Jessica over at Hanging Out in First has a fun idea for a Blog Hop. It’s a chance to reflect on your month and share a little! Here are my brags for the month of July. I’d love to hear yours too!
-Carrie

Here is a post especially for classroom teachers. I played this game with my 2nd graders on the first day of school (the very first whole group activity). I think it’d also work well for lots of different grade levels.

1. Everyone sits in a circle. The kids can be wearing name tags or not.

2. Go around once and everyone says their own name.

3. Kids roll a ball to each other and say each other’s names. Caution the children to just roll the ball as opposed to throwing it in the air.

4. The teacher plays as well.

5. At the end, the teacher goes around and says everyone’s name without looking at the name tags.

I found that it made the rest of the day go more smoothly because I could refer to the kids by their name. On the second day of school, I would get a little confused with a couple of the kids because they were wearing different shirts, but the game is still great for learning names quickly.

These directions are also included in this “First Week of School Toolkit” resource:

Have a wonderful first day!
-Carrie

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Do you enjoy reviewing products? I’m looking for willing parents, teachers, or tutors to do some reviews. Let’s give this a try!

If you email me at mybookboost@gmail.com, you will have the opportunity to get a free copy of whatever product from my TpT store you would like. I would just ask in return that you write a review of the product on your blog or on Facebook. Just send me an email and tell me which product you’re interested in trying and I’ll send it to you. Here is a link to the options. Thanks for stopping by!

-Carrie

Here is a fun activity to surprise your kids with. While they’re outside or playing in another room, set up about 15 books somewhere for them to find. When I did this, I didn’t say anything about it. They wandered in from playing outside and Josie said “what is this?” They each started making a pile of books. They spent the next 20 minutes looking through the books and reading some of them.

Positives:
-good reading practice
-they read books that sometimes get overlooked
-quick and easy to set up
-I can repeat this over and over with different books and different locations around the house

If anyone tries this activity, I’d love to hear how it goes. I got lucky and it worked great this time. I can imagine that some days it would go over better than others, depending on the kind of day the kids are having and the timing. Success this time, though! Yay!

-Carrie

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Personalized cards are so much fun to give and receive. Here are a couple that I’ve made recently.

 

For this card, I cut numbers out of magazines, ads, etc. It’s easy and simple, yet personal. As an added bonus, your kids learn about two-digit numbers if they’re sitting at the table making cards while you make yours. Or they could make a card in this style. This was for my husband’s birthday this year.

 

For this one, I used “Scratch Art” paper. I cut out a rectangle of it and glued it to a blank pink card. Then, I typed out the birthday girl’s name in different fonts on my computer and copied them freehand onto the scratch art paper with the wooden tool that comes with the paper. Then, the directions to the paper suggest you use your finger to rub over your creation to set it as permanent.

Good luck as you come up with your own personalized cards. People will cherish them for years to come!
~Carrie

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