It's that time of year again. Time to go back to school. Can you believe it?! I know the Target Dollar Spot has been preparing us for this moment for a couple of months now, but I still can't believe it's already time to return to the classroom. This summer I had the opportunity to present a few professional development sessions centered around the back to school season and everything it entails. From setting up and organizing classrooms to establishing routines and procedures, we covered lots of ground! In my opinion, one of the most important things we as teachers do at the beginning of the year (besides setting the foundation for … [Read more...] about Back to School with Social Studies
social studies
Visual Lesson Plans – How I Fit It All In
I often get asked how I'm able to fit things into my day and I'm hoping this helps give you an idea of how that looks. Let's go ahead and start with the plans. I'm fortunate enough to be able to help teachers plan for their days while pushing in to assist and mentor. We talk a lot about "fitting it all in" and I hope this helps you to see what that looks like. I tend to OVERplan because I'd rather have more than enough to get through the day(s). You can download them HERE for a closer look. Whew. Now let's break it all down. MORNING WARM-UP Most kids are still filtering in during this time, … [Read more...] about Visual Lesson Plans – How I Fit It All In
Social Studies & Such
Hey y'all! Is everybody surviving the back to school rush? My boys know who their teachers are and we're meeting them tomorrow night so they're all kinds of excited! (ME TOO!!!!) Lots of things have been happening behind the scenes here that have been keeping me unexpectedly busy (that's life, right?!), but I wanted to pop-in real quick to tell you a little bit about my newest resources for my K & 1st teachers. After we released several months worth of Science plans in the Spring, we received lots of emails asking if we were planning on creating a similar Social Studies resource filled with detailed lesson plans and … [Read more...] about Social Studies & Such
Thanksgiving Threw Up in My Classroom
OH.MY. Pretty much sums up how I feel when I walk into my classroom. I’m greeted by dangling turkeys, pilgrims galore, and kid work all over the place…and I LOVE IT. Y’all…this last month…3 weeks, I guess…have been a total whirlwind. I didn’t get a chance to do half the things I wanted to, but I’m okay with it because the kids got JUST what they needed! We’ve been furiously preparing ourselves for our annual Grandparent’s/VIP day tomorrow. It’s our biggest event of the year! The kids get to invite the special people in their lives to come watch them perform the most darling little musical … [Read more...] about Thanksgiving Threw Up in My Classroom
Open House – Traveling Through America
As for Open House, we’re all *12 kinds of* crazy tryin’ to get things together. Y’all…I gotta say…things are lookin’ DANG cute! My school is nothing short of amazing and the entire place just transforms into such a sight! Since we’re studying American symbols & Presidents in our curriculum, First Grade decided to go with a patriotic theme for our hallways & classroom this year. Just think, “Traveling through America”. The hallways are still a work in progress, but I’m LOVIN’ what we have so far! Can’t wait to show y’all!! Here’s a little peek at what we’ve been workin’ on in the classroom… LOVE this little writing!! We read … [Read more...] about Open House – Traveling Through America
Inventors & Inventions
This past week we started wrapping up our study on Inventors & Inventions in Science/Social Studies. I guess I underestimated the interest my kids would have in the subject because they were SO into it!! We started by learning about a few very important inventors…Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and The Wright Brothers. We made a little anchor chart for the kids to refer to throughout our little unit of study. After we learned about each inventor, I had the kids add to their “Inventors and their Inventions” notebook. {click the pic to download} I forgot to take pics, but after we studied Alexander Graham Bell, we made tin can … [Read more...] about Inventors & Inventions
