Hooray! It’s almost time for the first day! Today, I have a fun Free Printable First Day of School Hat for your new students to make on their first day! Keep on reading to find out more about the printable hat and about a fun read-aloud to go along!

I found the cutest book to add to our ‘Back to School’ collection this year. It is called First Day, Hooray! The book is all about the different feelings that the kids have on their first day of school. From worry, and that’s ok, to embarrassed, I have paint in my hair, to excited, playgrounds are fun! Feelings are not right or wrong. They find a spot where they belong! At the end of the book, they talk about just one feeling that is left, and it’s Hooray! So our hat says, Hooray! I had a great first day!

I thought that it would be a fun way to connect this book with making the hats. The students can then take them home and share with their families some of the different feelings that they may have had on their first day.

Make the Free Printable First Day of School Hat

The hat is an easy craft for the first day of school. You’ll just need a printed hat for each student. Have them color their 2 pages of the hat, and then cut them out. You can help them staple the hat together, and boom, you’ve got an adorable keepsake for the first day of school for them to wear home!

This easy, fun craft is the perfect icebreaker activity that helps kids settle into their new classroom while showing off their creativity. As they color, cut, and assemble their personalized hats, they’re also getting comfortable with scissors, glue, and making new friends. It’s a confidence booster, a keepsake, and a great way to snap those adorable first-day photos! 

You can download the Free Printable First Day of School Hat by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for some more great read-aloud for the back to school, you’ll want to check out our other suggestions here.

We’d love to see your students proudly wearing their First Day of School hats! Snap a photo of the fun and share it with us to celebrate the start of an exciting new year. Tag us so we can cheer them on, too!

See you next time!

Jenette

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Celebrating birthdays in the classroom can be fun and inexpensive! I have an easy Student Birthday Gift Idea for you to make this year a breeze!

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Celebrating student birthdays is always fun for them. I’ve already shared a whole blog post of different ways that you can celebrate birthdays in the classroom. Lots of great ideas there so make sure to check that out.

The Student Birthday Gift Idea that I’m sharing today is a super inexpensive idea that you can have ready to go at the beginning of the school year and store away until a birthday comes up.

Student Birthday Gift Idea

I made a birthday printable activity page which you can print double-sided to give them to do. Add a special fun pencil and you have a cute gift from you! It includes word scramble, coloring, a word search, and two mazes. Give it to them to do in class or at the end of the day to take home with them.

You can download the Birthday Gift Idea Free Printable by clicking the green box below!

You could also have your class make the birthday student a birthday book too! Such an easy and meaningful birthday gift idea for your students! You can check out the birthday book here.

I hope your students enjoy this fun little birthday gift!

See you next time!

Jenette

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It’s back to school season again! Today I have a fun If You Give A Teacher A Cookie Printable Tag perfect for your kids to give their teachers on the first day or during their open house!

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These printable tags are a fun twist on one of our favorite books! Perfect for your kids to give their teacher on meet the teacher night, open house, or on the first day of school! They would also be a great project for the school’s PTA to put together for all of the teachers in the school to give to them on the first day of school or the first day they report back to school.

I have found over the years with my kids that having something small that they can give to their teacher on meet the teacher night or the first day of school is helpful to break the ice for them. They are proud to have something special to share with their new and it makes it a little easier for them to start talking with them.

his article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

If You Give A Teacher A Cookie Printable Tag

Supplies you’ll need

• Clear cellophane bags
• Twine or ribbon
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Cookies of your choice, homemade or store-bought
• Free printable tags that you can download below

Assembly is quick and easy. Just print and cut out the tags. Add the cookies to the bag and use the twine to attach the tag and close up the bag. Such a simple, yummy treat for the teacher!

If you don’t want to do homemade cookies, simply print the tag use the twine or ribbon, and attach it to your favorite store-bought cookies! Easy peasy!

You can download the If You Give A Teacher A Cookie Tag by clicking the green box below.

If you want a fun activity to go along with making this treat, we have a fun hat to go along with the book too! You can get the details and grab the free printable hat here.

I hope this little cookie treat puts a smile on a teacher’s face this school year!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post If You Give A Teacher A Cookie Printable Tag appeared first on Primary Playground.

Are you looking for a fun way to reinforce concepts that your students are learning at school but at home? You’ll love our Monthly Homework Bingo! Each month is filled with reading, math, literacy movement, and family bonding activities. It’s a fun twist on traditional homework. I’m sharing the Free August Homework Bingo so you can try it out!

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In this August Homework Bingo, your students will get to choose fun between fun shape, counting, colors, and rhyming activities. There are even additional reading, hands-on, and movement activities too! all perfect for kindergarten! (You can download the August Homework Bingo at the bottom of the post.)

This would be great to send home with your student on the first of the month along with your class newsletter. Have them return it at the end of the month completed for points or a trip to the treasure chest.

I’ve made homework bingos for each month of the school year as well. (August-May) So if your students enjoy this Free Printable August Homework Bingo, you can grab the whole school year here. Each month is full of different skills and activities with some seasonal activities thrown in too.

You can grab the Monthly Homeowrk Bingo here on TpT or directly from PrimaryPlayground here.

I also have Monthly Reading Bingos too if that would be a better option for your students. Lots of fun reading spot suggestions and book theme suggestions in that set! You can check out the Monthly Reading Bingo set here.

You can download the Free Printable August Homework Bingo by clicking the green box below.

I hope your kiddos have fun with these activities this month!

Jenette

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Bingo games are always a favorite with students! Putting together a bingo box before the school year starts will help give you peace of mind and be ready at a moment’s notice with a fun activity anytime you may need during the school year. Keep reading to find out How To Make A Bingo Box!

