I have a confession to make.

I have favorite students…and they’re my “teacher’s pets.”

Now I know I’m not supposed to. But I do.

After hundreds and hundreds of students who have filed in and out of my classroom doors over the years, I have come to the conclusion who my favorite students are: they’re the kind kids.

The kids who help others without being asked, who include kids sitting off on their own, and who offer smiles to classmates, kids they don’t know, and the janitor.

Because I would rather have a classroom full of kids who struggle to read, who don’t know a 2 from a 6 and still can’t read “the” by December but who are kind, than a classroom full of academically advanced students who are mean-spirited.

At the end of the day, while it is my job to teach my students how to read and write and make a hypothesis, it’s also my job to help make them the best versions of themselves.

To help them learn empathy. And how to take turns. And how to be considerate.

All of those qualities fall under the umbrella of being a kind person.

And those are the kinds of students I want in my classroom.

How to Encourage Kindness at School

Some kids come into my classroom already kind. Whether they were genetically pre-dispositioned to be kind or their parents instill that value in them daily, some kids exude kindness.

Being kind feels natural for some kids.

But some kids- and let’s be honest, most kids-need extra practice and guidance and reminders to be kind.

So I let my students know right from the start of the year I value kindness. I showcase it. And I reward it.

And we talk about kindness often.

Here’s how I Create a Classroom Full of Kind Kids:

1. Praise Kindness

When I see a student being kind, I announce it to the class.

I stop everything we’re doing and I notice it, on purpose.

I praise the behavior, “That was a kind choice you made,” and I praise the student, “You are a kind kid and I love that.”

Kids notice what behaviors get adult attention and they emulate the behavior more often.

2. Reward Kindness

If you give out tickets or stickers or reward coupons or if you have students “clip up,” take the time to reward kindness.

If you have space, make a small bulletin board titled “Our Hearts are Full of Kindness” and add a paper heart every time you “catch” a student showing kindness to a classmate or staff member. The student can sign their name to the heart and you can write down what they did that was kind.

You can award “I’m a Kind Kid” Certificates or call students’ parents with a good news phone call (which all parents love to get), or pass out these “Caught Being Kind” Cards

3. Read Kindness books

Stock your library shelves with kindness themes and messages.

Take the time to read these books to your students and discuss the behaviors you value as a class.

Here are a few of my class’ favorite kindness books:

No Room for Elephants 

The Invisible Boy 

The Kindness Quilt 

How Full Is Your Bucket? 

4. Talk About Kindness with Kindness Discussion Starters

When you have a few extra minutes before the bell rings or you want to add a little more depth to your Morning Meetings, use these kindness discussion starters with your students.

Ask them questions like:

How does it feel when someone is unkind to you?

When you see someone playing on the yard by themselves, how do you think they feel and what could you do?

Have you ever felt lonely even if there were other kids nearby? How did you change that?

The 60 color-coded cards focus on kindness, including others, being helpful, being mindful of others, and how to be a good friend.

Meaningful conversations between your students are bound to occur when you dive into what it means to be a sounds like, feels like, and looks like to be a kind person.

these “Caught Being Kind” Cards

5. Brainstorm Ways Students Can Be Kind in Your Classroom

Kindness can be difficult to define in words, but it’s quite simple to brainstorm ideas on what kindness sounds like and looks like in your class.

Take some time to ask your students ways they can show kindness in class. Make a poster to hang in your classroom you can add to throughout the year.

Some ideas include:

• Take turns with supplies
• Offer to share a crayon when a friend needs a color
• Pick up something that fell if someone dropped it
• Return someone’s jacket or lunchbox if they left it on the playground.
• Take turns when talking
• Say “Yes, I’d love to” if someone wants to partner with you
• Scooch your chair in so classmates can pass behind you
• Sit criss-cross applesauce so classmates don’t trip on your legs
• Keep your hands and feet to yourself
• Praise and encourage classmates

6. Talk About Ways Kids Can Show Kindness Out on the Yard

A lot of “mean kid” behaviors happen during lunch and recess, away from our watchful eyes.

I let my kids know I check in on them during these times and I’m always on the lookout for kind behaviors. I also remind them the yard staff reports back all the kindness to me.

Brainstorm ways your students can be kind out on the yard:

• Invite kids to play with you and be an includer
• Say “yes” if someone asks if they can play
• Hand the ball back when it rolls towards you rather than kicking it
• Take turns with the equipment
• Pick up someone’s trash if it blows away
• Offer to sit with the classmate at the nut-free table if you have a safe lunch
• Sit with someone who is alone.
• Ask your friends what they would like to play.
• Don’t grab all the equipment and keep them to yourself.
• Keep your hands and feet to yourself
• When a classmate says “Stop” or “No,” listen to their words.

Because at the end of the day, if you foster and encourage kindness at school, the time you spend with your students in those four walls will be so much more enjoyable.

For you and for them.

You will have helped them become the best versions of themselves.

And since you have the power to influence and help create 20+  more kind people in the world every year, imagine the ripple effect it will have in your school and in your community.

Plus, you’ll have 20 more kids who make your list of favorite students.

But shhhh. Don’t tell anyone they’re your teacher’s pets.

The post How To Foster and Encourage Kindness at School appeared first on A Dab of Glue Will Do.

When I was in the classroom, we had a school-wide color behavior plan. At the end of the day, I would stamp each students’ binder based on the color that they earned. Blue meant you went above and beyond. Green meant you did a great job and did everything that was expected of you. Yellow means that you had a few minor problems and red means that you either did something very wrong or that you continuously chose to not do your job throughout the school day.

If students earned a green or blue, they earned a punch on their Behavior Punch Cards. Now, this may not seem like much, BUT to the majority of your students, they will want a punch on their card each day more than anything in this world. Hopefully this will be just the movitation the majority of your students need.

Once all twenty shapes have been punched through, students will earn some sort of prize. I had a prize box that was full of random things from Oriental Trading, the Dollar Store, and the Dollar Spot.

Do what works for you and also what sparks your students’ interests. You can make it where they get to choose a prize that exact day they reach number 20 or you can have a prize day once a week, where you honor everyone that has earned 20 punches on their card.

Once they fill their punch card, provide them with a new one and they will start the process again.

Are you thinking how on earth are you going to find the time to punch these cards on top of everything else you have going on at dismissal?

There are a few ways to fix this. 1)You have a student helper that will walk around and punch behavior cards. 2)You can use the honor system and pass the hole punch around to each student. 3) You can simply have the students that earned a punch bring their cards to you and quickly punch a hole in each one.

