Getting to Know You ... another fabulous idea that you can add to your teacher toolbox to be ready for the first week of school.     

I am all about building community and making our classroom  a "school family" where we can feel safe, learn about each other, take care of each other and do our best together as a "family". 

The classroom is a place where we can solve problems, feel comfortable and make our environment one in which all students have the opportunity to learn, grow and do their best!
So this activity is just what you need to promote classroom community! 

BUT...before we dive into this Back to School activity, it is important to understand 

Why BUILDING CLASSROOM COMMUNITY IS IMPORTANT FROM DAY ONE

1. Establishing Trust and Comfort:

Building a classroom community from day one helps create a safe and comfortable environment where students feel valued and respected. This trust is crucial for fostering open communication, collaboration, and a positive learning atmosphere throughout the school year.

2. Promoting Engagement and Participation:

When students feel connected to their peers and teacher, they are more likely to actively participate in classroom activities, discussions, and projects. A strong classroom community encourages students to share ideas, ask questions, and take risks, leading to deeper learning experiences.

3. Supporting Social and Emotional Development:

Classroom communities provide opportunities for students to develop important social and emotional skills such as empathy, teamwork, and conflict resolution. By promoting a sense of belonging and inclusivity, educators can help students build healthy relationships and navigate various social situations effectively.


With that being said, this back to school ready to use printable activity can be used the first day of school, first week, as a getting to know you activity or as an anytime activity. 


It also includes a first day activity of “Find Someone Who…” to get your students up and and moving around to meet other classmates. Here is what is included in this packet:A first day getting to know you activity sheets for students to find other students with various attributes. 

This activity is perfret for the first day or week to "BREAK THE ICE" and get students up and moving in a safe and non threatening way!

  • An I LIKE and I can sheet to fill in and see how you and a partner are alike and different.

  • Differentiated sheets to use to meet student needs in writing. 

  • Frames for students to draw self portraits.




  • Directions for use and put it all together and it makes a great Back to School Night display or bulletin board idea


I think it would be safe to say that this Back to School activity is a mini unit for you and your students to get to know each other!




Ideas to extend this activity:

🍎 Have students bring in their favorite book to share with a partner or small group.
🍎 Have students create a ME Bag  
🍎  Have students meet with a partner and share a few things about themselves. After a few minutes, ring a bell and students switch partners. The best way to organize this is to have an inner and outer circle and when the bell rings, the inner circle moves to their right or left while the outer circle does not move. You can use visual directions with hand movements if students don't know which way is left or right or have students wear a rubber band on the right wrist, 
🍎 Have students work with partners and create a partner drawing.
🍎 Have students write an ACROSTIC poem about their partners using their likes and what they can do from the sheets they have filled out.  

These are just a few ideas to extent this activity...I am super positive that YOU have already thought of a few to add to this list! PLEASE SHARAE YOUR IDEAS IN THe COMMENTS!

 


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Earth Day: A Special Time to Remember to Take Care of the EARTH


We dedicate this day to raise awareness and promote environmental protection. 

BUT...YOU KNOW WHAT? EARTH DAY SHOULD REALLY BE EVERYDAY!

AND...IT IS SO important to teach our students and the next generation how to care for our earth and the importance of taking care of the land. 

Which is why this blog post on SIX Fun Earth Day Activities for Children was created so our future generations can continue to take care of the world 

Three Printable Earth Day Activities 

We all know Earth Day is important but sometimes the prep work for it all is too much for us already. So we created this fun Earth Day pack of printable activities to make teaching and learning fun and take the pressure off of you to prep everything. 

 🌎 Earth Day Craft and Bulletin Board: 

Everyone wants to be a Superhero! 

Ignite those imaginations and encourage those young minds to imagine if they were a superhero and could save the Earth. This Earth Day Superhero fun craft and writing frames are great to share after reading a story about Earth Day or any story that encourages positive practices to keep the earth safe and to GO GREEN! 


The Earth Day Writing Frames are versatile and can be differentiated in that you can pick and choose various writing frames to fit different learners. 


Be a Superhero and Save the Earth combines Writing and Science. For more information click here. 


🌎 Printable Writing Craft and Crown 



If you are looking for comprehensive differentiated Earth Day Activities that align with curriculum goals check out this fifty-nine page resource packed with everything you need to have fun on Earth Day or maybe it might turn into Earth Week.


These resources have been used with Kindergarten through 2nd grade. To snag this writing project click here. 





🌎 Printable Earth Day Math Games   

                                                                                                                                                   



This fun and motivating addition and subtraction Earth Day themed roll and cover die or dice games are ready to print, laminate and use.


