Seasonal Archives - Teach with the Current

FREE Play Doh Name Mats for Preschool + Kindergarten

tinytechtots — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 02:27:08 +0000

The first few weeks of school are definitely the hardest, ESPECIALLY when your students have NEVER gone to school before. Every year I try to think of fun and simple activities that my little learners will love. I try to get them as excited as possible that they are finally in Kindergarten! Wahoo! One activity that I do multiple times throughout the beginning of the year are Play Doh name mats. No matter how many times my students do this activity they never get tired of it. This activity has to be one of my favorites because it is so hands on, yet independent for any early elementary aged students. This post will take you through everything you will need to know about this FREEBIE and the benefits of having an editable playdough mats for your students. So if you’re ready, keep reading! Free Play Doh Mat Options Within this freebie resource I have included 6 play dough mat templates: Back to School Play Doh Mat Superheroes Play Doh Mat Outer Space Play Doh Mat Under the Sea Play Doh Mat Animal Play Doh Mat Transportation Play Doh Mat There are a variety of mats to pick from so that you can choose which template fits your classroom theme best. Also, if your students get bored of their mats (which rarely ever happens!) you can easily switch them out. Easy Google Slides Instructions for these Playdough Mat Printables If you are new here then you may not know that I am OBSESSED with Google Slides. You will find that all of the resources on this blog are made with Google Slides for a number of reasons… 1. You can create and edit resources on your Google Drive that automatically saves your work. Unlike most editable resources, this one SAVES the changes you make. This means if you edit the Google Slide to add all of your students’ names on Monday, you can go into that same Google Slide on Friday and your students’ names and any changes you make will still be there… YAY! 2. You can access all of my resources in your Google Slides so you never have to worry about losing or misplacing them. 3. Wherever you are (at home, in school, the library etc.) and whatever device (laptop, PC, Chromebook, Ipad, smartphone, etc.) you can access Google Slides. 4. You can organize all of your files by subject or month and add my resources to whichever folder you see fit. If you are already familiar with Google Slides, then you can scroll to the bottom of this post and click the rainbow button labeled, “Click Here for FREEBIE,” to access these FREE and EDITABLE Play Doh Mats. However, if you would like a quick step by step of how to use this resource, then keep reading! Using Google Slides to Access this Free and Editable Play Doh Mat Printable After downloading this product you can make a copy for yourself. This is super helpful because you can pick and choose which slides you want in your presentation. For example, if you only want to use the superheroes and back to school templates, then you can make a copy, keeping those two slides and deleting the rest. 1. Click the rainbow button labeled, “Click Here for FREEBIE.” 2. Once the Google Slide opens in another tab, click on File → Make a Copy → Entire Presentation. Then, click the yellow button, “OK.” 3. Delete any slides that you do not want in the presentation you just made. You can do this by clicking on the slide to highlight it, then then right mouse click and hit Delete. P.S. – Don’t worry, you have the original downloaded in your Google Drive already so if you accidentally delete a page you can always go back in the original and copy and paste it into the slide. 4. When writing your students’ names on each mat, you are going to want to… Click the slide that corresponds with the mat you want to use. Click on Edit → Duplicate. Now, the slide that you selected should be duplicated! Keep repeating this process until you have the number of crowns you need for your class. 5. Click on each textbox and type your student’s name where it says, “Name.” 6. Print the mats on your paper of choice and wah lah! You are officially a Google Slides Master! You can choose if you would like your students to color in their own play doh mats or if you would rather print the mats on color paper. Materials Needed In order to do this activity with your students, you will need some basic supplies. I have attached links to some of the products if you are in need of any of the materials: Paper of your choice (white or color printer paper, white or color cardstock, etc.) Crayons or markers (Optional if you are printing on color paper) Laminating sheets or page protectors (Optional, but highly recommended!) I highly recommend that you either use page protectors or laminate these mats. It will make cleaning up easy and give you the ability to reuse this activity throughout the year! Using these Play Doh mats in Your Classroom When introducing this activity I would go over your rules about play doh. For example, not mixing colors, keeping the play doh on the mat, etc. It always helps to model what you mean so that your students have a visual to go along with the expectation. I would even teach them how you want them to clean up… even explicitly showing them how to put the play doh in the container and click it shut. Another tip when teaching expectations is to set a timer that tells your students when to clean up. Your students are going to be super excited for this activity so give them a 5 minute and 1 minute warning. I also always tell my students that if they clean up before I finish counting down, then they can do the activity again tomorrow, which really motivates them to be the first ones to pick up! Tips to Making this Activity Short and Sweet Back to school can be super hectic so if it is towards the end of the day and you notice there is only 15 minutes before pack up… don’t sweat it! To make this activity shorter you can: Print these mats on color paper ahead of time Call students by group and hand them a play doh container… you get what you get and you don’t get upset 🙂 Remind students that they can do this activity again if they clean up before you finish counting down! (But make sure you stick to your word, if you plan on saying this!) Tips to Stretch Out this Activity if you Find Extra Time in Your Schedule When handing out the mats, show each printable to your students to see if they can identify their names Allow for “free time” with the play dough after your students have finished tracing their name with play dough 3 times Have students use other materials aside from play dough (erasers, gems, buttons, pennies, etc.) P.s. – Although I keep mentioning that this is a Back to School activity… I actually use these mats ALL YEAR LONG! These mats are perfect to use as a station when introducing your students to either literacy or play centers. I also put it in my sub plans as a substitute for play centers when I am absent. The Moment You’ve Been Waiting for… Click Below for the Play dough Mats! Click below to access this FREE and EDITABLE Play Doh Name Mats. Read above in the section, “Using Google Slides to Access this Free and Editable Crown Printable” if you need help navigating this resource with Google Slides!

