Hey, y'all! If you were with us last week, you learned all about our first few units of the school year: patterns in the sky, seasons, and weather. I love starting the year off with these units because they are the key points we talk about during much of the school year. 

We start off our seasons unit with a story, a brain dump/graffiti wall, and a demonstration about why we have seasons. Grab a flashlight and a globe and you instantly have all your students' attention!

You could set these stations up as rotations, do each station whole group, or put some or all of them out and let students choose which ones to work on first. I've done all three options and they all work well for different groups of students. 

On Friday, we use Q-tips (cotton swabs) to dip into paint and dab the leaves on the trees. I put white out for winter so students can make snow. If you live in the south like I did for many years, you may choose to have your students just color the tree brown. I put pink paint out for spring, green for summer, and red, yellow, and orange out for fall (depending on the class--sometimes they just get one color for fall). 

The kids love learning about the different seasons and it's great to do these in September or October so the kids can see the changes in the trees and we can discuss them all year. I like to do it before the fall equinox if I can so we can talk about what the equinox is and how we divide up the seasons on the calendar. 

Again, this is part of our month-long unit covering patterns in the sky, seasons, and weather. It sets the stage for the rest of the year so it's kind of a biggie. You can find this unit and more by heading over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I'm always adding new resources so be sure to follow my store to see what's new. 

I hope you found some new ideas for your classroom and your seasons unit. Have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you soon.

Stay cozy, 

Hey, y'all! One of our first units when we head back to school is our patterns in the sky unit. It kicks off our month-long study of patterns, weather, and seasons, and is so much fun!

We start the unit off by keeping track of the moon cycle. Is it getting bigger or smaller? What does that mean? How does that work? We also track the daily highs and lows. Why is it hotter during the daytime and cooler during the night? Hmmm. Budding scientists are all over this!

You can setup stations a couple of ways. First, you can have students do rotations of 10 or so minutes each. I usually start the year off this way and then relax things a bit as students get used to things. You can put a few or all of the stations out and have students choose where they want to go, or you could do each station whole group. Up to you. 

My district is pushing for student voice and choice and I've been doing science stations so long that I usually go over directions and expectations and let them have it. We spend a TON of time practicing how to do stations successfully and the kids are always so engaged that we have like zero behavior problems during this time. 

I hope you found some new ideas for your classroom and that this makes teaching science a little easier for you. Check back soon for new resources and ideas and I'll talk to you soon. Have a great week!

Stay cozy, 

Hey, y'all. The beginning of the school year is fast approaching, but have no fear! The Tahoe Teacher is here! Just kidding. 

Anyway, at the beginning of the school year, I always like to assess my students to see where there are and what we need to work on. The assessments don't need to be anything fancy. They just need to do the job. So, I created these assessments made simple in order to ease some of the back to school stress we are all under. 

In math, I want to know who can write their numbers. I start with numbers 1-20 for kindergarten, and by the beginning of 1st grade, I assess students on their ability to write the numbers to 100. Again, there are a few handwriting style pages and a couple of blank pages for filling in an entire 100's chart. 

I also need to know about everyone's number sense abilities so I have students fill in the counting page while we go over how to hold a pencil and how to use crayons gently so they don't break them in half! In first grade, I want to know who can put together a simple number sentence and who is still working on these skills. It seems so simple, but it can really tell you a lot about your students. 

The first week, I also want to get a writing sample, find out more about my students, see who can follow simple directions, and who can track letters and write. We do a simple write the room activity while going over expectations for moving around the room. We fill in All About Me pages to learn more about each other's likes and families, and to see who can follow directions. And we answer a writing prompt (not shown) to assess students on writing conventions. 

Only the first week of school and, with these simple pages, we already know so much about our students! You can check out the full resource in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.  

Hey, y'all. I don't know about you but I am loving these PhenomBL units! For a recap on what exactly Phenomenon Based Learning is, check out this blog post here. 

Students can learn about the history of their community, the types of jobs or resources available there, special events or traditions, what makes it unique, important people, architecture in the town, climate, all of the above or none of the above. They make take it any other related direction. 

Hey, y'all! If you've been following me for awhile, you'll know I love a few things: making classroom decor, Scandinavia, and calm. Finally, I have put them all together. 

This boho mountain calendar and decor set is full of calm colors, a little rustic-ness, and some Scandinavian style (aka: simple) mountains. 

This decor set includes calendar headers and numbers, three types of alphabet lines, a number line, subject and days of the week headers, a voice level chart, desk nameplates, table numbers, and two choices of welcome signs. 

Also, there are five types of EDITABLE pages for labeling book bins, student supplies, school-specific things, or anything else you may need. There are so many possibilities!

Make meet the teacher night even easier with the coordinating open house set. It includes a welcome sign, signs for students to sort their supplies, a classroom wishlist display, an information station complete with forms for getting to know your students, treat toppers, and teacher information cards. The best part? It's also editable!