Are You Back to School Ready?

Welcome Back to School! This post is definitely a bit different from last year's Back to School season. This year students will be back with some varying restrictions depending on where you live. Either way, can we just celebrate that kids are going to be able to be on campus again? Studies have shown that they definitely need it and were missing that interaction. 

Soooo...are you ready? 

I rounded up some EASY PEASY resources that will help you get ready for the school year since you already have a lot to think about.

1. First Day of School Sign

Everybody has got to have a First Day of School sign! This is something that we do every year. We really enjoy looking back at these signs and seeing what we looked like and how much each child has changed. Plus, aren't they the cutest???!! 

If you don't have a First Day sign, you can grab it HERE. If you don't have time, no worries! I can create a custom one for you HERE. 

Look at my baby a few years ago!!!  

I had been getting LOTS of requests for a teacher sign, so I created one for us! We can have fun, too!!

2. Memory Book / Time Capsule

A lot has happened in the past year and even this summer. Let's have our kiddos document these things and then tuck them away for the end of the year when they revisit their memory book again.  My kiddos LOVED looking back and seeing how much they had grown (physically, academically, interests, etc) in just a year! It's a time capsule that you do in the beginning of the year. I then collect them all and like I mentioned, I safely tuck them away until the end of the year. When I pull them out again, I always get many oooos and ahhhhs as students look through what they wrote on the first day of school. 

If you don't have some sort of memory book that compares the school year, you can grab one here:

3. Back to School Essentials Pack

I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for a deal. If you don't have resources like these to help you start your school year, I'd love for you to check these out. I pulled together 8 of my favorite EASY school starters. Maybe they can help you, too. You can grab them HERE.

4. Monthly Writing Prompts

I love using writing prompts to build classroom community and student creativity. I would have my students share what they wrote in response to the prompt. They LOVED reading what their classmates wrote. Switching journals was one of their favorite activities. We also did timed competitions where they would need to list certain items from topics that I would give them (list of adjectives, candies, words that begin with L,etc). We would even have silly prompts (Would You Rather?). It was just a FUN time of laughing and sharing. Can you imagine a whole class enjoying journal/quick write time? I'm here to tell you that it CAN be done!

If you are interested in my monthly writing prompts, you can grab them HERE.  

This resource was created to have the same routine every week so that kids know what to expect. You of course are the teacher and can change it up however you'd like though. :)

Day 1 – Finish the sentence (prompt)

Day 2 – Would you rather….?

Day 3 – Make a list (competition)

Day 4 – Quick Write (one word for 2-3 mins)

Day 5 – Would you rather…?

5. Decision Wheel / Digital Spinners

I don't know if you've ever used a spinner before but talk about engagement!!! I know that I love spinning those prize wheels and the anticipation of seeing where it lands is just plain exciting. So why not use these wheels for prizes, competitions, games, and for ditching those equity sticks? If you've never tried them, you must. It is such a great engagement tool. 

Check out the one I use. 

This is what it looks like inside:

*** DISCLAIMER:

I had created the spinner BEFORE the pandemic to be used in PowerPoint. When the pandemic hit and most schools went to remote learning, I added a component to this resource so that it could be used in Google Slides to help teachers who had already purchased my product. It's a web-based program that you could integrate into the templates that I created. The price of the resource stayed the same because I did not feel that I could charge more for a free web-based program that was added later. Just wanted you to know that the price is reflective of the PowerPoint resource and NOT the free web-based program. :)

Soooo, I'm thinking if you have resources similar to these, you are in good hands to start the year off nicely. Whatever the restrictions are this year for your school, I know that your kiddos are just happy to be back seeing their friends and seeing YOU! You've got this my friend!I believe in YOU!

Blessings,

Angela

First Day... Hooray?

Weeeeellll.... not quite. I mean, yes and no. Don't get me wrong, I DO love teaching... but I love my summer breaks, too. :) Today was the first day of school and I realized that the first day of school is always the hardest for me. Not only is it the longest day until summer break (lol) but it's the newness of it all in the tiring sense. Yes, I love decorating my room, I love meeting new students, I LOVE seeing my coworkers that I've missed all summer long BUT I don't like starting ALLLLL over again. Teachers, you know what I'm talking about here. Going over procedures and school/class rules, and sit down, no.. raise your hand BEFORE you speak, and this is how we line up, and no, you can't just walk up to me when I'm giving instructions, and don't forget to put your name on your paper, and this is how you pass out papers, and wait, who's picking you up today? ... wow! I'm tired!

Although it was a full day of me talking and creating guidelines for our class, there were some fun things that we did throughout our day. I had students work on their time capsule activity that can be found here or here. It's from my end of the school year Memory Book unit. There are activities in the beginning of the memory book that are to be done in the beginning of the year to show growth. Our little friends drew and answered questions about themselves as I measured each of them with a piece of yarn.  Here are some shots from today:





This is the "Favorites" page that they will revisit at the end of the year. They are always amazed after a full year has gone by, saying, "I liked THAT song??" or "Oh yeah... I remember when I used to like....."  So neat to reflect!

 Love the lashes here!

Cute button nose....

