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About Squarehead Teachers

Well, I’m a travel loving, cookie eating, bright color obsessed teacher who just can’t get enough of blogging or Photoshop. I’ve taught various grades from Kindergarten to Undergraduate courses in both in the United States and in China, teaching everything from dance and PE to English and math. I come from a family of educators, and believe that all teachers (public, private, charter and home school) are grossly under appreciated and deserve a little extra help. I started my Squarehead Teachers blog in August 2012 with the hope that I can be that extra little help that makes teachers feel a little more loved!

Weekly Homework Trackers/Planners

WeeklyHomeworkTracker STICKEROne of the hardest skills for kids to learn is to keep track of many tasks on various time schedules. Providing students a weekly homework assignment sheet or planner. I’ve made two versions for you to use in your own classroom, or with your own children. I recommend that if you don’t use a planner in your classroom you provide one to your students’ parents for them to use with their families if they’d like. Here they are!

Click here for the free printables:

Weekly Homework Tracker – Horizontal
Weekly Homework Tracker – Vertical

Candy Experiments Book Giveaway

Candy Giveaway STICKER

***This giveaway has ended!***

Announcing my 3rd giveaway! I’m pleased to partner with author Loralee Leavitt! Her books include Candy ExperimentsRoad Tripping, and Candy Experiments 2 (coming in January 2015)!

The Prize: A copy of Loralee’s way fun science book for kids and families, Candy Experiments! This book makes an awesome addition to your classroom collection or to your family’s summer activities bucket list!

Participating is simple! Here’s what you have to do:

  1. Browse the experiments on the Candy Experiments website (www.candyexperiments.com).
  2. Come back here to this post and leave a comment telling me what candy experiment you think would be fun to try! (Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of this post and leave a comment. No sign in required to comment, but if you’re not a WordPress member, please leave your first name and a way to get a hold of you so I can contact you if you win!)

This giveaway ends at midnight (PST) on Monday, June 30, 2014. Don’t wait!

***This giveaway has ended!***

The Fine Print: Participation is optional. Only one entry per person. No purchase is necessary to participate. Available to US participants only. There will be two winners. Winners will be randomly selected. I will email the winners between Tuesday, July 1 – Wednesday, July 2. The winners will have 72 hours to respond and provide me with contact information so I can get their prize to them.  If a winner does not respond within 72 hours, the winner forfeits the prize and another winner will randomly be selected (in which case the new winner will be notified and the same terms apply).  The winners will be announced on this blog once eligibility has been confirmed. This giveaway is solely sponsored by Squarehead Teachers and Loralee Leavitt. It is not affiliated with WordPress or any other sponsor(s). Void where prohibited. If you have additional questions, please contact me!

Back-To-School About Me Character Sketch Project

Back to school about me character sketch sticker

At the beginning of the school year, the teacher and the students all want to get to know each other. Here’s a fun project that will also show you your students’ writing levels. Fill out the boxes on the planning page and then put them together on the second page into a cohesive paragraph. Then have students draw a picture of themselves. Put this up on a bulletin board for back-to-school open house, etc. Have a great school year!

Click here for the printable PDF: Back-to-School About Me Character Sketch

Experimenting with Candy! (Guest Post)

Candy Giveaway STICKER

Giveaway coming later this week!

With summertime fun and sugary snacks providing so many distractions, can your children actually learn anything over the summer?  Yes, they can, if you sneak in some science with fun activities like candy experiments.

Our family created candy experiments when my oldest daughter was four, and wanted to put Nerds in water. Since her first experiment, we have destroyed candy in dozens of ways and learned about chemistry, physics, and nutrition along the way. Here are a few of our favorites.

Melting:  If summertime heat makes your kids complain that they’re going to melt, try melting candy to see what’s inside.  If you microwave Starbursts, you’ll see shiny spots of oil that separate out from the candy. If you microwave chocolate, you might start the blooming process, in which unstable chocolate crystals start to move and separate, causing white cocoa butter “bloom” to form on the outside of the bar.

Cotton Candy Experiments:  Some candy experiments use cotton candy, a summertime staple.  To make cotton candy vanish, dip a puff of cotton candy in water. As capillary action carries water up the network of tiny candy strands, the water dissolves the candy from the bottom up. You can also weigh cotton candy to see how much sugar it really contains–you might be surprised to see that cotton candy is mostly air!

Find Hidden Candy:  You’ll find hidden sugar in all sorts of summer snacks, from popsicles and ice cream bars to “healthy” power bars and sports drinks. To help your kids see how much “hidden candy” they’re eating, read the snack’s nutrition label to see how much sugar it contains. Then weigh candy on a kitchen scale until it matches the weight of the sugar on the label.  Eating the snack would be like eating that amount of candy.

You’ll find more summer learning experiments in our book, Candy Experiments, or at www.candyexperiments.com. Enjoy summer learning!

Loralee Leavitt is the author of Candy Experiments, Road Tripping, and Candy Experiments 2 (coming in January 2015). Follow her candy adventures at www.candyexperiments.com

Grandparents Day Letter Template

Friendly Letter STICKER 1 friendly letter STICKER 2Here’s a friendly letter template I put together recently. It would be perfect to use for Grandparents Day, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. This could be nice final copy paper for your students’ letters. Or it could be for any letter… a thank you letter, a pen pal letter, you name it. It’s pretty basic. Enjoy!

Click here for the free PDF:
Letter to Grandparents 1
Letter to Grandparents 2

 

Dolch Sight Words Flash Cards – Printable

Dolch Sight Words Flash CardsI recently made these Dolch sight words flash cards for pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, second grade and third grade all using Microsoft Word 2013. It’s my new favorite thing! Click below for the front and back to the set you want to download:

Dolch words flash cards – kinder – back
Dolch words flash cards – kinder – front
Dolch words flash cards – kinder 2 – back
Dolch words flash cards – kinder 2 – front 
Dolch words flash cards – 1st grade – back

Dolch words flash cards – 1st grade – front
Dolch words flash cards – 2nd grade – back
Dolch words flash cards – 2nd grade – front
Dolch words flash cards – 3rd grade – back
Dolch words flash cards – 3rd grade – front

Thank You Certificates

Thank You STICKER 1 Thank You STICKER 2

The school year is winding down, and it’s time to thank all those people who’ve helped make this year a success! Here are two printable thank you certificates you and your students can write and present to parents, other teachers and staff who’ve been helpful!  You can also use this during teacher or staff appreciation week.

Click to download the free printable PDFs:
Thank You Certificate
Thank You Certificate 2

Summer Reading Recommendations (End of the Year Book Report)

summer reading STICKERTeachers are always looking to motivate kids to continue reading throughout the summer.  I was pondering this challenge, and the following idea just popped into my head.. so I ran with it. The intention is to have each kid choose a book they read that year and write a “recommendation report” about it. Then they can share their report with the class and try to persuade others to read the book. Hopefully a few kids will be inspired and read something over the summer. But at bare minimum, students can identify classmates who share their same taste in books.

Click here for the free printable PDF:
Summer Reading Recommendation Report
Summer Reading Recommendation Report 2

Click here to view another book report printable. 🙂