Mrs. Russell's Room

August Teaching Ideas

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School does not officially start for me for another few weeks, but I’m going to post about what I’m doing a bit ahead of time for those of you who are already in the classroom, or going back in the next few days! 🙂 Did you know that I already posted about my long range plans for the year?  You can see at a glance exactly what I’m up to for the entire year! 🙂 I offered the template as well to all of the teachers who are following me via email subscription.  So, if you’re headed into the time of the summer where you are planning for the year, consider checking out my plans and then making your own with the free template! 🙂
Here are a few of the resources that I’ll be using for my back to school prep! 🙂  I wonder how many of you are using some of the same things! 🙂  I’m so blessed that I’ve found so many wonderful bloggers to follow on line that offer great materials!  I love creating, but sometimes, its nice to just be able to press a button and buy something that I didn’t make.  Who doesn’t love easy?! 🙂

Every August, these are some of the first resources I get prepped! 🙂
They are some of my favorite things EVER! 🙂
Leigh’s School Forms & Checklists are now editable and I can tweak them to my heart’s content…although, full disclosure, I used them as is last year and they are really fantastic.  Everything that you could possibly need to get yourself together!  The parent reminder notes from Katie are all small enough to be attached to an agenda, or a group of weekly papers.  Just something quick to remind parents of everything under the sun!  Katie thought of everything!  The Fluttering in First girls have been such great mentors to me these last four years of blogging!  I can’t say enough good about these two ladies! 🙂 These Listen UP activities are genius and they help me cover standards in a way that my kids LOVE! 🙂 I found Becca’s Classroom Cheers last year, and they became part of the culture of my classroom.  No one celebrates kids as well as Becca! 🙂 We have a cheer captain of the day who selects cheers throughout the day so that we can take a break and CELEBRATE! Thank you Becca! 🙂 You are a shining star! 🙂  I added my phonics tests and my fluency folder because I like to get all my copies for this done ahead of time…so, next week, I’ll get started on that, since my pre-planning is the following week!

 

Deana’s Literacy Handouts are a total must have! 🙂 I can’t believe all that goodness is free! 🙂  It’s just what parents need to connect with what we do in the classroom.  Great for BTS night for sure! 🙂  Nicole from Rowdy in Room 300 made her cafeteria expectations a few years ago, and I’ve used them EVERY YEAR since.  It’s a great way to teach the kids what you expect in a fun way! 😉  I’ve blogged about Jen’s line up chants so many times, you might think I came up with them.  I {puffy heart} them so! 🙂 *sigh*  You don’t know how much fun lining up can be until you start it off with a song from Herding Kats in Kindergarten! 🙂 #thatisall.  If you’re looking for a cute template for your Open House, look no further than this free gem from my bloggy buddy Leigh! 🙂  And if you need help figuring out how to manage the year well, download my management questions during pre-planning week to start thinking about how to tackle challenges in the classroom before they become problems.
If you’re interested in making any of these a part of your classroom, just click on the links embedded in the post.  If you’d like to check out what the other bloggers have going on, just click on the links below! 🙂 Don’t forget, the Teachers Pay Teachers Annual Back to School Sale is coming up on Monday and Tuesday!  Take the time to give feedback on paid purchases to increase the savings you’ll get on the sale purchases you make this time! 🙂
 
Thank you to the lovely Deana Kahlenberg from Primary Punch for this fantastic graphic! 🙂
I hope you’ll find these resources helpful to start your year! 😉
If you’d like to link up…please make sure that when you reference this post, you link to it as well!
Make sure you visit the person before and behind you to leave meaningful feedback! 🙂
Thanks so much!
Happy Back to School Season!

 

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