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Tag: second grade

5 Fun Apple Activities for September (That You Can Do with What You Have!)

Fall & Halloween, fall writing prompts

Fall is one of my favorite times to bring fresh themes into the classroom, and apples are always a hit with young learners. They’re simple, familiar, and so versatile for cross-curricular learning. The best part? You don’t need fancy supplies to make apple activities fun and meaningful. Here are five ideas you can try right away, plus two resources that take your apple theme even further.

apple activities

🍎 1. Apple Graphing

Bring in a few red, green, and yellow apples (or show pictures if that’s easier). Have students vote for their favorite color and create a simple graph together on chart paper. You can extend this by counting, comparing, and even writing sentences: “More students like red apples than green apples.”

🍏 2. Five Senses Apple Exploration

Slice apples and let students describe what they see, smell, taste, touch, and hear (the crunch!). Record their observations on an anchor chart to build science vocabulary. This activity doubles as a writing prompt: “My apple tastes…”

🍎 3. Apple Art with Paper Shapes

Cut construction paper into red, green, and yellow circles, plus brown rectangles for stems and green ovals for leaves. Students can assemble their own apples and then write a sentence underneath: “My apple is red.” Simple, no prep, and perfect for a bulletin board!

🍏 4. Counting Apple Seeds

Use black beans or small counters as pretend “apple seeds.” Students can practice counting, addition, and subtraction by “adding” seeds to an apple outline or “taking some away.” It’s a quick math center that can be done with laminated templates and dry erase markers.

🍎 5. Apple Stories and Writing

Read a favorite apple book (Ten Apples Up on Top, Apple Trouble!, or Johnny Appleseed). Then invite students to write or draw about apples: “If I had ten apples, I would…” or “Johnny Appleseed planted…” This ties literacy and creativity right into your apple theme.

🍏 Go Even Further with These Ready-to-Use Resources

If you want to extend your apple fun without extra prep, I have two resources that pair perfectly with the activities above:

apple activities
apple activities

With just a few apples (or some basic supplies), you can create hands-on, engaging activities that your students will love. And with ready-to-use apple resources, you’ll have everything you need to make September both fun and educational! 🍎

For more apple activities, check out my post here all about fun activities to do on Johnny Appleseed Day! 

10 Classroom Management Tips That Actually Work in K–2

Classroom Behavior Management

Let’s be real, classroom management in kindergarten and first grade is a skill all its own. Between the wiggles, blurting, and constant questions, you need strategies that are simple, consistent, and actually work with young learners.

classroom management

Whether you’re a brand new teacher or just looking to refresh your approach, here are 10 tried-and-true tips for managing a K–2 classroom with less stress and more smiles:

1. Keep Expectations Clear and Simple

Use kid-friendly language and visuals to teach rules. Model them, practice them, and review them often, especially during transitions or after breaks.

2. Use Positive Reinforcement Often

Catch them being good! A quick “I love how you’re sitting criss-cross!” can go a long way in setting the tone.

3. Try a Whole-Class Reward System

Encourage teamwork with a system like the Marble Jar. Add a marble for great behavior, completed routines, or compliments from specials teachers. Once the jar is full—celebrate!

classroom management marble jar

4. Give Students a Visual Reminder for Blurting

Talking out of turn is super common in early grades. Try using Blurt Beans as a gentle, visual way to help students become more aware of how often they’re talking without raising their hand.

blurt bean jar classroom management

5. Create a Calm-Down Corner

A cozy space with calming tools can help students regulate big emotions. Teach how and when to use it so it becomes a tool, not a time-out.

6. Build Classroom Community Early On

Morning meetings, team-building games, and kindness read-alouds help students feel safe and supported, essential for good behavior.

7. Use Visual Schedules

Knowing what’s coming next helps students feel secure and reduces anxiety that often leads to acting out. Check out this one! 

visual schedule for classroom management

8. Try Desk Pets for Individual Incentives

Kids LOVE these! Desk Pets are a fun way to reward responsibility and kindness. Students “earn” accessories or habitats for their pets through positive behavior.

desk pets for kids classroom management

9. Practice Transitions Like You Practice Routines

Play music, use a timer, or challenge students to transition before the song ends. Make it fun and consistent!

