Completing The Main Article

With These Last Two Ideas Numbers 5 and 6

Stamp your way to 100-Day!

Make a 100-Day Banner/Pennant:

• Simply make a template from my pennant master if you want to make smaller banners out of regular size construction paper.
  
• A small banner will fit about 50 stamps on one side so you'll have to print both sides.
• If you use extra-large construction paper, you can stamp just the front.
• It's a good idea to make a sample to show students what the end result will look like.
  


• Trace the the banners on a variety of light-colored construction paper and then cut them out.
• Write students’ names in glitter glue or puffy paint for extra pizzazz.

•  As a center activity, each day have students get their pennant from the “pennant pile”.  This is a safe place (The lid from a copy paper box used as a basket, works great. Place it on a window ledge or shelf).
•  They take their pennant to the stamping center and put the stamp-for-the-day on it.

• The stamps can be seasonal.
• If you’re studying apples, have an apple stamp. Pumpkins are great for October.

•  Students decide if they want to use different colored stamp pads or have their banners be all one color.
  
• I chose brown ink for mine.
  
• If a child is absent make sure that you or a student helper stamps theirs.

•  I have a zillion stamps so this is no problem.  If you don’t, ask other teachers if you can borrow theirs just for the day.
• You can also combine stamps and stickers, or have students copy and draw a secret symbol that you put on the board for that day.

• On 100-Day everyone should have 100-Stamps.
• Really Good Stuff has a 100-Day stamp perfect for that last day  (“Way Cool!”)

•  For my 98^th day I have a caterpillar with wiggle eyes because we wiggled our way to 100 day. 
• On the 99^th day we metamorped into a butterfly and have fluttered our way to 100 Day.  Let your students make a 3-D butterfly for their banners so the butterflies look like they are popping off the page and flying!

•  Each child needs 3 stickers to make one.  Students put the 1^st sticker down.
• The second sticker they cut the “thorax” off so they have two wings.

•  Put the wings back-to-back on the 3^rd sticker so only the thorax (middle part of the butterfly) now remains sticky.
• Press this sticky part down really hard on the middle of the 1^st butterfly and rub it with your fingernail.  Fold each of the wings up and crease. Wahla flying butterfly!

•  If you've used extra-large consruction paper, on 100-Day give them die-cut 100-Day numbers and letters to glue on the back of their pennants.
• Wow! Everyone has a super keepsake to take home, and you have a fun way to count to 100 as they admire their banner and count the stamps and stickers with you.

•  You could also punch a hole in each corner and string their pennants up from the hallway ceiling for a few days.
• Click on the link to view/print the 100-Day banner things.

100-Day Posters:

• Purchase a poster and X things off or color them in.  Really Good Stuff has magnetic ones that you  can add “things” to.
• My poster is a gumball machine.
• I keep it on my white board.  I laminated it so that I can reuse it each year.  Everyday as part of our calendar routine someone X’s a gumball.

• On the 100^th Day of school, each child can earn a penny for my real gumball machine. They think it’s “way cool” that I bring a gumball machine to class and let them put a penny in, after they have completed their Table Top lessons.
• I tell them that they need to “chews” to be a good student all morning, stay on task and complete their work so they can earn that penny to help celebrate the day!

• They LOVE this idea and are anxious to get down to business. You can order counting up to 100-Day posters from Really Good Stuff.  
• Unfortunately when I checked, the gumball one was discontinued.
• Be sure and pop back tomorrow when I’ll be posting “Count to 100-Day with a THEME!” 
  

• Lots of creative ideas to get you excited!
  
• You'll just love wiggling, chugging and fluttering your way to 100-Day!
• If you dropped in to see "Wiggles" today he'll be posted tomorrow.  This article, as you can see, needed to be split into many parts!
  

Counting To 100-Day Continues...

Here are ideas 3 and 4

Drop something into a jar!

100-Day Jar:

• The Dollar Store sells all sizes of plastic jars.
• Buy TWO and have them be your “Counting our way to 100-Day!” jars.
• Decide what “thing” you want to count and then put them in the jar.

