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!

Using Birthdays At School to Create Positive Classroom Culture

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Squarehead Teachers

Birthdays can be distracting at school. But if you play your cards right, you can use birthdays to create a positive classroom culture. By focusing on positive characteristics of the birthday kid, you can allow for natural discussions on topics such as friendship, being polite, following directions, etc. I’ve got a simple page we use to acknowledge a birthday kid’s positive traits. I start by writing mine for the whole class to see (using the document camera). I talk about something the child does well, and praise them for it (subtly reminding the rest of the class of that expectation). Then I have each student complete the page for that student as well. I challenge them to use a vocab word (from the current week or past) in their writing and only let them do the picture AFTER they’re done writing.

Click here to download the full size PDF: I like ____ because

Click here to check out my other thoughts about celebrating birthdays at school.

Color Coding with Highlighter Tape

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Squarehead Teachers

I received free products from Oriental Trading Company in exchange for sharing my thoughts on this blog.

I am teaching 6^th grade and I have been assigned two different classes this year. It is pretty tricky to track each class and keep them straight. I decided to color code each class to help me keep track of them each. I colored one red and one blue. To help me easily keep track of papers, I use highlighter tape from the Oriental Trading Company. The tape is colored but you can see through it. I can write things and put the tape on top of it. It has been a life saver as I look at paperwork, class lists, and general color coding. The highlighter tape has four colors (red, blue, green, orange), so you could even use this tape to track ability grouping, or below, approaching, proficient, and advanced levels in any subject. I recommend this to any teacher who has multiple classes or tracks data.

And Then There Were Two!

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Squarehead Teachers

I’m super excited to announce that my sister, Lauralee, will be joining Squarehead Teachers! She’s got lots of teaching experience, including dual immersion in Spanish. She’s written curriculum for various groups and will be a fabulous addition to this blog!

Guest Post: Track the Weather with Weather Charts

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Squarehead Teachers

Always changing and never predictable, weather makes a fascinating study for inquisitive young minds. Conduct a three-part study of the microclimate of your backyard, complete with charts on temperature, rainfall, and observed weather. Not only will your little meteorologist learn a lot about local temperature trends and rainfall frequency, he’ll also get some good practice in data collection, graphing, and how to describe his observations.

What You Need:

3 sheets of light colored poster board
Ruler or straight edge
Markers
Outdoor thermometer
Clear plastic cup
Weather stickers (optional)

What You Do:

Ask your child to draw a large graph on each sheet of poster board. He’ll use one graph to track temperature, one to track rainfall, and one to record the weather (sunny, partly cloudy, etc.). Have him title each graph accordingly. Example titles: “June Rainfall,” “June Temperatures,” and “June Weather.”
Before starting the study, help him figure out what kind of graph would best fit each chart. Ask him to think about the kind of data he’ll be collecting for each chart and how he’ll report that data. If he has trouble choosing, suggest a bar graph for the rainfall chart, a line graph for the temperature chart, and a simple table for the weather chart.
Prepare the rain collection cup. Help him clearly label the clear plastic cup with half inch dashes to make it easier to measure the rain each day.
Now conduct the study. Place the thermometer in the yard or directly outside the house where it will get accurate readings. At the same time each day for one month, have your child read the temperature on the thermometer and record it on his graph.
For the rainfall study, ask him to set the plastic cup in an open space away from any awnings or overhangs. Each day it rains, ask him to check his rain collection cup and record how many inches of rain fell that day on the rainfall chart.
For the weather study, encourage him to observe the weather each morning and draw what he sees (sunny, partly cloudy, cloudy, rainy, windy, etc.).
At the end of the month, look over his completed weather charts and talk about how the weather varied over the course of the month and how he thinks the weather this month compares to weather in other months.

The study doesn’t have to end here! Make weather charts for subsequent months for a more in-depth study of local weather patterns.

(Post by Greg from Education.com)

Sight Words Graphing

Posted on April 11, 2017 by Squarehead Teachers

There’s nothing like killing 2 birds with one stone! I feel like this printable does that, so I’m pretty jazzed. First, kids read the sight words (clearly a win!), then they use the quantity of each word to make a simple graph (win-win!). Might be a good whole class activity or a page to send home and do as a “parent-student” practice. It’s very similar to the page I made for St. Patrick’s Day! Enjoy!

Let’s connect! Catch me on Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter! 🙂

Poetry Review Graphic Organizer

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Squarehead Teachers

Confession… I’m not crazy about poetry. I usually prefer stories. Sometimes I feel like teachers go way overboard in dissecting poetry. This graphic organizer guides my poetry reviews. We go over enough that the kids think about the poem, but we’re not beating a dead horse. Maybe you’ll find it useful too. Enjoy!

Click here to download the full size PDF: poetry-review-graphic-organizer

Like social media? Me too! Let’s connect on Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter!

6 No-Prep April Fools Day Pranks For Teachers

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Squarehead Teachers

I’m bummed that April Fools Day 2017 falls on a Saturday. But if you’re one of those teachers who still has to pull a prank on your students, here are some ideas I’ve found. Also check out my ideas from previous years!

No Prep

Make a word search that has none of the words in it. Or, for the no-prep version, use mine! Click here to download: April Fools Word Search.

Ask for an important assignment, form or permission slip from last week that you never assigned. (source)

Talk but don’t say anything! Move your lips like you are talking. See how long you can keep going (don’t laugh!). You can do that on April Fools Day, or the day before. Then on April Fools Day, hand out a pop quiz or a crazy hard assignment on what you “said.” (source)

“[I] put a sign in my door that said please use other door. THERE ISN’T ANOTHER DOOR! Lol they loved it!” -Reader, Tami H.

Some Prep

“I often play Bingo with my Spanish I students as a vocabulary review. Instead of each student having a different card, I made enough copies of one card and then gave them all the same card. It took them a while to catch on, but when they did, it was quite amusing!” – Anonymous Reader

“I usually point out a running course for them that will take FOREVER to complete and then say they have to finish in 3 minutes. As soon as they take off running I yell, “April Fools!” – Reader, TeacherTim (source)

What have you done to prank your students? Comment below (no sign-in required)!

Let’s connect! Catch me on Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter! 🙂

Equal or Unequal Parts – Math Printable

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Squarehead Teachers

The concept of equal is critical to kids understanding of so many things in math. Here is a simple page I made to reinforce this concept. In addition to the concept, it also helps kids learn the vocabulary. The key is on page 2 of the PDF. Thanks for checking out my blog!