Earth Day for the Last Minute Teacher

Earth Day is just a few days away!  If you have been busy or preoccupied like me the last few weeks, you might have very little time to come up with fun Earth Day activities.  BUT, don't stress, I have activities that are low prep for those last minute teachers like me! - Meghan from Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris

Newspaper Drawings

You more than likely can get your hands on a few newspapers from a closet, front office or that nerdy social studies teacher down the hallway!  Grab those and do a quick lesson on upcycling!  Talk to your students about the amount of paper that we use during a typical school day.  Remind them that even paper can be reused!  Use paints, markers, or crayons to create newspaper drawings.

Read a few books!

Katie from Gift of Curiosity has an awesome list of books to read on Earth Day!  Checkout her post by clicking here!

Plants and Seeds

Earth Day is also a great time to pull in Science standards for plant life cycles.  I have a comprehension pack on seeds and plants that would be great to print and use for your classroom.  Or better yet, you can project the pages on the active board and answer the questions together or on dry erase boards.  Click here to see more about the Plants and Seeds pack.

Dirt and Worms - YUM!

Close out Earth Day with a fun snack!  Mash up oreos and add a gummy worm.  How cute are these???

Don't let Earth Day pass without doing something fun with your students!  Challenge yourself to even try to go paperless for the day!  There are a ton of fun Google activities that you could try!  I have several that you can find by clicking here.  Happy Earth Day!

Where's My Mummy? Flipbook Freebie

Can you believe that Halloween is on Monday????  Seriously!  Why isn't Halloween on the last Saturday of October like other holidays are designated?  It's Meghan from Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris and while I can't change when Halloween hits, I can make Monday a little less stressful for you!  I have a freebie today that goes perfectly with the book Where's My Mummy that I think you and your students will enjoy making!

I love reading this book during the month of October.  The flipbook focuses on basic story elements, but the finished product is SO cute and fun for a display.  AND, if your little mummies annoy you, make them color with a white crayon :)  #kidding  #noreally

Click here to download!  Happy Halloween!

Editable Fall Printables

Are you as happy about Fall as I am?  I sure hope so!  This is Meghan from Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris and I am STOKED about the fall months that are finally here.  This is my fav season for so many reasons, but down here in GA it is for real hot and humid.  We are looking forward to a little relief from this sticky hot mess we have going on.

To celebrate the arrival of Fall, I decided to go with a fun and brand new freebie for you!

How does it work?  Well, take a look!  You can edit the 6 sections on the spinner with letters, sight words or even numbers!

To play, students need the colors listed on the spinner, a paper clip and a pencil.  They spin their paperclip and then color one section with the matching word, number, etc.  

Continuing playing until time is up or the sections are all colored in.  You can even allow your students to play this with a partner to extra practice and scaffolding.

So much fun, that I bet your students will want to play twice!  There are two activity sheets included in this freebie so you can celebrate Fall with me!

So head on over by clicking here and download this fun set of printables for your classroom use.  Be sure to share this post on Facebook with your friends so they can download too!  Happy Fall y'all!

Finish the Year with a Bang: What I Like about YOU!

I'm closing a chapter with the 2015-2016 school year coming to an end.  I am officially moving out of the elementary school and into an office at the district office for next year.  I've had a hard time for many reasons with this move, but there is SO much to celebrate!  Our theme couldn't be more perfect for me:  Finish the Year with a Bang!

My very first group of students that I taught in both 3rd and 4th grades will be graduating this Friday.   I'm so happy for them and proud of my honor graduates.  

Now that I've teared up, I want to share with you something special that I have done with my students the past five years.  I wish I had started this with my very first group of students 10 years ago.  What I Like About You is a day where I want my students to leave my room with a full heart and knowing how much I love them.  

For each student, I prepare a slip of paper with a fun or sweet memory, tell them what I will miss about them, tell them why they are a great learner, and what I love about them.  I then pull each student aside during the day and talk to them about their card.  I try to also snap a picture of the two of us together to send their parents as well.  

This is one of the best things that I do all year, because they take such pride in their little piece of paper and they walk a little taller the rest of the day.  If you would like to use my template, download it by clicking here.

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates.

Thanks for reading, Meghan from Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris.

A Teaching Pot of Gold: Amazing Women

Who is one amazing American woman who has impacted your life?  I'm sure you can think of someone!  This is a question that I always use to start my Amazing Women unit with my students the month of March.  Welcome back to The Primary Peach!  This month, we are diving in and sharing "golden tidbits" of how we engage our students the month of March.

I'm Meghan from Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris and I'm going to share with you a few of my favorite picture books to read during this month to celebrate Women's History Month.   There are so many inspirational and amazing women that it is hard to just pick a few to study.  So to open up my unit, I like to see who the kids can name by themselves.

Then I read A is for Abigail.  You might want to break the book into parts to read, it is a long one, full of information and women.  Using this book, I let each student pick an amazing American woman to research.  We break into groups depending on how the students pick.  (For example First Ladies, Singers, Athletes, Women's Rights Fighters, etc.) This way the students can bounce ideas off of each other and have a group to share their work with.

As the kiddos are busy researching their Amazing Women, I pull my own books and write a few reports about them that I can share.  Students love that while they are working, I am too.  I explain that if I can write 5, they can write one.  There was one year that a sweetheart said, "Mrs. Harris, why don't you just write three instead of being so ambitious."  #blessit After I share my reports, I also read the picture books as well.  I do this so the students will know that there are so many great books in the library about women that they should go and find to read independently.  

So, what amazing American woman has impacted your life?  Comment below with who you would study with your students.  I would love to add to my list!

 

Sweet Treats: Synonym Puzzles

Have you enjoyed your month of FREEBIES here on the Primary Peach?  This month has been a lot of fun and full of great ideas and free resources.  I hope you have been sharing them with your friends!  Now it's my turn!  I'm Meghan from Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris.  I have a "Sweet Treat" for you today as well!

February is a short month, but our Winter Break always makes it a little shorter.  I use this month to teach vocabulary due to the short duration of units.  We cover homophones, synonyms, antonyms, etc during this month to expand our vocabulary in our writing and reading.

Synonyms is always a lot of fun to teach during this time, because if your students are like mine, they call synonyms "cinnamons".  It's a great time to bring in cinnamon buns and teach synonyms.  My students always love this as an afternoon treat and it is a great way to start or end this unit.

Today, I have a free center activity that I use with my kiddos.  These are a lot of fun and my students always love puzzles.  Here's a little tip...glue a magnet to the back of each puzzle piece and throw a cookie sheet in the center.  That way the pieces don't move around as much.  Click here to download this center activity.