Because this document is editable, you will need to download all ALL KG fonts. Then open document in Adobe Acrobat and type in the names of your students using KG Primary Penmanship. Press print and there you go!

I find it fun and easier to keep track of when I print them on colored cardstock. Cut each individual card out and then you are all set!

So will this be the answer to ALL of your behavior problems. NOPE, sadly not. However, it will help curve the majority of your students to strive every single day to get a punch on their card. And that, my friends, is worth it.

Can you not find a resource that you would LOVE to have for your classroom? Contact me and I would be happy to make it for you.

Click the picture below to download.

I hope that you and your students enjoy the Behavior Punch Cards!

The post Behavior Punch Cards appeared first on A Dab of Glue Will Do.

She was emotionally and physically bullied on the playground away from the watchful eyes of adults.

And it broke my heart.

Because the words out of these bullies’ mouths almost broke my daughter’s spirit.

But the part that really stung, was some of the bullying was happening inside the four walls of her classroom.

Right under the nose of her teacher.

Next to this poster that hung on the wall: “Bully-Free Zone“

Which almost broke my spirit.

Because bullying can be spotted and stopped if adults know what to look for and take the time to notice.

And as a parent of a bullied child and a classroom teacher who does not tolerate cruelty, teachers need to take the time to look for bullying behaviors in classrooms.

Because we can stop it before it escalates or before permanent damage is done.

Why bullying can be hard for teachers to recognize:

The statistics about bullying are shocking. One in four kids are bullied.

One in four.

If you have a classroom of 20 students, statistically speaking, 5 of them are being (or will be) bullied.

And this is going to be harsh, so I apologize in advance, but you need to hear it: if you think none of your students are being bullied in your classroom or on the playground, you are probably wrong. You’re just not noticing it, recognizing it, or paying attention to it.

But it’s not your fault.

Many adults don’t know what bullying really is so they don’t know what to look for.

Once you know what bullying looks like and sounds like, you’ll be able to spot it a mile away and more importantly, you’ll be able to put a stop it.

But first, you need to understand the true definition of bullying.

Some kids are mean. Some kids are mean without realizing they’re being mean. Our young students are learning how to navigate social structures and social cues and how to not hurt people’s feelings.

But mean kids aren’t always bullies.

So what is bullying?

Here’s the true definition of bullying and why you need to know it.

There are 4 different kinds of bullying:

• Social
• Emotional
• Physical
• Cyber

For our younger students who don’t have access to social media, cyberbullying is pretty darn rare. Thank goodness.

Physical bullying is often the easiest to spot because it usually leaves physical marks. Although, my daughter was physically bullied in her classroom and the teacher didn’t see it at all.

Because bullies are often smart.

They’re quick.

And they know when adults aren’t looking.

The other tricky part with noticing bullying behavior is adults assume it only happens in the older grades.

But sadly, bullying behavior starts young. Startlingly young. Especially social and emotional bullying.

I caught my youngest daughter in a “mean girl” situation where she was doing a bully’s bidding on the Kindergarten yard.

Yep. You read that. Kindergarten.

So if you have an early education classroom or a younger elementary school classroom, you need to start to look for bullying behavior so you can prevent bullying in your classroom.

You’ll see who needs your help, your protection, and your intervention.

How to Recognize Bullying in Your Classroom:

Most bullying happens away from the watchful eyes of adults. Bullies aren’t dumb. They don’t want to get caught.

So pay attention when your students don’t think you’re paying attention.

When I taught elementary school, I would stand and watch my kids on the playground or in the cafeteria or during P.E. where they couldn’t see me watching them.

I peered out my window before school while they waited for the bell so I could see how they treated each other when an adult wasn’t standing over them.

And use these techniques to prevent bullying in your classroom:

1. Follow the cliques

Cliques and groups of kids are exclusionary by nature. If there are kids who are always together no matter what, then there are kids they aren’t letting into the group.

And while not everyone needs to be friends with everyone, our students do need to be friendly with everyone.

But groups/cliques can quickly morph into a posse mentality. Inside these groups, mean behaviors can spiral and escalate quickly because peers give each other “permission” to act and speak in ways they wouldn’t do if they were flying solo.

Peer pressure is a real and powerful thing, even for our young kids, because they want to remain in “good standing” in the group.

So know who is in the group and who isn’t. Then try to figure out why certain kids are allowed in and why others aren’t.

2. Know who your strong personalities are

Every class has at least one kid who has extraordinarily strong-ahem-leadership skills. These kids could be called bossy or controlling or “trouble kids” because they easily get kids to do what they want.

As teachers, we have to know who’s “in charge,” calling the shots, and deciding who’s in the in-crowd.

These are the kids who are either going to grow up to lead a multi-million dollar business or a small gang. Hopefully, they use their authority for good.

But pay attention to these kids. Watch what they’re doing, who’s listening to them, and who’s following them.

And then you’ll notice who is not in their “good graces.” Those kids might be targeted.

3. Know who the targets are going to be

Bullies target kids who are different, or who bullies perceive to be different.

If you have a child in your class with special needs or food allergies or who is a different nationality or is in a different socio-economic situation than the majority of your class, pay extra close attention to these kids.

Sadly, they are an “easy target” for bullies.

Pair these students up with other kids who are unwaveringly kind and are good friends, so they will have a voice who will stand up for or stand beside them if they are bullied.

4. Pay attention to changes in personalities or behaviors

Kids will often not tell an adult- even a trusted adult-when they’re being bullied.

So we need to look for subtle changes in their behavior or their personalities.

If you have a student who used to enthusiastically raise their hand but no longer does, that’s a red flag.

If you had a group of girls who were inseparable and now one of the girls is off playing by herself, that’s a red flag.

If you have a student who was happy and jovial and is now quiet, withdrawn, or verbally hard on themselves, that’s a red flag.

Start asking questions. Start having private conversations with these kids. Get to the bottom of it.

5. Know who the “nice” kids are

In our society, we often use the word “nice” and “kind” interchangeably. But there is a big difference between the two words.

Kind kids are kind because they want to be. They’re not looking for something in exchange. These kids genuinely, from the bottom of their hearts, want to be kind.

They share their red crayon because their seatmate needs it.

They rush to pick up papers you dropped.

They quietly go sit with the kid who is all alone and strike up a conversation.

But nice kids want something in return for their actions. They’re looking for an angle. They are nice for a reason.

