freebie


Back to School is here! As teachers, we all know the first few days and weeks of school are the most important times of the year. They will be jam-packed with classroom management, routines, and procedures as we set the foundation for our classrooms. By doing that, students will understand your expectations, develop a sense of independence, and you’ll be able to maximize your teaching and learning time effectively throughout the year. Today I am going to talk about 5 classroom tools that you can implement in your classroom for a smooth and easy school year.


1) Positive Behavior Clip Chart

Use a Positive Behavior Clip Chart in your classroom to promote intrinsic motivation and good self-reflection for your students. Instead of just focusing on the students who are making good choices, let's turn our focus on the students who are having a hard time in class as well. The "bad colors" as students like to refer to aren't actually bad colors with the Positive Behavior Clip Chart. Instead of saying "warning", "time out", or "parent phone call", I turned those into positive words. Yellow is quoted as "I will make better choices." Orange is quoted as "I know I can improve my behavior." Red is quoted as "I will talk about my behavior and try again!". These positive words are meant to encourage students to think about their choices, take responsibility for their own actions, and make better choices throughout the day. The Positive Behavior Clip Chart was designed so students have many opportunities to clip up throughout the day and build a sense of responsibility for their own character and choices.


Click HERE to purchase the Positive Behavior Clip Chart from my TPT shop.

The full kit comes with the behavior clip chart, parent letter, and monthly calendars.


2) Golden Sub Tickets

If you plan to be out this year, utilize these FREE Golden Sub Tickets to help with your classroom management on day(s) you are absent. Print, cut, and place them inside your sub folder. Inform the sub to pass out these Golden Sub Tickets to students who are demonstrating role model traits without your presence. When you return, have the students turn in those Golden Sub Tickets to you for a prize!!



3) Star of the Week

I learned about Star of the Week and how to implement it in my classroom from my student teaching practicum ages ago! Yesss, I have taught for almost that long so please don’t judge. ;) Star of the Week is one week in the school year where a student from your class is celebrated. The student gets to share interesting and new things about himself/herself to the class. On Friday, each student writes a letter to the Star Student and those letters turn into a book so the Star Student can have it as a keepsake. At the end of every week, the class will feel more connected and appreciated about one another.


Click HERE to purchase the Star of the Week Kit from my TPT shop.

The full kit comes with various letter-writing templates, student award, All About Me Poster, parent letter, and picture sign.


4) Good Morning Slides

Greet your students every morning in style with my monthly editable “Good Morning” slides. Use the “Good Morning” slides daily to provide quick reminders and updates as your students unpack for the day. It's a great way to start every morning with your class! Included are 11 monthly templates compatible with Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint. To use with Microsoft PowerPoint, simply download the Google Slides as PowerPoint. :)


*To get these "Good Morning" Slides, you will need to be a Classroom Shenanigans Member and have access to our CS Community Library.

5) Role Model Punch Cards

These Role Model punch cards were created to make our students see their own growth and full potential as a positive individual/role model. It is a great way to promote positivity, instill values, and create a positive classroom environment where students can learn and flourish. These punch cards will help minimize behavioral issues and promote more positive behaviors with rewards.


Click HERE to grab the FREE Role Model Punch Cards and read more about it from this blog post.


I hope you take one of these classroom management tools to help with your classroom. Wishing you the best school year!


Back to School: Classroom Management!

Sunday, August 22

          Over the course of my teaching career, the words “Role Model” have been a phrase I consistently use and emphasize in my classroom on a daily basis. “Role Model” is a POWERFUL phrase I use every day to encourage my students to be the best version of themselves and inspire others to make positive choices. In fact, I also call my students “Role Models” instead of “boys and girls” or “friends” to help them see that they too can be role models anytime and anywhere. 

          I am a firm believer behavior choices affect the classroom environment. Students learn best when the environment they're in is positive and supporting, leading students to uplift each other with their right choices and behaviors. When we as teachers create a positive classroom environment for our students, they are more willing to engage, respond, and come to school.

          So now you’re probably asking how I manage to do that with my students. About two years ago, I started using these “Role Model” punch cards in my very own first grade classroom to encourage my students to make good choices throughout the day (and for the rest of the school year). I have been using them ever since and am ready to share with you how they work in my classroom.