Making a bingo box can be a valuable tool that can be used all year long. We have a variety of bingo games, from letters, numbers, and shapes, to fairy tales, space, dinosaurs, to holidays and seasons. We have over 75 different options to choose from! Click here to check them all out now.

Pick the bingo sets of your choice that you can use all throughout the school year and build your own bingo box! Maybe you could even have 2 different boxes, one for learning and revewing skills, and another for class parties and different themes used throughout the school year.

Having the bingo box ready to go will be a lifesaver throughout the school year, and makes it easy for a sub to use in case you are out of the classroom. It is a versatile and effective teaching tool that promotes engagement, differentiation, assessment, collaboration, and reinforcement of learning in the classroom.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

How To Make A Bingo Box

Items that you’ll need:

• For my bingo box, I used a Portable Bankers Box that I picked up at Walmart.
• Hanging file folders
• Bingo sets of your choice printed.
• Manila folders -optional not required
• Laminator – optional not required but suggested
• Laminating pouches
• Sandwich bags
• Bingo Box Label -download for FREE further down in the post.
• Label maker -optional
• Tape
• Colored scrap paper for making paper bingo markers

First up, you’ll want to take the printed Bingo Box printable and trim off any white around the edges. You can use tape to attach it to your box. Next, you’ll want to add the hanging file folders to the inside of the banker’s box.

Click the green box below to download the free Bingo Box printable.

Next, gather all of your bingo sets, and laminate them at this time. If you can it’s worth the investment as you’ll be able to use the bingo sets for many years to come. Also, laminate the teacher calling cards. You’ll want to add these to a sandwich bag so they stay together.

When your bingo sets are ready, you can add them to a manila folder that you’ve labeled with the bingo name on it, or just add it to the hanging file. Those can be labeled as well. In each file , make sure you include the bingo cards and the teacher-calling cards.

Last you’ll want to take your colored scrap paper and cut a whole bunch of bingo markers. YAdd them to another sandwich bag and add an extra hanging file folder to put them in. You could do several different bags of different colors to use different ones each time.

And there you have your Bingo Box! You are now ready for a fun-filled easy grab-and-go activity to use all year long! Tag us on Facebook or Instagram if you make one of your own!

See you next time!

Jenette

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Are you looking for a fun way to celebrate your students ‘ birthdays? I have 20 Birthday Celebration Ideas For The Classroom to make this year a breeze! Students LOVE celebrating their birthdays at school. I’ve gathered a bunch of fun ways to help celebrate their special day at school with their classmates.

A lot of these ideas can be done ahead of time so they are ready to go for the whole school year. I’ve separated them out so you can get prepared for the upcoming school year.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Prep Ahead Of Time

• Put together a Birthday Basket, a special caddy of supplies that the birthday student can use throughout the day. Smelly markers, fancy pens, retractable multi-color pens, whatever you think would be fun!
• Give them a birthday crown to wear for the day.
• Grab a big pack of birthday cards and fill one out for each student. Add a sticker and set them aside to mail home to the students for their birthday, or you could just give it to them on their birthday in class.
• Make little birthday goodie bags or birthday cups for each student, hide them away for the year, and just grab them as you need them. Some fun items to include a full-size candy bar, a fidget toy, a fun pencil, a bracelet, and stickers.
• Play birthday bingo! This could be done on the student’s birthday, play a few games at the end of the day, or on Fun Friday afternoon. This is a fun one to play to celebrate your own birthday too! Print the game out and have it ready to play any time of the year.

• Make a birthday chair for your students to sit in on their birthday. Grab a folding chair that has a cushion seat. Remove the seat and cover the padding with birthday fabric to make a special birthday chair! A great investment for many years.
• Choose a birthday bookmark, and let them choose a book as a birthday gift. Ask for gently used books as donations, or use your Scholastic points to help with the cost.
• Grab a birthday seat back cover for the student to use for the day. It will last you for years.
• Get a pack of birthday certificates for each student ahead of time. On the student’s birthday, give them the certificate along with a movie-style box of candy.

During The School Year

• A visit to the treasure chest.
• Happy Birthday bookmark and a Blow Pop sucker.
• Add a mylar balloon from Dollar Tree to the student’s chair for the day. They can take it home with them.
• Have your class make the birthday student a Birthday Book! Print off the covers and writing pages ahead of time for the year so it makes it even quicker and easier for you. Simply have the students write something nice about the birthday student and either color or draw a picture. Put all the pages together, add a cover and you have a fantastic birthday keepsake gift for the birthday student.

• Choose a GoNoodle or short read-aloud for the class.
• The birthday student gets to be in charge of classroom jobs and is the line leader for the day.
• Let the birthday student wear a birthday cape and crown for the day!
• Wrap the top of their desk with birthday wrapping paper for the day to celebrate.
• Print this free birthday hat for the birthday student to wear. They can color it and everyone in the class can sign the back headband strap like signing a birthday card.

• Sing Happy Birthday! Of course, this can be done on its own or along with any of these ideas.
• The birthday student gets to take a few spins in the teacher’s chair!
• Make a birthday positive affirmations/ compliments poster. Add the student’s name to the middle of the poster. Blindfold the birthday student. Have each student come up and whisper something nice about the birthday student in your ear and you can add it to the poster. Such a fun birthday keepsake to take home.

Monthly Birthday Celebrations

• Celebrate all birthdays once a month. Have everyone bring in their special treats on the designated day. Sing Happy Birthday to everyone and then all learn a new game to play outside.

