Start of School FREEBIES You Want

I don't know about you but I love cute and useful Freebies! Since today is Show and Tell Tuesday I'm going to show and tell you about three Start of School items that I made and that you might very well want, too, especially as they're FREE! Thanks to Stephanie at Forever in 5th Grade for the linky party!

1.  I posted about this one a few weeks back, as it is new this year.

This is a present for teachers to give their incoming students BEFORE school starts. You include it in a mailed home packet or give it out at Meet the Teacher Night, which most schools have now.

The freebie comes six to a page, in color or B&W, which you print and cut apart.

Then you add a glow in the dark star, easily found at most toy stores. A packet of stars is usually less than five dollars and that gives you enough for a whole class, and probably enough for next year's class, too. Put the star on the card with a little poster putty, which the kids use to put their star up in their room.

 I include a sample letter in the freebie that tells kids and parents what to do.  I'm going to put the card, star, and instruction letter into an envelope like this, and let the anticipation build.

After kids put their star up, they and their parents read the poem and make the wish, hopefully dispelling any nervous jitters in a fun, happy way. And by just changing the word "first" to "school" the wish and star can be used every night for the school year. Easy, peasy, and FUN! Click on the image below to grab it for free on TPT!

2.  My second show and tell is one for the first AND last week in class and is a fun way to see how much kids grow in the school year. It makes for a great end-of-year gift to parents that is sure to go in the "keeper box" at home.

Print this Freebie out on cardstock. It includes two poems– one about the string you use to measure the student's height at the beginning of the year, and one for the string that you use to measure at the end of the year.

The Freebie packet includes easy directions so just one teacher can measure each student. The poem comes in three versions– preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. In the coming weeks there will also be a Young 5s and Transitional Kindergarten versions- follow me to see notice of that TPT packet update. Click on the image below to grab it for free on TPT.

3.  And last, but not least, I share the ULTIMATE parent info card. (I didn't name it that... honest... my district kindergarten colleagues did when I shared it!) I include this in the packet that goes home before school starts (along with the Wishing Star) and ask parents to return it to me on or before the fist day of school.

This card asks for all the usual information and MORE– sibling names, who can and can't pick up kids from school (if parents put a "can't" that prompts me to ask about custody papers), expectations for the school year, preschool experience, and anything "unique" to their child or family– eating guidelines (vegetarian, kosher), two household living schedules, toileting issues, fears... info that teachers want and need, but that sometimes doesn't come to us for weeks into the school year.

It all fits on one half piece of paper, front and back. I copy them on bright green cardstock and carry them in my school bag... they have proven invaluable to me over the years. To make things easy, it is COMPLETELY editable in the basic font of Chalkboard, so you can tweak it as you like. Click on the image below to download this freebie.

ULTIMATE Parent Info Card Freebie from Kidpeople Classroom

If you would like more Start of School Tips click on the image in the right sidebar of my blog. You'll find out about Work and Mingle Night, the First Minutes and Day of School, and more.  (That photo is of my two daughters on their first day at our new school alooooong time ago... the years fly when you're having fun. They were carrying flowers to me, their teacher-mama.)

If any of these freebies are valuable to you I'd love to hear below, and I'd love for you to PIN! Click on back to Forever in 5th Grade to see more Show and Tells!

Have a great day, whether at school or prepping for back to school. Thanks for stopping by and see you next time!

Little Room Details Sneak Peek

I'm all about classroom details today. Mind you, I'm not anywhere ready to show you the whole new classroom, but there are some things I'm doing, or thinking about doing, that might be worth sharing now to spark your own creative juices. I share through Five for Friday! Love.


1.  This is a "Thinking About It" idea. I found this on Instagram on Laura's Teach and Organize account. (Laura also does Luv My Kinders on IG and is one of my favorite bloggers... we teach next door to each other in our fantasy worlds. She has so many creative ideas I know that I, at least, would have a blast... funny, the friends you make blogging.) The picture itself came from The Classroom Creative.

I don't know if the suitcase would work well for picture books, which is what the kinders usually read, but I love the idea. I'm trying to come up with some ways to display books after we read them so you see the cover and the kids have access to them, of course. Space is at a premium in my new room, so I'm really thinking about this. Love the old suitcase idea, though... hmm...

 

If you don't do Instagram, consider it. And if you do do Instagram, follow me. I'm having more fun than I ever thought I would, and it is way easier to bop something on there in photo and soundbite than it is to blog! I'm find tons of new ideas from other teachers, too, like this suitcase display. Love IG!

2.  This is an "In Progress" report.  My able bodied assistant, DH Jonathan... 

building me this...

... have I told you lately that I love you, Hon??

