10+ Fun Hands on Activities for the 100th Day of School (and a Freebie)

The counting anticipation of the 100th day of school really starts on the first day. When you add that first straw, tally, or number to the chart, your kindergartners or first graders are just waiting and waiting to get to 100! Celebrate with 10 Fun Activities for the 100th Day Of School! As you start to brainstorm activities for the hundredth day, all focused around the number one hundred…it’s fun to remember that  100 feels like a big number when you’re counting days, but it’s not quite as big of a number when you only have 100 seconds to complete […]

Free New Year Activity Booklet

Start the Year Easy With a Free New Year Activity Book for Your Class

The new calendar is hung, the celebrations are over, and it might even be the morning of your first day back to school for the New Year and you need something quick, easy, and engaging to get your students settled. This free New Year Activity Book is printable and just the key to get the year started. Whenever there is a transition to a new year, back from a break, or a holiday, it can be hard to plan. When it comes to the end of winter break you’re battling all three! On top of needing to review classroom expectations, […]

How To Make A Fun and Affordable Snowman Craft Every Kid Will Love : Free Video

Are you looking for a quick and easy snowman craft you can do at school or send home for snow day or winter homework? Do you teach with thematic units or topics and use Snowmen as a theme in December or January? This snow measuring stick makes a great holiday gift for students, or even a craft project you can do with your students or children (And if you’re looking to teach using it, I also found some ways to connect this lesson to math… check out the free worksheets at the bottom of this post!) When I got out […]

writing a teacher behavior intervention plan

An Easy 3 Step Approach for a Behavior Intervention Plan that Works

It’s that time of year… the time when behavior management issues start to pop up! Maybe it’s because of the wonky school schedules, the wearing off of the beginning of the year “honeymoon” period, or the sniffles and sicknesses setting in… but this time of year I always had those kiddos who need a little more structure for behavior expectations bubble up during this time. First of all, and most importantly reach out the to family of the child to chat about the behaviors in a productive way (and ALWAYS have something nice to say!) and offer the behavior plan […]

one tip for behavior intervention plans all teachers need

The Simple Behavior Intervention Plan Tip All Teachers Need

Writing a behavior intervention plan can be a daunting task. With complicated grids and checklists, it can be hard to keep track of things as a teacher. Is this type of behavior management plan most likely to work with our students? Here’s one tip you should know before going to that next meeting about a student’s challenging behaviors!

3 Easy Steps to Launch Independent Reading in your Classroom

In the early elementary school years, early literacy is a strong focus. Our goal as educators is to build strong, fluent, confident decoders and readers. We want students to build stamina and engage with books for much of the literacy block. You can do this with first graders starting on the very first day of school! Independent reading is seen by some educators as a waste of time, just page flipping. I even had an administrator tell me that half the students in any given class would likely have their books upside down during this time. With an organized and […]