And they’re often the Eddie Haskells of the world. The Leave It to Beaver character was so polite and always so nice to the adults. When he wanted to be. But he was manipulative and needed something in return for his niceness.

Kids who are “nice” will say things like:

• I’ll be your friend if you do this…
• I’ll give you this if you give this to me…
• I won’t tell if you won’t tell…
• I won’t be your friend anymore unless you…

Nice kids won’t be nice if it doesn’t suit them. Pay close attention to those kids.

6. Know your kids’ families

Bullies are taught to be bullies. It is a learned behavior.

I knew who my daughter’s biggest bully was. And I couldn’t stand him. But then one night I saw him in the corner of the gym being yelled at by his father who towered over him. This dad pushed his pointer finger into his kid’s chest as the boy hung his head and took the verbal lashing for not doing well enough on his presentation.

It wasn’t an excuse for this kid’s bullying behavior. But it was an explanation.

Not all kids who are bullied will become bullies.

But almost every single bully has been bullied. Or is being bullied right now.

If you witness a parent or older sibling bullying, belittling, or being cruel to your student, pay extra close attention to that student’s behaviors.

Not only do you need to step in to protect that student, but you need to make sure they’re not passing on that behavior and lashing out against your other students.

How to Prevent Bullying In Your Classroom

Looking for bullying behaviors and stopping them before they escalate is crucial.

But there are also ways to minimize the amount of bullying in your classroom in the first place.

To prevent bullying in your classroom, you can, in essence, Bully Proof Your Classroom.

1. Create a strong classroom identity

When we take the time to make sure our classroom feels like a community, where everyone belongs and everyone is welcome, our students will be less likely to encounter bullying behaviors inside our four walls.

Come up with a class cheer, work towards class rewards, or create a class handshake as you greet them or say goodbye to them.

Make your room a safe place where no one feels like they can or should bully anyone else.

2. Teach kindness, expect kindness, and celebrate kindness in your classroom

We aren’t just teaching kids their alphabet and numbers and to raise their hand before speaking. But we’re also teaching kids how to be the best versions of themselves. And that includes character education.

Hopefully, kindness is being taught at home, but we can also foster and encourage kindness in our classrooms.

Which will create kinder kids, a kinder classroom, and a kinder school environment.

This kindness pledge and these kindness classroom posters will clearly lay out the expectations of what is expected when students come into your classroom.

You can also have “Speaking and Acting with Kindness” one of your class rules.

3. Teach the difference between tattling and telling

We don’t want kids tattling every few seconds. We would lose our ever loving minds.

But we do need them to tell us when a classmate is hurt or is being bullied. So we need to teach our kids the difference between tattling and telling.

I tell my kids: “If someone is hurt, or is about to get hurt, tell me so I can help. That is not tattling” And I explain that hurt can also mean their feelings are hurt.

And when a kiddo is about to tattle, I ask them: “Is someone hurt? Is someone going to get hurt?” If they answer no to both questions, I politely deny their tattle as something they can keep to themselves.

4. Teach your kids to include others

If your school has a buddy bench, teach your kiddos how to use it and then remind them daily to check the bench.

When they’re playing on the yard and see someone sitting there, they should pause their play, walk over, and invite the student to join in.

They can offer to sit with a friend at the food allergy table if they have a safe lunch.

They can pair up with a classmate who needs a partner without whining, sighing or wishing they were with their friend.

We can actively teach our students to invite others, welcome others and include others. And we can teach our kids the words they need to do it:

• Do you want to join us?
• Can I sit with you?
• Do you want to sit with us?
• Can we play together?
• Do you want to play with us?

5. Talk about kindness and what makes a good friend

During your circle time or morning meeting or if you have an extra few minutes in your day, talk to your students about what kindness looks like, sounds like, and feels like.

If you’re not sure how to start the conversation, try these 60 Kindness Discussion Starters or this silly Skittles Game. Because when kids talk about kindness and what it means to be a good friend, they’ll know what to do when an adult isn’t standing over them.

And you can also read kindness books or have them in your classroom library to encourage kinder behaviors, like these:

No Room for Elephants 

The Invisible Boy 

The Kindness Quilt 

How Full Is Your Bucket? 

Because at the end of the day, we want our students to be safe and feel safe at school.

We want them to love school and love learning.

And that simply won’t happen if they’re being bullied in our classrooms or out on the playground.

But we can do everything in our power to make sure that bullying doesn’t happen on our watch.

It’s up to us to ensure our school really is a Bully-Free Zone.

The post How to Recognize and Prevent Bullying In Your Classroom appeared first on A Dab of Glue Will Do.

David Goes to School by David Shannon

David’s high energy antics are disrupting the class and his teacher really has her hands full!

Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker by Christianne C. Jones

Lacey Walker talks ALL day!  So it takes her losing her voice to learn the importance of listening.

What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick

Join a small boy as he learns about actions and their consequences, and the importance of making good choices.

A Bad Case of the Tattle Tongue by Julia Cook

A humorous story that illustrates the difference between unnecessary tattling and responsibly telling.

You Get What You Get by Julie Gassman

Join Melvin as he learns how to deal with disappointment…and not throw a fit!

My Mouth is a Volcano by Julie Cook

Louis is full of things to say, but he learns the importance of respecting others by listening and waiting his turn.

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

A little boy learns effective recipes for turning his worst enemy into his best friend.

Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud

This book teaches positive behaviors by teaching and encouraging the concept of ‘bucket filling’: expressing kindness and love to others.

Spaghetti in a Hotdog Bun by Maria Dismondy

This book shows kids how to always do the right thing, even in challenging situations.

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell

Molly gets picked on at school, but she knows how to respond: she walks proud, smiles big, and sings loud, just like her grandmother told her.

The Recess Queen by Alexis O’neil

A fresh take on the issue of bullying.  Mean Jean is the recess queen, until little Katie Sue arrives and shows her kindness.

Don’t Squeal Unless It’s a Big Deal by Jeanie Franz Ransom

This book teaches kids when telling on a classmate is appropriate and when it is merely tattling.

Can you not find a resource that you would LOVE to have for your classroom? Contact me and I would be happy to make it for you.

Are you looking for more back to school ideas, activities, and printables to do at home or in the classroom? If so click here.

The post 12 Classroom Behavior Books for Little Kids appeared first on A Dab of Glue Will Do.

Especially for us educators.

The end of the 2019-2020 school year really put us to the test.

We had to learn phrases like ‘distance learning’ and ‘remote teaching.’

We got educated quickly about Bitmoji classrooms, digital lesson plans, and Zoom.