End Of The Year Celebrations

• Wait until the last week of school and have a huge party for everyone! Play birthday bingo, have cupcakes and snacks, and play a few games. Everyone gets to celebrate their birthdays at the same time! This is a great option to include those with summer birthdays too!

Hopefully, you have maybe got a new idea or two to use in your classroom to help celebrate student birthdays! Do you have any other special ways that you celebrate in your classroom? Share with us in the comments below!

See you next time

Jenette

The post Birthday Celebration Ideas For The Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.

This Free Smart Cookie Hat is a fun activity for your students to make and wear to show what smart cookies they are! These hats are fun to make any time of the school year!

These hats would be great to make at the beginning of the school year while talking about the great new things they will be learning this school year. Or they can be made when a particular goal has been met during the year. Or they are fun to make at the end of the school year to celebrate what smart rookies they’ve become this school year!

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To Make the Smart Cookie Hat

To make the hats, have the students choose the cookie they’d like. I made one with a cookie and another with a cookie with a bow.

Have them color the hat and cut it out. Last, you’ll need to help them staple the headband strip to the hat and help measure it so it fits them. I’ve included an additional headband strip in it needs to be extended too.

You can download the smart cookie hat by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for some more great ideas to go along with the smart cookie theme I’ve got you covered! Have you seen the book called, The Smart Cookie?

The cookie in the story has never felt like a smart cookie no matter how hard she tries. Especially in comparison to all the clever cupcakes and brilliant rolls in the bakery. In the end, she is reminded that perfect scores and having all the answers aren’t the only ingredients for intelligence. Sometimes all you need is a sprinkle of confidence and some creativity. 

Come and check out the snack idea and grab the FREE printable to go along with the book here.

And this Smart Cookie Craft With Writing Prompts is a fun addition to the book too. It can be used both at the beginning of the school year or at the end of the year using the different writing prompts that are included.

And I also have these fun Smart Cookie Tags! Use them at the beginning of the school year at meet the teacher night, as a random surprise because the student has been working so hard, during testing, or at the end of the school year. The possibilities are endless! You can grab the smart cookie tags for FREE here.

I hope you have fun celebrating your smart cookies in your classroom!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Free Smart Cookie Hat appeared first on Primary Playground.

The printable has been updated for the 2025-2026 school year!

Welcome to a new school year! This School Appreciation Days Calendar makes it easy to keep up with important days and appreciation days throughout the school year.

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I’ve put together a list of all of the honorary calendar days for the year. Everything from National Bike and Walk to School Day to Principal Appreciation Day to Anti-Bullying Week. There are numerous days, weeks, and months on the list. Pick ones that are important to yourself, your class, or your school to celebrate.

There are a ton of days throughout the year that we can show our appreciation. If you need some quick and easy gift ideas for appreciation days like principal appreciation day, custodian appreciation day or librarian day, I have these awesome books for your class to make.

It is super quick and simple for your class to fill out and put together a book from the class for the special person. It’s always nice to feel appreciated!

And there are so many great days that can be celebrated on the calendar as a school. One of my favorites is Odd Sock Day as part of Anti-Bullying Week in November. There are a ton of great days on the list to get families involved, too!

I’ve made the calendar available to print in both color and black and white to fit whatever your need is best.

You can download the School Appreciation Days Calendar by clicking the green box below.

Do you have any other days that you know of that I might have missed? I’m always looking for new and important ones to add!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post School Appreciation Days Calendar appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you bring your lunch to school? Keep reading for some make-ahead Easy Salad Lunch Ideas For Teachers.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

I wanted to share with you these awesome salad containers that I’ve been using for the last few months. They are called Bentgo® Salad – Stackable Lunch Container. It has a salad bowl, a 4 part compartment tray for toppings, a dressing container, and a reusable fork.

I bought it on a whim one day and boy am I sure glad I did! It has quickly become my favorite! After using the first week, I actually went back and bought two more so I now pre-make three salads for each week.

This bowl makes it so easy to make the salads ahead of time. I buy a big container of the spring mix greens and a rotisserie chicken from Costco to make my salads. (feta cheese is a great deal at Costo too FYI) I always try to mix my salads up each week so I don’t get bored of them, and then have something else for lunch the other two days. Here are some great teacher lunchbox ideas if you need some.

Salad Ideas

I don’t claim to be a great food blogger, but these are my favorite easy-to-make salads that have worked great for me using these salad boxes.

Garden Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, shredded or chopped carrots, and croutons. A container of ranch or thousand island on the side.

Chicken Caesar Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, shaved parmesan cheese, and croutons. A container of caesar dressing on the side.

Southwest Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include black beans, corn, diced rotisserie chicken, red onions, and grape tomatoes. A container of cilantro avocado dressing on the side.

BBQ Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken mixed with bbq sauce, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped green onion, and chopped tomato. A container of ranch dressing on the side.

Antipasta Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include two-quartered artichoke hearts, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, ham, and salami chopped, and some diced cucumber. A container of balsamic dressing on the side.

Taco Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include ground beef, shredded cheese, pinto beans, sliced pickled jalapenos, and crushed tortilla chips. A container of salsa as the dressing on the side.

Chicken Caprese Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, fresh basil chopped, fresh mozzarella cheese pearls, and diced tomatoes. A container of balsamic vinaigrette on the side.

Chicken, Apple, and Cranberry Salad

– This is my favorite one!

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, green apples chopped, dried cranberries, crumbled feta, or blue cheese roasted pecans. A container of balsamic vinegar or Panera Fuji Apple dressing that you can find at the grocery store.

Asian Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, ramen noodles lightly crushed, sliced almonds, green onion, an orange peeled and sectioned or you can use canned mandarin oranges. A container of Asian sesame dressing on the side.

