Social Distancing Greetings


Classroom Setup, Daily Life, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, Kindergarten, Printables, Second Grade, Third Grade, TpT Store

I still don’t know what our school has planned as far as in-person, virtual, or hybrid learning. But I know that at some point we will be back in the building. So, in preparation, I created a set of social distance greeting signs. Hopefully, they will help students connect with one another, even while being far apart. In past years, I’ve tried doing the individual greetings with each child, but I was never great at remembering what steps there were for each child. I’m thinking I may try it again this year, and with a visual reminder of the choices, […]

Mini Anchor Charts


Classroom Setup, Daily Life, DIY, ELA, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, Math, Printables, Third Grade, TpT Store, Writing

I love anchor charts. I hate hanging anchor charts on my walls. They either take up precious bulletin board space, or they constantly fall down (or just wave at me from one droopy corner). So, a few years ago, I created a set of mini anchor charts for my tables using IKEA’s Tolsby Frames. After much frustration to get everything just the right size, I finally had a small set of charts. Multiplication chart, synonyms for overused words, math talk stems, commonly misspelled words, and more. And I also made some cute motivational cards to keep it fun and positive!

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Printable Post-Its


Daily Life, DIY, ELA, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, Printables, Second Grade, Third Grade, TpT Store, Writing

A friend asked if I had ever used or created printable Post-Its to use in my classroom. A logical question, since I do love Post-Its! While I had never printed on them before, my curiosity was piqued and I was on it the next morning! It took a few days, but I finally had a full set of printables that I could see myself using in the classroom (whenever we head back, that is!) Positive notes of praise, notes of encouragement to keep going, sentence starters for those days when I want to be more specific, writing checklists (my stamp

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Random Acts of Kindness


Daily Life, Fourth Grade

A few of the current 5th graders were suspiciously hanging around outside of my classroom (which is very unusual since all of our student meet downstairs to start the day). They asked if they could borrow some tape, and said what they were doing was a secret, so not to look. They were some of the most trustworthy and sweetest kids, so I smiled and left them to their mysterious task. When my class came upstairs, each child found a note of encouragement taped to their locker! They loved them (and many of them kept the notes inside of their

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Magnet Racer STEM Challenge


Daily Life, Fourth Grade, Science

One of my favorite STEM activities is our Magnet Racer challenge! After studying magnets, students get to build their own magnet-powered Lego car which they then try to navigate through a series of obstacles. Building and testing takes several days, and students experiment with different size wheels, wheel bases, magnets, and of course, their car design! I set up a variety of stations on the floor which mirror the final obstacle course. They can test as often as they’d like, and decide which type of magnet will work best for them to “drive” with. On the day of the final

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Brag Tags


Daily Life, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, Homework, Printables, Second Grade, Third Grade, TpT Store

We have a program at my school where students are encouraged to set weekly goals, and long term goals. I find that after a while, kids set the same goals week after week. “I want to pass my math fact test” or “I want to read x number of minutes.” I am also a teacher who likes to present extra optional challenges to my kids, and sometimes they are accepted, and other times ignored. We also do the MindUP program, which encourages qualities such as optimism, gratitude, perspective taking, happiness, etc. Some tricky concepts for some children! If only I

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Happy Birthday


Daily Life, DIY, Third Grade

I love walking through the clearance aisles trying to find something I can use in the classroom.  I was at Kohl’s and found this photo holder, which was on sale for $1.99.  I had been planning to buy a little sparkly party decoration to sit at a child’s spot when it was their birthday, but this turned out even better!  I created some little pictures to go on the side of the cube, modge podged those and some little confetti stars on the base, and then bought a premade bow and tied it around the top.  It still has the

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