We figured out how to use Google Classroom, Seesaw, and BoomCards.

But as the world shut down so we could all stay home safe, our classrooms sat empty.

While we longed for sticky hugs and reading our students books on our rug, we instead sent Flipgrid videos and dropped off books in grocery bags.

And now that we’re heading into fall of 2020 with COVID cases back on the rise, the conversation continually centers around back to school and preparing our classrooms…and our students.

Teachers, parents, school administration…we’re all worried and trying to plan, but we still have no clue what back to school will look like and how to make it work for our littles.

We’re all left with more questions than answers:

Are we teaching in-person in our classrooms or distance teaching?

If we’re in our classrooms how in the world can we keep our kids safe and socially distanced but also support their mental health?

If we can’t touch our kids with a hug or a high five or hand-holding, how can we connect with them?

If we’re wearing a mask and so are they, how can they see our facial expressions or see what our lips are doing to make sounds we’re teaching them?

And how in the world can we connect with our kids in meaningful ways, especially if we have to be ready to transition to distance learning at a moment’s notice if there’s another spike and we all need to quarantine again?

Being a teacher in the 2020-2021 school year will most likely continue to be a unique learning experience for us all.

We’re all going to have to be extra flexible, extra patient, and really, really ready for anything.

And since we’re in unchartered waters, I needed help to help you be ready for anything.

So I reached out to our online family of educators from around the globe to crowdsource and brainstorm ideas on ways to help us build a strong classroom community, whether we are in-person teaching or distance teaching this back to school.

These ideas will help you have an easier back to school this year, even if it’s still surrounded by worry and questions.

Ideas for Building a Classroom Community and a Strong Classroom Identity

Before we share the ideas, this list has to come with a few disclaimers.

Please read this before reading the ideas below. 

1. We’re All Different

Of course, not all of these ideas will work for you and your students. We all teach very different students, in different neighborhoods, with different needs. We also have very different school districts and rules and regulations we must adhere to. Choose what works best for you and your student population.

2. Don’t Get Overwhelmed

Try not to get overwhelmed with this list. We tried to include as many ideas as we could gather so you had a wide variety to choose from. Look at it as a treasure box of ideas.

Rummage through, and find the best ideas for you.

3. No Comparing and No Teacher Guilt.

Just like we can’t compare our classroom walls and decor to someone else’s, we can’t compare our online teaching to someone else’s. Please, please, please don’t ever make this list make you feel guilty for not doing all the things.

Doing all the things will exhaust and drain you and you won’t be the best teacher for your students, let alone the best person for your family. Your mental health is paramount.

Choose what works and without guilt, let the rest go.

4. This isn’t Normal and That’s Okay.

These are not ideas designed for a “normal” school year. They’re ideas so you can start the year teaching remotely or start the year off in person but be ready to go to distance learning if needed.

Of course, this stinks. Of course, this isn’t how it “should” be.

But instead of complaining and wishing for what could be, we know teachers are doers.

We’re going to make this school year feel as “normal” as we can.

These ideas will help you do that.

Prepare for Community Connection:

Back-to-school prep will definitely look different this year. We might still make pencil boxes and write our students’ names on supplies, but we have to prep to switch to distance learning at a moment’s notice.

We have to prepare for anything. And after the end of the 2019-2020 school year, we now know “prepared for anything” really could be “anything.”

Here’s how some teachers are prepping for back to school:

• Host a Virtual Meet the Teacher event so your students and families can get to know you, even if they can’t come to the school for a before-school orientation. You can get ideas for hosting it here.

• Some teachers already send home a student questionnaire for parents to fill out to get to know their students. It will be crucial this year. One teacher mentioned she normally doesn’t like to do this because she prefers to get to know the students on her own, but because of the uncertainty of how long she’ll have her students in her classroom, she’s going to need the parents’ input this year to get to know her students quicker and connect with them digitally. You can get our student questionnaire printable here.

• Send home a Welcome to My Classroom Packet. Include a picture of you and your family, information about you, and ways families can connect with you. You can also send it digitally, or make a video, or send them this All About Your Teacher. Introduce your family and your pets so your students can get to know you.

• Instead of sitting closely on the rug,  a few teachers are buying carpet squares to place them further apart around their room, so students are still “coming to the rug” but can be six feet away from each other. A few teachers mentioned getting hula hoops to help kids social distance for “rug time” to reduce the desk/table sitting.

• Several teachers got super techy and made a Bitmoji classroom. Many teachers mentioned that even if they start in-classroom learning, they were still going to create a Bitmoji classroom so their students are familiar with it if they need to move to distance learning. Here are step by step instructions to create one for your classroom.

• Set up a Google Classroom right away and teach your students (and parents) how to use it.

• Several teachers created a private Facebook group for their parents to stay connected, share ideas, photos, and videos.

• Encourage parents to create a bin or learning space at home to keep all the supplies their student will need to be successful. Suggest items you know will be needed: scissors, glue, manipulatives they can find at home, etc.

• Create some tips for success and send them to your parents. Include things like create a quiet workspace for students, set a schedule so kids know what to expect, have all their supplies in one place ready for them, etc.

• If you’re able to Zoom with students, host a parents only zoom call first so they can get comfortable with the platform. Show them how they can switch to Gallery View so students can see everyone in the call and show them how to change the name so their child’s first name appears (and not their name).

• One teacher made a video for her parents showing them simple ways to incorporate learning into everyday life activities like cooking, baking, gardening, puzzles, reading, etc.

• If not all of your students have Wifi, remind them they may qualify for Wifi assistance through your district. Or, most public libraries, McDonald’s, and Starbucks offer free Wifi. Some families got super creative to complete their work in parking lots to utilize the free Wifi (Obviously not ideal, but it works).

Strong Classroom Connection Ideas:

We know that students learn when they feel connected, welcomed, and loved. That can be tricky six feet apart or when we’re separated by a screen. So to get connected this fall, we’re going to have to get creative.

• Create a class name and a class cheer. You can pick it ahead of time, or have a few choices students can vote on so they have more “buy-in.” If they vote, have them choose their top two or three choices so one of their choices will win.

• One teacher’s class was frog-themed and so she encouraged them to “Be Frog Strong.” And when she wore frog glasses it was time to be silly and when she took them off it was time to get serious and work. You could be the Brave Bears or the Kind Kangaroos or the Silly Sloths…

• Have a class pet…it can be your family pet or a small pet that can easily come home with you or even a stuffed animal.  One teacher had the class pet send silly daily emails and videos about what they were doing.

