Building Back to School: A Classroom Tools Week 2

I'm back with Week 2 of #TeacherMom's Building Back to School Blog Hop. This week is going to be even better than last week. There will be a giveaway on every blog so be sure to hop along with us for a chance to win one of them. Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win a $10 Gift Certificate from my store.  Good luck!

Today I will feature two products from my Back to School Poster Bundle which you can use as Classroom Tools to support literacy in the Primary Classroom.

Classroom Tool # 1 An Engaging Alphabet

You will notice that vowels are bordered in red & consonants in blue this was done to help students visually distinguish them.

An alphabet is a must for any elementary classroom. It helps younger students learn letter names and sounds. Older students might use it as a reference when putting words in alphabetical order. All students use it as a model for correct letter formation. However in order for it to be a tool you must refer to it often when teaching a lesson. In my kindergarten classroom we sing songs as a child points to each letter. I use both recorded songs and songs I've made up. Students love them both. One of the songs I made up is /a/ apple, /b/ Ball, /c/ cat... Basically we just sing the letter sound and name the picture. Its so easy the kids can do it by themselves once we have practiced a few times. I can't carry a tune but have found that children love singing songs & luckily in kindergarten they think their teacher is awesome no matter what she sounds like. 

You can get the Vowel Posters Freebie here.

Classroom Tool #2: Color Posters

For years I have been using the same old color posters. This summer I decided to make my own. What a better way to engage students than real photos. These vivid pictures are sure to spark a conversation. You can use them to sing a color. Don't know one make it up. You can also use them to play an eye spy game: i.e. I spy something green. In the writing center you can place color flashcards to help students with their writing. The vivid pictures can serve as writing starters. Students can write a sentence or a story about the picture. You can get my Freebie Color Flashcards here. 

These posters are also available with white backgrounds

and in a Bilingual Version.

You can see my Back to School Posters Bundle here.

Enter below for a chance to win a $10 Gift Certificate to my store. Don't forget to hop along for more awesome giveaways.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Building Back to School: A Teacher Tools_The Basics

I'm linking up with my friend at #TeacherMom every Monday for the next four weeks to give you some tools for a successful year. Today's topic is teacher tools. Here are my top two teacher tools that will help you have a smooth sailing year.

Tool # 1 Class Dojo:

I love Class Dojo! Its an App that allows you to give the kids points. Parents are instantly alerted of the points their child gets. You can customize it any way you like. You can also pick a child at random. It was great for helping me pick students equally. I also used the random feature pick a secret walker. Children got a point for walking quietly if they were the secret walker. It worked like a charm they all walked perfectly just in case they were the secret walker. If my secret walker talked or misbehaved in line, I would simply say oh no I've got to pick a new secret walker. I also give kids academic points. Parents loved knowing instantly that their child mastered their letter sounds or sight word levels. But my favorite feature was the messenger feature. I could send parents group messages, individual messages or even pictures of their child. They could also respond or send me personal messages. When they responded it went only to me, there was no reply to all like in email. You can learn more about Class Dojo here. 

Tool # 2: Champs

I love Champs because it defines exactly what children are expected to do before each lesson. I use it daily at the beginning of the year then as needed to review expectations or any time the expectations are different than they are use to. Champs stands for C: Conversation, H: Help, A: Activity, M: Movement, P: Participation S: Success. 

Conversation: For the conversation component the teacher must model & have children practice the different noise levels. I use the following levels:

Level 0- Means complete silence

Level 1- Is a whisper voice

Level 2- Is a little louder

Level 3- Is a Presenter voice

The kids always love practice the different voices.

Help: For the help component, Champs defines what children should do if they need help.

Activity: Activity defines what they are doing.

Movement: This component defines what movement is allowed & what is not allowed.

Participation: Participation defines how they are participating  and with whom.

Success: This is my favorite component because it sums up what I expect of my students. We always chant this one together as a class!

In my classroom I tape my CHAMP posters to my white board &use magnets to change expectations. I have many CHAMPS poster sets in my store but this one is my personal favorite. Click on the image below to see it in my store:

Click below to read more teacher tools!

An InLinkz Link-up

Fun! Fun! Fun! Summertime Blog Hop

I'm so excited to be part of my first blog hop! Thank you Cheryl from Mrs. Wyatt's Wise Owl Teacher Creations for hosting it.

Summer is a time to reinforce academic skills as well as life skills.  

Every summer I enroll my kids in swimming lessons in my local YMCA. This summer my 4 year old is finally gaining confidence in the water  & my 7 year old is having a blast at 1/2 Day Aquatics Camp. Living in Florida, I believe swimming is an essential life skill all kids need.

I created a Freebie to help parents and teachers engage children in a discussion about water safety. You can create a scrapbook with your kids demonstrating the skills or have them draw pictures.

Click here to get your FREEBIE

I am very proud of my little girl, just a week ago she did not have the confidence to swim on her own.

Other than swimming, I have spent the summer practicing Spanish with my kids. Although I am fluent in Spanish, my kids are not. When my daughter came home from school singing the Spanish alphabet, I knew I had to teach her more. She was the inspiration for all the bilingual sets in my store.

Here she is singing the Alphabet Song.

Here is a preview of my Bilingual Alphabet.

See it in my store.

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Next stop Discovering Hidden Potential

Click here to visit the next stop on the blog hop.