10. Be Consistent (Even When You’re Tired)

The real magic of classroom management? Following through. Consistency helps students feel safe, and know that your words have meaning.

✨ Want ready-to-use tools to support your classroom management? Click here to check out these favorites! 

For more classroom tips, check out my post here! 

How to Prevent the Summer Slide in Elementary Students

Teaching Tips

The countdown to summer is on! While students (and let’s be honest—teachers!) are excited for a break, we also know how important it is to keep young minds active during the summer months.

Without regular practice, students can lose some of the valuable skills they gained during the school year. This learning loss, often called the “summer slide”, can make the transition into the next grade level more difficult for both students and teachers.

The good news? With just a little review each week, students can retain what they’ve learned and stay on track for success.

summer slide

Here are a few simple ways to help prevent the summer slide:

1. Encourage Real-Life Learning

Summer is the perfect time for hands-on learning! Encourage families to involve their children in everyday activities like cooking, gardening, or grocery shopping. Measuring ingredients, counting items, and reading labels all build real-world math and literacy skills.

2. Promote Daily Reading

A little reading goes a long way. Help families set up a simple routine because just 10–15 minutes of reading each day makes a big difference. Suggest fun options like library trips, reading challenges, or themed book lists to keep things fresh.

3. Send Home Engaging Practice Packs

One of the easiest ways to help students stay sharp is to send home an end-of-year review packet. These Summer Review Packets  for elementary students are filled with quick, engaging activities that reinforce key math and literacy skills.

Each packet is:
✅ Grade-level specific
✅ Easy to print and send home
✅ Designed for independent work- perfect for families!

summer packets to prevent the summer slide

They also include a variety of fun formats like cut-and-paste pages, reading passages, number sense review, and writing prompts to keep students interested while they review.

4. Make It a Challenge

Turn summer review into a game! Encourage students to complete a certain number of pages per week or create a summer learning bingo board. You could even offer a small prize if they bring their completed packet back in the fall.

Summer doesn’t have to mean sliding backward. With the right tools and a little encouragement, your students can hold onto everything they’ve learned and come back ready to learn more.

🎉 Want to make it easy? Grab the Summer Review Packet Bundle here 

For more summer activities, check out my post here! 

How to Make Guided Reading Easier and More Effective for K-2 Students

Reading, Teacher's Pay Teachers

If guided reading feels overwhelming, you’re not alone! Between different reading levels, small group management, and trying to plan meaningful activities, it can be a lot. You want your students to grow their reading skills, but prepping for every book and every group can quickly eat up your planning time.

The good news? It doesn’t have to be that way! With the right tools and routines, guided reading can become one of the most effective and enjoyable parts of your day for both you and your students!

guided reading

Here are a few simple ways to make guided reading time easier to manage and more impactful for your learners:

1. Use activities that work with ANY book

One of the biggest time-savers is using flexible resources that can be used with whatever books you already have. That’s why I created the Guided Reading Activities for Any Book – Reading Blocks MEGA BUNDLE. It includes printable and digital reading activities that can be used with fiction or nonfiction books at any level. No more hunting for leveled worksheets or scrambling to find matching resources — just grab a book and go!

2. Keep your small group time structured and consistent

Our kiddos thrive on routines. When they know what to expect during small groups, they can focus better and grow more confident. The Reading Blocks system helps establish a clear structure for guided reading time. You can rotate through vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and more — all using the same easy-to-follow format. Once students get the hang of it, things run so much smoother.

3. Target multiple reading skills in guided reading without extra planning

With over 150 pages of reading activities, this bundle covers everything from making predictions to retelling, summarizing, comparing texts, vocabulary building, and more. Plus, many of the activities are open-ended, so you can use them again and again with different books. It’s perfect for differentiation and easy to adapt for your students’ needs.

Ready to make your guided reading time stress-free?

My Reading Blocks Bundle is your all-in-one solution for guided reading in kindergarten through second grade! Whether you’re working with beginning readers or more advanced students, this resource helps you make the most of your small group time, without hours of prep! Just choose a book, print (or pull up the digital version), and teach!

👉 Grab the Guided Reading Activities for Any Book – Reading Blocks Bundle here!

For more reading activity ideas, check out my post here!