Teacher Appreciation Door

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

I like how this door includes a picture of each kid dancing, since dance is the theme of the door. That could make for a really cute bulletin board also. Choose a verb and take a picture of each kid doing the verb. Use the photos as the decoration on your bulletin board.

This also reminds me of how important it is for teachers and their students to show gratitude to others. I used to allow my kids to make thank-you cards for staff and teachers as fast-finisher activities sometimes. It’s so important to teach upcoming generations about gratitude. Hopefully we are each doing our part to show thanks ourselves and teaching younger people to be thankful.

Super Hero Classroom Theme Ideas

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

Another friend of mine just did this door for teacher appreciation week. I have creative and crafty friends, I know. 🙂 This made me think of how cool it would be to have a super hero theme or bulletin board in your classroom. You could use phrases like “super heroes in training” or “It’s going to be a super year!” or “It’s been a super year!” How awesome would it be to have a bulletin board for open house with pictures of students in masks and capes with the words “Welcome to our super class!” !?!? Anyway, you get the idea…

Check out more great super hero themed ideas on The Bow Tie Teacher!

Adorable Owl Classroom Door

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

My friend recently made this door for her child’s teacher. I’m absolutely in love with it! I love the kids’ pictures, the colorful owls and the overall welcoming feel. I know this is something a parent did for teacher appreciation week (“Thanks for making us wiser” or “whooo’s our favorite teacher”), but teachers can use this same idea in their classroom, or to welcome their new students at the beginning of school. You could change the words to say “Owl set and ready to learn!” or “whooooo’s ready for a great year?!”

Remember, tomorrow’s the last day to enter my second giveaway!

Characters and Setting Posters

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

I saw these posters in a first grade classroom and thought their simplicity made them effective. And they’re pretty darn cute! Click here to view this same teacher’s main ideas vs details poster.

Sorry this one turned out blurry!

What Did You Learn Today Poster

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

This idea came from a first grade teacher. She’s got a laminated poster (with a bunch of blank space on it) on her wall. Everyday, the class reviews things they learned that day. She’s got the students in a rotation schedule so everyone gets to be the scribe. The students like writing on the poster and it’s a great end-of-the-day review. Here’s her poster:

Main Idea vs. Details Literacy Poster

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

Allison (1st grade teacher) recently submitted this photo of her main ideas vs. details literacy poster. I absolutely love it! My favorite part is how she uses a picture as an example. I’m thinking I’ll make some sort of activity just like this. For example, I might show my students a picture of a house. Then I would ask them about the main idea (“a house”) and the details (“windows, door, roof”). If I ever get around to making a worksheet of this, I’ll post it. Thanks Allison!

Effective Bulletin Boards for Your Classroom

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

I saw this idea in an upper grade classroom and thought it was pretty cool. It’s a bulletin board about the things a good reader does: C R A F T

Comprehension: I understand what I read
Response to Text: I respond with thought and detail
Accuracy: I can read a variety of words
Fluency: I can read with accuracy and expression
Text Features: I understand and utilize text features

The teacher focuses on a reading skill and makes anchor charts that go with it. The anchor chart goes on the bulletin board to be referred to later.

This poster is an example of how students should do their math work. The poster shows how students should do their math work: specific heading, numbered problems, write problems left to right in rows rather than columns and the answers are circled. It’s a great way to help students remember what they need before turning in a paper. In addition, it’s a great reminder of how to do some basic math algorithms (in case your students forget).

Get-To-Know-You Math Activity

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

I recently saw this idea and thought it was really cool! At the beginning of the year, students make a poster introducing themselves using numbers! Shoot, you could do this activity at any point in the year, not just the start of the year. For example they might use shoe size, weight, height, number of siblings, birthday, class number, number of pets they’ve owned, etc. Here comes the challenge (for upper grades): then students use sticky tabs to cover the actual numbers (written in standard form) and instead write an equation. See the examples below:

Then display the posters and see if kids can figure out who is who. This is especially fun if kids have completed the poster as a homework assignment (so kids don’t see them making it). Either way, it’s a great way to build number sense and reinforce the idea that a number can be written many, many ways. Enjoy!