Squarehead Teachers

Easy Idea submitted by a teacher friend in AZ: “I went to school today with straight hair (I always curl my hair), and wore clothes that I had never worn to school.  I also wore tallish sandals which I don’t wear to school.  When I went to pick up my second grade kids from the playground to start the day, I had my teaching partner introduce me to my class as my twin sister, the substitute for…

Kids love writing about themselves. (I know mine do!) Here’s a series of printables that ask the child all kinds of math questions about themselves. I’ve made 3 versions (easy, medium and hard) so you can choose which is most appropriate for your class. The “easy” version would be appropriate for kinder or first grade. It includes letters, syllables and fact families (single digit addition and…

A friend of mine sent me this photo and explanation of a simple life cycles project she uses in her kindergarten class. I love that this project is simple, almost zero prep for the teacher (other than gathering everyday supplies) and happens fast enough that the kids don’t lose interest. Here are the steps: 1. Soak lima beans in cold water overnight. 2. Put a lima bean in a moist paper towel. 3.…

Happy Read Across America Week! (What would we do without Dr. Seuss?! Such creativity from one person!) My kids needed a quick Cat in the Hat costume for school and I didn’t have much time. I came up with this simple paper plate hat and it took me about 3 minutes. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. It would be easy to have my class make them! Supplies: White paper plate (I used…

This game can be used to practice any kind of math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) or really any content where the kids have to provide a specific answer (teacher asks a question, students provide a short responds). I don’t recommend this will spelling though, because it will be hard to hear 3 kids spelling the same word all at the same time and know who got it right.…

Many kindergartners have a hard time knowing where to put their pencil when tracing letters or numbers. It’s hard for them to remember the stroke order of each one and often they make up their own stroke order. Then they practice the stroke order wrong over and over before a teacher catches it and can reteach it. I’ve found a little trick that seems to help! I take a highlighter or colored…

Paint It Kids (Guest Post)

I am definitely not an artist, so teaching art lessons is not my strength. Add in the complexity of virtual learning, and I was at a total loss. So, I asked my friend (and illustrator), Jessica to explain a little bit about the art studio she works for, in hopes that it might help teachers still bring art into their curriculum amidst the swamp of work caused by COVID-19. Here is what Jessica said…

Don’t Eat Pete Game Template

  Don’t Eat Pete is one of my family’s favorite games. It’s also been a favorite in my classroom! Since so many people have been sheltering-in-place because of the coronavirus, my mom (and former teacher herself) had the genius idea to make Don’t Eat Pete kits to drop off to local families with kids. She made each family a game board (or included stickers so the kids could decorate it…

Easy Die Cut “Don’t Eat Pete” Board

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I’ve written about Don’t Eat Pete before (How to play, How to play/easy Valentine’s board and St. Patrick’s Day board), but I just love this game and it’s perfect for any holiday. Seriously, I played it at every single classroom party (as a kid since my mom was often the Room Mom…

Halloween Classroom Attention Getters

It’s Halloween time, so it’s time to change things up! No more “Get it? Got it! Good!” when you need to get your students’ attention! We’ve come up with a list of fun, Halloween attention getters for the classroom!

Teacher: “Who you gonna call?” Students: “Ghostbusters!”

Teacher: “Monster!” Students: “Mash!”

Teacher: “Knock, knock!” Students: “Trick or Treat!!”

Teacher: “Skeleton!” Students:…

Line Plot Practice Page

Line plot practice worksheet! Free! Hot off the press! I made this (and the other line plot practice pages yet I’ll be posting in the future) for a friend who teaches second grade. If your classroom is already be buzzing with Halloween excitement, good luck! 🙂

Click here to download the free PDF: Line Plot practice pages -Toy Cars Click here to download the free answer key: Line Plot – Toy Cars…

Fall Fractions – Beginning Fractions Practice

Want to add some fall fun to your math curriculum? Here’s a super self-explanatory beginning fractions worksheet for kids. Younger kids may need you to read the directions, but the basic idea is to color the numerator to depict the fraction. I’ve also uploaded an answer key. Happy fall!

Click here to download the PDFs: Fall Fractions Fall Fractions – Answer Key

Check out more of my fall freebies!

Skip Counting with Pictures

Check out this awesome idea for practicing skip counting or number sequencing. Put the picture together by putting the sequence in the right order. You can do this with any picture, but the ones we used were from a calendar. Here are the steps (steps 1 and 2 can be done in either order, but this is probably the best):

Step 1: Put numbers on the bottom of your picture.We put them on dot stickers…

Welcome back, teachers! How is it the 2019-2020 school year already?! Mind. Blown.

Anyway, here’s your first freebie of the year: a summarizing graphic organizer! This is often referred to as the “somebody wanted but so then” style of summarizing a story. Enjoy!

Click here to download the PDF: Summary graphic organizer PDF

Connor the Cutter – Character Building (Book Discussion Guide)

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I’ve been working on this for a while and I’m SUPER excited to share it with you!

I’ve discovered a new book series that is focused on character building. It’s called, Connor the Courageous Cutter.  So far, there are 3 books in the series, but I’m hoping they’ll make more!

The first book is called Saving Sarah. I’ve recently become friends with one of the…