•  I like the look and feel of marbles and so do my Y5’s.
• I’m also fond of saying: “Don’t lose your marbles!” for a variety of reasons. (We have the games Hungry Hippos and Hungry Frogs! Arggg to the noise, but they love them.)

•  Print off my labels. One label says: Counting our way to 100 Day.  The other label says: Counters for !00-Day. 
•  Think of something easily accessible, that won’t break or spoil and is cheap.
• You might also want to consider what your “theme” if any, will be, that you are counting to 100 around.

•  Perhaps you want it to be something the children can have as a prize to be divided among them when it’s 100-Day, or perhaps you want your students to be able to eat what’s in the jar!
• Put your jars by your calendar center as it’s a nice part of the day to run this into.
• Click on the link to view/print the 100-Day counting jar things.

Add A Piece To A Puzzle Each Day!

100-Day Puzzle:

• Buy a 100-piece puzzle at The Dollar Store. I just bought a Spiderman one because my Y5 boys LOVE Spiderman and I toss him in during our spider unit. 
•  The caption over the puzzle will be “We’re caught in a web of learning!” It will be a hint about what the puzzle will be, so they can enjoy making guesses.
• Also buy a piece of tag board (They sell it there 2 for a Dollar.)

•  Put the puzzle together on the poster board.
• When you’re done, flip the puzzle over.


• Number the pieces.
• Slide the puzzle off the tag board and trace each piece.
• Number the pieces on the tag board.

• Write “Puzzling Our Way To 100 Day” on the poster, or hang up my mini poster.
• Click on the link to view/print it.

• Put 10 pieces in snack Baggies and number the baggies.
• Keep the snack Baggies in 2 large baggies in a basket under the puzzle.

•  Each day pick a child to put that day’s puzzle piece on the board with a glue dot.
• If you use peel off glue dots you can re-use the poster.

•  Since this is so easy and inexpensive I toss the students’ “It’s My Turn” Popsicle sticks in a basket, and have someone choose one. That child gets to take the puzzle home as a 100-Day prize.
• I let them know this ahead of time so that they can look forward to it.
• You can also make guessing what the puzzle is, while they are counting up to the big day, a prize thing too.

•  Scroll down if you want to see the last mini-sub article about 100-Day pennant-banners and posters!
  

One of the things I work on during the summer is getting my things ready for counting up to 100-Day. I’ve listed some of the “stuff” that I do.  I hope you get a few ideas for your students and become excited for back-to-school.

I’m endeavoring to keep my articles short, so I will post only two ideas on a page.  There are 6 ideas, so keep scrolling down for two more “mini-sub articles” if you want to read all of the tips for this topic!

Index Card Booklet:

• Make an index card-number flip book. You can buy spiral bound, 50-page index packs, at any office supply store. 
•  
•  Some come in packs of 2, so you can make one for a special teacher-friend as a surprise gift.

• Tuck in a note that says:  “I’m so glad I can count on you!  Here’s wishing you 100-Days and more, of fun this year!”
•  
• I like the index cards that come in pastel or neon colors.

• Office Max has them in a two-pack for $4.79.
• I made several covers for you to choose from.

• Print one, cut it out and glue it to the front of the index card.
• Number them from 1-50 with a WATERCOLOR marker as all others, including a flair, will bleed through.
• Then flip the pack over and finish writing the numbers 51 to 100 on the back pages.

•  I’ve also made the little friend note if you opt to buy a two-pack.
• Tie some curling ribbon around the book, and make someone feel appreciated.
• Click on the link to view/print the 100-Day index card things.
  

 Sammy Snake:

• Count your way to 100-Day With Sammy! 
• Click on the link to view/print this adorable alliterative tongue-twisting story about Sammy and how he sneaks to school with Sally.

•  He will slither his way into your heart.  Make an easy sock puppet pal too!
• Counting to 100-Day with Sammy Snake
• Scroll down if you want to see the 2^nd mini-sub article about 100-Day jars and puzzles.

We’re “Pear Pairs!"

