​​Meet the Teacher Night is an exciting event that sets the tone for the upcoming school year. It's a wonderful opportunity to connect with parents, share important information, and make your students feel welcomed and valued.

​Here are some tips to ensure your Meet the Teacher Night is a success:

• Classroom Expectations: Outline your classroom rules, routines, and expectations. This helps parents understand the environment their child will be in.
• Curriculum Overview: Give a brief overview of the subjects and topics you will cover throughout the year. Highlight any special projects or field trips.
• Communication Methods: Explain how you will communicate with parents (e.g., email, class website, newsletters) and encourage them to reach out if needed.
• Use a Slideshow: A slideshow can be an effective way to share important information. It keeps the session organized and visually engaging.
  

Say goodbye to overwhelming preparation and hello to organization and ease. With our Meet the Teacher Pack, you'll have all the essential materials at your fingertips. From a handy supply list to contact information, important dates, and more, we've got you covered. Embrace this opportunity to meet your students and their families confidently and positively. Our Meet the Teacher Pack will not only alleviate your stress but also ensure a smooth transition back to school. Don't miss out on this invaluable resource that will leave you fully prepared to welcome your students in style.

The most important part of day 1 is ensuring that you know how your students will get home safely. Here are some tips for Day 1 transportation.

• Transportation Form: Provide a transportation form for parents to fill out, indicating how their child will get to and from school on the first day. You can also add this to your sign-in sheet to ensure all parents tell you in writing . 
• Color-Coded Tags: Use color-coded tags or wristbands to indicate different modes of transportation (e.g., bus, car, walker). This visual cue can help ensure students get to the right place.
• Verify Information: Double-check all transportation details with parents before they leave to prevent any mix-ups.

• Engage Directly with Students: Kneel or sit to be at eye level with your students when talking to them. This makes them feel more comfortable and valued.
• Ask Questions: Show interest in your students by asking about their interests and feelings about the upcoming school year.
• Encourage Participation: Involve students in activities or games that help them get to know the classroom and their classmates.
• Back-to-School Treats: Including a small treat can help you connect with students and get them excited about coming back to school. A small gift can make your students feel special and excited about the school year. Here are some ideas:
• Goldfish Crackers: Attach a label that says "You’re O-Fish-ally a First Grader!"
• Popcorn: Use labels like"Thank you for ‘Popping’ In Today"
• Bubbles: Add a label saying "I’m Bubbling with Excitement to Meet You"
• Our Meet the Teacher Pack also includes these delightful gift tags:
• "I’m Bursting with Excitement to Meet You"
• "This Year will be a Ball"
• "I’m ‘Beary’ Happy to Have You in My Class"

These little gifts are not only fun but also create a positive and welcoming atmosphere for your students. If you’re looking for pre-made treat labels, check out my options available on Teachers Pay Teachers. They’re designed to save you time and add a personal touch to your gifts.

​By following these tips, you'll create a welcoming and organized Meet the Teacher Night that sets a positive tone for the entire school year. Remember, the key is to communicate effectively, show genuine interest in your students and their families, and add those special touches that make everyone feel valued. Happy teaching!

PLACE VALUE CRAFTS -- Teaching math and numbers skills can be hard to keep interesting, so ​why not add some color and craft to it? Place value crafts are just the thing.  Students can practice different ways to represent numbers, easily differentiated with higher or lower numbers. The Rainbow, Shamrock, and St. Patrick's Day Mobile activities ALSO double as great bulletin board material to show off your students' hard work and learning.
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GOLD COINS FOR NON-STANDARD MEASUREMENT -- For this activity, you'll need gold coins from the dollar store. Students are challenged to find things around the room that equal 1, 2, etc., giving them a great hands-on learning activity appropriate to the seasonal theme.

The Shamrock Shimmer may sound like a popular dance move, but it's actually a great way to teach states of matter (with some reading, comprehension, writing, and sequencing skill-sharpening thrown in for good measure). Students follow the recipe for this St. Paddy's twist on a rootbeer float, and even get to enjoy a treat at the end of the activity!

I've heard it said before that a quick way to get to know someone is to ask them what they would do if they won a million dollars. Maybe that's true, maybe not, but what IS true is that writing prompts get students' brains warmed up in no time to learn. For St. Paddy's Day, ask them to answer the following prompt to work on their writing skills: What would you do if you found  a pot of gold? If students need a little more prompting, try adding these further questions: 

• Would you keep the money? If so, what would you spend it on?
• Would you give the money away? If so, to whom? Why?
• What about the leprechaun the gold belongs to? How would you deal with him?

You're sure to get some interesting answers!

An Elementary classroom decorated for Halloween is always a special treat for students. And these Halloween Place Value Craftivities fit right in with other seasonal decorations. The Haunted House is adorable while still giving off that touch of “spooky” kids love. And the treat bag of candy is as colorful and friendly as it gets! With a little imagination, it is easy to see how you can use either of them to build an attractive Hallway display, or simply show off your students’ work on the classroom walls.

