School and the City

Changes are coming!  I'm planning to start grad school this summer. I'm not sure if I'm ready to be a student while I'm a full-time teacher, but I'm up for the challenge! The application process was lengthy and required a few recommendations. I know that my administrators are OH SO BUSY, so I almost felt guilty for asking them to write recommendations for me.  A handwritten note goes a long way... and chocolate doesn't hurt either!  I printed these cards on Astrobright cardstock, wrote a heartfelt note inside, and ta-da! I hope they feel appreciated! Download the free printable here .

My students want me to be a full-time songwriter now. This one was a much bigger hit than the last!  Click  here  to download a PDF of the lyrics. Click  here  for the music I use (on YouTube).  A post shared by School and the City (Kristin) (@schoolandthecity) on Feb 23, 2017 at 6:18pm PST Click here to see the Instagram video. We've been practicing our 2D shape skills with these task cards , which include shape identification, angles, and symmetry.  We also made these fun plane shape robots : After a week full of learning about 2D shapes, students got to wear a bracelet to help them show what they know. The bracelet has a QR code on it that says "Scan for a surprise!" The QR code leads to this Have Fun Teaching video (via SafeShare). They loved it!  Enjoy! Pin this post for later:

I reorganized my office last week. While doing so, I found my tutoring bag from last year.  (This is a judgement-free zone, right?!)  I spent a lot of time and effort preparing for tutoring, so I thought I would share my binder with you to make your tutoring life a little easier. My binder is divided into four sections: writing , fluency activities , fluency passages , and comprehension . Under each picture, you will find links to products, most of which are FREE!  Keep in mind that we also worked on homework and any specific skills that the child needed each week, but the binder was full of resources and back-up activities to help fill time.  About Me cover page by Lyndsey Kearney Writing Checklist by JD's Rockin' Readers Handwriting Poster by Steve Hungerford Stretch a Sentence by Cassie Thomas Backs of laminated cardstock pages double as dry-erase boards.  Portable Word Wall by Where the Wild...

Inspired by Bethany, from  Teaching and So Fourth , and Hope King ,  I decided to write a song for my students to get them pumped up about one of the hardest second grade math standards: REGROUPING! Click here to download the lyrics. Click here for the music I use (on YouTube).  Enjoy!

I mean, just look at how beautiful that thing is. It reminds me of school and lesson planning and grading and organizing data, yet I STILL think it's gorgeous.  This is my first year using an Erin Condren planner. I contemplated it for a few years, and I am so glad I finally took the plunge. When our teacher planners came in, some teacher friends and I had a planner party during which we stuck all of our stickers and filled in our schedules, dates, etc. It was SO colorful and so much fun!  Now that I've been using my first Erin Condren teacher planner for four months, I am prepared to share with you  8 reasons why I love my teacher planner. 1. DATES TO REMEMBER Honestly, I used to Google "Veterans Day 2016" and the like all the time... How nice it is to have all of this information in one place at the front of my planner.  It even includes other dates that teachers might want to know, like Friendship Day and Johnny Appleseed's bir...

INTRODUCING.... I wanted to share these puzzles with you because I use them in my classroom DAILY and my students love them! Whenever I introduce a new grammar concept, the corresponding puzzle is added to the puzzle box. I love using grammar puzzles because... it's a hands-on way for students to practice grammar. students can self-monitor . Each puzzle piece only has one match! students can work independently or with a partner. differentiation is easy. they'll last for years! Make the puzzles easier for your students by printing each page on a different color. For example, students will know an orange piece will need an orange match. Make it more rigorous by printing all pages on the same color. The opportunities are endless! Here are just some of the grammar puzzles I offer in my TPT store : I also have synonyms , antonyms , homographs , homophones , collective nouns , and possessive nouns . More are to come! *        ...

Yesterday I posted an Instagram story about how I recorded myself reading one of our social studies readers to turn it into an option for my "Listen to Reading" Daily 5 center. I wanted to give my students more options during that station time, and I am always trying to integrate social studies and science into our literacy block!  I received so many questions about how I did it, so here's a detailed post to show you just how EASY it is!  I plan to make these for all of my social studies and science readers, but the options are truly endless. You can do this with any books or book sets that you have on hand in your classroom.  I used the Voice Memos app on my iPhone to record the book. It was very easy to trim and alter if needed, and the quality is good! Best of all, it's an app that's already on your iPhone so it's totally free! I recorded the entire book, then I recorded individual chapters, just to give my students options.  ...