literacy Archives - Teacher's Brain

Spring Break Packets For Elementary

March 11, 2022 teachersbrain Teacher's Pay Teachers

We all know how important it is for our students to get a break from school. To relax and take their mind off of it and just enjoy being kids. Spring break is a great time to do this!

As important as the downtime is, it wouldn’t hurt for students to also get a little practice with those skills we’ve been working so hard on in class. In fact, parents are often asking for something for their children to work on while they’re out of school.

Naturally, with any break from school, there is a degree of regression. Studies actually show that students are more likely to score lower on tests after being on break than they are during school.

Assigning light but engaging activities during spring break can be the perfect way to keep their brains active while not in school and prevent that learning regression as much as possible.

The key is to assign work that is engaging and will get your students thinking, but won’t take up too much of their time.

When I was in the classroom, I would let the students know that it’s not mandatory, but if they complete it, they will get some sort of reward or prize when they return it to school. This could be a homework pass, treat, pizza party, or something similar.

I created Spring Break Packets for each elementary grade to help make it easy for you!

These packets have a spring theme to make it fun for students. You can buy them as a bundle or individually for the grade you need! No prep required, just print these out and go!

Here’s what you can expect for each grade level:

Pre-K

Spring break word bank, reading log, sight word lists and progress monitoring sheet, handwriting, trace lines, find the letter, color the crayon, writing, upper and lowercase letter work, patterns, sight word find, coloring, comprehension sequencing cards, math printables (adding, counting, shapes, number charts, number line, counting on)

Kindergarten

Spring break word bank, reading log, sight word lists, progress monitoring sheet, narrative writing, printables on CVC word families, reading comprehension, rhyming word crossword puzzle, handwriting practice, ABC order, rewrite the sentence, adjectives and nouns, math printables (addition, subtraction, counting on, adding single digit numbers, shapes, fill in the number chart, number bonds, 10 more, 10 less and 1 MORE 1 Less)

First Grade

Spring break word bank, reading log, sight word lists, narrative writing, printables on CVC word families, reading comprehension, , ABC order, rewrite the sentence, adjectives and nouns, Math Printables ( Addition, subtraction, mental math, adding 2 digit numbers, shapes, measurement, number bonds, 10 more, 10 less and 1 MORE 1 Less)

Second Grade

Word bank, reading log, sight word list, opinion writing, printables on adjectives, nouns , plural and singular nouns, collective nouns, reading comprehension, suffixes, ABC order, rewrite the sentence and word sorts, math printables ( expanded form addition, subtraction, mental math, adding 3 numbers, shapes, measurement, 10 more, 10 less)

Third Grade

Word bank, reading log, sight word list, opinion & narrative writing, printables on context clues, abbreviations, prepositions, verbs reading comprehension, suffixes, ABC order, and rewriting the sentence, math printables (bar graph, addition and subtraction 3 digits, rounding, perimeter and area, fractions, multiplication, division and comparing numbers)

Fourth Grade

Word bank, reading log, suggested sight word list, biography reporting, opinion & narrative writing, printables on context clues, to too two, there they’re their, a an, prefixes, root words, suffixes, relative pronouns, comprehension, past tenses, ABC order, and rewriting the sentence, Math Printables (factoring, 3-digit addition, rounding, multiping using the area model, greater than less than, rounding, fractions, multiplication and comparing numbers)

Fifth Grade

Word bank, reading log, 5th grade suggested sight word list, biography reporting, opinion, informative & narrative writing, printables on context clues, fluency, there they’re their, inference, main Idea, prefixes, root words, suffixes, relative pronouns, comprehension, past tenses, ABC order, and correcting sentences, math printables (graphing points, coordinate patterns, adding subtracting and multiplying decimals, order of operation, factoring, 3-digit addition, rounding, multiping using the area model, greater than less than, rounding, fractions, multiplication and comparing numbers)

Do you assign school work during spring break? Let me know in the comments!

Bring March Madness Fun Into The Classroom

March 4, 2022 teachersbrain Math, STEM, Teaching Tips

March is officially upon us and that means March Madness has begun! March Madness is a yearly NCAA Division I basketball tournament. It takes place every year from the middle of March to the beginning of April.

68 college basketball teams play against each other for the chance to win the spot as the year’s National Champion. Needless to say, it’s pretty exciting!

Even for people who aren’t usually basketball fans, this time of year can still be fun. Everyone chooses their teams and predicts who they think will win. It’s also so fun to watch the games with family and friends.

Given that it is so thrilling for students and teachers alike, I created some resources so that you can easily bring the March Madness fun into the classroom and celebrate while reviewing skills in math, language arts, and STEM.

First up, I wanted to share my March Madness Math and Literacy worksheets.

March Madness Activities

These basketball-themed worksheets will enhance learning language arts and math skills during March Madness. It includes over 60 worksheets that you can easily print and go. Perfect for using all throughout the tournament!