• One teacher read Our Class is a Family to help explain how important we are to each other.

• Many, many teachers want to focus on our students’ social and emotional learning during these times. You can use these kindness discussion starters to talk about how to be a good friend and show compassion or you can encourage them to do socially-distanced kindness activities.

• Teach your students several contact-less greetings so they can greet you and their classmates without touching. Get our ideas and free printable here.

• One teacher wants to get each of her kids a dollar store oven mitt so they can put them on and give her a high five without touching.

• For in classroom instruction, one teacher is having “hug jackets” made which are nurses smocks that can be easily washed. She’ll need one for each student but can hug them (check with your school and parents).

• One teacher mentioned she’s going to teach her students hand signals to show/demonstrate her facial expressions if they’re covered up by a mask in person (a thumbs up for a smile, etc.)

• Several teachers are looking into getting face masks that have a plastic “window” over the mouthpiece or face shields (check with your school/district) so students can see their lips and facial expressions.

• Start each day with a silly joke or a would you rather question or a Question of the Day.

• Use a few of your classroom jobs students can do digitally. Maybe one student gets to be the “librarian” and can pick the book you read and another student can be the “teacher’s assistant” and help you on the digital call.

• Create a Star of the Week or a Friend of the Week. You can have students make a video sharing something important to them. They can make an All About Me poster and take a picture of it and share it on Google Classroom/Seesaw. Using Flipgrid or Seesaw, students can respond, give compliments, or ask questions. You can get our All About Me freebie printables here.

• Many teachers said sharing or show and tell was always a huge hit during distance learning. You can have a few students share each day or have all of them share. You can also have categories like share your favorite toy or your favorite book or your favorite stuffed animal. Or you can have them show a special skill or something silly.

• Celebrate birthdays. You can drop off or mail a birthday crown, birthday pencil, and/or birthday card/note. You can sing Happy Birthday as a class on a Zoom Call. Or students can record Flipgrid videos for the birthday kiddo.

• For lunch, turn on some fun music if you’re eating in your classroom together. You can sit on your class “rugs”/carpet scares and have a picnic to switch it up and get them out of their chairs. If you’re distance learning, several teachers suggested hosting a Lunch Bunch Zoom Call. You eat lunch during the video call and anyone who wants to join you for lunch can. You can chat and eat together.

• Show your students your home/workspace, your pet, your neighborhood. Introduce them to your family. You can make a video of your neighborhood and send it to them as you go for a family walk. Ask them to take a video of their neighborhood and send it to you or have them make a video of their family introducing everyone. One teacher had her spouse and her children read stories to her class through videos.

• Invite Mystery Readers or Guest Readers to your digital classroom. If you are distance learning, you can send the guests the zoom invite link and they can pop on a few minutes after the start of your meeting time to read the story. Try inviting the principal, TAs, the music teacher, the librarian, the school custodian, the school secretary, or the PE coach to read their favorite books.

• Host Theme Days for your classroom or digital classroom. You can try color of the day, backward day, bring a stuffed animal day, pj day, fort day, sports day, school spirit day, crazy hat day, opposite day, Hawaiian day, crazy sock day, mismatched shoe day, etc. Many teachers said their students LOVED it when they participated as well. Every kid wants to see their teacher be silly. 

• Many teachers continued with the Letter of the Day themes and had special activities for each letter (Popcorn day for P and Watercolor Day for W, etc.)

• Host virtual parties like tea parties or popcorn parties or ice cream parties. You could also just have students bring a special snack to the zoom and eat while you teach or read.

• A lot of teachers created individual videos for their students with private messages so each student felt special and connected with their teacher.

• A few crafty teachers made class Tshirts for students to wear during video calls.

• One teacher had her families send her photos that she then shared in her digital classroom newsletter under the heading, “News From Our Friends” so kids could share when they lost a tooth or got a new pet or found something interesting on a neighborhood walk.

• Several teachers hosted a bedtime read aloud and read stories in the evening in their pjs.

Academic Instruction Ideas During Distance Learning:

We of course want our students to feel connected and be connected to us and their classmates.

But we also want them to learn and master the skills they’ll need to be successful.

Here are some of the best ideas:

• Use different types of technology to support mastering skills. Some ideas teachers sent in you can try: Google Classroom, Seesaw, Clever, Google Meets, Remind, Nearpod, Spelling City, Flipgrid, Marco Polo, Lexia, A-Z Raz Kids, ClassDojo, Kahoot, Prodigy, and Boom Cards.

• You can send home a list of educational websites to your students so kids can sneak in some learning while they’re having fun. Get the list here.

• Use our Digital e-Learning games that include practice self-checking games and show what you know assessment games and activities for language arts, math and science. You can use these Google Slides or SeeSaw games as centers for in-classroom learning if you have tablets, computers or a smartboard. You can get them all here.

• Keep in mind that any of the products/classroom resources you’ve purchased from me or downloaded from the Dollar Teachers Club are for you and the students in your classroom to use…even if your classroom is now digital. So you can print resources and send them home. Or you can send a link with my resources to your families for them to print. (But as always, please do not share these resources with other teachers or post on a public website).

• Pre-record mini-lessons you need to teach so students can watch it and rewatch it. This is perfect for phonemic awareness lessons, blending lessons, or teaching new math skills.

• Send pre-recorded lessons to students, have them watch them, then send them assignments to follow up or an invite to a video call so you can practice or answer questions.

• Some teachers really utilized team teaching to minimize the amount of work each teacher had to do. One teacher would make a video for the language arts lessons and then all the teachers would send the videos to their classes. One teacher covered the math lessons while another teacher taught science and another teacher taught social studies lessons and read stories.

• Read stories to your students and then assign work to follow up. Or assign work ahead of time and have them bring it to the class video call. Or make the time to do the work right there together so everyone participates.

• Take students on virtual field trips to support what you’re learning in class or just for fun. You can try museums, farms, aquariums, and zoos. One teacher mentioned the 360-degree videos were her kids’ favorites because they could tell her which way to turn the screen. Here’s a list of virtual field trips you can visit. 

• Assign work in Seesaw. They can turn in their work and you can make voice recorded comments on their work so they get reinforcement and cheerleading to keep going or to keep practicing. We now have digital Seesaw games you can assign to your students.

• Assign work in Google Classroom and you can leave them virtual stickers on their work to show them you value their hard work.

• Break your students into small groups for reading and math based on their skill level. Schedule zoom calls for small groups so you can differentiate and really help each student.

