February Writing Activity

Right now my students are working to finish up a writing we started on Valentine's Day. When I came up with this writing idea called, "The Place I Love", I was trying to come up with something that was love related since it was Valentine's Day, but I didn't want it to be all lovey dovey or for it to be about loving someone. I feel like the kids do lots of other writings like that as far as "I love you because.....". So, I decided that we all have special places we love, and this would be a great way to get to know my kids.

By the way,  this writing activity could really be used any time of the year since it is not really Valentine themed. It's simply about loving a special place. As an after thought, I realized it would work well with Patricia MacLachlan's book, All the Places to Love.

So, what's the place I love?  Well, I decided I wanted my students to realize that the place to love didn't really have to be a place that was special to anyone else.  It could be as simple as your yard or as big as a city as long as they could give evidence as to why it was the place they loved.  For my place, I chose ..............My CAR!.....yep, I told them that after I drop my little guy off at school in the morning, I have a 30 minute drive to work.  One of my kids yelled out, "You like the peace and quiet, don't you?"  I said, "Yep!  You guessed it."  It can be so peaceful with my coffee, no bickering teenagers, no demanding toddler, no teaching of 25 kids.... just me and some quiet music and my coffee.  They thought it was pretty funny when I described the place I love..... sad to say, it is quite dirty right now with a few sippy cups, a couple of pacifiers tossed here and there, a coffee mug or two, and whatever else a busy working mom of three has in her car.  I am sure you can relate.

So, what's a place you love?

Get all of the details by clicking the link below.

The Place I Love Writing Activity

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Valentines for the Teacher

Valentines Thank You for the Teacher

When my daughter saw all of the stuff I got from my students for Valentine's Day, she said, "They must think you are a great teacher!" When I saw all of the chocolate I got, I said, "They must want me to gain a hundred pounds!".... WOW!   I am so blessed to have such wonderful parents and students, and they really show their appreciation for me and the hard work I do as a teacher. I have worked in places before where I had to buy everything down to the pencils and paper, so to get a hot Starbucks delivered on Valentine's Day along with a message, "We love you a Latte,"  in addition to being gifted with all of the chocolate, teddy bears, mugs, and Starbucks gift cards, I would say I was in Valentine heaven.  It was a great day. Check it out.

Click to enlarge.

Oh, and if you missed my face book post about my flower delivery from my husband, you can get the scoop by clicking the image below.  The flowers that were delivered came in a pretty box and were packed so nicely, and then when you pulled out the flowers, it was like, "You have got to be kidding!"....   I felt bad thinking that, but for Valentine's Day, don't florists prepare and know they need to send their best products.  I mean, I would have been okay not even getting anything, but this is their business, and they it seems like Valentine's is the day they are either going to gain or lose a customer.  My husband ended up pulling up a picture of what he ordered, and O-M-G.....  these flowers look like they pulled them from the dumpster compared to the picture he saw when he ordered.  Crazy!

 

Click to enlarge

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I Can Statements for the Teacher

 "I Can" Statements for the Teacher

 

So many teachers are posting "I Can" posters,
 I thought I would share what

I CAN DO!

 

I CAN drop my kids off at lunch, warm my own lunch, get to the workroom, eat, and then rush back to pick my kids up from lunch all in less than 25 lovely minutes.

 

I CAN wear jeans on Friday with spirit wear. There's just something to be said about a jean day.

 

I CAN tell 25 people what to do 8 hours a day. Some will actually listen.

 

I CAN hold my pee for hours on end, and then ask the teacher next door for 'permission' to go.

 

I CAN rush a class of 25 kids down 2 flights of steps and out of the building in 2 min. and 19 seconds flat. (along with hundreds of other kids)

 

I CAN tell who is  yelling in the boys' bathroom without even entering.

 

I CAN reply to 30 emails, grade hundreds of papers, write academic contracts, update ESOL plans, write lesson plans for 5 subjects per day 5 days a week, and so much more..... all in my 3 day a week planning period of 45 minutes.  (That should be a can NOT statement)

I CAN keep 25 kids  walking in a straight line on the second square from the wall.