In the above article, I wrote a blog about fun and fair ways to pick partners. 

I was diddling with homonyms and fooling around with the word pear and pair and thought making pears as puzzles would also be a fun way to pick a partner. 

A bunch of alphabet, shape and number pears later, I had a 48-page packet!  Click on the link to view/download Pear Pair Puzzles

 This packet will be free for an entire year, then it will be updated and put in Diane's Dollar Deals in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to pop on over.

Here's What To Do:

Run off the pears on yellow or green construction paper. Laminate the sheets.

• Cut them out and then cut the puzzles apart.
  
• Put the uppercase letters in one bag and the lowercase letters in another.
• Explain to your students the homonym pears and pairs.
• Make sure that you only use enough letters as you have children present.
• Have ½ your students choose a puzzle piece from one bag and the other ½ choose from the other bag.
• When everyone has a pear puzzle piece, have students go find their partner so they can make a pear pair!
• This can simply be a game of who can make a pear pair the fastest as a fun review, or as a fun and fair way of choosing a partner for whatever activity you have planned.
• Keep the pears in separate envelopes when not in use.
• You can also use them as a Memory Match game, or as an independent matching game.
• Make an extra set to send home with a struggling child, or make individual booklets and have students TRACE the letters and then take them home to make their own game.

• I’ve given you a blank set for you to dream up other ways to use them.
• There is a plain pear as well as one with a face on it.
• You could make sets for compound words, or contractions.
• Make up equations on one ½ and answers on the other.

• Another fun “pear pair” is to make a personal one for each student.
• This is perfect for younger students who need to learn how to recognize their name as a report card standard.
• Glue a student’s school picture on the top and print their name on the bottom puzzle piece,
• Scatter the pear pieces on the floor and have students find their photo and matching name as a fun “Name Game Pear-Pair”!

• You can make a set with a color word on the bottom.
• Run these pears off on that color of construction paper.
• You can use these for your word wall or other color activities.

• I’ve also made a set with a shape matched to a word.
• These can be used to pick a partner if you are only using a few children. (6 or less.)
• If you plan to use shape cards for partners, run them off on 4 different colors so that you will have 24 cards.
• I’ve also made a cover for these, so you can run these sheets off and your students can make a shape puzzle booklet or a game of their own to take home.
• This booklet is ideal to get some cutting practice in, as it’s only a few pages.
• Instead of having a rectangular booklet like the letter or number booklet, have students cut out the pears.  Seems perfect, as this is a “shape” booklet!
• To give this booklet more pizzazz, have your students COLOR the shapes in rainbow colors and then TRACE the shape word in the matching color.
• This is a fun way to teach the colors of the rainbow and review colors with your students at the same time you are reviewing shapes! (More bang for your “time” buck!)
• There is also a set with dots and numbers and numbers and number-words.
• I’ve also made covers if you want to run them off so that students can make their own booklet.
• This is a great sequencing activity.
• Students can also number the sets of circles, color them, put a smilie sticker in one of the dots on each page, or have fun using bingo dot markers at a center!
• 
  
• Run off just one pear number and have students use 2 bingo colors to show a math equation and then write it on the pear. i.e., The #9 pear has 4 pink bingo dots + 5 green  bingo dots = 9 total bingo dots.
• If you want to use numbers as pear pairs and you have 20-22 students, make a set of yellow and a set of green pears.
• You can also use the number-word pear pairs as well and add a 3^rd color if you have more students than 22, such as a light yellow and a bright yellow, or a lime green and an emerald green.

• I wish you a delightful pairing up with your favorite person!  Have a warm and wonderful day!

Learning To Count By 5’s And Counting Up To 100-Day

Via a Fun And Interactive Bulletin Board for a Great First Day of School Activity!

I only had to skip count by 10’s to 100 with my Y5’s as a report card standard, but I know this is a standard for K’s and first grade. 

A fun way to do this everyday as well as to count up to 100 for that special day, is to make this quick and easy bulletin board.

