Teaching with Taco Bell...and other Real World Lessons!

This teaching tip comes from my 9th grade son! 

We were having lunch after a soccer game this weekend at Taco Bell, per his request.  As we were eating, he noticed something about the sauce packets that warmed the heart of his English teacher mom.  "Look at the way the sauce types are punctuated, Mom," he said.  "The word 'mild' is in parentheses, so it's like quiet.  'Hot' is underlined, like important.  'Fire' has an exclamation point, so it's like yelling a warning."

Taco Bell teaching a grammar lesson?  YES!!!  First of all, "Yay!" for the kid who notices such things, but second of all, there is a super fun and tasty grammar lesson to be had here! 

I have to admit, I got WAY too excited about the prospect of having a punctuation lesson/taste test with my students in the near future.  Isn't this a fun way to get kids to understand the use of punctuation marks? Here's all you need to do:

GRAMMAR LESSON OF THE DAY!

1. Go to Taco Bell, grab a few packets of each type of sauce.

2. Buy some tortilla chips.

3. Have your students try each type of sauce, discuss the different tastes.

4. Have students "close read" the packets, what do they notice?

5. If they don't notice on their own, point out the punctuation marks.

6. Connect the taste test to the punctuation marks.

I absolutely LOVE any opportunity to connect curriculum to the real world!  I give extra credit to students who find typos or mistakes on signs and in published texts.  I have a collection of signs, mugs, dishtowels, etc. with funny grammar sayings.  We watch video clips to analyze speech patterns and impressions of the speaker based on their grammar and usage. It's these connections that help students understand why grammar lessons are important, and helps them become "close readers" of the world.  Grammar and punctuation lessons can be dull if just presented in diagramming sentences or fill-in-the-blank worksheets.  I like to jazz up my lessons with real-world connections, and fun activities like this taste test!

I can't wait to do this activity with my middle schoolers next week!  Let me know if you try this activity in your classroom and how it goes!  I'd also love to hear about your great ideas for making grammar fun!  Comment below with your ways to make grammar fun and engaging!

Gamify Your Classroom!

At this point of the year, I think it's safe to say the kids are losing interest in being in school and teachers are pulling out all the stops to keep kids motivated and engaged!

Between state standardized testing, end-of-the-year evaluations, and the weather finally improving in some parts of the world, student engagement is probably pretty weak in your class...am I right?  I'll bet most of you are running on fumes, too...I'll admit that I am!

Well, here's my secret to re-energizing yourself, your students, and your curriculum...

gamify (ˈɡeɪmɪˌfaɪ)

verb

(transitive)

to adapt (a task) so that it takes on the form of a game

Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

What does "gamifying" look like in a classroom?  It can look a few different ways!  Read on...

Low- or No-Tech: I love using Task Cards with my students as a way to up the fun while learning! Task cards require no technology at all...well, once you've printed them!  I use task cards in a few different ways, depending on my mood:)  

• Play Scoot! "Scoot"  is a fun way to get kids moving.  I tape as many task cards as I have students around the room or on desks.  Each child gets an answer form, then they move from one card to the next in number order and responds to each task card on their answer sheet.

Scoot!

• Pass the Cards! In this version, the kids stay at their seats, but the cards move.  Once a child answers the card's question, they pass it to the person next to them until they've responded to all the cards.  This works especially well for task cards with multiple choice or short answer questions.

Poetry Vocabulary Task Cards

• Scramble!  I give students parts of a sentence that they have to unscramble to create a complete, correctly assembled sentence with proper punctuation. You can find this game (in a non-holiday version) "The Great Clause Race" in my TpT store for only $1!

The Great Clause Race

• Around the World! This is the classic game we all played as kids in school, usually with multiplication flash cards.  2 kids stand up next to each other, the teacher reads a question from the card, and the first child to shout out the answer moves to the next opponent.  
• Team Challenge! This may be my favorite!  I make 5-6 sets of the same task cards.  Rather than giving students an answer sheet, I put them in small groups and have them race against other groups to sort them.  (This doesn't work for all types of task cards, though!  I especially like to do this with parts of speech, three types of verbs, verbals or other grammar topics.) This variation requires kids to work together and gets their competitive juices flowing.  It's great support for weaker students and they don't feel as intimidated.

Task Cards

• Minute to Win It!  This is also a great team variation.  I separate kids into teams and create challenges like "find all the cards with a noun underlined, then be the first to clothespin them together", or "be the first to alphabetize the words", or even "use all the sentences containing an infinitive to build a house of cards".  My middle schoolers LOVE playing Minute to Win It!