What is the purpose of the Role Model punch cards?
          The purpose of these Role Model punch cards is to make your students see their own growth and full potential as an individual. I understand our students are not 100% perfect and who is, but the idea is to make our students see how they CAN positively change a classroom with their choices. We want to encourage classroom behaviors that will result in the students naturally creating a positive learning environment together, allowing everyone to learn and flourish from one another. 

          In addition, these Role Model punch cards have twelve circles on each card to help students build stamina for making positive choices in the classroom. Instead of rewarding a student every time they make good choices/behaviors, use these cards to teach them to make good choices consistently and naturally overtime. It will take some students a week or longer to get all twelve circles punched on their card, but it will definitely teach them to build character and patience.

How do I use the Role Model punch cards in my own classroom?
          In my classroom, the Role Model punch cards is implemented as a whole class and individual reward. My students earn a punch on their Role Model punch card at the end of the day if they move their clip up on our classroom’s positive behavior chart. Throughout the day, I punch my students' Role Model punch cards if I see them making role model choices (helping others, completing a hard assignment with a positive attitude, cooperating with their team or a partner, following school rules in the hallway, problem solving their own minor problems, and etc.). 
          
          I always remind my students to have their punch card out on their desk because they never know when I’m going to punch a hole in their card for being a "Role Model". On a daily average, I punch about 2-3 holes in a student’s card. I don’t punch a hole for every praise or compliment I give out. However, if I notice a consistent positive behavior displayed by the same student I would go ahead and punch his/her Role Model card.

          I usually have 2-3 students who earned all twelve punches by the end of each week. However, it usually takes about 1.5-2 weeks for my most of my students to get all twelve punches. Again, this is because I use my best judgements to only punch cards for students that showed consistent classroom behaviors and not for every single compliment/praise I give out. 

What happens when my students get all twelve punches on their card?
          Every time a student gets all twelve punches, they earn a reward!! There are so many ways you can choose to reward your students. The discretion is up to you as their teacher. I understand we get a new group of students every year and each group is different, so the choice for reward is what you think will work best for your students. 

          Last year I rewarded my students with treasure box. This year I took two different approaches. The first semester, my students earned a reward from our class treasure box filled with Scentos smelly knickknacks from Walmart because they loved scented things. This second semester, I am allowing my students to write their own reward on the back of their card (which must be teacher approved first). My students really love the autonomy to pick their own reward by writing it on the back of their punch card.

Do these Role Model punch cards REALLY work?
          YES! If implemented correctly and used effectively by the teacher and students, these punch cards will help minimize behavioral issues and promote positive behaviors in the classroom. Now keep in mind that not all behavioral issues can be solve with a simple punch card. We would love for it to be that simple. The purpose of these punch cards is to teach our students to make good behavior choices that encourage their classmates to do the same, resulting in a self-created positive classroom learning environment.

          I have successfully used these punch cards for two years now with first graders. The cards have helped my students become accountable for their own behaviors and choices. Our classroom learning environment is a safe place for the students as they inspired each other to be the best version of themselves. My students also understand what it feels like to work hard for something they want (hence picking their own reward) and why it’s important to be a good citizen. I believe that these role model punch cards will work in your classroom as they do in mine.

If you decide to try these FREE Role Model punch cards, please let me know how it works in your classroom. :)

click the image above to grab the FREEBIE

Happy Teaching!

FREE Role Model Punch Cards to Create a Positive Classroom Environment

Tuesday, March 12

As the end of the year approaches, we often find ourselves looking for fun and meaningful cross-curricular activities to keep our students engaged and teach them up until that very last day. It is not easy being a teacher and an entertainer, at the same time trying to keep up with all the EOY madness. However, don’t worry sista I got you covered with a fun and engaging worksheet!

Thank you to Education.com for collaborating with me on this blog post to create fun and educational worksheets for my classroom. All opinions stated are my own. I only publish guest contents from products that I use and love.