I just threw some stuff up there to see how it would look. I have been exploring maker spaces and want this to be a feature of my new room. I have always had a Lightbulb Lab, but not to the extent that I hope to have it this year. One of the issues has been the storage of tools and I think the pegboard wall will help solve some of the issues. More on that in later posts.

3.  This is a "Couldn't Wait to See Something Fun in the Room" project.  

Weeks ago I found these at Target for $3 a box. (When I was there last week my Target still had some.) I bought them with the intent of making signs with the letters. When I took them out of the box, much to my delight, they had a different letter on the back than the front. That means you can get up to four of any given letter, with two on the "front" with two sets, and two more on the "backs" of the blocks... hope that makes sense.

I went over to my just installed fireplace mantle to play with letters... When I told families at school that I would be changing classrooms, one of the most common reactions that I got was, "You're taking your fireplace to the new room, right?" snort. Jonathan had to make some adjustments to make it fit in the new spot. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture yet of the whole fireplace in my book nook, but here is just the mantle itself.

Sorry, I digressed...  When I took the blocks to the mantle I came up with three different phrases with the letters. I think they all make sense when surrounded by my book characters, and fit my students as well. I'll put them out in this order as the year goes on.

We all have stories.

We live in books.

We love to read.

Fun, eh? I'm sure I'll discover other phrases as the year goes on. My little investment of $6 ends up being well worth it for the all the signs I'll be able to make. You might scootch right on over to your Target Dollar Spot. And if you like this idea, Pin!

4.  The Reality of the Room RIGHT NOW!

Yep. Big mess. That blue thing blows the dust from within the hermetically sealed chamber (how often do you get to use the phrase hermetically sealed?), down the tube and out the window. That is all well and good. And it is all well and good that I am getting a new cabinet and sink– the old one was over 50 years old and prone to leaks. However, the cabinet guys said they would "aim to have it in before school starts." Does that mean I'm going to be living with this for the remaining month before the littles arrive?? And what if they don't make that deadline... nope, not going to think about that... It's not like there isn't other stuff to work on in the room... it seems to be never ending. I'll live. sigh.

5.  And for my last point, if you are a regular reader you already know about this, but for those of you who didn't see it, this is a Night Before School teacher gift for students that I made. You can download the poem in color or B&W, and it comes six to a page to save ink. You pair it with a glow-in-the-dark star and hand it out at Meet the Teacher Night, or send it in the mail before school begins. It comes with a letter so parents and kids know they are to put it up and make a wish the night before school starts. And, best of all, it is FREE! Just click to get it.

Okee doke, I think that is all I have for today. My progress report on the classroom set-up will continue with future posts. Setting up in a smaller space has it's challenges, but it's fun to share. 

Skooch on back to Doodle Bugs for more great Five for Friday fun. Thanks, Kacey!

Hope to see you next time!

Night Before School Wishing Star

Well, some of you are back at school, some of you are going back soon, and some of you have a month or so to go. No matter where you are in the going back process, most teachers' minds are on school as August begins. Mine sure is. I am really excited about a new Night Before School present I'm going to give to my incoming students. I happily share it for the first time through Monday Made It, because, well, it is Monday, and I did make it... well, actually I didn't make it, but my partner in crime life, otherwise known as my DH Jonathan did. The concept and poem came right out of my own little brain, though, and I think my new little kiddos are gonna love it!!! Whoot! I hope you do, too. This is what my students are going to get.

I will include a glow-in-the-dark star like this.

Glow-in-the-dark stars can be found inexpensively in most toy departments and they can also be found on Amazon, of course. I especially like this pack below because they really glow and they come with the poster putty to make them stick to ceilings and walls, so you can include a bit when you give a star to your students. Click on the picture to check them out.

I wrote a letter to my students that goes in the envelope with the star so parents can read about what to do. Here is my letter for you to use as an example if you choose.

I am going to seal it all up and write this little message on the envelope.

I'll send home the envelope in the packet of stuff that goes home to kindergarten parents before school starts. Won't the littles be surprised and happy when they get the envelope especially for them!

Now the best part– the poem and letter sample are freebies on my TPT store. I was so happy with Jonathan's star design on the little cards that I had to share it. The star poem comes in color and in black and white in case you want to save ink. You can download it by clicking on the picture.

Well, I am back to school today to work in my new classroom some more. I have been there all summer. I sure do have a lot of stuff! I am coming up with a few new storage ideas, though, which I'll share in later posts, so stop back, especially if you are interested in space saving ideas.

Scootch on over to Monday Made It now and see what teachers have been up to. I always find new ideas for both classroom and home when I peruse the blog posts. Thanks, Tara, for this great weekly linky.

