Elementary Educational Resources, Ideas, and Lesson Plans
Looking for something fun to do with your kids for Father’s Day? Try this coupon book that looks like a matchbook. It has ten coupons that the kids fill out saying what the coupon is good for, and a unique matchbook cover. Ideas for coupons are included. Some ideas are coupons for hugs, cleaning their room, breakfast in bed or washing the car. Share any ideas you have for to make Father’s Day special.
Hopefully, you have all that testing behind you now and are freed up to do some educational activities that are engaging for your students! I always have a theme-based end-of-the-year celebration with my students. I also have an end-of-the-year celebration where the parents are invited to share some special moments with their children before the summer heats up! Here are some theme ideas that I usually let my students choose from:
We do activities with items I purchase from Oriental Trading Co. usually. I also ask parents to donate items for the day. 
We make a t-shirt to go with the theme. All the activities are educational, but they are theme-based. This is a day just for kids, but I do have a couple volunteers helping me with activities.
When I invite the parents to the room, we have a slideshow showing pictures taken throughout the school year. Each year, (20 so far) I’ve made individual photo albums for all my students and present them to the parents as a parting gift. Even though these cost me a lot, they proved to be priceless! Many students return years later with that album in hand. They tell me how meaningful the albums are to them. One even said, “When I’m down, I can look at it, and it always cheers me up.” I’m glad I invested in them. Then, I have parents bring in a dish to share. They can also bring in footballs to play outside with the kids after we all eat. It’s a great day! To make it really special, I also give every child a candy certificate as a keepsake.
The end of the year is a busy time for teachers, but it is also the best time to make memories that will last a lifetime with your students. You can build connections with the community, and celebrate the time you shared together as a class!
Springtime is one of my favorite times of the year to teach! Flowers bloom, everything is new, sun shining, and engaging resources. I use lots of spring themed lessons including Easter activities. My all time favorite thing to do, is to step away from the curriculum, just a little and teach poetry! Students really learn to love literature when they see how much fun they can have with words!
Spring also means new plants and flowers are in the process of growing. Students have a blast learning all about plant parts, dissecting the plants, germinating their own seeds and more in this 3 week Plant Unit.
I also use Spring Worksheets with my kindergarten students that are themed in all subject areas! This creates a connection across the curriculum areas. The printables also meet most state standards in reading, writing, math, and science.
Of course celebrating springtime would not be the same without some fun spring and Easter activities in the classroom for our students! Students get creative with art supplies making butterfly glasses, bunny headbands, jellybean math, and life cycle books. Whatever you do with your students, make sure you are having fun right a long with them! Happy SPRING!
Teacher friends are always asking me how to start selling on TpT. I love helping others! I look forward to helping the people who have already took the step to become a seller (Teacher Author), and helping others who want to create some time-saving resources for teachers. To be honest, it is not easy. I started part-time, just working on the weekends. Now, I resigned from teaching and work TpT full time. I LOVE LOVE LOVE every minute of this job, but it is time-consuming. Like anything, the more you focus on something, the more successful you will be at it.
First, let me have you ask yourself a couple questions to see if it is right for you.
If you answered yes, then there is a pretty good chance that you will enjoy working with TpT! Now, what do you need to do to get started?
Step 1: Join Teachers Pay Teachers. You can use this Referral LINK to join as a seller for FREE. Once you get comfortable, and know it is the right fit for you, I highly suggest you upgrade to the premium account, so you get a better payout. Think of a great name for your store. You can use your own personal name like a lot of sellers, or you can create one that keeps your brand separated from your person. Once you decide on a store name, check first to make sure no one else has your name by typing it in the TpT search bar. This will be the way people remember you, so spend some time to really decide on something you will be happy with in the long run. You logo should be clear and not too wordy. Think of the colors you want for branding.
Step 2: Use PowerPoint to create your first resource. The first one is a free resource, so make it nice so everyone knows what they can expect from you in future resources, but don’t go over 10 pages. My first one was only 1 page, and it is really not a good representation of my type of products I offer now after all of my growth, but it makes me happy to see where I started. I also updated it with PowerPoint because the original was made in Word. SMH
TIPS FOR YOUR PRODUCT:
Step 3: Once you are happy with your first product, upload it. Repeat this with another product, and this time put a price on it! Now it gets exciting! TpT has resources for you to find how to properly price items. Make sure you look around the web site to become familiar with all it has to offer. TpT University and the forums are great places to find information.
Step 4: Download the TpT app to your phone, so you can hear the CHA CHING sound that plays when you get a sale. It is motivating!
Feel free to visit my store Teacher’s Brain to look around to see how I write a description, make covers, and previews. There is a lot more to learn, but this should get you started. Do a search on YouTube for tips on how to make covers in PowerPoint. That is how I got started. After a few months, I was able to create resources that I was really confident about making for teachers. If you need a course that will really get you to focus, try The Focused Teacherpreneur Course with Shelly Rees. It has been a game changer for me, and worth every penny.
Teacher-Seller Courses I offer:
Vital Tools for Teacher Sellers
TpT Seller Mini Course for Pinterest SEO
TpT Seller Mini Course for How to Price Resources
Good Luck!