Launch of PI Digital Art!

I'm several slices short of Pi Day...but know that I was working on this project during that overlooked special day.

The art "shop" currently consists of digital and hand-drawn borders to beautify your creative TPT products. Each pack comes with 5 borders saved with 3 different fills:

Here are the newest packs (links are below the pictures):

Pack #2

Pack #3

Look for digital papers and perhaps, clipart in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy this free sample.

Pack #1 FREE

I hope you have your pie and eat it too.

Fun with Freebies

In our house, laundry has become a favourite activity. Particularly, when clothes pegs are involved. I decided to add to their enjoyment by making an alphabet game with clothes that are easy enough for small hands to hang up.

We used yarn for our clothesline. Logan suggested that next time we use the clothes drying rack. We also use that for hanging our drying paintings.

I found these small clothes pegs at the dollar store or Michaels craft store…I can’t remember now. Extras from our wedding over 6 years ago – see Brendon, I told you those clips were worth saving. Yes, I’m a craft hoarder. And I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I’ll hang on to anything with a glimmer of potential for a wonderful craft...one day. I digress.

Want to do some ABC laundry?! Not to be confused with ABC gum… It’s free!

The laundry game, not the gum. I wouldn’t just give that away for free.

Click on the picture above for a link to my alphabet freebie! It also comes with an upper case letter maze – free!

We also LOVE this super hero upper case and lower case matching game by B-Inspired Mama! It’s free to download and print from her blog. Click on the picture for a link to her free printable.

50% off New Products!

The store I buy the majority of clipart from has a very generous sale on new products. I've decided to extend the same sale to all of you! My Teachers Pay Teachers store now offers 50% off new products for the first 48 hours. Please follow my store so that you can get an e-mail when I post new products. This way you can be sure to get your 50% off.

Since I recently posted a new product Letter and Sound Recognition, I will re-release it in the upcoming days to give you the 50% off for the first 48 hours. Remember to follow my store to avoid missing the sale!

My Summer Homework

A great organizational technique that the teacher before me started is homework folders. If you don’t do them, start. It decreases the chance of papers being eaten by backpack monsters and increases communication with parents about homework and assessments. I like to prepare homework folders before the school year begins; one less thing to do in hectic September. It’s a task that can be done at an outdoor table while still enjoying summer.

We use these folders for the entire school year. At the beginning of each week, I send the folder home with my students and they bring it back to me on the last day of the week. Many parents say how much they enjoy seeing that week’s homework at the start of the week. Then they can plan accordingly since all of the homework is not due until the last day of the week, unless I state otherwise with advance notice for special projects.

The folder has 4 page protector sleeves. The first sleeve is for that week’s homework schedule to slide in and out. I have students check off the list as they complete an assignment and their parents/guardians sign off on it.

The second sleeve is for work to be completed at home. This is where students can keep the leveled reader book they are working on, the sight word flash cards they are practicing, or any additional sheets you would have them complete at home.

The third sleeve is for assessments or quizzes that I want parents/guardians to see and sign. It comes back to me signed in this sleeve.

The fourth sleeve is for work that we are finished with in class and needs to go home…to stay. Be gone paper bulges and wads of old schoolwork! You belong on a refrigerator door…or dare I say, the recycling!

When the homework folders come back to me at the end of the week (* post to come on how to motivate your students to bring it back on time) I put them in ABC order mark and record the work completed that week. Then move it to the “Keep at Home” sleeve. Check that all assessments/quizzes have been initialed and move it to the “Keep at Home” sleeve. Then I change the homework schedule and work to the next week’s and it’s good to go.

Here’s what I use for each student:

Duo-tang, 4 clear page protectors, 6 white sticker labels, and a sandwich zipper bag or library pocket.

If I’m teaching a split grade I colour-code the folders so it’s easier to sort when I get them back at the end of the week. For example, grade 1 gets yellow and grade 2 gets blue. Plastic duo-tangs work best. These ones lasted through out the year so when I my grade 1 students returned for grade 2 they were able to reuse their folders. I just switched grade 1 to blue and grade 2 to yellow.

If you’re interested in trying out these homework folders, I’ll help you get started. Click on the picture below for a FREE template. Happy Organizing!

Getting to Know You

To begin the school year, I like to get to know the basics about my students from my students. I’ve seen many “All about Me” books over the years and decided one year to create my own based on the information I was looking for (how do you get to and from school, work preferences, and family info). If you teach a split grade your lower grade returns the following year. So it's great to have several themes to rotate through.

My favourite one to do is Strawberry Social! We have a back to school party and do many berry themed activities this week.

Whoo are You? – our owl theme. I found these cute owl nametags for desks at Michaels and had our classroom decorated with more owls. It tied in nicely with the Owl theme studies unit we did that fall. “Theme Studies” is our name for science and/or social studies teaching block.

Special Agents is a fun one, too, particularly for the older kiddos. At this age, they are right into the detective work we do to get to know their peers better.

These four theme “All About Me” books and the activities I do along with it are available at my TPT store. And just for reading, I’ve included the Special Agents theme sample for FREE! Click on the cover picture above or any of the Back to School themes to see the product.

What themes do you do in your classroom to start off the year? Do any of you carry your theme out for the entire school year?