Greek Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, diced cucumber, grape tomatoes halved, chopped red onion, and crumbled feta cheese. A container of olive oil vinaigrette on the side.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken tossed with buffalo wing sauce, crumbled blue cheese, and shredded carrots. A container of ranch dressing on the side.

Chicken and Fruit Salad

Mixed greens in the bottom bowl. Toppings include diced rotisserie chicken, canned mandarin oranges, sliced strawberries, chopped apples, and blueberries. A container of olive oil vinaigrette on the side.

So those are all of my favorite tried and true salads that I pack in these awesome containers. 12 different salads that I make 3 per week leave me a different salad for each time I make them throughout the month so I don’t get tired of them! Great easy make-ahead lunch ideas for busy people!

Do you have any other favorite salads you like to make for lunch? Let us know below in the comments!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Easy Salad Lunch Ideas For Teachers appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

The other day I was walking through Target and this book caught my eye on the end cap. I peeked through it and just knew it would be perfect for our next literacy snack!

This week, we are reading, The Smart Cookie by Jory John. The cookie in the story has never felt like a smart cookie no matter how hard she tries. Especially in comparison to all the clever cupcakes and brilliant rolls in the bakery. In the end, she is reminded that perfect scores and having all the answers aren’t the only ingredients for intelligence. Sometimes all you need is a sprinkle of confidence and some creativity.

This is such a great book that can be read at the beginning of the school year, or even at the end of the year. Your students can reflect on how much they have learned and how far they have grown throughout the school year.

This is a great book that your student will be able to relate to and can help them all realize that they are smart cookies! For our snack this week, we are having smart cookies!

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Snack Idea

For our snack to go with the book, we are having yummy sprinkle-covered frosted sugar cookies. These are always a favorite of the kiddos and go perfectly with the cookie from the book. You can usually find them at the grocery store, Walmart, or Target.

Free Printable

I made a free printable to go along with the book for your little learners to work on while they are enjoying their snack. They will get to reflect and write about what makes them a smart cookie. They can draw a write about it.

You can download the Literacy Snack Smart Cookie Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Another option is to give your kiddos a small pack of cookies and attach this cute free printable smart cookie tag. You can grab that here. They make a great treat to give out before a test or as an end of the year gift too!

I hope your students enjoy this Literacy Snack Smart Cookie Read-Aloud!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Smart Cookie Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

This week’s literacy snack read-aloud is a great one that would work any time of the year. It would also be a great one for the first month of school as a read-aloud about the importance of inclusivity, open-mindedness, diversity. We are reading, The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania of Jordan Al Abdullah.

In this book, two friends love doing everything together and always eat lunch together.  Lily eats peanut butter and Salma eats hummus-but what’s that between friends? It turns out, a lot A food fight ends up breaking out and in the end, the girls are able to work things out and try each other’s sandwiches which they both end up loving!

This is incredibly relatable for children, as we’ve all experienced times when people thought our choices were “yucky” or “gross,” or when we’ve thought the same about others.  This is a great book to use as a springboard for many class discussions.

For our snack idea today, we’re making sandwiches to go along with the story.

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snack idea

For this week’s snack, we’re taking inspiration from the end of the book where they created a sandwich event for their entire school. You can do this a couple of different ways with your class.

• Simply have each student bring in a sandwich of their own to enjoy eating as a class together. You can talk about all of the different kinds of sandwiches that were brought in.
• Another option is for you to make 3 or 4 different sandwiches. Cut each one into quarters and let each student taste all 3 or 4 types of sandwiches.

free printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their sandwich snack. They will get to draw and write about what type of sandwich is their favorite.

You can download the Literacy Snack Sandwich Swap Read-Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you are looking for another great read-aloud about diversity, you might want to check out another book called Yoko. You can read about the book and get the snack idea and free printable to go along with this book too here.

I hope your students enjoy this Literacy Snack Sandwich Swap Read-Aloud!

Do you have any favorite books you like to read about diversity or inclusiveness? Share with us below!

See you next time!

jenette

The post Literacy Snack Sandwich Swap Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

Do you kids love jokes? Mine are obsessed! I’ve been sharing a joke of the day on my Facebook page the last few days and we’ve been having a lot of fun!

I thought I would put them all together in a printable so you can easily share the joke of the day with your class.

August Joke OF The Day

Most of the jokes for the month are school-related jokes. I also made it both in color and black and white for you.

This would be perfect to share with your class during morning meetings while packing up for the day, or during a transition time.

You can download the free August Joke Of The Day printable by clicking the green box below.

If your students are loving jokes, then they’ll LOVE our crack the code math. Each set comes with ten pages of either addition and subtraction or multiplication. They figure out the math answer and use the answers to help break the code or joke. You can find all of the different themes that we have here.

Let me know if you enjoy sharing these jokes with your class and I’ll see about coming up with a set for each month! I’d love to hear if they enjoy them!

See you next time!

Jenette

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Do you teach your students the alphabet in sign language? Here are some great ASL Alphabet Videos to help your class!

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ASL Alphabet Videos

ASL ABC Lesson and Song – Learn Sign Language Alphabet by Laura Berg Life

This is a great video of a girl showing her mom how to make each letter of the alphabet. In the end, she sings the ABC song using the signs.

EASIEST way to learn your ASL ABCs | Slowest alphabet lesson by Laura Berg Life

This is another great video that shows very slowly and clearly how to make each letter shape.

Learn How to Sign The Alphabet (ABCs) in ASL by Learn How To Sign

This is another great video that clearly shows your little learners how to make each letter. She has some great tips in the video too. In the end, she helps explain finger spelling and encourages them to fingerspell their names.