Word search is one of my favorite end of the year activity to introduce to 1st graders because it’s FUN, keeps their INTEREST, and I can use it across ALL core subjects. I recently introduced a Bug Theme Word Search worksheet to wrap up the Life Cycle unit in science and oh boy, my students are in love with word search. They ask me to provide them with word search every day now. They think it’s a race to see who can find all the words the fastest, and to determine who is the class’s best speller. Apparently, the faster you are, the better the speller you are too. LOL. Kids will be kids.

My students were fascinated with the Bug Theme Word Search worksheet because it corresponded with our Life Cycle unit in Science about butterfly and ladybug. In addition, the word bank had words, my students could read independently. It’s a great way to encourage reading and spelling, especially at the end of the year.

The first thing we did was go over the pictures on the word search. We discussed the butterfly and ladybug life cycle and the importance of the life cycle. Let’s say it was a very meaningful discussion because my students showed they learned a lot. Next, my students read the word bank 3 times (together as a class, in their group, and by themselves quietly) and we went over what each word meant. Then, I explained and showed my students how to look for words in the word search by emphasizing on spelling the words correctly as you look for them. Finally, I gave my students the choice to work independently or in pairs on their Bug Theme Word Search. Guess what they chose? Partners!

By the way, did you notice that the Bug Theme Word Search was literacy and science integrated?! What a WIN-WIN end of the year activity in my book! To keep your students excited and learning at the end of the year, give your little learners the creeps with this fun creepy crawlie word search. 
For more fun and engaging spelling activities, go to Education.com!

The best part of the Bug Word Search worksheet was that I could use a different set of words for the same theme. Yes, you read that right! My students enjoyed the Bug Word Search so much that I created another word search with the same theme using science spelling words. I did all that for FREE from Education.com.

If you have a favorite end of the year activity you do with your students, comment below and share. I would love to read all about it.

FREE Quick And Easy End of the Year Word Search

Tuesday, May 22

Can you believe it's already May? In less than 1.5 week, I can finally say "TEACHER ON SUMMER BREAK!" 
Till then the learning in my first-grade classroom doesn't stop. Womp, womp, womp! Yes, I'm that teacher! We don't stop learning until the very last day of school. Yayyyy??? HAHA! #bestteacherever or should I use a different hashtag?

If you're a first-grade teacher like me, or have students that need extra fact families practice you came to the right blog! *sings out loud the Price is Right theme song* YESSSSS, YOU, COMEEEEEEE ON OVER!!

This year my class has been working hard on memorizing their addition and subtraction facts. We've done life-size fact families games, outdoor chalk activities, students vs. teacher competitions, and a ton of other activities to help us.

In fact, fact families are such a  B-I-G deal in my classroom that I'm going to end the school year with a Fact Families Par-tayyy for my students! In addition, I want to give you all a sneak peek of what this party is all about since most of us don't have that many school days left. Knowing me, if I wait to post photos of this party in action, this blog probably won't be up until after summer break. #teacherlife #keepingitreal So if you're interested on how to host a Fact Families Party, keep on reading. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram as well. I will be posting photos from my Fact Families party sometimes this week.

STEP ONE: A Party Banner and Party Hats
You can make DIY party hats with your students or purchase some from the Dollar Store. You don't need to go all out with party decorations. However, you may if you wish to. I will be keeping my party simple with party hats from Target and a handmade banner made from butcher paper.

STEP TWO: Fact Families Centers
Create fact families centers where students can rotate and move around. There are 4 fun and FREE printable centers for this party.

Center 1: Fact Families Puzzles

Print, laminate, and cut out the puzzles. Put 3-4 puzzles on a party plate (1 party plate per student). Depending on how many students you have, you may need more or less puzzles. Each student will try to match the 3 numbers with their fact families. When they're done, they can exchange their plate with another student.

Center 2: Complete the Fact Families
Print out the fact families worksheet(s) and have students complete them in different ways. Since it is the end of the year, I am going to allow my students the choice to do what they like. I will provide them with a list of choices that they can choose from. EX: Complete the worksheet(s) with markers, gel pens, with a partner, in groups, anywhere in the classroom, etc. You can decide what choices are best for your students.

Center 3: Create Your "Magical" Own Fact Families
Pass out the blank fact families worksheet to each student. Have the students write 3 numbers inside the circles using a white crayon. They will then give their worksheet to another friend at their center to complete. That friend will use a colored marker to color each circle anddddd................BAM! the 3 magical numbers will appear. They will use those 3 magical numbers to write the fact families.