I CAN tell when a kid is pretend reading, or is the book just more interesting when they flip from page 2 to 5 and back to 3 and then read the back of the book before they go to chapter five.

I CAN call for the janitor  to come  clean up puke while I get the trashcan for the sick kid,  and I can even keep teaching my lesson if needed.  That's the only way to teach it all, right? :-)

I CAN test kids and then test them more, and then I can even test them some more.

I CAN do lots of things.

I CAN even teach.

_____________

What CAN you do?

 _____________

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Fun Fraction Activity

I have actually had this little picture for a while and never got it posted.

Today is your lucky day. :-) HA!

This is a fun fraction activity I did within the first couple of days of a fraction unit.  I teach fourth grade, so it was sort of a review of basic fractions before we moved on to adding, subtracting, reducing, and all of that great stuff.  The good thing about this activity is that while creating the little animals, we  did get to talk about equivalent fractions.

For this fraction lesson, I used the book Picture Pie by Ed Emberly.  Basically, it was a lesson that was guided by me.  In the book, all of the creations are made starting with a circle.  So, when referring to fractions, the circle was the whole.  The students were then instructed to fold and cut in order to create halves, fourths, eights, etc.  For each animal, I did not tell them what the animal was.  It was a surprise.  I built it using my Ladybug projector, so they were able to see mine and follow along.  Once we added the extra details, such as eyes, dots on the ladybug, etc., they were like , "ohhhhh, it's a dog!!!" or whatever the creation was.  They had  a lot of fun, got a good review of fractions, and the finished product looked really cute hanging in the hallway. I got lots of compliments. 

 I will add that I gave the students circles that were already cut out.  This can be used with a cut-out machine, or you can just have your kids cut them out.  I wanted to cut down on the time, so I had the correct colored circles prepared ahead of class.  Enjoy!

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Lines, Line Segments, and Rays

I am always looking for ways to make math more engaging. What better way to engage than with CANDY, right! I Swear.... somethings I find myself in the grocery store looking and thinking of ways to use crackers, cookies, or candy. Yeah, Yeah, I know it's not that healthy, but they don't eat too much of it. :-) We are working on geometry right now. More specifically, at the start of this past week we did some activities with lines, rays, and line segments. I thought I would share how I tried to reinforce the definitions of each. As we went over each part, we built them using toothpicks, candy corns, and marshmallows. The marshmallows were the points. The candy corns showed how the straight path continued in a direction, and of course, the toothpick was the straight path. The kids had a lot of fun. Plus, I gave them a few extra to eat, which they always love. Enjoy!

Lines, Line Segments, and Rays

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Classroom Game Card Storage

I know most teachers are probably like me and use Ziploc® baggies to store their game cards for classroom games. For my file folder games I put the cards in a baggies and put them inside the folder. Some games though don't really go in a file folder, and they are just plain game cards, such as for memory games. For these games, instead of using just a plain 'ole baggie, I came across these adorable reusable sandwich baggies in the dollar isle at Target (every teachers favorite stop as they enter Target). These baggies will add a tad more flare to the game instead of just passing out a plain sandwich bag. Three bags came in a pack for a dollar.

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Kid President

I just had to share this video with you.  It was shared with me, and I just fell in love with this little guy, He calls himself  "Kid President". He is so absolutely adorable that I'm thinking it's a good thing they have a minimum age for U.S. President because he would give the big guys a run for their money.  

No politics, just real life messages. Listen and you will learn...........

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Teacher Pet Peeves

Don't be thrown off by the title.

 I mean.... come on!

We all have pet peeves, right? 

We have them with our husbands, our own kids, co-workers from our jobs, and even with the person who lives down the street. So, it just goes with the territory for teachers to have pet peeves too.

 

Pet peeves.
 you know what they are....
 those minor occurrences that you find particularly annoying while others are not bothered by them at all. The ones that really get on your nerves!!

 

On the way to church this morning my husband was chewing gum.  Smack... smack.  I just can't stand the sound of smacking gum.  I said, "I'm going to ask one time for you to please consider something."  He said, "What?  Stop smacking my gum?"  Goodness, he knows me all too well.  People should just close their mouth when they chew their gum and little Ms. Molly will be happy.

