August Pick 3 Pinterest Linky

August is here!  Yikes!  There is always so much to do between now and the first day of school.

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So, to get back into the swing of things, I am linking up with The Inspired Owl and Pawsitively Teaching for some back-to-school inspirational Pinterest finds!

Inspirational Pinterest Find #1:  Sub Tub!!  We all have had days where we unexpectedly have to call in sick from work. I am embarrassed to even tell you how many days I missed last school year. Between my grandmother passing away, a car accident, my son having a sleep study/surgery, and my whole family getting MRSA....my personal life was a nightmare!  

So, on that note, I am going to make sure that I have an up-to-date sub tub! Thanks to Owl-Ways Be Inspired for reminding me what I need in my Sub Tub in order to have stress-free days when I have to call in sick (which I am praying will be nothing like last year!!!!).  Hop on over and check it out (click on the caption under the picture)!  Plus, she has a freebie for you!

Owl-Ways Be Inspired

Inspirational Pinterest Find #2:  Back to School: Building a Community! Hello Sunshine wrote a fabulous post about how you can build a community in your classroom with team-based activities.  The post is jammed with activities that can establish a culture of teamwork and cooperation.  I will be using some of these activities the first week of school.

My favorite team building activity that she described is called  The Marshmallow Challenge.  Groups have 20 minutes to build the tallest freestanding tower using only 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of masking tape, 1 yard of string, and 1 marshmallow (the marshmallow must be at the top of your tower).  Afterwards, you would debrief and discuss ways teams had to work together in order to be successful.  Jump over and check out the rest of her back-to-school team building activities (click on the caption under the picture)!

Hello Sunshine - Brightening Teachers' Days

Inspirational Pinterest Find #3:  Things That Interest Me! Survey (Book Whisperer).  I know...I know.....I am totally behind on reading the Book Whisperer.  I should have read it a LONG time ago!  I am embarrassed to say that I just read it this summer......(sigh of embarrassment).  Over the past ten years, I have given my students student interest surveys asking them what their interests are so I can pinpoint what kind of books they want to read.  I have to admit, I haven't always been the best at taking their surveys to heart (another sigh of embarrassment).  BUT-after reading this post from The Teacher Organizer, I like her idea of sending it home with the students.  On her website, not only does she include a student interest survey for FREE, but she also mentions how helpful it is for students to fill the survey out with their parents so they can hear the type of answers their child is giving.  This may be helpful making sure that the answers are accurate and not what their friend at school thinks.  This student interest survey will be going home the first day of school with my students (possibly open house).  Click the caption below the picture to go to her website.  Let me know what you think!!

The Teacher Organizer

Check out the friends below and their awesome Pinterest Finds for August.  Link up and share your inspirational finds!!!  Thanks for stopping by!

An InLinkz Link-up

Back to School Book Favorites Linky

It's that time of the year!  I feel like jumping for joy and crying at the same time.  August is quickly approaching (umm...less than 72 hours away!) and my "back-to-school" brain is in full affect!  My first day of school is not until August 19th, but I already feel the "back to school panic" setting in.  How about you?

So, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite back-to-school picture books.  It's one of my favorite books to read aloud on the first day of school because I love the discussions that are created!

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My book is called What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick.  It is recommended to be read to children ages 4 to 9.

What if everybody fed the animals at the zoo?  What if everybody threw their soda can out the window of their car?  What if everybody broke the rules?  The world would be a mess!  This book, What If Everybody Did That?, is a great book to read to discuss rules within the classroom, school, and even the world.  This book offers humorous illustrations that display the consequences and answers to these types of questions in a child-friendly way.  This is such a great way to introduce your classroom rules while reading this book together in a class.  

Here is a page from the book. Wouldn't this be great for some open-ended class discussions?  I love to hear what my students have to say about the consequences for the certain situations in the book.  This is such a great way to encourage students to be more mindful of their own behaviors and how it affects people around them.

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I have used this book for several years on the very first day of school.  I think it is very important for my students to come up with our classroom rules.  When my students write the rules, I feel that they take more ownership and responsibility of their actions.  

Click here for Forever Freebie

Before we create our classroom rules, I have the students brainstorm some actions that could happen in our classroom and the consequences if everybody did that.  For example, "what if everybody was late to school?"  The freebie to the right is a document I created that allows the students to describe and illustrate two actions that could happen in the classroom. To ensure the students understand the directions, I like to do a few examples on the whiteboard before they get started.  

Once the students have finished, I like to have them share their actions with the classmates at their table groups.  Depending on time, I may have students share with the whole class.  

Side note--(I think this book would also be good to use when teaching cause and effect.....but that's not something I would do on the first day of school.)  

This activity leads us into our group discussion of class rules.  We brainstorm our ideas on the board, decide on the most important and crucial rules for our classroom, and I'll write them onto chart paper.  All students sign their names to the rules and I laminate it before hanging it on the wall.

Check out the bloggers below for their back-to-school favorites (and a freebie!!).  Leave me a comment and tell me how you do your classroom rules at the beginning of the year!

An InLinkz Link-up