Tag Archives : #backtoschool


Don’t Go Back to School Without…

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

What are some things that you Don’t Want to go Back to School Without?

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These seasoned educators from our Sharing is Caring Teacher Blog Collaborative have some tips for you that will make those first few days easier. 

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Back to School Freebies

By Lisa Robles of LisaTeachR’s Classroom

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Here are three freebie to get you started this school year!

Don’t Go Back Without

By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

Four things that will make school your happy place this year!

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Don’t Start Your School Year Without …

By Crystal Brown of Dr Crystal Brown

Learn the four products every middle school math teacher needs to begin the school year.

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Back to School Bonanzas

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

Begin the new school year with routines in place and a few FREEBIES! Tips to consider as you start afresh!

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 Don’t Go Back to School Without

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

As much as I love seeing those smiling faces each year, I always get a bit sad when the summer ends and I have to go back to work. I get so spoiled, getting up in the morning and doing whatever I want. No alarm clock to wake me up, no set schedule, I can stay up late, go out and party during the week, no rules, no lesson plans, no prep. It’s so easy to get used to that. Don’t you agree. This summer I’ve decided to make life a little easier for myself and teachers out there by putting together a few items that will just make your job so much easier.

 

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Don’t Go Back to School Without…

By Marcy Howe of It’s A Teacher Thing

What can’t you do without in your classroom? Here’s my favorite from twenty years of teaching.  

 

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Healthy Teacher: 9 Tips for Eating Right

By Marypat Mahoney of Just Add Students

 Your classroom is ready for your students, but have you forgotten to make plans for how you will take care of YOU this year? Follow these 9 tips to help make this a healthy school year for you!

 

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Take a look at these posts from Sharing is Caring A Teacher Collaborative Blog Hop

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Free – All About Me Foldable

Do you need a FREE cute back to school activity?  This foldable is perfect for you and your students.

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This foldable was designed for use for all elementary classrooms K-5th grade.  You will need to print off the grade level for your classroom, and make copies for your students.

You can find this printable HERE!

 

My students will be completing the foldable, partner up, then introduce their partner to our new class. It will be a great way for kids to work together and learn about each other.

 

Here is an example of the 1st grade page.

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I hope you can use this in the first few days of school.  I’d love to hear for different ideas and uses for this foldable.

 

Thank you so much for viewing this post!

Sara Oberheide

My TPT Store

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Speaking & Listening – Superhero Themed Beginning of the Year Activities

Super Me Bags

Getting to Know Each Other 

Goal Setting 

Speaking & Listening Activities

 

 

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Beginning of the year activities have never been so SUPER! This beginning of the year activity focuses on getting to know each other activities, goal setting, and speaking and listening standards 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

There are 7 different bag designs that can be printed directly to a standard sized lunch bag. (There is even a special teacher design.) Children then take the bags home and fill them  with items that will help them tell the class why they are super! This unit is a great way to start practicing those very important speaking and listening skills.

Don’t miss this great beginning of the year activity. Your little superheroes won’t even realize how hard they are working. This is a do not miss beginning of the year activity.

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First Grade Diva Creations


Music in the Classroom

By Deann Marin at The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs

 

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Offering for Educators, Comprehensive Teaching Aides. If you’d like to see what else I have to offer please visit my store

 

Music has always been very near and dear to me so this is a great topic to write about. From day one of my teaching career, I used music in my classroom. Even though I’m not a musician, by any means, I can plunk some notes on the piano, and play very rudimentary guitar chords and notes.

My first job, I was working witMusic in the classroom 8x8 coverh mentally challenged teenagers who had very low IQs. I began playing songs on the piano to help them learn, each day we would sing the alphabet song, low and behold they were learning their alphabet letters. They just loved when I brought the guitar into school so we could sing together. Of course, they were the only ones that I would play the guitar for, they didn’t realize that I really couldn’t play. We did have fun.

