Back to School and a Giveaway

So back to school is just around the corner for me (if you're already back, just remember you'll be finished before I will)! So I'm running through some of my favorite things to do for back to school. And I'm participating in a giveaway blog hop!

I'll be giving away a $10 TpT card to one winner and an item of the winners choice from my store to another winner!

I love to do community building activities at the beginning of the year. And the kids really seem to enjoy them as well. One of the things we do, within the first two weeks of school, is a table group activity. I usually have 4-5 table groups in my classroom. So this activity is a nice way to get them used to working together. Each table group is given a different 100 piece puzzle. Before the groups are given their puzzles, I remind them of a few things: every person in the group MUST participate and they cannot touch the puzzle until the five minutes of discussion time is up. I then remind them that they may want to keep their table discussions at an appropriate voice level (which gives me the opportunity to remind them of our voice levels!) so that the other tables cannot hear their puzzle plan! This activity usually takes 30-40 minutes. But it is well worth the time. The kids get to practice making a plan together and using appropriate voice levels while working with their groups. Plus, it's great to see the different ways that they go about putting their puzzles together!

I also love to have the kids share about their summer.

This is a writing activity that also includes a snack and is a great way for me to learn about my new kids.

The kids will get to eat a snack of s'mores in a cup/bag/whatever vessel you may have on hand while they write about a given summer topic.

Who doesn't love an activity that includes a snack? I know all of my past classes have!

The other thing I am doing to kick start my classroom on a journey for kindness this year is to start the year with kindness shout outs.

I started these last year, during the second half of the year, and totally wish I had started them sooner! My kids LOVED having the ability to shout each other out for the acts of kindness they were witnessing.

Then, at the end of the day, I would read them all out loud and the kids would get to take home their shout outs. And let me tell you, I was quickly reminded to do this if we were running short of time at the end of the day!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Looking for another chance to win...keep hopping through for even more chances! Mrs. Willyerd's Virtual Classroom is up next!