 

• I Have, Who Has? You can't do this with basic task cards, but you can find specific "I have, who has?" cards on TpT, at teacher stores, or you can make your own.  This is a great game to calm kids down and really make them focus.  Each student gets a card or two (you have to pass out all the cards in the set for the game to work and come full circle).  One card will say "start"-that student begins by reading his card.  The rest of the students have to listen to the speaker, then look at their card to see if they have what the speaker is looking for.  For example, card one may say, "Who has the prefix that means 'under'?"  The student holding the card that says 'sub-' responds, "I have 'sub-', who has the prefix that means 'to do again'?" and so on until one student is left with the "stop" card.  When I taught elementary, I'd often end my day with this game while we waited for buses, or right after lunch recess to calm students down and get them re-focused.

 

Tech Required: There are SO MANY amazing, interactive game programs designed just for schools!  If you haven't tried any, please do!  Here are a few of my favorites: 

• Quizlet and Quizlet Live! I really think this is the complete package of games!  It's really easy for teachers to set up an account at quizlet.com and to have his or her students join their class.  Once you've got an account, you can either create a set of flashcards, or use a set that another teacher has already posted.  Now that you've got a set of flashcards created, the FUN begins!  Kids can log in at anytime and use the flashcards in a variety of ways-as normal flashcards, as a matching game, a race between players, and my personal favorite in-class game-Quizlet Live!  Quizlet Live allows a teacher to break a class into teams that have to work together-YES! TOGETHER!- to match up terms and definitions.  They have to work together because each student only has a few of the answers.  As a team, they all see the definition, but only one teammate has the answer, so one kid can't do all the work!  Watch a demo here: https://vimeo.com/161809345.  Trust me your class will LOVE this!  Quizlet is something kids can do on their own at home to study, and it even has an option for teachers to create a variety of tests to print off.  Quizlet is super student and teacher friendly!
• Kahoot! This is actually my least favorite online game, but kids like it.  Kahoot allows you to create your own or use sets made by other teachers, just like Quizlet.  Unlike Quizlet, Kahoot is a multiple choice game.  Here's what I don't love.  The question is only visible on the teacher's projected screen, but the answers are only on a student's device.  That makes for a lot of looking up and down, and honestly some frustration visually.  This game is usually played with all students playing for themselves against the rest of the class, which is great for bright, competitive kids with quick fingers, but can be frustrating for slow-processing kids.  The newest update does allow for teams, which I think is an improvement to keep all kids engaged. 
• Quizizz!  Quizizz is my latest find and current favorite.  Quizizz is similar to Kahoot, in that it lets you create or use sets of multiple choice questions made by other teachers.  However, the big difference is that each student sees the question and answers on their own screen and that it is student-paced.  In Kahoot, the whole class has to wait for all students to answer (or the teacher can set a time limit) before moving on to the next question.  In Quizizz, as soon as a student answers a question, the next question pops up on their screen and they can move on.  It takes the pressure off slower students, and eliminates boring wait time for quicker students.  There is still a level of competition involved because the teacher can post a leaderboard and a winner can be named, but this is an option, not a necessity.  The other fun thing about Quizizz, is that after each question, a meme pops up congratulating them or encouraging them.  There are pre-loaded memes, or teachers can create their own.  The kids and I think they are pretty funny!
• Nearpod! Now, Nearpod isn't as much of a game, as the others, but it is still a fun teaching tool.  I wrote a blog post about it last year, if you want a more in-depth review.  Since that blog, they've made updates which I think make it more fun.  With Nearpod, you can upload your own powerpoint or google slide presentations and add student activities to the slide show.  When you present, each student sees your slide show on their own device while you project it.  Between slides, you can insert activities such as multiple choice questions, polls, short answer responses, drawing responses, true/false questions, etc.  The students answer the question or do the activity on their device, then all responses pop up on the teacher's screen.  It's a great way to quickly insert formative assessments in a presentation, and it keeps kids' attention and gets students actively learning  during what would otherwise be a lecture-based lesson.  Most of Nearpod's functionality is free, if you upload your own slide shows.  However, there is a paid option that allows you more choice of activities, and the ability to purchase already created Nearpod presentations.

If you are looking for ways to keep student engagement high right up to the end of the year, I hope you try out some of these activities!  Do you have other ideas to gamify a classroom?  Let me know by commenting below!  

