My Secret Ingredient to Open House Success

I've been through lots of Open Houses.  The purpose of the Open House is usually to let parents know what's going on in school. There are loads of blog posts about setting up your classroom, scavenger hunts, parent stations, brochures, and presentations.

 

 

I do all those things, leave plenty of things for parents to take with them and get to know my classroom and my procedures.

 

But I do something else that seems to be an added extra that makes a difference: 

I play happy music!

You know, that kind of music that just makes people feel good. 

I got this idea years ago when I went to an all day conference, and was walking into my "mid afternoon" seminar with dread: it's a tough time of day, and I was feeling like I'd prefer to take a nap.

When I walked into the room, the presenter was playing "happy music". I don't remember the specific song, but I remember it made me feel like moving.

I immediately felt a smile on my face, and I looked around the room and everyone else was smiling and moving to the music. 

Research tells us music can affect our feelings. 

So I play "happy music" to help people feel good about my classroom.

THIS POST has a freebie list of song ideas to download!

It works!

What music makes you feel happy?

Ten Freebies for Back to School!

Yes, you read that right, that's a full ten back to school freebies!

  

These are  some of the things that always help me through those first busy of weeks of school! 

 

Here's a freebie to help organize your literacy centers, including what the children do when they're not with you!

Literacy Center Cards! 

 

 

We all know those children who struggle to learn sight words. This Research Based Freebie will help!

Spelling Fun - Brain Friendly Task Cards 

 

 Here's a great way to keep communication open with parents, and give them some information that will help their children be successful!

Parent Communication Brochure for Back to School or September

This system has helped many children master their basic math facts. This freebie is the first of 8 research based, brain friendly levels toward math fact fluency.

Brain Friendly Addition and Subtraction Fact Freebie

 

Have your students mastered addition and subtraction facts? Move them on to multiplication and division! As with the addition and subtraction facts above, these are research based and brain friendly. This freebie is the first of 8 levels toward multiplication and division fact fluency!

 

Brain Friendly Multiplication and Division Freebie

 

This freebie is a great way to start the year in Science and Social Studies.

 

Science and Social Studies Printables for August & September Sampler

 

  

Looking for some fun ways to get the children comfortable with each other and learn to work together? These Team Building Games are very popular!

6 Team Building Games and Activities 

 

 

I use these tools as a "school office" with my students. These hands-on tools help children become independent learners!

 

Hands-On Tools for Learning: Sampler

 

 

Here's a fun way to get the kiddos thinking about their learning and how they can take charge of their learning.

I Can Stretch My Brain!

 

This one will help the kiddos get all those summertime wiggles out!

Back to School Brain Breaks

If you find these freebies useful, I'd love if you left some feedback!

I hope these freebies make your teaching life a bit easier!

 

 

My First Day of School Promise

Every year, I sit down with my brand new class and have a little chat about why we come to school. My second graders figure it out right away: we come to school to learn.

That's when I make my yearly promise. 

I'm very dramatic when I make the promise. I include dramatic pauses, and I make the same gestures whenever I say it. 

I move my right hand outward as I say the first part, then I move my left hand outward as I say the second part. It goes like this:

These phrases are used all year long, and I repeat the gestures each time. After a while, I don't even have to say the words, I just do the gestures, and the kiddos realize they need to put the effort into their learning.

Of course, I make a point to keep that promise!

Science and Engineering Practices

After spending time studying the Next Generation Science Standards, I wanted to share the Science and Engineering Practices.

 

 

After several years with Common Core, I'm sure you'll remember the Standards of Mathematics Practices. If you recall, these practices apply to all grade levels, and all math learning. 

The Science and Engineering Practices are straight from the Next Generation Science Standards. The whole appendix dedicated to these practices can be found HERE. As with the math practices, these Science and Engineering Practices apply to all grade levels. Here they are:

HERE's a nice article I found that discusses each of these practices from the science and engineering point of view, for the different levels from Kindergarten to Grade Twelve. 

As I discussed these practices with my STEM Innovation Network, we came to the same conclusion: 

These aren't just Science and Engineering Skills, they are LIFE Skills!

These are the skills we should be teaching our students.

Even if it's not on the test!

These practices can be embedded in many activities across the curriculum, can't they? 

As a second grade teacher, our priorities are building the foundation: teaching the important skills of reading, writing and math. (As they say: K-2 Learn to Read, Grades 3 and up, Read to Learn!)

Science and Engineering aren't a priority in the classroom yet, but it's a strong area of interest for the kids! These practices are something we should be sharing regularly when we can fit them into our day.

How do you embed these Science and Engineering Practices into your school day?