Phonics Song for Children | Alphabet Song by Patty Shukla

I love Patty Shukla’s videos not only for the ASL factor, but she has an individual one for each letter of the alphabet to help with beginning sounds. Definitely on the top of my list. In this particular video, she goes through the letters signing them and giving examples of a word that begins with the letter, and then signs that word too.

See It, Say It, Sign It | Letter Sounds | ASL Alphabet by Jack Hartmann

Jack Hartmann is another one of my favorites. He has several different ASl alphabet videos so make sure to check out his channel here. In this particular video, you see the letter, say it, and use different words with the beginning sound and sign it.

Learn ASL w/ Josh & Blue | Sign Language for Kids by Blue’s Clues & You!

This is a great video that your class can sing and sign along with the alphabet after they have learned it. The video continues on to teach some additional words in sign language as well.

I also made a Free ASL Alphabet Poster so your students can easily review the hand signs. You can grab it for free here.

What other kinds of ways do you incorporate ASL into your classroom? Share with us below in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jenette

The post ASL Alphabet Videos appeared first on Primary Playground.

With back to school comes a whole list of items you’d love to have for your classroom. It’s helpful if we are able to send home a suggested supply list but sometimes there are extra things that would be great to have donated to the classroom. So for meet the teacher night, make back-to-school donation bricks and ask for those extra things you wished you could have.

There are so many parents out there that are more than happy to help donate items for your classroom, they just don’t know what you really need. Putting out these bricks, allows you to really get the items specifically needed for your room.

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back to school donation bricks

To make the donation bricks, I took inspiration from the back to s school student gift I made. Click here to check it out and download the bag toppers for free.

 I created an anchor chart by drawing a mini-figure. I just pulled up a simple image and did my best.

Next, simply download, print, and cut out the bricks of items you wish to have in your classroom.

Tape them onto the anchor chart so the students or families can easily remove them to take home with them to remember to purchase the item.

In the download, I’ve also included blank bricks that you can edit to add any additional items that I didn’t include. You do need PowerPoint in order to open and edit this file.

You can download the Back To School Donation bricks for free by clicking the green box below.

What are some items that are on the top of your wish list for your classroom?

See you next time!

jenette

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This week’s literacy snack bee read-aloud is a great one for spring to go with your spring-insect unit or can be used at the beginning of the school as a read-aloud about the importance of sharing. We are reading, The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman.

In the book, the bee is very greedy and will not share his nectar with anyone! He finds the juiciest flowers, ends up eating too much, and gets stuck. He makes some friends that help him on his journey back home, and In the end, he shares all of his best honey with his new friends.

This is a great story that gives the opportunity to describe the character throughout the text. It helps the kids learn that they shouldn’t be greedy, to share and that sometimes you may need to ask for help from others.

For our snack this week, we’ll be making a bee!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

snack idea

supplies needed per student

1 Keebler Fudge Stripes Cookie

1 pretzel stick broke in half

2 pretzel twists

2 candy eyeballs

to assemble

To make the bee snack, have your students start with the cookie. Next, take the 2 pretzel twists and place them under the cookie a little bit to look like the wings. Take the 2 pretzel stick halves and add them to the top of the bee as the antennae. Last, add the eyes and he’s done! Isn’t he cute!

Another option instead of making the bee snack is to have your kids taste test, honey. Grab a box of Ritz Crackers and a bottle of honey from the store and give each student 2 crackers with some honey on each as a snack.

This would make a great opportunity to graph with your class the number of people who like honey and the number of people that do not. We have a fun page in our Bee Activities Pack that goes perfectly with this too!

free printable

I made a free printable for your students to work on while they are enjoying their bee snack. They will get to draw and write about how the bee acted at the beginning of the story and then how the bee acted at the end of the story.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Another fun activity to go along with the book is our bee craft! They look adorable hanging on the bulletin board or in the hallway! Click here to check it out now.

To also go along with the bee theme, we have this fun free Honey Bee Sight Word Game that you can grab to help your students practice their sight words. You can hop over and grab that for free here.

I hope your students enjoy this Literacy Snack Bee Read-Aloud!

Do you have any favorite books you like to read about the bees or sharing? Share with us below!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Bee Read-Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

This week’s Literacy Snack Idea Empathy read-aloud is perfect for teaching about empathy and celebrating diversity. We are reading, Chocolate Milk, Por Favor by Maria Dismondy.

“It’s Gabe’s first day of school in America, and he doesn’t speak English. This story shows how a simple act of kindness is worth more than a thousand words. Kindness really is a universal language.”

This is a great read-aloud for young kids to help them in empathizing with new students from a different culture that may come to your school and not speak English. There are lots of springboard discussions that could be used with the character’s actions and the theme of the story.

This article works well with these PrimaryPlayground resources:

Snack Idea

For our snack today, we’ll be having chocolate milk, Gabe’s favorite drink. Feel free to bring in a couple of gallons of chocolate milk, or talk to the cafeteria before your special read-aloud day to reserve enough cartons for your class. Or you could even turn it into a cooking class and have them learn how to make the chocolate milk.

Free Printable

I made a free printable for the kids to work on while they are enjoying their chocolate milk. They will draw and write about what they would do to help a new student in the class that didn’t speak English.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Empathy free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Do you have any other favorite activity to help teach your little learners about empathy?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Empathy appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

For today’s Literacy Snack Idea Big Problems, we’re reading a fantastic book that covers two aspects of diversity, age, and Native American traditions. We will be reading Big Moon Tortilla, by Joy Cowley.

