – I love a good game of Uno, but this Emoji Uno is a hit with kids.

What are some of your other favorite indoor recess items?

*Feel free to pin the image below for future reference.

15 Must-Have Indoor Recess Items