• When students are in a whole group video call and you’re teaching a lesson, you can still check for understanding even with the screen between you. You can show students how to digitally “raise their hand” if they don’t understand or need more help and then schedule a follow up digital call with just those students to review or reteach the lesson.

• You can assign reading assignments to students and have them record themselves reading and then send it to you. This can be really useful for informal assessments for emergent readers like these from our emergent reader bundle or for sight words.

• Or you could have students read books and video themselves to share with their classmates.

• For science, many teachers ordered caterpillars or tadpoles and each week students would track their progress and journal the changes. One teacher followed an eagle cam to watch the progress of eaglets in their nest. Many teachers also had students plant seeds or beans and then would record the changes in journals.

• Some teachers read short chapter books to their classes and would read a little bit each zoom call. Students didn’t want to miss out on a chapter so they were motivated to attend the call.

Games and Fun Activities to Build a Classroom Community:

At school, we can squeeze in fun games and activities to keep up their engagement and interest.

If we’re remote teaching, we can still make time for the fun digitally because when our kids have fun, they feel connected to us and their peers.

• Remind students to take a break and do something fun like play a board game with a sibling, go outside and play, or take a brain break from Go Noodle.

• Many teachers host dance parties often. Some had disco balls. Others themed the songs to match the letter of the day.

• Play Bingo during a digital call with your class. You can use one of our Bingo games for seasons or holidays or create one for sight words or spelling words. You can use this free digital spinner to type sight words or spelling words.

• Create a scavenger hunt or I Spy game where kids need to go find things from around the house. They can find objects that begin with sounds you’re working on or colors or you can have them find spheres and cubes and rectangular prisms or they can find things that are soft or silly or big or sweet.

• Get your kids active during a digital call. Some teachers suggested doing activities that begin with each letter of the alphabet like ABC exercises or ABC Yoga. Or do an impromptu freeze dance to get the wiggles out.

• Bring art to your classroom with a directed draw lesson. You can find some online or use a step by step Ed Emberly animal drawing book.

• Play Hangman with your students using sight words or spelling words.

• One teacher hosted a Friday Fun Zoom with her students but she only gave that zoom link to students who were respectful and kind during the digital classroom learning times.

• Tons of teachers created a flat version of themselves and had students take pictures and journal what they did with the flat teacher. Many teachers gave them ideas of what to do with the flat version of themselves like bake, go on a bike ride, draw a picture, etc. You could read them Flat Stanley as a class first. Here’s how to make a Flat Teacher.

Video Calls/ Zoom Ideas to Create a Classroom Connection:

During distance learning, so many classrooms continued to meet through Zoom.

If your school district allows it, here are some video call suggestions to make keep building up your strong classroom community…even if there’s a screen between you.

• Create a schedule and stick with it so parents and students know what to expect. Have a recurring meeting link and post it in several spots so students and parents can easily hop into the call (getting students successfully logged into zoom calls is one of the most stressful parts for parents so doing this will get more students to attend).

• During your zoom calls, keep a predictable routine, just like in your classroom. Start with a greeting, a song, flag, and your calendar time so they know what to expect each time. Also, create a routine for ending your call. End with a song or a transition activity so they know the call is coming to an end. One idea is to teach them ways to say goodbye in different languages.

• Create a visual schedule of your zoom call and list out what you’re going to do during the meeting so the call is predictable and they know what to expect.

• Many teachers created a weekly Zoom schedule similar to this:
  Monday: Whole group
  Tuesday: Small groups for language arts
  Wednesday: Small groups for math
  Thursday: Individual calls
  Friday: Fun Zoom Call/Virtual Field Trip

• If you’re distance learning, have your teacher’s assistant, principal, custodian and specialists make videos to send your students or invite them to your next Zoom call. They can pop in to say “hi” or read a story or teach a mini-lesson.

• If students continually miss a zoom call, many teachers would reach out to the parents to check in and make sure all was okay.

• One teacher who had several students struggle with Zoom would facetime individually with the students to check in on them and teach mini-lessons.

• One super creative teacher, Rachel Larichiuta, dressed up for a zoom call as Ms. Viola Swamp and read them Miss Nelson is missing, then stayed in character for the entire video call. How incredible is this?

No-Technology/Low Technology Ideas to Build Community

So many school districts did not allow technology for distance learning.

If you fall into that category, you can still build a strong classroom community during distance learning even without technology.

• Many teachers did porch drop-offs to give packets or bags of supplies to students and visit with the students curbside with drivebys or driveway visits. One teacher mentioned the whole family would come out to chat since everyone was home and “craving” interaction with the outside world.

• Several teachers visited students in their driveways and taught lessons with chalk or whiteboards six feet apart for students who were really struggling or behind their peers.

• Teachers who have students who all live in a close neighborhood visited their students on drives, walks around the neighborhood, or in a teacher parade.

• Have students pick up school materials at the school and teachers can wave and greet them from a distance. The school librarians also offered books to check out or sent home donated books with students this way.

• Many teachers were pen pals with their students and wrote them letters or sent them postcards.

• Many teachers sent video lessons, video messages, pictures, letters, and resources through the parents’ email.

• Some teachers called their students on the phone and chatted with them if they were unable to get on digital calls.

• One teacher created a Google voice number and was able to text and call her students without sharing her personal number.

And as the 2020-2021 school year starts and we get more insight as to what to expect, we can continue to adapt and be flexible for our students.

And while you can’t make this back to school “normal” for your kiddos, we can still make it special. You can make it so they feel connected to you and to each other in their classroom community.

You’ve got this. Your kids have got this too.

And this will be a back to school we’ll all never forget.

The post How to Build a Strong Classroom Community with Distance Learning appeared first on A Dab of Glue Will Do.

And for our incoming kinders who are attending to “big kid” school for the very first time, it’s especially devastating things won’t feel and look and be “normal.”

We can’t plop on our colorful rugs and read stories and give hugs.

But we do still need to make sure they feel welcomed and comfortable and special in our classrooms (even if our classroom is digital this fall).

And it’s going to be tricky. We can’t do the things we normally do like Meet the Teacher Day when they come to school and see their cubby or their desk or see where to hang their backpack.

They can’t come to school and walk our halls or play on the playground and see the library.

They don’t get to bring their school supplies and put them in or on their desks and they can’t see their name on our charts and on our bulletin boards.

But we can still welcome them to back to school. We can still make sure they’re comfortable.

We absolutely can make them feel special.

