Simplify Your First Week of School in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Grades

Make Your First Week of School Relaxing and Stress Free!

The first week of school can be a whirlwind for both new and veteran teachers. The excitement of meeting new students is often paired with the challenge of setting the tone for the year and ensuring everything runs smoothly from day one. 

Those can be some pretty big challenges.

I understand these challenges, and that's why I created a solution to help you start the school year with ease: theFirst Week of School Survival Kit.

This comprehensive First Week of School Survival Kit is designed for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-grade teachers. This differentiated unit includes everything you need to kick off the school year without the stress and hassle. 

Differentiated for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Grades

Each grade level has its unique needs and challenges. The survival kit is tailored to meet these needs, ensuring that every student is engaged and learning right from the start. Whether you're teaching 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade, you'll find materials that are just right for your classroom.

No Prep Required

Say goodbye to hours of preparation! This kit is designed to be print-and-go, saving you valuable time. With everything ready at your fingertips, you can focus on what truly matters – connecting with your students and creating a positive learning environment.

Comprehensive Lesson Plans

Detailed and easy-to-follow lesson plans will guide your teaching throughout the first week. These plans cover all academic subjects. With clear instructions, you can confidently navigate each day without feeling overwhelmed.

Engaging Activities

Captivate your students with fun and interactive activities included in the survival kit. These activities are designed to be both educational and enjoyable, helping you establish a positive classroom atmosphere from day one.

Valuable Tips

Benefit from expert advice that will help you manage your classroom effectively.The survival kit includes tips and tricks for a successful first week, ensuring you’re well-prepared for any situation that might arise.

All Subjects Included

This survival kit covers all academic areas, from math and reading to science and social studies. You can rest assured that you’re providing a well-rounded education to your students right from the start.

Grab a few tips and a no prep bulletin board for FREE.

A stress-free and relaxing first week of school can be yours for less than the cost of your favorite latte and will be, oh, SO worth it!

Helping you to be on top of your game before the school year even begins is just...

My Kind of Teaching!

Eight Easy Ways to Differentiate in the Classroom

Differentiation is necessary to ensure that you are meeting all your students' needs.

However, the question is…

“How do I differentiate when it’s not explicitly given to me?”

The activities you use in your classroom don’t always tell you how to differentiate for lower or higher students.

Scaffolding your students and using a ticket out the door can really help you understand your students' needs.

You can differentiate in several ways as you learn more about your students’ needs and deficits.

1) Worksheets

Print fewer copies and then cut them into rows or columns. Do students really need to complete 50 problems to prove they can do so? Assign students less problems to complete by choosing only even numbers or odd numbers. (When you think about it, do you really need to correct hundreds or thousands of problems?)

2) Differentiate by need

Create needs-based groups to reteach a concept or skill to small groups of students who need more support.

When you group students for centers and activities in your classroom, you differentiate if you group by need. However, don’t make a habit of grouping in this manner. Students must be with students of all levels because learning from peers is essential!

3) Let students differentiate themselves.

Use the “Show Me Your Fingers” system  and ask students who need help to join one side of the room. (After you do this a couple of times, they won’t be embarrassed because they will know that asking for help is beneficial to them.)

4) Differentiate by interest 

 If you are researching, have students work together on the topic that interests them most.

5) Differentiate by size

Are you working on handwriting? Differentiate by size! Students still needing help with fine motor skills can have activities printed in a larger font size. For students who have it under control, print the activity in a smaller font size to challenge them, as well.

6) Change the assignment

You can often use the exact same activity in different ways for differentiation. Let’s take task cards, for example. You can change the number of task cards for different students to complete. You can have your students who need support only write the answers, such as the letters. Your average student can write the answers, and your higher students can explain or show their answers through steps or pictures. You could also ask those students who finish early to write their own questions and answers for five more task cards.

7) Present the information in different ways

*Visual – Use videos to see and listen to the information for the students.

*Cognitive – Let your students read the information.

*Hands-on – Let your students create something.

8) Student's Choice

For a cumulative assignment, let students choose how they want to present their understanding. It could be through book reports, written assignments, graphic organizers, explaining the information, etc.

You are probably differentiating all day long, but it’s not always conducive to writing it down in your lesson plan book. List ways you differentiate learning throughout the day, type it up, make copies, and staple or glue it in your weekly lesson plan unless your administrator requires you to.

This will show all the many ways you differentiate in your classroom without taking extra time each week to write down every tiny detail because that is time-consuming and detrimental to getting out of your classroom on time each day.

Take action now. Brainstorm a list of the different ways you can differentiate in your classroom.

Share this pin with others when you save it to return to these tips.

Finding simple ways to differentiate and meet students' needs is just...

My Kind of Teaching

Fall in Love with Math and Literacy Center Time

Do you struggle with center time? Using centers can be the most rewarding time of the day... but not when you have to spend precious hours each week prepping and getting ready for the centers. 

Planning and preparing for math or literacy stations can sometimes consume more time than the actual execution of the centers.

Choosing five centers and KEEPING those five centers all year long will be a huge time-saver. Using NO PREP and LOW PREP activities will save you even more time.

Read this blog post about how to keep literacy centers fun, simple, and easy with just five centers all year long.

This same idea can be used in math centers, no matter what skill or concept you teach.

Click here to read a blog post about math centers.