This resource was designed for kindergarten and first grade students. It even includes some fun games to get your students excited to learn!

You’ll get answer keys to the activities to make them easy to implement. Check it out here!

The second resource I wanted to share is my March Madness STEM Catapult Challenge!

This hands-on STEM challenge is guaranteed to get your students engaged! Students will build a hoop and catapult to launch their “basketball”. This resource is great for learning about basketball and levers.

This resource includes 3 days of plans and is perfect for kindergarten, first grade, or second grade students. It comes with 30 printables, 2 posters, print and go plans, answer keys, rubrics, and a journal. Everything you need! You can add your own materials or use the premade version.

Check it out here!

I hope you love these basketball-themed activities! What’s your favorite part of March Madness? Let me know in the comments!

Read Across America Ideas

February 25, 2018 teachersbrain Craft Ideas, Dr. Seuss, Teacher's Pay Teachers

Dr. Seuss is the perfect author to inspire students of all ages to read. As teachers, we love to share his work during Read Across America Week and to celebrate his birthday with March activities.

Here are some great ideas to help you inspire your students with reading themed activities.

One Fish , Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish is a classic delightful book that helps students with colors and counting skills. Have students make their own colored fish to display in the room.

Read Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss. Then, have students make their own hot air balloon craft. They can even write about where they would go. I like to use tissue paper or wallpaper squares to decorate the balloon.

Wacky Wednesday is a fun way to spend a Wednesday during Read Across America with Dr. Seuss. While the students are at lunch or recess, make your classroom “wacky” by changing the clock, hanging things like shoes from the ceiling, putting socks inside the tissue box or turning a desk upside down. Then, have students see how many “wacky” items they can find out of place. They can play rhyming games this day or make a “wacky” animal using different animal body parts.

How about these cute Halloween printable glasses? You can easily turn them into something creative during the week for students to wear during reading time. Tell them that the glasses are magical and help them to focus on the story you are reading.

Invite a guest in who dresses up like one of the characters from Dr. Seuss’ books to read to the class. Make sure to have a CRAZY SOCK day also to go with the Fox in Socks books. I also like to ask students to send in their favorite Seuss books to share with each other during reading time. I have them find rhyming words in the books. They love it!

Ask parents to send in a special treat for a day like these yummy Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes. Make task cards with Seuss colors like this WHAT CAN I DO WHEN I’M DONE for Early Finishers.

Of course, no Read Across America celebration would be complete without making Green Eggs and Ham with your students. (Check for allergies first.) I had my students make these hats out of paper plates. No matter what, have fun with your students this week. This is a great week for students to explore new words, use their imaginations, and feel inspired to read a good book!

Sources for Printables: http://bit.ly/2HLe8s3

Interactive WORD WALL – Dry Erase

July 24, 2016 teachersbrain Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips, Word Wall

Are you still displaying a dull word wall that just stays glued to the wall all year, adding words, and hoping the kids look at it during their literacy time? Time to step up your game. Students need to touch, feel and interact with a Word Wall. This has been one of the best tools to teach reading and writing in my room since I changed my old way of using a Word Wall. Just print, laminate and hang letter squares in an area that is easy to grab it from the wall, take it to their learning area, and then they can put it back on the wall. Oh no, the words erased? That’s okay! If they do, ask a helper to put the words back on the board. It may look a little messy, but it is in use, exciting, and empowering them to use those sight words. I keep a small print out of the words next to the word wall for them to use, if they erase, so they can easily rewrite it correctly. They could even ask a friend. You can always fix it at the end of the week, if you worry about neatness. Here are some tips for using an interactive Word Wall:

Mrs. Kaney using her Interactive Word Wall in First Grade

I like to play games with the squares. Sometimes I mix the letters up, and see if the students catch the mix up. Then, I offer them a little award for being a good “Letter Detective.”
Another game I play is called, Swat the Sight Word. This is where I group students in two lines, give fly swatters and call out a word on the Word Wall. They both try to “Swat” the word and whoever gets there first wins a point for the team.
I highlight the vowels on the Word Wall, so students can easily identify them.
After laminating, make sure you leave a small portion around the paper when cutting to ensure moisture never gets into our paper.
Use Cardstock or glue to poster board to make it last longer.
We make up songs to go with each letter sound. “A, /a/ /a/ /a/ Apple, B….
“Box Up” the words, by drawing lines to show (low, high and medium) letters. We say the word. Then spell it with body movement. (squat down for low letters (like g), hands by your sides for medium letters (like e), and hands up high for tall letters (like t).
Find word families.
Don’t stick just to sight words. Students love to learn ROBUST VOCABULARY WORDS! (For example, hysterical or words from their interest areas like Survival or Creeper.) You will be surprised at how often they use them even in kindergarten!