Back to School May Designs Giveaway

When it comes time for back to school, one of my favorite things to do it pick out brand new stationary for a fresh start to the year! There's nothing I love more than being able to personalize it too! #Monogrameverything ... am I right? I'm thrilled to be sharing some of my favorite back to school products with you!

I was thrilled when I stumbled upon May Designs a few years ago. Their designs are completely customizable. You can choose the print, font, color, accents and more! They are well known for their "May Books," which can be customized to be a calendar, agenda, notebook, list, planner, and more! However, their stationary is all the rage too! 

This year I chose to go with the notebook. I am always running from meeting to meeting with post-its and it just seemed time to have one central location for all my important information. Since I was designing it for the purpose, I choose the lines. They give you the option to include colored lines, dots, grids or blank pages. 

This print is one of my all time favorites! May Designs recently teamed up with Emily Ley to include her eye catching fresh prints from her own personal planner brand. It was a tough choice between the stripes and pineapples, both are so me! However, the name of the striped print sold me. It's called Happy Stripe!

Lucky me, they also included the Happy Stripe print in the stationary styles. When customizing the stationary, you the option to choose the print, font, color, accents and more as well! I decided to have a plain back with my name at the top. I plan to use these to send notes home to families. However, I am tempted to go back and snag some personalized thank you designs as well! They are too cute!

Hoping to get one of your hands on these beauties for back to school? Shop May Designs here and be sure to enter my giveaway for your coupon code to get a May Book for free!!! In order to enter, visit my Instagram here and follow the entry details. Giveaway runs August 5th-8th 11:59 PM EST. 

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First Day of School Lesson Plans and Activities

The first days back are the most exciting and yet overwhelming days of the year! Empty bulletin boards, a new audience for all your favorite read alouds and of course, all the crafts and activities you've pinned on your "back-to-school" Pinterest board all summer. In full disclosure, I was victim to trying to do it all on the first day but the reality is- you can't! Last year I attempted to try a new back to school method- less is more. I tried slowing down and staying simple with my lesson plans for the first days. Rather than rushing to try to do it all, I made sure to take time to enjoy the small moments that we need to cherish those first few days. I definitely recommend it!!

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. I receive a small income each time someone makes a purchase using some of my links, which helps to support the blog.

I'm sharing with you my short range lesson plans for the first days of first grade and hope you can find some inspiration along the way! I've mapped out the all the read alouds, crafts and activities as well as teaching into the routines and establishing the rules/expectations. It's brief but get's the job done! :)

The first day we spend a lot of time learning and practicing each other's names and doing ice breakers to get to know more about one another. Our focus is on building a community, in addition to reviewing and modeling the rules and procedures. I love to integrate this during our daily morning meeting time. Some examples include graphing our kindergarten teacher and reading/responding to the book "You're Finally Here" with their summer activities (anchor chart idea from Amy over at Step Into 2nd Grade)!





Another activity I do to make the student feel comfortable is one I got from the lovely Cara Carroll over the The First Grade Parade. After reading the book, The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes, I tell a story about "Miss Take" to my students. *Cue the dramatics :)* I share all the mistakes "Miss Take" makes and what she has learned from them. Then I tell them that "Miss Take" is actually me. *Gasp* This encourages your students to not only be okay with making mistakes, but also teaches them how to learn and grow from them.



 Once that is in place and students feel safe and secure, its important to foster the foundation for becoming a life long learner. I find I love to engage my learners first through my love of reading. The best way is to put on your teacher pants and do some of your best read alouds. How spot on is this meme?! It could not be more accurate.

So, choose your favorite author or book series and align them with engaging crafts and book talks. I love to start out with Kevin Henkes books- they are perfect for making connections to hook my kiddos as readers and their messages are perfect for building a classroom culture. His characters are so strong and memorable that we even refer to them as a mentor text throughout the year.

Chrysanthemum is great to explore learning names and Wemberly Worried is the perfect text to make connections! There are so many great resources online to supplement these texts if you are looking for a little something extra.

You can find the books Chrysanthemum here and Wemberly Worried here.  

My personal favorite is this craftivity I got from Amy Lemons over at Step Into 2nd Grade! I tried to find the link to the template but I can't seem to find it! I'm sorry! :( Amy if you see this, hook a girl up! I'd be happy to provide the link. 

I have all the heart eyes for this craft- I love the way they all look hanging up year after year at back to school time. Their responses are always so precious! Take a look at this cutie!

There are so many other great read alouds to build community this time of year. Here are some of my favorites!  Each of them have such a strong and unique message. I love the way the messages go hand in hand with building our classroom rules/promise. If you're looking for ways to integrate them into your plans, refer back to my lesson plans.

Click on the titles below to snag yourself a copy!

You're Finally Here (currently unavailable)

Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun

My Mouth is a Volcano

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon

Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker

Enemy Pie

Recess Queen

First Grade Stinks

First Grade Dropout! 