Center 4: Write the Room
Print and tape the fact families cards around the room, and outside the hall if you can. Next to each card, write a clue describing where the proceeding card could be found at. 

[OPTIONAL] Once students find all 10 cards and have the correct answers on their sheet, they will come to you and receive a prize. I will be giving each student a raffle ticket for a chance to win our party's grand prize. Do I know what that grand prize will be? Not yet LOL! Maybe a round of applause or a standing ovation from the class HAHAHA! JK. I seriously don’t know yet.

And there you have it - 2 easy steps for hosting a Fact Families Party! You can download all the free printables to host your own Fact Families party by clicking the image below.

If you host your own fact families party, don't forget to tag me on Instagram @classroomshenanigans

Let's Host a FREE EOY Fact Families Party!

Sunday, May 20


Hello Friends!

How many more days of school do you have left before summer? 4? 8? 12? 15? If you're one of those teachers who's already on summer break, well then LUCKY for you! For those who are still in school, summer just couldn't get here any quicker right?

The end of the year means the kids are buzzing with excitement, the days seem longer, your class acts crazier, and YOU are in survival mode. So, I thought it would be fun to share my favorite end of the year behavior incentive with you during this exciting and crazy time!

The ICE CREAM PARTY!!! 
What kid doesn't love ice cream or enjoy an ice cream party? Especially at the end of the year?! ✋✋✋ You're probably wondering what is this ice cream party and how does it work?

The ICE CREAM PARTY is a fun behavior incentive where students work together to earn an ice cream party.
Every day students have the opportunity to earn letters based on their overall class behavior and performance at the end of the day. Before students can earn a letter, they must convince YOU with 3 compelling reasons why they earn a letter for the day. Once they earn all 8 letters to spell the words "Ice Cream," they have earned their party.

To start this ice cream party incentive, download the letters HERE. Print, laminate, and cut them out. Then add a magnet strip or double-sided tape to the back of each letter. Hang the letters somewhere visible on the whiteboard or anywhere you want on your classroom wall. Viola! You're off to a fun and non-chaotic end of the school year.

Want to make your Ice Cream Party LIVELIER?  
Bring the beach to your students with this YouTube video of a beach scene with relaxing guitar music. Have your students pretend they're at the beach enjoying a nice ice cream sundae with their friends!  

Side note: There are 8 letters in the word "ice cream". You should have at least 9 or more days to start this fun behavior incentive. However, if you don't, it's all cool. Just pin this post to your Pinterest board and come back to it next year.

I hope you try this with your class and end the school year with a memorable BANG!!

End of the Year Ice Cream Party Behavior Incentive {FREEBIE}

Saturday, May 27

Are you looking for fun ways to celebrate the last few weeks or days of school with your students? We’ve spent so much time with our students and have become such great friends with them that it’s only natural for us to want to end the year with a BANG! Having a celebration at the end of the year can be so much fun, especially when we celebrate the students for who they are.

Here are 6 End of the Year Ideas:

1. Hashtag Awards 
Award your hardworking students with 21st Century style certificates. Each student gets a personalized award that describes their personality using a hashtag. This set of Hashtag Awards is an editable PDF product with 47 ready to print awards.

2. Most Likely To... Awards
These fun and whimsical “Most Likely To” certificates will get you and your students smiling! Each student will get a personalized award predicting what they will most likely do in the future base on their personality. There is a total of 60 editable and ready to print awards in this product. It contains 2 sets of 30 awards. 1 set for boys and 1 set for girls.

3. Graduation Certification
Promote your students to the next grade level by presenting them with this End of the Year Graduation Certificate to show your appreciation of all their hard word this year. It's a very simple yet traditional certificate perfect for any school and grade level. It is an EDITABLE certificate, giving you the flexibility to personalize the student's name, grade, school name, date, and teacher/principal signature.

4. Memory Book
Use this memory book to create a keepsake for your students as the school year comes to an end. It is the perfect end of the year reflective activity. It includes a cover for each grade level from Pre-K to 5th Grade. There are tons of opportunity in the memory book for students to be writers and artists.

