Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt – Letters

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Squarehead Teachers

So many of us are stuck at home right now during the COVID-19 pandemic, that I thought I’d make an easy “stay at home activity” (even though you can definitely do this in a classroom too!). Print one copy of this page per kid. Then look for an item that starts with the letter on the egg (little ones may need help from an adult). Once you’ve found something that starts with that letter, color in the shape the letter is in (the rest of the egg can be colored at the end). For older kids, consider having them write down the item name on the back of the page or in the margins. You can also have kids cut out the egg and decorate if further if you want to make this activity more in-depth. Stay healthy, everyone and happy Easter!

Click here to download the PDF: Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt – Letters

Close Reading Trick – Side Loading Dry Erase Sleeves!

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Squarehead Teachers

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

Close reading is all the rage right now. My team and I have read several books about how to make it happen effectively. We specifically focused on the sign posts for close reading book. I recommend this book for 4-6 grade teacher. After reading about how powerful close reading can be, I wanted to have my students mark up their pages with questions, comments, and symbols. I wasn’t very successful though because writing in textbooks is a big no no! People suggested sheet protectors and all kinds of things, but they don’t work with textbooks unless you rip out the pages.

I have finally found a solution! (Que the applause!!)

SIDE LOADING dry erase sleeves!I found these horizontal sleeves from Oriental Trading Company that slide on SIDEWAYS onto the page. This is perfect because the kids can do all the marking with a dry erase marker, and then turn in the sleeve so I can look at it later. It also leaves the textbook in tact and bound. I think this is a major win-win! Click here to check them out.

Please comment below if you’ve got other close reading tips! I’m always on the lookout!

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!

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Get to Know Your Reading Buddy/Neighbor

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Squarehead Teachers

My Neighbor sticker When I was in elementary school, my class was always partnered with another class so we could do “Reading Buddies.” My school always partnered a younger grade class with an upper grade class so we could get together and read each month. This provided us a unique opportunity to read to/listen to another student. Each kid was assigned a kid from the other class and we were partners the whole year. We occasionally did a craft or something with our reading buddies as well. Anyway, it was fun to get to know my partner as the year went on.

My Buddy sticker

This inspired me to make 2 little “get to know you” pages that teachers can use within their own classroom or between classrooms of students in an arrangement like “Reading Buddies.

Click here for the free printable: Get to Know Your Buddy and Get to Know Your Neighbor. Enjoy!

Text Features Graphic Organizer

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Squarehead Teachers

Check out the text features graphic organizer I made for We Are Teachers:

Text Feature preview Click here to go to the post on We Are Teachers and download the free printable.

Write On Plastic Pocket Charts

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

Check out this cool idea a reader submitted. It’s simple, but genius!

If you use a pocket chart to hold vocabulary words, you can diagram them right on the pocket! Use an overhead marker or a whiteboard marker to diagram words onto the clear front pocket of the chart! This way, you can leave it up for the week while you’re focusing on a specific principle, and you don’t have to write on the word strip.

Have any other great ideas? Send them to me (squareheadteachers at gmail dot com) and I’ll post them on this blog! Thanks!

Reading Groups Named After Pets

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

I’ve heard all kinds of debate about whether to name leveled groups using colors, animals, etc. One year, my guided reading groups were all animals, which I didn’t think would be a problem. But I had a fellow teacher criticize my naming of groups because “6th graders are too old for animal groups.”

A friend showed me this idea that I really like. The reading groups were named after pets that the teacher had owned over the years. One of the pets was a dog named coco. The group wasn’t called “the Cocos”, but were called “Coco’s Team” or “Team Coco” so that the students were team members rather than animals. (Since the theme was pets, the teacher also chose a weekly “Top Dog Reader” to spotlight good work or improvement.)

I thought this would be a clever way to help your students get to know you while helping with the group naming situation. I’m definitely trying this in the future.

Have a great idea? Send it to me (squareheadteachers at gmail dot com) and I’ll post it so other teachers can benefit. Thanks!

Journal Tabs

Posted on August 9, 2014 by Squarehead Teachers

There are many ways to organize subject journal. Here’s one way to separate a spiral notebook into sections, or a single notebook into two different subjects.

Journal Tab 3

Journal Tab 2

Here’s a sample of how you can format your page: anchor chart tab for math journal. You can type whatever you want on the tab. Print and cut into strips. Glue anchor chart/show my work tab in middle of spiral notebook math journal. When you are making an anchor chart with the class, have each student copy what you are doing into their journal. Or when you pass out math definitions, examples, charts, or whatever that you want students to glue in their journal for future reference, have them start writing and gluing at the beginning of the book. When the student is just showing work or writing different ways to write a number or story problems, etc., have them go to tab and then start that sort of work there. That way, your student has the more pertinent information in the front of the journal and it will be easier for students to use their journals as a reference.