Social emotional learning is the foundation of a successful classroom by creating an environment of inclusion and respect.

Back to School Tips including seating arrangements, teacher must haves, and what I wish I knew from the begining of my teaching career.

CURRICULUM activity pics are below This is a one week curriculum that requires no additional components. I have file folder games and printables that we also utilize. click to open SONGS Owl Song (I’m a Little Teapot) I'm a great big owl, as you can see I live high up in a tree. All the other birds wake me up when they play, Because I like to sleep in the day! Time to Eat (Mary Had a Little Lamb) Owl said, "It's time to eat, time to eat, time to eat!" Owl said, "It's time to eat! What do I eat tonight?" Owl ate a mouse that night, mouse that night, mouse that night! Owl ate a mouse that night And said, "It tastes just right!" Nocturnal Animals On a moonlit night when the stars come out There are nocturnal animals all about 1. Whoo, whoo, what do I see (make circles with fingers, hold up to eyes) A wise old owl looking at me 2. Meow, meow, what do I see A big black cat is looking at me 3. Eee, eee, eee, what do I see A little bat just looking at me 4. Ribbit, ribbit, what do I see A big green tree frog looking at me 5. Squeak, squeak, squeak, what do I see A garden dormouse looking at me Little Hoot Owl (Six Little Ducks) Who flies around in the dark of night? Who glides o’er silent night? Who eats his dinner by late moonlight? It’s a little hoot owl with his owl eyesight! Who-who, who-who, little hoot owl. Who-who, who-who, little hoot owl. Who-who, who-who, little hoot owl. It’s a little hoot owl with his owl eyesight. LITTLE OWL (Jingle Bells) Liz Ryerson Little owl, little owl High up in the tree. Little owl, little owl Blinks his eyes at me. Hooting loud, hooting soft, Hooting all night long. I just love that little owl And love his hooting song. FINGER PLAYS & FLANNEL BOARDS 5 Little Owls By Lucia Kemp Henry 5 little owls on a dark, dark night. 5 little owls are quite a sight. 5 little owls! Are you keeping score? 1 flies away and that leaves 4. 4 little owls as happy as can be; 1 flew away and that leaves 3. 3 little owls calling, “Who, who, who”; 1 flies away and that leaves 2. 2 little owls having lots of fun; 1 flew away and that leaves 1. 1 little owl and we’re almost done; He flies away and that leaves none. [Can be flannel board] Five Hoot Owls counting flannel Five hoot owls sitting in a tree One flew away! How many do you see? One, two, three, four. Four hoot owls… etc. A Mouse for Supper Five little owls in the old elm tree Fluffy and puffy as owls could be, Blinking and winking with big round eyes At the big round moon that hung in the skies, As I passed beneath, I could hear one say, “There’ll be mouse for supper, there will today.” Then all of them hooted “Tu-whit, Tu-whoo! Yes, mouse for supper, Hoo, hoo, Hoo hoo!” One Little Owl by Elizabeth Scofield One little owl when the moon was new, Along came another owl, and that made two. Two little owls perched high in the tree, Along came another owl, and that made three. Three little owls flew to the barn door, Along came another owl, and that made four. Four little owls lined up side by side, Along came another owl, and that made five. Five little owls hooted "Whoo, whoo, whoo," Then they all flapped their wings and away they flew. DRAMATIC PLAY/CREATIVE MOVEMENT Wide Eye Owl There's a wide eye owl (make fingers in large circles and cup over eyes) With a pointed nose (use fingers to make a triangle & point out for nose) 2 pointed ears (use fingers for ears) and claws for toes (wiggle fingers like toes) he lives way up in the tree (point up to tree top) and when he looks at you (point at kids) he flaps his wings (use arms for wings, and flap) and says whooo whooo (continue flapping wings) The Owl [Finger play or dramatic movement] An owl sat alone on the branch of a tree, (Use arm as tree branch and raise thumb for owl) And she was as quiet as quiet could be. 'Twas night and her eyes were wide open like this; (Circle eyes with fingers and look around) She looked all around, not a thing did she miss. Some little birds perched on the branch of the tree, (Fingers of other hand fly onto tree branch) And sat there as quiet as quiet could be. The solemn old owl said "whoo-whoo-whoo," And up jumped the birds and away they flew. (Wave hand away and flutter fingers behind back) [For dramatic movement, children will jump up and fly away] Nocturnal/Diurnal Game Children will be split into groups of people and owls. When the lights go on, the people dance and the owls sleep. When the lights go off, the owls fly and the people sleep. One Night Owl – gross motor movements (She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain) There was one night owl in the tree: Hoo! Hoo! There was one night owl in the tree: Hoo! Hoo! Oh, he called up to the sky to an owl flying by, And the owl came and joined him happily: Hoo! Hoo! [Repeat for additional numbers.] [Can be flannel board] Pounce on the Mouse The “owls” are barefooted. As they fly around, a beanbag is tossed out and the “raptors” must grab it with their “talons” and take it back to their nest. Alternate, the beanbag mice are already in the “field” and the raptors must swoop in and carry as many as