Hey, teacher friends! We’ve been counting the remaining days of summer around here. For the record, we start next Monday. eek! But, it looks like several of you have started back already. It just seems like summer gets shorter and shorter each year. 🙂
To wrap up the summer, some of my third/fourth grade friends and I have teamed up to give you an easy back to school tip, freebie to get your year started, and a chance to win a bundle from our stores too. We know you’re busy this time of the year, so we’ll keep it super simple. Grab your freebies, follow our TpT stores along the way, and then circle back here to enter our giveaway. Easy as that!
Here’s my back to school tip… let your students help you! Many of us have “room jobs” for our students. Mine open the windows, turn on computers, turn in lunch counts, etc. each morning. They also help set our classroom up for the next day by resetting our charts, closing the windows, and turning the computers off. Starting and ending your day goes much quicker with 24 helpers than it does when you do everything yourself. AND I’ve found that kids can do more than we think they can with a little guidance and practice early on in the year.
My biggest pet peeve about teaching is a messy classroom at the end of the day. I don’t want to stay after school and spend extra time cleaning our room instead of doing teaching tasks like planning, grading, or copying. Oftentimes we’ll line up at the door, and I’ll scan the room to see pencils, snack wrappers, books, etc. scattered about. The janitors don’t have time to pick up our things in addition to cleaning the room each night. Plus, anything left on the floor gets picked up and put on my desk. I don’t want to come in to that each morning! So… I make a game out of it. I tell the students I have my eye on a secret object that’s been left on the floor. Whoever picks it up gets a perk (first in line to go home, incentive punch, etc.) The students race to get everything off the floor and we’re all cleaned up in a matter of minutes. Love that!
Now for my freebie… I’m giving you my pack of holiday and award bookmarks. My students LOVE them and they’re super inexpensive to print so you know *I* love that. =)
Now hop on over to Tessa, but be sure to come back to enter our giveaway!
One lucky winner will win your choice of an item from each of these stores:
- Third Grade Bookworm
- Confessions of a Teaching Junkie
- iTeach
- Tessa Maguire
- Ms. Fultz’s Corner
- Gina S.
- Cynthia Vautrot
- Krista Mehrtens
Plus:
- Grammar Snapshots- Weekly Assessments from Christina Bainbridge
- Pumpkin Patch Contest- Math Project from Fun in the Fours
- Ocean Themed Classroom Economy Pack from Primary Paradise
- Winner’s Choice Item up to $10 from Fourth Grade Studio
a Rafflecopter giveaway
iteach isn't up and running yet (oops!), but here's the link that will get you unstuck until she is. http://www.confessionsofateachingjunkie.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much for the cute tip to get your students to help clean up the classroom at the end of the day. Great idea! Thanks so much for putting this together! I love those bookmarks.
Krista
Stellar-Students
Thanks so much for the tip! I love it! The freebie is great too! Can't wait to use the bookmarks!
Great tip for getting the kids involved in cleaning the classroom at the end of the day. I agree that the custodians shouldn't have to clean up after us. 🙂 ~Deb
Crafting Connections
LOVE the bookmarks. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Heather Haugen
Thank you!
Teach Love
Thanks so much for the freebie! Love it! I loved reading your clean up game, too. I play a similar game to yours, except I get a little bit more sneakier. I call my game the "Magic Piece of Garbage" where I have them searching for the tiniest/littlest piece of garbage – where it gets easily walked on and stepped on, but not get picked up. I have them scrounge for things like: a tiny piece of paper, the clear straw wrapper of a juice box, a pencil shaving, a piece of a lead, etc. The winner is awarded 5 points. They have a choice of adding their points toward their group points or towards their House Points.
Thanks also for a fabulous giveaway!
Najda
These will come in handy…thank you!
Thank you for the freebie. I try to encourage lots of independent reading and these bookmarks are sure to encourage my students to read. Thanks again
Absolutely love your bookmarks! Thank you!
Love the bookmarks and excited about the giveaway!!
-Caitlyn
Fourth Grade Lemonade
Thank you so much for your fab freebie, giveaway, and ideas. I am your newest follower!
These are adorable! Thanks so much!
Deb
I play that clean up game too – we call it "magic" trash! It works wonders!!!
Thank you so much for the bookmarks! The kids will love them.
Pam
Love the bookmarks. My students will love them!
I do that with my kids at the end of the day too to get the room cleaned up! We love it! I call it the Mystery Item- I've also heard it called the Secret Scrap! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your super cute bookmarks! 🙂
Lindsey
Mrs. Johnson's Little Prowlers
I love these bookmarks! I've already printed out a set for the 1st day of school on Wednesday! 🙂
Abby
Third Grade Bookworm
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Freebies