Teacher’s Brain

Category: Teacher’s Pay Teachers

50th Day Of School Activities

education, Teacher's Pay Teachers

In the classroom, I love any chance to have a themed party! It is such a fun way to take a break from the ordinary school routine, shake things up, and have a little fun with my students. It also gives them something to look forward to! You have all the usual holidays like Christmas and Halloween, but we also like to celebrate the 50th day of school! 

This is an exciting way to celebrate the number 50 on our 50th day of school together. So what kind of things do you do to celebrate the number 50? Celebrate 1950’s style!

Here are some fun ways to have 1950’s style celebration in your classroom

  • Have a dress up day. Bring on the poodle skirts and leather jackets!
  • Have a good old fashioned sock hop with lots of dancing 
  • Play some 50’s music in your classroom (from a jukebox if you have one!)
  • Make some root beer floats 
  • Do themed activities in your lessons
  • Have a photo booth (with props from the resource below!)

I created some fun 50th Day Of School Celebration activities for you to use in your classroom!

50th Day Of School

In this resource you’ll get fun ideas and printables to engage your kindergarten or 1st grade students in meaningful ways with the number 50 on the 50th day of school or during a full week of centers! It incorporates literacy, math, and science activities. Each activity is about 20 to 40 minutes long.

Here’s what’s included in the 50th Day Of School bundle

20 IDEAS

50 Days Smarter Activity 

Write 50 Words

Block Building with 50 

50 Gumballs 

10 Ten Frames for Counting Items

100 Chart 

50 Chart

50 Tasty Treat Chart

If I had $50 Writing 

Tootsie Roll Pop Experiment (predict and use tally marks)

Science Inquiry 50 Drops of Water In A Jar

 50th Day Fun Fitness Activities Log

I can count to 50 Mat

50th Day Celebration Hat with Dots 

Two types of Lined Paper for Prompts

Two types of Lined Paper for “If I had 50 Gifts” Prompt

I’m 50 Years Old Drawing and Writing Papers

50 Rocking Days of School

Root Beer Float (goes with Fifties Themed Day)

Root Beer Float Writing with Transition Words

50 Days of School Letter To Parents To Dress Fifties 

Photo Booth Props

50th Day of School

Do you celebrate the 50th day of school? Tell me about it in the comments below!

Want some ideas for the 100th day of school? Check out my post here!

Labor Day Activities For Kindergarten And First Grade

Teacher's Pay Teachers

Every year on the first Monday of September, we get Labor Day off of school. Your students will likely be excited just to have the day off, but it is important for them to learn the history and why we celebrate Labor Day every year as well! This is why it is a great idea to plan a fun and engaging lesson all about Labor Day!

Your Labor Day activities will help your students learn the history about why we celebrate this holiday and help them retain the information they learn. It is also a great lesson to tie into your lessons on community helpers!

Here are some tips and ideas for teaching your students about Labor Day

  • Explain that Labor Day is a day where we celebrate and honor the workers of America 
  • Teach about celebrations that are usually held on Labor Day including parades, cookouts, parties, and more. 
  • Learn about different jobs the American people have
  • Host a career day
  • Read books about Labor Day or Community Helpers 
  • Do some labor day crafts and activities

I created this week long Labor Day unit to help you easily plan a fun and educational week of lessons for your kindergarten or first grade students. Recognize the hard work of Americans with these Labor Day activities, printables, and lesson plans – perfect for back to school! Students will enjoy learning about the history behind this holiday.

Labor Day Activities

In this resource, you will find: 

  • Week long lesson plan
  • Home connection printables
  • Language arts lessons
  • Labor Day writing prompts
  • Patriotic art activities
  • Classroom posters
  • Labor Day hats
  • Venn diagrams
  • Labor Day mini book
  • Interactive notebook
  • and more!

This holiday is a great way to tie in lessons on language arts, reading, history, and social studies, all in one! What ways do you like to teach about Labor Day? Let me know in the comments below!

Labor Day Activities

Want to incorporate classroom jobs into your Labor Day/Community Helpers unit? Check out my post here! 

How To Set Up A Math Cafe

Back to School, Math, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Kindergarten Math Cafe

Looking for a NEW way to engage your students in learning math at the beginning of the year? Creating a Math Cafe or Math “Salad Bar” is a great way to hit target skills, engage the students, and free you up to monitor learning. You can use the “recipe” cards as task cards, set up a cafe in your room, or just use the printables in small or whole groups.

math centers

What is a Math Café?