Here’s How:

• Choose a background color that you will be happy with all year long, yellow and white look nice, but I’ve also used wallpaper that’s neutral in color and has a textured look and feel.


• This is not that expensive if you only buy one roll and you can usually find discounted rolls that have been discontinued at most paint and hardware stores.
• 
  
• This display works great next to your calendar center.
• You can put it up on the wall if you don’t have another bulletin board.

• Choose a plain-colored scalloped border.
• Black will help it pop and looks great all year.


• The caption for this board could be: High Five’s For ______________________’s kindergartners/first graders!
• Cut the letters out with a die-cut machine, or print them out on your computer.

• On the first day of school have a room helper trace and cut out your students’ hands, or send a note home and the paper in your Open House packets to have this already done for you by the parents.


• Make a sample of your own hand and explain to children that they can decorate their hand with fingernails, and rings.
• If you want to give the hands a bit more pizzazz and a 3-D affect you can give them rhinestones for their rings.

• Boys may enjoy wiggle eyes, but don’t be surprised if they want a rhinestone too.

• You could make the rhinestone their birthstone, or simply give them a choice of colors.
• Use glue dots so there’s no dry time involved.


• For the girls’ nails they can color them as if they have nail polish on.
• If you want to add more pizzazz you can go over them with real glitter nail polish or glitter glue.

• If you want to use the board to show a specific pattern, use the construction paper that they are tracing their hand on in two or 3 different colors.
• 
  
• Left handed children should have their left hand traced for more opportunities to compare and contrast, count, or graph this board.
• Write the child’s name in small print along the bottom border of the hand.
• Print off a copy of the two posters and mount them on construction paper.

• These can be your school colors or something that you can live with for the entire year, or have the class vote on what colors they want.
• If you have 20 children in your class you have the perfect set of hands.
• If you have less, you will have to make extra hands,; if you have more, sprinkle them on the corners of the posters, heading and bulletin board.

• Put the rest of the hands, 5 in a row, across your bulletin board.
• Do NOT number them.


• On the FIRST day of school, when you are doing the calendar, choose a child to put the number 1 on the thumb of the first hand.
• When all 5 fingers of that hand have been counted (5 days of school) the child whose handprint that is, gets to choose a marker and write the big number 5 on that hand.
• Even tho’ the numbers are not written on the hand, you can still count by 5’s everyday that you are doing this calendar.


• You may want to post an already numbered poster to help them “see” and visualize this.
• I’ve made posters you can print off.
• You can also count by 1’s.

• If you want to make V-arrows connecting 2 of the hands when you get a group of 10 done, you can also use the board to count by 10’s!
• At the end of the year, everyone can take their hand print home.

• Click on the link to view/print the masters for this article. Skip Counting by 5's Bulletin Board.
• For a FREE 85-page 100-Day packet click on the link!

• I have lots of other 100 Day ideas at this link.  Simply click and scroll down to download as many as you want. 100 Day Stuff
  
• Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find useful.
• I hope you can drop in tomorrow for more back-to-school tips.

"A Pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Unknown"

When I taught high school, I remember running into a mother of a student years later.  She shared with me that her son still carried a dog-eared scrap of paper around in his wallet, with a list of positive qualities his classmates had wrote about him in my class!  Wow.  I never forgot that conversation, and the impact something so simple can have on a person. 

I hope this idea brings a smile to your students' faces and helps build their self-esteem.  Who knows, maybe someday you'll meet a mom somewhere and they'll tell you their child still has their Smile File! 

"I am not a teacher, but an awakener." -Robert Frost

Are you trying to think of something different to do as an icebreaker for a fun first day of school activity?  How about a survey?

My Y5’s loved carrying around a clipboard and asking questions.  It makes them feel “grown up” and important, or so they tell me when I ask them why everyone always wants to use my clipboards.

You can buy packs of 12 at Sam’s Club for a reasonable price.  They came in handy for this purpose as well as having them write in the hallway when we went on measurement adventures, or outside when we went on scientific explorations to collect data.

They are great as lapboards for when I had students writing in a circle on the floor as well, so I certainly got my money’s worth!