possible back to their nest before they are all gone. If coordination is an issue, then younger children can use their hands rather than their feet. Works logic/reasoning, coordination/balance, core strength, spatial relations. CRAFTS Journal- Have children think about and draw about the night time outside. Painting- Children will paint toilet paper tubes with brown paint, or a color of their choice for Cut and Paste craft. Owl Babies – Children will rip a strip of craft paper approximately 1 ½ inch by 9 inch and paste to black construction paper. Using black makers, they will create lines and swirls on the craft paper to represent bark. Using pom poms attached to clothes pins, they will pounce white paint above the “branch” to create a large, medium and small owl shape. In the sky, they will use the same technique to pounce a yellow moon. Using Q-tips, they will dot gold paint into the background for stars. On the owls, they will attach 1” diameter white or yellow circles for the eyes, ¾” black circles for the iris, and a hole punched white dot as an accent. These elements can be pre-made or the children can trace and cut out. An orange triangle is added for the beaks. Cut and Paste- The tops of the toilet paper tubes are pushed in on opposite sides to overlap slightly, creating raised ears. (2) 1 inch circles of white or yellow for eyes, (2) ½ inch circles of black for eyes, (1) orange or yellow triangle for beak, (10) 1 inch circles of tissue paper for belly feathers, (2) yellow or orange zig zags for feet, (2) 2 inch X 3 inch rectangles of tissue paper for wings. Sculpture- Turkey Puppets – Children will trace and cut out their hand prints for the wings. The wings are attached just below the top portion of the bag on the back side. 1 ½ inch yellow or white circles are traced and cut for the eye, 1 inch black circles for the iris, and white hole punches for accents. Orange triangles and zig zags are cut out for the beak and feet. A cupcake liner is flattened and add to the center of the bottom of the bag for the tummy. If wanted, Paisley figures can be added to the top as feather tufts for a Great Horned or Long Eared owl. Cooking- Children will create a sandwich and cut the sides off as triangles, spreading the long ends out to form wings. 1 inch cheese rounds can be added as eyes, beak and feet. To the center of the cheese eyes, an olive circle, jam, ketchup, etc. can be added as an iris . ACTIVITIES Measuring Owls-North America Elf Owl 5 inches Northern Pigmy Owl 7 inches Northern Saw Whet Owl 8 inches Western Screech Owl 9 inches Burrowing Owl 10 inches Barn Owl 12 inches Long Eared Owl 14 inches Great Horned Owl 20 inches Snowy Owl 26 inches Great Gray Owl 33 inches How much light do we need to see? Place children in a dark place, either a room or a dark tent. If possible, have a dimming light that you can adjust, or open the door or entryway a little at a time. Have the children try to be the first to identify items that you brought in as the light gradually increases. Counting Feathers – The children will grab up a handful of feathers and count them. Sorting Feathers – The children will work in teams of 2-3 to work out a method of sorting the feathers by color, type, or size, then count each group SUPPLIES (Unusual) Feathers VIDEO Youtube – Learn All About Birds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rariptboC14 NETFLIX – Wild Kratts, “Raptor Roundup” Season1 Episode 40 http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70278880&trkid=13752289&tctx=0,0,wild:270be946-af3b-4630-a41d-33d3f4cf1327#episodeId=70300736 Youtube – Owl Babies Animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6aYYiyQUmY Older children – Movie - Legend of the Guardians PG Night Sounds Guessing Game http://www.babygamer.com/online_games/free/toddler/night_animals/night_animals_00.htm WEBSITES Little Night Owl poster – The Very Busy Kindergarten https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B18BYdClXdY-ODg3MDEyNTEtMTk5Yi00ZjRjLTg1MWYtN2Y0ZDE2MjZmYTQz/edit Nocturnal Animals Flannel Board idea http://rovingfiddlehead.com/kidlit/flannel-friday-nocturnal-animals-flannelboard/ LEARNING OBJECTIVES Know what a carnivore eats Know what nocturnal means Describe 3 characteristics of an owl Describe 3 characteristics of a raptor Know 3 other raptors Know at least 3 species of owl OTHER If possible, visit an owl or raptor exhibit at your local zoo, or invite a local wildlife rehabilitation group to bring an owl for a visit. Owl Poem Northern Saw-whet Owl 1-60 dtd Finish the picture owl Coloring Page - Labeled Owl from Kidssoup Owl Facts - San Diego Zoo Owl Alphabet Cards Owl Pic Pinterest Board Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection Owl On-line Jigsaw Puzzle Owl On-line Jigsaw Puzzle2 Owl On-line Jigsaw Puzzles3 O is for Owl Tracer Printable Owl Mobile Printable & Coloring Page PBS Cat in the Hat - Nocturnal Animals Nocturnal Animals On-line Seek and Find Game FLANNEL BOARD TP OWL OWL BABIES & COUNT THE STARS OWL PUPPETS POUNCE ON THE MOUSE & GRAPHING MEASURING OWLS NOCTURNAL/DIURNAL FEATHER COUNTING/SORTING Follow Connie -'s board Owls Theme on Pinterest. Tags: homeschool, homeschooling, pre-k, preschool, teaching, kindergarten, early elementary, elementary, science, biology, gifted, advanced, learning, learners, interactive, Reggio

