Blog - Page 7 of 10 - Simply Creative Teaching

Apple Week

October 3, 2016

What's better than just Apple Day... How about Apple WEEK?!?! This year I decided to go all out. I mean, why not? A few weeks before the big week, I sent out a list of items I needed in order to make dreams come true using my classroom Bloomz account. Within 24 hours, I had everything covered! Each day during the week, we had one apple activity/focus. We started on Monday by talking about the life cycle of an apple. We read from one of the differentiated mini-books from A Year of Many Firsts Non-Fiction Apple Unit. Then we made a life cycle craft from Ashley Reed's apple unit. As my kiddos ... read more

Build STEM Skills With Brain Puzzles

October 1, 2016

I'm so excited to share with you the newest addition to my STEM resources I use in my 2nd grade classroom! It's so important that students get time to think critically, create, and solve problems independently and in groups, and these tools from MindWare do just that! The brain builders I have are wooden planks that are perfect for students to construct various objects and pictures. I introduced the planks as a Fun Friday afternoon activity, and my students loved working together to build anything they could come up with! After letting them explore the materials for awhile, I handed pairs ... read more

Oriental Trading’s Wish List for Teachers!

August 26, 2016

I am sooooo excited to share with you about making a CLASSROOM WISH LIST through Oriental Trading. It's the perfect way for you to get more resources and goodies for your classroom! In this post, I'm featuring some of the resources I got from Oriental Trading, and how I'm using them! First up: Stackable Bins and Magnetic Dry Erase Lined Chart Paper I desperately needed some paper bins for my writing center, and as soon as I saw the colorful stackable ones I KNEW they'd be perfect. And they are!!! They stack nicely, and I have them in two different spots in my room - the writing center ... read more

Printing Posters & Mini-Posters At Home

July 18, 2016

Hey, hey! Today I wanted to share with you all a few at home printing tips for you to make your posters BIG and mini! With just a few clicks on Adobe Reader before you print, you can enlarge or make tiny anything you want! Now, obviously it would be easiest to just send my posters to Staples and have them print them nice and big for me, but that's not really in the budget. Sorry, I'm not spending $10 for that. So, here's how to do it at home! Open your file in Adobe Reader. In the printer options that come up, you'll want to select POSTER and change the Tile Scale. I've found that 180% ... read more

Back To School Must-Haves

May 26, 2016

I know, I know. It's only the end of May... BUT! I wanted to share with you two of my FAVORITE editable resources that I customize over the summer so that's it's ready to go when August comes (and it always sneaks up on me). First up: Back To School Brochures! I used to write a student/parent classroom handbook, and to be honest, I don't think anyone read that thing front to back. And I spent SO much time on it! So a few years ago I decided I would make these brochures that highlight my most important information! This is the 3rd year I've used these, and I have so many teachers that ... read more

Minute To Win It for Big Kids

May 21, 2016

Happy End of the Year, friends! I'm excited to share with you all some of the crazy fun that we had in my class this past week! My sixth graders had their graduation on Wednesday night, so we are spending our last few days celebrating! In my previous years when I taught primary, my kids LOVED Minute To Win It games, so I decided I'd make this big kid appropriate and add in some extra messiness and competition! As a quick disclaimer, I did not create all of these games myself. I scoured Pinterest and found some crazy ones that I thought my kids would enjoy, added in point values and game ... read more

Teacher Resume Tips & Tricks

April 3, 2016

Last year I spent hours upon hours writing and designing the PERFECT resume for new teaching positions. My husband and I were moving, and I knew I needed to spruce up my resume to showcase who I am as an educator. I know that designing & writing your resume can be super stressful, and that's why I'm bringing you THREE tips & tricks to help you successfully write and design one that represents YOU. Tip One: Be clear & concise. If you've been in the education field for a few years, you know tons of educational acronyms and buzz words. Don't overkill it on your ... read more

Happy 100th Day!

January 13, 2016

It's FINALLY here! It's the day everyone's been waiting for since August! My blogging friends and I are sharing with you all of our posts on the 100th day of school to help you get everything ready! Except, if you're anything like me, even though you've been counting EVERY SINGLE DAY during calendar time... it STILL snuck up on you. And now it's the night before... Don't fear! The kids will still love anything you can whip up! So today I'm going to share with you a few easy activities/centers I prepped for my kiddos, and you'll be ready to go in no time! I wish I had pictures to share with ... read more

Differentiate Math Centers in 1st & 2nd Grade

October 5, 2015

As a primary teacher, I LOVED math centers. I love that I can meet with small groups while all of my other students were engaged in center activities and games. However, as I'm sure many of you can relate, when I prepped my centers for each week, it became very clear to me that some of my students would NOT be capable of doing the on level center activity. Now, while you're probably thinking, just give them a different center, I couldn't do it. Seriously, there's always one or two centers that seem to be the highlight, and other students can't WAIT until they get to play it... until ... read more