When Marta ruins her homework and breaks her glasses, Grandmother soothes her with an ancient story and one of her delicious tortillas. This book is set in the Papago reservation in southern Arizona. The watercolor illustrations bring the desert setting and characters to life.

In the book, Marta’s grandmother told her a story to make her understand that her problem wasn’t such a big problem. In her story, there were options on how to deal with problems. She chose one of those options and realized her problem didn’t seem that big anymore. This is a great book to help little ones put in perspective that not all problems are that big.

And of course, Marta got to enjoy a fresh homemade tortilla her grandmother had made her after calming down before returning to her homework. To go along with the book, we’ll be having tortillas for our snack today.

THESE RESOURCES WORK WELL WITH THIS ARTICLE.

snack idea

Have you ever had a freshly made tortilla? They are seriously in my top 3 favorite foods ever. Freshly cooked, warm with butter. MMmm. Obviously that’s not mostly feasible for the classroom so we’ll just be sticking to store-bought tortillas today.

Any size will do just make sure you have enough for one per child. If you have a microwave in your classroom, warming them 5 at a time for a few seconds with a damp paper towel on top works wonderful. You could even offer them some butter to put on them but most of them will eat them plain.

free printable

I made a free printable for the students to work on while they are enjoying their tortilla snacks. They will get to think of a problem that they have or had in the past and choose one of the 4 options from the story of how they will handle the big problem.

They can choose to be like a tree and stand up tall and see the problem from different views. Or they could be like a rock and sit still seeing nothing or doing nothing. They can be like a mountain lion, strong, fierce, and ready to fight. Or they can be like an eagle. The eagle will fly high and laugh at the world and will see how small the earth is and see how small the problem is.

You can download the Literacy Snack Idea Big Problems free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

I hope your students enjoy this book as much as I do! See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Big Problems appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

With the new school year quickly approaching, it will obviously look a lot different this year. Today I’m sharing how to put together Student Supply Boxes For Distance Learning.

These boxes can be used both distance-learning or inside the classroom. Ultimately you are creating a box of supplies for each student to use themselves. You can easily send them home to all of your students if you are distance learning or each student can have their own designated box in the classroom with all of the supplies they will need.

You can make a list and send it home for your parents to gather these items as their back to school list, or a lot of schools are giving their teachers a small distance learning budget and this may be a good option for you to spend the money to build these for the students. Another great option would be to set up a Donor’s Choose project. I’ve read that a lot of companies are matching distance learning projects. right now.

Supplies In The Box

• Pencil box
• Box of crayons
• Pair of id scissors
• 1 Glue stick
• 1 Expo marker
• 1 Pencil sharpener
• 2 1oz PlayDoh tubs
• 3 Pencils
• 10 Popsicle sticks
• 3 Paperclips
• 10 Clothespins
• 20 small manipulatives -we used foam stars we had leftover from crafts and 10 mini erasers.

This is a great time to grab these supplies since so many of them are on sale at Target and Walmart now for back to school.

Additional ideas that you can add

• A pair of dice
• A deck of playing cards

What do we do with the supplies?

I tried to think of all of the different things the students may need to use to practice different things throughout the school day. Here are some ideas of ways you can use the supplies for both reading and math.

You can use the clothespins for different clip card activities, It’s also great fine motor practice for them.

The popsicle sticks can be used to build letters. You can also use them to practice counting or practice tally marks. One can also be used as a guide while practicing reading to help follow along.

Use the paperclips and pencil together to create a spinner. Here are some fun activities we use with the spinner.

The Playdoh can be used to build letters, numbers, or shapes. It can also be used as math counters by rolling it into balls.

The manipulatives can be used to practice counting, to practice ten frames and numbers bonds too.

The Expo marker can be used on laminated sheets you may send home or have in the classroom that can be wiped down. You can also send home a small whiteboard for the students to use during an online virtual class meeting.

Everything that I listed above fits perfectly into the box for you to send home or store for student use in the classroom.

Can you think of anything else that I may have missed that you would add to the box? I hope this helps give you some ideas for the upcoming school year.

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Student Supply Box For Distance Learning appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

For this week’s literacy snack idea squishes, I have the cutest new book that you’ll definitely want to add to your book collection. This week, we’re reading Can I Give You A Squish? by Emily Neilson.

In this book, Kai is a little merboy who’s big on hugs–or “squishes,” as he and his mama call them. But not everyone’s a fan of Kai’s spirited embrace, which he discovers soon after squishing a pufferfish, who swells up in fright! Kai feels awful; but with the help of his friends, he figures out another way to show his affection, and then everyone demonstrates their preferred ways of being greeted. Because, as Kai realizes, “Every fish likes their own kind of squish.”

This is a fantastic book with beautiful illustrations to help the students learn about consent and personal space. And due to our current social distancing, this book will empower kids to think of new ways to express love in this new world where touching, hugging, or “squishing” may not be the safest greeting. 

For this week’s snack idea we are making our pufferfish friend!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Snack Idea

Ingredients needed per student

• 1 waffle
• 1 and a quarter slice of an orange -you may want to cut the slice in half ahead of time for the kids
• 2 candy eyeballs
• 1 peach ring chewy candy – I used the generic brand from Walmart

To make the pufferfish snack, have the students start with their waffles. They can add on the eyeball candies and the peach ring as his mouth. Place the half slices of orange as his fins and the quarter piece of orange on top of his head.

Isn’t he adorable?!

free printable

While the kids are enjoying their pufferfish snack, I made a free printable for them to work on to go along with the book. They get to put an x in the box of how they would like to be greeted and then color in all of the pictures.