THE HELPFUL ART TEACHER has a wonderful blog about how to create many kinds of animations!

Winter break is almost over and that means your little learners are about to come back to school rested, refreshed, calm, and ready to take ...

Upper elementary classroom tips and ideas with a focus on classroom management, student engagement, & cooperative learning.

Do you play music in the classroom? Here's our classroom playlist of first grade greatest hits!

This week we learned about the lifecycle of a pumpkin. We watched a movie called Pumpkin Circle and read this big book about how to grow a pumpkin. Then we made a book of our own by sequencing the pictures and sentences. We also read Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White and did an activity about the main character. Most of our centers this week work pumpkin themed. We put words in ABC Order and drew a picture to go with each word. We created colorful patterns {AB. ABC. AAB. ABB} with pumpkins. We sorted pumpkins by color and graphed them. Then we solved addition math problems by adding two colors of pumpkins together to see how many we had in all. We also used a deck of pumpkin shaped playing cards to make and solve addition math problems and listened to The Runaway Pumpkin at the listening center and did a rhyming word activity. To review our short vowel sounds we sorted short vowel pictures and matched them with the correct vowel sound. We also played several of our short vowel review word games. {Sorry no pictures of these last few centers . . . the disk inside my digital camera ran out of memory.}

Are you a middle school or elementary teacher who is frustrated by lines of students wanting your attention? You are going to want to check out this post containing an easy strategy that both you AND your substitute teachers will love! #classroommanagement #teaching #classroom #teacher

A sincere compliment can have a magical effect on a student. We all know that relationships can make or break your classroom. And when you have a particularly difficult student, it can be difficult to keep things positive. That's where this strategy can help.