Also, have I mentioned David Shannon is a genius?! I read these books a few times a year, year after year and I still laugh... every time. Usually the kiddos enjoy this so much that it's the perfect behavior mentor text! After reading, we make this chart and complete one of the fabulous crafts from the Friends in First by Lyndsey over at A Year of Many Firsts about being respectful, responsible, really safe and ready to learn.

These crafts are my go to at the beginning of the year. They truly set the tone for clear expectations in the classroom.

I know adorable, right?! I can't take any of the credit... Lyndsey is amazing and all her products are fabulous. You should go check them out here! I use many of the crafts and printables from that product, as well as many of her themed products all year long. What I love most about these crafts is that above all, they have meaning and purpose. It allows my kiddos to develop a stronger conceptual understanding of the 4 "Rs" (responsible, respectful, really safe and ready to learn) and set goals for how to attain each of our class rules.

Lastly, just before I am ready to start teaching the curriculum, there are two very important content related community building activities I love to do. If your school follows the Responsive Classroom approach to behavior, you'll know this activity very well!

As a class, we spend time thinking about all our "Hopes and Dreams" for the year. I usually give the students some private thinking time before sharing with their neighbor before sharing it out with the class to put on the anchor chart. After I list their ideas, they go to their seats and write/draw out their hope and dream for the year. You can find this printable in in my store here.  After, I place them on colored paper before laminating and hanging them for the start of the year. 

Lastly, before starting Math Workshop I use my Math Workshop Community Building unit to build our community of mathematicians, establish routines and set expectations.  This is the perfect math workshop priming unit before you dive into teaching content.

This resource includes templates to use as anchor charts. When printing, I change the print features to "zoom 200%." This will print the document into 4 pieces, which can be cut and glued to create a larger poster size. 

After we complete them as a class, I laminate and hang them up to reference during our first unit. Often times I reiterate these expectations and lessons throughout the "first six weeks" of school.  You have quite the eye of detail if you notice that the fonts are slightly different. I recently updated this product! :) 

The resource also includes printables to make your very own "Math About Me & My Community" class book. This is the perfect activity for getting to explore real world math, while also getting to know our classmates. 

I hope you found some inspiration for any first days of school lesson plan activities! I'm always looking for any new ideas myself. If you have any you'd like to share, be sure to comment below! :) 

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Hosting a Back to School Night

Back-to-school night can be one of the most nerve wracking events of the school year! There's a classroom full of parents waiting to meet you and you're doing your best to make a great first impression! I'm sharing with you some inspiration and tips to host a stress free back-to-school night.

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. I receive a small income each time someone makes a purchase using some of my links, which helps to support the blog.

TIP 1: PREP WORK

I find that if I do as much prep work in advance as possible, the least amount of stress and pressure I am feeling the day of back-to-school night. Once I get my class list (usually not until the very end of the summer), I am busy updating my files with new names and school years. While I am working in my classroom during the summer, I copy, label, cut and sort for the big night!

Each year I have distributed informational flip-books to families. I find it to be very effective. They are eye catching, while also secretly storing a large amount of important information! I use the flip-book product from Learning In Wonderland. You can find more information on where to purchase it and how to set it up here.  Maria Gavin from Kinder-Craze also has shared a free template to create your own personalized flip-book. You can find more information about it on her blog here. 

However you choose to organize and present your information, a great tip is to print it on various hues of bright colored paper. This will grab the parent's attention and it will be harder to lose the most important information in the "back to school" shuffle of papers. 

I find Astrobrights to have the best color combinations! Keep an eye out for low prices all summer long on Amazon.  You can find this assortment pack of 150 sheets on sale now here! 

In addition to the flip-book, I provide families with a 2-pocket folder found in a pack here on Amazon. During my presentation, I encourage parents to keep this folder in a special place in their home. I explain it is intended to be "home" to any papers that leave their child's take home folder. Therefore, parents can keep all our classroom information that comes home in one safe place. 

In the picture below, you can see all materials are also labeled with each child's name. Often times parents can feel a little crowded in our classroom space and may move their child's materials to a different place in the classroom during the presentation. I wanted to be sure there was no mix up between materials. As I mentioned before, I have a file for my class list labels that I update as soon as I get my class list each year. 

Another tip: I print many extra copies of the class list on labels at the beginning of the year. That way I always have extras on hand if any child comes in with supplies without their name. They are printed on Avery 5160 labels found here. 

TIP 2: PERMISSIONS & SIGNATURES

I can imagine that parents often times feel overwhelmed if they are given too much information sent home in their child's backpacks at the start of the year. I try to send home just enough information the first few days for parents and students to feel comfortable and confident for a great start to the school year! 

At back-to-school night, I do my best to thoroughly go over the routines and procedures for both the students and parents during my presentation. This addresses everything including homework, birthdays, notes, dismissal... you name it! This allows parents the opportunity to ask questions if needed. 

While parents are in your classroom, it's the perfect time to get their prompt response. I set out any important papers that need to be filled out, signed and returned. By doing this at back-to-school night, I usually have a 100% return rate by the end of the night! This includes parent volunteer forms, classroom permissions, etc.