Directions:

• Gather your students together and brainstorm a list of yes or no questions and write them on the board.
• I’ve also included a list of suggestions.
• Each child chooses a different question.
• Set a timer and allow students to take their survey sheet and clipboard around to interview their new friends.
• Older students can write their friend’s name in the appropriate column, younger students can simply mark an X.


• The teacher should also participate.
• After the timer rings, give students a moment to add up each column.
• Gather students back into a circle to share their results.
• Everyone learns a little bit about everybody in a fun way.
• You can even graph results as a math extension. 

This information can be found in my Back To School Packet. Click on the link to view/download it.  
  

 Until next time… have fun breaking that ice, making friends and melting hearts!

Thanks for visiting. I hope you can pop back tomorrow for more back to school tips.

Feel free to PIN anything you feel others might find helpful.

"No dreamer is ever too small; no dream is ever too big." -anonymous

Fun and Fair Ways To Pick A Partner

When it comes to children choosing a partner they sometimes find it hard to make a decision, because they are bombarded with “Pick me, pick me!” as many friends start asking to be their partner.

Other children feel left out because no one wants to be their partner, still others continue to choose the same child to work with ALL of the time.

I try to mix things up and make things fun and fair, with no hurt feelings, by having students pick a partner in a variety of enjoyable, sometimes themed-ways, that often carry an educational purpose with them as well.

Here are some of my favorite tips:

• Find someone wearing the same color as you are.
• Your partner is sitting on your left/right.
• Count off by 2’s, 3’s, or 5’s etc.  Remember your number. Look at the numbers on the board and see who your number match is.  (5 is matched with 10, 15 with 20 etc.)
• I buy stick-on bows at Christmas when they go on sale and make sure that I have at least 12 different kinds with matches.  I put them in two different seasonal bags and then have children choose a bow, stick it on and go find their partner.

It's Partner Time! Make this unique clock:

• Reinforce colors, shapes, numbers, telling time and have fun spinning by making my Partner Time Clock. 
• Laminate the students’ clocks when they are returned; help them punch a hole in the center with a protractor, insert a brass brad and use a paperclip for a spinner!
• Click on the link to view/print everything you need.

A Deck Of Cards:

• Sort cards in a deck of playing cards so that matches come out perfect and then have students choose a card and find their “mate”.
• i.e. the 2 of diamonds is partner with the 2 of spades or however you want to make it.

• I also use seasonal bulletin board border like apples or pumpkins and cut the pieces apart putting upper or lowercase letters on each one.
• Make sure you have only enough apples for the amount of children you have present that day.
• Put them in two different baskets/bags, (one for uppercase and one for lowercase) and then have ½ the students choose an uppercase apple and ½ choose a lowercase one.  Give them a minute to go find their partner.
• You can do the same with different colored shapes.
• Cut apart compound words. Write the answers on the board to assist students in finding their partner.

Puzzles: Who's My Partner?

• Use contractions and have them find their match. Write the answers on the board to help them out.  Use the squirrel/acorn cards in my free Take Action With Contractions Help Book
• 
• Use my seasonal  Partner Monthly Puzzles.  Like the apple pictured here for September or in February run off a copy of my heart on 12 different colors of construction paper, laminate the paper and then cut the hearts apart. 
  
• 
  
• Put them in two different “valentine” envelopes and have the children choose who will be their Valentine for the day.  Click on the link to check them out.
• 
  
• Run off, laminate and cut up my Number Puzzles, where the number 3 and the number word are partners, or the number 3 and the set of 3 stars are partnered. 
  
• There are 3 ways to make puzzles with these cards and a variety of other ways to use them.   Click on the link to check them out.

 I hope you found some ideas here of how to make choosing a partner more fun and certainly more fair.  (Hopefully “Partners Without Tears!”)

Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.

 As always, if you have an enjoyable tip of how your students accomplish this task, I’d enjoy hearing from you.  diane@teachwithme.com

I hope you can pop back tomorrow for more back to school teaching tips. Scroll down for another picking partners idea: Pairing Pears!

