January Bright Ideas for the Classroom

Hello sweet blog readers! Welcome and Happy New Year! I have decided to try something new this year and share monthly ideas with you in hopes of making your planning each month a bit easier. I hope you can take a few ideas, use them, and feel relieved that some of your planning is complete.

Let's get started! Don't forget: When you see ideas you love, pin them so you don't forget them!

I am all about integrating the curriculum across different subject areas whenever possible. This is why I love this snowman glyph project so much. This super simple project integrates art, data collection, writing AND makes an awesome bulletin board! 

Each student creates their snowman based on how they answer certain questions about winter. Then they can write a poem or story to go with their art project. BAM! Your bulletin board for January is complete!

You can grab this versatile winter resource HERE.

I also love to start the new year off with goals. My students make personal goals throughout the year, but I love this craft as a bulletin board in January. Each student makes a boy or girl on New Year's Eve and writes about their resolution or goals for the coming year.

You can take a closer look at this goal writing resource HERE.

January is a time to reflect, set goals, and make a fresh start. When school starts I am going to have my students make these New Year resolution books. It's a great way to get students focused and ready to learn after a few weeks off.

You can grab this freebie HERE.

Teaching my students about Martin Luther King Jr. is something I look forward to each January. I also love it because I can carry the activities into February for Black History Month if I don't get to all the activities I have planned. Hehe.

I love sharing facts and info with a Getting To Know Martin Luther King Jr book. Then we create an interactive paper bag book with fun facts about his life. The kids LOVE making these books.

True and false questions are a great way for kids to test their knowledge of all the new learning they are doing. This is a fun center to put out or use as a whole group review.

Integrating writing and crafts is always and fun and easy way to assess student learning. These I Have A Dream kids make a great bulletin board too.

You can find all these activities and MUCH more in my Martin Luther King Jr. pack. Click here to see it on TpT.

Click the picture or HERE to grab this freebie.

I hope you found a few ideas you can use. Stay tuned for next month's February Bright Ideas. 

{DON'T FORGET IT! PIN IT!}

All About Me!

We have just started our third week of school and I have SO many things that I have planned that keep getting pushed to another day. We have Back to School Night in two days and I really wanted/needed to get our All About Me glyphs completed for our math board. It has been in my plan book since the first week of school. Today, I FINALLY found the time to have the kids make their adorable faces. They were 

THRILLED! 

I love this activity because it incorporates math, art and social studies all in one itty bitty project! What more can you ask for? We started off the activity with the kids answering questions about themselves and writing their answers on their whiteboards. Then, we used the answers to put together our All About Me faces. Here the kids are gluing their hair and hats onto the heads. Every color, shape etc represents something about the child. For example, the color hat is determined by the first letter of the child's last name. 

We worked through the project very systematically. Things could go very wrong if you just let them loose. It was also a great activity to test listening skills. Here are a few of the finish projects:

I displayed them on our math board along with the glyph key so people could see why each child made their faces they way they did. 

After we completed the glyphs, we worked together to complete data sheets about the information on their glyphs. We graphed our birthdays, how we got to school, our siblings etc. They kids loved sharing their projects too! Now we are all set for Back to School night and we can show off all we have been learning these last few weeks!

Flipping Out for Summer!

The countdown has begun....there are less than 30 days left in our school year, testing is done and the summer vacation countdown is in full effect!

Here is a little summer glyph and writing activity I created to bring the summer spirit to our classroom. I will be doing it in the next week or so with my kiddos. They will be answering questions about summer and making flip flops to reflect their answers. Then we will graph the data and write about why we are flipping out for summer!

You can grab this summer activity at my TpT store for only $3.00! The packet includes: templates to make your flip flops, directions, writing prompts, graphs AND bulletin board letters.

Leave a sweet comment below with your EMAIL and I will choose one person to receive this activity for FREE!  Congrats to Stephanie Ann! Check your email for your copy! 

Getting Ready for Earth Day and Giveaways

A quick post for today, my friends.

I can't believe it... SPRING BREAK has finally arrived!!! I LOVE waking up on my own in the morning instead of the sound of an alarm going off in my head! Even if I still wake up early, it is SO much better to do it on my own. 

I have decided to spend some of my vacation updating items in my store that I posted when I was just opening my TpT store and starting my little blog. I have learned so much since then and a few products definitely need an overhaul. The first product that has been revamped is my Recycling Frog Glyph. It is perfect for Earth Day activities. I have added some new graphics and a writing component to the packet. If you have already purchased this item, please make sure to download the new version.

We will be making these little guys when we get back from Spring Break. The kids are going to write about how they recycle at home too. 

Many of my blogging friends are having giveaways right now that are AMAZING!

My friend Kate at EduKate and Inspire is celebrating 400 followers. She has tons of great prizes and sweet bloggers helping her out. Hop on over and take a look!