How do you teach VERBALS?

This is a shout out to all my 8th grade teachers!  We are all tasked with trying to get students to understand VERBALS! (thanks Common Core 😱) Those pesky "verbs in disguise" are confusing as heck for students!

If your school is like mine, you probably were given a big set of grammar worksheets and maybe a reference book to use, right?  B-O-R-I-N-G for teachers and students, and not especially effective for getting kids excited about the thrilling world of grammar!  Over the past few years, I've tried to jazz up my grammar lessons by using games, coloring, and interactive activities. I rarely use the worksheets given to me by my district, however I do use them when teaching verbals!

So HOW do I teach verbals? Well, verbals are HARD to understand, no doubt about it, but they are even harder to understand if a student doesn't have a solid understanding of the parts of speech.  Even though CCSS doesn't have standards in 8th grade related to teaching nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, I feel very strongly about reviewing these parts of speech before even mentioning verbals.  I focus most of my 2nd quarter grammar lessons on practice with nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs- especially adjectives and adverbs.  I love using ISN templates as a place for students to take notes and I've created Color By Code review sheets for students to practice.  I spend at least 2 days reviewing each of these four parts of speech.

ISN Templates for Note Taking

Adjective and Adverb Color By Code

Parts of Speech "Minute to Win It" sorting game

Playing "Scoot!" with task cards

Once I feel that my students have a solid understanding of the jobs of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, it is time to BLOW THEIR MINDS with verbals!

I love using ISNs, so I start with having my students glue an anchor chart in their ISNs.  You can grab the one I use for FREE here. Then I've created Nearpod presentations to use to introduce verbals as a whole individually.  (If you'd like to know more about Nearpod, an interactive PowerPoint platform, click here to read my blog about it!) You can use whatever lesson-style you like to introduce the basics of verbals, but I personally love turning PowerPoints or Google Slides into Nearpods!  I spend four days introducing verbals, and this is one of the few times of the year I actually use the worksheets given to me by my district, because kids need A LOT of practice identifying verbals:

Day 1: Intro Verbals as "Verbs in Disguise", anchor chart and explaining the three types of verbals and how they look like verbs, but don't act like verbs in sentences.  I give them a packet of practice sheets which we will do in class together.
Day 2: Participles- I have a presentation just on participles in Nearpod.  Then we do a practice worksheet in class together.
Day 3: Gerunds- Nearpod and worksheet
Day 4: Infinitives- Nearpod and worksheet

Now that my students have had some experience with the three types of verbals, I add in the FUN!  I truly believe learning comes from student experience, not teachers' lectures.  So, I spend the next few days letting kids play around with verbals.  I use these task cards in a variety of ways with my students.  First, I post them around the room and give them a task card form.  The students "scoot" around the room reading sentences on the task cards and determining which type of verbal is used in each sentence.  I ask them to compare answers with a partner and if their answers differ, they work together to try to figure it out.  I also like to use these cards to play "Score Four!".  Score Four is a lot like the card game "Spoons".  Kids work in small groups and try to be the first to collect four task cards containing the same type of verbal, then grab a spoon or pencil from the center of the table. Students LOVE the fast-paced nature of this game! Here is what the cards look like:

Click picture to grab this activity!

By now, my students usually have a pretty good grasp on those pesky verbals!  As a final review, I challenge them to recognize when a word is being used as a verbal or when it is just acting as a verb in this Color By Code activity:

Click picture to grab this activity!

 I've tried teaching verbals a variety of ways over the last few years, and incorporating a combination of interactive introduction presentations, worksheet practice, and games to keep students engaged in reviewing has really upped my students' scores on the assessment!  I hope these strategies will help you too!

If you've got great ideas for teaching this tricky subject, I'd love to hear your suggestions!  Please post ideas in the comments, because teaching is all about collaborating!

Celebrating Holidays in the Middle School Classroom

Let's face it...no matter how old the students are, they are still crazy on holidays!  ESPECIALLY those holidays that lead in to breaks!

So what can a teacher do to get through the holiday or the day before a holiday break? (other than pop in a movie!)

I'll let you in on my tried and true holiday-crazed-kids survival plan!

First, for each holiday, I gather a collection of holiday-themed worksheets...yes, worksheets-they DO have value at times! Then, I think of ways I can get kids up and moving for SHORT amounts of time. Next, I think of things students always want to do in class, but rarely are allowed to. Finally, I make it all into a competition with some sort of prize attached!

