Team Building Ice Breakers

It can get very difficult to come up with fun and engaging ideas for the first day of school...especially if most of my students have been with me for a couple years (since 1st). Now that they are the "5th graders", I feel even more pressure to not only captivate they minds, while making sure the activities are grade appropriate. One of my fav blogs that I follow is Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies (I Love Frogs!). Lorraine has posted two great activities do with your kiddos for back to school: Puzzle Races and Saving Fred. The puzzle races has students in groups trying to complete the 100 piece puzzle the fastest.  You could always get puzzles with fewer pieces for the lower grades. She uses the same puzzle for each team (good idea-it avoids possible problems).

The Saving Fred also has kiddos in teams. You will need paper clips, see-through cups, gummy worms and rings. The purpose is to get Fred, the worm that can't swim, to put on his life preserve, the ring that's under the cup, without touching any of the items with your hands, hence the paper clips. This sounds like a lot of fun, while at the same time challenging. I can't wait to try both of these activities.

If you need better further clarification, head on over to Lorraine's Blog and read her post. Check out all her other great stuff/ideas.

If anybody tries these out, let me know how it goes. :)

Free Math Posters!

After spending, and spending, so much over the last two weeks to get ready for my kiddos, I love to find some great resources that are for FREE. Mary, over @Guided Math, has some wonderful math posters that you can use in so many ways: Displays, bulletins, small groups, whole, anchor charts...you name it. I love the fact that she defines the term, provides both a clip art and real life image. She has all of the following sets available (for Free). Download the ones that you need and check out her other resources. There is definitely no need to reinvent the wheel, when somebody has a perfect one. ;)

•  Geometry - 2 D Shapes
•  Geometry- Slide, Flip and Turn
•  Geometry - Angles
•  Geometry- Lines
• Geometry- Edge, Vertex, Face, Base, Curved Surface
•  Measurement - Length

Free Calendars!

This will definitely be my last post for the day...
I love themes, color combinations, and things that look cute. I always have a hard-copy in my teacher binder for easy reference and jotting. Later on, when I have time I transfer info over to my goggle calendar. Amy, at The Resource(ful) Room has posted a couple of different calendars in a variety of colors that you can download for FREE. They are really nice. I downloaded the blue/black one. (I love black!)

Thanks a bunch Amy!


Amy has the updated 2013-2014 version at the link below. You can also purchase an editable version from her TpT store.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8PtrZ3awA1tQmNNVW14cmZyQ0E/edit?usp=sharing

Notebooking

I am so excited! I love making notebooks with my students. I love the content that can be included, the interaction, the different modalities that can be addressed, the differentiation, as well as the versatility with creativity. Today, while looking for MORE ideas on how to make my students' notebooks a little better better and at the same time giving them a little makeover, I came across The Notebooking Fairy (literally!). Jimmie has a ton a great ideas, how-to's, information, resources, and free reproducibles.   Her Notebooking Success is also on sale right now. Go on over and check it out...I'm really glad I did.

Getting Organized...in Style!

My organizational skills need some fine tuning. Jodi, over at clutter-free classroom, always has some great ideas on how to stay organized without breaking the bank. I really need that right now. This is the before and after picture on her site:
 

She has step-by-step directions with photos on her site. You can even download a copy of the labels for FREE. 
As for my organizational boxes, they never, ever, looked quite so nicely as hers. I usually had one box to put all my copies for the week. As you can imagine, it wasn't very organized or clutter-free. Well, I have put it on my to do list for this week as I get my classroom ready. I will post a before and after of my boxes...talk about pressure.