Kyp at Mrs. McClaren's Little Super Heros is celebrating 100 followers with a giveaway too! Stop by and show her the love.

Hope you are all enjoying your week!

Spring Is In the Air!

I can't believe Spring is here! In less than 2 weeks I will be on Spring Break!! Can I get a H-O-L-L-A??? However, in order for me to get to my vacation, I first have to get ready for Open House, which is only ONE week away! We just finished report cards and now...Open House! Gotta love it! So, in getting my room ready for the BIG evening, my kids just finished their Spring Umbrella Glyphs. We are currently working on the writing that goes along with them, but I wanted to show you our work in progress.

Each child answered their glyph questions on their individual white board (saves paper and copying). Then they were given a specific number of shapes based on how they answered each question about what they liked about spring.

Here is our glyph key and data charts about how our class answered the spring glyph questions. They are posted next to our glyphs.

I used some tissue paper and cut out a few raindrops to create the "scene" for all our umbrella glyphs. Today  I gave the kids a choice between two topics they could write to accompany their glyphs. Some students chose to write a persuasive letter to our principal to close school if there was a wild thunderstorm,while other students pretended to be an umbrella and write about their adventures on a rainy day. I like giving the kids a choice of writing when possible. It makes it more meaningful to them.

Hopefully you can use these activities in your class with your kiddos too. Click on the picture to grab your copy.

An Awesome Week-Snowman Style! AND Five For Friday

                      I am linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bug Teaching for Five for Friday!


1. I must say, for the first week back from an extended break- WE HAD AN AWESOME WEEK! My kids were focused, worked hard and we accomplished many of our goals we had set for the week. I was really proud of them! Today we were finally able to finish our Let It Snow! Snowman Glyphs and Writing Activities.

We started the activity by answering questions about our opinion of winter on our white boards.

I was shocked by how many of the kids loved the snow, wanted to play in the snow and winter was their favorite season! Then I realized, snow is a novelty to my students. They hardly ever see it where we live, unless their parents take them to the mountains. I am curious how other students, who live in other parts of the country, would answer these questions about winter. Would they hate the snow? Love it? Do all kids generally love it? Just wondering....

Here are the kids putting their glyphs together based on how they answered the glyph questions.

These are a couple finished products:

I love how some of the students glued their nose to the side and others glued it straight down. It shows their creativity and different ways of thinking and interpreting information. After they assembled their snowmen, we read the story Snowmen At Night by Caralyn Buehner. 

Then the kids wrote what they would do if they were a snowman at night. The kids came up with the cutest stories. One of my students wanted to open a snow hair salon and all the snowmen and snow girls would get their hair cut under a disco ball! I loved reading about all their creative ideas. Here is a picture of our stories on display:

2. We completed our New Year Resolutions and wrote about things to improve at school and at home this year.

3. I came home from work today and this little box was on my doorstep.

Can you see what is inside????

Yep, my fabulous new pencil sharpener that I won from Classroom Friendly Supplies and Tania from My Second Sense! How awesome is that???? I'd say, that's a great way to start the weekend.

4. I am in the process of finishing up and putting the finishing touches on a linear measurement unit- Measuring Up! We are going to start this unit next week in class. I really dislike the way it is taught in our math series, so I really needed some fun activities to grab the kids attention. These centers, craftivity and hands-on activities will definitely do the trick. It should be up by the end of the weekend.

5. I am also looking forward to catching up with all my favorite reality Housewives shows. Especially:

                                                  

I can't wait to see what drama unfolds next!

Head on over and link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching and share your Five for Friday. Have a great Friday night!

Two Freebies and Some Snowmen

I don't know about you- but I am so glad it is the weekend! This past week was nutty and I need to wrap my brain around the idea that today is the first day of December. We wrapped up our extremely over scheduled week with a few fun activities. We read the story There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bell by Lucille Colandro. After we read the story, the kids sequenced the story events.

Then, they made the old lady and wrote about one of their favorite parts of the story.

And we put them up for display in our classroom.

You can grab your FREEBIE copy of this activity by clicking on the picture below.

I also just finished my Hanukkah Literacy Activities unit. I love teaching the kids about all different holidays and cultures. I wanted to share a little FREEBIE worksheet that you could use to review Hanukkah terms with your kiddos. Just click on the picture to grab your copy.

If you would like some more ideas to teach Hanukkah, check out my Hanukkah packet I just posted.

I know some of us are not allowed to use specific holiday activities, so I created these adorable snowman glyphs that you could make with your class. I am going to make these will my kids when we return from winter break but I know some of you would like them now.

The glyph packet includes all the templates, writing pages and data collection sheets you need to complete the project. You can grab your copy at my TpT store. Just click on the picture below.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!