Teacher's Pay Teachers Archives

5 Fall Activities to Do With Your Elementary Students

September 22, 2023 teachersbrain Fall & Halloween, fall writing prompts, STEM, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Writing

Fall is in the air! Are you ready?

The fall colors and weather are a fantastic backdrop for outdoor exploration. It’s the perfect time to take your students on nature walks, scavenger hunts, and teach them about the changing seasons.

I always loved using this time of year as a chance to explore apples and pumpkins in lessons. These activities not only engage students but also provide opportunities for math, science, and sensory learning. 🍁🍂📚

If you are looking for some fall activities for elementary students, fall activity sheets, or fall worksheets, you are in the right place!

So what are some activities you can do during the fall season?

I have you covered! Here are 5 of my favorite fall themed resources to use this time of year!

Fall Scarecrow Writing Craft

This engaging fall activity will help your kids enjoy their writing time and provide a cute display for your classroom! Three different types of lines for you to choose from to make it perfect to individualize for your students.

Fall Math and Literacy Worksheets

Candy corn activities are so easy to get kids engaged in learning in the fall! Teach math, opinion writing, letter id, STEM and so more with this activity pack made around a candy corn theme! Learning made fun for fall time!

Fall Would You Rather Writing Activity

Would you Rather Prompts are great conversation starters, ice breakers or writing prompts. Use these interactive, editable Google Slides to easily have students show one or two fingers to share their choice.

Fall Directed Drawing

Show students how to draw fall images with their writing using these directed drawings for primary and intermediate grades in 5 simple steps. Pick and choose what works for you to create a journal or a gift for others!

Pumpkin Worksheets and Activities

Looking for a great plan with everything you need to teach students all about pumpkins? I have you covered with this math and literacy plan that includes crafts, writing, reading, bulletin board options, posters, and so much more!

I hope your students love these fall activities, crafts, and worksheets as much as mine did! Fall is such a great season to celebrate in the classroom, so don’t miss out on the wonderful opportunities that fall brings!

If you want more fall fun, check out these free fall printables!

What are your favorite fall activities for the classroom? Let me know in the comments!

3 Engaging Ways to Teach Forms of Energy

September 18, 2023 teachersbrain Teacher's Pay Teachers

Planning on teaching forms of energy to your students? You’re in the right place!

Teaching kindergarten and first-grade students about energy, including sound, light, and heat, can be a lot of fun!

Here are three engaging energy activities for kindergarten and first grade to help them understand these concepts:

Sound Show and Tell:

Ask each student to bring a small item from home that can make a sound (e.g., a bell, a toy whistle, a musical instrument, or even a rubber ball).

In the classroom, have a “Sound Show and Tell” session. Each student takes a turn sharing their item and making the sound it produces.

Discuss with the class what made each sound and how it made them feel. Was it loud or quiet? High-pitched or low-pitched? This helps introduce the idea that sound is a form of energy created by vibrations.

Shadow Puppets:

Set up a darkened area in the classroom using blankets or cardboard to create a shadow puppet theater.

Provide students with simple cut-out shapes or figures (animals, objects, or their own designs) and attach them to popsicle sticks to create shadow puppets.

Using a flashlight as the light source, have students take turns holding their shadow puppets in front of the light to cast shadows on the “stage.”

Explain that light is a form of energy that allows us to see things, and shadows are created when an object blocks the path of light. Encourage students to experiment with different puppets and positions to see how shadows change.

Heat and Ice Experiment:

Gather a few ice cubes and various materials like aluminum foil, fabric, plastic, and paper.

Have students touch and describe how each material feels (cold, warm, or room temperature).

Wrap an ice cube in each material and place them on a tray. Observe and discuss what happens to the ice cubes over time.

Explain that heat is a form of energy that can make things warmer or colder. Emphasize that some materials are better at keeping things cold (insulators) while others let heat pass through easily (conductors).

If you’re looking for some simple and fun free energy worksheets, I have you covered!

Check out these free Forms of Energy Activities!

What’s Inside This Download?

Pg. 1 Cover

Pg. 2 HOME CONNECTION – Parent Project

Pg. 3 Energy – List the items that produce energy

Pg. 4 Heat & Light Energy Mini-book

Pg. 5 I Spy SOUND objects

Pg. 6 What is energy? POSTER

Pg. 7 Credits

This is a free sample of a larger 3 week unit on forms of energy. You can check it out here!

For more forms of energy and science tips, check out my post here!

5 Reasons to Use Morning Work in Kindergarten

September 1, 2023 teachersbrain Back to School, education, kindergarten survival, Sight Words, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Picture this: It’s a bright, bustling morning in your kindergarten classroom. The tiny tots are shuffling in with sleepy eyes and contagious energy. As a teacher, you know that the first moments of the day set the tone for everything that follows.

That’s where the magic of kindergarten morning work comes into play. It’s like the secret ingredient in your morning routine that can transform chaos into calm, hesitation into confidence, and groggy minds into eager learners.

If you’re looking for morning work ideas for kindergarten or morning work worksheets, you’re in the right place!

But first, let’s discuss the advantages of having morning work in your kindergarten classroom.

Smooth Morning Transitions

Morning work is like the secret sauce that makes our mornings smoother than a fresh jar of peanut butter. It gives our little ones a structured start to the day, helping them transition from home to the classroom routine with ease. Less chaos, more focus!