So we can still do these amazing Back to School Activities and we can send our students Back to School Confetti packs to get them excited for their first day of school. And we can still create a Classroom Community even while we socially distance with these 75+ ideas.

And of course, we need to still do a Meet the Teacher event. This year though, most of us will have to go digital and host a virtual meet the teacher.

Why Meet the Teacher Events are Crucial for our Students

A Meet the Teacher Event at school that typically happens before school begins is a chance for students to meet us, feel comfortable, and know what to expect on the first day of school.

It preemptively preps them to feel more comfortable and take away some of the back to school jitters.

And for many of our students, it’s the first time they’ll be meeting a teacher and seeing the inside of a classroom.

It’s kind of a big deal for them.

So normally, we let them hang up their backpacks and we read them a story and we give them a tour of our classroom.

We might make a craft project or have them find their name around our room or meet our class pet.

All in an effort to make them feel some ownership of our classrooms so they feel like it’s their classroom.

To make the first day of school easier, to make the rest of the school days easier, we want our kids to come and explore and touch and know how it will be when they come in on the first day of school.

But unfortunatly, that may not be an option this school year.

We don’t want them touching anything other kids touch. So we use No Contact Greetings like this one.

If they meet us for the first time behind a mask that might feel scary even if it’s for our safety and theirs.

And many schools have limited the number of adults in school and have restricted parents from being on campus.

So, as always, teachers need to get creative this fall so we can still connect with our students in meaningful ways even if we’re behind a mask, can’t touch them, or will teach them behind a screen.

And this fall, our connection with our students starts with a virtual teacher meet and greet.

How to Host a Virtual Meet the Teach

There are several ways to host a virtual meet the teacher event. Pick what works best for your community of students and for you.

Here are a few key tips:

1. Send Invites. Invite students and their families to the virtual event and explain what it’s for. You can use Zoom or another similar platform and you can decide to invite the whole class at once, a few students at a time, or do one on one meetings. If you’re doing one on one meetings with families, sending a SignUp Genius might be the easiest way to get families to attend.

2. Ask for RSVPS. In your invite, ask parents to RSVP so you know the parents received your email. Then you can follow up with any families who don’t respond in case the email you entered was incorrect or it got lost in their spam folder.

3. Plan a separate Zoom call for parents later to go over logistics, paperwork, curriculum information, supply needs, procedures, and concerns. Parents will be able to ask more in-depth questions if their students aren’t sitting next to them and you won’t feel the need to “sugar coat” your answers as much if students aren’t listening in. So the main focus of this Meet the Teacher is for your students to feel comfortable with you and get ready for school, not to dig into logistics or engage with parents over their concerns.

4. Let parents know what you’ll need from them– Even though this isn’t the meeting for parents, you can still let them know what types of information you will need from them like a student information form like this one (you can download it below).

You can also set up a Google Form and show them quickly how to log in so they start to fill out the information.

And give them your contact information so they know how to contact you…email, website, remind app, etc.

5. During the Zoom call while you’re waiting for all the families to sign in, show families how to change students’ names on the Zoom call so you can call on students by their names. It’s the digital version of name tags. Interacting with your students early will help you learn their names and will make them realize you see them, and you know them, and you are a safe person.

6. Take time to introduce yourself. You can make an All About Me Poster like this one (download it below) and tell your families about yourself, your family, your pets, and your favorite ice cream flavor. When you make it personal, students and parents feel like they really know you.

If you’re zooming from home, take them on a little “behind the scenes” tour of your home and show them your workspace or your kitchen or your backyard. Teachers who actually have bathrooms in their homes feel more like real people.

You can then have your students fill out an All About Me Poster after the meeting they can share with the class during the first week of school.

7. If you’re able to be on campus, Zoom from your classroom and give your students a tour of your classroom. Take them around and show them the big things like your class library and where they’ll hang up their backpacks and show them the little things like your manipulatives and your sticker basket and what’s on your desk.

If you will be remote teaching, share your screen during the virtual teacher meet and greet and give them a tour of your Google Classroom, SeeSaw dashboard, or other digital platform you’re using and show them how to use your digital games and “turn in” assignments.

8. If you’re teaching in person this fall, show them what you look like with your mask off and with your mask on. Show them how you wear it and show them that even if your mouth is covered, you’re still smiling. They can see your smile in your eyes. Ask them if any of them have masks and can show you what they look like wearing them.

It’s crucial to let them get comfortable seeing you in a mask and for them to be comfortable wearing a mask.

9. Read them a Back to School story so they get used to listening to stories as a class through a screen.

You’ll love our list of 12 Back to School Books or these favorites:

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten

The Day You Begin

How to Get Your Teacher Ready

The King of Kindergarten

The Kissing Hand

10. If you can, have a simple back to school craft or activity they can work on during the Zoom (or show them how to do it on the Zoom call and suggest they do it as a family after the call is over). You can drop off the supplies to your students or have them pick up the supplies at school beforehand.

Need some fun ideas to do with your students? You’ll love our Back to School Print and Craft Activity, our Chester the Raccoon Puppets, and our Pencil Craft.

11. Have the students go on a scavenger hunt around their home to share some special items with you and the class. You can have them find objects that are specific colors, or specific textures, or you can get more specific and ask them to show you their favorite shirt or their favorite book or their favorite stuffed animal. You’ll get to know them better and they’ll get more comfortable with you and their classmates.

12. Keep it short and sweet to keep your students’ attention and keep their interest. There’s no need to implement all of these ideas. You want to keep it light, fun, and interesting for your students. Let your kids know when you’ll see them next and how excited you are they’re in your class.

Our kids do not need to see us nervous or hear us talk about how hard or how weird this year will be for them.

Even if it’ll be hard or weird for us.

To them, this is their first introduction to school and they’re probably feeling all the big emotions: excited, nervous, overwhelmed, fearful, sad, happy…

Our job is to be their safe place.

And if we make them feel welcome and comfortable and special during our virtual meet the teacher event, then we will have done our jobs.

We will have set them up to be excited to come to school, to learn with us, and to have a successful year of school. No matter what school ends up looking like.

So here’s to a wonderfully successful school year.

For all of us.

Download the Student Questionnaire and All About Me:

The post How to Host a Virtual Meet the Teacher appeared first on A Dab of Glue Will Do.

They love us and we love them and we both want to show it.

In our classrooms, that usually starts with our morning greetings.

We hug or high-five or have a special handshake.

Some teachers even post a “menu” outside their door where students can choose how they want to personally greet their teacher.

And for many of our students, that’s the highlight of their day.

