Make Back-to-School Easier: Be Prepared Before the First Bell Rings

The first days of school can be exciting—but they can also be overwhelming. New students, new schedules, mountains of paperwork, and the challenge of getting everyone settled and ready to learn can make those first few days exhausting for teachers.

The best way to make back-to-school easier? Be prepared.

Having your first lessons, activities, procedures, and essential resources ready before students walk through the door can take a tremendous amount of stress out of those hectic first days. Instead of scrambling to figure out what comes next, you'll be able to focus on what matters most: getting to know your students and creating a positive classroom environment.

That's why I've put together a FREE back-to-school resource to help you get organized and start the year with confidence. It's one less thing to create and one more tool to have ready when you need it.

Click here to Download your FREE planner.

And if you're looking for additional resources to make your first weeks easier, I've also selected several back-to-school resources designed specifically to help teachers start the year prepared, organized, and ready for success.

Click here to see those resources.

A little preparation now can make a BIG difference when that first bell rings!

Start the school year prepared. Start it confidently. And make those first days a little easier on yourself.

All the best,

Charlene

Here are some interesting blog posts from my teacher friends in The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Cooperative.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Free Products for Grin & Grab it Day

Grin and Grab it Day 3-22-2015

This post is about Grin and Grab it Day 3-22-2015. Several sellers are participating, and we hope you find this to be a good opportunity. If you have read this blog before, you will know Grin and Grab it Day is when we make some usually priced Teachers Pay Teachers products free for the day. We do not all live in the same time zone, so just check and see if the items are free, and"grab" them if they are. Don't wait! Of course, we so appreciate kind feedback if you like a product. This post will also point out some always free items, just in case you weren't aware of them.

















Fun Frog Theme Day: If you think you will need a substitute this spring, or you would just like to have an entire day that is just "print and go," this frog theme day would be perfect. It could be used anytime, really. Grab it and add it to your sub binder, or use it yourself in between units or after testing week.

Word Play Higher Order Thinking Skills Activity: Change a letter, change a lot! Students will find the word that matches each definition by replacing only one letter in the previous word. Fun and challenging.
  
La Casa Dream House: How about a dream house project for your Spanish students? Have your students design their dream house in descriptive detail! There are TWO rubrics included in this packet to help your students practice their writing skills. One is for a "Dream House" and the other is for "Mi Casa Nueva."  

Breakfast, Lunch, Desayuno, Almuerzo Vocabulary Practice, Cloze: “Cloze” sentences give clues to breakfast and lunch vocabulary words in Spanish. Students use their problem solving skills to decide which vocabulary word from the list makes sense in each sentence. Practice for your next meal in a Spanish restaurant!

Cootie Catcher Fortune Teller Comecocos IR in the PRETERIT: A “comecocos” is also called a “fortune teller” and a “cootie catcher.” The instructions on how to fold the paper are included in this packet.

Practice in Base Ten with the Base Ten Kids: This 65 page unit supports learning Numbers and Operations in Base Ten. There are matching games for place value and math thinking sheets. Worth your time to download and enjoy in your classroom!

Odd and Even Numbers in the Barnyard Song and Printables: You are getting a fun odd and even song ready to print and display in your class. The children love it and its helps them to remember the odd and even numbers. You are also getting 7 printables in black and white with numbers to sort for odd and even.


Similar to Pete the Cat I Have Who Has Game with Fry's First 100 Words: Grab your I Have Who Has game using the Fry's First 100 Words. There are 24 cards in this set.

Decision Making Grade 4 Personal, Family, School, Community: Here is a product usually priced $4 for fourth grade about decision making. I made this thinking about the fact children are not always taught how to decisions are made. See a free similar product, a decision making freebie, at this link.

The following products are always free by Gramma Elliott's Educational Tools. Compound Word Puzzles Free Sampler
  Long Vowel Sample Clip Art, always free

And, finally, another always free product, Insects for Your Bulletin Board! This would certainly
 capture the interest of students.   We hope you like our Grin and Grab it Day products! Thank you so much,

Teachers Are Heroes Sale on TpT

The TpT sale has been extended for one more day!

Take a look at some of the Teacher'sPayTeachers.com stores in the graphic above. These lessons are carefully written and tested by a group of dedicated Super Secondary Teachers. You can't go wrong by using one of their lessons. The price is right, too! Enjoy this sale and get up to 28% off on most products. Click here to go to the linkup and visit their stores.

Do I believe that teachers are heroes? 

Yes, I absolutely do. It would be wonderful if every child had a warm and nurturing home life, but the sad fact is some of them don't. Sometimes the only smile and kind word that children receive all day is from their teacher.

The responsibility that teachers bear to keep their students safe from harm, to keep them engaged and interested, and to challenge their minds is a huge endeavor.

I admire everyone involved in the work of helping shape our children's lives. Bravo teachers, and thank you!

Be sure to enter the promo code HEROES at checkout.

My enitre store in on sale for two days including the Simple Steps to Sentence Sense series.
Click here to see what people are saying about Simple Steps to Sentence Sense.
Click here to visit my store.

Thanks for reading!

Grin and Grab it Day 1-25-2015 Free Products for One Day

Hello to all! I have joined with several bloggers who will offer one of their best products for free for one day only. Please check below to read Carolyn Wilhelm's blog post and find  the links to the free Grin and Grab it products. Please be sure to leave a rating and a comment if you decide to accept their free offer. Remember, the products will be on sale for one day only - Sunday, January 25th, 2015. Enjoy!

This post is about another blog hop Grin and Grab it Day 1-25-2015 with free products for one day. Several bloggers have joined this blog hop and by visiting their blogs you can see which usually priced products on TpT are free this Sunday only. We live in different time zones, but products will be marked down in the morning and be priced again in the evening. We just ask you kindly rate them while they are still free as after they are again priced, people who get them for free will be unable to rate them at that point in time.
 First, La Profesora Frida  whom I have written about previously on this blog, has a Spanish Adjective Agreement and Clothing Practice product. No prep! Just print and go! The activities in this packet are designed to supplement your already in place Spanish curriculum and to offer extra opportunities for your students to buff up on their adjective agreement skills.

Charlene Tess who has written several guest blog posts on this blog has a lesson in comparing and contrasting two short stories and a rubric for grading the composition product that will be free Sunday. Included in the packet are: • a note to the teacher with instructions on how to present the lesson; • 2 sample rubrics; • a graphic organizer on which students take notes on the plot, characters, theme, point of view, and tone of two short stories; • and more!
 Artistic Educational Tools has Rhyming Word Family Flip Books, for grades 1-2. This version is black line only. The black line version is well suited for students to color their own flip books. It is also nice for schools and homeschools with limited or no color printing capabilities!

The Silent E Love Bugs and Magic e! Valentine's Day Literacy Center is being given by Teaching Resources for the Classroom. This product helps meet CCSS RF.1.3, RF.1.4, RF.1.3e, RF.K.3, and RF.2.3 as well as providing fun learning experiences.

Wise Owl Factory is joining in this free product day, too. The Mice Themed Prepositional Phrases product will be free Sunday. It helps meets CCSS L.1.1i and L.K.1e.

We hope you enjoy our free product day and that you will enjoy the lessons and activities

Thank you for reading, Carolyn Wilhelm