Somehow summer is over and I have no idea how that happened. Maybe its the weather - it's been hot, hot, hot and sticky for the last couple of weeks around here - but whatever it is, I am NOT ready! Regardless of my desire to stop time, my middle kiddo goes back to school tomorrow and my oldest has been in school for almost three weeks. (Which is still hard for me to wrap my mind around since we are so used to starting school after Labor Day.) This year we compiled a "Summer Fun List" of around 30 things we wanted to do during the summer. (We still have several items on our Summer Fun List that we haven't completed, but I'm going to claim an extension until the autumnal equinox on September 22nd for those. Is that cheating?) This activity was inspired by one of the list items - "Go Stargazing". I found a site called Lie Back Look Up that has a lot of great activities, including a printable star map for kids which I printed out and brought with us to the beach in early August. The girls were able to find a couple of the easier constellations (i.e. The Big Dipper) but were struggling with identifying the others. (I think its a bit like using a microscope with children. You may know what you are seeing, but the kids can't distinguish between an air bubble and an amoeba due to their limited experience.) When we got home, I started thinking about ways to explore the constellations with them. I found an awesome book by HA Rey (the creator of Curious George) called Find the Constellations. I also saw quite a few constellation cards on Pinterest - check out my Science with Kids board to see some of them. My favorite are these from Lie Back, Look Up that includes information about each of the constellations on the back. We printed those, laminated them and stuck them on a key ring for future reference. Then I had a flashback to my own elementary school days and remembered making constellation tubes out of those black plastic film canisters. Since those are pretty few and far between these days (who uses film?!?) I thought we could make them using toilet paper tubes (one of my favorite things to repurpose). I found a few examples on the web, but no super clear instructions and since I did them completely wrong the first time, I figured it might be a good DIY project to write up in case other people have the same problems that I had. So, here it is. Let me know if you make them and have any feedback!! Step 1: Print out the constellation patterns from the About.com Space site. I think these may have originally been intended for use with the smaller film canisters because I found that I needed to print them at 120% size to match the approximate diameter of the toilet paper tube. The other key thing here is to make sure to select "flip horizontally" found under the 'layout' option in the print screen. I ended up with inverted constellations the first time because I didn't do this step. Because the words also end up flipped, I would print out an extra sheet not flipped so that you can use it as a reference. (I developed the ability to read upside down pretty well when I was teaching in the classroom but trying to read stuff flipped gives me a headache!) Step 2: Gather the rest of your materials. We used the following: empty toilet paper tubes glue stick tape scissors black construction paper squares (4.5" x 4.5") black sharpie marker giant push pin cork board Step 3: Cut around the outside, dotted line around the constellation pattern. Glue to the center of the construction paper. Step 4: Place the construction paper on the piece of cork board (I doubled it because my cork was fairly thin) and use the giant push pin to punch holes where the stars are located in the pattern. Step 5: Trim around the square into a rough circle shape (it does not need to be perfect!!). Then make cuts from the outer edge of the construction paper into the center, but do not cut into the constellation pattern. This allows for easy attaching of the construction paper to the cardboard tube. I made cuts to divide the piece into 8 wedges - you could probably do more to make the fit even smoother, but I wouldn't do less. Prefold the wedges by holding the circle with your thumb on the edge of the white constellation paper and folding the wedge upwards. Step 6: Center the constellation in the top of the cardboard tube and tape each wedge down. Start with the wedges opposite each other (i.e. 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock) then move on to the ones perpendicular to those (i.e. 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock). Finally tape the remaining 4 wedges down then go all the way around with another long piece of tape to add extra security. (You could also use duct tape here.) Step 7: Using the sharpie marker, write the name of the constellation on the side of the tube. Step 8: Close one eye and use the other eye to look through the tube at the constellation pattern. Start by sharing the name of the constellation with your child and have them look through the tube at the pattern. As they get more comfortable with the patterns, do it the opposite way and see if they can tell you the name of the constellation after viewing the pattern. Step 9: Because the tubes are fairly delicate, store them in a secure box. We chose to use a fairly thick shoe box. Also, because we only had enough rolls to make 4 constellation tubes to start, I put the extra patterns in the box as well so we could make more as we collected more empty toilet paper rolls.

Calling all teachers! Anyone interested in some Back to School Freebies? Anyone? We have 5 Back to School Freebies just for YOU!

Whoo Missed You? We Did! Owl Themed Absent Homework Sheet designed to easily keep track of work students missed while away from school. Printable comes with six subject areas, Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, Grammar/Vocabulary, Writing, as well as a Miscellaneous column. A second worksheet has been added with the following ares: Religion, Math, Science, Social Studies, Spanish and Misc. Teachers can easily write in any missing assignments as well as provide instructions for each assignment.

If you want to teach your little ones about the concept of opposites you will want to check out these fun opposites worksheets and activities.

Teaching behavior expectations in kindergarten is important, especially in the first few weeks of school. This often sets the stage for your class for the entire year. For students to fully understand what is expected of them, it is important that teachers address and teach these expectation. I usually spend a lot of time during the first weeks of school teaching student expectations and classroom behaviors. We complete sorts of good choices and bad choices in the classroom and discuss what makes them good and bad choices. We complete these sorts whole group and students also complete individual behavior reflection sheets. These work great during the first few weeks of school or when students may need a review. These include different levels of difficulty beginning with students simply deciding if an actions is a good or bad choice, to a student sort of good and bad choices (this is a freebie at the end of the blog post) to finally illustrating or writing good or bad choices. Also we color an emergent reader reviewing some of the classroom expectations. These can also just be used as little coloring pages when a classroom expectation is introduced. In your classroom, you may want to challenge your students to focus on a certain expectation for a week. Included are posters that would work great for this: These provide a visual and focus for students when expectations are being taught. You can make it a game and provide an incentive if students can meet this expectation a certain amount of times in a week. Once these expectations are taught it is important to keep students accountable to their actions. I have been using a visual think sheet in my classroom that is perfect for this. It is very appropriate for your early learners in pre-k or kindergarten or special ed because it includes pictures for students to show what they did. Students simply color in the choice they made and a better choice they can make. These are great reflections for students, communication for parents and documentation if necessary. You may also want to post these cool down methods where students can reflect on strategies to cool down, instead of getting upset. You can find this entire Behavior Think Sheets and Activities in my TPT store and the Free Good and Bad Choices Student Sort here:

Growth Mindset in Math Class - introducing math mindsets

The Little White Owl is all about friendship and accepting the differences in people (owls, too!) We created a chart by describing what good friends do… Great Book Found Here The owls below are by some teacher friends of mine…cute, right? I love that they used scrapbook paper and newspaper to create the artwork. One...