The post FREE Play Doh Name Mats for Preschool + Kindergarten appeared first on Teach with the Current.

FREE Crown Printables for the First Day of School

tinytechtots — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 01:19:26 +0000

It’s that time of year again! As you get ready to go back to school I want to share with you a freebie that you can use on the first day of school… a FREE and EDITABLE crown craft! I know the first day of school can be exciting, yet stressful so I am hoping this printable will be a fun and easy activity for you to do with your kids. There is little prep involved and if your kids are anything like mine, then they will LOVE coloring and personalizing their very own crown. This post will take you through everything you will need to know about this FREEBIE and the benefits of having an editable crown for your students. So if you’re ready, let’s get started! Free First Day of School Headband Crown Options Within this freebie resource I have included two types of headband crowns: an editable student name version and ready to go non editable version. Editable Student Name Crown Options [Type Name]’s First Day of School [Type Name]’s First Day of Preschool [Type Name]’s First Day of Kindergarten [Type Name]’s First Day of First Grade It will take a little more time for you to type each student’s name in the text box, but the benefits of using editable name crowns for the first day of school makes the extra prep time worth it! Personalizing these crowns with the editable feature gives you an opportunity to see if your students can recognize their own names and their classmates’ names. It also makes it more fun to see all of the unique and colorful crowns when they are complete! Non Editable Crown Options I Rocked the First Day of School I Rocked the First Day of Preschool I Rocked the First Day of Kindergarten I Rocked the First Day of First Grade Like I said in the beginning of this post… prepping for back to school can be stressful! That is why I created a non editable version for you to use if you feel crunched for time. Easy Google Slides Instructions for this Crown Craft Printable If you are new here then you may not know that I am OBSESSED with Google Slides. You will find that all of the resources on this blog are made with Google Slides for a number of reasons… You can create and edit resources on your Google Drive that automatically saves your work. Unlike most editable resources, this one SAVES the changes you make. This means if you edit the Google Slide to add all of your students’ names on Monday, you can go into that same Google Slide on Friday and your students’ names and any changes you make will still be there… YAY! You can access all of my resources in your Google Slides so you never have to worry about losing or misplacing them. Wherever you are (at home, in school, the library etc.) and whatever device (laptop, PC, Chromebook, Ipad, smartphone, etc.) you can access Google Slides. You can organize all of your files by subject or month and add my resources to whichever folder you see fit. If you are already familiar with Google Slides, then you can scroll to the bottom of this post and click the rainbow button labeled, “Click Here for FREEBIE,” to access this FREE and EDITABLE First Day of School Crown. However, if you would like a quick step by step of how to use this resource, then keep reading! Using Google Slides to Access this Free and Editable Crown Printable After downloading this product you can make a copy for yourself. This is super helpful because you can pick and choose which slides you want in your presentation. For example, if you only want to use the Preschool crown template, then you can make a copy, keeping that one slide and deleting the rest. 1. Click the rainbow button labeled, “Click Here for FREEBIE.” 2. Once the Google Slide opens in another tab, click on File → Make a Copy → Entire Presentation. Then, click the yellow button, “OK.” 3. Delete any slides that you do not want in the presentation you just made. You can do this by clicking on the slide to highlight it, then then right mouse click and hit Delete. P.S. – Don’t worry, you have the original downloaded in your Google Drive already so if you accidentally delete a page you can always go back in the original and copy and paste it into the slide. 4, If you are using the non editable printables, then go ahead and print the page you want (make sure to select landscape in your printing settings) If you would like to write your students’ names on each crown, then you are going to want to… 5. Click the slide that corresponds with the crown you want to use. 6. Click on Edit → Duplicate. Now, the slide that you selected should be duplicated! Keep repeating this process until you have the number of crowns you need for your class. 7. Click on each textbox and insert your student’s name where it says, “Name’s.” 8. Print the crowns on your paper of choice! Wahoo! You are officially a Google Slides Master! Print the crowns on your paper of choice! Wahoo! You are officially a Google Slides Master! Materials Needed In order to do this activity with your students, you will need some basic supplies. I have attached links to some of the products if you are in need of any of the materials: 1. Paper of your choice (white or color printer paper, white or color cardstock, etc.) 2. Paper for the headband portion of the crown (I always use sentence strips, but you can use construction paper as well) 3. Scissors 4. Stapler or tape 5. Crayons or markers (Optional if you are printing your crowns on color paper) Using this Crown in Your Classroom on the First Day of School If you have ever been in a classroom with kids who have never gone to school before, then you know that the first day of school can be so unpredictable! Teachers need to be super flexible with the amount of time they give to each activity. Luckily, with this craft there are a few ways to shorten or elongate it so that this activity fits perfectly within your schedule. Tips to Making this Activity Short and Sweet Print the crowns on color paper Cut out the crowns ahead of time When students are coloring, go around with the sentence strip headbands and pre-measure/ staple them Hand out the crowns at the end of the very end of the day Tips to Stretch Out this Activity if you Find Extra Time in Your Schedule Prior to handing out the crowns, model making one and show the correct ways to use the materials (scissors, crayons, markers) When handing out the crowns, show each printable to your students to see if they can identify their names If students are done early, have them practice tracing and spelling their name on the crown with their finger The Moment You’ve Been Waiting for… Click Below for the Crown Printable! Click below to access this FREE and EDITABLE First Day of School Crown. Read above in the section, “Using Google Slides to Access this Free and Editable Crown Printable” if you need help navigating this resource with Google Slides!

The post FREE Crown Printables for the First Day of School appeared first on Teach with the Current.