Back to School Freebies and Ideas!

It's back to school time!  I am so excited to start another school year with so many possibilities!  I am moving back to first after looping up with an awesome group who is now on to 3rd grade!  First grade is an opportunity for sooo much growth.  There is such a huge difference from first to second grade and when you loop back down you have to make so many adjustments.  

I created this FREE coloring page to help ease those first moments as students enter your room.  They color as you deal with the first moment craziness!!! It has Preschool through 6th grade pages available...  just print and done!

These FREE supply labels help get you organized as student supplies come in... They are great for back to school night or the first day of school...

Also I have this back to school packet with tons of activities  to keep students engaged and active!

Grandparent's Literacy Night

Every year our school has a Grandparent's Breakfast. It is organized chaos. Every. Single. Year. We have tried different things each year. Grandparents don't pay, Grandparent's pay, every staff hand on deck, different grade levels coming at different times, on and on. But every year it is chaos.

This year our school is displaced. Our K-1 is in an old school that closed a few years ago. Our 2-3 is at a church about 10 blocks away, and our 4-5 is at another church about a mile away. This displacement had us thinking how would we do Grandparent's Breakfast? Everyone starts their day at the K-1 building then load transfer buses and go to their locations for the day. How were we going to house an extra 200 kids in this building for breakfast? So I suggested we do a Grandparent's Literacy Night. We had different stations for the Grandparent's to do with their Grandkids. Here are the stations we had for Grandparent's Literacy Night:

This idea came from a friend of mine. Grandparents and grandkids fill this out together. Grandparents answer the questions for when they were in elementary school. Then the kids answer the questions for themselves. My mother-in-law loved doing this with her granddaughter! Here are their answers:

At this station grandparents and grandkids see who can make the most words using the word grandparents. I printed and laminated the letters for them to use. 

I thought of this as a quick easy thing for kids to make. This ended up being everyones favorite station! I have to admit...I think I colored about 5 myself. As we were setting up, several teachers also made some bookmarks. 

I had a teacher at this station laminating the bookmarks for the kids as they finished them.

We always happen to have Grandparents Breakfast during Book Fair week. I know...great idea on our part. Grandparents can't say no...especially when its books!!

We also served cookies and punch along with our event. A wonderful time was had by all. Several Grandparents commented that they like this better than the breakfast because they got to spend more time with their grandkids. One even said their was much less waiting! All around we think it was a great night. Here is a link to all of these things for FREE!!!! Grandparents Literacy Night Freebie

CVC Sound Boxes Freebie

Sound boxes are great  activities for beginning readers and writers!  They are pretty simple, to the point sound boxes that:
~help students segment the sounds in a word
~increase phonological awareness
~help students learn to decode words
~reinforce the short vowel sounds

You can make a set for each kid in your class, just a few sets to put out for early finishers, or use them as a station.  I spend time modeling how to use the sound boxes.  Modeling the direction and how to "push" the sounds with a spacer are important so that students get the most out of the activity.

I number each card in each set on the back with a flair pen before I laminate.  This helps keep kids from getting them mixed up when they are working together or when a loose card shows up we know which set it goes with.  

Finally, I just place the cards in a baggie with an eraser and dry erase marker.  My students keep them in their rainbow drawers.  This way they can pull them out when they finish something and need some meaningful independent work.  Each week as we learn new vowels, I add the new vowel but leave a few of the vowels we have worked on in the past in the baggie.

You can grab up the "short a" version of the boxes HERE for free!  

The whole set can be grabbed up by clicking HERE!