Sounds simple, right?  That's the best news...IT IS THAT SIMPLE!

Let me break it down for you.  Let's take Halloween as an example.  Halloween this year was on a Monday, so in my 6th grade ELA class, we celebrated "Monster Monday" (I've had years when I've called it "Witchy Wednesday" or "Freaky Friday"...you get the point!).  I hung a few decorations and turned the lights down.  When kids came into class, they picked up a "Monster Monday To Do List".

This worksheet has students identifying sentence parts (subject or predicate) and coloring by code to create the picture!

I created a list of grammar worksheets, silly challenges, and physical movements that all tied into Halloween some way or another.  I told them the first 2 students to complete all the challenges would win a prize from me (this time it was ghost-shaped Peeps candy from the Dollar Store). The students had fun working together on the worksheets, and they LOVED having the chance to draw on the whiteboard!  I had fun watching them do jumping jacks and moonwalk.  Because it was a challenge, they all got competitive and worked hard to win!  

This is the best way I've found to keep kids engaged during holidays!  It is super-easy for teachers, too!  Once you've found the worksheets and thought of the activities, you can use the same plan year after year.  Now, I can actually enjoy holidays with my students because I know they aren't just wasting a class period watching a movie.  Plus, since the kids are interacting with each other and with you, it's a great relationship building day!

I do this for many holidays: Halloween, before Winter Break, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, before Spring Break!  Here's another example, this time of a Winter Break to do list:

I hope that gives you some ideas to get through those tough-to-manage days ahead! 

Here's another example of one of the worksheets I use for Thanksgiving week to review punctuation: 

If you are looking for some ELA activity sheets to get you started on your collection, I just added a bunch of new Color By Code holiday-themed activities!  You can find activities for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa, New Year, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter! Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store to check them all out!

Help Students Become Comma Rock Stars!

I just found out that I will be teaching 6th grade this year!  I taught one section of 6th grade my first year in middle school, and was just trying to keep myself one step ahead of the kids while I learned new curriculum!  Now that I'm feeling confident with my 8th graders and 8th grade curriculum, this is a great time to dive back into 6th grade, too!

So, guess what have I been up to this week?  CREATING new activities!

The major grammar focus in 6th grade is commas.  Commas can be so confusing to kids because there are SO MANY rules about when to use them!  Commas are either over-used or under-used by novice writers...some people sprinkle them all over their work, and others avoid using them at all costs!  I've always been pretty confident in my comma usage - I was taught to use a comma anytime you take a breath - I still think about that when I write, but that was pretty much my entire education regarding commas. It wasn't until I began teaching with a heavy focus on grammar that I really researched ALL.THE.RULES.  I never realized how many different ways the cute little comma is used!  Nor did I realize that standards involving comma usage are found in all grades (1-10) in the Common Core State Standards!  That means that every single school year, students are being explicitly taught how to use commas in their writing!  That's awesome!  Our students will be comma rock stars by the time they hit high school and never misuse that cute little comma, right?

WRONG! Even though teachers are teaching commas starting in 1st grade, 8th graders don't always know when and when not to use commas.

Now that I'm teaching 6th grade, I've got the time to really dig deep into commas with my students (and hope I won't have to spend as much time re-teaching commas with them as 8th graders!).  This month, I've been busy creating activities to help me review and teach commas.  The first thing I did is create anchor charts to hang in my room to answer this question:

I created one poster for each major comma rule (10 in all) ranging from 1st grade standards on up through 8th grade standards.  I know it seems odd to be reviewing 1st grade skills with 6th graders, but believe me, they need reminders!  (Of course, I won't tell them which are 1st grade standards, like using commas in dates and lists, but it sure doesn't hurt to review!) No matter what grade you teach, you can use some or all of these posters in your room! You can see samples of all 10 posters in the product preview in my TpT Store.

Here's a sample of a poster for a 6th grade standard:

Once I finished the posters, I got busy making a few new Color By Code activities!  My 8th graders loved these and actually asked me to make more!  If 8th graders actually admit to liking something school-related, it must be good!  So, I made 2 versions to review commas- one with elementary comma rules, and one with middle school comma rules!

In the process, I discovered a super-cool new clip artist who calls herself "Mae Hates Mondays" and draws big-kid friendly clips. Even her store name is PERFECT for middle schoolers!  I'm loving her clip art teens so much that I had to make another picture with them!  So I made a third Color By Code activity to help students identify simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, compound-complex sentences, and sentence fragments.