 

The gum situation got me thinking about my pet peeves within my classroom.  After all, despite the fact that I am the teacher and adore the kids to pieces, pet peeves are hard to control.  I figure the kids and I are all better off if I just warn them ahead of time what mine are. So, at the start of school I just tell them straight up. After we go over the definition of what a pet peeve is, I tell them mine, and of course, they get the idea, and can offer insight into what really annoys them, too.  So here goes.  Here are a few things that tend to annoy me.

 

1)  Crinkling Snack Bags - I simply can NOT stand it when a child brings a bag such as a chip bag during snack time and I have to hear the crinkle sound every time their hand enters the bag.  It is incredibly annoying while I am teaching.  They are told from the start of the year to please use a plastic zip lock type bag or to put it on a paper towel.  They are always so good at remembering, which puts a smile on my face.

 

2) Sticking a fork in apples and then putting a straw in the hole-  I mean, really!! Can you really get apple to come through the straw?  Maybe you can get your ears to pop.  It's just weird, right? 

 

3)  Picking at name tags on desks-  Seriously...... Why?  Why do you want an ugly peeled name tag on the corner of your desk?  Just respect the name tag and leave it alone.  smile, smile

 

4)  I Can Draw Books-  This is not art class!  They have a time and a place, but reading time is not one of them.  I'm glad you want to learn to draw a dinosaur, but let's learn how to read the word dinosaur first.  Take them home!

 

5)  Piling up coats at recess -  So, they take their coats outside and then get hot.  What do they do next? Make a pile that is 40 coats deep.  What is the logic behind that?  We all line up and there they go... digging, tossing, and grabbing in order to find their jacket.  Why oh why?

 

I probably have a few more, but you might start thinking I am wacky if I keep going.  Okay, you might already think I'm wacky...LOL.  Anyway, do you have any pet peeves in the classroom?  If so, how about sharing a few in my comments section below.  It will be fun to hear what gets under everyone's skin, so to speak. 

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The Future of Teaching

This part of teaching saddens me.

My thoughts....

Click on the image to enlarge.

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The Polar Express Christmas Activity

Fun Polar Express Activity

If you like the book The Polar Express, then you are sure to love this activity.....

By the time kids get to 4th grade, some are wavering on the Santa thing.  I always like to do a special little activity to get them pondering the magic of Santa.  The afternoon before our Christmas break starts, I put little silver bells in the back of each of their desks.  Then the next day I read them a couple of my favorite Christmas books, one of which is the book The Polar Express.  A short time later, I have the kids clean out their desks (I do this at the end of each 9 week period),  and you guessed it, they find the silver bells.  My fourth graders always love this!  I hear one of them say, "I found a bell in my desk!".... a few seconds later, "I found one too!"... Before you know it, they are all ringing silver bells and saying things like, "It's the first gift of Christmas!"  This year no one even questioned where they came from.  It is such a fun Christmas activity!

 

 

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Remembering Sandy Hook Elementary

There are no words....

 

 

 

Free Christmas Activities

Christmas Word Recognition

Life has been so incredibly busy for me! 
I'm sure your life is just the same.

 

By the time I get home from my teaching, get the teenagers to where ever they need to go, find something to eat for dinner, go to sports events, make sure homework is done, get the toddler bathed and ready for bed, I can sometimes find the time to make a custom lesson or two for my fourth graders.  As far as blogging though, that has taken the back burner.  I have not made it a priority.

 

So, here I am on Thanksgiving break squeezing in a blog post.  And guess what?  You get some free Christmas activities out of this post.  You can't beat free, right? 

 

This is a Christmas activity for the younger kids.  Sometimes I will make something cute for my k-1 friends even though I won't be able to  use it in the classroom.  In this activity, the kids cut out words to glue down and label the picture.  They can then color it.  This will make for a cute center as it gets closer to the holiday break.  You can download this from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

 

Christmas Activity - Word Recognition

 

 

This next activity I made for my fourth graders.  One of the fourth grade common core objectives is to form and use prepositional phrases.  This is a Christmas themed slide show to introduce the topic to my students.  I hope you can find a way to use it in your classroom.