You can download the free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

If you’re looking for some ideas of how you can still have morning greetings in your classroom, we have these Visual Daily Morning Greeting Cards.

These cards are a fun way to build community and relationships with your students. Upon entering or leaving the classroom, the student will point to how they would like to be greeted and also greet you. All of the options included are hand free. 

I hope you and your students enjoy this book as much as we did! It’s definitely one of our new favorite back to school books!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Idea Squishes appeared first on Primary Playground.

Need a fun little project for the first day or week of school? This free printable first day of school all about me gives your students an opportunity to tell you and their classmates all about themselves.

Save it in their file until the end of the school year and they can look back and see what has changed over the school year.

I’ve made these first day of school all about me pages a few years back for grades 1-6 but have received several requests lately to add them in for preschool and kindergarten. These are a little different as the kiddos most likely won’t be able to fill in the information.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

Preschool and Kindergarten All About Me

For the preschool and kindergarten version, it is one-sided. It gives a spot for them to attempt to write in their name and they can draw a picture of themself. A parent, a guardian, or yourself, will need to help fill in the other questions. Another option would be to have the parents help add in a real picture of the child instead of drawing it in. They could then be displayed in the classroom for the first couple of weeks of school.

This would work well to send it home to do more as a family project as well. You could send it home on meet the teacher night and have them bring it to school the first day. Everyone can share as a group to get to know each other. Or you could send it home on the first day and have them bring it back to share with the class later that week.

In addition, these would be adorable turned into a class book as well that can be sent home to take turns sharing with their families.

You can download the preschool and kindergarten versions for free from my TeachersPayTeachers store by clicking the green box below.

Wishing you a great new school year! See you next time!

Jenette

The post First Day of School All About Me Preschool and Kindergarten appeared first on Primary Playground.

We’ve been having so much fun with all of our other scavenger hunts, we wanted to add the whole alphabet too! I’m posting a new letter each weekday until we get to Z.

If you would like them in a printable form, they are available on Primary Playground here and TeachersPayTeachers here. All of the letters are available inside all ready for you to use! If you already own it, they’ve all been added to the files for you! They come 2 to a page or as a single page now too.

Letter A Scavenger Hunt

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Letter B Scavenger Hunt

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Letter C Scavenger Hunt

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Letter D Scavenger Hunt

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Letter E Scavenger Hunt

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Letter F Scavenger Hunt

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Letter G Scavenger Hunt

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Letter H Scavenger Hunt

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Letter I Scavenger Hunt

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Letter J Scavenger Hunt

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Letter K Scavenger Hunt

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Letter L Scavenger Hunt

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Letter M Scavenger Hunt

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Letter N Scavenger Hunt

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Letter O Scavenger Hunt

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Letter P Scavenger Hunt

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Letter Q Scavenger Hunt

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Letter R Scavenger Hunt

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Letter S Scavenger Hunt

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Letter T Scavenger Hunt

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Letter U Scavenger Hunt

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Letter V Scavenger Hunt

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Letter W Scavenger Hunt

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Letter X Scavenger Hunt

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Letter Y Scavenger Hunt

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Letter Z Scavenger Hunt

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Let us know your favorite way to use these Alphabet Scavenger Hunts below!

Jenette

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Fun Fridays are a great way to end a week as a reward for working hard all week! The kiddos deserve some time to socialize and play so I’m sharing 30 Fun Fridays Ideas.

You may like to stick to doing the same thing each Friday, or maybe like to choose 4 different things for each week of the month. Do what works best for your class and your students.

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

30 Fun Friday Ideas

1. Break out the board games and let the kids play. So many good things can be learned from playing board games with others. From taking turns to learning how to lose gracefully. My favorite place to find inexpensive games is our local thrift store and garage sales.

2. Create a maker space area for them where they are free to create. MAKERSPACE: a place where we gather tools and materials to create, invent, tinker, design, fabricate, or otherwise enable individuals, a community, or a group to make something. The possibilities are endless for what the kiddos can and will create.

3. Cooking in the classroom. This is a favorite for me!

There are so many skills being taught when learning to cook. It’s a yummy way to practice following directions, sequencing, fine motor skills and so much more. Our cooking class bundle has a bunch of fun foods that you can easily make in the classroom.

4. Watch GoNoodle videos. The kids can’t get enough of them.

5. Do a directed drawing project with your students. You can find many options out there but our favorite is using Art For Kids Hub. We’ve been drawing along with the family for YEARS now!

6. Learn about a different country each week. Try foods, do a craft, learn a game, learn some words. Offer for parents to come in and teach the class about a country whether it’s one they are from or just one they’d like to share about. Use sight-up genius for the parents to sign up so they know what countries have been taken.

7. Choose different science experiments to do as a class. Some of our favorites are making a rainbow in a jar, making slime, and elephant toothpaste.

8. Stem bins or stem activities as a class. Can your students build a bridge for the bears to cross with 10 popsicle sticks and 2 snap blocks?

9. When the weather is nice, have a bubble day. Make your own bubble solution, paint with bubbles, and read bubble books.

10. Extra recess. You can never go wrong with extra recess when the weather is nice out!

11. Teach life skills. Practice shoe typing, teach proper manners at the table, how to set a table, how to wrap a gift. So many great options that some of the kids may not get help at home with.

12. Have a guest or mystery reader come in and read a story to the class.

13. Play bingo! This is seriously a favorite. Whether you want to review something your class has been learning about or just for fin bingo we have you covered with all of our bingo sets.