If your first and second graders are like mine, then they love to play games! When a game teaches fact fluency it is even better. Your students will be learning while they have fun playing a game with their classmates. Snag this here today!


🌎 3 Fun Earth Day Activities for Children 

Not only do we use printables to teach our students how to take care of the world we also complete these fun Earth Day activities too. 



🌎 Recycled Art Projects



Each student brings a variety of stuff from home that they would normally throw away. 


We ask them to bring at least 10 different items into the room instead of throwing it away so that they can share supplies with other students. We also save objects fro our classroom and cafeteria (of course we clean them up before adding them to our recycled collection).


They bring in plastic water bottles, milk jugs, cereal boxes, etc and use those to create something beautiful by upcycling. 



Personally, this is one of my favorites because students get to use their own creativity, devise a plan, and get in front of the class and share their idea. 


I have seen kids turn their recyclables into plant holders, book boxes, and more. 


The possibilities are endless. Recycled projects are fun Earth Day activities for children because they get to be so creative and it works with all grade levels.




🌎 Community Clean-up  


It is important for students to take care of the world and one way to do that is a community or school wide clean up. 


Our classes go out at different times of the day and pick up trash to make the world better. 

We also talk about what we find and how long it takes to decompose naturally. Some of the stats will shock you






🌎 Energy Efficiency


Not only do we learn about how to take care of the world by recycling, reusing, and cleaning it up but we also talk about natural resources and conserving energy. 


For example, turning the water off while brushing teeth is a great lesson for students to learn to save water. Also, turning off the lights when the leave a room is also a great lesson for conserving energy too. 


Not only is it good for the world but also their parents will thank you for talking about this with kids too. 


These ideas and more are included in this Earth Day BUNDLE  


Recycling and upcycling household items, cleaning up the environment, and these fun printable crafts and activities are great ways to celebrate Earth Day with kids. These fun Earth Day activities for children will have a great impact on the world in the future and can make all the difference.

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10 Fun Weather Activities for Kids


 When Punxsutawney Phil   poked his head out of his   burrow and DID NOT   SEE his SHADOW, that   meant   spring was right   around the corner. 


As winter comes to an end and the grass starts turning green, it is the perfect time to start a weather unit!
So...Why not bring some weather fun into your classroom to learn more about the ever-changing weather with these integrated weather activities for kids and craft ideas? You can bring weather to life with this weather mini unit, which includes science, writing, math and much more to cover more than just science.

We all know that that integrating science, math, ELA and other subject areas creates a more comprehensive and engaging learning experience, which prepares students for the challenges of the future...even in first and second grade!


So Why a Weather Unit for Kids?

☀️ Teaching kids about weather goes beyond simply learning about meteorology. It helps them understand the world around them and develop critical thinking skills. By studying patterns, children can learn about cause and effect relationships, such as how temperature affects cloud formation or how wind speed influences the movement of objects.

💨 Teaching kids about weather fosters their curiosity and encourages them to ask questions about the natural world. It promotes scientific inquiry and helps children develop observation skills as they learn to analyze conditions and make predictions based on their observations.

☔️ Understanding weather is crucial for building resilience and preparedness. By teaching kids about severe weather events, such as hurricanes or thunderstorms, they can learn how to stay safe and take appropriate actions when faced with these situations. Weather education empowers children to become active participants in their communities and make informed decisions regarding their safety and well-being.

Weather Activities for Kids - Printable Fun

Your time as a teacher is valuable and adding one more thing to your plate is not what we want to do. So we have made this easy peasy and included some printables that you can just print and use for your weather unit.

First, we have a sun worksheet where students can update and write interesting facts about the weather. They can use this form throughout the entire unit and write down facts they find interesting. This is a great way to practice sentence writing too.

Also, check out this fun weather booklet where you can transform your students into meteorologists. They can track the weather throughout the unit, fill out the tally chart and graph of the weather, and be a like the weather newscasters on TV too. Grab this printable weather booklet tracker and the WEATHER MINI UNIT here today!

Want to Emphasize and Promote Critical Thinking Skills Integrating Weather?

We have you covered. Students will answer questions like how did you decide what clothes to wear today, what is wind, which includes a science experiment for wind, and so much more. There are differentiated vocabulary cards and activities, too! There is not enough space to show you all the weather activities that ar in this 104 page resource!


Weather Crafts for Kids

Our favorite weather craft is easy to print and use and it open-ended, which allows for differentiation to meet student needs! There are many options included, but our favorite is a Weather Mobile Craft.

