First Day of School

We start school T-O-M-O-R-R-O-W, so we thought we would share a little activity with you that we will be using!  We will be having our kiddos draw a picture of themselves in the "Polaroid frame", and write their name underneath on the first day of school! This will be kept in their portfolio.  Then, at the end of the year, we will do this again with the second page.  It is so awesome to see their handwriting progress throughout the year!  We also put the second page in their portfolio too.  The parents will LOVE these!  We hope you can use them too.  Have a great week!

Click the image above to grab your copy!  

Portfolios!

We LOVE making portfolios for our students!  This is a great way to make sure they have some pieces of their work saved from the year!  Each month we like to save a writing sample, craft/activity, and pictures.  At the end of the year, the kiddos get to take these home and share them with their families!  How sweet is that? Buying portfolios or binders to save their work can be very pricey so, we had a sweet teacher friend show us how to make these inexpensive portfolios a few years ago, and have been making them ever since!  Each portfolio is only going to cost you ............60 CENTS!  How awesome is that?!  Now, if you are a really great shopper, you can make yours for 40 CENTS!  Be sure to buy your folders on sale!  We grabbed these ones for 15 cents each at Target.  Now what do you need?!

4 Folders (no prong) per student 

Book Binder Machine

Plastic Binding Combs

Labels

Step 1:  Get four folders that are the same brand and same size.  Make sure they do NOT have prongs.  

 Step 2:  Chose folder that you would like to be the outside of your portfolio and cut it straight down to middle.

Step 3:  Put these folders on top of each other and insert them into the book binder.  

 Step 4:  Pull the crank down and punch holes into the spine of the folders.  

 Step 5:  Fold the other 3 folders inside out and hole punch them.

 These are what all 3 folders should look like.

 Step 6:  Let's assemble!  Open up the plastic binding comb and insert the "back", which is one of the blue folder pieces.

 Step 7:  Now insert all 3 folders on top of the bottom blue folder. 

 Step 8:  Insert the "cover", which is the other blue folder piece.  

 It's finished!  Now all you have to do is label the pockets so you know where to file their work!  We double up August/September, December/January, and May/June.  

We hope this is helpful for you!  Enjoy!

August Currently!

Helllllooo!   It's almost time for us to go back to school!  How does the summer go by so fast every year?!?!  We always have sooooo many Pinterest and school projects that we want to accomplish, but it always seems like we CANNOT get them all done!  We hope that you are wrapping up your summer, and starting an easy transition back into the classroom!

Below is our August currently.  Filling this out really made it sink in that we are going back to school!  We got the template over at Farley's blog.  Check it out!  

To learn how to link up and join the fun click the link below. 

http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/p/freebies-and-ideas.html

Party Like It's Your Birthday

Birthdays are the best!  Who doesn't love celebrating with your family and friends with cake?!?!?  Although we don't get to have cake at school anymore (saddest day of my life), we still have a really fun time celebrating birthdays in Kindergarten!  We celebrate with each kiddo on their birthday or half birthday and waiting at their seat when they arrive at school are lots of birthday goodies. Take a little picture stroll through our Kindergarten birthday extravaganza and if you make it to the end there just may be a lil' birthday treat for you:)

First up is the birthday crown.  I found these bad boys in the Target Dollar Spot last year and literally bought every single pack from about 8 different Targets. I may have enough birthday crowns to last until 2025. 

Following the birthday crown is the birthday sticker and birthday certificate, both found in the Target Dollar Spot (I purchased about 2,000 of these as well).

The birthday boy or girl has an adorable little birthday chair cover (made by my sweet friend's mom) hanging on their seat along with the class Birthday Bag.  Inside the birthday bag is Our Class Birthday Book, a birthday read aloud, a birthday balloon and a direction sheet.  The student gets to take the bag home that night and complete the activities inside with their families.  

Birthday Bag Family Direction Sheet

Our Class Birthday Book is a little book that I put together at the beginning of each school year.  The students take the book home and can draw and write about their birthday inside.  The next school day, the student brings the Birthday Bag back and gets to share their book page with the class.  The birthday student is so excited to share how they celebrate at home with the class and everyone can't wait to hear about it!  I ask lots of questions so we get the whole effect and its great for practicing speaking and listening skills:)  Below are pictures of our book from last year and this year's new book.

Birthday Book page completed by a student

Michael's sweet page says "Transformers cartoons from my Uncle Josh!  I got a truck from Matthew and Caleb."  We encourage parents to help the students write.

This year's Birthday Book

Inside Pages

I put also put a read aloud inside the bag for students to share at home with their families.  Last year I used Happy Birthday, Hamster by Cynthia Lorde and it was a big hit!  In the past, I have used If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff and A Birthday for Frances by Russel Hoban.

Click the picture to grab yourself a copy:)

The highly anticipated birthday balloon is also peeking out of the bag.  It's a ginormous Pixie Stick or Laffy Taffy rope with a balloon topper attached.  I read about the birthday balloon idea here.  Love, love, love!  The kiddos have to take the balloon home to eat, which is clearly devastating the first time they all hear this. I prep all of the birthday balloons before school starts and keep them in a little vase on a shelf with my birthday bucket that holds all of my birthday supplies.