Independence Boost

You know that feeling when a kindergartener proudly completes a task on their own? It’s like a warm cup of coffee for our teacher hearts! Morning work encourages independence. They’re tackling challenges right away, building confidence as they go.

Skill Reinforcement

Think of morning work as a daily dose of learning vitamins. It reinforces the skills we’ve been teaching. Whether it’s reviewing letters, numbers, or shapes, these quick exercises keep their growing brains engaged and active.

Time Management Skills

In the real world, time management is a superpower, right? Well, morning work helps our little ones develop those skills early on. They learn to manage their time by completing tasks within a set period. It’s like a mini time-management boot camp!

Teacher Prep Time

Last but not least, morning work can be a lifesaver for us teachers. While the kiddos are busy, we can take a moment to assess their progress, prepare for the day, or have a quick chat with parents. It’s like a small gift of time in a busy morning schedule.

You may be wondering what to do for kindergarten morning work?

This resource is all you need!

This engaging morning work for kindergarten covers reading and math skills and is super easy to implement. These no prep packets are perfect. They will help keep your class calm while reviewing skills at their own pace for the entire school year.

You’ll never find yourself scrambling for morning activities again!

This resource covers:

❀ Handwriting Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

❀ Sight Word Practice

❀ Beginning Letter Sounds

❀ Months of the Year

❀ Days of the Week

❀ Handwriting Sentences

❀ Word Families

❀ Silent /e/

❀ Digraphs

❀ Number Sense

❀ Ten Frames

❀ Counting

❀ Number Lines

❀ Writing Numbers

❀ Counting On

❀ Shapes

❀ More and Less Than

❀ 3D Shapes

❀ Graphs

❀ Place Value

What’s included?

Pg 1-42 – Aug. and Sept. (Handwriting, Letters, Numbers, Colors, Sight Words, Counting)

Pg. 43-84 – Oct. and Nov. (Handwriting, Letters, Numbers, Ten Frame, Counting, What Comes Next)

Pg. 85-126 Dec. Jan. (Word Families, Vowels, Counting, Greater than, Less Than, Handwriting)

Pg. 127-168 – Feb. and March (capital letters, lowercase letters, word families, shapes, counting on, less than)

Pg. 169-210 April and May (digraphs, tens and ones, 3D shapes, graphs, and silent /e/)

Each page has an extended activity for students to do on the back of the page for early finishers. It is designed to model once to the whole group, and students should be working independently for each set (4 Weeks.)

There are only mild changes in this packet each month to make it easy for students to follow the pattern each morning. I provide different fonts, so students get used to seeing letters that look different.

The number and the number word is used so students get familiar with number word recognition. I tell students to look at their crayons to find the color word to help them figure out the color on their own to create independence.

I print my pages out to create a journal to easily store papers, leaving the back blank for the extended activity. My students could move on to the next page if they finished. You can just give one individual sheet, if you like to ensure students don’t move on to the next page.

Check it out here!

For more kindergarten morning work activities, check out my post here!

3 Effective Ways to Hold Students Accountable During Science

August 24, 2023 teachersbrain Teacher's Pay Teachers

Science education plays a crucial role in fostering curiosity and critical thinking in young minds. Kindergarten science lessons are the perfect opportunity to ignite this curiosity and lay the foundation for a lifelong love of learning. However, keeping kindergarten students engaged and accountable can be a challenge. We will explore three effective ways to hold students accountable during kindergarten science lessons, ensuring they actively participate and grasp the fundamental concepts.

1. Hands-On Experiments with Individual Responsibility

Kindergarten students learn best when they can interact with their environment. Incorporating hands-on experiments into science lessons not only captures their attention. To ensure accountability, assign each student a specific task within the experiment. For example, if the class is exploring the concept of sinking and floating, one student can be responsible for placing objects in water, while another observes and records the results.

By giving students individual responsibilities, they become accountable for their role in the experiment’s success. This approach promotes teamwork, builds a sense of ownership, and encourages active participation.

2. Interactive Group Discussions and Show-and-Tell

Kindergarten students love to share their thoughts and experiences. Leveraging this natural inclination, incorporate interactive group discussions into your science lessons. After introducing a new concept or conducting an experiment, gather the students and encourage them to express their observations, questions, and ideas.

To enhance accountability, designate a “show-and-tell” session where each student shares one thing they learned or found interesting during the lesson. This practice reinforces their understanding of the topic. It also fosters a sense of responsibility to contribute to the class’s learning environment.

3. Visual Journals, Interactive Notebooks, or Learning Logs

Kindergarten students are often more visually oriented learners. Introduce the concept of visual journals, interactive notebooks or learning logs early. This is where each student can document their scientific discoveries and reflections through drawings, short sentences, or even photographs. Provide prompts related to the lesson, such as “What did you learn today?” or “Draw a picture of the experiment we conducted.”

Regularly reviewing and discussing these journals in class allows you to gauge each student’s level of engagement and comprehension. It also gives them a personal sense of responsibility to document their learning journey and share their insights with their peers.

Grab this free energy download!

Bonus Tip: Celebrate Achievements

Incorporate a reward system to celebrate students’ achievements in understanding and participating during science lessons. This can be as simple as handing out stickers, small prizes, or certificates for active participation, insightful contributions, or successful completion of experiments. These rewards can act as positive reinforcement and motivate students to remain engaged and accountable in future lessons.

Category: Teacher’s Pay Teachers