These Halloween Craftivities can also be used to create “Trick-or Treat” bags, Halloween cards, and other cute gifts, as well. Finding creative ways for students to put their hard work on display is always fun and rewarding! 
Practicing Place Value skills is so much easier when students are having fun. I hope that these fun Halloween themed Place Value Craftivities will have you and your students so inspired to learn, those important skills will become second nature in no time at all! 
Click on the images below to check out other seasonal place value content. 
Links to other seasons blog post

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Fun Autumn Craftivities For Math
Place Value is one of those things that may not seem that important - unless you don’t understand it. Students who don’t have a handle on Place Value find it hard to learn any of the basic Math skills, let alone anything more complex. And we teachers and parents all know that the best way to learn is to practice.

Unfortunately, getting kids to practice is often easier said than done! 

That’s what’s so great about these fun seasonal Place Value Craftivities. Kid love the Autumn and I have some Fall-related Place Value Craftivities that they are sure to enjoy. You can choose from Apples, Autumn Leaves, or even a cute and decorative Mobile of leaves. Each of these fun Craftivities allows your students to show what they know about Place Value. And once done, they can create their Craftivities in all their favorite Autumn colors! 

These crafts are a lot of fun. They are a great filler when a student finishes other work early. And in addition to math practice, your students can use these in partner work and math workshops, too. 



Other Great Hands-On Place Value Ideas -I’ll add these in 

• HTO 
• Free Seasonal Task cards- Search 
• Place Value Puzzles- Working on making more seasonal 
• Comparing numbers game 
• Number War 
• Number flip books 
• Guess my number 
• Place value mini books 
• Place value pictures 
• Sentence strip numbers( fold to show actual value) 
• Place value chart
  
  
  

Other Seasonal Craftivities You May EnjoyThere’s never a bad time of year to practice Place Value. Therefore, I’ve created opportunities for your students to practice throughout the year with seasonal and holiday Craftivities. I love the thought of making learning fun, and these seasonal and holiday Craftivities certainly do that. I hope that you will check these out and find yourself inspired by all the ways you can use these projects with your students!




Autumn Craftivities Also Make Great Decorations, Gifts, and Displays Autumn days are cool and crisp and filled with beautiful colors of yellow, red, and gold. Kids return to school and as the leaves begin to fall, your students know that the most fun holidays of the year are just around the corner. So when you bring all those wonderful colors and feelings of Autumn into your classroom, your students are sure to feel inspired! Especially when they get to show off their hard work in some of the Autumn decorations! 
Once completed and colored in all the beautiful colors of the fall, your students' Apples, Leaves, and mobiles are a wonderful way to decorate. Can you imagine the Fall wonderland you could create with Place Value leaves and apples on the walls and in the doorways? You could even pair them with a nice quote for a gorgeous hallway display to celebrate the Season. And be sure to hang some Autumn mobiles from the ceiling to really fill in that Autumn look. 
Your students can use their hard work to make Autumn-themed cards and gifts for family and friends. Not only that, but parents love to use them to decorate for Autumn at home, as well! 

One thing we teachers and parents have long known - kids are much more willing to practice Place Value and other Math skills when they are having fun. I hope that you and your students will enjoy these Autumn-Themed Place Value Craftivities as much as I enjoyed making them. I’d also love it if you shared some of the great ways you use these with your own students! 
Click on the images below to check out other seasonal place value content. 
Links to other seasons blog post

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​If you want to create hands-on place value practice I have some great ideas to share. Students often get a bit restless when Springtime days grow warm. This blog post is rich with great ideas for fun place value Activities your students will enjoy so much, they may not even notice that they are learning! I have included activities perfect for math practice, math workshops, partner work, reading, and more. There are even some great ideas for incorporating students’ work into bulletin boards and classroom decorations!

Nothing cheers up an elementary or homeschool classroom like seasonal decorations, and students love to see their creative skills on display. These great Craftivities don’t simply allow you to create hands-on learning with Butterflies. Once completed, students can color their butterflies in all their favorite hues before using them in any number of creative ways.

Use students’ completed Butterfly Craftivities to decorate the walls and doorways of your classroom or build creative bulletin board displays for the classroom or hallway. They can even be used to create greeting cards and other gifts for holidays and special events! And if you combine them with other related Springtime Craftivities, there is no limit to the beautiful decorations and displays you and your students can create! ​

With so many great ways to create hands-on learning with Butterflies, your students will be happily practicing many important skills. From honing their knowledge of place value to practicing their creativity, students will be able to improve many basic academic skills while celebrating the warm days of Spring! ​

 Many of us have our testing before or just after Easter. This is a great way to get students up and moving while also practicing the skills they need. This activity can be inside or outside, but a pretty day on the playground makes it extra fun. You can also use any questions, just cut them apart and put them in the eggs. 

I take questions and hide them in eggs, each color egg has the same question in it. That way I can ensure that students get all of the questions and we can limit the number of eggs students find, allowing everyone to have a chance. Students then have a clipboard and answer sheet. Once they have all the correct answers (and work of course) they can get a treat. This is a great way to motivate them.

