A Teaching Blog by Jodi Southard
Are you officially done with school? Our students finished up 2 weeks ago, but it is just now feeling like summer break. Without a “true closure” to the school year, it was definitely a weird ending. This week, I will be mailing my students this summer riddle page along with a note, just to touch base.
Click on the picture above to grab this FREE Summer Riddle page.
You may also want to check out this Summer Challenge.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
Over the course of my teaching career, I have collected and tried many different behavior management strategies. Some were successful, and some were not. What I have learned is that I need to always be collecting new behavior management strategies, because what works for one class, may not work the following year. Same goes for students. You may find something that is a miracle worker for one particular student, but does not work at all for another. I’m teaming up with Astrobrights® Papers to share a couple of strategies with you that have worked for some particular behaviors in my classroom over the past couple of years.
This is a sponsored post. Fun in First has received payment, trade and/or products from Astrobrights in exchange for promoting, however all opinions stated are my own. This post also contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of my links, which helps to support the blog.
One VERY common behavior issue that we see in classrooms every year is having students that do not complete their work due to talking too much or other distractions. Many times these students need some type of visual chart to help them work towards a goal of completing their assignments. I created these simple charts that can be placed on or in student’s desks.
I just print these simple charts on Lift-Off Lemon™ Astrobrights paper. I love using colored paper for these because they make them much more appealing to my students. You can use stickers on the charts, or laminate them and use permanent marker to draw a star or smiley face. *Quick tip: Did you know if you trace over permanent marker with a dry erase marker, you will be able to erase both the dry erase and permanent marker off of the surface?
These charts can also be used as a behavior chart where students can earn a sticker or smiley face if they make positive behavior choices for a given amount of time. After a student completes his or her chart, they can earn a small reward. This can be a tangible object or some type of activity reward.
I like to use these “I’ve earned a break” cards. I can hand one of these to a student after he or she has completed a goal. Then, they can use them to earn a break reward in the classroom.
The students can pick the short break that they would like to use after earning their reward. I print these Break cards onto Galaxy Gold™, Lunar Blue™, Gamma Green™, and Gravity Grape™ Astrobrights paper, but again, you can use any colored paper you choose. You can also use the different colors to differentiate the types of activities you would like for your students to choose from. If you have a child that is constantly picking the same types of activities, you can guide them by saying that they need to choose a “blue” activity.
Another idea for using these cards is to help control outbursts from emotional students. My original use when I created these a couple of years ago was as a way to help a former student control his behavioral outbursts. He usually knew when he was about to completely lose control of his temper and self control, but he could not express it with words. I would hang five of these “I Need a Break” cards on his desk every morning that he could use throughout the school day.
When he felt that he needed a break, he could take off one of his cards and hand it to me. He did not even have to express with words what he was feeling. It was our signal to know that it was time for him to take a break. Then, he could chose an activity that he thought would help him calm back down.
These cards are great to laminate and keep on a metal ring to allow students easy viewing of the activities. I have included a variety of activities to choose from, but you could easily make your own just by typing or writing some ideas onto Astrobrights paper. You can download this FREEBIE by clicking HERE.
Another item that I have used many times over the past two years, has been these Liquid Timers. I purchased these off of Amazon, and I love them.
They are great to use as a “calm down” tool or as a timer for students to beat as they finish their work.
What are some of your favorite behavior management strategies that you have found to be successful in your classroom?
I wanted to share one of my favorite Halloween writing activities with you today. My students absolutely LOVE doing this, and I am always blown away by their creativity.
I give them this writing prompt with just my head copied on the page. Then, the students have to decide what they think I should dress as for Halloween. I loved the one above. Obviously, I don’t hide my love for coffee. Lol!
They were all so unique!
I had these posted on my Instagram earlier today, and had some requests for this printable. I went ahead and threw it together in a FREEBIE for you. I also made it editable, so you can add your name and picture.
Click on the picture below to join my email family and get this printable for FREE.
I cannot believe that it’s already time to start thinking about Parent-Teacher Conferences. We will start scheduling ours tomorrow, and then we will meet with parents in two weeks. The beginning of the school year has just flown by! Last year, I shared some FREE Parent-Teacher Conference forms and wanted to remind you of those if you wanted to use them again.
These are great for students to fill out prior to conferences. It really gives you an insight into how they see their school year.
It’s so interesting because I have actually found that some of my best students are the hardest on themselves when it comes to self-evaluations.
The parents always enjoy seeing which subjects interest their child as well.
You will also find conference reminder forms in this FREE download.
These are editable, so you can add your student’s name, date, and time of the conference.
You can download all of these for FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
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