Winter Time: Teacher Tips and Freebies

Hi, I'm Michelle from Teach123.  I am always looking for new ideas to try. One of my favorite discoveries is reuseable ice cubes.  They can be used so many different COOL ways!

I love the colorful reuseable ice cubes like the ones in the picture above.  Give each team a colorful ice tray. When the ice tray is full the team earns a special prize such as:

• Use special crayons, gel pens, or markers
• 10 minutes of computer time
• Shoes off during work time

Each team may fill their ice tray at different times and that is OK, because if one team wins, the other teams can continue filling theirs.  When one team finishes; they begin again.  This helps maintain the motivation of the teams.  They know they can eventually win, if they all work together.  Each time a team wins, it will motivate the other teams to do better so they can be the next winner.

Use the ice cube in your estimation jar or in your marble jar.  Tell your class you are looking for "cool behavior" in the hallway.  If you see a "penguin or polar bear" in the hallway - because who else lives in a cool place - tell that student who is acting like a penguin or polar bear that he or she may put an ice cube in the jar.

Inside recess is one of teachers' least favorite days in the winter months.  Why not try a couple of winter themed activities during your next inside recess?  I found the white puffy ball at Target's Dollar Spot last year.  I think it was supposed to be a snowball dog toy.  I decided to repurpose it for a game like Hot Potato only call it Too Cold to Hold.  Play it the same way as Hot Potato.  The class sits in a circle. One person begins with the object (snowball).  The music begins and the person passes the object to the person sitting next to him or her.  That person passes it to the next person and it continues until the music stops.  The person holding the object when the music stops is out.  Continue doing this until there is one person left and this person is the winner.  Play winter themed music such as:

Kids' Music:

• Frosty the Snowman
• Let it Snow
• Frozen soundtrack

There are also songs that adults know with themes of snow, ice, and winter such as:

• Ice, Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice
• Hazy Shade of Winter by The Bangles
• Cold as Ice by Foreigner

The black hat can be repurposed with a game of "Doggie, Doggie, Who has your bone?".  Only with this game it is "Frosty, Frosty, who has your hat?"

Are you looking for some winter themed lessons?  My Owly friends have some freebies that you will love.  Click on the pictures below and follow their stores, too!  Don't forget to leave feedback on TPT.

An InLinkz Link-up

You are invited to hop over to my blog.  I love to share tips and free stuff.

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Leaving Center Games at Your Tables for the Early Finishers!

Leaving Center Games at Your Tables for the Early Finishers!

Hello everyone,

Fern from Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas here again to share a little tip or two to help make your job easier. Today I want to share how leaving center games at each groups' tables helped me with those students that finish their work early and might need a challenge or two before the next transition. 

The picture above is one of my freebies from TPT, so you can download it too. I like making multiple copies of the center, placing them on colored file folders and then leaving them in the center of the group table. 

If, like above, you have a red group, a blue group and a purple group, etc. using your groups' colors for the file folder center makes it easier for the students to know where to return the center and easier for you to file them away, and take them out again when you want to spiral that skill.

By keeping the games at the table, there is no movement, no interruption of the teacher's small group time, no "Where do I go?" What do I do?" When the student is done working, they know to pick a center, usually one of five skills, from the center of the table. I do spend a few weeks at the beginning of the year teaching the expectations of the THOSE center games. 

1. All work MUST be done before you select a file folder.

2. Two people may work together if they are both done and use a low whisper.

3. Everything must be cleaned up and placed back into the file folder center before the next transition.

I love having all these hands-on center games in my classroom. During parent conferences, I love to show the parents of my higher level children what I'm doing to differentiate and motivate my earlier finishers. Right there...right on the table, sometimes having the parents ask the child if they've finished all the ones currently on the table....perfect, instant, immediate feedback for both the parent and the teacher!

If you are new to teaching, or maybe just to reading our Owl-Ways blog, and you need to acquire some center games, click here to see all my freebies at TeacherspayTeachers.

Click here if you would like to visit my blog to download many more center games and teaching resources!

Follow me to be notified of when I publish new resources and freebies!

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Behavior Management Tip plus FREE Task Cards

Happy Holiday!  It's Michelle from Teach123.  This month I thought I would share a tip to help your students during work time, give you a strategy to use with your wigglers, plus share a little holiday gift.

This time of year can be so stressful for you and your students.  The change in weather frequently means inside recess, two words a teacher hates to hear.  Students are often off schedule at home and school because of holiday activities, and by this time of year, our bag of tricks is running low.

Have you heard of a sensory diet?  If you have year-round wigglers, you will want to read more about this topic so you can add sensory diet strategies to your bag of tricks.  I wrote a blog post that gives tips and has a freebie for you. 

One sensory diet strategy I like to use is a stamping station. Stamping stations are a great antidote to the wiggles, whether it is seasonal wiggles or the year-round variety.  Set up a stamping station near your desk with a stamp pad and stamp.  As a student completes part of his/her assignment, he or she will go to the stamping station to put a stamp on his/her work or a chart. You can set this up different ways.  

• Time increments:  Each time your student works 10 minutes; he/she will take his/her assignment to the stamping station and put a stamp on which problem he/she has completed in that amount of time.  Go back to his/her desk and work 10 more minutes.  At the end of 10 minutes, go to the stamping station to stamp the last problem he/she completed.  This is great for RTI!  You can use different amounts of time.  In the beginning, I use a small amount of time and gradually increase the length.  This is a great strategy to use with math assignments.
• Charts:  Use a chart when your students' assignment is going to be displayed in the hallway or for when you don't want a stamp on the actual assignment.  With a chart, you can use a stamp, sticker, or paper-hole punch.  You would be amazed at how exciting a paper-hole punch can be to your little wigglers. The two charts below are examples of charts that would work for this.  These charts are included in my Christmas Place Value Task Card packet.  This packet is FREE.

Do you need some more behavior management tips?  I have written quite a few posts with ideas and freebies for my readers.  Click on the bag below to check out my bag of tricks.

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.

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