"Example moves the world more than doctrine." -Henry Miller

A Cookie Glyph As A Fun Way To Get To Know Your New Students!

Cookie Glyph:

I dreamed this up because I thought it would not only be a fun icebreaker, but it would make an instant and really cute bulletin board as well. 

You can do these with your students the first week of school as a get-to-know-you activity, or you can tuck the directions and a tan construction paper cookie into your Open House Packet for parents to help their child with, and then they can bring their cookie on the first day of school for them to hold up and share with their new friends.  

We have our Open House before school starts.  If you don't, you can tuck it into your "Welcome to my class" letter / school packet that many teachers send out during the summer or simply send it home the first day of school. 

Use my pattern, or revamp it to make it simpler or a bit more involved to fit the age of your students or the time frame you have allotted to complete it in class. 

Take a photo of each student on their 1st day of school.  I use this photo in all sorts of keepsake things during September until I get their school pix back.

I make black & white copies on the photo setting of our copier and keep them handy, along with other photos that I take in a file folder on my desk.

Click on the link to view/print everything you need to do this back-to-school cookie glyph.

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find helpful.

I hope you can pop in tomorrow for another back-to-school idea.

"Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some." -Charles Dickens

Getting-To-Know-You Via A Glyph! A Fun Icebreaker For Back-To-School!

During the first few weeks of school, I always tried to plug in quick, easy and fun little ways for my students to get to know their classmates.  I felt it helped build community and a caring classroom.   It's amazing the diversity we have in our schools today!

Even if you homeschool, this is an interesting activity to do with your kiddos.  I'm always surprised at the answers my own children come up with when we're playing games or chatting.  Just when I think I really know their tastes and what not, they toss me a curve. 

A really fun way to get to know your students is via a Bio-glyph.

This is simply a glyph about oneself, and a great way to learn all sorts of information. 

Completed projects make an awesome bulletin board or hallway display.

Here's how:  Run off a copy of my masters.  The girls will need an oval head, the boys a circle. 

I've found that by providing a template for students to follow, things are easier.  Little ones tend to draw small and write big ( Go figure...) 

When everyone has the appropriate template, read each direction slowly, and then repeat once.  Remind your students to listen carefully.   Because this is a listening and following directions activity, glyphs provide "proof" that a child is or isn't doing that.

Draw the “kinds” of hair, noses, eyebrows, mouths, ears, and cheeks, on your white board as you read the directions for each one.   This will help students know what the various shapes look like, or how curly hair can be drawn.

If you are doing this with older students who can read, simply run off a copy of my master glyph (it provides samples) and pass it out to them.  You can also revamp my glyph to make this  easier and simpler to fit the age of your students or the time that you have allowed.

Make sure you do one for yourself so that you have an example. I did one for me and one for my husband.  He's a wonderful guinnea pig and good sport, who is great for bouncing ideas off of.

As a fun extension, you can number and post the completed bio-glyphs, along with the key, in the hallway so that they flip up. Have students write their names on the BACK of their glyph in such a way, so that when a person flips them up, they can read their name.

Later, for added fun, put a real photograph (1^st day of school picture) of the student on the wall, under the glyph.  You could also have children become detectives and turn this into a "solve the bio-glyph mystery game."

Set a timer.  Give students a certain amount of time to ask questions of their new friends, to help them try and figure out which bio-glyph belongs to whom.  They can write down their answers on the "Whose Glyph?" sheet provided.

Which person got the most correct?  ( I've included a super-sleuth certificate you can give them.)  How did you do?  This is a fun way for students to learn about each other and a great ice breaker for back to school.

Or… you can simply have each child come up and share their bio-glyph with the class by explaining it.  Click on the link to view/download the Bio-Glyph Packet.

Thanks for visiting.  If you're looking for more glyphs, click on the link to pop over to that section of my site. I tried to dream up one for all of the seasons.  The Cookie Glyph and Apple Glyph are great for September. 

"The sure way to teach easily and successfully, is to awaken interest and kindle enthusiasm." -Tyron Edwards