My son thrives on art activities. To introduce the element of art known as texture, I had him created crayon rubbings. Texture refers to the way something feels. Not everything that you make needs to be created with tactile texture. Visual texture, or the illusion of texture can easily be done with different surfaces. We […]
5 for Friday
Hey, everyone! We are joining in with the teacher fun over at Doodle Bugs Teaching! Here’s what Karen and I have been up to this week. Read the post and grab your freebie here! Read the ideas here for some fine motor centers. Karen shared how she is gardening with her kids. I […]
Pirate Class Memory Books: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade!
The end of the school year is here! Like many teachers in the BTPT era (that’s BEFORE Teachers Pay Teachers)- I used to spend painstaking and insane amounts of time making memory books for my classes. It involved scrapbooking supplies and stickers…and what can I say? I was a rookie teacher with a ton of […]
End of the Year Classroom Organizing Tip: Keeping a Happy File
When I was teaching first grade many moons ago, my room mom mentioned something to me that has never left my file cabinet since: a happy file. From my years teaching and tutoring, I’ve saved some of those handwritten cards and notes from former students. When I’m having one of those terrible, no good, very […]
Garden with Kids Using Pots
When I was a little girl, I remember my 89 year old great grandmother saying, “plants don’t grow at the grocery store.” So my grandpa helped me plant a garden and I diligently watered it. Now I say these exact words to my children. We live in a rather old house, and unfortunately the lead […]
10 Ideas for Fine Motor Play-Based Centers using Kinetic Sand
Both of my sons have fine motor delays, so I’m constantly on the hunt for materials to engage this critical skill. One of my family members bought kinetic sand for us for Christmas, and my youngest son ADORES playing in our kinetic sandbox (which is actually a plastic file box from Target!). We are talking […]
Fall, Winter, Spring & Summer Activities Bundle
Do you need engaging literacy-based resources to supplement your fall, winter, spring, and summer units? We’ve bundled some of our most popular resources on TpT in this must-have seasonal pack. These activities also make striking classroom and bulletin board display while really teaching our kids critical concepts! During fall, start with our pumpkin activity. In […]
Free Printable Summer Bucket List Writing Prompt
It’s the time of the year for students to get antsy and teachers to run on empty. Why not harness all that excitement of the impending summer days into a fun writing activity? This summer bucket list writing prompt will keep your kids engaged in their writing during these final weeks of school! […]
Classroom Behavior Management Idea: Star Student
Every teacher wants a positive and productive classroom environment to conduct learning. On any given day, that can be a challenge. Behavior management was the most challenging for me when I had a classroom of 32 students. Yes, you read that right, 32 students! I could have nearly lost my mind teaching messy art activities […]
Free Handwriting Assessment Sheets: I Can Write Letters
Fine motors skills in my house have been a colossal struggle since the time my sons were able to chew a crayon. Despite their school’s use of the Handwriting Without Tears Program, both are still struggling with proper formation and writing of their letters. I plan to “summer homeschool” both my sons starting in late […]