I mean how great are these characters???

So now, I'm ready to head back to school to teach these 6th graders how to use commas like rock stars!  Click on the pictures of each product to learn more!  I hope you find them useful, too!

Stop the Summer Slide!

Every parent worries about the dreaded SUMMER SLIDE!  How can we keep our kids learning over the summer without burning them out or driving ourselves crazy?!?  Summer camps are great, and so are workbook pages...but GAMES and COLORING are even better!  I thought I'd share a few ideas I have for elementary and middle school kids today!

Now that I'm a middle school teacher, I don't often create or post things for elementary students anymore.  However, one of my FAVORITE creations is my list of math games you can play at home with manipulatives most people already have at home!  

You can click on the picture below to check it out!

This product has saved teachers a lot of time and they've gotten big thanks from parents who are using these tips!  Here are some product reviews:

"Perfect to give to parents looking for ideas at home!"

"Thank you. The parents and kids loved the games. It helped to enhance my open house night."

"Great resouce. I used it at our Math Night and it was very well received. Thank you!"

You don't need to be a teacher to love these activities!  I have played all of these games at home with my kids and they don't even realize they are practicing math skills :)

Here are 2 FREEBIES for the older kids!  Many middle schoolers struggle with the summer slide, too! We can't forget about them...especially since curriculum moves SO fast in middle school.

These free products help kiddos review the 4 types of sentences and the different types of nouns.  Most ELA teachers in middle school do a super fast review of these topics the first week of school, but they really expect kids to have at least a general idea of these basic ELA topics when they come in.  These FREEBIES are a great way to give your big kids a head start right before heading back to school!  Click on the pictures to grab these from my store today!

Hopefully, you will be able to stave off the dreaded summer slide with help from these activities!  If you are looking for more great FREEBIES, check out the "Summer Slide Linky" going on at The Teaching Bug's blog!

Starting With the Basics!

I haven't been out of school a week yet, but I'm already thinking of the first week back!  (Do teachers EVER really take a break from planning??)

I'm not certain yet, but it looks like I'll be teaching 8th and 6th grade this year.  I've taught both in the past, so I know what to expect.  Here's what I expect week one: a BIG need to review the basics!

As soon as I've spent a few days going over classroom procedures and getting-to-know-you activities like this ELA Interest Inventory Interview, it will be time to get down to the nitty-gritty basics of ELA.  What I've experienced in the past few years is that students "forget" the most basic of concepts over the summer...or they just say "we never learned that!".  So before I dive into the current grade-level curriculum, I find it super important to spend a few days to a week reviewing the things they should already have mastered.

The first thing I review with my kids is the eight parts of speech.  Even though I KNOW they learn this stuff in elementary school, they seem to come to me with no idea of what nouns and verbs are! So, last year, I developed a product that helped me immensely with such review: a Parts of Speech Mentor Sentences and Proof of Mastery Set.  This is a quick way to review all eight parts of speech, and gives kids a chance to "show what they know". I like to create a packet of all the pages, then glue the entire packet into an Interactive Student Notebook.  (I LOVE using ISNs in my class...it becomes my students #1 resource throughout the year!  If you haven't tried using ISNs DO IT!  Erin at Lovin Lit has some great tutorials!) Here's what a sample sheet looks like:

Here's one with the answers (included in the product)

Here's how I use these sheets to review:

1. I copy all the pages and make a packet with a staple in the top left corner.  (Don't copy back-to-back unless you don't plan to collect the bottom half of the page!)

2. I spend about 10 minutes reviewing one part of speech (I may show a video...I love the Shmoop! series on You Tube or a classic Schoolhouse Rock.  Sometimes, it's just a quick discussion/notetaking lesson)

3. After the mini-lesson, I do the top part of the page WITH my students, preferably on a projector.

4. Now it is the students' turn to show mastery of the part of speech by writing a sentence on the bottom half using the part of the speech of the day.  (I like to have the kids color code what I'm looking for to make for easy grading)

5. Students cut off the bottom portion and turn in for a quick 5 point grade.  

This makes for a super easy review AND a super easy formative assessment for me to see what my kids know, and what gaps they may have.

Click here for a FREE sample of this product. You can try out the pages that review nouns for free!  The entire set looks like this: 

Click the picture to go to my store!