In the blog posts, I share how I found that five centers in math and five centers in language arts worked best for me. (Believe me; I tried several methods and strategies before I realized I was just making things too hard!)

In addition to using my no-prep centers, I tried to use things already in my classroom. This saved me both time and money.

Read this blog post about things you probably already have in your classroom to use in math and literacy centers.

You can find these forever freebies in my TpT store.

FREE Math Center Activity

FREE Literacy Center Activity

Use these FREE Center Labels to designate your centers in your classroom.

Click here to sign up for my emails and get a set of FREE no-prep math and literacy centers to try out in your classroom.

Helping you love center time is just...

My Kind of Teaching

Organization and Storage Ideas for the Elementary Classroom

Let’s talk about organization and storage today.

There are so many areas in a classroom. They all have different functions, and they all need to have a plan for storage and organization.

Seasonal Storage

Choose a location in your classroom to store items for your centers. I found it most accessible in my classroom to have ten large clear plastic boxes with lids. Each box was for one month of the school year. Inside the box, I placed items I only used during that month, such as seasonal items, decorations, classroom décor, seasonal books, etc. You can even include a file folder and a master copy of any worksheets and activities you might use during the month. Download these free seasonal labels to use in your own classroom.

Literacy Centers, Math Centers, & Morning Tubs

For literacy centers, math centers, morning tubs, and anything else you might use again during other times of the year, use smaller clear plastic boxes from the Dollar Tree and Ziploc baggies. Keep these more easily accessible than the monthly boxes. Label each with the month and type of center. Keep a master list of what is included each month so that the activities can be used at any time during the year. (I’m a huge believer in using things more than once.)

Related Post: Getting the Most Out of Task Cards

Teacher Desk

It’s also important to be organized at your teacher's desk, small-group/guided teacher table, and other teacher spaces. Here are some ideas.

Teacher Desk – Keeping your desk from becoming cluttered during the busy day is hard! Think about what things you need on your desk. Answering these questions will help you decide what you need in each location.

• What do I do at my desk?
• Do I need notepads, pens/pencils, a coaster, a list of passwords, etc.?
• What activities will I be working on when I am in this area?

Knowing what you will be using an area for will help you decide what kinds of supplies you need.

Ask yourself the same questions for any other areas of the room where you spend the most time. Make a list of supplies you need to accomplish those needs.

Some other places in your room for organization:

1. Ticket out the Door – If you plan to use something like this, have an area out of the way of traffic for your students to place their answers as they are ending the subject or leaving your classroom. See ideas for using this strategy along with a freebie in this blog post.

2. Important Reminders – I needed an area next to my door to hang important reminders for handing out as the students were leaving the room. These easy-peasy bulletin board dots I made were just perfect (and cheap!) for this area. Click here to read how to make your own bulletin board dots.

3. Small-Group/Teacher-Guided Area – A small bookshelf that can store baskets filled with commonly used items works great for this area. Keep things like dry-erase boards, markers, erasers, etc. that are used often and baskets for other activities you might choose for a smaller amount of time.

Read how to use small groups as an effective teaching strategy.

See more information at these links:

Morning Tubs

No Prep Literacy Centers

No Prep Math Centers

Having a place for everything in your classroom will help when you are lesson planning, preparing for the next day or week, and so much more.

Having everything organized and ready to go will help you get out the door on time each afternoon and isn't that one of your main goals?

What organization ideas do you have for your own classroom? Comment below to share. I would love to hear them!

Helping you with ideas for organizing your classroom is...

My Kind of Teaching

Stop Teacher Fatigue and Overwhelm

Whether it's the beginning of the school year, the middle of the school year, the end of the school year, or any of the many days in between, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and get teacher fatigue.

TEACHER FATIGUE!!!  It's a real thing, y'all!!

I experienced MANY years of it myself.  But what if I told you that it didn't have to be like that?

TRUTH!!

I refined my kind of teaching through the years and each year got better and better.

Yes, it involves learning tips and tricks and tweaking those to fit your style and your life, but it CAN happen!

Recently, I sent out a survey to my e-mail subscribers asking them this question, "What do you struggle with about leaving school each day on time?" 

Side note - Sign up for weekly emails to receive tips, freebies, gift card giveaways, and more!

The number one answer was planning/prepping.

Not far behind was paperwork and grading.

There are ways to implement and maintain a level of readiness and preparedness in your classroom.  You have to be willing to sometimes say no, close your door, and put those blinders on to be able to walk out that door each afternoon.  

Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing a series of blog posts of ideas and tips that have been tried and tested.  You can use them immediately in your classroom!

Read this blog post to see what a typical day for you can look like when you can leave your classroom on time each day simply by implementing a few "work smarter, not harder" techniques.

WARNING: Implementing all of these ideas in your classroom will have the following side effects:

• leaving your classroom on time each day
• staying prepared and “on top of things” all year
• your classroom running like a well-oiled machine
• stress-free days
• more time for yourself and your family
• free time in the evenings and on weekends
• time to do the things you enjoy out of school
• restful sleep

One of my absolute favorite ways to get ahead of the game and beat teacher fatigue is by using NO PREP activities throughout the day as often as possible.  

This blog post about NO PREP Math Centers can help with a math centers.

Stop by again soon to read more tips to STOP TEACHER FATIGUE!

That's just...

My Kind of Teaching