14. Create stories or puppet shows using puppets or story popsicle stick puppets. Have them put on a show for the class.

15. Make a class book. We have this fun class cookie cookbook to use during the holiday season.

16. Do yoga as a class. Our favorite one to use is Cosmic Yoga. She takes the kids on a whole adventure using yoga.

17. Do an author study. Choose an author, read several books by them, do a craft and make a snack to go along with one of the books you read. Eric Carle is a favorite for us. Here is a snack idea to go along with his books that we’ve shared.

18. Have a flashlight Friday. You can purchase small flashlights at Dollar Tree or Walmart for a dollar to hand out to the kids. Turn the lights off and have them use the flashlights to read. Encourage them to bring blankets and stuffed friendS to read with.

19. Play minute to win it games. These are always so fun to play. Set up 5 different games and have them rotate through them. Here are some of our minute-to-win-it game ideas for fall, winter, spring and a donut theme.

20. Free play-play-based centers. Just let them play. Think blocks, Legos, puzzles, dinosaurs, dollhouse, dramatic play areas, Lincoln Logs.

21. Take a nature walk or a scavenger hunt. Look for different things they’ve been learning about. You could look for different colors, shapes, letters, or numbers.

22. In the warmer months, have a Freeze Pop Friday and bring in special freeze pops for them to enjoy outside.

23. Do a craft to go along with a book that you read that week. Here’s a chameleon craft that we did to go along with The Mixed-Up Chameleon.

24. Ask an older grade, 3-5 to become reading buddies with your class. Have them come and read with your kids and then make a craft or snack together to go along with the book.

25. Have a dance party! Who doesn’t want to dance on a Friday afternoon?!

26. Paint with watercolors or paint with paints using the easel

27. Set up special centers to go along with the theme that you’ve been teaching that week. Make them different than your regular daily centers. For example, if you have been working on an apple unit, have a craft center, a stem center, have them stack 10 apples up top using play-doh, a science center testing whether apples sink or float, and a snack station where they can make an apple snack. Encourage parents to come in and help with centers for the last hour of the day.

28. Make a snack based on the letter of the week they’ve been learning about. We have a huge list of snack ideas to go along with each letter here.

29. If you have involved parents, have them take turns signing up to come in and real to the class and then do a project or have a snack to go along with the book they read. 30.

30. Break out the shaving cream. This is a huge hit with the kids. Spray some shaving cream onto their tables or desks and have them practice writing letters, numbers, their name, or sight words. It’s great for a little extra fine motor practice while having fun!

Whew! That’s the end of my 30 Fun Friday Ideas. Do you have any other fun things you like to do with your class on Fridays?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post 30 Fun Friday Ideas appeared first on Primary Playground.

this article (and most) on primary playground, does contain affiliate links that we do earn a commission off of.  clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps our website to keep great articles and freebies like this coming your way.

Building community and accepting others is an important topic to teach. This week for our Literacy Snack Building Community Read Aloud we will be reading One Green Apple by Eve Bunting. This is a fantastic book to help kids understand what it’s like to be new and that we’re all alike.

This book shows how a community can be kind and welcoming to strangers and newcomers. It’s about Farrah, a little Muslim girl who has come to the United States from another country, and her second day at school. The day is spent on a field trip to an orchard, where the children pick apples and make apple cider. The melting pot analogy is turned into an apple cider one as all the children throw their apples in and work together to press them into cider, even Farrah helps. The illustrations are stunning and the topic is so important.

For our snack this week, we’ll be having apple cider just like the kids all worked together to make in the story.

Snack idea

We’re keeping it simple this week and our snack will be apple cider. You’ll be surprised how many kids have never had real apple cider, only apple juice.

This time of year, apple cider is pretty easy to find. It is usually located in the produce section either near the apples, or possibly in the refrigerator section of the produce area.

Free Printable

While your students are enjoying their apple cider, I made a free printable for them to work on. They will get to draw a picture and write about how they can welcome a new person to their school.

You can download the Literacy Snack Building Community Read Aloud free printable from my TeachersPayTeachers store below.

If you’re looking for some more activities and continue the conversation of being a good citizen and having good character traits, you may like some of the activities we have in this our character traits pack.

I hope your class enjoys this important read aloud and cider!

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Literacy Snack Building Community Read Aloud appeared first on Primary Playground.

After giving your class directions and sending them off to complete the assignment you’ve given, how many times are you asked the same questions over and over again? Can we work with a friend? Where does this go? That’s where using Visual Direction Cards In The Classroom is a lifesaver!

THIS ACTIVITY WORKS WELL WITH

These visual direction cards will help your students see and remember what you want them to do while building independence. These cards will help eliminate repeated questions about the directions they have been given.

Simply print, laminate, and attach a magnet strip to the back for the easiest use on your whiteboard.

There are several different cards for each of the questions.

What supplies do I need?: scissors, glue stick, pencil, glue, dry erase marker, markers, watercolor paint, clipboard, post-it note highlighter, reading book, math binder, science journal, writing journal, STEM log, daily take-home folder, headphones, computer, tablet

Where does this ?: turn in bins, in my daily take-home binder, in my take-home binder, on my desk, in my mailbox, in my science journal, in my math binder, in my writing journal, in my backpack, in my math journal, in my STEM log, in my science journal, hand to the teacher

Where can I work?: at my desk, at my center, on the carpet

Can I work with a friend?: do it by yourself, collaborate with a buddy, share ideas but complete your own work, complete with the group.

You can find these Visual Direction Cards For The Classroom in my TeachersPayTeachers store.

Do you have any other tips or tricks you use to help your students follow and remember directions?

See you next time!

Jenette

The post Visual Direction Cards In The Classroom appeared first on Primary Playground.