 

Prepositional Phrase Christmas Activity

 

 

 

If you are interested, I also made an I Have Who Has activity for prepositional phrases.  It goes along with the slide show.  It is Christmas themed.  Get all of the details by clicking the link below.

 

I Have Who Has Prepositional Phrases 

 

  

 

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Election Activities

The election is just a short time away, and if you are like me, you have talked about it a time or two in your classroom.  Actually, I talked about the election today with my students because it was the feature article in my Scholastic News Magazine.  We had a long discussion about the title question that read, "Where do they stand?"  None of my students knew what that question meant.  We then talked about how people typically select who they are going to vote for based on where the candidates 'stand' on issues, such as education, health care, war, and jobs.  This was about the third time Scholastic has printed an article about the election, so my kids have become quite familiar with the candidates. 

Do you all do mock elections in your school?  We are having one this year, but surprisingly, we are not voting for the candidates that are running for the presidency.  I know.... I was a bit shocked too.  My husband, the political science/social studies teacher, was really shocked.  He said we might as well not even have an election if that is going to be the case.  So, who are we are voting for?..... that would be Lincoln or Washington.  Since no one has had time to teach their kids about these two candidates, I guess the kids will be doing 'one potato, two potato' to make their choice.  After all, I have been teaching my kids about the 2012 presidential candidates not two candidates that aren't even from the same time period (I know, seems so strange).  I am not really 100% sure why we didn't go with the real candidates, but I think it had something to do with this being a pretty heated election, and no one wanted to stir the pot with political views.  I dunno.  Regardless, I am sure the kids will have fun, and I know they will cheer if their candidate wins. 

I thought I would share with you a couple of election activities I made for my classroom.  One is a basic election word search that I plan to do for morning work.  Another one is a set of election themed writing paper that is very colorful and would look great  hanging outside the classroom in the hallway. You can find both of these in my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking on the links below.  Thanks for checking them out. 

Election Word Search Puzzle

 

Election Themed Writing Paper

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Words and Phrases Alluding to Mythology

Mythology Activity

If you are like me, that is exactly what you thought when you read this new common core objective:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).

If one thing is for sure, I could not stand mythology when I was in school, so the thought of me having to teach anything related to it just freaked me out.   Plus, when I went searching for material related to this common core objective, there was absolutely nothing to be found.  Don't you hate it when we get objectives to teach and yet there are not really any lessons prepared to help us out.  I mean, I know we are capable of designing lessons, but sometimes it just makes things difficult.  As in the case of this mythology lesson, I won't kid around, I had to read and search to find the descriptions of these characters from mythology. It took me some time, but I hope you like the finished product.  

This mythology lesson does not really teach mythology itself.  It really focuses on the basics of the common core objective listed above.  I put together some mythological character descriptions to help kids understand that these characters have traits based on their actions in the stories from mythology.  I then put together some common phrases used in today's time that might pop up in literature that make reference to these character traits, such as "opened Pandora's box".  When students see these phrases, they will have a better understanding of the fact that they allude to the characters found in mythology.  In addition, there is a little illustration activity where students take products from today's time and see how these product names actually originated from mythology.  A few examples, are Trident gum and Amazon.com.  

I hope your kids have fun with this lesson.  

Click the link below to find out more info. or to purchase this lesson.

Lesson: Words in Text Alluding to Characters in Mythology

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Sub Plans

Easy Sub Plan Notebook

What is it with teachers and being sick????
You know what I'm talking about!
Most of us would prefer to go in and teach rather than have to deal with those stinkin sub plans.

Do you think people in other career fields feel that way? Do they have to spend over an hour preparing plans, getting paperwork together, etc. just because they are sick and need to take a day off? 

Maybe I put too much pressure on myself (could be). Despite the fact that I have 'emergency sub plans' at school, I feel like if I am going to take a day off for something like a sinus infection, I need to prepare very detailed plans about how the day runs, especially if I want my sub to be able to keep me on my schedule of curriculum that has to be taught. After all, it's a race to get it all covered with me being there all 180 days. 