Unfortunately, with Covid-19 concerns, even if we might be teaching in our classrooms this fall, we definitely won’t be touching our students.

But we still need ways to connect with our students. We have over 75 ideas here to build a strong classroom community this year including how to host a virtual meet the teacher event.

And we want to greet our students in a meaningful way to start our day strong…without the germs.

No more hugs or handshakes or high fives for a while. 

So here are no contact greeting ideas to teach your students to greet you and their peers, without touching them.

No Contact Greeting Ideas:

Without our go-to hugs and high-fives, we need new ideas to connect with our students in meaningful ways but also in ways that keep them and us safe from germs. 

And if you want a “menu” of these new ideas you can “click download it here” below.

Here are fun new ways to teach our kids to greet us in ways that still keep us socially distanced:

• Air High-Fives
• Elbow bump
• Curtsey
• Snap your fingers
• Silly face
• Thumbs Up
• Hug Yourself
• Make up a Silly Dance

You can download our printable No Contact Greeting “Menu” below or cut them apart and use them as cards.

Or you can teach your kids multicultural greetings.

These greetings from around the world allow you to stay six feet apart and learn about different cultures from around the world.

You can teach your students different ways to say ‘hello’ from around the world. They can then greet you in whatever language they prefer.

Or you can teach them these non-verbal no contact greetings from around the world:

In Tibet, they stick out tongues. Since that gesture can be considered rude in our culture, we can explain this only works if you’re doing it in a fun Tibetian way of greeting friends.

In Zimbabwe and Mozambique, they clap in a special way to greet each other. The first person claps once, then the second person claps twice.

In Malaysia, they connect their hands together, sometimes called prayer hands, put their hands over their heart, and bow their heads.

In Cambodia, India, Nepal, Laos, Thailand, and Japan they bow.

It doesn’t matter how you say “hello,” as long as you create a classroom environment where kids are excited to come and learn with you.

These no contact greetings will help you do just that.

Want More Ideas to Create a Classroom Community?

Creating a tight knit classroom community while we’re socially distancing and while we’re unsure of what the school year will look like can be tricky.

We’ve got over 75 ideas shared by teachers from around the world on Creating a Classroom Community while Distance Learning.

Download the No Contact Greeting Ideas Menu

Click the button below to download. You will immediately be redirected to the freebie.

The post No Contact Greeting Ideas for Early Education Classrooms appeared first on A Dab of Glue Will Do.

Inside You Will Find:

-Cover page and directions
-Weekly literacy station documentation page *editable*
-Name cards *editable*
-Rotation cards
-Small literacy station cards
-Literacy station labels
-Literacy station posters

Materials Needed for Literacy Stations:

• paper or cardstock
• double sided tape
• mounting tape
• pocket chart

Getting Literacy Stations Ready:

This particular resource is full of an assortment of activities and centers, therefore, preparation will vary. I will do a quick rundown of each component in this resource and then explain how to set up your literacy stations afterwards.

Weekly Literacy Station Documentation

This document is editable. Before editing, you will need to download all ALL KG fonts. Then open document in Adobe Acrobat and then you will be ready to go. I found it easiest to fill out the “week of” section and student names prior to printing. I would type out all of my students’ names in the name column and then fill out the “Week of” and then print. I would do this for a couple of months at a time. You can also just input your students’ names and leave the “week of” blank and fill that in as needed. That is another easy alternative. Either way, you will have a pile of literacy station documentation ready to go for weeks at a time.

Name Cards and Rotation Cards

Type out student names onto editable name cards OR make picture cards. If you use the editable name cards, download all ALL KG fonts. Then open document in Adobe Acrobat and type in the words you would like to include. If you want to make picture cards, you will need to make them  1.9 x 2.5. You will simply print out how many rotation cards that you need. Laminate for extra durability.

Small Literacy Station Cards

Print all literacy station cards out. Depending on how many people are allowed at each station, you may need to print out a few copies. In some of the stations, I had students work independently, but most of them had up to three people at a station. I prefer on card stock and also to laminate because these will be used every single day. Laminating will allow them to be much more durable and last for years to come. I have always used a pocket chart to display the literacy station cards. I loved that one because it does not take up a bunch of space and it fits the cards perfectly. I typically used two of these for my classroom, but if I had a large class for the year, I had to use three.

Literacy Station Labels

Print all literacy station labels out. I prefer on card stock and also to laminate because these will be used every single day. Laminating will allow them to be much more durable and last for years to come. You will need to get plastic bins to store each of the stations (Obviously, this will depend on the station. Some stations will not need a place to store the various components needed for the station). I use double sided tape to adhere the laminated labels to the plastic bins. I used these wire storage cubes to hold all of my literacy station bins.

Small Literacy Station Posters

Print all literacy station posters out. I prefer on card stock and also to laminate because these will be used every single day. Laminating will allow them to be much more durable and last for years to come. These will go where the station is located. I always use mounting tape when attaching to the wall or some sort of structure in the classroom. This will keep the poster where I want it, while not ruining the wall or structure it is attached to. If you have a station that will not be in a set location (for example, the student’s desk), then I typically do not place the posters out. I only place the ones that have a permanent location.

Implementing Literacy Stations Ready

1. Decide how many rotations you will have your students do each day. I always did four rotations – that seemed to have worked best for me in the time frame that I allotted for literacy stations. Place the rotation cards and students’ name cards into the pocket chart like the picture below.

2. At the beginning of each day I know which students I will be working with at teacher table during which rotation. I set the teacher table cards accordingly on the pocket chart before students arrive for the day.

3. You can either decide where each student will go for their literacy station rotations, or you can have them decide where they will go. If you let them decide, this will take some work upfront making sure that they understand how to do it and that they make sure there are no more than three (or whatever maximum number you decide) at each rotation. After a few weeks of helping them, though, they will know exactly what to do and will be able to sign up for their literacy rotations independently.

4. Use the literacy station tracker to keep track of where students went for the day. I always found this helpful to see which stations students are picking. Obviously, you want them to pick a variety of stations throughout the week. If you notice that they are picking the same ones day after day, you can encourage them to try something new for a change.

5. Each day you will repeat the set-up. I always had a helper or two that would clean the literacy station cards from the pocket chart at the end of the day so I could easily prepare it the following morning.

Download Literacy Stations Now:

Are you ready to implement this into your classroom or home?

Get it at A Dab of Glue Will Do Store

Get it at our Teachers Pay Teachers Store

The post Literacy Stations appeared first on A Dab of Glue Will Do.