Let's Review Classroom Routines...Happy New Year (Post #2)

I'll be honest...the last few days before break had moments of absolute CRAZINESS! My hope for our first day back is to embrace the excitement but reintroduce the calm.

To help transition back to school, we will be reviewing ALL the classroom routines we spent time learning at the beginning of the year.

We will start with some fun...

Minion Video...Classroom Rules

To avoid the ads, I always make a link for videos using safeyoutube.

After watching the video, we will review the class rules poster we made the first week of school. This will give new students a chance to sign the "document".

I am continuing to work on the review sheets...see the previous post. Here is the freebie for today. Feedback is always appreciated.

 

Please check back tomorrow. I will be sharing read alouds...and another freebie!

Happy New Year!

Plans for the First Day Back to School...Happy New Year! (Post #1)

I hope you are having a fantastic break!

I'm preparing for the first day back to school for my 27 fourth graders. The kiddos will be anxious to catch up with their friends, so I want to allow time to reconnect while easing back into our routines. My room is small so a version of musical chairs is an easy way for me to mix up my groups.

I am working on a few of their favorite review activities. Here is a sample of what I will include...

This fraction maze is currently a freebie in my store. I will be adding freebies every day this week, and would love feedback. When the product is complete, it will be a paid resource.

Everyone will have a packet to work on as they travel to different groups. They can do the pages in any order.

Every 5-7 minutes we will line up in a different order. They each take their packet and a pencil with them. This is how we will line up...

Round 1: Number Order
Round 2: Even Numbers First, then Odd Numbers
Round 3: Birthday Month Order

This will give us a chance to practice how we line up!

When the music starts, they follow the leader around the room. When the music stops, they find an empty seat. I will include 3 icebreaker questions at each table so that they can share about their break. After a quick discussion, everyone continues working on their packets until it's time to move again.

Each table group has a bin of shared supplies in case a pencil breaks or they need a crayon.

Check back tomorrow for another freebie and ideas for the first day back to school.

Happy New Year!

First Week of School (Back to School Post #2)

I always like having a couple of activities on hand that give my new fourth graders time to interact...and me a few minutes to prepare for what's next or handle those little hiccups typical of the first few days of school. We always begin with a geography review so I use United States map puzzles from Dollar Tree. Students can work on the puzzles in pairs or on their own. The conversations always flow as they are busy putting together their puzzles. I review geography as part of our first Social Studies unit...always great when you can incorporate the curriculum into beginning of the year fun!

This Name Glyph is a great way for students to get to know each other. They color their names according to the directions, and the finished product brightens up my cabinets. I always point out how different our name glyphs are...and that's what will make us a good team. Directions for this Name Glyph Back to School Activity can be projected to help students with the steps. I use this as a way to go over routines and following directions.

We play games throughout the week so we can work on routines for math stations. One game that I go back to again and again is "war". We can use the same cards to compare, order, and round. I have a set of money cards that my fourth graders will have an easy time comparing. We can also practice using task card recording sheets by using the cards for addition and subtraction. Since my focus is on routines, I want something that the whole class can do together. In a few weeks, I will pull the cards out to introduce rounding. There is an answer sheet included for rounding to the nearest dollar.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog.

Why is my blog named Treetop Creations? (Back to School Post #1)

The short answer is that this is what I see first thing every morning as I head to my kitchen.

I love the view in all seasons, but winter is my favorite.  I was probably staring at this view when I was trying to think of a name for my blog.

Now, if you look down the hill, you will see trees brought down by recent storms and a yard in need of some major work. It all depends on what you focus on. I always focus on the treetops.

But there's more to the name...

One of my earliest school memories...other than getting sick on the bus in kindergarten...is from first grade. We were making trees to decorate a bulletin board. I remember the teacher looking at my tree and saying, "This tree is really too big!" I can't believe those words are still with me after all these years. From what I recall, the teacher eventually stuck my "big" tree on the side of the bulletin board. 

Every year I put a tree outside my door to welcome my class. The names of my new students are on the small circles. This is my latest version...

To most, this is just a beginning of the school year decoration, but for me it's a reminder...that my sweet class will remember things that I say...and a tree can never be too big!

Check back tomorrow for another Back to School blog post.