Thanks for stopping by and do tell me what you think of the Wishing Star idea below in the comments. Also, please PIN!

Resources and Freebies Galore!

So excited to have new resources and freebies for you today. Thanks to Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for throwing her weekly Five for Friday linky party to help me share them.

1.  I'm starting with what I am super excited about doing this year with my kiddos. I think it is wonderful when the early years of education are cherished by families– kids grow and learn so much! I help families collect memories in many ways throughout the year, and this activity adds to that collection.

One poem is for the beginning of the year and one for the end. Each poem is about how tall the child is at the moment, measured by the string, and reflects on how much they grow in a year. You do the measuring in the first and last weeks of school. I wrote the poems and include a copy for kindergarten, preschool, and first grade. You'll need yarn in two colors, one for the beginning of the year, one for the end. I am making them FREE to download, so all you have to do is print on cardstock. Directions for an easy way to measure your students' height is included, too. To get this freebie simply click on the photo above. I hope you enjoy it! PLEASE leave love in the comments and PIN!

2.  For the last month or so I've been posting on start-of-year topics– from the first minutes of the first day, to anchor charts, to info cards, to getting parents involved on many levels. And there are freebies to download, too. I've made a special page to connect to all the topics and will be adding to this page as time goes on so all back to school ideas and freebies are easy to find. You can go there by clicking on the photo below. I hope this is useful to you now and in the future. Pin so you can come back as I add on, too.

3.  In one of my last posts I talked about Think-Talk Sticks and I mention them here again so you don't miss out on a useful freebie.

These little babies are going help my kidpeople think and talk during various points in our day– guided reading, writing workshop, and general discussion. I got the original idea from Two Writing Teachers and include a link so you can get their freebie. Click on the photo above to see.

4.  The folks from SightWord.com contacted me to ask if I'd share the news of their resource site with you. I checked it out and, whoa, there are many, many FREE resources here to help teachers teach sight words, phonemic awareness, and counting. Resources include video lessons and lesson tips, games to make, and word cards, too– word cards that are completely editable. You can add any words that your unique class is working on. And did I mention it's all free! There's nothing to buy and you don't need to give your name or sign-up for anything. I suggest you check them out by clicking the icon below. They are not compensating me in any way, just think they are a goodie to know about.

5.  And last, a little bit of shopping fun. If you have a Meijer close by you might want to keep your eyes open for these little babies.

Are you kidding me! Watermelon seed sticky notes! Jonathan had to hold me back before I bought them all– they are on sale! Bonus! If you teach from Lucy Calkins you'll know that small moment stories are like seeds in the juicy watermelon of life, and this is a big idea that kids really latch on to. I can hardly wait until we get to those lessons- I'm going to give each student a watermelon sticky to keep in their notebook to collect watermelon seed ideas for small moment stories. I bet everyone comes up with a few ideas just to use the notes– mwah ha ha, the teacher laughs gleefully. I love when little inexpensive notions translate into good learning for kids. These are fun and novel and the brain grooves on novelty.

Well, that's all for this Friday. Hope you are happy with your finds!

Oh, yeah, almost forgot. Click back to the linky for more great ideas.

All the Links for Start-of-School

I love starting school each year! There is nothing like the excitement of a new class... and nothing like the effort teachers put into it! This is a page where I collect the start-of-school ideas I use in my classroom. Just click below to go to the various topics. Be sure to check back as this post will stay updated with new links as I post them. 

Find some new, fun ideas and FREEBIES to help you and your kiddos launch the year by clicking on the titles!

Night Before School Wishing Star–

a little freebie gift you send to students for the night before school starts

Drop Offs and Drive-bys

The Crucial First Minutes of the First Day

The Ultimate Student Info Card, Parent Work and Mingle Night, and Line-Up Routines

Parent Zip-In Jobs

Five Ways Parents Can Help from Home

Building a Name Chart with Students

Beginning-End of Year Activity

to Celebrate Growing Kids

Hope you found these helpful. PIN so you can check for updates!

Thanks for stopping by!

Parent Zip-In Jobs and a Surprise Guest Blogger!

Okay, so today I push it to the limit– this is a Five for Friday post, a post for my Start-of-School series, AND a Funny Kid Friday with a guest blogger to boot! Hang on to your seats!

I tell parents at the start of the year that my expectation is for EVERY parent to be involved in the classroom. Yes, I love parents who can come in on a regular weekly or bi-weekly basis to lead a learning center, but even if a parent can't come in for a whole hour somewhere in the day, I have a classroom job for them. I call these, "Zip-In Jobs."

