Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway September 16, 2019

Teacher Giveaway!

This Giveaway is Over!  Please visit our Giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway

Every week one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this week?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 9/23/19 and is open worldwide.  

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 

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Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway September 9, 2019

This Giveaway is Over!  Please visit our Giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.

Teacher Giveaway!

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway

Every week one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this week?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 9/16/19 and is open worldwide.  

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 

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Monthly $100 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway - September 2019

Every month we spoil one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this month?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $100 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card

Giveaway Organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher)

Co-hosts:   An Apple for the Teacher, Peas In A Pod, Sweetie's, Star Kids, Mrs Wenning's Classroom, Mickey's Place, Resource Room Relevance, Chocolate 4 Teachers, The Fun Factory, Teach Me T, Priscilla Woodard - Tasked 2 Teach, Pint Size Learners, Kelly McCown, Ms. K, A Plus Kids, The Chocolate Teacher, It's a Teacher Thing, Teacher Gameroom, Mrs Hansens Helpfuls, Leah Popinski, Samson's Shoppe, The Froggy Factory,  Kamp Kindergarten, 180 Days of Reading, The Cozy Crafty Classroom, and TheBeezyTeacher.

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 9/13/19 and is open worldwide.

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 

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Keeping Up With Parent Communication Using ClassTag

Do you ever struggle to communicate with your students' parents?  I know I definitely have!  It is so important that we make it a priority to communicate with parents positively and frequently BEFORE a major problem happens.  But, the big question - how do we do that without it being a major hassle when our plates are already overflowing?

Enter ClassTag!  This awesome parent communication app is completely FREE to use, is super easy to set up, translates in over 50 languages, delivers messages to parents via their personal preference (sms, email, or paper), and allows teachers to communicate about school supplies, back to school info, volunteering, activities, assemblies, and more!

This is a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.

Some Benefits I LOVE:

1. Office Hours

You can set up office hours in ClassTag.  You get to specify the hours that you will be available to respond to your messages.  Parents can still send messages whenever it's convenient for them, but, you will only get push notifications during your office hours.  This is so important when you are trying to juggle the work/home life balance!

2.  Rewards

Activities on the app earn you points that can be redeemed for rewards for your classroom.

3. Class Supply Lists

You can create supply lists for your families to reference.  The best part is that they have made it super easy with ready created supply lists.  Just delete or add anything that you need included. You can even update this list throughout the year.  You know, like in January when everything needs to be replaced!


4. Communicate With One or All Parents

Using the app, you can choose to communicate with an individual parent (for a behavior issue or to give a compliment) or for the whole class (for upcoming events or announcements).


5. Parent Teacher Conferences

Scheduling parent teacher conferences is a breeze with the app!  You can schedule the times that you are available, and parents can sign-up for available times right on the app!

6. Even More Rewards!

I already mentioned that teachers can earn rewards for their classroom just by communicating with parents, but... ClassTag has added another opportunity for teachers to gain resources they need in their classroom!  They have joined the #clearthelists movement started by teacher, Courtney Jones.

ClassTag is going to clear the list of one lucky teacher every day for the entire school year!  You can find out how to take part here.

If you haven't signed up for ClassTag - click here to get signed up for FREE right now!

I would love to hear all the ways that you use ClassTag to communicate with parents!  Please share in the comments below!

 I would love to hear from you! ❤️

Have a question? Idea for a resource you might find helpful?

Be so kind and leave a comment below.

Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway September 2, 2019

This Giveaway is Over!  Please visit our Giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.

Teacher Giveaway!

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway

Every week one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this week?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 9/9/19 and is open worldwide.  

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 

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5 Fun Back To School Activities, Icebreakers, and Community Building Games

If you are a teacher prepping for the first few weeks of school and are looking for fun back-to-school games for your students to learn more about each other and how to work together, I've got you covered!

The best part is that you can use many of these same games and strategies throughout the year for learning and practicing content, so it helps to introduce them in an easy and non-threatening way!

1. Getting to Know You Heads Together

Place students into small groups of 4-5.  Have students take turns answering questions about themselves.  Use a timer to give them 30 - 45 seconds to respond.  Then have each of the groups share out their answers.  You may ask them to pick one or share the one that was most common in their group.

After the first round (which should only have one question to enable them to get started comfortably), help them learn how to keep track of time and to listen to what their classmates have said.  Repeat other rounds over the next few days, or have students share the same things with different peers.  Here are some sample questions:

• What is a movie or a book you have seen or read lately that you really liked? Why?
• What two words describe you? Why?
• If you became the principal, what is one thing you would change about this school if you could?
• If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?

2. Stand Up If It Is True For You

Many times students are embarrassed to participate in classroom activities because they think that no one else thinks like they do.  This is a fun way to help them see how much they have in common with their classmates.

Read one question at a time, and have the students stand up if the statement or question is true for them.  You can enhance this activity by having students meet with the people who stood up for a certain question or statement to share their answers in more detail.  Here are some sample questions:

Stand up if you:

• Were born inside/outside the United States.

• Were born in this state.

• Have a sibling.

• Play a sport.

• Have ridden a horse.

• Have ever broken a bone or needed stitches?

• Have a blue toothbrush.

3. Find Someone In The Class Who

Give students a list of descriptions (for example: who went to visit a relative during summer vacation or who has no brothers or sisters) and have students try to find a student who fits that description.

Students will walk around the room trying to find a student who fits that description.  When they find one, that student should write their name on the paper. The student will then move on to another student with the hope that that person will meet one of the other characteristics on their list.  The goal is to meet and talk to as many people as possible within the time limit to put one name by each of the characteristics.  I usually give students about 10 minutes to complete this activity.

4. Two Truths and a Lie

Ask students to write down three statements about themselves, two that are truthful and one that is a lie.  The rest of the class takes turns trying to decide which one is a lie.  You could also do this as a small group activity.

5. Who's In My Circles?

This is an activity that allows students to know their classmates better by having each one add their names to others' topic "circles" of loves, likes, and dislikes.

Have students draw three circles like the picture above.  They can add the one thing that they love, that they like and that they dislike.  Topics can include things like food, hobbies, sports, or books or movies they have read or seen.

The other students walk around adding their names to the circle's section that they agree with.

I use pre-made circles placed in sheet protectors because I use this activity throughout the year.

You can find all of these games and a few more in my Back to School Collaboration Activities here.

 I would love to hear from you! ❤️

Have a question? An idea for a resource you might find helpful?

Be so kind as to leave a comment below.

Weekly $25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway August 26, 2019

Teacher Giveaway!

This Giveaway is Over!  Please visit our Giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.

$25 Teachers pay Teachers Gift Card Giveaway

Every week one lucky teacher gets to go on a Teachers pay Teachers shopping spree!  Will it be you this week?

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card 

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 9/2/19 and is open worldwide.  

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway