Birthdays Celebrations in the Classroom

Just sharing how I'm recognizing my students' birthdays in a quick but fun way this year.

The past few years my school put into place a No Food treats school birthday policy, which I do like because one year, on the same day, I had 2 sets of cupcakes dropped off unannounced and a whole sheet cake to slice up and serve from 3 separate families. YIKES, talk about sugar overload and interruption of instructional time.

My solution to still giving a bit of attention to birthdays is using this Ice Cream and Cake dance song on each students' birthday. It gets the kids' attention and celebrates the birthday girl/boy in a fun way.

Click picture for  Ice Cream and Cake song

 Happy Birthday Mice (another option)

 I print and label this free birthday calendar graph from Scholastic to keep track of every birthday so we can celebrate it Ice Cream and Cake style.

Now, I'm off to call my mom because it is her birthday today.

~Enjoy

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

Brain Break MUST

Happy Saturday!

With my class this year I really need to incorporate quick brain breaks.

I have several students who have sensory input needs and getting up and moving is a MUST.

 This PB & J No Crust song! is sure a hit!

Even if you do like crust on your PB & J you'll still have this song bobbing through your head!

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Fun Word Generator

I wanted  to share with you a fun word generator from Game Gal that you can 

use for quick game time fillers, indoor PE, or rainy day activities. I plan to bookmark this to have quick access to fun games like Charades or Pictionary. It does the "thinking" of the word for you. So cool!

I can also see how you could use this for vocabulary games or writing topics. Display it on your projector and have students brainstorm about the word shown, in this case, picnics. You could ask the class, "What would you take with you on a picnic?" or brainstorm as many picnic foods as you can.

The possibilities are endless. Give it a try.

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Skee Ball School Style

One of my favorite childhood games was Skee Ball.

I could spend hours upon hours playing it at the beach arcades during summer to collect as many tickets as I possibly could manage.

So I made a school style Skee Ball for PE.
I made 3 sets, as I plan to use them relay team style. Each student on the team will toss a tennis ball into the marked buckets. At the end of each round teams will total their point value using white boards.

This would also be a great summer party game too.

The red, white, and blue tubs came from Dollar Tree.

I laminated the numbered labels to then hot glue onto painted clothespins.

Wala! Just clip the pins to the tubs and play SkeeBall to your heart's content!

Here's an online SkeeBall version too!

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Halloween Games for the Classroom

These games are spooktacular fun for Halloween.

First off, it's Spooky Spin a la Twister style.

I got this game at Target a few years ago.

Next, it's Pumpkins on a Fence Toss

Then, I took an old favorite: Toss Across and added leaves and pumpkins for a beanbag toss.

Get 3 in a row!

Let's end with some pumpkin bowling.

My class also LOVED sharing Halloween Jokes. I gave each one joke

to present to the class and they tried to guess the punchline. Afterwards each joke

was copied and illustrated to make a class joke book. 

You can get this at my TPT store.

This joke activity also comes in a money saving bundle with Halloween themed book report writing.

Compass Rose Fun - Cardinal and Intermediate Directions

My absolute favorite part of teaching geography is when my students create their own compass rose
Prior to sending this project home we've spent time in class learning about both cardinal and intermediate directions. I even do a PE Compass Rose Relay game. I set up directional signs in a circle formation, throw colored circles around and relay teams race to follow cue cards that says various things like:

Skip and pick up a green circle. Put it in the Northwest hoop.

Crab crawl and pick up a yellow circle. Put it in the South hoop.

High knee run and pick up a blue circle. Put it in the East hoop.

Once students have a solid foundation for their directions my grade level sends home this compass rose project

Here are some samples:

~Enjoy

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Spelling or Multiplication Relays

                                                                   

  

Get active with spelling using relays. This is the way it works. Make relay teams. Position a "referee speller" across from the starting line for each team. They should have a spelling list handy to refer to.
Boys in the relay line will run with a football down to the referee. Likewise, girls will have pom poms. The referee will state a word to spell. Boys will "hike" the ball for each letter and girls will "cheer" the word letter by letter. The referee give them a thumbs up if they get the word right and they run back to the next person in the relay line to repeat the process.  If a word is not right, a second try is given. If still not correct, the referee provides the correct spelling and the relay continues.  Hey, Ho, Sport Spelling is the way to go!

** I’ve also done this same relay idea with multiplication facts. Math relays for the win!**

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PE Ideas for the Elementary Classroom

I have a confession to make.  I LOVE teaching PE.  Most teachers either 1.)  Have a PE teacher and don't have to wonder how to fit one more thing onto your teaching plate  or 2.) Try to fit PE into an overloaded schedule, and rarely get to it. I'm in category 2, but I make PE a priority and have such fun creating engaging lessons. My efforts do pay off, because my students show such appreciation for our PE time. I've even had coworkers jokingly ask me how much they could pay me to teach their classes PE.  I spend tons of money at my perfect PE supply spot..... Dollar Tree.

This is only part of my PE shelf. Two more shelves are beyond view. And, believe it or not, I even have some of my PE equipment at home due to fire code regulations at school. It's a good thing I have a huge 3 car garage!  I've organized my shelves at school with Dollar Tree goodies like koosh balls, frisbees, badmitton sets, marbles, Nerf footballs, and chalk.  I admit I've been looked at strangely by the cashier when I buy loads of nonstandard items that I create a PE game for, and quickly have to explain that I'm a teacher.  For instance I bought soft drink coasters in bright colors and have used them for  Grab, Tag, or Sort PE games.  Bath sponges and pool noodles can be used in PE too. For instance I took Pool Noodles, cut them in half, and used them as swatters to hit balloons, play Noodle Tag and much more.  Check out my Spelling Relay post too. If you teach PE, let your creativity soar the next time you step into Dollar Tree. 

Stay in touch. Find me at:

My TPT store

Pinterest

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!