When I think about having to do the sub plans and about all the kids will probably miss if I am not there, I decide that it is probably best if I am there, so I don't even worry about getting a sub. There I go... trudging into work with weeks and weeks of sick leave built up that I never take, feeling like crap, going on with my day, teaching away. 

At the school I used to teach at you had to find your own sub - even if it was last minute and you were puking all over the place.  Yep, let's say you have been throwing up all night, you wake up the next morning realizing you have to have your class covered.  Guess what, you better get on the phone and start calling a hundred subs despite the fact that you have a fever, can't hold down your stomach acids, and can barely hold your head up.  Believe me, I know it to be true because it happened to me.
One time my daughter threw up in the car on the way to school. Once I got to school with my sick daugher in tow, I went to the front office and had to get on the phone and start calling subs. And yes, my sick daughter was right there beside me. After calling about thirty subs, I was told they would take care of it, but geeeesh.... I was so worked up about that situation, feeling terrible for my daughter, and I was so frustrated!!

Is that right?  It sounds so insensitive and backwards to me.  I always wonder if the general public knows these kinds of things go on for teachers.  I am fortunate where I am now.  If it is an emergency situation you can call a designated person and they will find your sub.  You only have to find a sub if you know in advance you are going to be out.

What is it like where you teach?  Do you feel like me when it comes to being out?

If you need some ideas for your sub plans, you may my sub folder activities helpful. You can find these in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

Click the link below to view these substitute folder ideas.

 

Substitute Teacher Folder

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FREE Multiplication Practice Paper

Multiplication Practice Paper

Yeah, I know..... It has been FOR-ever since I posted. My school year has gotten off to a very tiring start.  Maybe if I told you I have 32 fourth graders that would explain everything. :-/  WOW, right?

By the way, I haven't even blogged since my blog make over...

I do hope you like!

If you haven't been to my TpT store lately, please do check it out.  Although I haven't been blogging, I have tons of new products.  I will write a few blog posts about those soon. 

In the mean time, I wanted to offer up this new FREE multiplication practice sheet I made.  It has graph paper parts for each problem you give the kids. This helps with the lining up of the places, which can be so important when working with two digit by two digit multiplication.  The fun part about the multiplication sheet is the sticker part.  While you are walking around the room monitoring the kids as they practice problems, you will give them a sticker when they get one right.  They will do problem after problem when they know they get the colorful sticker if they do it correctly.  Before long, multiplication will be a breeze for them. I hope your students enjoy.

Click below for the freebie.

You will be taken directly to my TpT store where you can get a direct download.

Multiplication Practice Activity

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All About Me Poster 

We all do activities at the beginning of the school year to get to know our students.  One activity I do is an All About Me poster.  Each student gets to fill in information about themselves, such as writing abut the things that bug them, activities they like to do, favorite book, number of siblings, and more.  This is always a nice activity to do after the fast paced morning has settled down. 

You know what I mean......

you have gone over a million rules,

 they have written their names in a stack of books,

you have explained your classroom expectations,

shared the schedule,

and overwhelmed them any and everything  you think they need to know.

Let's face it.......The first day is a crazy day! 

Anyway, this activity allows them some down time to absorb what you have shared, to think about themselves and what they would people to know, and even allows them to do a bit of coloring.  You will have fun getting to know your kids with these All About Me posters.

There are other options for these posters.  You could send them  home for the kids to fill out.  You could send one home with your student of the week.  There are lots of possibilities.  Be creative!

Click the link below to get more info. or to purchase.

~All About Me Poster~

Here are the posters hanging outside my classroom.

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Do you have hurry sickness?

Slow Down, Teachers!

I thought this would be fitting as I go back to work.  The fast paced life style is about to pick back up. 

 

I know I do!

Are you stricken with the sickness that seems to be plaguing so many people today? With this sickness, there is no fever involved and no visits to the doctor. Its symptoms affect everyone around you, but most importantly, they affect you. The worst part about this sickness is you miss out on so many of life's wonderful moments.

It's called hurry sickness. Does it sound familiar? It's otherwise known as a sense of time urgency.