There is still time to incorporate these ideas into your classroom this year if you choose, no matter when you start back. Here we go with a post to my series–

1.  One Zip-In Job is First Fifteen. This is for a parent who can drop their child off at school at least once every other week. As the name implies, this work time is for the first fifteen minutes of the day as soon as kids take off their coats. These quick fifteen minutes are spent doing "booster activities" with individual children or a small group of kids. The parent might listen to kids read from their book baggie. Or read/trace from an alphabet book. Or maybe the time is spent counting. Fifteen minutes, sometimes even less, can give a valuable boost to kids who need very targeted practice. A First Fifteen parent can do this with several kids before our day even begins with morning meeting.

2. Another Zip-In Job is D.E.A.R Parent. After my kidpeople come in and get their coats and backpacks taken care they do D.E.A.R.– you know, Drop Everything And Read time. I have many collections of books- informational, puzzle/search, word books, author collections, magazines, as well as leveled readers and individual book baggies, so there is plenty of reading material even before everyone in my kindergarten class is "reading." I choose the collection for the day and kids choose from those bins...

...except on DEAR Parent day. On this day of the week a parent comes in and goes right to the carpet to greet kids as they settle there. She or he starts into the story as soon as there is a majority of kids on the carpet– added bonus is kids hustle through the coat hall on DEAR Parent mornings.  She or he usually reads just one book and we are ready to begin our meeting at our usual time.

3.  I also have Playful Parent. I know, I know, all parents should be playful. Well, my Playful Parents are any parents who can come during one designated period of the week. They don't need to sign-up for regular weekly or monthly visits, they just need to give me a heads up beforehand. I probably don't need to list all the great things kids learn by playing games, no matter what the game. However, with all there is to DO now in each day, I found my game teaching availability dwindling down to nothing and kids not learning any new games. This is where Playful Parents come in. Playful Parents spend forty five minutes teaching games from our game collection– common games like checkers or Candyland– it's surprising that kids don't know these, but I always have some who have never played. Or I have other great games like Zingo, Set, and Tenzis, and they can teach and play these. We've even played Mancala with great success. After kids have been taught they can usually play the games again later on their own. The Playful Period is during our regular Free Choice/Intervention time, usually within the last hour of the day.

4.  One more job that sort of falls under Zip-In is Field Tripper. I don't know about you, but as the years go by we are having a harder and harder time finding parents who can go on field trips. Field trips are essential to learning, and parent chaperones are essential to field trips. I get parents to start thinking about this at the beginning of the year. If there are parents who really can't come in to school during the day, but can take a day or half day off for a field trip (when I give them plenty of notice) I ask them to sign up for the Field Tripper job. All parents are invited to sign up for any field trip they choose, but those regular field tripping parents are the ones I'm going to go to most when the time comes.

5.  Today TWO Funny Kid Stories.

Sometimes it's kids who stand in the way of parents coming in. I had one little person tell her mom that she couldn't help out the class because she didn't have a "teacher voice" and the kids wouldn't listen to her. And another child told their mom she couldn't come in because she didn't have "eyes in the back of her head" like Mrs. Wright did. When the mom assured the tiny tot that she did have eyes like Mrs. Wright, the quick response was, "Well, they don't spark like hers do." Funny, no one else had ever noticed my sparks before...

And now a special surprise! Deb Maxwell from over at Not Very Fancy in 1st is guest blogging her funny kid story! Take it away, Deb.

The kids were in bed. I was just settling on the couch with a glass of wine when my 6 yr. old came downstairs. He informed me that he was searching for paper and something to write with because he had big plans for getting a lot of exercise the next day. He needed a pencil and paper to chart it out. (Yes, this is how my 6 yr old talks.) 

What are the chances that a teacher-mom would say no to this idea? He found them, and went back upstairs. 

A few minutes later he came back down because he needed help spelling the word "eat." I told him I don't spell words for first graders, even if the first grader is doing what they are supposed to be doing, and he was definitely not! He cried and stomped up the stairs.

A few minutes later he came down with a huge smile to tell me his schedule was made. I did my very best to keep a straight face and told him we could talk about it in the morning. He came over and read it to me anyway. Then he asked if it sounded good. I repeated that we would talk about it in the morning. He hung it on the refrigerator and went to bed.

As my sister said, what in the world I do without these kids to keep me entertained all the time. Life would be so dull.

Thanks so much for giving me a place to share my little anecdote.

Isn't it funny how kids can get so creative at BEDtime- snort. Thanks, Deb!

Look for my next Back-to-School Post. Find more under the "Start of Year" label on the right sidebar. This one will give suggestions for great Stay-at-Home Jobs for parents who really CAN'T come in to school at all.  Stay tuned.

Now off you go, back to Five for Friday. Thanks, Kacey!