Teacher’s Brain

Tag: activities

How to Celebrate the 120th Day of School Virtually

Distance Learning, education, Teaching Tips

It’s a tradition in elementary school to celebrate when you reach a milestone in class. This could be reaching our reading goals, mastering sight words, counting, or reaching a certain number of days at school! 

For kindergarten, it’s typical to celebrate the 100th day of school. In first grade, however, it’s more standard to celebrate making it to 120 days instead. Counting to 120 is a goal for many first graders and this is a fun way to tie our celebration in with our class counting goals. 

If you are a teacher looking for some fun activities to do on the 120th day of school, you’re in the right spot! Here are some simple and exciting ways students can celebrate reaching this milestone. 

  1. Bring in 120 items. Students can find 120 pieces of an item at home to bring into the classroom. This gives them practice counting to 120 in a way that doesn’t feel like practice! Bonus, it is fun for students to show their classmates what they accomplished. They can bring 120 paperclips, beads, Legos, etc. 
  2. Draw yourself as a 120-year-old. This one is such a fun activity for students. Have them create a picture of themselves as a 120-year-old and write about it. 
  3. Create a frame with 120 boxes for students to put small snacks into (think cheerios, m&ms, or goldfish)

If you are teaching virtually or just looking for some activities that can be done easily online with your students (no cleanup!), I have you covered! 

These virtual 120th day of school activities give you several engaging activities to choose from to celebrate this exciting milestone.

120th day of school

Some activities included are: 

  1. 120-second scavenger hunt
  2. Make yourself or your teacher look 120 years old
  3. 120th-day fitness checklist
  4. 120th-day dot-art
  5. Narrative and opinion writing prompts
  6. Add 120 buttons to a sweater
  7. Make a clown
  8. And so much more! 

120th day of school

This resource is available on Google Slides so you can send it to your class virtually or use them in your classroom. Movable parts make this an interactive and hands-on activity that students will love. 

Want to learn more about how it works? Check out the video tutorial! 

There are so many ways to make this day special, even if you are teaching online. 

I hope you and your students have lots of silly fun with these activities!

120th day of school

 

4 Reasons Crafts Are Important In Kindergarten

Craft Ideas, kindergarten survival, Teaching Tips

Crafts are powerful tools for developing skills needed in reading and writing. Some think crafts are “fluff” or “busy work.” Continued research supports the value of crafts for young students. 

Here Are 4 Reasons Crafts Are Important In Kindergarten

Fine Motor Skills.

Students at this age are still developing their fine motor skills. They are also still working on hand-eye coordination. Doing crafts in the classroom is fun and can help students work on these important skills as they cut shapes, glue, and put things together. 

They teach colors, shapes, letter recognition, and formation.

These are skills students will use every day of their lives so it is important for them to get plenty of practice in new and exciting ways. Creating something new can help get students the practice they need without them even realizing they are learning. 

crafts

Engagement.

I don’t know any younger students who don’t love crafts. Its a hands-on activity where they get to use their creativity to make something that they can show to their parents. It’s so fun! This is a great way to get students truly engaged in learning. 

crafts

Listening and following directions.

Many kindergarten students are having their first ever experience in a school setting. Things like listening and following directions are not always concepts they understand yet. Doing these activities are a fun way to practice listening and following directions to create something exciting. 

Crafts are a fun addition to any lesson. Working on letters? Try out some alphabet crafts! Reading a new story? Do a craft to go along with it! Learning about community helpers? Make some police hat crafts! The opportunities are endless. 

Aside from the benefits listed above, these activities are a great way to add some variety to your lessons and prevent students from burning out while doing traditional worksheets. 

Looking for more kindergarten tips? Check out my tips for teaching alphabet writing and identification. 

 

Memorial Day Activities For Elementary

education, Teaching Tips, Writing

While some students may just see Memorial Day as a day off from school, it is a great time to teach them about Memorial Day and why we celebrate it. It is important for them to know about those who gave their lives while serving our country. 

Here are some ways you can teach elementary students about Memorial Day in your classroom.

  1. Start by giving them the definition. It seems simple, but this is something that not a lot of students know or understand. 
  2. Read a book about the holiday. Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops by Jill Biden and Raul Colon is a great book written by the First Lady. 
  3. Write a letter to a hero. If your students have any friends or family members that served they can write a letter to them. For other students you can have them write a letter to hero you select for them. This is a great way to give students perspective and a chance to express their gratitude. 
  4. Discuss the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day. On Veterans Day we celebrate those still living who served our country, on Memorial Day we celebrate those we lost. 

My Memorial Day Writing Activity is the perfect addition to your lesson!

Memorial Day

 Perfect for students in first through third grade, you’ll get a variety of writing activities. 

Included with this resource, you’ll get 

  • an informational sheet about the holiday
  • acrostic poems with self rating systems
  • Home of the Free Because of the Brave printable
  • Informational writing planning page
  • Informational writing page
  • Thank you, Hero Letter
  • Thank You Letter
  • Posters for students to fill out
  • Poster about informative writing
  • Transitional words and phrases list
  • Word wall words
  • Rubric

You’ll get everything you need to get your students engaged in learning about our American heroes.

memorial day

Looking for more teaching activities for May? Check out Mother’s Day ideas here! 

 

Fluency Practice Ideas That Are Actually Fun

Reading

In early education classrooms, fluency is a major part of the reading curriculum.

In order to comprehend text, students must be able to read with speed and accuracy. If they are unable to read fluently, they can become so focused on decoding or recalling words that they will lose the meaning of the text. When reading out loud, fluency also becomes an important part of conveying meaning to the listeners.

So- how can teachers provide effective instruction in fluency in their already cramped schedules? Read on for some of my favorite strategies! 

One of the easiest ways to increase fluency is by re-reading passages.

As students become more familiar with a text, they can add speed and expression to their reading. This strategy is important to introduce in the early grades so students will become comfortable with re-reading as texts become longer and more difficult.

A similar tool for teaching fluency is to use small phrases that children can read, re-read, and add onto. Once they are able to recognize the short phrase as one unit, they can add more words to make complex sentences. Again, repeated reading of the same phrases will increase speed, accuracy, and confidence. 

Another tool in my fluency arsenal is the use of homonyms.

Homonyms are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. For example, a bat is an animal or a piece of sports equipment. Helping students recognize homonyms will not only improve their fluency but increase their comprehension. I like to use a “word web” with the target homonym in the middle. Then, as a class or independently, students can add words to the web that connect to the different meanings. Keeping the word webs for review later is a great way for students to increase their recognition of homonyms in later texts. 

Perhaps the most fun way to increase fluency skills is with reader’s theater.

Children are able to read and re-read their parts before “performing” the script. They can improve their speed, accuracy, and especially expression in doing so. As they read along with a group, they can hear their peers reading with fluency as well. It’s a lot of fun to perform short scripts in front of the class, and provides an opportunity for students to become comfortable speaking in front of a group. 

Are you ready to use all of the strategies in your kindergarten or first-grade class? Grab my Reading Fluency Activities today and your entire school year of fluency lessons will be ready!

This bundle includes sentence building worksheets, word webs, mini-books, and reader’s theater scripts for each week of the year. It also includes fluency assessments so you can track what your students are learning. Using these activities weekly will lead to fluent readers who are confident in their skills!

fluency

Looking for more reading strategies? Check out my post here! 

What are your favorite activities for fluency practice? Let me know in the comments!

fluency