Gets Me Every Time!

Year 22 started earlier this month and as is tradition, Back-to-School snuck up on me again!  Honestly, I was aware all summer of my self-imposed summer goals and I was more than aware of when teachers returned.  I have a calendar for goodness sakes!

But, between teacher inservice meetings, BTS night, and students actually showing up for school, I have already buried myself in the work and totally ignored my blog and even worse, skipped out on any self-care and mindfulness.  

 So today, no peddling products or academic advice.  Just one teacher reminding another teacher to take a little time for yourself.  Find time to just relax, breathe, and rejuvenate for the next day. I promise if you take my advice, I will too!

Teachers Pay Teachers is Throwing A Sale!

There's NO Crying in Teaching is taking part in Teacher's Pay Teachers Back to School Sale.  During the sale on August 1st and 2nd, all my products will be 20% off.  Use TpT code FRESHSTARTBTS for an additional 5%.  Can't beat that!

You will find plenty of BTS necessities including:
Cactus Back to School Postcards
Class Schedule Cards
Top 10 BTS Edition
BTS Community Building Activity
and so much more!!!

While you are there, download my latest freebie:  Capitalization and Punctuation Posters! 

Don't forget to leave feedback on paid products to earn TpT credits toward future purchases!! :) Denise

Getting the Most Out of Turn and Talk

Well, it seems like most of us are finally on Summer Break and I've been enjoying my time off (and I hope you are, too!).  As I reflect on this school year, I think there were some highs and lows, as with any year.  But, I feel that Turn and Talk time in my class was quite successful and I'd like to share why.

Background:  Being a literacy coach in the past, I'd seen many turn and talks become idle chit-chat that either went on too long or just didn't seem to be strategic and purposeful, just a time filler  and on-the-fly!  

I didn't want to fall into the same trap, so I created purposeful practice with expectations and feedback and the effects last all year long. So, how do I do it?

The Best Advice I Can Give:
Turn and Talk is a scaffolding strategy.  So, when planning your lessons, you must PLAN for when you will have students talk, PLAN what you expect them to talk about AND have taught and practiced what that looks and sounds like.

If you want to learn more, click on the slide for all the tools you need to have successful (and meaninful) Turn and Talks in your classroom.

  Denise
Getting the Most Out of Turn and Talks

Attitude of Gratitude: How to Add a Gratitude Journal to your Classroom

A few years back, I went to a 3-day conference to see Eric Jensen (author of Teaching with Poverty in Mind & Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind) in San Antonio, Texas.  Beautiful place and exteremly hot and humid there in July!

I learned so much during the conference, took pages and pages of notes, and couldn't wait to get started with EVERYTHING!  But, wait!  Past experience had taught me that you can't jump into everything at once.  I knew I needed to pick one new piece of learning and apply that and only that to my classroom in the fall.  Manageable.  Doable.

It wasn't hard to decide on building a sense of gratitude.  The research on the physical and mental health benefits are well-documented. I also knew I had enough time in a time-pressed school day (at the end of breakfast) to add in some time for journaling.

I found these catchy titles on the internet, "Grati-Tuesday" and "Thankful Thursday" - and that made it easy to remember what days we were going to be journaling.  This August, I will start my third year of using Gratitude Journals and thought it was about time I shared them with you.  Denise

Back to School Freebie

Even after 21 years of teaching, there's going to be a day at the :) of the year where I am WAY over planned and the kids don't finish half of what I had set up to do.  You've been there, right?  It's easy to forget that all the systems and expectations you had in place in May aren't already there in the fall. That classroom running like clockwork is long gone and you have to start from scratch...again.  Tear.

Strangely, on other days, we will inevitably finish the lessons in record time and need a filler activity before the 3:05 bell!!   I usually have some copies of a word search with all our names in it as a filler.  But, I also like Bingo because I can be a part of the activity and show my funny side a bit!

So, I've created a Back to School Bingo set to share with you.  Download it for FREE, on my TpT store today and then go back to enjoying your time off.  BTS will be here soon enough.

:)Happily on Summer Break,
Denise


Prep Tips:  Build in some time to make the boards and have baggies with ripped up recycled paper to cover the spaces ready to go.  That way when you want to play, kids can just get out their boards, have a helper pass out the baggies, and start playing!  A winner's reward can simply becoming the next game's caller!