Teacher’s Brain

Tips For An Amazing Meet The Teacher Night

If you are here, chances are you are planning out your Meet The Teacher or Open House event for the next school year. Back to school night is a great time to meet and greet with parents and students, introduce yourself, show everyone around the classroom, exchange important information for the school year, and more. 

Needless to say, it’s a big night! We all want to make a good impression on parents and our new students. Don’t worry, I have you covered whether you are doing an in person event or virtual! 

Last year, a lot of teachers had to learn to do everything online. It was a huge learning curve for many but we made it through and now we know the magic of Google Slides. Google Slides is now my new GO TO resource when teaching. It is perfect because you can use it virtually or in person. You can easily customize them by adding your text, photos, videos, music, and more. This makes it the perfect teaching tool. 

My Virtual Meet The Teacher Resource uses Google Slides to create a beautiful, cohesive, presentation.

It is so easy to pull your event together with this template for back to school. Just edit the text boxes, add a video or some personalized pictures. 

meet the teacher

This resource comes with 28 colorful and fun Google Slides with titles, edit text boxes, directions and ideas as well as 28 Google Slides with cartoon characters with the same titles so you can decide what you want to use and delete what you don’t.  This resource also comes with a French version as well. 

meet the teacher

meet the teacher

The best part? It comes together easily and quickly so you can get it done and keep your weekends to yourself! 

meet the teacher

Check out my video tutorial on how to use this resource and your back to school event will be ready to go in no time. 

Looking for more resources for the school year? Read my post here for everything you need to survive kindergarten!

 

meet the teacher


 

Sight Words Made FUN In Elementary

Learning to read is one of the biggest goals in the early grades. It sets the foundation for their entire education experience! To do this, we start with the basics, letter recognition, letter sounds, blending sounds, etc. Then we move on to a crucial step- sight words!

These words are words that students practice and become so familiar with that they recognize them instantly and don’t need to sound out. This helps them become more comfortable and fluent readers in less time.

But how do we teach students sight words in a way that they will remember?

We practice every day! The more students practice them, the better readers they will become. This can be done by practicing reading them in class, writing them out, creating sight word chants “T-H-E THE” to get stuck in their head, sending home sight word lists for students to go over as homework, and assigning books with sight words in them for students to read.

These are all great ways to practice them on a daily basis. However, if you are looking for something to really take it up a notch, I have you covered. Get students so engaged in learning their sight words that they won’t even realize they are learning because they are having so much fun with my Sight Word Escape Room! 

sight words

This Mystery Sight Words Escape Room is perfect for kindergarten and first-grade students.

sight words

Use these step-by-step instructions to guarantee student engagement while they learn about sight words to solve a classroom mystery. With little prep, your students will work as a team to break into a box, which breaks them out of the classroom as they beat the clock!

Included in this resource you get one PDF file with step-by-step instructions, a link to incorporate a video to hook your students into the mystery, and 3 pre-made clues for your class to solve. The other file is an editable PowerPoint to make it easy for you to add your own team names to personalize the experience and allow the students to take ownership of the lesson. You can also change the mystery letters to create your own sight words, sentences, and riddles.

This escape room is guaranteed to be a hit with your students!

Looking for more fun ways to practice sight words? Check out my post here! 

 What are your favorite sight word activities? Let me know in the comments!


Everything You Need To Survive Teaching Kindergarten

It’s time to start preparing for the next school year! If you are a kindergarten teacher and you are ready to get ahead of the game this year and stop the lesson plan scramble once and for all, I have you covered.  

I created a bundle that has everything you could possibly need to survive teaching kindergarten! You’ll get engaging activities to do with your students for every subject. 

kindergarten

Here are the subjects included in this kindergarten bundle: 

  • Monthly Writing Themed Journals
  • Morning Work Journals
  • Kindergarten Math Centers
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Guided Reading

Reading Curriculum

kindergarten

Teach students to read with these activities, lesson plans, and assessments over phonics, phonemic awareness, comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. Your students will be confident in their reading by the end of the year. 

Math Centers

kindergarten

Who doesn’t love math centers? In this resource you’ll get tons of math centers that cover counting, numbers, sorting and classifying, addition within 5, measurement and data, word problems, graphs and data, 2D and 3D shapes, teen numbers, comparing numbers, addition to 10, subtraction to 10, telling time, and money. Every kindergarten math topic is included at a center with task cards or worksheets to use with manipulatives.   

Science Activities

kindergarten

Teach your students the wonders of science with these fun lesson plans, activities, and assessments! Topics covered include the scientific method, five senses, state of matter, energy, sound, and light, force and motion, push and pull, day and night, animal life science, plants, real vs. make-believe, weather, and sun, moon, and earth. 

Social Studies 

Teach students about American history, geography, community helpers, civics and government, money, and needs vs. wants with these lesson plans, activities, and assessments. 

Kindergarten Writing Prompts

Get your students comfortable with writing with a full year’s worth of writing journals. You’ll get one journal for each month with writing prompts for each day. Never search for a grade-appropriate writing prompt again! As a bonus, you’ll also get my silly story starters!

Kindergarten Morning Work

Create a class routine and simplify your mornings with morning work activities. In this bundle, you will get morning work for each day of the school year. Activities included are letters, numbers, math, sight words, and more! 

This bundle truly has everything you need. All that is left for you to do is teach. Your students will love these fun and engaging activities and they will be meeting standards with ease. 

Check it out here! 

Want more kindergarten tips? Check out my post on how to have a stellar first day of kindergarten here!


 

Calendar Time in Primary is a Beach!

I always loved calendar time when I was in the classroom. In fact, it was the most enjoyable time of the day! If you don’t do Calendar Time in your classroom, you may be wondering what exactly it is. 

Calendar time is a time during the day to come together as a class by the calendar. It is a great way to start the day or transition from one activity to the other. It also helps students because it is part of the daily routine and they know what to expect. 

calendar time

Some of my favorite activities for Calendar Time include: 

  • Singing a song or two. This is such a fun way to let your students show their personality and have some fun. Add in dancing for extra physical activity! 
  • Listen to others. Sharing stories or other important information is a great time to practice our listening skills. 
  • Reviewing days and months. Use your calendar to review the days of the week and the current month. Repetition will have your students reciting it on their own in no time. 
  • Review math skills. Reviewing during Calendar Time feels more fun and less like work. Take this time to review some essential skills you have been working on. 
  • Talk about the weather to help students understand the daily weather and what it means. 
  • Read a story. Select a book that relates to what you are working on that week and read it during Calendar Time while students are gathered close and can easily see the pictures. 

If you are wanting to get it set up for your classroom, I have you covered! My Beachy Calendar Time Resource has everything you need! 

calendar time

This beach-themed decor bundle comes with matching decorations for your set up. It has six resources bundled in one using Hawaii photographs and watercolor clip art. How amazing does that sound?

calendar time

Included you’ll get welcome banners, tropical word wall decor, growth mindset posters, labels, table numbers, center posters, Hawaii photo alphabet lines, name tags, editable classroom jobs, number posters, Where Are We signs, How I Get Home sign, and your calendar set with watercolors and so much more! 

calendar time

Looking for tips for decorating your classroom? Check out my post here!