Help Your Students to Be Bucket Fillers - FREEBIE

Have you heard of Bucket Fillers?  Have you ever used any of the activities in your classroom?

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When I first saw this post from Miss5th's Facebook Page I instantly knew that I wanted to implement this with my own students.

This time of year, my students are starting to get a bit stir crazy with testing stress and end of year expectations.  After a long school year, they start taking each other for granted and start treating each other not as kindly as they might otherwise.  I wanted to find a way to encourage them to be nicer to each other.

I showed them this video first:



The next day, when they came to class, they saw this in the front of the room:

  You can find the anchor your learning banner here

A closer view:

I had each child's name (as well as my own) listed on a bucket.  I asked each student to pick one person to "fill their bucket".  Here are a few examples of the sweet, sincere compliments they gave each other:

I let each student take their "bucket" home at the end of the day, and you should have seen the way they held on to them, smiling as they read them over and over again.  It was an activity definitely worth doing!  I might make it a monthly thing!

If you would like to do this activity in your classroom as well, I created a freebie for you with your choice of 3 different templates to choose from.  You can download it at my TpT store here.

I chose the two per page size and printed them on colored paper.

If you do this activity with your students, I would love to hear how it goes!!

 Be sure to check out the Bucket Filler site as well, they have tons of free resources.

How To Help Your Students Work Independently

Do your students need help working independently?  Do they bother you with questions and random comments when they should be working on their own?  Here is a strategy that might help:

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  

If your students are anything like mine, they struggle with working independently.  When you give them something to work on by themselves, they start waving their hands frantically, or even worse, start following you around the room begging for your attention.  I have developed these cards as a way to help keep them in their seats and learning, while I can figure out who truly needs my assistance.



Each student has a set of cards at their desk.  I printed them on red, yellow, and green cardstock and attached them to a binder ring.

They display the colored cards to let me know how things are going.  The green card means everything is ok, and they can work independently without help from me.

The yellow card means they are stuck on a problem, but can continue with the rest of the assignment.

The red card lets me know that they need help before they can work independently.  I target these students first as I offer assistance.  If I see several of these cards at the same time, I might call a small group over, or interrupt the class for a quick re-teach.

You can grab these cards for free at my TpT store here.

I did a Periscope about these cards earlier today, and you can catch the replay here: 

I am linking up with TeachingBlogAddict.Com for Freebie Friday.  Head over to grab some more great freebies!

Birthday Party Blog Hop at the Education Highway

 

Celeste from Education Highway is celebrating her birthday with a splashing blog hop!  We are celebrating with a blog hop featuring summer ideas, freebies, sales, and giveaways!

 

 

 

 

 

I have a fun little freebie for you that is only free during this hop!  Head over now to grab this freebie from my store.

 

 

 

Celeste has even put together an ebook all about the sponsors of this giveaway.  You can snag it here:

  And now for the giveaways!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway




Be sure to hop along for other great tips and freebies!

An InLinkz Link-up

Rethinking Behavior - Freebie

I don't know about you or your class, but every year about this time my students start to get a little squirrely.  I don't know if it is Spring Fever, or the anticipation of summer coming so soon, but they just seem to forget all of the rules! 

I always have to become a little stricter, give many reminders, and pull some new tricks out of my hat to keep those darlings working hard (we have tests coming up soon!).

This year I have made some reflection sheets for my students to fill out when they receive more than one reminder from me about their behavior.

With conferences coming up soon, they really don't like filling these out knowing that their parents will see them.  You can see an example of a filled one out below (along with my interpretations for you!).

I have uploaded these as a freebie to my TpT store in case you have a case of the squirrels in your class too!

What tips and tricks do you have up your sleeve for dealing with spring fever behavior?

Martin Luther King Jr. Lesson Plan Ideas and FREEBIES

Whether you have to work tomorrow or have the day off in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., chances are that you might want to teach your students a little more about the man and his accomplishments.  Here are a few resources and freebies to help you with your lesson planning this week:

Panicked Teacher has this poem and close reading activity all about Martin Luther King Jr.

 

 I had blogged about this mobile we made last week.  It is a freebie from Scholastic.

   

Laura Candler has this amazing packet full of activities to go along with the Martin Luther King Jr. Brain Pop video.

Here is a lesson plan to go along with the book Martin's Big Words.



Your students can create a Martin Luther King timeline of his important accomplishments with this idea from Crayola.

I also have a ton of other ideas pinned on my Pinterest board below.  If you like the ideas, please be sure to follow me on Pinterest for even more ideas and resources!


Follow Kelly's board Holidays in the Classroom - Martin Luther King on Pinterest.

Thanksgiving Teaching Freebies!

Thanksgiving is fast approaching.  If you are still unsure what things to do with your kiddos, you might want to try one of these freebies:

 

You can help your students to brush up on their ELA skills with these Point of View and Editing Skills Center Activities from Fifth in the Middle.

It’s a Feast of Facts with this funfive-in-a-row freebie from Primarily Speaking by Aimee Salazar 

 

This free download is the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving festivities (especially during that short week that leads up to Turkey Day). The words are all Thanksgiving related. The best part is, your students will create their own Bingo boards!
  

I know my students will LOVE making these pop-up books  from Teaching Ideas for Those Who Love Teaching as we learn about The First Thanksgiving!

 

Your students will love this FREE Thanksgiving Challenge from Rachel Lynette. They will be practicing several different skill areas - math, research, grammar, and more to complete it. Do in class or send home for the long weekend.

My We Are Thankful Craftivity is a  fun way to get kids to write about all of the things they are thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

Includes:

Graphic Organizers for all parts of the writing process including:
-Brainstorming
- Topic Sentences
- Drafting
- Final Copy

Craft template to make pilgrim's hat.

Looking for a quick and easy way to review factors? These adorable factor turkeys are a festive way to help your students practice finding the factors of a number.


After you grab your freebies don't forget to enter my contest to win a  Base Ten Place Value Frame.