Primary Chalkboard

Labeling your tables!

Hey friends! Jessica here from Second Grade Nest.

How do you guys label your tables?

I've always had the hanging tissue paper puffs with the owl sign that says what table they are sitting at.

I do know that some schools don't allow hanging from the ceiling because of fire laws and what not. So I'd love to know what you do!

This is how I've always done mine!

BUT I know that teachers are spending a LOT of money right now and these puffs are just another puchase. So, I am showing you guys how to create them on your own!

If you click here, you will find a blog post on how I used Dollar Tree tissue paper and Dollar Tree bobby pins to create mine. Granted, they aren't as cute as the ones from Party City or Hobby Lobby, but they are around $5 or LESS!!

Thanks for reading this sweet and simple tip!

Back to School Routines!

Hey everyone! Karen here from Mrs. Jones's Kindergarten and I am here to talk about one of the most,

if not THE most important piece of Back to School planning....

ROUTINES!

We all know, both big and little kids alike need to be taught routines. Need routines modeled for them. Spelled out if you will. R-O-U-T-I-N-E-S.

Every step, every thing.

One of the best pieces of advice I remember getting way back when I first started teaching was ASSUME they know NOTHING. Good stuff right there, write that down.

But, if you don't want to write that down, that's okay, I've got you covered! Just hop on over to my blog, Mrs. Jones's Kindergarten, where you can print out my MASSIVE list of Back to School Routines to help keep you assuming nothing and creating law and order in the land of your classroom.

It is geared towards Kindergarten, but can definitely be used in any elementary grade.

Have fun teaching! :)

Karen

Back to School: Getting to Know Your Students

Hi everyone! I am so excited to be a part of The Primary Chalkboard! This is such a wonderful group of teacher bloggers and I am so honored to be a part of it.

I know we all have Back to School on the brain, even though some of us don't actually go back for another month. August is always the beginning of the end of summer, which is actually crazy to say because I actually have almost half a summer left. You know what I mean though! We're thinking, we're creating, we're organizing, and yep, we're dreaming about it too. So why fight it? :)

Something that is so important to me is getting to know my students and making that connection with them. I always feel like once I've made that connection, everything else falls into place. So today I have two little ideas to share with you all about how you could get to know your students.

The first one I recently created. I have to admit, I made this as a parent. Yes, I always want to get to know my students, but now that I have one going into kindergarten, I have a whole new perspective. My son is a little shy but has a lot to say if you take the time to listen and get him comfortable. He's just not that kid that's going to be chatty right away. I was thinking about how I hope his teacher takes the time to chat with him at recess or during down times because it would be a game changer for him. He would just blossom in class if he developed that relationship sooner rather than later. If only she knew to ask him about space, or swim lessons, or sea creatures, or dragonflies. So then it got me thinking... if I feel like this, maybe other parents do to. That is the inspiration for this first get-to-know-you idea.

It's just is a simple half-page that goes home with parents or that you can have out on desks during Meet the Teacher/Supply Night. It should only take them a second because they only have to write one(ish) word. Parents will write something that their child loves to talk about. Anything that will get them chatty. You've probably seen it, right? The moment when you've finally said something that a quieter student wants to talk about. They just light up. Simple, but hopefully effective. :)

The next thing is a little more generic, but it has been a staple in my classroom for all the years that I've been teaching. I finally took the time to redo it in PowerPoint and cutesify it with clip art and fonts. Oh my, the one I've used for almost a decade has (EEK) Comic Sans and no clip art. Not pretty my friends. Yikes! Don't worry, I've remedied that and it's ready to share with you all. I seriously use this throughout the WHOLE year.

I send this home on the first day for the parents to fill out. BUT it doesn't end there!

You can download both of these pages for free here.

How to do you get to know your students? I'd love to hear more ideas! :)

Back to School: Keeping Supplies Organized!

Grab this awesome freebie here!

8 New Chalkboard Faces!!

This morning, one of our fabulous Chalkies posted about the very exciting Back to School Sale starting tomorrow at TPT.

BUT!!!!! There is something SO much more important and special to the bloggers of The Primary Chalkboard... and that is our new members. We just added 8 new members to our collaborative blog.

You may notice that some of these bloggers aren't K-2. That's right. We've expanded our blog range through sixth grade. We will still be bringing you tons of GREAT ideas on our blog with more of a range.

Primary Chalkboard will now serve all K-6 elementary teachers! Because we love ALL of you.

On to the FUN part... let's meet our new friends.