MeCorder Winner & Whole Brain Teaching Rules Posters

Congrats to Kyp! She was the lucky winner of the MeCorder Mini Video Recorder from Learning Resources-WooHoo!!! I want to thank everyone that entered my lil contest-you guys are the greatest!

The last couple days I've had oodles of  requests for the Whole Brain Teaching Rules posters to match the Bright Dots set. {I've included 2 posters for #5-a female & male teacher version.} Here you go! Just click on the pic for your FREEBIE!

Check this out... Favorite Back-to-School Activity and FREEBIES!

It's time for a PaRtY!!! A Linky Party that is Jodi @ Fun in First is hosting "What is your favorite Back-to-School Activity?" Linky Party. What a great idea-thanks Jodi for getting all these amazing ideas together in one spot! So, here is one of my favorite books to use on the first day of school...
Dr. Jean Feldman performs this song on Is Everybody Happy? CD. You can also buy a digital download of the song. (I think I found it on the Dr. Jean website.)

Rules Rap
Dr. Jean

Omigosh! Dr. Jean is awesome! You have to hear the rap to this book-the kiddos LOVE it!!! I put on my sunglasses and a backwards cap, fold my arms across my chest (so I look really cool-like a rap singer! lol) and read the book. Then we sing/rap the song-soooo fun!!! It goes something like this...

The rules, the rules, the rules of the classroom.

(Snap fingers as you sway back and forth to the beat.)

Follow, follow, follow directions,

(Point index fingers in the air.)

Feet and hands, feet and hands,

(Point to feet and then each hand.)

Small voices inside, tall voices on the playground.

(Put finger over lips and then point out the window.)

Take care of your things, and keep the classroom neat and clean.

(Brush palms together to the beat.)

Work together, get along, and respect each other.

(Clasp hands together and then make circular motions like you’re

stirring a pot.)

I've changed a few of the rules just a little bit to match up with my classroom rules. We sing all through the year. If my kiddos are being really noisy, I might say "Do you remember our rule about tall voices?" and it usually inspires the class to immediately sing that verse of the Rules Rap-I love it!!!

Activity:

*Partner students or put in small groups to have them come up with a good rule for our classroom.

*Record ideas on chart paper or Smart Board.

*Rap the rules that the students came up with. (or at least attempt to!!!) The kiddos love this part even if its not quite as smooth as the verses from Dr. Jean!

*Each student completes the writing reproducible below-"My Rule!" (Click HERE if you would like this freebie!)

*Make a classbook with the rules.

Ok, so there's my favorite Back-to-School idea for my kiddos. Now, a Back-to-School activity to help organize all those supplies without going CrAzY!!! I used to hate sorting school supplies but now I LOVE IT! It's no longer my job-it's the kiddos job! I created some really cute supply labels and put them on crates. Then I call a few students at a time to sort their supplies into the appropriate place-(they love having a job to do right away). Ta Da!!! Supplies are organized!!!!

Oh ya!!! You guessed it-Here is your Back-to-School FREEBIE!!!!

There are 22 labels in this set for sorting all of your back-to-school supplies! Happy sorting!!!

Classroom Rules with Officer Buckle FREEBIE!!!

Yes! It's a FREEBIE! I've uploaded some of my back-to-school/classroom rules activities. These hot summer days are forcing me to spend a little more time inside so...I decided to start organizing some of the stuff that had been so quickly saved on my computer during the past school year. (I hate it when I can't remember where I have saved something!) During all this "technical organizing" I will be posting more of my activities and units so check back often. The first things that I ran across were activities that I use with Officer Buckle and Gloria,  (by Peggy Rathmann), at back-to-school time. The kiddos love this silly story and it's a super fun way to introduce classroom rules. There are 7 pages in this download. One page is a copy of a venn diagram, which I also like to put up on the SmartBoard. I have this in a Smart Notebook file if you are interested-just email me and I will share it with you!

Click here to get your FREEBIE!!!