5. Graduation Signs
These adorable Graduation signs make the perfect photo prop for end of the year keepsakes! Print the sign you need, have students hold it, and capture adorable photos!

6. Last Day of School Signs
Grab this pack of primary colors and chalkboard signs for student picture for last day of school. Take individual photos of your students holding the sign on the last day of school. Send the photos home as a memorable keepsake for the students at the end of the year!

FREE End of the Year Resources

Saturday, May 13

HAHAHAH. Am I the only one who feels this way in May? Ever since I started my teaching career, May has been my least favorite month out of the 10 months that we’re at work! I must constantly remind myself that May is just a patience test because if I survive this month without pulling my hair (HAHA!) I get to see the beach for a whole summer. I mean who invented May without consulting the teachers first?! LOL! Teachers have so much to do in May such as getting our beach bodies ready for the summer (hahaha JK!), Mother’s Day crafts, Parent-Teacher conferences, State Testing/End of the Year Assessments, Report Cards, and the list goes on. But it’s all good because we love what we do, that’s why we’re TEACHERS!! #teacherlifeforlife Work gets tough, but teachers never give it!!

Times like this month is when teachers need a motivational push the most. Stress and frustration are at its highest for teachers, but with a little reminder from schools and communities, teachers won’t have to feel like they are alone or underappreciated. With National Teacher’s Appreciation Week coming up next week from May 8th-May 12, it’s the perfect time to appreciate teachers in our lives.

A simple “Thank you for all your hard work” would do, but I've always loved the idea of pampering teachers with little gifts. If I could send every one of my teacher-friends here a gift next week I would. Unfortunately, I can’t which is why I created these Teacher Appreciation gift tags for you as a token of my appreciation. #iappreciateteachers
The gift tags go PERFECTLY with goodie bags or teacher items (coffee cup, gift cards, stationery, etc.) you may find at Target. You don’t need to give teachers an expensive gift or a $100 gift card (although that would be nice 😉😉), but something genuine that describes who they are. Being a teacher myself, I love it when I’m spoiled with gifts that match my personality because it’s personalized and more meaningful to me.

Here are some ways you can assemble the Teacher Appreciation gift tags together.
The perfect gift for that one teacher-friend who we know LOVES coffee and gift card.

A mani-set for that teacher-friend who always gotta have their nails on fleek.

 
Notepad & flair pen for that stationery-obsessed teacher!

 
We all know that one teacher-friend who can't live without Dr. Pepper or Coke!

There are so many different ways to assemble the gift tags. All you need is a piece of twine or ribbon to attach the gift tag to the tangible item. Simple and easy to put together with little effort!

Grab your Teacher Appreciation gift tags HERE:
Don’t forget to thank a teacher in your life, past or present, next week!

Happy Teaching!

Teacher Appreciation Ideas + Gift Tags FREEBIE!

Saturday, May 6

Holy macaroni!! Can you believe it's April already? In less than 70 days the school year will be over! How exciting and sad is that?? I can never get my emotions straight at the end of May. I don’t know whether to cry because my students will officially be out of my classroom and on to another one, or to jump for joy because there'll be no more lesson planning and grading until August 🙏🙏 *SIGH* #storyofateacherslife

Moving on. Easter is right around the corner and we still need to keep the classroom spirit alive so here are a few goodies you can implement in your classroom for a little extra fun.

First up, Easter Gift tag.

I want to keep my Easter treat simple this year because O-M-G, my students and their chocolate/candy consumption this year is off the chart! (Not really, I'm just being dramatic HAHA.) But seriously, have you guys noticed that this year almost every monthly celebration that involves sweet and sugar always fall on a Sunday before a school day or ON a school day. *palm to the face* This year, to keep my sanity the day after Easter I am choosing a simple candy for my students.

For this little treat, all you need is a bag of lollipops from the Dollar Store and my Easter gift tag. Cut out the Easter gift tag along the gray line and attach it to the lollipop with tape or glue. Done and done! They're a great little treat for your students or something to send with your own kids to school. They're also super easy to put together and inexpensive!! #teachersforthewin

The Easter gift tag works with other candies as well if you don’t want to use lollipops. You can stick the gift tag onto a bag of popcorn and give it to your colleagues, or attach the gift tag with a cute ribbon to a goodie bag. However you decide to use the Easter gift tag your students will love your treat regardless because it’s from you, their TEACHER. To download the Easter Gift Tag just click on the picture below.