Ask yourself, "Is time a major factor in my life?"

Do you find yourself running around trying to get one thing done just so you can complete another?

Does your job place so many demands on you that you can hardly focus on what your real role is supposed to be? Maybe your real role at work involves people, yet you have so much paperwork to be completed you could easily forget about the people you are there to serve. Maybe you even start to see them as an interruption.

Do you take your work home with you and when your own child asks you a question while in the midst of getting your work done, you only give them a tiny portion of your attention, nodding, and not really knowing what they are saying? After all, you have deadlines to meet. You are hurried. Maybe you even start to see them as an interruption.

Hurry hates interruption.

You can't love.
You can't listen to a child.
Basically, you can't multi-task attention.

Hurry is an enemy.

Take note, being hurried is not being busy. Being busy can be a good thing. There is nothing really good about being hurried. Remember, being hurried is about time urgency. You don't have time for one thing because you are so hurried to do another.

If you are a hurried person, you don't have time for interruptions in your life. You don't have time to jump some one's car off. You don't have time to talk to someone in need. You don't have time to help the person who dropped something. You can't slow down long enough to talk to your kids.

So, what is your IQ anyway? No, I am not talking about your intelligence quotient. I'm talking about your Interruptibility Quotient. How many times do you allow for interruptions in your life? Do you slow down long enough to let God interrupt your life? What about when you didn't stop to help a person or talk to someone in need? Was that a prompt from God? It does make you think.

The next time you feel hurried or overcome with time urgency, take a moment to ponder if this interruption is really a disguise from God that he is trying to work in your life. I plan on trying it myself.

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FREE Lesson Plan Template

FREE Printable Lesson Plan Template

I decided to make me a new lesson plan template for this school year. I reworked the template I am actually using in order to share it with you.  I  have my times and subjects typed on mine, but since you don't have the same ones as me, I took those off. Although you won't be able to type on this template and use it as an electronic lesson plan,  you are able to save the template and print it for your use in the classroom if you would like.  The large boxes are intended to write different subjects or activities.  The smaller boxes within the larger boxes are to write the subject name and/or the time of the subject.  Feel free to use this free lesson plan template in your room if it fits your needs.

Click HERE to download the free lesson plan template.

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For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.

If you are a teacher and you like what you see, please visit often.



FREE Meet Your Teacher Day Treat

Meet Your Teacher Day Treat

We have all heard the saying....

  you only have one time to make a good first impression.

Well, this is true with meeting your students, too.  Did you know that some research shows that people form an opinion of you within the first 90 seconds of meeting you. 

 HELLO!!!  You better make it a great 90 seconds.  :-) 

If this stands true with students meeting a teacher then they are going to either walk away from 'meet your teacher day' grumbling that they have the meanest  teacher, or they will walk away smiling and thinking they have the best teacher in the world.  Let's face it, in a kid's eyes, those are about the only two choices. 

 For me, I want them to walk away thinking they have the coolest, most creative, and fun teacher EVER!!!  So, I start working on creating that caring classroom environment the very first time I meet the kids.  Not only do I have the room all arranged and decorated and put a smile on my face, but I usually gift them with a little something to make them feel special.  It's not much... just a little treat. This year, I have a movie theme going on in my classroom, and to go along with that theme I created a card to place on a baggie of popcorn or other special treat. 

This treat sheet doesn't have to be used exclusively for a movie themed classroom, as it would work in any setting in order to make a new student feel special.  If you would like to try gifting your new students with something special, feel free to use this FREE movie themed printable teacher treat sheet in your classroom. If you don't want to use it on the 'meet your teacher day', you could even use it the first day of school.

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Click Here to Get the Printable

 

For other creative ideas on creating a caring classroom, please head on over to Corkboard Connections, which is Laura Candler's awesome blog. Grab some tips and even some other freebies.  Click on the image below.

Share the Sweetness!

Thank you for helping to spread the word about Classroom Confections.

We appreciate you 'liking' us on facebook, tweeting about us, or pinning us on Pinterest.

For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.

If you are a teacher and you like what you see, please visit often.