AHHH!!!! This one concerns me a bit. At first I thought it looked like those monster school girl dolls ( I don't know the actual name), then I thought it was a black eye.. THEN I realized maybe it was her bangs?? I don't know, but those teeth look scary. I did commend her for her details though. :)

This is one that I added to my unit at the end of last year. Kids trace or stamp their hands with a black crayon/ink at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year we trace the hand over the smaller hand with a red crayon. My kids loved doing this last year. They were amazed at how much bigger their hands had grown.

This is me going around to each table and measuring them with black yarn. THEY will do this again at the end of the year (since they will know how to measure by then) with a different color yarn.

I then put their yarn in a ziplock with their names and number on it and stick it in a large manila envelope and tuck it away until that one glorious day that tells me the end is near. (Isn't that sad?? I'm already thinking about next summer. Ha!) Kids don't do the bottom part of the page until the end of the year (on the next picture). I don't have them measure their yarn simply because... well.... I haven't taught them how to measure yet. 

At the end of the year after THEY finish measuring each other, then take their new piece of yarn and lay them side by side and measure them. Then they will go back and fill in how many inches tall they were in the beginning of the year and how tall they are now. **Important note: make sure that you measure them correctly at the beginning of the year or you may have kids thinking that they did not grow at all or worse.....that they are shrinking (dum-dum- dummmmmm). This *may* have happened to me.  Poor kid. It's ok. He's fine ... now that he got some counseling. :)    

Here are some pictures of my students doing it from LAST year's class. Oh,  how I LOVE them! 

Miss his sweet face!

LOVE that they were working together, even comparing their beginning of the year yarn with each other. Awwwww....my sweet but rowdy boys. :)

Last year I had them stamp their hands on construction paper in the beginning of the year and I tucked it away. Now I've added a page for this in my unit.

  

This is the new added page with the handprints...

This really is a neat and fun activity for the kids. I'm always so happy when I pull these out at the end of the year and the kids look through their time capsules, laughing and comparing. We are the same way. We all love reflecting! We do it while we look through old pictures or find things from years past. It causes us to sit, slow down, and enjoy the times we have since they go by too quickly.

I love having my kiddos look back and reflect about their school year and then show what they know.

If you are interested in my time capsule activity in my Remembering the School Year Memory Book you can check it out in my TPT store. If you get the End of the Year Bundle, it comes with the memory book (Cover is editable) and A to Z learning. Annnnd if you purchase the bundle that includes the two units together you are saving almost half the cost of just the A-Z Learning packet alone! The A-Z  unit is good for grades 1-3. I include different grade level covers with the ability to edit the school year.

Thanks for stopping by, friends! Hope you are squuueeeezing out the last of your summer vacation days if you haven't started yet. And for those who have started back at school, hope that your school year runs smoothly and that you join me in counting down to the glorious days of summer again. :)

Blessings,

Five for Friday

Hello Friends!
Well, we are winding down over here and next week is my LAST WEEK of school! Only 2 days left and I am officially on summer break!! Woohoo! If you are not there yet, I know that y'all are getting pretty close yourself.  It was Friday and so it's time to Link up with Doodlebugs for her Five for Friday Party. Again, I know it's Saturday... but remember...I'm fashionably late. :)



1. I did not go into my classroom this whole week! I job share and only work Mon-Wed so I was at a Thinking Maps training for those 3 days. It was seriously mentally exhausting but I LOVED it and can't wait to come back and help train my school site on it.

2. My daughter had herpangina. Yup.. that's sounds pretty disgusting, I know.. but it's really not as bad or gross as it sounds. It's like hand, foot, and mouth disease without the hand and foot. Poor girl had sores all in  her throat. She's feeling better now, which is a good thing since I thought we would have to cancel our Disneyland trip. Speaking of....

3. DISNEYLAND!!! Ok, we seriously live only 30 mins away but when someone says they can sign you and your entire family of 5 in for free... it's exciting!!! FREE is GOOD!! We took our RV down there and stayed Thursday-Saturday. We went to Disneyland on Friday from the time it opened to until our kids all passed out. It was awesome! :)

Caught a pic with Minnie!

This was Karis' first time going to Disneyland where she  was aware of what was going on. She went when she was only 1 yrs old last time. Our friend got her a "1st Visit" badge that my hubby is putting on her.

We saw SO many princesses. There were more pictures but I don't want to bore you with all of them. :)

YUP! That's how we like to bring them home... ALL TUCKERED OUT! Makes for a nice evening chatting with the hubby. :)

3. I signed up for Boot Camp. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a crazy workout group that meets like at 5:30am! Am I dumb or what??!!! 530am during summer vacation??!! This class better do some sort of magic on my body.

4. I got my Remembering the School Year Memory Book on TPT. I am getting more products on there since I just started about 2 months ago. It's a learning curve and I'm catching on how to do these units better and faster. First one took me like at least 60 hours!!!  If you don't have a fun memory book or are just looking for something different from what you've done, I would love for you to take a look at what I have. Students draw, measure, write summaries (all in a FUN way), and reflect. I also wrote a poem for teachers to give their students.

End of the School Year Memory Book

5. I got to take a nice loooong MUCH needed nap today. My honey is the best and watched all the kids while I actually feel asleep in our RV. I was going to clean it out but instead sat down, then laid down, and the next thing I knew, it was almost 3 hours later!  I really needed a vacation after our little getaway to Disneyland. It's a lot of work there. Fun, but a lot of work. I was exhausted!

There you go friends! Hopefully your week was fun and relaxing!

Blessings,
Angela Linzay