I like to keep all of my math manipulatives in one place, and hold students responsible for cleaning up after their activity. You can make your Math Café out of a bookcase or a rolling cart.

 A student pulls out the manipulative cart (Café). Students choose a recipe card (task card – with the material list, number of people who can participate in the math activity and directions), choose their partners if required, fill their tray with materials, do the activity anywhere in the room, and easily clean up by using a tray to hold their materials. 

You float around and take notes. One task card is labeled “Teacher’s Group.” This can be used when you see a student needs extra help with a concept. They will sit with you to review the concept, if you give them the card. There are also ipad, computer and blank recipe cards.

My Math Cafe Kindergarten Math Centers resource will give you everything you need for your own Math Cafe. 

This resource focuses on counting and cardinality numbers 1-5. 

math centers

Here’s a look at what you’ll get: 

  •  Standards
  • Unit 1 Counting and Cardinality with Numbers to 5 Directions, Suggestions, and Links
  • Materials List Needed for Activities
  • Task Cards (“Recipe Cards”) 1 Blank, 1 Teacher Station, 1 Computer Station, 1 ipad Station
  • Trace Write Draw Activity
  •  Read and Roll Card with Printable
  • Spin and Color the Fish
  • Spin ROLL Doh WRITE
  •  RACE CAR Game
  • Race and Roll to the TOP
  • Cover It –Spin a Number
  • Roll and Color a Picture
  • Number Order (count on from a given number)
  • Trace the Numbers (using sheet pan, magnetic numbers)
  •  Roll and Color (5 Frame)
  • Roll and Build a Cube Tower
  • Bowling with Markers
  • Roll and color the Bugs
  • Roll and Cover Caterpillar (with pom poms)
  • Race and Roll to the Top with Number Words
  • Count and Color the Number
  • Color by Number (Roll a die.)
  • Assessment Numbers 1-5
  • Small Posters for Touch Math Numbers 1-9
  •  Posters for Numbers 1-20 with Ten Frames
  •  Rules Sign
  • Math Café Sign
  • Recording Data Sheet for Teacher
  • Pictures of Set Up

 

Here is a helpful video about how to set up a Math Cafe or Math Salad Bar for math centers in your kindergarten classroom! 

 

 

If you love this bundle, you’ll also love my Math Centers Yearlong Bundle! It includes 14 units along with the Math Cafe bundle above to keep your students engaged with fun math centers for the entire school year.

math centers

math centers

For more Kindergarten math center fun, check out this post here! 

How do you like to make your math centers more engaging? Let me know in the comments!

Teaching Your Students About Civics and Government

education, Teacher's Pay Teachers

Civics and government is a very important part of your kindergarten and first grade students’ education. Understanding the basics including rules and laws is going to be vital as they grow up and enter the world. Unfortunately, it can seem a little dry trying to teach it in a way that your students will find fun and interesting. 

To do this, you want to find engaging lesson plans for your students so they will not only learn the material, but really understand and retain it. The key is to make your lessons fun! This is especially important with any lessons you do for kindergarten and first graders. The more fun the lessons are, the more interested they will be, the more they will learn! 

I have you covered with my Civics and Government bundle!

This extensive resource includes nine full weeks of detailed lesson plans and everything you need for the entire unit. You’ll also get a home connection parent letter, American History Journal with a wordbank, a rubric for the journal, 9 interactive notebook pages, and posters for your classroom, 

This Civics and Government resource will cover:

  • Primary Sources
  • Sequencing events
  • Calendar Skills
  • Being a GOOD Citizen
  • Rules and Laws
  • Conflicts and Fair Decisions

Extras included for centers: primary source activity, months of the year (what comes next), sort the pictures activity (rules vs laws),  Tattle Tale Officer Activity (to teach your students the difference between being helpful and hurtful), big problem, medium problem, and small problem posters, and a Write the Room Activity (a great way to incorporate writing into your social studies lessons). 

I created this resource to make your life easier and take the stress out of lesson planning! My goal is that this resource will cover all standards and truly engage your students so that they learn and retain the lessons. 

Check out my tips for for social distancing while teaching here! 

civics and government
civics and government

 

Do you have any tips for making civics and government fun? Let me know in the comments below! 

civics and government