Each day at 10:00 I would turn on the TV show the Electric Company. I felt that the class would learn more by listening to the catchy little tunes and lyrics for words, letters and numbers, than they would if I used the usual methods for teaching reading and math. Don’t get me wrong, I did use phonics, etc., but for these kids who would never progress much more than a 2nd or 3rd grade level, it worked. They loved it.

A few years later, I had a self-contained class for children with severe psychological problems. They were too disruptive to remain in the regular classroom. Talk about challenging!!! Well, music does calm the savage beast. I would play classical, or quiet tunes and the kids, for the most part, would calm right down. As a reward, I would let them bring in some of their own music to share.

On to middle school to teach 6th grade which is my true love. The language arts program has songs to accompany each new unit.For the beginning of each ELA class they always asked me to put on the CD so that they could sing the song that went with what was being taught. The kids especially loved the Noun Song, the

lyrics and tune was very appealing. They would even walk down the hall singing it and I would hum it to myself. I guess the point that I’m trying to make is, music really helps kids learn and they don’t even realize it. I would also play music during study hall, or while the kids were taking a test to help them relax.

Another interesting way to use music in the classroom is to have them write poetry or do creative writing to classical music. First, have them close their eyes and listen. Tell them to let the melodies take them to a special place. They can then describe it in their work, they can say how it made them feel, or who if anyone was there, what happened, etc. My classes just love this activity and they also like sharing their creations with each other. This also makes for a good bulletin board.

I so enjoyed directing plays with elementary and middle school children.  As I said before, I don’t really play an instrument, so I sought the assistance of the music teacher who was more than willing to help. Wealways had a great time and it amazed me to see how talented some of those kids were. They just shined during the performances and were able to belt out the songs which always gave me chills. Talk about dancing, that was another thing that blew me away. It was awesome to see them move and groove to the tunes. Talk about America’s Got Talent, well, these kids sure had it.

So, as you can see, music can be used as an introduction to a lesson, as a way to help children learn and memorize things. Students can do research about musiciaGettingToKnowYourClassmatesandYourTeacher lyricsns, composers, directors, and write reports about them. They can learn about music throughout history as part of an ancient history unit. If you’d like to see more ideas about how to integrate music into the curriculum. Here is a link to a great website:

http://www.songsforteaching.com/suefenton/extendingsongs.htm

 

I’ve created a Back to School Binder that will be using the song“Getting to Know You.” from Rogers and Hammerstein’s hit musical The King and I, as a stepping stone to help make students feel at ease while getting to know each other.

 

 

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Back to School Binder Grades 4-7

By Deann Marin at The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs

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Offering for Educators, Comprehensive Teaching Aides. If you’d like to see what else I have to offer please visit my store

I finally finished updating this Back to School Binder for Grades 4-7 and Special Education. I love music so I’ve incorporated the theme “Getting to Know You,” from Roger’s and Hammerstein’s The King and I.  You can use the included YouTube video link to the song as well as a copy of the lyrics. This binder has everything you need to begin the school year such as name tags for the bulletin board, for the kids to wear and even to place on desks. I’ve added 6 writing prompts with a grading rubric, family trees, cards with questions to answer as ice breakers, a crossword puzzle, and more. This is a growing bundle, when I think of more things to add, I will let you know. If you think of more things for this binder that would make your life easier, just comment. I hope you like it.

What’s Inside

Complete lesson plans …………………4-6

Getting to Know You,

YouTube Link and Lyrics………………7

Large apple information and

name tags for bulletin board…………8-15

Small apple information and

name tags for student to wear………16-19

Name tags for desks……………………20-32

Cards with questions……………………33-36

Apple homework questions…………….37-42

Writing prompts…………………………42-49

Writing Rubric……………………………50

Family trees……………………………….51-58

Crossword puzzle……………………….59-60

Crossword puzzle answers…………….61

Contact information…………………….62

 

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Please visit Socrates Lantern’s Tpt store to view this binder

 

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