Over the next few weeks, I'll share with you some of the other ways I review with my students at the beginning of the year.  I really believe that (at least) a week of review is necessary to make sure all kids are starting off from a solid foundation.  So much of ELA, especially grammar, builds upon previous knowledge!  You may think you need to dive right into your curriculum, but you will save time later if your students are secure in their basic skills right from the start!

This blog post is linked up with other great ideas based on teacher experiences!  Click the picture below to read more from other fantastic teachers!

Tips for Dealing with Stress!

I want to share a great blog post written by Jewel Pastor!  She asked lots of bloggers for their thoughts on ways to deal with the stress of teaching.  I'm so excited that she chose my tip to include in her Top 10 Ways to Destress for Teachers!

Click on the picture above to read some great ideas to relieve stress and make it to the end of the year without pulling out your hair or screaming!

Remember, kids get stressed at this time of year, too.  Try to relieve their stress by playing learning games and doing calming activities, like coloring!  I've got some great games and coloring activities in my TpT store to keep your kiddos working until the last day!  Click the pics for more info!

Color By Code Activities

Score 4 Games and Task Cards

Math Games for Elementary Kiddos

Grammar Games

The Countdown to Summer is ON!

 I'm joining up with a few other bloggers to share some end of the year tips and give away some summer goodies!  

If you are new to my blog, thanks for hopping over!

I'm finishing my 16th year of teaching...wow!  In those years, I've taught everything K-8 except 1st and 7th, so I've been through my fair share of goodbyes!  I've also been a part of "graduation" ceremonies with students moving up to middle school or high school.  I've tried a bunch of different things to end my school year on a high, happy note - and some have worked better than others!  Here are my two favorite ways to wrap up the year!

1. Celebrate Your Graduates!

• I'm not the person who believes in trophies for EVERYTHING, but I do think it is worth celebrating the move from elementary school to middle school, or middle school to high school!  I've been a part of some wonderful "graduation celebrations" at the end of 5th grade and 8th grade.  Here's what I love most: PREDICTIONS.  Yes, this means work on the teacher's end, but the result is so much fun! This works best for 5th grade, because you have one whole group of kids you get to know really well. I write a story, set sometime in the future...mine usually take place at a Michigan State University football tailgate...where I end up running into a former student who tells me all about his or her classmates and what they are doing now.  It is tons of fun to create futures for my students and they love hearing about how one of them is "now" a famous football player, or that one of their own has discovered the cure for cancer, or just finding out how many kids they have!  I always tie their future to something they are currently into.  It makes for a really fun end of the year read aloud!  I print copies for each student as a graduation gift, too.   
• 8th grade celebrations are a bit tougher to make personal since we share so many kids with so many teachers!  At my school, we do a big presentation whole group, but I like to give my own kids a little something on our last day together.  Thanks to the Target Dollar Spot, I can make mini-diplomas for each student! I use Pirouline rolled wafers and just tie a ribbon around each one.  Then I attach it to a certificate I print out thanking them for their hard work all year or congratulating them on surviving middle school.  Super easy and affordable when you've got 100+ students!

2. Keep Kids Learning All Summer with Summer Fun Packets!

• When I taught elementary and knew I'd been seeing my students back at the same school the next year, I often made summer fun packets for them to do over the summer.  Doesn't sound much like fun at first, but when they realized that the contents of the packet were really fun and that they could earn a prize from me in September for completing them, they LOVED the idea!  (Parents were big fans, too!)  I'd put in activities like my "Color By Code" grammar practice sheets, a list of board, card, dice, and domino games that practice math skills, a list of my favorite books, and a list of local field trips for families.  Parents would sign off on the activities, then when school started again, my former students would come back to visit my classroom and show me their completed packet.  I always made a big deal about them coming back to visit and congratulating them on their productive summer, then I'd give them some fun dollar store goodie.  This was fun for me, and great motivation for my new students to see that learning can be fun!  Click the picture below to grab a FREE "Color By Code" activity.

If you like that one, I've got many more Color By Code Activities covering many different ELA topics.  You can get them all individually in my store, or save money by buying the bundle! Click on the picture to find out about all the "Color By Code" activities!

You can find a list of fun ways to practice math at home here!  Parents love these activities because they probably have all the materials at home already!  Plus, these games are fun for the whole family! Click the picture to find out more!

Good luck making it through the final stretch of the year!  I hope these ideas get you excited and ready to end your year on a high note!  For more fun tips and freebies, click the picture below to hop to the next blog!