Motivating Students with Classroom Management Coupons

With summer winding down and thoughts of the next school year running through my head I thought it was time to post some products!  Last school year I decided it was time to stop going to the dollar store and buying prizes as rewards for students who behaved well in class.  I knew there had to be a better way to reward positive behavior in my class.  I saw many different management coupons on Pinterest and decided to give those a try and even ended up making my own!  They were amazing and free!  My students worked so hard to earn these coupons and it was amazing to see how excited they got over them.  The coupons I've created are free on TPT so please feel free to use them for your classroom as well.  I hope your students get as excited as mine!  

Good luck with the new school year!

Summer Finds for Back to School!

I know this sounds crazy, but summer is winding down for us!  School starts in just 2 and a half weeks.  Carly will be back in the classroom in no time, and I'll be thinking about all of my colleagues beginning their year while waiting for my little nugget to arrive - I'm due on August 20th!  As everyone begins thinking about heading back to school, I wanted to share some great Pinterest finds for all of you primary teachers out there.  Check them out!

This amazing book site has a box of children's books (about 150) for only $12.95!  What a great way to build a classroom library.

I LOVE these super cute planners from A Modern Teacher.  All are editable and customizable.

These back to school forms from The First Grade Parade are awesome.  I used several of them with my class last year, and the best part is that you can download them for FREE!!  Thanks Mrs. Cara Carroll for that fun little gift. :)

30 Classroom management procedures from Scholastic.  This is a great little article to read every year before the school year starts.  Great for new and veteran teachers alike.  After a long, relaxing summer I know I usually need to remind myself of these things (especially with my itty bitty first grade friends!).

Some states offer tax free shopping days for Back to School.  Whaaaaa??!!  Unfortunately, my home state of IL does not offer this (no need to get all political here, but let's just say I'm not surprised by this!! boo!) but maybe we could take a road trip back to the old college town of Iowa City since Iowa does (go Hawkeyes!).

There are probably about a million more fun Pinterest finds I could include, but I've got to sign off for now!  I'll be back with some of my own favorite first week of school activities in August and some classroom organizing ideas.  Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!!

Fraction Fun!

Hi All!  It's been super busy in first grade.  The year is winding down quickly (only 6 more days for us - crazy!), but I wanted to share a fun fraction activity that my students have LOVED!

To give a little background, we've been doing math stations along with guided math since March.  The first grade team was super lucky and, when our class sizes grew, two paraprofessionals were hired to support the four classrooms.  This means I got an extra teacher with me for half of the school day - yay!  Heather has been an incredible addition to my classroom and I'm so lucky to have her.  Having a second teacher in the classroom was a great way to get guided math and math stations going while ensuring every student participated in small group instruction every day.  The kids have enjoyed being able to work independently at fun math stations and it's been extremely helpful for differentiating math instruction.

We spent a few weeks in April and the beginning of May learning all about fractions.  We made fraction-pillars (thanks to a little inspiration from The First Grade Parade), divided shapes into fractions, and hunted for fractions in the world.  I wanted a fun fraction activity for the kids to be able to work on independently, so I created a game with a theme that everyone loves - pizza!

We introduced the "Spin-A-Pizza Fraction Game" to students during our small group instruction and the kids couldn't get enough of it.  They had fun using the spinners and adding fun toppings to their "pizzas."

 To play, the kids used a clear plastic spinner (or a pencil and paperclip would work) to spin a topping and a fraction.  Then, the kids put the toppings onto the correct pizza (halves, thirds, or fourths).  They recorded their results on the recording sheet.

I hope your students love this game too!

Enjoy the last few weeks of school.  I can't believe summer is almost here!

Let's Play!

Welcome to Our Primary Playground!  We are Carly and Jill, two primary grade teachers and sisters-in-law from Chicago.  After many months of joking about creating a blog together, we've finally taken the opportunity to get started over spring break (can we get a "what! what!" for spring break?!).  On Our Primary Playground, we hope to share some lesson ideas, activities, and just plain fun from our primary classrooms.  

Jill and Carly, sisters-in-law, teachers, and friends! :)

Here is a little bit about us:

Jill is in her ninth year of teaching.  She started out teaching fourth grade for a year and moved down to teach the little ones in kindergarten for two years.  She currently teaches first grade and has for the past six years.  She loves how much the kids learn and grow in first grade!

Carly is in her eighth year of teaching.  She started out teaching first grade for two years and has been teaching first/second multiage for the past six years.  She loves being able to get to know her little ones so well over two years!

To get this blog started off on the right foot, here's your first freebie from Jill. :)  Click on the image below to download a little silent e matching game from Jill's TPT store.  It's perfect for literacy centers!

If you're on spring break as well, we hope you have the opportunity to rest and relax with your loved ones.  We're looking forward to starting this journey together! :)