You can find these forms and more in my Back to School Forms and Letter pack on TPT here. 

TIP 3: CLASSROOM COMMUNITY

Establishing a positive classroom community with parents is just as important as establishing it with your class. At back-to-school night, I welcome parents with a fall themed display and mints as a thank you for their com-"mint"-ment. There are so many great ideas online and on Pinterest! You can find the "Thank you for your com-"mint"-ment" printable here. 

This display is usually in front of our "Classroom Promises." I like parents to feel the comfort of our close knit community as a class. It's also super cute to see their portrait creations. :)

Last year, I chose to have an "apple themed" back-to-school night. I display a "giving tree" for parents to pull an "apple of the tree" as a way to have supplies donated  to our class. I attempted a "chalk board" look for the apples to match the com-"mint"-ment sign.  You can find these Giving Tree printables for free in my store here.  

I also display it with the book "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein, which happens to be a gift from a family in the years past. This year I hope to make a more detailed tree with paper and laminate it for the future. Drawing a tree with Expo marker is more difficult than it looks. :)

I turned the apple craftivity from First and Kinder Blue Skies into a card that students wrote for their parents. Jen is fabulous, I love all her stuff!! 

Inside the apple, they each wrote the most precious note to their parents. I loved reading all their sweet responses. As I write this post now, it reminds me of how long and hard they have to work in order to complete just this one simple craft. They grow so much in first grade and it's amazing to remember how and where they started. 

This letter has my whole heart! :) 

After a few years of presenting professional development as one of my school's math coaches, I've learned how important it is to engage your audience. At the start of the year, I always ask my students to draw and describe their hopes and dreams for first grade. I thought it would be cool to welcome this addition to my back-to-school night presentation. 

I have post-its for parents to fill out their hopes and dreams and they trickle in and wait for me to begin. I post this chart in the back of the room for them to place their hope and dream for their child. I especially found it beneficial at the start of the year by not only learning about my students, but also their families.

If you're looking for a product to help you incorporate hopes and dreams in your classroom, click here to find the resource below!

I hope this post inspired you to prepare for a stress free back-to-school night! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post below. Good luck this year, you will be great!! 

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Open House

I was thrilled to hear my school would be hosting it's first Open House this year! In the past, we have had an Ice Cream Social meet and greet for teachers to meet their students and their families. However, this year our school opened it's doors to our students for tours of the school, visiting their classroom, meeting their teacher and handing in a any last minute forms. I wasn't sure how many families to be expecting as this was our first time hosting but I planned for more visits just in case. :)

 I sent out a group email to our class with an invitation to let my families know I would be at the school and that they could bring their supplies with them to drop off. I thought I would take the opportunity to organize as many supplies as possible before the first day. Hopefully this makes for a less hectic first day. :) A.k.a. more organized piles all over the classroom. I ask parents to R.S.V.P so that I could anticipate our turn out.

I created this checklist in case families were coming all at once I wouldn't be able to walk through each open, however I didn't end up using it. Their arrivals were spread out so I was able to spend more time getting to know each of my kiddos and their families. :)

At back to school night, I ask parents to leave a note for their child or to sign their name on our welcome board. Kiddos always get a kick out of seeing their parent's signatures in the room the day after so I thought they would enjoy seeing each other's names on the first day or school! It quickly turned into a coloring page for our younger siblings who are still using the "scribble signature" which I totally loved!!! My previous students also came to visit and signed as well. I think it made them feel like they had to leave their "mark." Ha! 

After signing in, finding their seat and cubby, students unpacked their supplies! I created supplies tags to place next to bins as a supply drop off line. There are some supplies that I collect to use as community supplies and some that I have students keep at their seat. I explained in my welcome letter how to organize the supplies when you pack them if they were going to be sent in the first day of school. I ask parents to place the community supplies (markers, glue, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, ect. ) in a large ziplock bag with their names on it. This is easier to collect the community supplies from each student at once and then sort it at a later time. However, this also came in handy for the open house because the students were then able to sort them more easily on their own. I always love watching the parents support independence with their children. :) Plus... it gave me some quick informal data on which students were able to read the tags. If you're interested in using the supplies tags, I have created a sharable google doc file. You may click here to get it. 

While students are working on a coloring sheet, I ask parents to complete a Google form with information that is most beneficial at the start of the year. What I love most about Google forms is that it automatically organizes the information into an excel spreadsheet that can be printed for your records. They are also SUPER easy to create. I got this idea from the fabulous Meredith Nardone from Creativity to the Core. 

In addition to the parent survey, I ask students to work with their parents to complete a survey about them. My goal is to take the results and turn it into various graphs to show the first week of school (during morning meeting/calendar). I had the forms already bookmarked on our classroom computers! Now, instead of tracking down which families didn't come to Open House, I can send the google forms as a sharable link for the remaining families to complete!

Happy "New Year"!!! ;) 

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