Do you need to differentiate to meet your students needs? 
-Instead of each different color egg having a different question, make each group of students 1 color. Then you can put questions on their level in the eggs. This works best when students are working in groups to find the eggs. 
- Have students collect less eggs, and answer less questions.
- Have students work in pairs with a student that is higher. The higher student can be the "teacher" and help the lower student to solve the problem. 

Allowing for students to take turns teaching is a great way to reinforce their understanding. One way I do this is to give each of the students a question to solve.
​I make sure that each student gets a problem (I typically have 4 different questions) that they are able to solve. I want my lower students to also be successful in this activity. 
After giving students time to solve the problems I pair students. They take turns being the "teacher" and teaching their partner how to solve the problem. When they are finished they find a new partner. I typically have students teach 2-4 students how to solve their problem.  We then go over how to solve the problems together as a class. 

Who doesn't love a game show? This is a great way for students to work in small groups to solve challenging problems. Each team has a white board and marker. They take turns choosing the question they want to work on. If they get it correct, they get the points. If not, it goes to the next team who can steal the points. The team with the most points at the end gets a prize. 

One important part of testing is students being able to sit quietly and work for long periods of time. This does not fit into how I teach, and while this is my least favorite part of test prep, I do think it's important. 

For a lot of us, our students are used to doing a workshop model in the classroom. They are allowed to move around the classroom freely, and work on different projects. While I truly believe that this has been a huge benefit to my students, it is not conducive to testing.

This is where stamina knockout comes in. We have access to practice tests through my district. You can also find practice booklets on many states testing sites. During the weeks leading up to the tests, we spend one day a week practicing our stamina. 

We spend time discussing the importance of having stamina for sitting for long time. During the time that we are practicing I have them taking these practice tests. I mark each time a student gets up, or does something else that we can't do during the test. After we are done we look at our score as a class (I never single students out, this is a team effort). Over the weeks we try to have a lower score each week. If we beat our score from the week before, we get to go outside for extra recess. 

 
Many of us remember the days of playing the game "Steal the Bacon" in grade school.  This is a great game that can be modified to play with students. 
In case you don't know the game, you have an item (we used the chalk eraser when I was a kid, but anything will do) that is set up in the middle of two teams. Each team is lined up facing the item an equal distance apart. Each person has a number for their team, so you will have a number 1 on each team. You call the number, they run to grab the "bacon", and the person runs back to their team before being tagged. 

To change this into test review I give each student a white board and marker. I show a problem on the board, I use my interactive whiteboard with these questions, but any set of questions works great. I give all the students time to answer the question. When students are finished they put the white board down. and stand in front of it. When we are ready I call a number. The students run to grab the item. If the winner has the correct answer, then the team gets a point. 

A few things to consider: 
- If you have struggling students, have students work together to come up with their answers. This allows for students who have more understanding to coach the lower students. 
- You can also do this in smaller teams and allow them to solve the problem together. Just make sure that all of the teams are an equal distance from the prize. 

As teachers, we all know that the most important thing to help with classroom management is having a routines in place. When our students know what to expect and what they are supposed to do, everything runs smoother. Morning are no different than any time of day. 

The very first thing you need to have is to ensure that everything is set up before you leave the day before. This allows for you to walk in and start the day. I usually try to get to school early to get work done before the kids come in, however, I am never working on what I need for that day. I am always planning ahead. This allows for problems to arise and to still be prepaid for the day. 

There are affiliate links in many of the posts on this site. This means your purchase supports myself, my business and my family when you click through to buy - at no additional cost to  you.​

Coming up with a location for a trip can seem like a daunting task. You have to take so many things into consideration, educational, fun, cost, and more. 
standards
Questions to ask a location: 
1. Cost of trip for each student? Cost for chaperones? 
2. What programs do they offer? 
3. Are chaperones free? 
​ideas for place

Permission ships 
lunch count 
Don't for to share plans with other staff 
send home reminders the week and day before 

chaperone pack, communication 

schedule, name tags, 

Look into school rules, some don't allow students first names to be on tags. Include school name and school phone number

This can be a good trip or a bad trip it is u

Separating? have chaperone check in points 
Buddy system, buddy check 

Students will be tired, have low key plans like activties in pack 

, make a thank you for location from students Have a small thank you gift or note for chaperones

Field trips are a lot of fun but also a lot of work. Plan some self care into the end of your day 

Task cards seem to be everywhere right now! I am loving all the creative options I am seeing. I always have a few sets that I can pull out for students to use during math. Sometimes, I have students record them in their math journals and have them turn them in using one of the apps we have on our class ipads. Sometimes, I use a recording sheet. Another fun game to do with task cards is scoot.
Here are some links to some FREE task cards from my friends on TPT:
Hot Cocoa Place Value by Megan McCall-Mindful Matters
Mystery Number Place Value Scoot Task Cards: Build Reasoning & Math Vocabulary by Math Viking

100 Days of School is such a fun day to celebrate in our schools.