Back to School Bus Bulletin Board

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Back to School Bus- 1 It’s always helpful to get to know your students at the beginning of the year. Here’s one bulletin board idea that will help each student express themselves and be a part of the classroom. First, have the students make their bus (using the directions in this post and printed on the page below the bus).

Click here for the free printable: Back To School Bus Bulletin Board

Decorate your bus according to these directions:

Draw each member of your family inside the bus. Make sure to draw yourself in the first window. You may need to put more than one family member in a window if your family is large. Use colors to decorate the people.
Write your name inside the stripe in the middle of the bus.
Draw each of the following things in the bottom section of the bus:
1. Your favorite food
2. Your favorite school subject
3. Your favorite thing to do outside of school
4. What you want to be when you grow up
If you prefer ice cream instead of cake, draw stripes in the wheels. If you prefer cake instead of ice cream, draw dots in the wheels. Use your favorite color.
Color in the top section of the bus (above the stripe and around the windows) using your favorite color.

Once all the students finish, have each student present their bus to the rest of the class. If your class is large, limit each student to 1 minute to share or allow students to only share their bus with those near them. Then put each bus up on a bulletin board and call it something clever (“Mrs. Smith’s Superstar Fleet”, “Travelling Down the Road to Success”, or something…).

Clothes Pin Voting

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Many teachers are required to take a lunch count in the morning. This can be a headache. Here’s an idea that will help save you time and energy. Assign each student a clothes pin (put their name or student number on both sides). Then print off this clothes pin voting board PDF (best on card stock or heavy paper), cut it out and laminate it.

Place this page somewhere in your room where kids can place their vote each day. Since the sheet is laminated, you can use a whiteboard marker to write each day’s options at the top. If choices are repeated often, some teachers may prefer to make a little card for each option and laminate it for re-use. You can attach these little cards to the voting board with a paper clip.

Instruct students to fill the board with clothes pins from the TOP FIRST. This way, it will be very easy for you to use the numbers on the board to get the total for each option.

This board can also be used for a variety of voting/graphing activities.

End of the Year Awards (44 Printable Certificates)

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

end of the year awards Sticker

Many teachers give out classroom award certificates at the end of the year. But there’s always those few kids who are hard to find an award for. And who has time to come up with gobs of awards that fit their students. Well, look no more! Here are 44 (yes, 44) pre-made award certificates for you to print off, fill out and distribute! If you plan on teaching for multiple years, it might save you time in the long run to print off a set and sign them (your
name only, not the date or grade) and save them in a folder so you don’t have to find them and sign them next year.

Here’s the PDF version (click to download: End of the Year Awards Collection) so you can print them all at once. I’ve also included a End of the Year Awards- Tracking Sheet for you to write down who gets which award in case the end of the year gets a little hectic. This is what the awards look like:

Super Scientist Award

Personal note here… these are so much more fun to fill out for your students when you’re writing with these Gelly Roll Stardust pens from back in the day! (Yes, I found them on Amazon!! They still exist!)

Click the picture to grab a pack!

One teacher requested a blank version of this certificate so you can write in your own award title. Such a good idea. Here it is:

And since I’m a “pen junkie,” I’ll share with you my other favorite for writing certificates… METALLIC sharpies! They make everything so fancy!

Click the photo to check them out!

Click here to check out my collection of upper grade “Hashtag Awards” (46 printable classroom awards). Here’s a sample:

Hashtag Award 1

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The Poor Teacher’s Classroom Rug

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Classrooms need carpet space for the whole class to sit and learn during various activities. One challenge with this (besides finding space in your classroom) is getting kids to have their own space in a place where they can listen and learn best. Many teachers have found it helpful to use a large rug with individual squares for each student. But what if your budget doesn’t allow for such a purchase? Let me introduce the poor teacher’s classroom carpet!

Just go to the store and purchase different colors of duct tape and make one yourself! You can choose the colors, number of rows and size of each square. Be sure your school’s facilities policies allow the use of tape on the floor before doing this.

Classroom Coupons UPDATED

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with good ideas for classroom coupons. So I’ve searched for the 20 best coupon ideas I could find. Here they are (in no particular order):

Wear a hat
Sit at the teacher’s desk
Sit in a special chair at your desk
Use a pen
Piece of candy
Choose your classroom job
Sit with a buddy
Bring a stuffed animal
Read a book to the class
5 bonus points
Skip one night’s homework
Positive note to parents
10 minutes free computer time
Late work pass
Bring a show and tell item
Lunch with the teacher
Choose a song to play during end-of-the-day clean up time
Choose your spot in line
Go to lunch 2 minutes early
1 free word on a spelling test

Here’s a sheet for you to use for your classroom Coupons. I recommend printing out this page and then writing your desired rewards on the page before copying it. You can write your initials on the “signed” line or just use a special teacher stamp to make sure the coupon is authentic. When I taught sixth grade, as a matter of principle, I never signed them ahead of time. If a kid chose a coupon as their prize from the prize box, I would write their name on it and sign it then.

Click here for the free printable PDF: Classroom Coupons PDF

Desks With No Storage? No Problem!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Sometimes teachers don’t get the desks they’d like. Some teachers prefer tables, others like storage space down the side of the desk, etc. But what happens when you don’t get what you’d like? You just have to make it work. Here’s what one teacher did when she changed schools and ended up with only tables… no storage at all!

Each table has a crate that holds everyone’s folders (color coded by subject). All the supplies (scissors, crayons, etc.) are in different tubs at the back of the room. Backpacks go on chairs, so the kids don’t need cubbies or anything. Things go straight into the backpacks, or they are filed away into these crates. There’s also a crate coordinator, the person at the table who makes sure all the folders are organized and brings the crate to the front and to the table as directed by the teacher.

This teacher told me it’s not ideal obviously, but after practicing routines associated with the crates, it’s a very do-able system now.

Tracking Student Goals

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

One huge part of motivating students to accomplish a goal is to help them track their progress. Here are some ways I’ve seen elementary school teachers track student progress. Submit your photos or ideas to squareheadteachers at gmail dot com.

Tracking reading goals

Tracking reading goals

Tracking multiplication and division timed tests

Tracking reading goals

Tracking math facts

Snarky Poster for Your Classroom UPDATED

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Squarehead Teachers

I loved this phrase, and I love chevron, so why not put them together into a fun poster for your classroom! Free printable poster is formatted to print on a regular 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. Click here for the free printable PDF: Study Maybe snarky poster