Just a reminder, the Easter gift tag is part of my FREE MONTHLY Gift Tags growing bundle made exclusively for you. Please subscribe to my blog and follow me on TeachersPayTeachers (Classroom Shenanigans) to get a monthly update on next month's gift tag freebie.

Next up, Easter Match-up.

Twelve Easter egg cards and one worksheet are included which makes this the perfect little small group activity or partner activity. It is perfect for reviewing the famous consonant digraphs in Kindergarten: sh, th, wh, ch. This activity works perfectly for the month of April so no need to put them away after all the Easter excitement has died down!

To start the activity, students will take turn matching the picture and word to make an Easter egg. The students will share the word they found with everyone in the group or to their partner. Then everyone will search their worksheet to identify it and write the beginning digraph on the line next to the corresponding picture. Everyone will take turn matching the pictures and words until all the eggs have been paired. Once all the eggs have been paired correctly, students can color the worksheet (border, picture, and "Missing Digraphs" word) for FUN!

Click the picture below to download your copy!

Enjoy your freebies and have an AH-MAZING April!! If you have any questions, please let me know. Til next time ✌️✌️

Easter Freebies! - Gift Tag + Digraphs Game

Tuesday, April 4

Hello there! I have great news to share with you today! If you purchased my CVC Phonics Worksheets and LOVED them, I've finally decided to make a second set featuring the long vowels (magic "e"/sneaky "e"/silent "e").
I spent a lot of time creating this second set and am so excited to share with you how I’ve been using them in my own classroom.

First, I teach one long vowel at a time, focusing on word families that have the long vowel we're learning. After we have some practice as a whole class, I introduce the CVCe phonics worksheet. The first thing we do is review each long vowel sound by pointing to them so we remember the sounds they make. Then we practice reading the isolated sounds (with the dots) of the word family to help us understand what sound the long vowel makes and that the "e" doesn't make any sound (hence there's no dot under it). Once we got the isolated sounds down, we move on to blend them together to make the word family.

Next, we move to the word bank and applied what we just learned. For each word, we highlight the long vowel we're learning and draw an arrow to the "e" to help us remember that the highlighted letter makes a long vowel sound. Sometimes we circle the long vowel with a pen or pencil instead of highlighting it. Then we practice reading the words by segmenting them into individual sounds and blending them together. We do this a few times together as a whole class. This helps us practice our letter sounds, long vowels rule, and phonemic awareness skills (segmenting and blending).

After that, we read the words three times. We always read the words using three different voices in three different ways each time. This keeps the students engaged and makes their learning FUN! Sometimes we start off reading the words together mocking my teacher voice, then with a partner using a baby voice, then by ourselves using an old person's voice. Students color a star each time they read all the words so we can track how many times we have read. I'm all about fun and free choice in my classroom so I give my students the choice to read the words in any order they want as long as they read all the words.

Now it’s time to show what learned. We identify and color the picture, write the missing long vowel (students will apply the segmenting skill they learned from the word bank activity to complete this part), and then write the complete word. Finally, we get to incorporate our writing skill in this worksheet by choosing any word from the word bank and using it in a sentence.

Easy and fun right to use, right?! I promise your students will love these worksheets as much as we do. Your students will be learning so many different skills, they won’t even realize it. These worksheets are great for review, homework, whiteboard pocket activity, and so much more. You can also use them in small groups, as a partner activity, or together as a whole class. There are so many ways to use the worksheets that I hope you will find it to be an effective resource in your classroom. This new CVCe Phonics Worksheet set will be 20% for the next 48 hours along with the CVC Phonics Worksheet set by clicking HERE.

Now for your freebie!! I included a 4-page free sample of this resource just for you. You can snag your copy to use right away by clicking on the picture below. Enjoy and Happy Teaching!! Till next time. ✌️✌️

FREE CVCe Phonics Worksheets!

Sunday, March 26

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