Students use the templates to write facts they have learned about each type of weather. Such as sunny, cloudy, tornados, snow, lightning, and more. It can also be used as an end of unit weather assessment.
It can be an ongoing craft idea as well! As students learn about different types of weather, they can write what they learned and as they learn more, add a template until they have learned about all the weather forms.
Our fun umbrella craft (which is also an option) is a great way for students to write what they know about the weather. You can use this as a spring bulletin board idea and a fun assessment for the end of your unit as well OR use it for a weather book report or story summary. Click here to grab this craft today!
Cloud and rainbow strips craft. This craft is also perfect for a spring themed bulletin board. We suggest using different colored paper strips to make the craft more vibrant. Snag this fun craft printable here today.

Weather Science Activities

In addition to printable weather activities for kids we find that adding hands on science experiments are just as important for learning about the weather. Take your teaching to the next level through fun science activities such as 

    • A tornado in a jar

    • Snow storm in a jar

    • Instant ice

    • How clouds make rain

    See directions and more weather science experiments HERE

Teaching kids about the weather is a fun way to learn about the world, develop a plan of what to do in bad weather and storms, and foster a curiosity about the environment. From making weather crafts, to science, writing and no prep weather booklets try out this variety of integrated weather activities for kids this spring.




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We all know that in the winter kids get a little stir crazy because of the colder weather. Which is why all teachers need to have fun hands-on activities for kids to do in the classroom to not only burn off their energy but to also keep them learning.

Snowman-themed literacy games


That is why we created this free snowman-themed literacy game pack that you can download here today.


Why wait? CLICK HERE to sign up and GRAB these FREE activities!


Why you should use these free winter activities for your literacy centers

Literacy centers are important: 

  • For gaining independence
  • For students to take ownership of their learning
  • As it is an effective strategy to help young learners practice skills while gaining social skills and writing skills.
  • Centers can be used as informal assessment
  • Centers meet individual learning styles and are usually hands on learning.
  • Centers can be differentianted in that you assign slkills according the various student needs.

Also, while kids are working independently at centers it gives you a chance to work with small groups of students and differentiate instruction based on students needs.

Snowman-Themed Literacy Games Freebie Includes

First of all,


This free printable pack includes a compound word game activity. Students will build snowmen and compound words and record their finding on the paper provided.
It includes making snowmen by matching antonym words. This can be used as a different center or a rotating center all winter long.


Next up on this free winter printable pack,

Next up on this free winter printable pack it includes making snowmen by matching antonym words. This can be used as a different center or a rotating center all winter long.


Also, included in this free printable snowman-themed literacy games pack

A pronoun and proper noun matching activity. Students will create snowmen by matching the proper noun to the matching pronoun.

And...there's MORE,

We also include a free synonym snowman matching game too! Students will find words that mean the same thing to create the snowman.

In addition,

We include a contraction snowmen matching activity that will make practicing contractions fun and more hands-on than just a worksheet.

Finally,

In this freebie we have igloo sentence making activity as a free bonus activity. Students will look at the words on the cards and match the naming part on one igloo to the action part on another igloo to make full correct sentences.

Ways to Turn These Free Printables into Games

Not only are these free but you can easily take these literacy centers and turn them into snowmen-themed literacy games to practice mastering these skills in a more hands-on way.

Here are some ways to turn these free printables into snowmen-themed literacy games:

  1. Make it a competition by having students compete against each other to match all the snowman first.

  2. Create an obstacle course to grab the second part of the snowman and match it to the right top half of the snowman.

  3. Use these printables as a game of scoot. Place the snowman cards in circle and have students walk around to match their snowman to the other part. Then they can share with the class the answer.

  4. Use them as a way to create partners or a seek and find for a particular skill where you give a student one part of the snowman and they need to seek and find their partner.

Make your literacy centers easy with these snowman-themed literacy games and free printables today! Grab the link here




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With a Wintery Mix Coming Our Way, I'm Ready to Talk SNOW!


Do I love snow?  Not really...BUT...I absolutely do LOVE the first snowfall, which we are supposedly getting on Monday!! I love that snowed in feeling...looking out the window and catching a glimpse of the early morning sun encouraging the snow to sparkle and glisten like tiny diamonds all around.... the white snow dust that swirls across the landscape as the wind crackles!  YES! That part I LOVE!

There's one more...there is one thing that really excites me and that is perceiving the snow through the eyes of a child...the excitement and squeals of the snow falling.  Everyone running to the classroom windows to see the tiny bits of snow falling down from the clouds...that's what it is all about...they simply LOVE the snow!

So...Let's Talk SNOW...snow resources and activities to ignite that learning. 