In this activity, the student knows that natural events can impact Earth systems. The student will relate plate tectonics to the formation of crustal features. Students will sort cards by identifying characteristics of each type of plate boundary. This resource includes: Student/Teacher Instructions Identifying Plate Boundaries - Match Em' - Version 1 - Template Identifying Plate Boundaries - Match Em' - Version 2 - Template Identifying Plate Boundaries - Match Em' - Version 3 - Template Identifying Plate Boundaries - Match Em' - Cards Identifying Plate Boundaries - Match Em' - Answer Key ***************************************************************************** Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. ☺ Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates about this store. ☺ *****************************************************************************

Hey Friends! It's Theresa, from True Life I'm a Teacher ! I wanted to share how I use (and have used for several years) a token economy ...

This addition page is a hoot! Help your kid practice math facts with this owl color-by-number printable!

Howdy! I am Mr. Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard. My real name is Greg Smedley-Warren. I have been teaching for 11 years. I spent a year teaching fifth grade, two years in second grade and am now in my 9th year in Kindergarten. Kindergarten is my passion and my calling but honestly, that wasn’t how it started. When I was moved to Kindergarten (not voluntarily!) I called my mommy and cried. But on the first day, I fell in love and knew that Kindergarten is where I belonged. I have remained in Kindergarten ever since. I plan to never leave the classroom as the kids are what drive me to continue my growth as a teacher and person.

Display classroom rules, procedures, expectations for treating others and supplies, and sub behavior policies in these anchor charts!

I have done many things as a reward system in the classroom. Passing out tickets (carnival tickets) where the students put their name/number on the back, merit money, etc. A couple of years ago I came up with Star Bucks. They use the Star Wars characters, with each dollar denomination having a different character. To […]

The Little White Owl is all about friendship and accepting the differences in people (owls, too!) We created a chart by describing what good friends do… Great Book Found Here The owls below are by some teacher friends of mine…cute, right? I love that they used scrapbook paper and newspaper to create the artwork. One...

Hey yall! Did you guys have fun at the party last night? The Facebook party, of course! I had such a blast, and downloaded a TON of free resources! Hope you guys did, too! This post is FULL of good stuff, so I'll just get right to it. First up, I am linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for her weekly Monday Made It! Here is what I made this week... Sorry for the crappy quality :( Here is a close up so you can see the cute polka dots. I know you guys have seen these all over, just as I had. They were really easy to make, and there are already tons of tutorials out there, so I won't bother with another one. I love them, though! I found the perfect colors for my classroom, and they will look so great hanging on my walls! I had seen some that put a ribbon border around the letters, and I really thought about doing that. But I couldn't find any ribbon that I was in love with, so I left them plain...for now :) Next, I am linking up with Classroom Freebies for Manic Monday! I have really come to love Mondays this summer....we'll see how that goes in the fall! I am just putting the finishing touches on the classroom theme set that I made for myself, and I made this sign to go along with it. I am planning on framing it and hanging it right outside my door :) I left the owl's tummy blank, because that's where I am going to write my name. I also included a sign with just a plain owl, though. Click on the picture to get your classroom sign! Finally, I know that everyone is getting in on the mustache craze, but I didn't realize how huge it was until last night. My niece wanted to go to Claires, and while we were shopping, we stumbled upon the biggest collection of mustache paraphanalia I've ever seen! But guess who forgot to take a picture of it? Yep...that'd be me. I did manage to snap one of my niece with some great 'stache glasses, though! We had also found these cute little stickers to put on our toes....but that was a total fail. So we decided to go get our toes done, and see if the lovely ladies there could help us out. And guess what? They did!!! The sweet nail lady was a little giddy, because it was her first go at a it...and I think she did an excellent job!!! So....I mustache you...do you like our nails???

Use these pictures and ideas to create and use these awesome Classroom Management Anchor Charts. Teach rules and procedures for all classroom supplies.

Yes, I know you REALLY want to know how to put your worksheet into Google Classroom! But, let’s take a step back and take a deeper look at the purpose of your assignment, the power of G Suite, and how you can go BEYOND substitution and a static worksheet.

Genius ideas for all grade levels.

Finishing up this week on back to school posts I wanted to share with you some great resources I have found on the…