Summer Memories Writing Project

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

One of the best ways to preserve memories is to write them down. Help your students preserve a fun summer time memory be encouraging them to write it down. Encourage them to focus on details that help make the story rich. Motivate your students by allowing them to share their written memory with you, the class or other students. Here’s the free printable worksheet that goes with this activity. There are 2 versions (one provides space for your kids to draw a picture, and the other doesn’t). Click the links below to see the PDF: Summer Memories- draw own picture or Summer Memories- with picture.

Conflict Resolution Ideas

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

I saw this conflict resolution page up in a classroom and thought it had some good ideas:

Soil as a Helper

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

Soil As A Helper STICKER

A friend of mine recently requested this printable/foldable. Here’s what she says about it: “This is a graphic organizer that students use to put the uses of soil. Students draw or write in each box a use. The sides fold so it’s similar to a brochure. This type of handout could work well also with vocabulary terms. For example, put the terms on the outside. On the inside, put the definitions.”

Click here for the free printable PDFs:
Soil As A Helper
Soil As A Helper – with border

Octagon-Octopus

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

I was recently working with a student to help them remember shape words (quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon, etc). When we got to “octagon,” we somehow came up with this drawing and it seemed to really click with him. So I snapped a (rather lame) picture of our drawing in hopes that this idea might also help another student out there somewhere.

How do you help your students remember these shape names?

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!

Cinco de Mayo Activities for Kids

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

Let me first just state this before showing you the crafts I found that I like: Cinco de Mayo is NOT the Mexican Independence Day. The Mexican Independence day is September 16. Click here to view my worksheet about the history of Cinco de Mayo.

Ok, here are some fun crafts for Cinco de Mayo:

Make tissue paper flowers

Craft this quick pinata sun-catcher!

Fold an origami Cinco de Mayo doll!

Learn the days of the week in Spanish

Cool Reading Corner

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

A teacher friend in Utah snapped this cool photo of a first grade classroom’s reading corner. How cool!

Have you seen cool classrooms? Get permission from the teacher and send me a photo!

Be sure to check out my second giveaway! Two lucky readers will each get $20.00 worth of your favorite downloadable “nerdly fun & educational games” from Nerd in the Brain! Also check out Nerd in the Brain’s monthly freebie!