⛄ Here's a Wintery Mix of Snow-Themed Ideas and Activities: 

⛄ Any Story written by Caralyn Buehner; especially her snowman series is worth reading to ignite your students' imagination and creativity!  My all time favorite is Snowmen at Night.

Everytime I read this story, I think of another idea of snowmen might just do at night and the ideas that students share amazes me everytime!

If you are looking for a way for your primary students to write creatively, this definitely fits the bill.

You can take a look at the complete resource here and see what you think!   

Here is what is included:  ⛄3 different sized circles to trace and cut to make a snowman. These can be used as tracers or simply run them off onto card stock, cut and glue. 

⛄Various templates for hats, shirts, a tie, and bow     

⛄2 easy writing frames.

⛄1 longer writing frame for stronger writers with handwriting lines. 


⛄1 longer writing frame for stronger writers with only lines for writing. 

⛄1 planning sheet for jotting down ideas and a few extra writing ideas.

⛄ 2 Beginning Middle and End frames for easier writing or just simply writing what the snowman may do for a rough draft and then writing a good copy to display. 

⛄I then add lots of beads, scraps, tissue, shape stickers, and all kinds of craft media materials to assist creativity. 

⛄An idea with an outline of directions for a lesson. 

⛄Sample craft. 

 ⛄  Want a Digital version of Snowmen at Night created for Google Slides™?  click here!

⛄ Have Some Fun with Snow Dough!

⛄  All kids love snow or at least most of them do...

If they have ever played in snow, they will remember the cold icy feeling of making a snowman, snow angel or snowball.

You can make snow dough with only 2 ingredients...YES...I did say 2.  Baking soda and water.  All you need is one cup of Baking soda and 1/4 cup of water and you will bring that cold snow right into your classroom.  

Here are a few ideas to use SNOW DOUGH in your classroom:


⛄Make it and simply let your kiddos play with it...this "snow" feels cold, which makes it even "cooler" to manipulate.  This is great for sensory needs and you can talk a little about Science!


⛄Create a snowman. Name the snowman and use a frame from the packet above or your own frame to write a story about your snowman.


⛄Create a snow scene by adding small trucks, people, cars, houses etc.  Maybe even create a cooperative town!


⛄ There is another recipe for "SNOW" that I found the other day that is super fun "playing" with snow.

It is simply: 

1 cup of Baking Soda
1 cup of shaving cream
1 tablespoon of water...(we added a tad more baking soda and stirred until it was the right consistency.

Here is the result:

                                       







⛄Have you tried writing sight words in the SNOW?  

 
We have...this  image is with a mat underneath, but if you know it will be snowing, get out there and have some fun with your sight words...if you are a homeschooler...what a fun way to learn your words!!! Even in school, walk outside and grab a tray of snow and get writing! OR simply use the recipe  above and start writing those words!




⛄What about Some Fun and Easy Science Experiments for Home or School?

These fun experiments for every month of the year from  igamemom are perfect!  These 10 Easy Snow Experiments are3 educational and fun for all ages!



⛄ You might also enjoy these ideas to make a snowy day a FUN DAY!   
















⛄ Snowy Winter Station and Center Activities are Always a Great Idea

I  love creating centers/ work stations that fit the seasons and that students can rotate through in a week or two.
It gives me a chance to meet with Guided reading Groups or work one on one with students to meet individual needs of all students. Chatting about my ELA Centers/Stations is for another post, but if you are interested in some activities with a snowy theme, here are some that I used with much success!  It even includes a Reader's theater!

⛄ Snowy Winter Animal Research Reports is a great way to integrate winter and writing.  


Although the information included in this resource focusses on Polar Bears, Penguins and Reindeer, the worksheets to write the information are generic and can go beyond these winter animal.  See if this is something you might to use when the chill of winter passes through your classroom. \

⛄ Snowy Winter Writing Prompts

Encourage creative writing with prompts related to winter adventures, snowy days, winter holidays special days celebrated in January and more with these Seasonal Monthly Writing Prompts.  Here is one for January

⛄ AND LET'S NOT FORGET CREATING SNOWFLAKES TO DECORATE YOUR CLASSROOM OR HOUSE. 

Just imagine how excited your students or children will be when their classroom or house turns into a winter wonderland!

As the snowflakes dance and the chilly air wraps around us, these delightful winter activities and resources for primary learners promise endless joy and learning. From crafting snowflakes to a mix of winter writing, these experiences foster not just fun but also growth and discovery. 

Embrace the magic of winter and watch as these simple moments create lasting memories for all.

Let's make this winter a season of laughter, exploration, and endless delight for our young adventurers!


I hope these ideas bring a little "SNOW"shine your way!   Thanks for stopping by!




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