Here is a cutout birthday balloon.  I run a class set on bright card stock and cut them out.   Then I tape the candy sticks to the back.

Are you still with me?  Last thing I promise!  During writing that day, we dedicate our time to making a birthday book to honor the student.  At the beginning of the year most of the kiddos are only drawing and then we progress to writing.  We brainstorm a list of things we can draw and write to make the person's birthday really special. They never cease to amaze me with all of the sweet things they think up!    I also prep all of these book covers before school starts and fill them with copies so that they are ready to go when each big day arrives.  After everyone is done with their page, I bind them into a little book and we present it to the student after singing Happy Birthday. The student gets to take it home as a keepsake.  

Take Home Birthday Book

We have 2 choices of writing pages.  A drawing only page for the beginning of the year and a draw and write page as students progress into writers:)

I promised if you made it to the end of this post, I would have a birthday treat for you!  Click on the picture below to download your own copies of all the Birthday Bag printables.  I hope you can use them in your classroom!  Leave us a comment and let us know how you celebrate in your classroom:)

We know you've heard this a million times, but we promise for real to be back soon with the portfolio tutorial!  Enjoy the weekend!

Star Student FREEBIE!

One of our students' favorite things is being star student!  Each child gets to be the star student for a whole week.  Each day we do something special to celebrate that child!  We would love to share these ideas with you, so you can help your own students shine!  The kiddos C.A.N.N.O.T wait for their turn.

Below is the note we send home to the parents to explain the events for the week.  Read this to see what the kiddos get to do each day.  Click the image to download for FREE!

This is the student page.  We encourage each student to write the star student a sentence, and illustrate them a picture.  These pages are then complied and stapled together with a (construction paper) cover to make a book for the star student to take home on Friday!  If you click the image below, you can download them for FREE.  There are 3 variations of the student pages to fit the needs for your classroom.  

These are the posters the kiddos make at school on Monday!  You can get 30 for 8.25 at Oriental Trading.  Click the image below to take you to their site!  After their week is done, the kids LOVE that they get to take these home.

Each child also gets a pencil, sticker, and certificate (pictured below)!

This is our show and tell bag.  Students take it home at the beginning of the week and bring it back on show and tell day.  They can only bring items that fit into this bag.  The orange bag and star decal are from Michael's.  The bag came in a group of 3 for 9.99 (we used our 40% off coupon of course!!), and the decal was only 1.99.  This bag is band new this year, but our last one lasted 5 years!  

We hope you could use some of these ideas for your classroom!  Please share any good ideas you have for star student!

Winner!

Congratulations to Kristi N. who won our back to school giveaway!  Thanks so much to everyone who entered the giveaway!

We promise we have back to school freebies to post for you... just adding some finishing touches!  See you soon:)

BACK TO SCHOOL GIVEAWAY!

Hey Friends!  We are getting so excited for Back to School!  So excited that we are giving away our ENTIRE STORE starting tonight at midnight!  All you have to do to win is enter the raffle below by following our TPT Store and our blog, as well as leave us a comment about what you are doing to get ready for back to school!  The raffle will run until August 6th at midnight.  

Make sure you stop by this week to check out some FREEBIES we will only be posting here!  We will also have that student portfolio tutorial we promised:)

Our entire TPT store will be on sale Monday and Tuesday this week as part of the huge back to school sale!  Everything will be on sale for 20% off plus you can use the code BTS14 to get an extra discount from TPT.   You can check out our little shop here.   We are linking up with Blog Hoppin' and checking out all of the other amazing stores on sale!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 for Friday- August 1st

It's that time again to get organized for back to school. Why not be cute and organized at the same time?! We found this adorable way to color code crayons or even just to organized supplies at the students tables or centers. All you need is scrapbook paper, cans or cups, and a board! For full DIY instructions check out snapcreativity.com.

 

 We found this adorable math counting sticks from Math Maniac on Pinterest. These would be perfect for math centers or interventions for students that need more repetition with their numbers! So easy! One trip to the craft store and you have some great math manipulatives!

 

With all the hustle and bustle of back to school you can't forget your coworkers! This is a cute idea to welcome back your coworkers to a brand new year. A fun colorful notepad, some sharpies, and sticky notes make an ideal gift. What teacher wouldn't want a little something special to start the year off?! The Fourth and Ten Blog also has free labels to tie on top!

 

 

Another DIY project to create some cheap yet very handy seats! These crates are transformed into seats for reading areas, centers, and work stations. Not only are they seats, but they can store supplies inside of them as well! Check out Ms. Third Grade's Blog for more directions. We are going to be adding some of these to our reading area!

Are you tired of buying prizes for a treasure box??? Try this new rewards system! Instead of students choosing from a treasure box, the students will choose from 18 different reward cards. The cards have different activities ensuring there is a reward for every student. Some examples include working with no shoes for the day, sitting at the teachers desk, computer or IPAD time, and even as simple as telling a joke to the class. Give these cards a try!! Click on the picture below.

 

Have a great weekend!